Home Built Z 'Full video build'

[Patcon]

@Home Built by Jeff

I have to tell you something funny. My wife was waiting on me to get ready for bed last night. It was late and she could here me bumping around in the kitchen. She told me "then I heard that Australian guy and I quit waiting" I was watching your video!

[Captain Obvious]

LOL!!  

[Home Built by Jeff]

In this episode I sort out my timing issues and tune the car using the colour tune.

 

 

[Zed Head]

Good work on resetting the distributor drive shaft to the factory setting.  Not sure what's going on with your 123 distributor.  Seems like they did not get the drive slot oriented to the rotor in the same way that Nissan did.  So the 123 #1 plug terminal is in a different spot.

At this point you could probably move the plug wires over one terminal as suggested earlier.  To get the timing mark right.  You might also need to "phase" the rotor correctly so that you don't get random spark to the other terminal that it's close to, since it's between terminals.  As timing advances that problem might show up.  Something to do in the future.  Does the 123 allow the trigger to be adjusted independently of the drive shaft?

[Home Built by Jeff]

10 hours ago, Zed Head said:

Good work on resetting the distributor drive shaft to the factory setting.  Not sure what's going on with your 123 distributor.  Seems like they did not get the drive slot oriented to the rotor in the same way that Nissan did.  So the 123 #1 plug terminal is in a different spot.

At this point you could probably move the plug wires over one terminal as suggested earlier.  To get the timing mark right.  You might also need to "phase" the rotor correctly so that you don't get random spark to the other terminal that it's close to, since it's between terminals.  As timing advances that problem might show up.  Something to do in the future.  Does the 123 allow the trigger to be adjusted independently of the drive shaft?

Yes. You can program in the advance at whatever RPM intervals and advance you would like, which is a great idea in my book.

As for the shaft drive, I could set the drive up 90 degrees out, so that the rotor sits in the correct position, but it is working for now, so I am not sure if I can be bothered pulling it all apart again right now.

[Mike W]

I was one of the earliest users of the 123 ignition in a Z car and so have quite a bit of experience with it over the years that I have used it. 

I can also tell you that I had a similar advance problem at idle with my initial install.  If I remember correctly, and according to the install instructions, everything needs to be at TDC on the engine.  You install the 123 distributor, apply power, and turn it until an LED turns on and that's where you are supposed to lock the distributor in place.  However, after some trial and error, I figured out that at idle I was at about 30 degrees advanced, and this was with a flat 0 degree advance programmed into the 123 distributor.  I ultimately concluded that the distributor was not rotated to the proper point for a 0 degree advance, despite the fact that it had been installed properly (with the LED) as per the instructions.  So what I ended up doing was unlocking the distributor, ensuring it was programmed for a 0 degree advance (up to about 1500 RPM's), and rotated the distributor until I was at 0 degrees as measured with a timing light.  I then programmed in some additional advance at idle (I believe about 12 degrees) and double checked it with a timing light to ensure it agreed with the programmed values.  

So for some reason the LED install instructions did not work in my application, but by setting the initial timing of the 123 like you would a normal distributor, I was able to get it to work as expected.  And the ease of changing timing curves is awesome.  

In any case, hope that helps.  If you have any other questions on this just let me know.

Mike.

[Home Built by Jeff]

Thanks Mike. I will have to play around with mine, but like you, I have now got it going. It is not as intended by 123, but while it is working I am ok with it. It is something I can play around more with later, but overall I love that it is flexible and programmable. That makes all the difference to me.

[Home Built by Jeff]

After 18 long months of tinkering in the garage, I finally get to drive the 680G.

 

 

[gwri8]

Congrats on the milestone!  Your Z disease is now irreversible and it shows. ?

[w3wilkes]

Fantastic, congrats! One thing to remember is you're almost sitting on the rear axle and that front end is quite a ways out there. You wouldn't believe how may dented front of the hoods I've seen over the years due to people not realizing how far out in front the nose really is. The rest of that is to remember not to turn too soon and hit curb with the rear wheel.

Edited April 14, 2019 by w3wilkes

[Home Built by Jeff]

It is finally time to do something a bit more permanent about my spray booth.

 

 

[240260280]

Ahhhh building with wood!  I love it... Nice stuff.