77 280z Restoration

[Captain Obvious]

I will get my geek on and start a thread about such things. 

[Zed Head]

I have many questions.  Can't wait.  Maybe some Pertronix or 123 modules can be looked at, to compare.  Or David Vizard's 4500 RPM limit (V8) for the HEI module.  Many unanswered questions floating around out there.

[Dave WM]

On 9/18/2022 at 10:34 AM, Av8ferg said:

Dave the sending unit is a single female type bullet connector.  Is this the one you’re talking about? 

there is a two piece with the sender mounting into a separate screw in brass holder and then there is the one piece where the sender and the screws are all one brass piece. the OE is the two piece with separate screw in / sender bits. I did not know about this, ended up with the one piece which fitment is the same, came with a O ring (not used not sure why its included). It seems the seal is made by the conical shaped end of the sender in both types. 

[280Zrewind]

Very interesting ignition discussion!  I have some info on fuel injectors that I read many years ago. The injectors in our Z’s need cleaning more often then those a generation late.  The vintage of injectors in our Z’s we’re tested by running a test engine for many hours continuously and there were no issues with gumming up. What they missed was that an engine doesn’t run continuously during its life.  When the inservice engine was shut off a bit of fuel would remain in the injector, evaporator and leave behind varnish. That would make the injector slow to close after the electric signal was cut off and would lead to a fuel mixture that was too rich. Later generations solved this problem though I don’t remember how. 
The most effective way to clean was a cleaning kit that consisted of a pressurized can of concentrate cleaner that could also serve as engine fuel and the associated plumbing to connect this to the fuel rail, control the pressure and a pinch clamp to block off the gasoline return line. (I think you blocked the supply by pulling the fuel pump fuse, but I don’t remember for certain.)

When I owned my 76 (bought it new), I owned one of these kits and it worked very well.  

[Zed Head]

1 hour ago, 280Zrewind said:

I have some info on fuel injectors that I read many years ago.

Official Nissan material or something else?  Do you have a reference?

I'm pretty sure that the injectors do boil dry at times, it fits with the heat soak/hot start problem.

[280Zrewind]

Sorry I don’t recall a reference. I read this more than two decades ago when I was trying to figure out if my 95 Ford engine needed the injector cleaning that my Z got.  The 95 went well over a 100,000 miles and never needed the injectors cleaned.  The 76 Z couldn’t pass our Phoenix, AZ area emissions test if the injectors weren’t cleaned more frequently.  It would run too rich. Nothing that was noticeable in performance, just failed emissions on high HC. 

Sometimes as an old guy you wonder why you remember certain things with great clarity and are vague recalling things of far more importance!

 

[Av8ferg]

Gents, I’ve been off the net that past month or so.  Life, family, work and other issues have kept me away from my time in the garage with the Z.  Currently sitting in the Paris airport waiting to return to the US.  It’s been an 11 day trip and I’m ready to be home with the family and back to work in the garage.  
Here’s where I left off last time with the car.   Working on the stereo speaker install, the work it a bit tedious because of my OCD.  I bought some 6x9 speakers to build a box below the deck to improve the sound quality.   I have a couple more days of work to do there.  This is my extra deck, so I can always go back to OE look.  
My headers came in about a month ago from ZStory.   They look great, very happy with the stuff he puts out.  I had been waiting a long time for this last part of his system so that’s in the works too.   Im taking it this week to get ceramic coated, for heat transfer mitigation.  
The car has been driving great, the more miles I put on it the more the kinks seems to be getting worked out.   I have a couple issues to address.

I also finished the from carbon fiber lip install.  I like this much better that the xenon valance.  I’ll post a few pics. 

1. High Idle - car idles fine on start but after driving it around and coming to a stop the idle will hover around 1000-1100 RPM.   In order to get it back down I have to pump the accelerator one time and then it returns to 800.  Let me know if anyone has a clue why it does this but it’s pretty consistent. 
2. I have a rattle on my right rear strut.   I think I have the spacer loose from the shocks bouncing around there..   I’m not motivated right not to pull it out .and address it. 
3. A small oil leak.  Getting about 10 ml of fluid that appears to come from near the passenger side closer to transmission.  I think it’s coming from the reverse switch but haven’t confirmed it.  Got a new gaskets waiting to be installed. 

[dutchzcarguy]

In a Ghostlike voice: I can see you! in the bumperrrr...  On your socks! 

Btw. the rpm's keeping hanging to high .. i got that too..  a bit..   i think the set of carbs  (mine) need a restore or good cleaning at least.. it's 15 years ago i did this for the last time.. so.... 

Nice 280z you got there!  I think i need such a spoiler/front lip too..  At 210 on the german highway the car wants to take off a bit hahaha.. yeah kilometers.. not miles!

[Zed Head]

When the idle is hanging high, leave it alone, open the hood, and press on the throttle body linkage to see if the blade is hanging in the TB.  I had that problem on mine and it was just a gummed up throttle body bore.  Not uncommon, Nissan rerouted the PCV hoses to reduce the problem.  The other possibility is the BCDD.

[Av8ferg]

Wanted to share my experience with getting my front end aligned.  So I took the car to a local shop with a great reputation, had them do other work before on my other vehicles.   Anyway dropped it off yesterday morning and it sat there all day and they didn’t finish it until this morning (had a sick mechanic).  I really wanted it done yesterday because the East coast got hammered today with a big storm today and I didn’t want to drive in the pouring rain.   Once they finished the work they parked it outside in the downpour.😞   
So the alignment was was out of whack, which I expected since I rebuilt the entire front end and reconditioned the steering rack.   Here are the before and after, you can see the camber numbers..   Of note for those using lowering springs that your camber will be off.   He said I was in the limit but said it would be fine.   Attributed it to my lowered springs.   Drove it home in the rain like so stole it.   Driving so nicely, but nos she’s all dirty.   😩
 

[Av8ferg]

Here’s an update.   I’ve been busy but have had a chance to make more progress on the Z.  

I took the car on a 100 mile round trip drive and it drove flawlessly.  Got it to about 85mph.  No shakes, or rattles, engine pulls hard and has good torque.  This was the farthest I’ve been from home in it and I’m building a lot of confidence. 
 

Latest work completed.
1. Zstory headers came in a while back and I finally got around to ceramic coating them (at a local shop) and installed them.  Very tight fit but worked fine.  Scratched up the ceramic coating a bit on install unfortunately.

2. Finished mounting rear deck 6x9 speakers

3. Replaced the speedo gear to a 19 tooth to match my set up.

4. New Reverse Switch

5. Wrapped the center counsel armrest and installed that.

6. installed a fire extinguisher in the car. 

7. Intalled new door trim (top of door rim)

8.  New Skillard license plate light 

Turn signal stopped working again, hazards work fine.  Haven’t looked it over yet. 

Here are the latest pics.  
 

 

 

Edited February 16, 2023 by Av8ferg
Add pics

[dutchzcarguy]

16 hours ago, Av8ferg said:

building a lot of confidence. 

Hey Ferg, I have "fixed" my 240z between 1998 and 2000, i had a accident at work and needed a car as my boss putted me after 13 years on the street.. (I had a company car) and the 240z was a hobby.. it failed in 23 years just twice and it was because of no fuel in it and a under hood light that had a burnt out bulb, and it came back to live through a shaking car and draint the battery!   

What i want to say: these s30's are one of the most reliable cars there are around. i always laugh when people with " modern " cars have all kind of trouble with theire cars..  As these s30 have a electric plan that fits on a A4 piece of paper there is not much that can go wrong!

And when i see what some people have to pay for theire garage bill pfff.. Crazy Money!! 🤬

Edited February 17, 2023 by dutchzcarguy