thelazyman

Thanks for the feedback everyone. But just to go down the list: No cracks in Dist cap. All vaccum hoses have been replaced so I don't think Ihave any leaks. All fuel lines have been replaced and I am not seeing any fuel leaks. New Distributor. New fuel filter. New injectors. Timing is set to 10 degrees. Car is all stock with the exception of almost everything being new or replaced. AFM is original to car and the boots were replaced. So it could indeed be the AFM. Here is what I know so far. I have spark on all cylinders. I have 30 to 40 psi of fuel pressure (30 at low idle 40 if I rev it). I have fuel and spark and alot of smoke which tells me I don't have enough air. Unfortunately there are so many things with this car that can cause this problem. AFM, ECU, Air regulator, TPS, Air Mixture screw on AFM, some odd loss connection...I guess I am just stuck going back over everything and trying to figure out what it could be. THe last resort will be to take a 20 lb sledge hammer and put it out of it misery. I know in the end it will be some simple little thing that is causing all of this.

Further followup. Just tried to start the car again and now I am having a problem starting it. I have to pump the pedal to get it running and it will not idle now. I have to keep reving it to get it going. And when I do I am getting alot of black smoke. My fuel pressue is steady at about 30 - 35 psi. And I am getting spark on all cylinders.

Just a followup. I have a fuel pressure gauge installed after the fuel filter and when idling I am seeing about 30 psi. When running under load I am seeing ~40 psi. Is this normal. I am wondering if what I am seeing is due to the engine running too rich. How would I even adjust that.

Z scout. I am having the same problem. Car was running fine but woudl stall after 20 minutes of running. I replaced the pickup coil and I saw the exact same thing you did. My timing was perfect before and after the swap I couldn't even get close to 10 degrees. I am still trying to figure out what happened. I ended up buying a new distributor and got my timeing back but the car still runs like crap. Let me know if you ever figured out what happened.

I have a 78 280z that I just can't seem to get running right. The car will idle just fine albeit a little rough but when I get it out on the road it seems to sputter under load. Just cruising it seems to be OK not great just OK. But when starting from a dead stop the car will sort of studder. Not sure if that makes sense but it seems like it is choking or something. The engine is just not smooth. And for this reason I can't get it smogged and overall the car is just not realiable. Can anyone help. I am just getting so frustrated with this car. I have put in a new distributor, injectors, altenator, the engine has been completely rebulit. Valves are adjusted. New fuel filter. I have set the timing to 10 degrees and when I do this I have to rotate the distributor all the way counter clockwise until it stops. I can't get any more than 10 - 12 degrees. This doesn't seem right and even with the timing set the idle is still not right. I give up I just can't figure this thing out. PLEASE HELP!!!