rickl750

I found a fried wire and replace it, everything works fine now. Thanks, Rick

Hi Guys, I recently had to take the battery out of my 1978 280Z to start another car and when I put it back I did not strap it in. The next day I found it leaning against the block and now it won’t start. The volt meter red light turns on, on the first turn of the key but when its turn completely to start the engine the needle goes to zero, the red light turns off and the engine/starter do nothing. Could it be possible something burnt out if the positive terminal touched the engine block? On a visual inspection I could not see anything, any ideas would be appreciated. Regards, Rick

rxsleeper, That's it! That’s what I have. I just realize that the drum does not want to go on because the pads are too spread out. It looks like the parking brake needs to be adjusted, this should turn assembled, but I'm having issues. I may have to take it apart again. Btw, I already broke the lower tension spring and have to get another one. I might be doing something wrong in the assembly. I'm putting the springs on both shoes and then I'm spreading them to fit. I have not been able to put the springs on when the shoes are in place. If you guys have a better way of doing this please let me know. Thanks, Rick

Hi Guys, Thank you for all your suggestions. Btw, I should have mentioned that I have a 1978 280Z and I think it might be slightly different than older Zs. The pictures in the manuals don't resemble what I have. I was able to remove the driver's side drum and have attached a couple of pictures. The first pic shows the piston but no starwheel and the 2nd pic has a wheel behind the piston (circled in red) and that's for adjusting the hand brake and can't be accessed thru the front, it does have an access hole in the back but very difficult to reach the wheel. Anyway, I worked on the passenger’s side without luck, I guess I'll try again tomorrow I ran out of light. Thanks again, Rick

Hi Guys, My rear brakes are grinding really bad and after ordering all the parts required to do a complete overhaul I ran into a problem. Today I started to take things apart and I can't remove the old drums, it appears there's no starwheel. I have looked at both sides and had a friend take a look and we can't find one. Could the previous owner have left them out? If so how do I remove the drums? Thanks, for your help. Rick

I got mine from Energy Suspensions. http://www.energysuspensionparts.com/products.asp?cat=1353

A lancia Scorpion, I used to have a 1977 last production year and had to sell her I could not affort to keep her . My dream machine a Lancia Stratos.

The advance is moving freely. Valves are good I had them checked when I had the head checked durring the head gasket replacement. I'll do a compresion test next weekend and go from there. Thanks, Rick

Hi Stephen, Ok, I removed the distributor, cleaned it up and put it back in place and I was able to set proper timing (10 BTDC). Unfortunately I broke the retaining bolt and had to extract the broken piece and re-tap. She’s running much better now and no smoke. She still has that put, put feel on initial acceleration but I’m sure I’ll figure it out eventually. I’m being patience and going over everything again. One thing I found a bearing floating around in the distributor, I’m hopping that this is not a sign of a distributor replacement in the near future. Thanks for all your help. Rick

This is a long story but I’ll make it as brief as possible. I bought the car about a year ago (my first Z) and it was running great, very strong considering she had 175,000+ miles. The only issue I had was with the AFM that would act up from time to time. I placed my order with MSA over the phone and we went over everything and matched the numbers, so I’m sure it’s the right one. Anyway, before the AFM arrived I blew the head gasket and had to replace it. This was pretty straight forward, everything went well, except when I started the engine for the first time, it ran pretty bad as expected (burning all the crap in her) but was not smoothing out. I got very concerned and took her apart to check the timing chain, sprocket and make sure I didn’t screw-up. Everything was fine, fired her up and after an hour or so she was running pretty good, a little rough but nothing to worry about. About a day later I started having issues with the idle and gray/black smoke, allot of smoke. I went thru the following: -Checked all connections and vacuum lines (still labeled from the head gasket replacement) -Cleaned most of the connectors (will do the rest this weekend) -Tested the water temperature sensor Throttle Position Switch Auxiliary Air Regulator Fuel injectors including the cold start not sure what the real name is (the 7th one) -Replaced the AFM (it arrived) Spark plugs, cap, rotor, cables and all vacuum lines. I also checked other thing (switches, sensors) according to the EFI bible (things are bit fuzzy don’t remember everything I did during the last two weeks) The last thing I did was to go thru every vacuum line and device that they where attached too. I either blew into the houses or created suction and inspected visually. On the large vacuum line under the intake manifold I found a lot or crud and cleared it, I also replaced the water temperature sensor (even though it tested fine) and started the car. She ran a lot better with little smoke and it’s now drivable. She still smokes but very little and runs a little rough, meaning she is not smooth there’s a very faint put, put as you accelerate (I hope you understand what I mean). I've tried adjusting the timing to 20 Btdc as indicated on the Chilton and Haynes manual but I can only get it to about 25 Btdc. The distributor has been turned as far as it goes. At this point I’m assuming that’s the reason why she’s not running smooth. Btw, when I removed the distributor cap I found a single bearing floating in the distributor so, at this point I'm thinking that's where my last issue lies. Thanks, Rick

Well, I guess I'm on my own! Thank you all for your assistance. For those of you that might stumble on this thread, here are some links that I used to partially resolve my issue. http://www.atlanticz.ca/zclub/techtips/EFI&fuel.htm http://www.atlanticz.ca/zclub/techtips/efisystem/280zfuelinjectionbook.pdf http://www.atlanticz.ca/zclub/techtips/tps/index.html http://www.classiczcars.com/forums/showthread.php?t=31702&highlight=idle http://www.classiczcars.com/forums/showthread.php?t=31531&highlight=idle http://www.classiczcars.com/forums/showthread.php?t=30868&highlight=idle

Ok, she's now running fairly well. I found a clog in one of the vacuum connections and I replaced the water tempature sensor. She is still moking, not as much as before never the less still smoking. I've adjusted the timming without much improvement. Anyone have any suggestions? Thanks,

Ok, I've replaced every vacuum line and still having the same issue. Any suggestions? Thanks, Rick

Hi Guys, The timing is fine so is the throttle valve switch as far as I can tell, I don't have a volt meter so I tested it manually as indicated on the atlanticZ website http://www.atlanticz.ca/zclub/techtips/tps/index.html Having said that I found something curious, when I start the engine it takes about 15sec before she starts smoking and idleling rough. I took the clamp of the boot between the air flow meter and the throttle body and started the engine, just as it started to run rough I separated the boot from the air flow meter to allow additional air in and the engine smooth out the smoke almost completely disappeared. I checked the connector and it is fine. The air flow meter is new and I just replaced it because the old one would act up once in a while. At this point I've done the same test with the old and new air flow meter with the same results. So I'm assuming that there's an issue with air flow, but I'm not to sure how to proceed. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks, Rick

24x2:cool: My first Z, 1978 280z 2+2 I've wanted one since the first time I saw one in high school 1978.

Sblake01, I have not checked it. I found one of your threads on testing the throttle valve switch and will do it on Friday (I took the day off to hopefully take care of this). http://www.classiczcars.com/forums/showthread.php?t=27642&highlight=throttle+valve+switch Thanks, Rick

The car has been running great for over a year until the head gasket blew. It sat for about a month until I had time to do the work. After the gasket was replaced it ran good, like it used to for about a day and then this happened. It starts right away but it's rough and after a minute or so, it has problems idling on her own and it starts to smoke.

Racebird1, Thanks for your suggestions, I’ll try to check the fuel pressure in the next couple of days. I need to by a pressure gauge and try to get home while there’s still some daylight. As for the air flow meter it’s new and the boot has no cracks or holes. But your right I need to find out what’s missing to make her run right, more or less fuel/air etc. Thanks again, I’ll post my results after I get a chance to try your suggestions. Rick

Hi Guys, I’m back with more problems. On the last episode I had finished replacing my head gasket and after a few issues (rough idle, gray smoke, etc) she started running fine. Now a few days later I’m having issues again, she’s running rough, can’t really idle on her own, gray smoke out of the tail pipe. So far I’ve checked the wires, plugs, vacuum lines and try adjusting the timing, since I don’t have a timing light I’ve simply tried moving the distributor just a little to see if it improves (I’m picking up a timing light tonight). I’ve done a lot of searches and tried what was suggested without luck. I’m not sure what else to do at this point, any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Btw, I have a 1978 280Z 2+2 L28 stock with automatic transmission. One more thing as part of my troubleshooting I replaced the air flow meter (I had just purchased one from Motor Sports) Rick :mad:

Hi Guys, I confirmed the timing, put it back together and started the engine. It ran very rough but after 10min it smooth out and she now idles on her own. She’s still smoked allot for about an hour and then cleared up. She’s good now, running a little rough and I’m sure once I tune her up she’ll be fine. Thank you all your help, Rick

Guys, one quick question. On TDC the long part of the lobe (the toe) on the cam for #1 piston should they be pointing up or down? Thanks

I just took it apart and checked the timing chain. The piston at TDC, distributor pointing at #1 wire and the notch on the sprocket aligns with the one on the cam plate, the valves also seem to be closed. The only strange thing is that the bright link on the chain is lined up with the #2 mark on the sprocket (that's the way it was before disassembly). Anyway, I'll crank it over in a little wile and see what happens. Btw, I did go over all the vacuum lines, wires, etc. )I had labeled everything) Thanks,

Gray smoke and the head gasket was blown.

Hi Guys, I just replaced the head gasket on my 1978 280Z. I started the engine and it's running very rough and it's smoking like crazy. I tried adjusting the timing and it helps a little but not enough. I was very careful with the timing chain and hope that's not the issues. Does anyone have any thoughts? If the concensus is the timing chain, what's the best way to adjust it? Thanks in advance for your help. Rick

Diseazd, I bought the 260Z bumper from Black Dragon about a year ago. I really didn’t see any difference between the 240 and the 260 unless they sent me the wrong one. Part 99-024 FRONT BUMPER BAR 149.95 my total was $200 with shipping to NJ. Btw, I used it on a 280z and it looks great. Rick