m4xwellmurd3r

nope it's the normal fan. http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v230/half_breed/My%20Z/?action=view&current=DSC06838.jpg it's the steel line right under the number 1 cylinder it goes to the metal block (which has a vacuum line hooked up to it) and then it goes back to the thermostat housing. i found out what it is. it's a part of the EGR system. It's a thermal vacuum valve/heater housing assembly.

alright. I guess i'll do that. another question. what's the thing that attaches to the lower rad hose, and the thermostat block (small tube, it goes to some sort of block) i think i might do the same thing i was planning, but with the radiator out of the car (just so i can make sure the engine is clean) i've got all weekend off, so that's a BIG plus!! i suppose since the car will be down for a while, i'll check to see if the pump is clogged with gunk.

so, the coolant is definitely in dire need of a flush. i think i'll get the rad flushed. (how much would that cost on average?) anyways, i'm going to flush it all. the gasket for the thermostat was horrid looking (but it wasn't leaking), and bits of it were stuck to the thermostat, so replacing it is definitely a good idea. I ordered new hoses for it as well (it'll be here tommorow) so today i'm going to pull most of the coolant system out. this will be a fun project hahaha. I just thought of an idea. could i disconnect the upper hose from the radiator, and hook it up to a drain hose, then run it with a constant supply of fresh water, and just let it idle for a little bit while anything in it is flushed out.

the reason why i was thinking it could be that the thermostat is missing/stuck open somehow, is because i read up that if the flow is too high, the radiator becomes a bottle neck and can collapse the hose. I think it is soft, so i'll replace it as well. I think what I'll do, is pull off the hoses, flush all the lines out, and clean them up the best i can (considering i'm at an apartment) From looking in the radiator through the cap, it appears clean, but appearances can be deceiving. this probably wouldn't work how i think it would, but would it be possible to disconnect the lower radiator hose from the rad, connect it to a water source, and run the car for a little to see if it'll flush out any debris that may have accumulated?

i bought a 180 thermostat. i'm going to put it in tommorow probably, along with seeing if anything is plugging a hose. I really think it's the thermostat being stuck wide open though. Unless there's a clog somewhere, it would make sense (ultra high flow=poor cooling+collapsing hose) i still need to clean the fuelline giong to the pump. I have a feeling it's plugged up and making my car have poor fuel pressure. (runs ultra lean)

Replaced the dizzy cap i'm the crossfire i was getting is gone, but i'm deffinetly lacking fuel pressure (lean as hell) when i looked at the dizzy cap, the little metal rods, were really bad. I found a clue to why my car's overheating. Lower radiator tube is collapsing at higher RPM's. is more likely to be a thermostate busted problem or a clog in the system? So, i need to find my exact fuel pressure (i'll be it's wicked low, or i need rebuilt injectors) AND i need to flush the radiator/replace the thermostat (bought a new one) I also bought a torque wrench and a timing light. the timing light WAS 40, but anthony (awesome dude at checkers that comes in to starbucks sometimes) Discounted it for me to 19.99 Schweet!

actually, i highly doubt that. I work at starbucks, some i'm there 6/7 days a week ^^ I've got a metric socket set from like, 4mm (or less?) all the way up to 19mm (go craftsman) I've also got a metric wrench set from like 2mm all the way up to like 21mm i don't know if this is possible, but could carbon traces in the dizzy cap cause odd sparking, causing one cylinder to act dead? i don't think it's the head gasket, but i'll make sure EVERYTHING is taken care of before i decided to go in and pull off the head. what does a gasket leak sound like? (random, but something i found out that made me smile a bit. last month of the 78 was 6/78, my car, 5/78 i think it's within the last 10k cars (vin 46x,xxx, last vin, 470,009)

actually i'm not quite sure i'm running on all 6. i have a feeling that the crossfire from number 2 is somehow effecting number3, because number 3 acts like there's nothin goin on at all. I'm gonna see if i can rent a compression tester from checkers (i didn't see any for sale) i'm hoping the head gasket isn't blown out to the outside of the block. I doubt it, because if i can get it to clear up and everything, and rev it to around 3k, if i pull number 3 you can hear it drop. i might not be getting adequate fuel pressure or something. it's a whole lot of work, and not a lot of money at this point. I really dont' want to pull the head if it's the gasket, but that's because i don't trust my abilities enough (and i'm lacking a torque wrench) it also sucks that i don't have a garage to work in. but it might be something like the dizzy cap causing erradic sparks, thus making number 3 act weird due to some sort of problem with the cap. who knows haha. i'll find out tommorow afternoon though. I'll also properly adjust that timing!

ah, thanks for that info. maybe mine is shot and stuck wide open constantly. here's another one. i'm an idiot as far as timing goes. which way advances, which way retards. from what i understand, turning it clockwise will advance, and counter clock will retard. am i correct? i'm also tossing a new dizzy cap tommorow. when i looked at it before, it looked like the posts inside had erroded away, and i think its' causing my engine to crossfire and miss. I drove it tonight, it was much cooler, and it stayed about half way for about 10 minutes or so, but once i started getting on it a bit harder it heated to around 210ish. I've found something interesting out. My car runs pretty rough, but once it hits about 3000-3500 it starts pulling harder. So i think i've got a whole mess of ignition and fuel problems, along with cooling issues hahaha. still, i'm spending a lot less fixing this car so far, than i am trying to buy the other car, which had 0 brakes.

haha, no, i'm 100% sure it's over heating. it's because the coolant is god knows how old, and has corroded/gummed up inside the lines/radiator (probably). i'm not sure about the thermostat, but the radiator cap looks farily knew, and is rated at 16lbs i know it's not a head gasket like someone said to me today, since it doesn't burn any water, and the antifreeze is clean of oil and the oil clean of antifreeze (i did an oil change on it a couple days ago, a few things i looked for were metal chips (just in case soemthing was amiss that i didn't notice) and for any water) i'm going to pull the hoses and clean it all out to make sure there isn't something blocking it (i've even heard taht someone had a chunk of something nasty inside it that had built up over the years) it doesn't help that it's blazing hot in AZ and i'm sure that the car sitting outside for years hasn't helped the coolant either. it's probably stagnant inside. what would be the best way to flush it at home? I've heard of using vinigar and distilled water for a little while to clean it, then draining it out and putting new coolant helps, but what would your guy's advice be? Im' also going to check the timing. It might be off since the p/o didn't check it when he got the car (he never drove it for the year he had it since he had to many ongoing projects) I suppose i'll pick up a new thermostat tommorow when i go to the parts store.

So, i finally got to take my 280z out for a spin today. It ran great. till it overheated, the headgasket is fine, it doesn't burn antifreeze (no smoke) nor does it leak into the oil or anything (looked in the rad, no oil) but it overheats REALLY badly. could it be that there's some nasty garbage inside the hoses or something? how would i know if it's the water pump, if that's the problem? (when i say bad, i mean, within like, 5-10 minutes of driving)

not really. the Z432 had the S20 engine from the GT-R of the time. so it was an engine swap, and not a bolt on. however, Nissan did have a racing head for the L series that was a twin cam if i remember correctly Having a twin cam on my car would really be awesome. I wonder what sort of a difference in power it would be from stock, to direct bolt on of the new head... and seeing 1 fast z's head on that car, and watch it fire up. that's engineering ingenuity right there. everyone was saying "oh that won't work blah blah blah" he did it anyways. I can't wait to see the driving videos

oh, so it's a notch. I still have the front cover notches, but i didn't know the pully was notched. that makes it easier. (every car i've had, it was a painted mark) I'm wondering if maybe the cap has aluminum electrode things in them (what are they called?) and that they have erroded away. they're deffinetly not brass. yeah, i actually marked my wires to make sure i remeber which goes where. i'll write down the order in my book i have (i keep a notebook in my car, describing certian mantinance things, such as valve adjustments, and plans on what needs to be done to the car) I'm going to buy a chilton manual soon as well. (i've been using an online repair manual, which is almost as good.

actually, last time i checked inside the dizzy cap, it looked quite...worn? the electrode things inside (that send the spark to the wires) looked like they've seen better days. I wouldn't be surprised if it was the original one from 78. I needa buy a timing light it's the one thing i haven't gotten yet. the plug wires do appear to be new, so i think it might be the dizzy cap. I'll buy a timing light tommorow after i get my 30 day temp tag for my car. there's one other problem. I dont' think my pully has it's timing mark anymore o_o what should i do about that? since i have to pull off my dizzy cap (most likely) should i set it to TDC and mark the pully? (if i set it to tdc, with the dizzy pointing where it should and everything, would that be the 0 point on the timing ticks?

So, i was pulling the plug wires on my 280z today, and i noticed something odd. the number 2 sounded like it was sparking twice as much as the rest at first, i thought it was my ears, so i let it arc onto some metal, sure enough, it was sparking double rate what the rest were so if it would be like this 1 2 3 spark, 1 2 3 spark it would go 1 spark 3 spark 1 spark 3 spark something like that what the hell's goin on here???

that's why i went with VR1 DaveN It retains the high ZDDP levels in the oil.

Would a Chilton's manual suffice? cause unless i get it online, a chilton's all i can get (at checkers next door) I don't really care much about the COST of oil, as far as i do the QUALITY of the oil ^^ so for me, I don't mind usin something a bit more expensive in my car, as long as it's the right kind, with the right properties. I was reading up on the forums a bit about how a lot of oils are reducing the ZDDP levels in them, which in an old car like a z, is a bad thing, and that VR1 has those high levels of zddp required for cars like ours (something along those lines. I know zddp bonds to the metal to form an added barrier, which if i remember, is why our cars need them)

i'm using 20w-50 Valvoline Racing VR1 in mine. it probably has around 160k (the odometer reads 66k, i dunno if it's true)

I prefer to do oil changes myself, but that's because that way, I know exactly what comes out, what goes in, and what doesn't seem right. but i'm like that for all maintenance on my car.

I have no doubt on what color my car is/should be. i still have the code sticker. there's a huge difference between what the outside looks, and what the paint looks like where the sun never got to it though, so i can understand why RED would seem ORANGE after 30 years of sun. i've also noticed that underneath emblems and such, the paint looks better than anywhere else. i would just go with what the sticker says honestly (or do what bravo did)

not only that, but the font is wrong. and the colors XP I wanna know what it says above the needle though. from the angle i can't make it out well enough to read it.

I'll bet too, that crud has built up on mostly numbers 1,3,4,5. because those are the wicked lean cylinders. 2 and 6 are extremely rich. it would make sense then, that the higher rpms would cause the fuel pressure to push past the crud on those cylinders, but at the same time, the excess pressure caused by the crud, would cause numbers 2 and 6 to run even more rich (maybe even forcing fuel through the injectors?)

Cool, thanks for the tip. I'll try it out once i get my next paycheck, that way i can get it insured, get a 30 day tag, and drop the tank out to get it flushed.

that's pretty much how mine is. it's running better now, but won't run good till you hold it around 2k for a little bit. and once it hits idle, it runs nasty again. the fuel lines/fuel tank is probably crudded up, and will need cleaning. simple enough, just a bit time consuming for me (since i'm the only one working on mine, outside, in the sun. good luck on your car. it sounds like you're fighting the same gremlins i'm fighting.

I took a look at them for ya. they're Hiprex fuel lines. they aren't really strechy, they just feel weird to me because i'm used to the normal stiff braided fuel lines of carbie cars.