elementalvoid

I'm going to dig up this topic even though it is ancient. This doesn't work for me. I've got a '77 280Z and I wired it exactly as you and the manual say. I'm using the magnetic pickup from my distributor, battery + and - are connected, small red wire has +12V ignition source, and coil + and - are connected. The white wire is not used. Now for the problem... It won't stay running. It will start up, then sputters out right away. Any suggestions?

Hey guys, I'm completely new here and just bought a '77 280z. Haven't even done an introduction thread yet.. So thanks in advance for any help you can give me. I'm having some issues getting the Z to pass emissions. First try was really bad. CO2 was well under limits, but HC was double the limit. I pulled the timing back to ~2 BTDC and that helped a lot. This test was the same on CO2 an only about 50 over on HC. This also made a misfire more evident. I started digging through things to see what was wrong. Checked the plugs and they were fine. Had to regap one but it was only off by a tiny bit. Checked that all injectors are firing (sounding). I started to test the resistance on the plug wires following the service manual procedure (i.e. wires attached to the distributor cap) and found one with no continuity. Turns out that it was not connected to the cap at all!! The boot was the only thing holding it on the cap. It was REALLY oxidized. I cleaned the oxidation off the wire and the cap and reconnected it. Resistance on all wires is well under limits now. ~15-20 kOhms each. When I went to test the air gap on the pickup I found that the reluctor is damaged. Every other pickup point is broken about half off. Is this a common problem? So, my question I guess is this.. Will fixing the misfire due to the plug wire not firing correctly (or at all) be enough to pass emissions? I'm not sure how much a difference would be seen by one cylinder not burning correctly. Also, I tried Jim's test with the oil cap and dipstick. My car runs perfectly fine with the oil cap off as well as the dipstick out. No change in idle at all. Is this definitive proof that there is a vacuum leak? Or just a clue that there might be? Thanks again for any help you guys can give. Matt ----- EDIT I have pictures of the reluctor if needed. I don't have access to get them on my computer at the moment.