Pilgrim

FYI...I can't open it or save it. Not sure what's going on.

Oh God almightly, BE CAREFUL!!! I did this. There is a drawing in the manual for a wood wedge that is used to block the chain tensioner from moving when you create slack. The drawing is deceptive - that tensioner is much farther down inside the timing gear cover than you think it is. I have been in there, and I personally would NOT do that unless I could get a very accurate wedge drawing from someone with a demonstrated working wedge. (I'm delighted that you have a volunteer for this.) That wedge has to be way down in the timing cover, and it must be tapped into place VERY firmly. I thought this was a rather trivial deal when I pulled the cam sprocket, but it is NOT. It's a potential huge pain in the arse. Screw that up, and you'll have to pull the fan, water pump, crank pulley, and timing cover to get at the tensioner. It is VERY difficult to get that timing cover back on with the gaskets oriented properly with the head on the engine. I gave up and had a professional shop do it.

Let us know what it costs. Maybe I'll be inspired to make is functional. Don't bet heavily on that....

The headlight washer pump on my 83 ZXT died years ago. Since I regard this as in contention for the most useless feature ever installed on a passenger car, I have cheerfully ignored it. There's a similar feature on my 2008 BMW 328ix Sportwagon, and the driver's side nozzle kept leaking and depleting the washer fluid. I noticed that it only leaked for a couple of hours after the system activated (automatically) so I pulled the fuse for the headlight washer. Now the headlight washers don't work when I wash the windshield, and they don't leak. And when I wash the windshield, I do the headlights.

I doubt thr visual matters. Most just check emissions. For that matter, few people know what the original looks like.

I've had this done once or twice, but it's not "rocket surgery" so there are many options you can find online. Mine were done in 2016 by Cruzin Performance, 1509 N. Orchard Drive, Traverse City, M 49686. Phone: 213.796.5705. (I keep a careful file, and found the receipt.) I didn't request separate data on each injector, and don't recall if I got it. The time previous to that, probably 15+ years ago, I used a gent in SOCAL and he labeled each injector separately. You might request that detail.

They may be wrong. Specialists are what I'd depend upon. Chances are they can be straightened by a specialist. IIRC those are not factory option wheels, they were simply a very popular style that were often purchased for Z-cars throughout the 70's.

I was thinking that you might want to have them flow tested for two reasons. First, to determine what you have. Second, although it's running smoothly, it would be good to find out how well they are working. If they turn out to be turbo injectors, you should be able to find a buyer if you have the test results to show they're working well.

It's very nice to drive! The biggest thing I notice is the noise level when I get to highway speeds. I installed a radio with Bluetooth connection, but at 70 MPH there is enough overall wind and mechanical noise that I can't hear callers and I don't believe they can make out my voice above the noise level. That's with door and window seals that are only about 6 years old. Driving a 30+ year old car is a fast reminder of how mechanical they are and how much difference there is with my 10-year-old BMW 3-series (six speed manual.) But I didn't buy it to have conversations, I bought it to have fun driving it. So, no problem. In town it's fine.

I've had the injectors out of my 1983 280ZX a few times, and those look like OEM injectors to me. They're weathered enough to show that they've been installed for a long time.

Not to beat a dead horse, but I think the owner is going to have to decide how much closer to stock it's reasonable to take this engine..because that's the only starting point you can find references for. Maybe not too close is necessary. Personally, I think I'd be checking body and engine serial numbers to confirm which year each of them really is, and then getting as close to stock as I can, even if it means stripping the needed stuff off a dead engine I find somewhere. You may be able to turn around and re-use some of the extra stuff that's on there, but until you have a driveable and legally license-capable car, you don't have a very good starting point.

I haven't checked the discussion item by item, but my practice in situations like this is to return everything to stock. Once you're there, you know exactly what you have. Certainly everything related to PCV system, charcoal canister and tank venting needs to be returned to stock. I'm not sure whether the earlier manifold is a problem or not. When you have it smog tested next, make sure to drive it for a half-hour or so beforehand. Cars run cleaner when they're thoroughly warmed up.

Three years later: What I finally did after messing around with this missing and bad running problem for more than a year was to find a Z mechanic in town. I knew an import shop that had some experiences guys, and I called and found out that one of them had been a Z-car mechanic in a Datsun dealership years ago. I took them the car, explained and demonstrated the rough running problem, and also an oil leak on the timing gear cover which I was forced to remove and re-install after the head was on. My request to them: make it run right. Keep it as long as you need, I'm in no hurry. I also asked them to replace the steering rack (the seals popped when I took it off the jackstands it had been sitting on for nearly four years) and install some poly bushings I had. In other words, I was really tired of messing with it. I've done a steering rack on a ZX and I just didn't feel like repeating that exercise at age 67. Got it back four months later, and $5000 later. I wrote that check with a clear conscience, because with it running right I have at least a $9,000 car. Without it, I had a $2000 body with a problem engine. The $5K was worth it! (Especially with a new steering rack and a set of good poly bushings all around.) The problem was mostly vacuum leaks. The 83 ZX turbo has a nightmare of vacuum lines and they had the equipment to check them all and the experience to see what the problems were. I'ave had Z-cars since 1974 and this was my 4th one, but this problem was beyond me.

i suggest you put a charger on the battery and just let the owner know it's due to be replaced. Chances are the gent buying it won't put a standard lead/acid battery in it.

The car was down for four years of that time with head work and other issues, and then I fussed with it for another 2 years because I couldn't make it run smoothly afterwards. Included in this was fighting with the blower problem on and off. It kept me from driving it as much as I wanted to. No one had a solution that worked until I found the problem myself, and that took a lot of fiddling. I could probably spiff up the contacts in that connection, but for now the cable ties are working nicely. I retired in June and have had more time to drive it since then.

In case it helps someone else - the solution was STUPIDLY simple. I noticed that the two-wire connector going to the blower was awfully easy to pull off. I started wondering if it was simply working loose. The solution was to link two cable ties together so they would reach around the entire blower motor housing, and cinch them down gently holding the power connector firmly on the contacts. Bingo! Voila'! Success! The sun broke through the clouds, and there was a release of doves. Problem solved, blower fan has worked flawlessly ever since.

Tach needle behaves itself - no dropping to zero or anything like that. the head bolt issue was resolved in 2014, but as noted above, I'm still working to get the car right.

Good questions. It misses so badly at idle that it won't keep idling unless I keep jiggling the throttle and keep the revs up. It misses at all engine speeds, so it has no power when accelerating. As noted above, I've replaced cap, wires and plugs, and I've used a timing light on each plug wire to confirm that each plug is getting spark at all engine speeds. Spark plugs appear sooty but are all firing. The soot may be a clue to bad gas. You are correct that all injectors fire at once (done research on this) and I've used a NOID light to check that each injector is getting its firing pulse. I also have a spare ECU and have installed it - no difference. I appreciate the thought about the HEI module, and would appreciate a reference to info about it in case I end up needing to try that. As you can imaging, I'm VERY tired of screwing with this after a 3-year project leading to months of testing one thing after another.

Can't believe that I'm picking this up two years later. I took care of the tensioner, re-assembled everything and kept at it. Now the car has been together for more than a year, but I still don't have it on the road. I've gotten it running, but never gotten it to run smoothly - it misses like crazy whether cold or hot. Over the past eight months, I have checked the following: - Cam and chain timing are correct. - Distributor timing is correct. - Fuel injectors have been removed, bench and flow tested and re-installed. - New spark plugs, distributor cap and plug wires. - Fuel pressure and pressure regulator were tested and check correctly. - Fuel filter was replaced. - Each fuel injector connector has been tested and all are firing. - Traced all vacuum lines, replaced hoses and confirmed that all are connected. - Sprayed air intake path with starting fluid to confirm no vacuum leaks. About the only thing left that I can think of is bad fuel, although 3/4 of the tank is gas less than 6 months old. However, after sitting for 3 years, the tank may have some debris or varnish. My plan is to bypass the fuel tank, connect a fuel line from the fuel pump intake to a 5-gallon can of fresh fuel, then start it and see if the fresh fuel gets rid of the miss. Comments??

I went with option #1 - pulled all bolts one at a time, installed the missing washers, and when the replacement bolt arrived, removed it, installed the new bolt with washer. And...last weekend while I was trying to get the cam sprocket on, I realized the timing chain tensioner had dropped and I'm going to have to pull the front end cover and crank pulley to get the tensioner back in place. That's another thread...

IMO it's just the effect of cooling and heating cycles. I just went through the head on my 280ZX and it took a submerged laser cutting technique to get the rear stud out, after which the hole was heli-coiled. I replaced broken front and rear studs with hardened ones and hopefully won't have a problem with them. My car is a 1983 ZX Turbo with 126K miles.

I was just re-installing the head on my 1983 280ZX Turbo when I ran into two problems: 1) One bolt would not tighten properly. It was one of the last I installed, and when I turned it and got no increase in resistance past about 30 lbs/ft, I decided that I probably had a bad bolt. At least I was smart enough NOT to keep turning it, which would most likely have broken it off. I checked the bolt hole to confirm that there wasn't debris in the bottom blocking the end of the bolt, then re-used one of the original bolts and it torqued down just fine so the head is torqued into position properly. I have a new bolt ordered. 2) Of more concern - I had all the head bolts but the one above installed and realized I had not put the washers from the original bolts under the heads of the new ones. I removed the new bolts one at a time and installed the washers, re-torquing each bolt as I re-installed it. But - these are supposed to be one-time use bolts. I don't want to blow a head gasket, but I also am not fond of the idea of paying another $100 for a replacement head bolt set. The bolts were torqued and sat for about an hour before I realized the washers were missing. I have some options... - Replace the individual bolt, torque it, go on with life. - Replace the individual bolt, then make one more round of the head bolts adding 3-5 lbs/ft of torque to stretch the bolts slightly. - Replace the entire head bolt set. Your thoughts, please?

If it fires when you spray starting fluid in, then ignition is working. Fuel is the problem. Don't forget the fuel filter, but I'd go after the pump. They are easily loud enough to hear when they're working. And I'd definitely try to get the old gas out and new gas in before I started it.

That makes sense...and confirms which circuit is involved. Not that I didn't already pretty well know that.

There's good news...not necessarily a permanent fix, but at least a temporary positive note. Last week I dug into the ZX and checked wiring, and darned if I didn't find a blown fuse. It was the 20A fuse on the bottom right corner of the fusebox; I didn't check the label on the slot, but I replaced the fuse and my blower fan and AC compressor both work!! I drove it around town and on the highway for more than 1/2 hour and everything continued to work. Do I think the problem is solved? Not really. I think I fixed a symptom, but there's a reason the fuse blew - and that reason is the real cause. However, I'll live with this for the time being. I suspect the test will come when the weather warms up, as the original problem occurred when days were hot. It's possible that when I replaced the wiring harness for the blower fan and AC control unit that I blew the fuse - and if so, I'll be a happy guy. But after six months of down time, pulling the dash and replacing wiring and vacuum hoses, I'm damn glad to have it driveable again!!