conedodger

I kept thinking they were ugly and I wanted to get rid of them but they have somewhat grown on me. They are light and tires are plentiful in R rated rubber. Sport Compact Magazine before they closed up and went away listed these wheels as the best of the cast aluminum performance aftermarkets available. Shortly after that, Tire Rack started selling them... I guess they can read as well as advertise??? If someone wanted them and made me an offer, I would probably go with Panasports or Superlites (which aren't by the way. Light that is...)

Jerry, the problem with original Minilites is that you can't hardly find performance tires for 14" wheels. Easier perhaps for 15" but it is even getting hard for 16" in the sizes that those of us with narrow body cars would use. On the other hand, the smaller wheels are a great way to change gearing and get some grunt out of the corners for sure... I just prefer to use R rated rubber and there isn't much in that neighborhood...

None yet Rod. Slower than you'd like is the proper way to install the new interior though so don't get too frustrated...

Thanks Gary... I have a smallish herd of old cars and when I bought the Porsches, I didn't expect them to be so finicky. My 914 is on its third engine in 6 years, soon to be 4th. The 911 is up on a lift in my garage with its transmission having a blown 2nd gear. I reached an roadblock with the new 914 engine in that I elected to have a custom SDS harness built rather than go with the one SDS supplies. The guy who was going to build it for me suddenly found himself with a pregnant and rebellious teenage daughter and half of his coworkers layed off. That left him with stress at home, stress at work and no progress on the harness. A buddy is supposed to help me rebuild the 911 transmission but so far he has no time. So, with nothing else to work on... the 240Z got some attention! I put in the newish dashboard and hooked up all the wiring and oh crap! Now it doesn't run! I worked with the manual tracking things down - Nada... Silverstreak dropped his car off for me to use as a model - Nada... But it was fun to drive it around! Finally, I gave up and called another of our members here - Gary who owns a repair business called GT Auto... Gary had it figured out in no time. Previous owner had eliminated the mechanical fuel pump and put a smallish electric pump back by the tank. He ran a rogue wire up to the front rather than hacking in to the original pusher pump harness wiring. It was just hanging there and I didn't know what it was or what to do with it. Gary had it running - 'badly' within about 20 minutes after I left... 24 hours later I went to pick it up and Gary just reached through the window and turned the key and she starts right up.

I try to do my part Mike... Sometimes I wonder about this crowd though... Hmm...

Dave, they are either Nissan Comp Sport Mirrors or a replica. I had planned to use Vitaloni Californian mirrors and even painted them 901 White to match the car. But then after paint, I discovered the holes drilled in the door were spread too wide to put on the Vitaloni's. Too bad. They're gorgeous...

I'm thinking of trying to put together a Group Buy for these Airboxes for triple carbs. Actually, I suspect you could use them for SU carbs as well. They come with a blank backing plate so you cut your own holes in that. They retail at $375 and as another Z guy put it today, that is a 'bit pricey'. I figure if we can put together a group of 10 or more we might be able to negotiate a better price. These are distributed by Borla (formerly known as TWM). If you're interested, post here and let me know at what price you would be in at. I suspect we could get at least 10% off maybe more.

The exhaust is a Nissan Comp header with a mandrel bent exhaust going through an unknown muffler and emptying out through that Ricer Fart Can in the back. I am the second owner and the original owner's son did the mechanical build. Everything I have done is cosmetic. But that is about to change. I plan on getting some seat time in SCCA Solo II FP against my good buddy Steve Mill...

You Sacramento Area Guys - Fess up! You know you want a donut, right? So get on down to the May Sacramento Z Car Reunion! I may even drive my Z there... How's that for temptation Madamba?:classic:

Thanks guys... I have a friend who has a shop called Original Customs. I think the name of his shop embodies how I feel about my cars. I want them to look original, but underneath, I want them to go like hell on the autocross course or the track. That way, I can take them to the concours on Sunday after having torn up the autocross course on Saturday...

Here she is, 1973 240Z Coupe in new 901 white. Original interior replaced in its original red. Suspension has lots of BRE parts in it. BRE sways, possibly BRE springs. Camber adjustable. Nissan Comp headers, strut bar, LSD Differential. Kosei K-1 Racing wheels which I am not sure I will keep. I have always loved Panosports - want to trade? Engine is 2.4 with flat top pistons, E31 Garolomy head, triple Weber 42 DCOE carbs... So as Steve Parmley said, check out the Z Rated Porn!

Police report and call to the attorney general's office... They will instruct you on how to proceed. Use the words 'web fraud' and tell them you have filed a police report.

I found this one today. I don't know what all that stuff is strapped to the back though...

I think the best hope in California is that someone will put the budget ax to CARB and the whole thing will go away...

For sure, if a vehicle is registered as a 1975 or earlier it is exempt from smog testing. If it has a production date of 3/76 or earlier that is true as well but there is enough stupidity at CA DMV that I wouldn't count on being exempt with those fools. It is also correct that you are only exempt from testing. You must still be in compliance with State and Federal law as it regards smog equipment being in place and smog testing. There has been a rash of CARB roadside sniff testing going on in Northern California. You just drive along and they can sniff your exhaust as you drive by. If you light up their lights, they pull you over up ahead and put you on roadside rollers and do the full test. A nice set of Webers on a '75 and you're toast...

That's right guys! The May Sacramento Z Car Reunion is coming up! Saturday, May 14th - 9am to Noonish at Family Donuts and Deli - 9045 Fair Oaks Blvd. corner of San Juan Avenue and Fair Oaks Blvd. Be there and get your donut on! Unless you have a dog agility trial or some damn thing like that...

Another picture of our fallen hero...

Sam S. Melnick Attorney in the Chicago area.

LJet which is the system on the early EFI Z and many other cars of that period were 'batch fired' in other words, the injectors fired at the same time in groups irregardless of what position the piston was in. It really didn't matter that much because the real magic happens when the spark comes and the spark fires individually for each cylinder. What Zed Head is saying is that if the problem is the injector harness, you obviously have some injector wires that are good. If you switch the leads between the cylinders you will fire the injector that wasn't previously firing. It really comes down to checking the resistance of each lead. There is a sequence for this in the FSM. It will tell you to touch one end of the multimeter to a numbered position at the ECU plug and at the plug end of a particular sensor or injector. It will tell you a range of resistance that the factory considers 'serviceable'. You can put a set of plug wires on if you wish. They are as you said, cheap.

Your compression numbers aren't all that bad. Check the resistance of your spark plug wires. What are their condition? Just from some of the things you're saying it sounds like you're using a rather expensive method of fixing a problem. One that eventually works but costs lots of necessary money. Figure out what's wrong, then buy the parts. Don't throw parts at it until something works. I am also a bit worried about your mechanics. A valve adjustment comes before any tuning. Otherwise, you are tuning out the problems caused by the poor valve adjustment. And spending money you will have to spend again once they are adjusted. I suspect you have an electrical problem. Someone above mentioned pulling plug wires one at a time and listening to the engine. No change? Probably no spark. Another way is to check with a multimeter to see what the resistance on the plug wires are. If you're feeling frisky, there are resistance readings in the manual for all portions of the EFI harness. Check all that before you spend more money.

It can be done. I suspect though that you are going to have to source another AFM without the switch. My recollection may be faulty but I thought that the fuel pump switch came on later AFM in the 280Z series. If I am right, you may not have the correct one in the first place. I had a 'how to' on doing this modification on a website I had in the 1990's called PlanetZ. You should be able to unscrew the existing circuit board and install the NA one. Now, having said this, I just want to say that you should prepare yourself to figure some other method of operating this engine. There is not enough flexibility in the LJet system to make it run well under load in all circumstances. This is particularly important given the expense of your engine. There is someone selling a set of Extrudabody throttle bodies with manifolds and fuel rail in the classified section. Not cheap, but probably cheaper than what you might do to that engine trying to cobble together an old LJet system to run it. I would run it with SDS + closed loop O2 sensor. Good luck though! I have seen stroker motors in Z cars at the autocross events and they are amazing!

I agree with cozye. Adjust your valves and do a compression and leak down test.

Ok, after reading your other thread I have a bit more to work with. You state you have the FSM. Good. In there you will find a proceedure for troubleshooting and tuning. You must follow the procedure in the order they prescribe. One thing effects the next. Don't follow the path of least resistance. Some people will check the fuel pressure because they don't know how or don't have a feeler gauge for the valve adjustment. Don't get caught in that trap. Very little about this LJet system has adjustment. Mostly it requires service on vacuum and injectors. If you want to continue your fuel system refresh (I would from what you described) I would pull the injectors and send them out for a rebuild and calibration. Sticky injectors will increase your HC and CO especially at idle. This gives you an opportunity to replace those 33 year old high pressure fuel lines. Be sure to use hose rated for EFI! Marren and RC engineering come to mind for injector rebuilding. Next, I would find and fix any and all vacuum leaks. Any and all adjustments are pointless with a vacuum leak. EFI hates vacuum leaks. Adjust your valves. Did I mention that you should adjust your valves? If all the sensors are sensing, and the vacuum leaks have been conquered and the injectors are in good service, EFI requires very little adjustment. My bottom line point is that any adjustment without these things taken care of is pointless and costs you money. There was a guy who used to have an EFI video he sold, I think his name was Scott Bruening? Anyway, he owned Z Therapy before the current owners. If I can paraphrase him - most fuel injection problems are not fuel injection problems at all.

I am wondering why you are focusing on the AFM? Your rich part throttle numbers lead me to believe your problem is elsewhere. The AFM is approximating how much air is coming in. TPS, WTS, CHT and injectors are effecting fuel.

After all these years, I think our harnesses are finally giving up the ghost. If someone has a 280Z harness that they can send me, I will give it to my electrical engineer friend who builds Porsche harnesses and have him make new Z car harnesses. If they are anything like 914 harnesses they would be about $350 + core and shipping. But here is the big upside, When we plug his 914 harnesses in, we almost always have instant happiness. As for the OP, all it would take is a broken wire in your CHT or WTS harness and resistance would go to infinity telling the ECU that you're running really hot. The ECU would 'protect' the engine by increasing injection time and making the engine full rich.