conedodger

Here is another... I think this is recent sanctioned vintage racing.

Here is another... Not sure of the race or date on that last one. Maybe someone will recognize the track.

Found another... Not sure if the car is real or replica though...

I have one of the Nissan Motorsports crank bolts and I believe it has that recess on the backside. Annoying when something little spoils a big money effort... Hope all works out.

Polyurathane can be contributing to your stiff suspension. My point is that the bushing must allow full motion of the suspension. So, if yours were a "grunt' to get in, that is probably your problem. Polyurathane can gall if it isn't just the right size to allow for the full motion. Delrin can at least be reamed to clearance it so you can have full motion. I would consider your bushings as the culprit. As I said, my suspension doesn't feel harsh at all but that is because of the full motion of my suspension. Neither the springs or the shocks can do their jobs if bushings will not allow the suspension to turn about its axis.

Make sure your bushings aren't FUBAR. In my Porsche 914 I have 200# springs on adjustable perches, Koni Yellow adjustables set to full firm and new bushings that allow for full travel of the suspension. The latter is perhaps the most important for street ride comfort. With the shock disconnected, I can push my control arms and trailing arms through their full range of motion. This means that my springs and struts are able to do their job of sucking up the bumps without the bushings sticking. My ride is very nice and the only time you can tell that I have a high performance suspension is when you are pulling a full G in a corner and hanging on so you don't fly out of your seat. If you have original rubber bushings make sure that they are not "fried" and not allowing suspension travel. If you have replaced with Delrin or Polyurathane, make sure that you have full travel and they are not binding. This is probably the most overlooked aspect of suspension tuning by enthusiasts. If it will not move through its full range all the springs and struts in the world will not help.

I ran over one of my chickens today (accidentally) in case someone wants to be different. Be quick though. Damn things start stinking pretty quick...:paranoid:

I love moderate springs and heavy bars. Makes for a streetable car that handles very well at an autocross. I say use the bars...

The snow pack in the mountains just East of me is at 115% normal. We have had rain for a few weeks with a day or two reprieve a week or so back. The year I left Minnesota for California by way of Kuwait and Saudi Arabia it snowed 3+ feet on Halloween. I woke up in the morning, opened the front door and it was drifted all the way up so I couldn't even see light. There were often times that I had to park my car at a convenience store a mile away from home and get a ride in with the local cops in 4WD and then cross country ski back in the morning. It may not seem like it now, but it will melt. Hang in there.

I wish. I would qualify but I need my wife to have a more steady income. Otherwise the house owns me if you know what that means. Still looking...

Oh the carnage! I cannot believe the housing market! I looked at a 2million dollar home today that they begged me to buy for $800K and they would throw in the $25K worth of model home furniture. Has a lapping pool and hot tub as well as an outdoor BBQ and fireplace. Down below the pool is a chipping and putting hole that spans the length of the back yard. It has a small wetlands area in the middle of it with a bridge you have to walk over to get to the hole after you chip. The RE agent asked me if I golf and I said "badly." He nearly choked on his coffee... Nice... But I would need a map to get back from the bathroom if I had to pee in the middle of the night and that is from the master bath attached to the master bedroom!

I am going mini-mansion shopping in Lincoln on Friday but the rest of the weekend is open. Don't ask. 3000 square feet on 2 acres of land will never be good enough for my wife so now we are going to look at 4000+ square feet on 1/4 of an acre. I am ok with this as long as I get a 4 car garage

Sorry. That is not true. You may be exempt from smog inspection but you are never allowed to remove smog equipment. Those are Federal Laws, not State.

My theory is that if there is not electrical signal to them they should not be squirting any pattern at all and no fuel should flow. Even if they are leaking unplugging should get you less, not more HC. He unplugged and it got worse. So, with no pattern he is still getting fuel into the #5 cylinder. Dribbling fuel with a poor pattern doesn't burn. Anyway, as I said, what do I know - It has been years since I had an L28 motor. I am just following a logic path.

Well, if the HC numbers are worse with the injector plug removed we can be fairly sure that your injectors are leaking. Pull them, send the to Marren or RC and get them cleaned and blueprinted. Put new seals in afterward.

Double whammy. If you are in Lancaster and the car is rusted, you have rotted rubber to deal with from that unrelenting Mojave sun as well... Rubber can cost as much as rust to replace... Use parts from it but don't use it as a platform.

The seller is by law required to give the buyer a current smog cert but if the buyer accepts it without, it becomes the buyers responsibility. If it sat, you may have some gummed up injectors "spilling" fuel instead of squirting it. Clean, or have your injectors cleaned. You should not have an O2 sensor on a '76. Perhaps you are thinking of the Cylinder Head Sensor which goes to the front of the engine? If this is disconnected, it is sending a resistance signal of infinity to the brain. The brain interprets this as an overheating situation and increases the injector time to full. That will cause unburned fuel which sniff as hydrocarbons at the tailpipe. Hook it up. Replace it if you can. Not sure if they are still available. I have a new one around here somewhere. Freakin' smog guy should have known that. If they are test only he might have been trying to get you to do it. IIRC, California models had an EGR but 49 State did not? In any event if you do have one you may also be all coked up so take it off and wire brush it. Others may know better as the 280 efi engines have not been my thing in a while...

Nice... I think we are starting to gather a crowd. We should have some kind of NorCal get-together. Perhaps drive the Berryessa to Napa roads and eat at that famous drive-in on 29. I am confused though, you list Sacramento as your location but most of your pics are from the Fairfield area. I even recognize the damned Chevron you are parked at, Vacaville? That is Infinion by the way... Although judging by the shorts on the previous owner it was called Sears Point at that time!

Thanks for the interpretation Andy... You were right on the money:classic:

Oh and they have a serious case of CSS. But they are what I had on hand when I went to the paint booth... I need the passenger side mirror glass if anyone has a set sitting in the garage.

See the red car in the logo at the top of the main page? Those are Vitiloni Californians if I am not mistaken.

If you mean the Vittiloni Californian mirror, I have them not sure I have a picture handy though. They look great when painted body color.

Same at my house. Datsun Z 85K miles. Porsche 911 55K miles. Porsche 914 75K Miles. Toyota 4Runner 180K miles and still humming.

Hey! I'm innocent. (this time) . He asked if it was a low VIN. I just said Ahhh... Yup!

Each car is individual although you will find that many of the early efi systems were made by Bosch and you will find many of the same characteristic patterns in these cars that used LJet, DJet etc... As an example, when my 914 was DJet, if I pulled a vacuum line to create a vacuum leak the engine would surge to 3000 RPM. My 911 which is a much later derivative of LJet than your 280Z is completely unaffected by removing the oil cap. By the way, you should also find the car kills when you remove the oil cap. The idle you posted is not really indicative of a vacuum leak. There is a procedure for testing individual efi components. It can be found in the FSM. You might consider running these tests. I had a situation not unlike yours and I checked the CHT resistance and found it to be higher than spec. Replacing it cleaned up the way the car ran in more than one way. Hydrocarbons down, driveability up. Because of that higher resistance the efi brain has to assume that the CHT is high and to protect the engine it increases injector pulse time. Pop the caps on your TPS and AFM. Each has a set of copper strips which can get gunked up with corrosion after years of use. Use a very soft pencil eracer to gently clean this off then replace the cover. Most efi components in the LJet system send resistance signals to the brain which controls pulse time on the batch fired injectors. If things get gunked up resistance can increase, sometimes to infinity.