IdahoKidd

Well it all makes since, the replaced engine was from a zx. I am tickled to know I can still put the ac in. I have a donor car that has the completed stock set up, so someday...... BTW, the car starts and runs incredibly well. I am tickled! A few little bugs, the tach and the clock mostly. When I get more time I'll fool with them.

I removed the center bolt from the cranshaft, took out the six little bolts that held the 3rd pully onto the crankshaft and the pulley easily separated from the rest. I then put the center bolt back into place, torqued it to the best of my ability and away I went. I wasn't nearly as complicated as it seems to have been in a different post. Again, I am not sure specifically what motor is in this car but believe more and more that it is 82-83 zx. I do know that putting in ac or anything requiring the use of that 3rd pulley is going to cause grief.

I figured out the connectors. All of the confusion comes from the fact that both connectors had black wires. At some point in the cars life, the connector to the thermotime switch had been replaced/spliced with a new one with black legs. The harness was then rewound/taped up (good looking repair). A bulge 10 inches up the loom gave suspect and sure enough, opened it up and green wires. Thanks for the help! PS-sblake01; took the car an auto electrical shop and found the ignition module wiring was reversed as well as the fuel injection harness. Took the e12 distributor out and put in the correct one. The tech there was the one that thought the motor was not correct for the year but thought it would be just fine. It actually runs really well, just hard to start. Thank you for your time and information. Leonard Moscow, Idaho

Thanks, I'll check the numbers in the daylight. Any advantages or disadvantages to having this motor? It seems to run out just fine once it gets warm. Put in new thermotime switch this evening so just maybe......... Leonard

I finally have this car up and running but the cold start injector doesn't fire when hooked up. It does fire when triggered when tested. The engine temp doesn't seem to come up above 120 according to the gauge. I noticed this evening that the wiring connectors are interchangeable on the two. It is possible that the wiring connector for the thermotime is connected to the water temp sensor and vice versa. Can anybody tell me how to tell by the wiring, where it goes or colors or any other identifier to see if I have them crossed. Also, the tach doesn't work nor does the clock. Coincidence or related? By the way, the z car will not run when the wires to the ignition module are hooked up backwards............. Gotta love those PO's. Thanks, Leonard

I have a 77 280z. The previous owner installed a salvage motor but never finished installing. I am wondering if there is any way to tell what it might be. There are three bolts holding down the thermostat housing, it has two sending units coming from it (thermostat housing). It also had a power steering pulley on the crank, which, by the way, does not allow the fan to rotate without major damage to it and to the radiator. Beyond these identifiers, is there any way to tell what I might have? Thanks, Leonard

I really appreciate your time and your information. Here is more of what I know. The previous owner died while trying to make the car run better. It ran when it was taken to him, and the more he worked on it, the worse it ran until it didn't run at all. He replaced the entire engine (??) trying to make it run again and never got it accomplished. The engine in the car had the distributor you see in the picture. From what I can find, it is referred to as the "matchbox" and came from a later zx. The base is the one for that distributor, at least it is different than the other two distributors that I have. Neither of those work and I suspect dead pickup coils. This one is hooked directly to the positive and negative side of the coil, bypassing the voltage reducer and produces huge spark. The other pictures are of the ecu and of the ignition control (?). Both are identical to the 77 donor car and I have swapped both back and forth without success. While I am unsure of how the distributor affects things, I am almost certain the injection system isn't firing or grounding or working however it works correctly. Both sides of the injector plug have power to a test light and do not blink. The cold start valve sprays when tested and that plug has pulsating power. Is there a test to check current at the ignition control (passenger side unit) that will tell me about circuts or lack of power or ?? Thanks for your time Leonard

The previous owner had the fuel injection harness wired backwards; putting power to the ground side, grounding the power side.-still have power to both sides of the injector plug on the engine. A loose ignition relay on the passenger side lit up the rest of the fuse panel (it must be grounded, not just hanging by the wires). Still no power to the two top left fuses in the panel (they say light left and right) but all the lights work on the entire car. In fact, everything works, except it won't start. It has the match box type distributor and tons of spark If fires and briefly runs with starting fluid The fuel pump works like it is supposed to (changed out AFM with donor car-took right off). Pumps on crank, pumps when key is on and lever moved at AFM. I am tired and I give up. 20 hours without much to show for it. All of the wiring is back to original to the best of my knowledge and resources. Any chance the fuel injection module (large black unit on kick panel left of driver foot) is ruined because of reverse polarity? I switched out donor box but prior to discovery of reversed wires and I may have cooked it too. Time to go seek professional help....... Thanks, Leonard

The two wires in question are the ones that apparently go from the battery to the harness that crosses the firewall near the hood latch. The the wire on the left (has the eye, then a connector), is red, goes a foot or so and morphs into blue and black wires. Does it go to the positive or negative side of the battery. The other wire (has a white connector)is red and remains red. Does it go the positive or negative side. With them both unhooked, I have crank, I have fuel pump during crank, I have headlights, but I DO NOT have the gen light, or wipers, fan, etc. I have most of the mess unraveled and put back to original, knowing these two are correct will get me going a long way. I have read literally hundreds of posts, gone through the repair manual file and have looked at all the related photos I can find. I am certain it is so simple that it is assumed everyone knows. Many thanks!

Previoius owners are unbelievable, are they not? I've been chasing a no spark no fuel problem with intermittant success but I may be on to something. I have had power to the fuel pump and to the injectors at the clips regardless of key position. Undoubtedly wrong. What I have discovered from the two cars setting side by side is : there are two red wires that come from a loom that crosses the front of the car to the driver fenderwell. One of those wires stays red, the other goes some 18" and then becomes two blue and one black wire and continue in the loom. Which wire goes to the positive side of the battery and which to the negative side? The previous owner had the multiple wire connected to the positive side and the single red wire connected to the negative side. Both wires are the same gauge, probably 10. The donor car has that going to the negative side adn the single red wire going to the negative side. Both cars have had new eyelets put on so neither is factory and therefore no sure way to tell. The book I have says NCA, which I take to me no color available. With the wire that becomes multiple wires connect to the ground side, the power is gone from both sides of the injectors and the fuel pump works in the crank cycle. It does not seem to work in any combination of unhooking the oil sending unit and moving the flap in the air flow meter. I have also lost spark to the from the coil but do have keyed power going to it. I do not have any power to either side of the injector clip either. There is power to the cold start valve, not power to the plug at the afm. UGH! I have been at this almost 10 hours today. I am open to whatever tests you might suggest. Whatever it is is simple. Expensive perhaps, but simple. Thanks, Leonard

So here is the latest.... The car does not run, didn't when I got it, still don't. There is power to the fuel pump all of the time. Key off, doesn't matter, power all of the time. There is power to both sides of the injector plug all of the time. Key off, doesn't matter. I found the relays on the inside of the fender in the passenger compartment, took all of them out and replaced all of them from the donor car. Didn't help a thing. There is power to one side of the cold start injector and it does function when triggered with jump wires but not during the crank cycle. With starter fluid, the engine does fire and bable briefly. Any thoughts? Leonard

I still can't find the relay(s) and they are definately not under the hood. I found a Chilton and a Haynes manual and while I recognize they aren't the best, they are what I currently have. Tony posted the link for the manual above but my computer just sets there with a blank screen so I will fool with it later. Both of these manuals seem pretty certain the relays are on the inner fender of the passenger side. Neither car, 11/76 production and 5/77 production. I have unhooked the oil sender, the cold start valve, individually, together, nothing. It appears I will be pulling the pump out this morning and try to resolve it backwards. Leonard

Okay, it is coming back to me. A bad magnetic pickup coil gives this problem, both in Chevy v8's and apparantly 280z's. I didn't have a second pickup coil ( I think it says something like ignition control in the book I found), the little black box that bolts on the side of the distributor, but I did have a complete different distributor that didn't have the box. Put it in and pretty blue sparks everywhere. However, for the life of me I can get the fuel pump to work. I can't find the fuel pump relay under the hood nor anything even looking remotely close. Any help on getting the pump to work? Where do I look, how do I jump it or bypass the relay? Thanks, Leonard

Hi guys, I am brand new to this forum and brand new to Zcars although I have years of fooling with cars, mostly old-really old Volvo's. Here is the short version of a long story. I just inherited a 77 280z in pretty good condition (good condition is always relative). The guy had fooled with it for years off and on trying to get it to run but was too stubborn to ask for help so I am not certain everything is where it is supposed to be. I bought a second 77z that is complete but the motor is seized. I bought it to have a life size reference manual and as spare parts. So, there is no spark from the coil when cranking. Power to the coil. And here is the catch. When you turn the key to the off position, it fires the coil wire just one time. You can turn the key on and off repeatedly and get the spark, just not when it cranks. I ran into this very same problem years ago on a different vehicle and for the life of me I can't remember the cause or the cure. Any help? Second question. I have figured out that the fuel pump doesn't work until the car is running. I really want to flush out the fuel from the lines before firing it up. I hasn't run for 10 years, but ran fine then. How do I fool the fuel pump into working so I can push the fuel out of the lines and replace it with fresh from the tank? Thanks in advance. Leonard