Pharaohabq

Pretty Nifty, I love Red Z's. Yours looks pretty good. Go after those floor pans with a screw drivers and tap around especially in the front corners and see if they're sound, or if they're rusted thin. It looks like they did a decent job with the paint on that, but unfortunately a nice paint job doesn't tell you what's under the paint. So you might get a magnet and some felt and look for bondo spots. That roof is unfortunate, but no really that big a deal. The big issues people have with sunroofs are A. They break up the smooth lines of the Z roof. and B. Most importantly, they compromise the Unibody construction. The roof and all like that is fine for daily use and might even be nice to keep for function. But if you were going to do any racing, then you may want to replace the roof. For now, so long as it's not leaking (I would guess it does looking at the floors) You could keep it. Replacing the roof is not a small job. Not to mention it'll muss your paint. Reds are notoriously hard to match too. So Yes you can go through all those steps to "wake the dead" That would help a lot. Some of those seem overkill to me though. I've used WD-40 many times to wake an engine. I don't usually pull the valve cover, Usually I pull the plugs, load up the cyl with WD-40, liberally spray in the oil filler hole with WD-40 and let it sit a couple days. Then I get a breaker bar and If I remember correctly it's a 19mm socket and I manually turn over the engine, rocking it lightly at first, then once it turns, I load up the valve cover again with WD, and manually turn the engine a few turns, listening for and grinding noises. That being done, it's time to change the Oil. WD and oil aren't very friendly, so don't skip this part. Once the Oil is changed, put in the plugs. 153624. You'll need to assess the fuel system, drain the ancient gas, and put in a gallon or two of new. Disconnect the fuel line before the filter in the engine compartment, and put it into an empty gas can. Then connect the battery and cycle the fuel pump. This will let you know if the pump and lines are good. You should be able to pump a little gas through before the thermotime turns it off. If that's all good, then reconnect the fuel line and try to start it. I assume you'd check the rest of the fluid levels. I wouldn't drain the water or anything at this point, since if you have to pull the engine, you'd waste. The Engine should turn over, likely it won't start. But Cranking should cycle some oil around the engine. Next it's time to see about the 3 things the engine needs to run. Fuel, Air and spark. You've tested the pump so likely you have fuel unless the injectors are gummed. Pull a plug and clamp it to the frame and crank, watching the plug for spark. If you have spark, then it's just air. you should smell gas from the cylinder you pulled the plug from. Pull the filter and inspect the air passage. Pull the hose from the from of the AFM and using your hand or a dowel push the flapper in the AFM to see that it moves. Try to start it again... No luck? Try some starting fluid. If it starts and runs on that, then it's likely a fuel issue. Don't go willy nilly adjusting things. Mostly you should be sticking to visually inspecting things. look for cracks or broken hoses. loose wires etc. The #1 thing that happens with these cars is the $20 temp sensor goes out, and throws off the mix bad enough that the car won't run. Often cranking over runs the thermotime and floods the engine. There's lot of things that could be wrong, but this is a good starting place, and read up. The EFI Bible and EFI addendum to the FSM are very good resources. Along with the FSM, all are available free on line. Xenons30...

Wow, That car doesn't look too bad at all, Though I'll second that you'll need to pull the seats and see if this is a patch job or a replacement job. Either way once it's fixed, don't forget to recoat the underbody. It really looks like a patch job to me, but you'll need to tap on the pans and see what else you're looking at. A good welder could likely cut and replace most of those bad spots in an afternoon if that's all there is. That battery holder area will need some work. it looks like it's all surface, but the real trick is to neutralize the rust before it gets bad. it's already in the metal, so use some thing to pull the rust our of the metal. Using White Vinegar with a scrubber pad has worked well for me and allowed the rust to stop interacting inside the metal. You'll be surprised how much rust Vinegar pulls out. Put it on, let it sit, scrub it off over and over. When done, Dry it off, Let it sit a little while longer, then wipe again and seal with a rust neutralizing paint. (por-50 works amazing) Then sand lightly and topcoat with body color paint. What he was saying about the cowel area is definitely great advice. I've seen so many Z's that've leaked there and trashed the floorpans, it's not even funny. The sealer Datsun used was just not up to the task of keeping it sealed for this many years. Wow, Nice Artifact. I haven't seen one of those in ages. I'm over 30 so I won't give it away. It'd be awesome to hang on the wall.

I think I have a spare AFM to loan/give you. It was good when pulled a year or so ago before I started that VQ35 project. I believe it's in a box in my garage. I may be able to pick up a couple more "questionable" AFM's too, if consideration in the Hellfire Beta pool is possible ;-) If you PM me, I can send it to you. I really like the OBD2 idea too, though you'll either need a pigtail out the Hellfire, or you'll need to repurpose more lines in the Engine bay. Wireless would be awesome, but that gets you away from the idea that a mechanic could just hook up to it with standard diags equipment. The Mechanic would not only have to know where the plug was, but wold have to expect to look for one. I think that'd be a little much to ask considering you're looking at USB connection for PC, and/or Bluetooth app. Putting something in for the off chance that a mechanic would be looking for it seems a little redundant. Yes it's be cool, but I don't think it should be a priority unless you're thinking of it as a selling point. The Oil Temp was just an example. You're right, Fuel pressure would be much more awesome. Another possibility which could add function is the idea of a Display/video out. Composite is probably best. This is because many after market car stereos have monitor screens in them. An aux input screen on your stereo could bring up the Hellfire Virtual Dash with RPM, mixture etc on it just for a system monitoring basis. That way you wouldn't necessarily have to even have a laptop in the car to monitor your engine. Screens could be changed via your phone or with a toggle button on your ECU. A lot of radios control CD/DVD decks now, possibly you could control the Hellfire through your Stereo using the same protocol. That would likely take some research to see what's standard. It would be integration of modern systems, but still using the OEM plugs and harnesses. I want to put my other Z on a MAP based system so I wouldn't need the AFM anyway.

So I was thinking a little more about this. I don't know how much you've programmed into the System yet. But on a ECU like you've made it shouldn't be too hard to setup a diagnostics mode. Basically you want to test the actual function of different parts. You can start it up and say okay ECU, tell me my CHT, the ECU would read and put up it's reading, then in the software you'd also have it display it's expected range. Current Temp: 180C (Expected value: 160-190C) Current operating session: 12 minutes. Perhaps something like that. Maybe on a dropdown on the Dashboard with your Tach etc. That way on your from page you can access various functions monitored in realtime. Maybe 5 or so fields. Current O2 reading, current A/F ratio, etc. Oh Oil Temp is something I've always wished our cars could read. Phar

Trigger wheels. There's a guy on Hybridz who makes triggerwheels that are set to bolt to the front pulley on the L28's. So no need to recreate unless you want to. 3D printers. I've been using them for a couple years. At home I use the hobby lvl prusa's i2, i3... I've even recreated a lot of Datsun repair parts with them. I don't know which one you'd selected, different printers have different advantages / disadvantages. For prototypes and small batch parts they're completely worth it. Production, I would look to outsource. I love the Kid-mode idea. Though I'd suggest 3K RPM rather than 3.5K 3.5 in 5th on my z is 75-80Mph.. More useful I think would be just slower revving. That way the kid wants to race, he's going to be beat every time since say it takes 5 seconds to advance to 3500 rpm from 800, it's still driveable, but it'll be painful. wifi or Bluetooth connectivity would be awesome... I know that's a later idea. For TPS, I was thinking the more full blown version rather than the 2 switch box. IAC is often on the same Unit. This is much more aimed at the common S13 TB swap. When people switch to MS a lot of times they dump the AFM and bolt on the S13 TB with a cold air intake. If that's an analog signal then that's awesome. If we made a pigtail that uses the "repurposed" wires then you could sell those pigtails too. I wonder if we could run a CPS and a MAP off those AFM wires. Have you looked as Hesco.com Jeep EFI upgrades? They use 94' jeep parts to upgrade older jeeps to EFI. They sell a lot of the components. But the same are available at Autozone cheaper. My point here is that perhaps you could make a version of the Hellfire that uses a common plug scheme so for generic engine upgrade, you could also sell a harness that could be bought off the shelf. That infinity MAF is probably the same or very similar to what Nissan used in so many other cars. I've got a list around here somewhere. That's great you already accounted for VSS. VSS can allow you to lean the fuel a bit for prolonged driving at any rate. There's often sensors you can screw in place between the speedo gear and the speedo cable. I can find you a link if you're interested. I don't know if it'd work with the Z. Again I've got a Z and parts sitting around too so if you need more beta testers ;-)

Nice find. Those triples really stand out. Hopefully they're in good shape. For as long as it's sat, you may have some gas gummed up clogged fuel lines. We can hope not. but don't hold your breath. What they said about lubbing things is definitely great advice. Pulling the plugs and putting oil in to sit a while is sound, but I'd use Mystery oil, or WD-40 and hit it a few times, then with a bar and a socket, I'd crank it over manually (clockwise looking at the front of the engine, try not to go CCW, as you can slack the timing chain) It should pop loose and rotate fairly easily. If you hear grinding noises, then stop, because you'll need to take a much closer look. If it turns okay, then Same as was said, you can check the cam, (You DO NOT have to remove the cover, just open the oil fill and load it up with WD 40.) while manually turning the engine, you can check to see if there's a lot of rust on the cams. Some surface rust is fine, but flaking is BAD. Once that's all done, CHANGE THE OIL/FILTER, The WD40/Mystery oil is not good for regular oil. Once that's all set, button up the plugs and wires 153624. I don't know where your Rad hoses are, but you'll need to fix that of course. I'm not sure what's up with the Prestone bottle. It looks like a makeshift overflow. Really the Fuel tank should be dropped and hot tanked. but you may not want to risk any of the hoses for that, so just change your filters and hope for the best. If it starts clogging up from rust, then you may not have a choice. Any old gas would need to be drained. The Fuel lines from the tank to the pump hopefully will be clear, if not, you can try to snake them with some bailing wire or an old speedo cable, but it might be easier to replace. The Fuel pump is there on the front of the engine. It's Mechanical. Hopefully it's still good, but it may need to be rebuilt. You just need to pull off the output hose and run a line into a gas can so you can see if it's doing anything (After you've popped the engine loose and changed the oil) when you crank the engine over with the starter. Likely those triples will need to be rebuilt. who knows how gummed up they could be, but if the line running to them from the pump still has liquid gas then it's a very good sign. If that's the case, remove the air filters and load them up with carb cleaner, and let them sit. load up again every few hours and you might get lucky. Otherwise it's rebuild time x3, you'll be an expert when you get to the 3rd one. My 240 is #5832 Also 11/70. Same year and month as me. That's why I wanted to rebuild mine... If you go with Metal buckets, I am looking for a good driverside FRP scoop. That Auto Tranny, I wouldn't wish it on anyone, If I were you I'd drain it, bag it and crate it up in a corner for the next guy, then get a 82/83' ZX tranny/clutch/flywheel w/ throw-out bearing and 77' mounts and clutch cylinders. The shaft should be fine. That'll make you much happier and it will all bolt right up. You'll probably want to DL the FSM and find a Haynes manuals they're pretty invaluable. Your AC looks like the York system, and I think was a dealer option. Tho it looks a little different than mine. It should be fixable but it's an R12 system. Well if you have questions, please ask. We're here to help and probably are more excited than you are about your car. Phar

Depends on the market... If you spend $200 bucks to be able to get $500 more for the car, is that worth it? Depends on your time and willingness. It's a shame to sell your car, but you said you were leaving, is it better to let it sit? If you do, at the least, put some StaBil or other fuel preservative in there. that way you don't get a mess when you come home. Thank you for serving, btw...

I think you should get on Ebay and order some parts, Door handles etc, then clean the car up a bit and then try to sell it. Little things like you're talking will knock a lot off the price when you're trying to sell. Don't worry about the clock. You want it to be easy to drive away, w/o giving a lot of incentive to knock down your price. As for the accident damage, All that depends on how well it was fixed. You should try the magnet test to see how thick the filler is. Buyer beware, but Running 240's are often starting in the 3500's. Depends on your market, look at what's around you and price accordingly.

SuperLen, Great! I'm so glad you're seeing so much progress with this. It's quite exciting and wonderful news that you've got your car actually running on it w/o letting the smoke out through the board. I have a few questions/suggestions that might make it a little easier to work with and to provide the widest audience for your product. First off, let me say it's wonderful you're targeting the Stock harness. That's an accomplishment in itself. Getting the system to run solely with using the Hellfire brain is great! That's one of the big drawbacks to using MS, is that it requires so much wiring and that alone makes it a pain to deal with because even if one user wires it up and gets it to work then the next person to look at it is going to wonder wtf! what wires are these? Of course that doesn't work in California CARB emissions. I also love that you've made the pins mappable, that actually is REALLY good in that it leads to my first suggestion. You've made the Hellfire so that it will connect to the Stock ECU plug. What if you used the OEM AFM plug and created a pigtail that you could connect to a MAP Sensor, and Maybe the IAC, or a MAF/IAT combo. I don't know how many of the lines could be repurposed. Certainly you could repurpose the thermotime and or the Cold start injector lines. I'm certain there are a few possibilities with that. Pig tails could be clearly marked and set to work with specific off the shelf parts. (I'd suggest the Nissan MAF's pn:226807S000, They used the same for most 04+ veh) Repurposing lines can allow you to put the MAP close to the manifold where it belongs. Finding lines just as the thermotime line, could allow you to run a knock sensor too. Yes this involves finding more connectors BUT it could allow the stock system to stay intact and make these engines work awesome for "dummies" I'd love to see MAP/TPS/IAC/CPS and CHT all on the stock harness if we could find wires to repurpose. For AFM mode: I like that you have the accelometer and Baro on the board. That Baro can like you said be used to calibrate the MAP, but it could also give you starting points for your startup/ AFM calibration. If you start basing on BARO just as MAP would, then you basically ignore the CSInjector, and have your baseline for the AFM. You could have a learn period, where once started it would monitor the AFM and pull data, averaging points based on the highest reading vs lowest (BARO) and these points in between would match to your A/F table. So the higher your AFM read the more points, but it's interpreted, so you won't have to worry about dead spots on the AFM potentiometer. I was thinking it would read say last 3 points averaged should be pretty solid even with a uncalibrated, un adjusted AFM. If you stepped on it, you'd establish the high end. So yes, initially it would start and rev high will you pressed the gas and established a high point. Maybe you'd want some safeguard to prevent over rev. As for Synchronous vs batch firing: I was thinking about this and you may be able to have it learn where Cyl 1 injector 1 is w/o a timing wheel. I mean you have the spark timings and you know when Cyl one fires based on that, but you don't know which stroke. So what of the idea of having it start in Batch injector fire mode. Then with your wide-band O2, you monitor closely and turn off injector 1 every few cycles and see if you can tell when it's lean. From there You may be able to tell at what point to start a sequential injection pattern. I realize this probably has a lot of flaws. I am familiar with timing wheels, so yes Batch is MUCH easier. Without a timing wheel, the Sequential may end up delayed since your only input to engine speed or position would be the Distrib. Some later Distrib have additional sensors available. I'm not sure how feasible this is since I don't know how accurate or fast the wide-band O2 sensors are. Another thing you may consider including is a VSS, It's not in the stock harness, but a Vehicle Speed Sensor may help you tweak for efficiency. I know you're not thinking so much about MPG right now, you're much more thinking "gotta make it run" but later it may help your performance. I'm not sure if there's any other ECU wires that could be repurposed for that. You may also check to see if the 280ZX used the same ECU plug and pins... There's plenty of S130's out there with ECU troubles. It would be awesome to have a Hellfire ZX mode along with L28ET mode. I know... Future... Next question: Have you looked at MS Configuration maps? I wonder how hard it would be for you to write an interpreter so that you could "borrow" the MS profiles that were already created for the L28? This might save some tuning later on. One big reason to put a manual factory reset button on the hellfire. is if you're setup and driving along and you start having issues. Most of us don't carry a laptop along in the car, but it should would be nice if we could hit the button and have it fall into our predesignated safemode, or you hold the button down for say 30 seconds and it drops into Full factory Reset. Phar

I made one, it's not too hard, just take some 1" flat stock, Drill a 5/16's hole in the end, and cut it off at about 3". Put it in the vice and bend it over 90 deg. Grind the edges, and weld it in place on each side, Mask and paint it black. Worked fine for me.

I created a new insert to replace the busted up 40 year old crappy plastic. I print these out of ABS and you just work them into the old button after removing the old plastic. I made them about 3mm wider OD to ensure a snug fit. It can be glued in place with rubber cement, but I'm not certain that's necessary, as it's fairly tight. It fits well on 240Z's and I can print it in about any color (not that you'd see it). Here it's printed in white so you can see the detail. It snaps on just the same as the original did, but ABS is a little more forgiving. I am selling the printed inserts for $20 ea + shipping. Let me know: Pharaoh_01@yahoo.com or on here. I have sold quite a few of these and can provide reviews. I also have recreated a lot of other S30 parts in ABS. Mostly parts that break with wear. If you're looking to replace a broken part, or would like a part recreated/modified, please let me know. Thanks Phar

Okay, this has about convinced me to repair mine rather than cap. I already bought the cap, so it might be on Ebay soon if this works. These dashes look amazing. I expect this method should work well for dash modifications too, not that I have any planned unless my Carputer will require... nice work, it's almost 3 years since that original repair and so far so good, I'm sold. Phar

yep.. bored... wishin' I was workin on my Z rather than stuck here at work.

Even better is the 83ZX is a L28ET, yeah you'll have some electronics to swap too, but the turbo power is well worth it if you're looking to swap. the Tranny is stronger than an S30 5 sp, really a lot of the parts are just plain better. 12years newer too.

yep, She be old n busted, er rusted... The brick in front of the wheel leads me to believe at least the parking brake is also shot. Run n hide dude, listen to your wife, she knows a pile of crap when she sees it.. but don't feel bad, she married you. Really tho, just keep looking, we've all done it, some of us more than others. It look me 3 mo's to find my S30 candidate, but that was looking at 2-4 cars each weekend. Mine has very little rust, but dead engine (not dead but needs new efi plugs) $300 bucks, but I'm going to swap in a VQ35HR so I don't care about the engine. anyway my point is to keep looking till you find something that's a good base for what kind of Z project you want. like this one might be good if you're planning on taking sheet metal classes and body rust remediation classes, then sure, it's a great project, but a MASSIVE amt of work... if you're looking for something to drive around, then keep looking... Only other question, is, is that blue one a turbo? if so, the engine/tranny is worth at least $500 bucks.. easy swap into an S30 too... Phar