FastWoman

Hey Francis, welcome! My first Z was a beautiful, gold '75 280 that I bought at the age of 21. It was my third car and fit like a glove. I sold it 13 years later when it became impractical for a small family. But for those 13 years, I commuted in style! I had to return to the 280Z later in life. I bought a silver '78 in 2009 from the western end of Virginia. It first entered the US market in Louisville, Kentucky. I did a lot of work on the mechanicals, and everything is in top-notch shape. (Those who know me will attest that means much more than my changing the oil and replacing the wiper blades!) The car runs as well as a 280Z can run with the old analog EFI -- better than a carb'ed engine -- and it will run even better once Lenny releases his long-awaited Hellfire ECU.) The car does have a few very minor rust issues that I have yet to address, but it looks great and runs great, and there is no structural rust. We're now thinking of selling the Z and our Miata to skinny down to a single sports car -- a T-top 280ZX turbo. (I have plans to look at a couple this coming weekend.) That will give us the open sky of the Miata, as well as the overhead framing of a hardtop. (I've owned two convertibles now, and I hate ragtops! They leak, and you can't lock them.) I'll miss my 280Z, but the 280ZX turbo has a few cool things of its own. I'll love having the extra garage space, and more importantly, I'll love being able to drive the car more (as my other half has an irrational hatred of hardtops). This is by way of saying my car will soon be on the market too. If you're interested, PM me. :-) Welcome again! Sarah

Thanks, Madkaw!

It was an era I was happy to leave behind, but now that it's long gone, I sort of miss it. Maybe our new-to-us ZX will be a time capsule, and Betty will be our tour guide. I know the seatbelt buzzer in my '78 had a Cold War era feel about it that was fun -- for a while -- until I pulled the connector. James, I sent you a PM...

85mph.... sort of like an edge of the world sort of thing, beyond which you fall off the shoulder of the road, and coolant monsters lurking in your radiator pop out from under your hood and devour you? I seem to recall putting an '81 RX-7 through its paces, and I remember having to calculate speed from the tachometer. Officer: Do you know how fast you were going? Driver: I honestly haven't a clue. My speedometer wouldn't tell me.

Another question, if I might hijack my thread in a different direction: One car I'm considering has some sort of quarter-sized blemish on the roof that he says he needs to sand down and investigate. He says he wonders whether it might be rust. It's apparently not inside the channels where the T-top fits, but rather behind one of the panels and on top. Is this a place where rust might appear?

Well, if I can change just the speedo, that sounds like the way to go. Sort of expensive for a few extra mph, though. Was there some reason for the 85mph silliness? Surely Nissan realized that wouldn't appeal to the sports car community! I mean I treasure the 160mph in my 280Z, even though I know the car will only go that fast if careening into the Grand Canyon at high speed! Betty is only a record?! Ah, gee.... Now I REALLY have to find one of those things.

My dear Z brethren and sistren, Do any of you live within easy driving distance of Anderson, SC (near Greenville) orBurlington, NC (near Greensboro)And could I impose on you for a small'ish favor? If so, please send me a message! Many thanks! Sarah PS SC and NC were automatically "corrected" to Sc and Nc in the title. Sorry about that. No disrespect to the Carolinas!

I'm really interested in the'82/'83 turbo models. I would think there would be some incompatibilities with the '79 gauge cluster. I suppose I was thinking about the gauges as though they were separate, like in the S30 models. But what I think I'm hearing is that the panel is one big chunk of instrumentation by itself -- that you can't change out an individual gauge. Is that correct? That said, I did manage to transplant a nice VDO temp gauge into a 1994 Miata instrument cluster, so that I would get real temp readings, and not some "idiot gauge" indicator (i.e. reads smack in the middle, right up to the point that steam is billowing from under your hood). I had to cut traces and canibalize the guts of the donor gauge to make it work, but it worked. Oh, and I'd still love to have Betty by my side, but not if it means having a digital dash. I haven't found the voice module on ebay. I presume it's a pretty rare find. I'm guessing the non-GL models still have the wiring and connector for the thing? I understand I would also have to cobble a small amp.

Hi James, You're right. I'm interested in the question of the seats, but not that particular car. (I'm considering more in the $5000 price range for less of a project -- something that looks nice, but not perfect.) I like the S30 seats. The S130 seats strike me more as Lazy Boy recliners or something I'd find in Grandpa's sedan. To me the S30 seats look right at home in the S130. That, plus a replacement steering wheel and a leather shifter boot, might bring a little more of the S30 feel to the S130 -- and make it look sportier. Also I was puzzling about the 130mph speedo, and I'm glad someone has identified the source of the thing. Is that a drop-in replacement -- same cabling and everything? And do you know which models got Betty? I'd love to have Betty along for the ride. :-) Sarah

Hi everyone, I'm considering buying an '82/'83 280ZX turbo and was wondering about seats. I saw this ad on CL of a "heap" that appears to have S30 seats in it. I like the simplicity of the S30 seats. Do they bolt up, or is modification required? Here's the CL listing: https://houston.craigslist.org/cto/4780028494.html Thanks! Sarah

Well, I've traditionally taken the longer road trips in the Z, but I think this holiday season my car of choice will be the Saturn. I figure I'll keep the Z to just stop-and-go traffic for a while, the reason being that I can only smell the leak when at a dead halt. Fortunately I don't suffer from any family members with mortified teenager syndrome anymore. My kids are in their mid 20's now, and they appreciate the old classics. That wasn't true back when I bought my (very cool) '66 Mustang. (It was noisy, and the exhaust stank.) Thanks for all your help, guys! Sarah

Hmmmmm.... I did use some of that blue rubber-lined FI hose at some point, but I concluded it was pretty fragile and didn't hold up well to repeated removal and reinstallation of hoses (e.g. for the fuel filter). So I switched to the solid black kind (no blue rubber lining), which seems to be sturdier. I'm pretty sure I used that type for connecting my injectors. But yes, I'll have a closer look to see whether I have any of that blue-walled stuff still in the engine compartment. I could see it delaminating (as it has done before on me) and leaking. Good thought! I'm skeptical about the leak being from any hard parts, as I would think that would result in a consistent leak, not an intermittent one. I could be wrong, though. From what you write, it appears you remember my having an extruded aluminum fuel rail with brass nipples; however, I have the stock brazed, 1-piece "trumpet." The only dissimilar metals would be in the injectors themselves.

Thanks, Zed. But you're talking about old, dry-rotted hoses, right? Mine are new'ish and supple. Or can new'ish hoses split under the right conditions?

I'm back. Car didn't catch on fire. No drips. No gas fumes. I drove the car pretty hard. [shrug] I guess it's fixed, but I'm still carrying the extinguisher.

Well, another night of sitting, and again rock-solid stability in fuel pressure. I started up again, watched, wiggled hoses, sniffed, watched, tweaked the idle, cleaned some dust, waited, sniffed, wiggled.... NADA! So I tightened all the hose clamps. They felt pretty snug already, except for one. The clamp at the top of my fuel filter was a bit looser than the others. I saw no residues on top of the filter, and that wasn't where I was smelling gas anyway. Anyway, I've got some basic tools, a flashlight, and an extinguisher loaded up. I'm off to the grocery store. Wish me luck!

Thanks, guys! Captain, I'm very much like you: I HAVE to tinker. That's most of the fun. I mean it actually gave me joy the other day to tweak my CTS circuit potentiometer to richen the fuel a touch for the winter. I also have an inline 6 fetish that I can't explain. It's all the better with the flat tappet valve train. Oooooh, baby! I agree that when I look at the engine compartment of a 300ZX, it looks like no fun at all. The only reason I'd consider a turbo is that it received quite a lot of attention and might eventually have more collectible value. But I agree... The engine looks ridiculous. I looked at some old targa Porsches and had a great laugh. SCARY expensive! No thanks. Mike, I might be more at home in a 280ZX turbo. It's just that I really hate 1980's styling. The exterior of the car looks decent enough (not as sexy as the S30), but the interior wreaks of 80's in a somewhat bad way, especially if it's not in black. However, it might actually be my best option. And yes, the turbo because that was the reason people had to have the ZX back in the day. Carl, I admit that Mercedes is a snazzy looking car! The engine compartment reminds me a bit of the Z3 I once owned. Nice engine... sort of fun, but lacking any interest to a tinkery person like me. Rather expensive on parts and quite overengineered. GREAT to drive, though! Regarding the Mercedes, you're right... not all that expensive. It's definitely worth considering, although I really like some real framing over my head, even if it's just a bar down the middle. Hmmmm.... I might scratch my head more about an S130. There are certainly a lot of them around! Or I might decide I love my Z so much I can't part with it. [sigh]

Yeah, I know the problem didn't go away! But at least I have an extinguisher now. Hopefully the clamp tightening does the trick. I, too, was thinking of the carbon canister. However, that wasn't the area where I smelled the fuel ,with the car sitting in the garage. Also the tank was less than half full, and I wasn't doing any spirited driving. I'm starting to entertain rossiz's theory! Rossiz, I did wiggle hoses, but the hoses between the rail and injectors didn't really have much room for wiggle. They're pretty much barb-to-barb. I'll be back on the road again, once I bring my jack and stands back over from another house. I'll be snugging up fuel clamps everywhere (and replacing my prefilter while I'm at it).

Thanks, chickenman! However, I already did all of that stuff 3 years ago. All of my rubber is new'ish. Tank is clean. Pump is new'ish (old one failed). Injectors are new'ish. I do need to replace my prefilter, but it's not leaking or anything. I just let the car sit for a while until I got to it today. The pressure was still holding rock solid at 30 psig, same as it was the night I put it to bed. I opened the garage door, put the transmission in neutral, released the emergency brake, started the engine, and watched... and waited... and watched more... and sniffed... and waited.... and adjusted the fuel/air ratio (CTS mod)... and waited... and NUTHIN'. I think my conclusion is that I don't have a cracked/broken part and that it must be a loose hose connnection. I'll tighten the connections up tomorrow. (I won't be driving until then.) I found a little extinguisher that's the right size for the car and will be carrying that for a while (probably permanently, even to put out someone else's fire -- a good thing to have).

Captain, it would have to be a T-top to work as a convertable that's not quite a convertable. But I have no illusions that a 300ZX in any way resembles a Z. It's just another car -- perhaps the most desirable of the T-tops for me. If I could only put a T-top on my Z....

Ah, gee... I'm in a similar situation. Our other sports car is a Miata. My partner loves the convertible, and I hate convertibles. I love my Z, but she doesn't like that it's closed in and dark (black interior). I don't have a daily drive and don't get to take my car out as much as I used to. So we're thinking of selling both cars and getting a T-top of some sort, perhaps a 300ZX (perhaps the turbo). The thing is, though, I will miss my inline 6. But I'll get to drive it more, and we'll have a bit of framework over our heads (and no leaky ragtop). Ah, but I love my 280Z. The 300ZX is more like a spaceship. Decisions, decision....

The wheels that came with my car rubbed, and I skinnied down a bit. Here is the relevant thread: http://www.classiczcars.com/topic/33495-wheel-rubbing/ I'm still happy with my tires. I haven't had any rubbing problems, and the steering is much easier with a slightly narrower tire (closer to stock dia and width, but on a 15x7 wheel).

Sdyck, I seem to recall the EZ coil instructions saying you can bend 90 deg max, but I think I could get nearly (not quite) 180 out of mine. No issues that I know of.

I was thinking that too, rossiz, but I couldn't find anything wet there either. For the smell to be where it was, it would have to be a leak at/around the FPR or a crack in the hard return line. What I've done so far is to let the gas fumes dry up, so my nose can again help me locate the problem. I topped off the pressure in the fuel rail last night after the engine cooled, and this morning it is only a few psi lower (which could be the really cold temperature). There's no scent of raw gas. So I guess I'll fire up the engine after I locate a fire extinguisher. Maybe I'll see something dripping or spraying. I really wish I could trade out this problem for an intermittent electrical one! I wonder whether there a gremlin fairy somewhere who can grant my wish? (Stray gasoline scares me.)

Not cheaper than my EZ Coil! The auto parts guy had a couple of samples, didn't figure they could sell any, and said, "Here, try this doodad. It might work." And it worked great. Seriously, I have no idea what they cost. They look a bit pricey.

Thanks, guys! I'll go ahead and snug the clamps up and see if I get any more fumes. If I do, then I'll start exploring with paper towels and such. As I've never re-snugged the clamps, I suppose they might be loose. On a side note, I'm very gun-shy about this matter. I had a fancy (but poorly machined) stained aluminum billet fuel filter leak and then pop open atop the engine in my '66 Mustang. I had been smelling raw gas for days but couldn't locate it. I attributed it to carburetor weirdness. However, when it popped open, it dribbled fuel all over the engine, which dribbled on the headers, and then the engine caught fire! (Fortunately there wasn't too much damage.) Of course I also hear tales of V12 Jags catching fire. I guess I'd better carry a fire extinguisher for a while!