FastWoman

Just saw the listing, BTW. Sweet ride! Good luck with the sale.

Arne, you'd BETTER hang around here! I think one car that could seduce me away from the Z is a Jag XKE. Oh god, if there were an original V12 in it, no question.... And then there was that time, long ago, I could have picked up an incomplete Auburn 851 for around $6000. WHY did I not jump on that?! WHY?! Then again, the Z just fits me. It's not so valuable that I'm terrified to get a scratch, but it's still old, unique and sexy. Who knows? Maybe a couple of decades down the line when the Z is too valuable, gas is too pricey, and my arms are too weak to crank the manual steering, I'll make a hardtop coupe out of my/our little Miata NA and make that my daily driver instead. Anyway, you'll have to show us all what you end up getting. Even if it's OT with regard to Z's, we're all still interested.

No worries. It's pretty hard to see.

The PCV valve screws into the underside of the intake manifold, about in the middle, and closest to you, as you view the engine from the driver's side. Obviously the hose then clamps to the barb on the PCV valve. The other end of the hose leads forward and downward, connecting to a pipe that comes out of the lower front driver-side of the crank case.

Dave, I think the problem is that his new FPR doesn't hold pressure, as apparently some FPRs aren't designed to do.

Wow, that space ship looks a bit like a Z! :-P~~~~ Congrats!

OK, here's what you do about fuel pressure: Rig yourself a primer switch. Find the BAT+ wire that runs to the memory circuit on your radio (I'm guessing you have a digital stereo with a memory circuit.) Branch off of the radio side of that wire, so that you have +12V fused power. Run that to a push button. You want a normally open (NO) pushbutton, available at your local Radio Shack. Then run a wire from the other terminal on your pushbutton to the + side of your fuel pump relay. When you push the button, your fuel pump will pump. Press that button, and hold it for several seconds before turning your key to start the motor. That will prime the fuel rail and bring your pressure up for easy starting.

The yogurt cup test is a great way to find leaks, for sure! So is your intake tight now? Driving down the fuel pressure more is a good thing, because it means your vacuum is stronger and your engine is running better. For every 2 in Hg of vacuum, you'll see about a 1 psi drop in fuel pressure. If it helps you to come to terms with the fuel pressure drop, you can just think of your stronger engine vacuum drawing fuel out the ends of the injectors a bit harder. I didn't know you were talking about having the vacuum gauge in the cabin. If you want to go that route, why not get a vaccum/boost gauge like this one? http://www.jegs.com/i/Auto+Meter/105/3384/10002/-1 If your clock isn't working, maybe you could mount it there. I don't KNOW that it's the right size, so you'll need to measure. I've got my fingers crossed that the new FPR will solve your problems!

Well, you can try it! Two questions come to mind: (1) Will it hold up with the heat and moisture under the hood? (2) Is there some way to make a bracket to mount the thing? Worst case scenario is that it gets rusty and ugly or that it leaks, in which case you can just remove it. FAIW, if my cheapo Chinese pressure gauge can hold up to the under-hood environment (which it seems to be doing, even living outdoors), I suspect your vac gauge will too.

Reminds me of when I had a wall full of garden tools fall towards my very nicely painted '66 Mustang. I dove between the falling tools and my 'Stang (OUCH!), but one tool managed to chip/scratch the perfect paint. Ah, the hazards of garage living.

A radiator shop can re-braze that fitting. So the evaporator tank shunts fuel vapors to the crankcase?! Yeah, I guess raw fuel erping into the crankcase could be a problem! Yikes! Zedyone, your garage is simply beautiful!

Well, my patented yogurt cup test will tell you if you have a leak in the PCV circuit. However, you're not going to get much meaningful info with a humungous leak in the boot. Maybe you can hold your hand firmly over the mouth of the throttle body to seal the air? A missing PCV valve would certainly introduce a huge vacuum leak (and lean running), but a malfunctioning PCV (but not leaking) would just result in a dirty engine. All of the PCV air is metered and simply makes a circuit through the crank case and valve cover.

Er... Lightbulb goes off in head... Yeah, I guess the 240s don't have carbon canisters.

If the car were in the Southwest, that would be a bit high a price, but for the rest of us, that's probably in the correct neighborhood. I bought my own '78 here in Virginia for about $6k. Nice paint, but a few small patches of rust to take care of. Nice interior. Everything basically working, original engine, 155k miles. The engine ran "good" but not "right," and it took me quite a while to iron those bugs out. I did feel like I overpaid a bit, but it was clearly the best Z I could find in my general area.

The evaporator separates fuel from air. I would think your car would suffer from gastric reflux without it, so to speak. That is, it might "erp" way too much fuel into the carbon canister. If I were you, I'd find a replacement.

Yes, you've got the terminology right -- closed vs. open. The turquois stuff is strange -- definitely not OEM. Is it oily? Perhaps its some sort of contact grease. More likely the turquois color is copper corrosion. Anyway I'd clean it all out. Be certain that all your internal electrical contacts are good (and not corroded) -- especially the fuel pump shutoff switch, which might have been giving you some grief. It's great that you're running again, sort of. You'll definitely need to address the ripped boot issue. Do you have a new boot on order? The yogurt cup should help you track down any vacuum leaks, so that you'll run richer. If all else fails, we can mess with the coolant temp sensor resistance, but first it's good to check all the simple stuff. Progress!

Five words: "Hire a friggin' professional photographer!" I took much better photos than that when selling an old beater station wagon on CL. It amazes me that someone can put a car up for sale at $300k and not throw a few $$ to a photographer who can make the car actually LOOK like it should be worth $300k! I sent the seller a message to that effect. Let's hope he follows my advice... and gets some incredible price for this Scarab.

Well, you might want to start simply by comparing the two AFMs. Does the flap open much more easily on one than the other? Are the resistances remarkably different? I'm going to make a guess here: Maybe your fuel pump shutoff switch isn't quite right, so your fuel pump is running when you turn the key to "start," but not running thereafter. I think the '76 models use a fuel pump shutoff switch found on the vane-closed end of the potentiometer assembly. This switch is preserved in later models, but not connected, and then the switch is missing altogether in still later models. If '76 is one of those shutoff switch years (pretty certain it is), make sure that (1) your new AFM actually has the switch, and (2) it's adjusted so that the switch contact actually closes when you fire up the engine.

Ah... Oops... I didn't see this until now. Sorry. I guess you'll be able to tell us how well it works. Having a bit of adjustability will be good, because I SUSPECT you'll have to run the thing at slightly higher than stock pressure to achieve the right fuel/air mixture. I'm guessing a good starting point will be 40 psi pressure w/o engine vacuum (rather than the 36.3).

Well, I only know a little bit about British sports cars. I know that 3-main-bearing designs with thrust washers were very common, even in 6 cylinder engines. (I don't know whether Austin Healey did this.) This is a pretty scary engine configuration by itself. I would think there should be some appreciation for the sturdy L28 -- one of the finest NA, 12-valve engines by any measure. Ordinarily I agree with people when they complain about bastardized cars with transplant drive trains. However, the horrible engineering behind the drive trains of the Triumphs I was once contemplating (Spitfire, TR-6) was enough to make me steer wide and clear of them -- and to buy a Miata instead (with 5 main bearings, thank you!). Don't be apologetic about the L28. Hold your head high! :-)

Yeah, it looks like your FPR is regulating too low. You might have other problems too, but you shouldn't be running in the lower 20's under any circumstances.

Well, the thing that was compelling to me was the comparison of different motor oils with each other, rather than the comparison of any of the oils with the snake oil du jour. Yes, it was an ad (maybe more of an online infomercial), but yes, it was also a controlled test. As a scientist, I do recognize a controlled test. As I said, Castrol GTX ranked dead last. Was I inspired to buy snake oil? No. But I did rethink the Castrol GTX. I now use mostly Castrol Syntec, except for the Delo I use in the Z. Oh, and the powerboat gets Mobil 1. Oh, and FAIW, oil is not supplied under pressure to the flat tappets. Therefore I find that test very applicable to cam/tappet wear.

I wouldn't use non-injection-rated fuel line long-term, but I certainly wouldn't hesitate to use it temporarily to run around the block with a fuel pressure gauge stuck to the windshield. Go ahead and use the cheap stuff.

As long as the tank isn't swiss cheese, you should be able to eat out the rust with an acid (muriatic/ HCl) and coat with epoxy (POR-15). You can probably have a radiator shop do the work. There are also companies that refurbish heating oil tanks with plastic linings.

... including any parts from the fabled 1979 - 1983 "280Z"... er... X (Many people don't know the difference, even when they sell the parts for a living.)