FastWoman

Well, I suppose "rare" was too strong a word for me to use. I would say that the lion's share of old cars have at least a few problems that may or may not "seriously" compromise the functioning of the car. Evidence of this is that many people (including many mechanics) don't expect an old engine to run as well as a new engine. If an old engine is properly maintained and free of mechanical problems, it will run every bit as reliably as a new engine, although it might burn more oil from wear. I've not yet bought a car that couldn't be restored from the ubiquitous "runs good" condition to a "runs like new" condition. I've bought many old cars in my lifetime that have been in ostensibly good ("runs good" to "runs great") condition. I have yet to see one that didn't have a single problem. The closest might be this little Miata we just bought -- purchased above book from a Miata enthusiast who restores the things as a hobby. The engine functions perfectly, as far as I can tell, but the radiator and coolant hoses are frail and require replacement, and there is a section of oxygen sensor wiring whose shielding was burnt on the exhaust. Also the convertible top leaks, and clutch hydraulic fluid is LONG overdue for a flush (which admittedly aren't engine issues). I'm sure I'll find other problems as I drive the car more. To the OP: I doubt there is much reliability difference between the late Zs and early ZXs. However, there seem to be fewer ZX owners out there who are able to advise you about your engine problems. ZX people often come to the Z forum hoping we can help them. We can often toss out a few ideas, but few of us really know anything about the 280ZX. With regard to the 280Z models: The '75 has the prettiest engine, IMO. They introduced a much needed backfire relief valve in the AFM in '76, but it's a similar car. The '77 and '78 models offered a few more refinements, including much, much improved heat shielding (which improves reliability but not appearance) and a bit of hood venting. They also introduced a completely moronic space saver spare system that actually wastes more space than it saves. Then the ZX models introduced forced air venting of the intake system, greatly improving the longevity of those parts and decreasing the vapor locking problem common to 280Zs. Also, every year from the '69 240 and into the ZXs got heavier and more elaborate. The earlier models are better for racing around twisty curves, and the later models are better GT sorts of machines -- more comfortable -- better daily drivers.

^^^^ Agree! You can achieve quite a lot, just with dishwashing detergent, a disposable scrub brush, and a garden hose with a spray nozzle. Just scrub the engine down with lots of detergent. Don't get too aggressive with the cleaning around electrical parts. You can clean them, but try to use as little water as possible. Wipe down the whole mess with rags when you're done, and give the engine compartment plenty of time to dry before trying to start it back up. It would be well worth your time, and your engine will thank you.

ROFL OK, seriously, the EFI systems on these cars can be very reliable, but I think it would be the very rare 280Z(X) out there that would be in properly running condition. In fact I don't think there are many cars more than 10 years old that don't have at least a few engine problems. People don't realize these engines have problems, because they "run good." However, they don't run like new, and that's because of an accumulation of small mechanical problems. So if you get a 280, it will run for you in the manner in which you bought it. It will run worse over time, with no attention given to it. If you want it to run well, you'll have to find and fix several little problems. The thing about these systems is that they have no diagnostic capabilities, so it will be up to you to go through the system and diagnose it yourself. The factory service manual is quite good and is a big help in this regard. There's also a "fuel injection bible" that's even a better resource. Most problems amount to vacuum leaks (rotten hoses), bad electrical connections, old injectors (needing replacement), funky air flow meters (that need recalibration and cleaning), and sometimes even drift of the engine's "computer" (or ECU), which requires a "field fix" of insertion of a resistor in series with the coolant temp sensor. People here will help you with that. Once you get it running right, it will be very reliable.

Jenny, I'll have to give my own air regulator the same "shake, rattle and roll" treatment. Maybe I'll get a higher cold idle. It might be worth trying something on your AFM. I suspect you could substitute new fixed resistors for R0 and R10. You can cut foil traces on the potentiometer board with a razor knife, and you can solder to them (very carefully) by scraping the lacquer off of the top of the remaining foil trace. You can surface-solder by laying the tip of a new resistor atop the scraped foil trace and applying solder sparingly. Then you can solder the other end of the resistor to the AFM's connector. I suppose this would be major open-AFM surgery! Resistors are cheap, and you can buy them at your local Radio Shack. And if you can't, I'd be happy to mail you whatever you need. You can both check and clean a CSV with an air compressor. Do you have one? Just connect up a hose, and pressurize the thing with 30 or 40 psi of air. It will drip or hiss for you if it's leaking. Then pass 12V through the connector to open it. Mine makes a nice click when I do this. To clean it, fill the hose with some Chemtool B12 solvent, and pressurize a bit into the valve. Let it soak for a while, and then shoot it out under air pressure. You should see a nice, wide spray pattern, and again the valve should hold pressure when you de-energize it. FAIW, the CSV on my engine was sluggish and would occasionall stick partially open. This cleaning method did remedy the problem. Just to be safe, though, I kept it as a spare and transplanted my spare, cleaned-up CSV from a ZX intake.

Way cool! Chalk up another problem to a cold solder joint! No go and apologize to your ZX for ever suggesting you might sell it.

Your local auto parts store can supply you with the fuel hose you need. Get the fuel injection grade. It should cost about $4/ft. You'll need mostly 5/16" line in the engine compartment, but there may be some 1/4". (These are close enough to the metric sizes.) If/when you replace hoses in the fuel tank/pump area, you'll also need some 3/8" and 5/8" fuel-rated (but non-fuel-injection). The 3/8" is commonly available, but you might need to go to a tractor supply for the 5/8" stuff.

A '78 is closer than a '76 to a '77 configuration. Here's a pic of my '78. The engine is stock, aside from blue and black paint and a pipe, rather than hose, leading from the valve cover to the throttle body. Where you have a plate on top of the throttle body, there should be a nipple where a hose connects, leading to the air regulator.

Aeromotive seems to be the dressy and high quality way to go. Others on the forum may have experience with their regulators, but I don't. (Mine is stock.)

Blinding, yes! Magnesium was the stuff that flash powder, flash bulbs, and flash cubes were made of. (For younger folks: Those were early photographic flash technologies.) It's funny to think that my cameras have magnesium bodies. May they never catch on fire!

You don't have points, because your ignition is electronic (and non-stock).

... adds new meaning to, "My engine caught fire!"

No Jenny, I'm just a pathological geek! Wow, AJM! I can't imagine having engine parts catching fire! That's pretty scary stuff.

You probably don't need to worry about vapor lock if your other parts are in good shape -- fuel pump check valve, injectors, fuel pressure regulator, and cold start valve. If your fuel rail holds its pressure well and doesn't dribble away its fuel, you'll probably be good. Just make certain you use the barb on the far end for the return, so that fuel continually flows through the rail. If you ever do have a vapor lock problem, you can solve it with a primer switch. Just install a pushbutton or momentary switch to supply +12V to your fuel pump relay coil. Run the pump for maybe 10 sec to purge any air, and then start up. It's a nice feature to have anyway.

Oh, wait... Alaska.... Maybe something to heat and circulate radiator water?

Hmmmm... Well, I have a '78 and know every square inch of it. I'm stumped. There's not anything in the Factory Service Manual about such a part. I'd say it wasn't Nissan that put it there. But I haven't a clue what it would be.

Cool! Glad you found it! Pretty engine, BTW. You have excellent taste in engine colors. Here's mine... http://www.graphic-fusion.com/miscpics/280zblueengine01.jpg

Yoshi, fire extinguishers just shoot sodium bicarbonate (NaHCO3 or baking soda) at the fire. When exposed to heat, CO2 comes off of the baking soda and chokes out the fire. So if cost is an object, you could probably just have a jumbo sized box of baking soda close at hand. Of course a fire extinguisher would be better for getting the baking soda where you need it, but just a suggestion... And yes, we're erring on the side of caution. On my own car, I think I would just sniff, satisfy myself it's smoking oil, and watch cautiously as the oil burns off. Well, in fact that's EXACTLY what I did. However, we want you to use safer practices than that.

I'm guessing it's your water temp sender, which goes in the thermostat housing. I assume your water temp gauge doesn't work?

Well, they get tired. You can actually clean the tip of the rotor and the terminals inside the distributor cap, but these parts are fairly cheap, and it's better practice to simply replace them once in a blue moon. Otherwise they get deposits that can short the spark, and the cap can crack.

I don't know the operating pressure of a ZX fuel rail, but if your question is whether the Ebay fuel rail will handle the pressure, the answer would be "yes -- easily."

Hey Pat, NO NEED FOR THE CAPS LOCK KEY! WE'LL HELP YOU EVEN IN lower case (which is easier on the eyes)! I assume you have points ignition. It's not a very complicated system. You could start with the standard major tune-up items, which need periodic replacement anyway: plugs wires points condensor distributor cap rotor If that doesn't do it, you might also need a new coil and/or drop resistor.

Darn! If that had been available not very long ago, I'd have bought one. However, my injectors are in, my engine is "finished" for the time being, and so it will stay. Your questions: It looks nicely made. If it leaks at all, it would be simple to unscrew the leaky fitting, tape it, and seal the leak. I doubt it leaks, though. Personally I'd mount it with some support. I'd machine a few threads in it to attach it to a stand-off, so as to keep the mount rigid. You're going to need to find some way to mount up your fuel pressure regulator. If I were you, I'd see if there's some way to mandrel-bend some stainless steel tubing to run to and from the thing. Regarding horsepower: It will neither help nor hurt. I do think a linear design is going to do a better job of purging air from the rail. On the other hand the 1/2" ID of the rail is probably a bad idea in this regard. Hard to say. You might end up holding a big air bubble for several minutes, during which time your fuel pressure regulation would get really sloppy, possibly leaning you out whenever the rail needs to reaccumulate pressure. (Note: These things do get air pockets in them, opinions to the contrary.) Note that there's no barb for your cold start injector. I suppose you could connect that to a T fitting off of your fuel supply line.

Try this: Connect a 12V light bulb across the terminals on your coil, and crank the engine. Does the light flash on and off? If so, then you've confirmed you're delivering current to the coil and that you SHOULD BE getting a spark out of it. If you're not getting a spark, even when the bulb is flashing, then you've got a bad coil.

Well, if it smells like burning rubber or plastic, you've got a problem somewhere and should stop the engine. If it smells like burning oil, then it should look remarkably better after a few minutes and then burn off completely after a while (an hour?). If it doesn't burn off, then you might have a leak. Obviously while you've got a smoking engine, run it outside, not in the garage. There is nothing so horrible as seeing your engine catch on fire and realizing your home is over it. (That happened to me once when a fuel filter split open on my Mustang.) Keep a fire extinguisher close at hand, just in case!

Well, yes, there are ways to lean out the mix electronically. Although Atlantic Z shows how to adjust the AFM spring tension to alter the mix, I personally don't think this is a good approach. A better approach is to keep the AFM's mechanical response correct (per the "beer can" calibration procedures on Atlantic Z) and then the do other adjustments as needed. But first, you should ask why you're running rich. These are a few common things to check first: *Bad coolant temp sensor or faulty connection *Bad air temp sensor or faulty connection *Stuck cold start valve *Bent AFM vane ('75 problem only. As there was no backfire relief valve, the vane could be bent from backfire.) If you've ruled those out, and if you're sure everything else on the engine is in proper working order (and especially no vacuum leaks, correct valve lash, correct timing), then you can lean out the mixture by adding resistance in parallel with the coolant temperature sensor. As you have an adjustable FPR, you can also lower the fuel pressure -- but I wouldn't think any lower than maybe 20 psi. But first, check the above. I bet you'll find something out of whack. These EFI systems tend to drift lean, rather than rich.