Pomorza

I am having an issue with my ignition (Key). Its very finicky, when you put it on the "ON" position it has to be in the right spot for it to engage power to everything. If its not in the "exact" spot it won't give power. This is what I mean, this morning I get in the car and turn the key to the on position. There's a click (from the relays) the pump turns on and then another click and everything is off. I played with the key for a second and "click" power again. I turn the car on and it runs fine. Could this have anything to do with it? Thanks Jan

Hello all This past weekend I installed a new battery on my Z and finally got it running properly. Long and behold I don't have blinkers for some reason. The hazard switch works (I have two, and tested both the hazard lights turn on) but when I go to turn on the blinkers (turn signals) nothing, no lights no indicators on the tach nothing. Any ideas on what could be going on? Thanks Jan

Hello again all This afternoon (~noon MST 81 outside and no humidity that's noticable). Went to test the primary and secondary resistance of the coil as suggested by Mr. Zed Head suggested. I placed the DMM on the terminals and got a reading (~0002 on the 200k setting, I think my DMM has a recently (today) broken screen). I pulled the coil wire out of the coil and measured the negative to the center resistance (6.5 on the 200k setting). Put everything back together cleaned up and started the car. Magically she ran, and didn't die, AT ALL. I sat there for about ten minutes waiting for the moment when she looses spark but it never came. I turned her off and restarted and still runs like a top. Ideas as I'm confused as hell here. Yesterday I was loosing spark every few minutes and lost of for good. Now she runs like new. Can the wire(s) be bad (ignition wires)? Do the match box ignitions sometimes work and sometimes not? If that's the case how come it didn't work at all yesterday but worked like clockworks today? Thanks Jan (who is still confused)

Zed Head, I'm running a different coil then when the problem first occured. When the car first died I was running a stock 81 ZX coil. I swapped this with a MSD Blaster II coil today. (sorry if I didn't mension that). So what you're saying is that if the resistance is the same before and after the test then the coil is the issue? Thanks Jan

Update: This afternoon I went out to look at the Z again. She started! and ran for about a minute or two and then died (no spark again). I unplugged the battery and went to work on checking fuses and wires and such. (about 15 minutes). Hooked the battery back up and bam spark!. Held the coil wire to the shock tower bolt and had nice orange spark. Car ran again for about 1 minute then died (lost spark). I had my battery and alternator tested (the battery failed to hold charge so I bought a new one). Still no starting. Could the dizzy or the matchbox (ignition module) be bad again? I just bought the dizzy a few weeks ago. Thanks Jan

Guys This past saturday I spent about two hours today rewiring my ignition system. Have a 16 gauge fused wire (20A) running to the coil through a relay that is wired to the ignition switch. When all was said and done I started said Z and it ran for about three minutes. It then had a misfire for a few seconds and then the throttle stopped responding and bam car died. Pulled the coil wire and held it to a ground (the intake manifold) and nothing, no spark nothing. The distributor is new (rebuilt unit from the auto parts store), the coil is a MSD blaster II. Any ideas would be great. Thanks Jan

Thanks guys for the replies I have a spare 81 zx dizzy so I'm going to replace it tomorrow and see if anything gets better. I replaced the old system as I upgraded my injection and needed a better system for it. Thanks Jan

Hello all This past tuesday my lovely Z (who I'm thinking of calling Christine at this point) died on my way to school. She wouldn't start (kept cranking over but not starting). Today I finally got around to working on her. I pulled the coil wire off from the dizzy and held it to the intake manifold while my friend cranked the motor. Nothing, no spark that I could see. So my question is this, what exactly controls spark on the Z, is it the coil itself or does the dizzy somehow tell the coil when to fire? I have an 81ZX dizzy (matchbox) in the car as I updated it a few months ago (great upgrade for reference). Thanks Jan

Hey guys I have a bit of an odd question to ask. Over the past couple of days I've noticed that the Z doesn't start like it used to. This is what I mean, from the day I bought the car when you turn the key over the second it hit "start" (or on which ever it is) the starter would rotate and the car would start. Over the past few days I've noticed a noticable pause, as in I turn the key to the "start" position and there's a noticable pause before the starter rotates? Any ideas on why? I have two new battery cables and a new starter (gear reduction). Thanks Jan

It should be between 35-40 psi when running (that's where mine sits at). The FSM states 36.3 psi at the manifold exactly.

Thanks guys, I found another T laying around the house hooked everything up and the car runs better (much). Thanks for the help Jan

Hey all This afternoon I replaced my distributor on the Z (long story I won't have the energy to explain). I noticed that my vacuum advance seems to be hoocked up directly to a T where one half goes to the TB (I'm guessing) and the other goes to the vacuum canister. Now this T was apparently VERY old as it broke on me. My question is, how exactly is the vacuum advance supposed to be hooked up. Is it supposed to go to the canister or to the TB fitting (or whatever that little nipple sticking out goes to)? Thanks all Jan

Do you happen to have a picture of how it looks now? I'm thinking of doing this myself if it is possible. Thanks Jan

TDC of the dizzy looks like this http://i138.photobucket.com/albums/q251/datzenmike/L%20Z%20Heads%20and%20Motors/motordistributortiming.jpg Motor looks like this http://t3.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcQqmWj9GKsGFZqTdRksl-3KHSatSiPrYU5jrmQ5zem6zLIz8EmojDtLT_qc Once you have both lined up the dizzy only goes in one way and this should be tdc of the #1 piston. One its in there start the car and adjust the dizzy until your timing is right (~12 degrees at idle) Jan

Or even better, get a manual http://jalopnik.com/5940410/once-again-car-thieves-thwarted-by-manual-transmission

Thank you

Olzed, I actually had this thought this afternoon. My actualy oil consumption is pathetically low at the moment (last time I did an oil change I lost ~.5 quart). I know if I coast and give it gas I can smell burning oil so I know the consumption is there but I don't drive nearly as much as I use to (the last oil change I did was three months and 1100 miles.). I over reacted since I had a rather large white cloud behind me yesterday afternoon. If anyone could provide me with the images (links) for future reference that would be amazing, I'm also just curious as how one accomplishes this. Thanks all Jan

Hey guys, Yesterday afternoon I started the Z after she had sat for ~24hr. To my surprise a large white cloud of smoke (bluish hue, smelled like oil) came from the exhaust. I drove the Z to work and parked her. There was no smoke when driving (none) and none I could see at idle either. I checked both the oil and the coolant both which looked exactly as they should. (The oil is new so it still looks like honey, the coolant is nice and green, smells like coolant). So I believe that my valve seals are getting old. My question is, I've seen some place (maybe on this site) that there is a way to do these without removing the head, is this true? It didn't do it this morning at all, (no smoking at all) so its rather interesting to me. I did slightly over fill the car when I did the oil change (5 quarts instead of the 4.... Thanks Jan

Leon V yup we were talking about two completely different things. I was indeed speaking about the air FLOW meter not the guage.

Yup that's what I mean (PM has been sent)

Cutoff switches are the way to go in my opinion. Mine has two (one for the starter and one for the fuel pump. They're cheap and easy to hide. Jan

I'm selling an AFM if anyone needs it. It came off a running (about six months ago) so it did work. (I've had it stored since then). PM me if interested. Jan

Jack I've been daily driving my 280z for just over 3 years now (August of 2009). To me the most important thing to have is driving skills. Anyone can kill themselves in any car no matter how safe by driving like an idiot. I'd agree that a rollcage might be overkill but if you want one go nuts. There's three bigs things I did to improve the Z. One I upgraded the stock suspension to a more agressive one. (it doesn't have to be updated but in good shape is a must). I updated all the busings to poly and I updated the head lights.(a lot of people over look this but it gets pretty damn dark out here in the desert). Jan

Mike, I run MS1 on my Z. Way more power and way easier to find gremlins (which I had.). Anyhow I don't remember jumping any pins on the circuit board but I could be wrong. The support for this is pretty insense (I've built one of these completely from scratch now) so its all there (on the internet or from the company). That being said if/when you get the its all about taking your time and doing it right. Tuning is by far the most tedious part at least from my stand point. If you need any help builing/tuning one of these things shoot me an email (me) and I'll help if the guys and DIY can't. Thanks Jan

Hello guys This evening while driving the Z my gauge stopped working. I drove it the five blocks home and started investigating what exactly went wrong. Long an behold the single wire that goes to the temp sensor (the one for the gauge clearly) broke apart. Clearly the years have not treated this wire well. Question is, does anyone know what end one must use to connect to the water temp sensor. I tried using regular butt connectors (i have 100's at my house) but none of them worked well. Any help would be great. Thanks Jan