Zed Head

MSA has aftermarket - http://www.thezstore.com/page/TZS/PROD/30-7099 Spendy.

If you install the engine and transmission as an assembly, make sure that you have madkaw's load leveler. The hardest part for me when when I did mine was getting the tail of the transmission up on to its mount. It's heavy. You have to drop it in with the tail down to get it in the hole. If you don't have a load leveler, you can lift the tail up through the shifter hole with a rope after it's in. I learned that through one of the forums, later, after I spent an hour getting it done from underneath. There's no room to get under it to lift it in to place from underneath the car, unless the car is up on some very high jack stands. And the motor mounts won't align well, unless the tail is up where it belongs. Also, , if you decide to do it in two stages, from what I've read on the forums, head bolts are the same thread as the transmission bolts. You can cut the heads off and use them as alignments studs or just stick them through the holes while you're trying to align to get an extension from the hole to the engine. It's good to get everything aligned before the splines and pilot shaft make contact. If I was doing another, I might even mount a mirror above the engine where I could see the gap so I could stay under the car while aligning. Who knows, I might have read some of these on your Tech Tips page...

Are the ones at RockAuto not correct? - http://www.rockauto.com/

Check for power at the coil + terminal when the key is at Run or On. If there's no power, that's why the engine dies when you release the key from Start. If so, find the wire that has power when the key is On and connect it to the appropriate terminal on the ballast resistor. The ballast will probably have a B for battery molded in to it on that terminal. Then check for power at coil + again to verify.

There are two circuits that supply power to the coil +. One is active at Run, the other active at Start. Sounds like you're missing the Run power but have the Start power. Do you have a voltmeter or test light?

Didn't know that about the S13 diff (or had known it but forgot it). Walter made the best point about the diff ratio though. It depends on the transmission used. I think you missed my point on the head, even though you actually kind of made the point in Post #4. "Will it bolt on?" wasn't the question. The E31 head on the L28 block (assuming it has flat-top pistons) will be more problematic and costly to get to run right for a street car. Since he doesn't know much about engines, a close to stock setup might be the easiest, quickest way to get the car on the road. If it's a flat-top piston F54 block, get a P79 or P90 head. No worries about CR or head gaskets or valve size (air flow). It will be a 1982 280ZX engine. Nice that he's got a pile of parts to work with. It really comes down to the budget available. It's not a "restoration" though, it's just a 240Z with a set of later model parts in it.

Do you get 12V to coil + with the key at Start? There are two power supplies to the coil +, one bypasses the resistor during starting and the other goes through the resistor with key on. Maybe you've left the Start circuit to the coil disconnected. When you turn the key to Start the power to one circuit turns off and the other on. Should be able to just put your meter on coil + and see what happens when you turn the key to Start. If it stays at 12, your problem is somewhere else, if it goes to zero, look for that other wire.

Since I recently installed a different AFM with a lean spot right off idle, I've tried adjusting the idle air screw to give a little more fuel when the AFM vane is almost closed. It had almost no effect on the flat spot, but did make the idle exhaust smell more gassy. On the other hand, I had also installed a potentiometer on the coolant temp sensor circuit to test what I thought might be excessive leaning as the cause of the "hot start" problem. The knob is in the cabin so I can adjust on the fly. Adding fuel there does clear up the lean spot. So, in my experience, the idle air screw definitely affects the idle mixture but not much else. Just some recent results from my experiments. The idle screw can be reached easily though, so it's pretty easy to verify if you have a very short flat blade screwdriver.

I looked at the How To Rebuild book and it just says loosen all the bolts, then remove them. Page 48. I don't think it's complicated, there's only two per cap and the block is not going to warp.

Is this a list of parts that you're planning to get or do you have some already? A wish-list? Some of these things will cost a lot of money, for small benefit, like trying to install a short-nose diff in the Z body to get the 4.11 ratio, when you could have 3.9 in a long-nose R200 for much less money. Same with the head, if you have to have a high CR, an N42 or N47 will get you there much cheaper and easier (simple bolt-on with that block) than an E31.

I see. I just re-read your first post. You've had the motor and transmission out before. Did you try turning it with the starter out? Maybe you got the wrong starter, the manual and automatics use two different models. Not sure what the difference is or if it would bind but who knows. Good luck with it.

I think that the "parking" switches are actually inside the wiper motor assembly. I had my wiper motor rebuilt (76 280Z) at a local shop that also rebuilds for some of the online import car businesses. Worth contacting if you can't find anyone local to you. Their rates are reasonable. http://www.philbingroup.com/industry_info.htm http://www.philbingroup.com/philbin_rebuilt.htm

Yours is the first account I've seen of an actual comparison between ethanol-free gas and the 10% blend. Pretty interesting. Newer cars are all running 45 psi fuel pressure or higher. I've wondered if a higher fuel pressure might solve the problem and actually spent a lot of time trying to find a fuel injector model that I could retrofit to my engine and run at a higher pressure, but with the right flow rate. I haven't found one yet but I'm sure there's one out there somewhere. One problem is that almost all of the injectors made after the 80s are high impedance, so there would also be some wiring changes involved. It seems that the only other option is a better cooling device. Maybe something more focused than a fan blowing air all over a hot engine. I've had a few ideas on that also, like a cooling tube with air pointed directly at the injector bodies but haven't done anything there either. But it sounds like the fan with a timer or a better thermostat might just do it. I did connect a potentiometer to the coolant sensor circuit and use it on a regular basis to dial up some fuel when it shows the hot start problem. I have a knob under the dash that I crank up to keep it running smooth for about 15 seconds which is about how long it takes to cool things down. At least it sounds good while I'm waiting.

I have a set of the BWD injectors and made up a flow checking test rig. The new set I got from O'Reilly a few of years ago all flowed equally, definitely within 5%, an indiscernible difference after about 6 ounces of gas per injector (half a Coke bottle).

If you had a manual and the car was in gear, the turning wheels would turn the engine. But you have an automatic so that won't work. Are you pulling the transmission because the starter won't turn the engine? It would be easier to pull the radiator so that you can get a socket on the crank pulley.

Are there different valve lengths available for the L24 heads like there are for the L28 heads - N42/N47 vs P79/P90? Maybe they installed longer valves. Probably want to double check the two new intake valves for wipe pattern also. And, isn't grinding the valve stems to the same length common for a well-done valve job? So the lash pads are all the same thickness. Maybe the shop didn't complete the job or used the wrong spec. Did they install the cam or did you? They should have checked the clearances. I agree with Diseazd, there's something wrong with your situation and you could be one the verge of destroying your cam and rocker arms. Better get that book and spec. everything out.

Wasn't me on the negative terminal comment. The video seems to show that your wires are right but there's not enough juice at the starter to turn the engine over. Sounds like the solenoid is moving and completing the circuit but the starter's not spinning. Are you sure that the battery has a full charge? Could be bad connections at the battery also. If you just dropped the battery in and pushed on the terminal connections (quick and dirty), try cleaning the terminals and connections and bolting them down. There's a reason the battery cable are so big, they should really be called starter cables since that's the main purpose for their size. Passing large quantities of current to the starter motor. After that they're overkill. Edit - Of course, the negative terminal connection is important also. But the starter is a good spot for it since its main function is to ground the starter motor. Make sure it's clean and tight also. And I see that you have the typical clamp-on wire end terminals. Make sure the exposed copper wire ends that the clamp fits on are clean also.

The tach dropping to zero seems like a sign of electrical trouble. When an engine with an automatic transmission dies, the engine stops turning almost immediately since it's connected through the fluid coupling of the torque converter. If the engine is really not spinning, I would be surprised that it restarted itself just through drag from the torque converter. Maybe it was actually still running but very poorly, with a messed-up tach signal. The need to wait for 15 seconds also is a typical sign of a bad ignition module. The hiccuping and popping is also another symptom of a module going bad. You have the E12-80 electronic ignition module on the side of the distributor. Might be worth studying, although they're hard to diagnose and seem to fail in different ways. Also expensive so not a simple swap-and-hope part.

Looks like you're doing a late 260Z, with the first electronic ignition? The wiring would be like a 280Z, I would guess, if the tachometer is the 280Z type. On my 76 280Z I disconnected the ignition module inside the car completely, but reconnected the blue wire from the ballast resistor to the negative post of the coil (that's what it is effectively connected to, but at the ballast resistor instead of the coil). The blue wire (I'm assuming yours is blue too) runs to the ECU and the tachometer on my car from the negative side of the coil, bypassing the ignition module on the way. It's a branched circuit. This was for a GM HEI module, but should apply in your case also, since you're replacing the OEM module with a different one. Edit - I had written tach and tachometer instead of ECU and tachometer. Of course, your 260Z doesn't have an ECU.

That's right, it "backfeed"s to the fusible links on the way to the alternator. I went and looked at mine and the white and the bat. pos. both connect to the outside lug. So move that white wire over to the same lug the battery positive is on and you should have power back. Which may or may not be a good thing. Also, the missing link is one of the Ignition circuit links, I'm not sure what it powers, but probably something to do with the engine running. madkaw solves a piece of the puzzle.

You are correct. The white wire charges the battery through that connection. Many things wrong here, I can almost smell the burning wires...

I wrote a whole long post expanding on PastorMike's comments but the site ate it when I opened a picture. Bummer. But I see in Post #10 that you're missing some fusible links. You need all of them, that might be the "current" source of your problem (that pun never gets old). And you can't just replace them with a piece of wire, you'll fry the rest of your harness. Put down the jumper wires, replace those links and use a test light or VOM for future testing.

You'll need to be more specific, for your own testing and for describing what's going on. You said the harness shows juice, but what does that mean? A couple of sentences before you said "no juice". If you're using a jumper to apply power to various spots, that's not good (as you've found with the blown link). Are you sure the ECU was heating up? It's rather big and the components would have to generate a lot of heat to heat up the whole thing. Maybe you meant coil or some other component? No offense, but it looks like you're in unfamiliar territory and could do some damage while you're learning. If the battery is hooked up correctly (don't trust the colors of the cables, verify that negative goes to ground and positive to the starter lug) and the fusible links are intact, you should at least get dome lights, radio, heater fan or something. The headlight dimmer switch is notorious for killing the headlights so "no headlights" after two years doesn't tell much. Good luck and be careful with that jumper wire.

It started, stayed running and didn't overheat! It has potential. I do think it's only running on 3, 4 or 5 cylinders though. The spark plugs will tell.

One of the contacts in the connector on my 76 lights got so hot that it melted down in to the connector, losing contact with the bulb. I assume that it started with some corrosion, creating resistance and heat. A visual check should tell you, but a voltmeter will too.