Zed Head

You should give more details. Car dies after 20 seconds doesn't tell much. At least you mentioned the year. Is the car new to you, did you just work on it, did it run before, etc...? 75s have a fuel pump switch in the AFM, that closes when air is flowing. It's bypassed during starting. You can read about in the Engine Fuel section of the FSM. Sometimes they'll get some crud in the contact and break the connection. It's behind the black cover on the side of the AFM. SteveJ didn't mention it but the link to the FSMs is in his signature.

Doesn't the mechanical fuel pump move in synch with the cam?

Thanks for the story. Seems amazing that the valves could tap the pistons at that RPM and piston speed and damage the pistons (although "smiles" might not count as damage), yet not get damaged themselves. Good luck with the new engine.

Just curious, but are you saying that the valves floated and hit the piston, causing the crack, or that the stress of over-revving over-loaded the wrist-pin area of the piston, causing the same? Are the valves damaged? I've seen it suggested that the L series valve train will rev to 8,000 RPM without float, so valve float at 7,500 RPM might be unusual. Still learning the limits of the engine design.

Arne will probably get back to you, but in the meantime if you're in a hurry, I can say that it is possible to drop the strut out of the tunnel if you remove the parking brake cable and the brake hydraulic line. Put a jack or some blocks under the control arm, remove the three nuts, then push the strut inward as you drop it down. It's not that hard to get it out and hanging off of the inner mounting bushings. On installation, put a jack under the control arm and get the three studs very close to going through the holes during installation, then use your foot to jack up the last few mm while you align the studs to get them through the three holes. By the way, I think that you could lever those bushings in without sanding, with some thin, greased steel putty knives or similar. They will guide and compress the urethane as you press it in to place.

Download the FSM. Open the the Engine Fuel section. There is a sub-section for Removal and Installation - http://www.xenons30.com/reference.html

There is also a check valve at the outlet of the fuel pump. FPR at one, check valve at the other, to hold the pressure. The check valves do fail occasionally, search the term and you'll find a few threads about it. superlen is right about the AFM vane and the fuel pump contact switch. But the Start circuit (key at Start position) does supply power to the fuel pump directly. When the engine starts and you let the key go to On, the AFM vane switch takes over. That gives one way to check the pump and fuel pressure without starting the engine - remove the wire to the starter, then turn the key to Start. The fuel pump will run, but the engine won't turn over.

It's described in the Engine Fuel section. The pump should only have power at Start and when the engine is running. Two possibilities are that your fuel system might not be holding pressure or your cold start valve is not working. Sounds more like a fuel pressure drop. Will it start when warm, after a very short shut down (before pressure can bleed off)?

Thanks for putting that video up. I've read the stories in the past but had a hard time comprehending what I was reading. Sounded like you were taking a few frustrations out on the ECU the way you beat on it. Or maybe it was just the recorder.

It's not very common but the ECU can go bad. I had a spare that I tried out just to make sure that it was good (it wasn't), it ran well for about one mile, then started cutting out and running very rich. Then it killed the engine and only started a couple more times, dying quickly each time after it started. I put the original "same part number" ECU back in and the engine was right back to where it was before I put the funky ECU in. I've also read at least two accounts of a sudden "running very rich" problem being solved by banging on the ECU or wiggling the ECU plug. As I said, uncommon, but a possibility to consider.

I looked back through your thread but don't see an actual fuel pressure number with the fuel pump running, only the "3 pounds" number (not really sure what that means either). Have you measured it? The stock fuel pump can, according to the FSM, pump up to 64 psi before the internal relief valve lets go, and the typical aftermarket pump will pump up to 90 psi. That is a lot of extra fuel. The factory spec. is 36 psi. If you have a blockage you could have some high pressure. One other possibility is a blown FPR. The diaphragm can tear and the engine will suck unregulated gas straight through the vacuum port. You will see gasoline in the hose from the FPR if that was the case. Just thought of one more possibility - if you connect the fuel rail up backwards, the FPR will act as a blockage, causing your fuel rail pressure to increase to the maximum the pump can put out.

I assume it was the recommendation to "tell a story" to the PA DMV that got it deleted. I thought the rest of the advice was good, (if I recall correctly) use the PA DMV and the lien holder to get clear title. eatingZ, did you ask the credit union if they could give you a letter confirming full payment of the loan? Sounds like you almost had half the job done but missed the opportunity. If they were the lien holders, the person who took the loan out and used the car as collateral, or didn't pay a debt and had the lien placed on the car, doesn't matter anymore. They didn't loan the money, they borrowed it. Only the lien holder and the person who's name is on the title matter, or the person holding the title if interest has been released. The car could have been "sold" 50 times since. No reason to contact any of those people if they don't have the title.

The shims that go behind the pads don't seem like much but I could not get rid of the squeal on my stock 280Z front brakes until I found a set and reinstalled them. Do you have shims on your setup?

I believe that the only two people that matter as far as getting clear title are the person named on the title and the person holding the lien. The person named on the title can release interest in the car, and the person holding the lien can release claim to the car. If the 2nd and 3rd owners aren't one of those, they only matter because they've taken other people's money, selling somehting that doesn't really belong to them. The state DMV doesn't care who they are, they are essentially undocumented as far as car ownership is concerned. Edit - You might have a case for fraud against the guy who sold you the car, depending on what your Bill of Sale says.

Your two biggest problems will be getting the wipers to work well and consistently (it can be done), and keeping the rear window defogged. If you're lucky the defogger strips on the back window have not been weathered and cleaned away and still work.

One more thing - I don't see that you have checked your ignition timing and your vacuum and mechanical advance mechanisms in the distributor. If your static timing is retarded and/or your advance mechanisms aren't working you'll get a doggy, low-power engine. Ideally, you get everything set to factory spec., then start tweaking for driveability and performance.

Didn't know you were looking for a permanent gauge. You could check your current gauge with a temporary install of the new oil pressure gauge though. If they match, the odds are fair that they're both accurate.

See if you can get one 5"16" barb with threads that fit your gauge and put the gauge on your cold start valve fuel line.

The tension/compression rod goes through that hole along with with a metal bushing. The metal bushing has to fit through the hole and have a certain range of movement allowed so that the rod can move around as the suspension moves. If you have the bushing you'll have a good idea of how big the hole needs to be. Or you could go to a wrecking yard and take some measurements. Look in the FSM to see how the parts fit together.

43 psi is high fuel pressure. Almost 20% more pressure than the system was designed for. Either your regulator is bad or you have some blockage on the return line (or a bad gauge). The low vacuum is not causing your high pressure, you're well out of the normal range of fuel pressure. It should be 36 psi with the vacuum hose pulled off of the FPR. Have you tried removing the oil filler to see how the engine's running is affected? That is a fairly good sign of how well the crankcase is sealed. If you already have a big vacuum leak, you won't see a big effect. My 76 280Z notices the extra air when I take the tiny AC accumulator canister hose off of the manifold. What's the number of the AFM? Edit - fuel pressure effects comes up every now and then so I looked around and found a calculator - http://www.rceng.com/technical.aspx At 43 psi, you're pumping in about 9% more fuel than design. It's like having a 205 cc injector instead of a 188.

What does it smell like?

That hose (from your labels on the picture) runs through the Air Regulator and just bypasses the throttle blade to keep the idle up until the Air Regulator valve closes. Have you checked the PCV valve and hoses underneath the intake manifold? That would cause a vacuum leak. The crankcase should be totally sealed to everything except intake manifold vacuum. You should find a diagram in the Emissions Section. Might not fix your main problem but could get your manifold vacuum back up.

The gauges on the old Zs aren't very accurate. Mine has a mechanical pressure gauge fitted to the same port as the sensor for the electric gauge in the dash and the dash gauge reads low by about 20 psi. I would first get a gauge that you know reads correctly and verify your oil pressure.

I have found the AC valves on-line but could never determine if the seals inside were fuel rated or not. And I still have a spare spot on my fuel system for a gauge (the old CSV spot), which would be convenient. The reason I started looking again was because I just did some fuel system work, swapping injectors, and realized what a pain it was to depressurize (note - even with a leaking FPR some pressure remains) and drain the fuel lines. Now I can (or will be able to once installed) just connect the pressure gauge, and use the pressure relief button on the gauge to dump the fuel. It's just a convenience.

The numbers are in the FSM, with service and test procedures. http://www.xenons30.com/reference.html