argniest

All my injectors are brand new. I installed them after I reinstalled the brand new fuel tank, cleaned out all metal fuel lines, all new fuel hoses, new fuel pump, damper, new G3 fuel filter in back of car, new OEM nissan fuel filter in engine area, cleaned fuel rails, new injector hoses, new injectors. I mean the entire fuel delivery system was brand new, before I let any fuel touch my new injectors. Just lettin ya know. The problems all stem from the fact that I have triple checked the spark on the car, and its bad news. All of the spark plug wires showed intermittent spark, and long durations where it just disappeared. I really believe that is the cause of most of my problems....maybe tomorrow I will have it fixed. Im just waiting to hear from you all, if I can use those parts I mentioned above. Or if I should wait until a week or two to get the best parts available. From my Z parts supplier who has been working on them since 1978

thanks for that info :-) was just wondering. I have an road and track from 1978 I found on ebay (havent read it yet) they talk about the corvette and the Z car. Saving it for a day when I am not so busy. Headed back out there now...

I have installed the G3 clear fuel filter between tank and pump. Check. I have had the gas tank insides washed, boiled, acid, and sealed 2x by a family member who restores high end cars for a living . Check. It will outlive me for sure. Then I used Eastwood companies 4 step chemical/painting process for the outside. Its better than new now. I had to make sure that was done, before I replaced everything else going all the way to the fuel injectors. What is the general procedure and thought process to move up to a 280ZX distributor? And is it a direct drop-in? Thanks for advice once again.

Is the ignition modle aka the transistor ignition unit. If so, I was unaware of its existince for the most part until recently. I hope thats not bad. But as you said, I WILL be trying the other stuff first. Mainly I want to make sure I get a compatible ignition unit. UPDATE AGAIN: OK, I called a local Advacend Auto and by tomorrow morning they can have a borg-warner ignition coil, cap, rotor, and ignition pickup. And I didnt even have to leave my desk or pay 1 cent to order them Nice! But is borg-warner stuff going to be OK on my Z car? I hope so....otherwise its gonna be another week before my normal Z car parts supplier can get all this stuff to me. If its OK to use this stuff, that means tomorrow morning I could, for the first time in a long time, have a very well running Z car!!

I hear ya, I have gone through a lot, and I dont regret anything I have done to the car. I wanted to replace as many old parts as I could. WHen I saw the 1/2" of rust in the tank, well, now evrything that touched fuel is brand new. I have reviewed processs to adjust valves and will be doing that as soon as possible. ALl the noid light tests were fine, the ECU tests in the FI bible were all normal. NOw today I learned that the 1978 has some kind of EI Control module???? I dont remember seeing that anywhere,except when I was looking at a parts list from motor sport auto. Can anyone tell me about that, and could that be causing my spark issues? UPDATE: I did another test (using a new spark plug tester, the kind you actually see and hear the spark, which is the same as the other one). SO to rule out bad equipment and therefore bad results, I tested a third time. And now that I know what I am looking for, let me say this. I revved up engine while plug tester was on each wire, and WOW sometimes the SPARK WAS GONE for like 2 seconds at a time. When I relased throttle, the spark came back, but still was missing, then sparking, then missing etc #1 and #6 were not nearly as bad as others, but I did see and hear them missing. #2 was pretty bad, it would miss for like 1/4 to a 1/2 second at a time, and multiple times in a row. #3 was pretty bad too, not as bad as 2. And 4 and 5 (their spark plugs were the ones that were black and dryish looking) were missing for like 1 to 2 seconds. I am saying, there was no visible spark at all for like 2 seconds, and then it would come back for a few, then go away, etc. And revved up engine each time I tested another plug, and sure enough it would still be missing spark. So does this likely mean I should replace ignition coil first and then recheck. NOW THE QUESTION IS THIS, do you think I can buy an ignition coil locally for my 1978? Or will I have to get it from the blackdragon, motorsport, etc or my Z guy from the NW of course. Because it would be nice if I coud go get it right now, and slap it in there. Im dying to try this ASAP! and recheck....it may not solve all problems (I know I know valves) but could solve most of them!!! BUt maybe its bad karma to put some hack cheapo piece on there???? I normally buy only the good stuff. ALso, do you think I can get a decent cap and rotor locally. NOrmally I order all parts online, except my plugs. But now I am dying to try all these suggested things....plugs (have new lready), NGK wires...can you send me a link to which ones you mean, rotor, distrib cap, and ignition coil MY INJECTORS: I am hoping they are fine. SInce they are brand new and good quality, and I was very careful when installing them and handling them...so it was yet another first time doing something like this, of course now, it seems realativly trivial to do it again, as most other things I have done now.

IM GONNA IM GONNA!!!!! REALLY IM 'GONNA' ADJUST ME VALVES But I am also going to replace ignition coil and pickup coil. And on my lunch break, I am going to confirm the missing problem again, by watching the sparks fly. I am sure I will see the same things. OK: Tested again, I definately see lapses of when the spark is firing. In fact on #4 and #5 (the plugs that were the black carbon looking) it almost looks like half the time they are sparking and the other half the time they are dark. Number 1 and 6 looked like they missed spark a few times, and 2 and 3 were missing spark several times too. 2 wasnt as bad as 4 and 5, but definately goes dark, without any spark!!!!! for a brief time within a matter of 10 or 15 seconds, its going dark (no spark) several times. SMOKING GUN! =======> IGNITION COIL AND/OR PICKUP COIL?

Then I am going to use propane into the intake back by number 6,5,4, and see what effect it has. Im a little despodant that the wiring is all appearing to be OK. No smoking gun there, yet. UPDATE, I THINK I FOUND A PROBLEM HOUSTON Well so tonight I hooked up the noid light to each injector, and it flashed on all of them. Seemed about the same intensity, if that mattered. Now I hooked up several spark plug testers...but the one that has a little clamp on it, and you can see the color of the spark, the size of the spark, and if it goes dark (a miss?). Well that is exactly what I saw happening in several of the plugs. 6 didnt seem to miss, but I only watched it for like maybe 1 minute. 5 seemed to be missing once in a while where the spark just missed a beat or two and disappeared, and 4 definately went dark....I cant be imagining it, I mean it was gone for like 1/4 second or long, and 3 didnt seem to miss, but 2 seems to miss the longest...where the plug was definately dark inside, noticible again, but I cant say exactly for how long. But I am sure in slo-mo, it would seem like a lot longer....since normally that spark was just dancing around and around and around....and then BOOP, BOOP, OUT! GO! THE! LIGHTS! I couldnt test 1 because the stupid clamp broke and I just fixed it. Its too late to start it up now, dont wanna wizz of my neighbors. So I will test #1 tomorrow. But another online friend of mine told me we definately found something, and to replace ignition coil and if that doesnt fix it to replace pickup coil next. He really believed that we finally found a smoking gun!!!! real evidence. I told him I was kind of nervous that I was seeing things, but I mean it was dark inside for a small period of time. And he said he has seen that happen many times, and in fact said it could have been why the car even died on me 3 times now....jsut as I was driving down the road...and poof engine stops, electricity was still there. And each time it restarted...it was kinda hard starting, but that could be other issues. SOOOOOOOOO I am ordering those parts and/or just a refurb dizzy tomorrow. And then I will retest, and if I dont see that problem any more....I am going on one heck of a test drive. I mean all these tests are showing good results, nothing wrong, until tonight. YEAH! I hope this is it! At least to solve a major problem...I know I still have to adjust valves...I will I will I promise. :-)

Let me know if you want me to test anything else. For now, I am hooking ECU back up (Yes it was totally unplugged) And I am about to use a noid light, and spark plug tester to evaluate the spark and injector, one by one, and compare to each other

Just kinda of an off the wall question, but how fast would a good running Z car from 1970's compare to a similar corvette of the time? Im just wondering how fast/powerful this car is supposed to be???? Because right now a 1949 VW beetle is faster than my Z. I know its sick car right now...but hey, Im working on making it all good again When I think of corvettes I think of fast and raw power. When I think of Z's....well I dont know what to think or dream of....because mine car is in the hospital right now not quite on life support but if its only running on 3 cylinders OMG!

The car hasnt been started for a few days now...since I have been running all these tests. So that should meet your criteria about the battery. It seems to me that since the dropping resistors are going to drop the volatage to 3 volts or whatever it is the FI's need, that it doesnt matter that I am getting 10.5v on each of the FI circuits? As long as it supplies more than 3 volts, it would just be dropped down anyway. Or are you saying it does matter? I think it is interesting, that using the same grounding point, would show different voltages for the different circuits like 11.91, 11.5, and all the ~10.5's. I dont know if that would be typical or not. But when it says everything should read battery voltage which is 12.34 in my car and none of my voltage numbers are reading that. Just dont how critical this voltage information is or not. I realize there are different lengths of wire, different connections paths, different amounts of corrosion, resistance, etc. :-) that could be causing the voltage differences. Remember though, I have done a lot of cleaning of sensors and connections all through out the engine compartment (havent really cleaned much inside car except fuse box, and replaced all fuses) I will wait and see what others think about this data. BTW, I doublechecked everything too, same results. QUESTION: Should I clean the ECU 35 pin connector with deoxit while I have it disconnected? It actually looks clean to me. but who knows for sure exactly how clean it is.

ELECTRICAL TESTING RESULTS OK so I ran electrical connection tests on various things tonight. After removing the dropping resistors, I was able to clean both sides of the connection with deoxit. They actually looked pretty good anyway, but since I needed to test them. Figured I would just clean them while I could. After cleaning them and testing them I reinstalled them back as they were supposed to be. DROPPING RESISTOR CONNECTIONS I referenced the FSM and it showed that between all the various connections on the 4 pin and 6 pin connections I should get 6 ohms. Well I got 6.2 on all of them. I will assume that is OK, right? Also, I referenced the electrical diagrams in FI bible to figure out how to do a continuity check on the wires going from the two connectors for Dropping Resistors to the matching pin number on the fuel injector. All 6 of them tested positive with continuity of like .001 or 002 or 003, but mostly .000/.001. So that seems to tell me the wiring is just fine between the 4 pin and 6 pin dropping resistor connection and the one side of the fuel injectors. The battery was disconnected during all the above tests. MY GROUNDING POINT I always used the same ground for all tests that required a ground. I stuck the (-) black probe on a small screw in the doorway at the bottom that holds that black plate on there. BATTERY VOLTAGE My battery, when measured at the battery itself was 12.34v and the also, voltmeter gave it a green light. FI BIBLE TESTING PROCEDURES Then I went through most of the FI bible and ran all the tests that I understood. Here is results. The battery was connected, but car was off for these tests. TEST #1 - (3a) AIR FLOW METER - RESISTANCE #1 ----> 0.206K (Manual says approx 180 ohms) TEST #1 - (3b) AIR FLOW METER - RESISTANCE #2 ----> 0.203K (Manual says continuity plus small resistence) TEST #1 - (3c) AIR FLOW METER - RESISTANCE #3 ----> 115 ohms (Manual says approx 100 ohms) TEST #1 - (4) AIR TEMPERATURE SENSOR - RESISTANCE ----> 2.81K (Manual says 2250-2750 ohms for 68 degrees) I dont know exact temperature of coolant. But it was maybe 60 to 65 in the garage tonight. I had heater on for a while. TEST #1 - (5) AIR FLOW METER FUEL PUMP CONTACTS ----> I dont have a pin #20 in my ECU connector TEST #1 - (6) WATER TEMPERATURE SENSOR ---> 2.98K (manual says 2250-2750 for coolant temp of 68 degrees TEST #1 - (7) FUEL PUMP RELAY CIRCUIT ----> I dont have a pin #20 in my ECU connector PROBLEM???? TEST #1 - (8) AIR REGULATOR AND FUEL PUMP CIRCUIT----> 61.3 (tested several times) this is just supposed to be continuity TEST #1 - (9a) CONTROL UNIT GROUND CIRCUIT 1 ----> OK CONTINUITY 0.00 TEST #1 - (9b) CONTROL UNIT GROUND CIRCUIT 2 ----> OK CONTINUITY 0.00 TEST #1 - (9c) CONTROL UNIT GROUND CIRCUIT 3 ----> OK CONTINUITY 0.00 TEST #1 - (9d) CONTROL UNIT GROUND CIRCUIT 4 ----> OK CONTINUITY 0.00 TEST #2 - (1) IGNITION COIL TRIGGER INPUT CIRCUIT ----> 11.5 volts TEST #2 - (2) CONTROL UNIT POWER INPUT CIRCUIT ----> 11.91 volts IGNITION ON DURING THESE TESTS, BATTERY CONNECTED TEST #2 - (3a) #4 INJECTOR CIRCUIT ---> 10.50 volts TEST #2 - (3b) #1 INJECTOR CIRCUIT ---> 10.48 volts TEST #2 - (3c) #5 INJECTOR CIRCUIT ---> 10.48 volts TEST #2 - (3d) #6 INJECTOR CIRCUIT ---> 10.48 volts TEST #2 - (3e) #3 INJECTOR CIRCUIT ---> 10.47 volts TEST #2 - (3f) #2 INJECTOR CIRCUIT ---> 10.48 volts I dont know if that is normal or not???? why it would not be 12.xx volts. Thats all the tests I did, there was like maybe 5 other ones I didnt do. Its too late and I dont want to mess with anything else. LIghts are going out upstairs.... X=X EDIT: TESTS I DIDNT DO YET FROM FI BIBLE TEST #1 - (1) IDLE THROTTLE SWITCH Page 47 I dont know how I can do this test. how can I probe the ports if the car needs to be running, which would imply that the ECU harness is connected, thereby negating my ability to stick a multimeter probe into ECU connector pins TEST #1 - (2) FULL THROTTLE SWITCH Page 48 Same issue as previous, I dont understand how I am supposed to do this test TEST #3 - (1) "START" SIGNAL CIRCUIT I need to do this when I am awake. Didnt feel like doing this at 2am But I think I know what to do here TEST #3 - (2) AIR REGULATOR CIRCUIT I need to do this when I am awake. Didnt feel like doing this at 2am But I think I know what to do here TEST #3 - (3) COLD START SYSTEM CIRCUIT ummmm...I dont know about this....hmmmmm I think its basically similar to previous tests My gosh thats it.

OK I got the Dropping resistors disconnected. My z parts person told me they are not so sensitive. Just pull the plugs out of there. That was too easy, Im just very careful with everything. Use kid gloves. I just didnt know they came apart like that NOW I DO. SO I measured the resistance of each of the pin combinations as suggested in FSM. They all read 6.2 ohms of resistance. So I believe that is within their specs. Next I looked at the FI bible and they showed nice diagrams of which pin number on the dropping resistor connectoins are related to which fuel injector lead. So then I ohm'd them out (like pin 37 to pin 37 for injector #1). To make sure no broken wires. Each of the 6 wires going from one side of each of the fuel injectors, back to the two seperate dropping resistors (4 and 6 pin connectors) showed 0.001 or 0.002 ohms. Which tells me there is a good path from the Dropping resistors to the fuel injectors. Next I am gonna take the big brute ECU connection off (after disconnection power while I do it) and then hook power back to battery, and then start checking the other fuel injector connectoins in the FI bible. Also they show 4 different grounding connections to check. So I am on a roll I will check those too. SO at least we know there isnt a problem with the dropping resistors, and no problem with wiring going from the two dropping resistor connectors to the one side of injectors. Hey its a start No smoking gun there. crud. Still wondering how 6,5,4 injectors connections can be pulled off at low idle and high idle speeds with no effect on engine performance. WT!!!

Sorry what I meant, was they are in a very difficult to get at place in the car. I have the digital multimeter and wiring diagrams for the car (laminated and colored). Its just that I cant seem to position the 6 pin connector to where it will be accessible to test it very easily at all. I am being very careful with the connectors. If I messed them up,,,,,bad news! And yup, I have the schematic and troubleshooting pages also from the FSM. So I will test the 4 pin in a few minutes, but I dont know if I can position the probes to get a measurement on the 6 pin connector. Someone else said I could take measurements back at the ECU for the dropping resistors? but how to do that? I was just hoping to measure them at the source of the 4 pin and 6 pin connectors Thanks!@!

How in the heck does one go about testing the resistance on the dropping resistors? I removed it from the firewall tonight and see there is very little give in the 4 pin and 6 pin connections. I dont think there is anyway to turn them around to easily stick the multimeter probes down in there onto the pins. The 4 pin for cyl #5 and #6 seems doable since I only have to basically check two things in there. But the 6 pin....man I dont know. I definately want to see what kind of readings I am getting from those, according to what the FSM says. I sprayed some deoxit in both of them, but again, with the 6 pin connector dont know how much really got down in there, because I have to turn can upside down and it doesnt like to spray much in there in that upside down situation. I used a mechanics mirror to look inside of the connector, and it seems like some deoxit got all over in there. BUt I cant say for sure how much. But it did look like each compartment in the connector was wet with dexoit. I dont know about pulling and of the connectors off their terminals either. Normally, if the plug was accessible, I would have just done it and moved on. But these things are in a very difficult place to do much with, and the clutch cylinder is in the way too. That is not helping at all. Thanks

If you click that picture, you will see a red line, of where I deteched the brake booster line, from that nozzle. And then I plugged up the nozzle with a short hose and a big bolt in the end of it. ohhh wow, thats a great observation....that would explain what another online friend of mine was saying. He was like, man if it was only running on 3 cylinders, SOMEONE would notice. Yeah I NOTICE, its getting 7 to 8 mpg ....but seriously he thought wouldnt a local mechanic notice. Well according to what you just said, maybe not. Because the engine wouldnt sound all that bad. THANKS FOR THAT. I think it just contribute more to my thinking that it has to be electrical problems on the FI side. I mean the plugs 6,5,4 are bad news, and probably black because they are lean not rich. And 6 is nada, a zero, not even doing anything. And then the bad gas milage well, the car is only using 3 cylinders to push itself down the road. I mean whats gonna happen??? suck down gas! And then how the FI connectors just have no effect (except #4 for a brief second) when removing and reinstalling on posts. Oh well. I just need time to tackle all these things one by one. ieeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee IF this is true, and I am only running off basically 3 cylinders....my gosh whats it gonna feel like when all 6 are working? in my dreams maybe ....I will be flying....I never had a 280Z that worked normally. Been a long long long fight to get here today. But it does seem like maybe there is light at the end of the tunnel. DARE I DREAM? we are narrowing this problem down?

I removed it from the larger metal nozzle that sticks out of the back of the intake manifold. Did I boo-boo that? Where are you saying to remove it if not there? I guess I should look in manual tonight to see if I can find whatcha are talking about :-) so many things....On page BR-15 of the FSM they are talking about this check valve. SO now I think I know where its at. But can you explain where I should have disconnected it? ALso in FSM Fig BR-32, and BR-33 are talking abut this check valve. The picture below shows a red arrow of where I think this check valve is at. Now I just need to know more about where I should have tested this VAVLES Also, I will tackle the valve adjustment as soon as I can. I make be taking some more work days off just to work on Z car a bunch of days in a row. Tommorrow I am going to hook up a noid light and the spark plug tester that has a clamp on it, and sparks in the middle of it, and go one by one from 6,5,4,3,2,1 and check that I have spark, the quantity and intensity of it (as best as I can judge it), and also watch the noid light. Now I have never used one before, but I am hoping the one I saw at harbor frieghts tools will fit first of all and isnt a piece of junk. Their leak down tester from harbor freight looked nice and all, but didnt work. I bought a better one from amazon and it worked exactly like the youtube videos talked about. So I will hook up noid light to 6,5,4,3,2,1 also, one by one. Im not gonna shock myself either. I will pull off the spark plug boot hook up to tester, hookup noid light, and start car....and watch and learn, and then just stop car, hook up next plug and FI, and just see how it all goes. FastWoman: I am still mesmurized by the fact that it really seems like 3 cylinders are not working very much at all. I mean you pull that fuel injector connection off from 6,5,4, and it does nothing to sound of engine, but goto 1,2,3 and pull it off, and immeidately slows down a lot, and speeds up to original speed when you put it back on. I mean there has to be something electrical going on here. Its not that I dont think valve adjustment is important, but this 6,5,4 problem, seems a lot more sinister to me. I noticed the dropping resistors control 4 of the injectors and 2 of the injectors. I was hoping to find they would have controlled 1,2,3 and then 4,5,6. I also havent cleaned those particular connections. I know where they are at, but was about the only ones I didnt clean. They are a little hard to get it, but I am gonna pull them apart now, and the squit the old deoxit in there...let em dry a little and stick them back together. And as soon as possible I am going to check FSM for the tests I can do from ECU to those injectors. Yes that is a good point, it does point out the problem a little more when I think of it that way, But I will still need to warm up car and check the clearances when warm. Just so I know where they are at warm, and cold too.

Im a late nighter, always have been since the day I was born. My software programming work can keep me up until 2 and 3 am, so 1:14 is actually early for me. And yes, while I get frustrated, I have never been actually mad about any of this project. Its just like the best carrot I can ever imagine, dangling just out of my reach. Every day it taunts me and teases me. And in order to get it, I have to do so many new things, and learn so many new things, things that take a lot of time, and then finally someday I can just walk over and grab the carrot and devour it :-) Its good advice what you gave tho. Thanks. Yes, I have checked all vacuum lines, hoses, etc. And the smoke tester we used too, would have shown any important leaks. Im still going to find out if they can put dye in it. My todo list is huge again. And the HVAC system has been temporarily removed from the vacuum loop in the engine by dosconnecting said hoses and plugging off the port hole in the intake manifold either with a vacuum guage or a hose with a plug in the end of it. I also removed brake booster vacuum line too, just to make sure that wasnt effecting anything. And nope didnt make any difference in engine vacuum. I know I need to break out the multimeter and do some serious testing of things, especially related to FI connectors 6,5,4. I feel like a spinning top, I got to stop spinning around and take some more things off my list

I do feel like this was something important to find out. Too bad I didnt try that weeks ago. But you know, I am just a puppy learning how to walk around. AND Yup, I could believe its only running on 3, or maybe 3.5 or 4 cylinders. I couldnt put it into words exactly but you did below. I was thinking if the wiring, or the dropping resistors or the ECU...any of those things were not getting a proper or strong enough signal to injectors 6,5,4, that therefore they are not getting enough fuel or not delivering it correctly. Resulting in the condition of the spark plugs that we have seen, the lack of power, and because of that the engine is pushing itself around on 3 or 4 cylinders, hence giving me horrible gas mileage.I think the black plugs are because of a lean or incomplete burn because of things you have said, and things I was somewhat thinking about last night too. I just know this car must be capable of hauling at least some A$$, so if you combined the partial explosion power of 5 and 4, you might get the equivalent of a .5 or 1 more cylinder. So the end result is that I have 1,2,3 working probably OK, and the other 6,5,4 combined are only giving a little extra power. I still think I hear a put put sound, or a chug chug sound when idling, and driving. But who the heck knows for sure. I have never heard a good running old Z car so I have nothing to base it on. Except the data I am giving you all. I should just buy news ones, and try those. If I had to guess based on all data I have collected so far, it seems like I have spark power. I also have a timing light, and 3 kinds of spark plug testers. One you lay on the outside of the wire and it lights up, one you have to connect inline, and one you connect to the end, and then set near a metal grounding point. Those local mechanics showed me how it worked on my Z car. We hooked it up to #6, and it was buzzing and zappping away. It has a clip on one side to connect to the car, and a port to put the plug wire into. CAN ANYONE TELL ME WHERE I MIGHT FIND GOOD PLUG WIRES LOCALLY? I HAVE NAPA, AUTOZONE, ORIELLY'S, CARQUEST AND AN IMPORT CAR PARTS STORE THAT HAS HAD A FEW PARTS FOR MY Z CAR. This is what I was envisioning last night once I saw how 6,5,4 made no difference to how engine runs (well except a little poof with #4 as I metioned). That is has something to do with the clips, the wiring, the dropping resistors, or the ECU. I mean I know thats a LOT of stuff, but to see how 1,2,3 work great, and 4,5,6 nada...it really does seem like an electrical failure somewhere between ECU and injector connections I will think this through in next few days and take action as soon as I can. :bulb:PS One other thing, if 3 of my injectors are not working correctly, I suppose there is a direct relation to engine vacuum or lack of it. Figure 10 or 11 IN of vacuum with 3 to 4 cylinders working, and if 6,5,4 would all kindly get their A$$ in gear and start working again, then engine vacuum could come back to 17 or 18 IN, no? Goodnight all your crazy z finatics! THANKS AGAIN!

well, what I would like to do as soon as I can, is to run the car around for 20 minutes get it warm, and bring it home. Pop off valve cover, and take measurements when they are still warm/hot. I think it will be good to have that data too. And see what kind of differences I spot between the clearances between cold and hot. And then comes the fun of adjusting them. Now that I have removed and put back on valve cover, and also closely inspected everything in the valve train of the engine, I mean it all looks in good shape. Everything seems consistent, and no loose pieces laying around like some people found in their own Z car engines. It was fun spinning the camshaft around (i used a big wrench on the alternator nut) and I could watch the valves opening and closing and rocker arms moving. I mean this is the first time I have ever seen any of this, so while that seems silly and trivial, it was really neat to see it all first hand for the first time. It taught me a lot. Now I know what the cam lobes are, the rocker arms, the intake and exhaust valves and springs, the lash pad. And the spring clips on the rocker arms. I still dont know if I will adjust them myself or not. I would rather do it myself, but I might ask these local mechanics I met, who seem pretty knowledgeable, and are nice to me, patient with all my stupid ignorant questions. But then again, I did offer to pay them to put up with my questions. I am on the clock when I am there, even if we are just talking. I figure its only fair to pay them for their advice. ANd they dont mind if I hang out with them while we were doing all that other smoke testing, scope testing etc. SO they might let me even do some of the adjustments myself. Like have them do one, and me do one, have them dbl check while I work, etc. I would feel a lot better the first time, to have a pro there. This is not something to take lightly. One mistake and I just cost myself inummerable heartaches of money and wasted time waiting to get a blown up engine fixed. Jetaway: do you really think if my valve clearances are only that much off, that it could wreak that much havoc on my engine? And do you think my valve clearances as stated, could be making engine vaccum only 11 IN when idling at 900 rpm, and 14 IN when I set idle at 1500 rpms? Again since I dont know how tolerant the engine is for .001 off the mark or .002 off the mark on exhaust, it didnt seem like they were in bad shape to me. But I am only about as smart as a 2 watt light bulb right now.

Man you all have such wonderful advice. I am so lucky to have you out there!!!!!!! I just feel over my head sometimes, I guess even depressed a little sometimes. I dont mind spending money to replace all the equipment I mentioned in the book I am compiling here in cyberspace on my Z car. I planned on replacing the equipment, saved for it, etc. But this is such a roller coaster of emotions. I love this car, and want it to run so bad. SOmetimes I feel close, and then as far as way as pluto, its quite maddening sometimes, and so rewarding on another day!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I spend most of my free nights and weekends trying all these things, learning, doing, reading, posting, and here we are 6 months later. I think I wanna bash my head into the wall about right now!!!!!!!!!!!!! UUUUUUUUUUUGHGHGHGHG OK SORRY, DONE VENTING, FOR NOW One day I think I find a smoking gun (like last night when I removed the HVAC and brake booster hoses from the vacuum loop of the engine, and then nada. Apparent dead end. Nothing was different. I really thought after reading on this forum, that if I removed those systems, I was gonna find or eliminate a vacuum leak that I wasnt aware of. But you know, it effecting things exactly zero. But it always leads to something else...just like yesterday doing something as simple as pulling those stupid fuel injector connectors and retesting again this morning. Same results. Repatable problems are good ones. I know from working on writing software about limiting down the scope of the problem. So this morning, while playing with idle on car to speed it up, and try it again, I pulled off 6,5, and 4 and it MAKES NO EFFECT on the sound of the running engine. Whether at 900 rpm's or 1500 rpm's or even when I pushed down the throttle a ways, and at same time pulled off those connectors. I just never hearing it making a difference. I MEAN IT HAS TO RIGHT?????????? There is just no way on gods green earth that pulling those 6,5,4 connectors off there should not make a difference. I mean 1,2,3 make an immediate differnce. I also cant really believe that my timing is so far off, that it would cause 6,5,4 to be that way???? right? I mean setting timing is just too much for me to comprehend right now, and even in 3 months, I know my limits and that is one of them. But I have had 3 different mechanics play with it. But the latest guys had a previous Z owner there, and he really did seem to know what he was doing. ANd said he set it as good as he could, because of low vacuum in engine, I think was why he said he couldnt do any more with it. Well yes, I have xmas lights too, and I was gonna buy some noid lights. I was thinking if they sold them in packs of 6, then I could hook them all up inline, and see how they are looking. I dont know much abuot them, but some another online friend of mine mentioned to use them. I just need to try to find some locally if possible that will fit the car. I will really try to do everything you said in the last few posts here in this thread, and see what happens. If you have time read over this monster reply and let me know what you think about what I said here. Thanks again all you super nice z friends )))))))))))))))) PS One other thing, wont I get a 20000 or 50000 volt shock if I touch my spark plug wires. And look, spark plug wires are so cheap I can just buy new ones anyway. I know I know...throwing money away, but if it saves me from spending so much time learning how to troubleshoot the problem, I would rather skip anything I can, and buy new parts. I know some of yu wanna sock me for saying that Zed Head: I dont understand what you said about injectors all firing at the same time. I mean it seems like they all have to fire at different times because the pistons are always in a different position as the engine runs. And they hit their compression stroke at different times...what I am not understand about what you said. I mentioned what you said to a mechanic BTW, and he was like naaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa you CANT do that. It wont work. Personally, it sounds like a great idea. But also, I dont know how far those connectors are gonna reach anyway, since its 1,2,3 and then 4,5,6 that are at opposing sides of the engine. I dont know if there is enough extra wire to move them as you said. Blue: Im sorry but I dont know diddly squat about distributor yet Each day it seems I have to keep learning about something new. Its all good, but learning how and where to unplug HVAC hoses to eliminate that system from the vacuum loop in the engine, is a whole lot easier for me to understand, than the distributor. Im not saying I cant learn, but I am already up to eyeballs with so many other things to do. I wish I had a local mechanic that could really help me with some of this stuff. But they all seem to be operating on different wavelengths.

The pictures shows #1 and #2 hoses that I disconnected for HVAC system and plugged them off and the intake hole I plugged off too. But the picture doesnt show that I also disconnected the brake booster vacuum hose too. I should have numbered that #3. But then you know where its at anyway. I decided to remove the vacuum lines for the brake booster and the HVAC system from the equation (someone else was talking about HVAC causing vacuum problems. I unplugged the two hoses from he intake manifold, and then capped them off using a small section of vacuum hose with a bolt in the end of it. I also removed the hose from the fast idle actuator and capped it off. So basically, from a vacuum standing point, things were simplified a lot. If I understand correctly after looking at the system in the engine area, and also the FSM, that means I have effectively removed the HVAC vacuum from the system. So if HVAC was causing a vacuum problem before, after removing those hoses from intake etc...that it could not be contributing to a vacuum problem after removing them. Is it possible the ECU is powering up the injectors (because I swear I can hear them clicking) but not sending the correct kind of a signal to the injectors to spit out the fuel ... or not at the right time, or not enough or too much of it? I was also wondering about the dropping resistors, since they are the last stop from the ECU to the injectors. I see a test in the FSM for the Dropping resistors that I am going to try tonight. I noticed those two hoses were sharing the intake runner for #6,5,4 cylinders (but mostly nearest #6 runner). Well after removing those vacuum lines, it had no effect on engine performance So that seems to tell me it had nothing to do with those systems. I thought maybe I had a smoking gun. But nope I guess not. ************************** So what is VERY interesting to me is this, in the process of testing for HVAC vacuum problems, I decided it was time to also pull off the fuel injector (electrical) connectors, one by one, from 6,5,4,3,2,1. Well I cant believe what happened. As soon as I pulled FI electrical connector for #1,2 and 3, the engine immediately took a nose dive, and plugging it back in, it went back to its normal sounding speed. But when I removed 6,5,4 fuel injector electrical connectors NOTHING HAPPENED. The engine sound did not change. I tested it many times last night and this morning earlier. Although one caveat, when I plugged #4 injector connector back in, the engine for about 1/2 second picked up speed, and then settled back down. And every time it was repeatable. Pull #4 off, no change, plug it back in, a small bump up in the engine sound and then back to original sound. Unplug #5 and #6, no change in engine sound. I waited like 30 seconds sometimes...still no change. I dont know what this means yet, but if the engine isnt responding to pulling off the FI connectors for 6,5,4,, and combined with the spark plugs on 6,5,4 looking odd (#6 looks clean like its not doing anything, and 5 and 4 are black -even after 30 or 40 miles of driving) this cannot be a good thing for the engine performance. Any thoughts or ideas why 6,5,4 are acting like that, when 3,2,1 are acting how I would expect them to operate. Also, someone else asked me about whether or not I have good spark. I had a technician hook up an oscilliscope/computer tablet screen last week, and I called him back today to verify and tell him what I found out about the FI connections, and he said based on what he saw with his 20 minute inspection with the computer/oscilliscope that we are not looking at a spark plug issue. He said the secondary ignition system firing pattern and burn time looked fine, and we didnt have any misses...except maybe a tiny little on #2 This makes me think we are having a fuel related problem, and that the injectors are not delivering fuel correctly. Also, I might be getting a fuel injector tester because someone has one I can borrow, or I can go there and have them tested while still on car by a technician, just to make sure the injectors themselves are working (they are brand new injectors and were not on the shelf very long). I would like to believe these new injectors are working in the sense that they are physically capable of delivering fuel, but its the ECU that is causing the issues or maybe the dropping resistors?

Yup I already have some of those kinds of connectors for my fuel injectors anyway. But havent changed them, well, because Im caught up doing so many other things. Its like what to do first, my head is turning to mush.

Well thanks! I just wanted to make sure I was understanding how to do this test. I think I do now. So once its decided if I should/can just leave valves alone for now...I would rather do other things that dont involved internal engine parts. I cant stress that enough Things like yogurt cup test, removing HVAC vacuum lines out of the engine vacuum loop by temporarily disconnecting them, by removing spark plugs and Fuel injector connectors, one by one and listening to what happens. I can always adjust valves later. After doing a bunch of other things.

Well, I always check them, before doing a test drive. But who knows...the plastic on the FI connectors are all busted enough so it cannot accept any of the normal/original clips anymore. So I do think its connected, and remember I can hear #6 clicking like all the other ones. So I was assuming it was working. Of course I cant see what its really doing, but the spark plug that is basically clean and shiny in #6, seems to be telling us something is wrong. I still have all the other FI's...they were mismatched too, I had at least two different kinds. But if #6 is truely dead, (I do find that hard to believe since its brand new but still) I could try to use one of the other ones, that I know at least was working....based on the spark plugs from the prior incarnation of my engine setup. But that would require me removing the fuel rail again and all the other injectors, and i REAAAAAAAAAAAALY dont want to do that unless I am 100% certain that #6 is not shooting any fuel. So I guess I just simply have to start up the engine, and one way or the other run it with and without #6 spark plug and # 6 fuel injector, during different tests. And see how it sounds. If I am feeling brave I may just pull the plug wire off. I swear I have seen several people do this now when having it at local garage in past few weeks. If it doesnt make any difference to how engine is running, but the other ones do.........wellllllllllllllllll that to me, tells us we have a problem with #6. I could rap on it too, dont know how hard. If its stuck. but how likely is that also? hmmmmmmmmmmmm

Yup all my injectors came from a recognized icon in the Z industry. Im not naming names but I am sure many of you know about this little company from the NW. The injectors are all the same. They are all new. All new orings, new hoses, new injectors. The only problem in this equation is "ME". Operator error.:tapemouth As far as the clips on the injector electronic connections, well I aint got nun! They are long gone. Another thread I got going here, I am talking about replacing those wires for the injectors with these new white wires that have the quick disconnect clips on them. I havent done it yet, well, because I am running around like a monkey in a barrell of banana's right now.... And no I havent started car back up...was kind of waiting for a little more input (on another thread http://www.classiczcars.com/forums/showthread.php?41966-noob-valve-adjusting-on-1978-280z&p=361283&viewfull=1#post361283 ) about whether or not I realllllly need to adjust valves or not. Based on the data I collected last night. So right now the rocker cover is off, but if I get confirmation. I will put it back on and adjust valves later. And then I can do some of these other things you all are suggesting.