p_trice

oh, i see. well that definitely makes sense

does the capacitor need to be on the constant 12v or the switched 12v?

got an 82 280zx, when i bought it, it had no stereo and the original stereo was no where in site. After much trouble shooting and staring at a wiring diagram for an hour, I installed a new alpine stereo in the car. I also installed new infinity speakers all the way around. If I turn on radio with car off, it works perfectly, sounds great. If i turn on the radio with the car running, it makes an odd hissing type noise, but once the car gets to full operating temp, the hissing slowly fades out and the stereo sounds good again. I was thinking it might be something to do with the alternator, the hissing noise gets louder with rpm increase. I just installed a brand new alternator though. Anybody have any thoughts or experience with this problem?

after closer inspection, I realized that the old thermostat didn't close all the way and the seal was broken and cracked in spots. Could the problem have been coolant leaking past thermostat when car was cold, which in turn would never let it get up to full temp? I put a new thermostat in today. I saw the temp gauge rise higher then ever before. My heater was actually blowing hot air, not just warm. I did temp test with thermometer, my temp gauge is spot on. I am so relieved, I was starting to think I had much worse problems on my hands.

Thanks for the info. I would definitely like to see the pic of your car with the bumper trim off. This is my first z too. I have only had it for about 5 months. When I got, it had been sitting for about 4 years. It was a mess, didn't run, didn't drive, had junk tires, and the interior was all torn apart. The clutch was stuck to the flywheel. It was in really rough shape. I got it for a steal though, I only paid $500 for it, and I got about $800 in parts so far. Turned out to be a great investment. My z has only 83,000 miles on it. I am going to do paint and body work myself. I'm hoping the end product is something that I and other people can really appreciate. I love my z car.

Ok, thanks, I will go ahead and order some new quarters.

No, I did not measure water temp with car running, as I already had the motor somewhat taken apart at the time. I plan to measure temp tomorrow after I get new thermostat, and get motor all back together.

I got an 82 280zx 2+2. The bottoms of both rear quarter need to be replaced. I am wondering if anybody has a good z parts car. I will pay cash for the bottom halves of the rear quarters. I need the metal from the trim down in front of and behind the rear wheels, for both sides.

I ended up taking apart the thermostat. It did not appear to be stuck when I took it apart. I tested the thermostat to see if it would open, It opened at 180F just like it should. So now what? it appears I have a different problem on my hands. Either my temperature gauge is off or something else is going on. I was thinking maybe the thermostatic fan clutch was not working right. Maybe the fan is spinning to much when the car is cold. I have seen it happen on different cars. I tried spinning my fan by hand and it is kind of hard to spin. Shouldn't it spin fairly easy? I am going to get new thermostat and gasket tomorrow, then go from there. I don't think my temperature gauge is wrong, I have seen it move up some, but not where it should be. After driving all over, motor wouldn't even be hot enough to burn me, just very warm. I could touch the engine block with my bare hands. Any thoughts?

I have had the car for about 5 months. When I got it, it didn't even run or drive. It has been doing this since I got it running. It has only been running and driving for about 2 months.

I have an 82 280zx 2+2. I am about to start the sanding and body work. I am wondering what is under the trim on the bumpers? I want to take off all the trim, but I am not sure the end product will be what i want. Is there a polishable metal under the trim? If so that would be perfect. Or should I just remove the trim off the sides and leave bumpers alone. Any thoughts on this? If any body has pics of a z car with the trim taken off the sides or bumpers, please post it, I would like to see what it looks like as a reference. As you can see in pic, my side trim is broken on the end and is warped pretty bad. the other side of the car is missing part of the trim behind the front wheel.

I wasn't sure if this is an engine or electrical problem so I'll start here. I have a 82 280zx 2+2. runs and drives great, no problems there. There is only one problem that I have been having lately. With motor running, I have never seen my water temperature gauge go anywhere near the middle where it should be. It only goes up a little bit from the 120 mark. The gauge seems to be accurate, the motor never actually get hot, it only get somewhat warm. My heater just barely gets warm, even after car has been running for hours. Any thoughts on this? I was thinking maybe the thermostat is stuck open or something, this car did sit for a couple of years before I got it. I will post a pic later of water temp gauge with car running so you guys can see where it's at.

ok, i agree with you. but i didn't install only the header, i also installed an aftermarket throttle body and bigger injectors. that is probably where most of my hp increase came from. but ur right, the egr was leaking/malfunctioning before, all i did was seal it off, thus eliminating the leak/malfunction.

well first off, I could care less about gas mileage, so that is not an issue for me. second, I don't have to pass an emissions test so that is not an issue. and third, I took the motor out of the car when i got it to make sure it was mechanical sound. When i pulled off intake and exhaust manifold together, the tube that goes from the egr on the intake to the manifold broke in half, as it already had a crack in it. plus the bolt on the manifold wouldn't come off, even with heat. So i just went ahead and blocked off egr, and put a header with no smog fittings. I did actually see an increase of horsepower and that was proven on a dyno. plus, every car i have ever owned i have eliminated the egr system, and they always seem to run better.

i guess i'll just leave it alone for now, until I can get some more aftermarket parts for it.

have u tried replacing fuel filter? check injector wires?

i have a non turbo 82 280zx 5 speed. I have done pretty much everything that can be done to it. It runs and drives amazingly. I just wanted it a bit faster. I have already eliminated the egr system and put a pacesetter header on it, I saw an increase of almost 20 hp. I am just wondering if anybody knows any good tuning tricks to get it to have a bit more power without spending a bunch of money. I heard there was a way to mess with the air/fuel ratio and get it to have more power. Does anyone on here know of this? In the great words of Ricky Bobby, "I wanna go fast"

reverse electroplating worked perfectly, inside of gas tank looks brand new again. my 280zx runs like a champ now.

I have cleaned out the fuel pump, it's wasn't really that bad inside. I have also cleaned out and replaced any lines that needed it. I am in the process of reverse electroplating the rust inside the tank. I took a battery charger and hooked the ground to outside of tank, and the positive to a metal rod sticking inside the top of the tank but not touching it. I then filled up the tank with a solution of water and dissolved arm & hammer washing soda. The process sucks the rust right off the inside of the tank wall and it sticks to the metal rod. I just turn off battery charger and pull rod out and clean it off about every 2 hours. the process actually works quite well. When i am done and have emptied out all the water, I plan to spray inside of tank with wd-40 to get rid of all leftover water and help protect against further rusting. I am then going to take a leaf blower and blow air in the tank till it is dry. It should work out pretty good.

I have had the car for about 2 months myself. It is the 2+2 non turbo. When I got it, it has been sitting for about a year. I had to trailer it home as the clutch was stuck to the flywheel. I got it home and pulled motor, put new turbo clutch and flywheel on it, put header on it, new timing chain and tensioner, new valve gasket, oil pan was leaking so i put new gasket on that. Cleaned out intake, made sure the motor was mechanically sound internally, it has 84,000 original miles on it so it was in great shape on the inside. I put the motor back in it, got new coil, distributor cap and rotor, new spark plugs and wires, new water pump. set timing, located and fixed any vacuum leaks. I recently started driving it about 2 days ago. After further investigation, i realized the gas tank had about 1/2 a tank of old/bad gas, and was also quite rusty inside. I dropped tank out about 3 hours ago and started cleaning it. I was actually pulling out handfuls of rust chunks/chips. I am going to try to clean tank as best I can. I'd rather not buy a new one. Any suggestions on what to clean tank with? I got rust chunks out, but there is still surface rust on inside of tank. And as for the red light, it used to turn green and say OK when i first got the car. Should i just ignore it then?

I have a 1982 datsun 280zx non turbo. It runs decent and idles great. I has decent power when i cruise around in town, but when i get outside of town and try to go fast, it seems like it has no power. It kind of sputters a bit, like it's running out of gas or something. I can put throttle to the floor and it just sputters. I put more gas in it but it still sputters a bit. Do I maybe need new fuel filter or pump. I also have a red warning light that turns on on my gauge cluster. It is supposed to be green and say OK. I have seen it turn green and say OK before but now it won't do it anymore. What does this red light mean? Also how do u tell if the injector wires are going to the right injectors? I think the person before me got them wrong. I am a decent mechanic but, I am new to working on older datsuns so please make reply easy to understand for a datsun newb. some help getting this car straightened out would be greatly appreciated. thanks