63ronin

Ya know, I have a '78 280Z with an MSD-6A (running a Holley 4bbl rather than the original FI). Haven't been able to get the tach to work yet. Tried just about every wiring config I could come up with. And that includes using the MSD 8920. Under the dash there is a resistor. According to the manual wire used to come from the coil (- terminal?), through the resistor, onto the tach. I got my meter out to check the resistor. All I get is an open circuit. Wondering if I damaged the resistor in all my mucking about. I installed the MSd ignition as shown in instruction for "Installing to an MSD Distributor/Crank Trigger" (second image on page 10). Car runs fine. Just have no tach... I haven't actually looked, but my manual says there are three wires going to the tach (not including two for the light). These should be power, ground, and signal.

After digging through my tool chest I found my magnetic part picker-upper. After a bit of poking and prodding it found the little spring in the bottom of the door. I was so relieved. Now I can finally fix that damn annoying door problem.

So I have had the same problem and ignored it for the last couple years. Seeing as I only drive my Z a few times a year I figured I could live with the problem. But as it's winter and I have nothing better to do right now, I figured I'd look at the problem. After taking it all apart I could see what was happening. Got onto this forum and as usual, found a solution. I should have my Z's lock back working in no time. Now... did anyone see where that damn little spring from inside the cylinder flew off too...

Well damn... that was amazingly helpful. Always pays to read the instructions (once you have them).

OK... this may sound like a dumb question, but where do you locate jack stands to support the car so that you can work on the suspension (front and back) on a 280Z? Owners manual points you to spots on the frame, which is fine for the scissor jack that came with the car. Not great for real jack stands. And I'm certainly not going to be crawling under the car while supported by a single hydraulic jack. So...uh... where do you place stands so you can work on suspension safely? Oh...and while I'm at it... can you still get Tokico Illuminas? Was reading some other posts about them not being available for the Z anymore? If not, other options? Thanks...

I've actually been trying the lemon juice approach in my ultrasonic cleaner lately. Been using that on some motorcycle carbs. Carbs came out cleaner than when I put them in. But not as clean as I was hoping. That said, they seem to work just fine and my bike is back up and running. As most motorcycle carbs were made from aluminum you need to be a bit careful about which acids you use to clean them. As for my '78 280Z, that has a Holley 4bbl that needed a good cleaning after sitting for a few years. Lemon juice seemed to work OK on that one. At least the car seems to run fine. Well, a lot better than it did before I cleaned the carb (and installed a carb rebuild kit).

Well... can't speak for previous owners, but I've been increasing the frequency of changes.

Hi All: Haven't posted much. But I'm starting to focus on my '78 280Z more now that I've brought it back to life. So I finally got around to adjusting the valves for the first time since I've owned it. Drove it for a couple years after I bought it. Then it sat under a tarp for 5 or 6 years. Then I brought it back to life a couple years ago. Finally have it pretty driveable again. Anyhow, as this was the first time I've actually pulled the valve cover I was a little surprised at the state of the cam shaft. But I'm used to the cam shafts on my motorcycles which are all pretty shiny and clean. So my question is whether the cam shaft in my Z is supposed to look like this. Or if it is shot and I ought to get a new one. There does not seem to be any pitting, scoring, or gouges in the cam lobes. But it does appear to have quite a bit of discoloration. Is that normal? Thanks all

Interesting post. I never checked power output of my '78"projects" 280Z before I started changing things. One thing I have heard over the years is that different dynos will produce different numbers for the same car. So as others have said, the importnat part of the test results provided is in the relative performance gains. Not the final hp numbers. Other aspect not discussed is weight. Stock cast iron exhaust manifold weighs a ton. Less weight means faster accel for a given hp... well, generally speaking. I've removed the stock heavy front bumper. (MSA front), pulled all the FI and fit Holley. Added headers and exhast. Quite a bit of weight pulled off. Front sits high now. Looks funny.

Greetings again... Ya know, we seem to have gotten off azkyinc's original question. But since he's gone back to the 390, maybe some of this will help. So at this point my Z is actually running pretty good. Starts up with out problems. Idles fine. Decent accel. No major flat spots. I got my motorcycle carb synch tool out and used it to adjust the pilot screw settings. HUGE improvement in idle and off idle accel. Holley says adjust the pilot screws to max manifold pressure. Damned if that didn't work. Was able to adjust idle after that as well (then re-tweak pilot screws). With that done I switched over to the white cam for the accel pump. The Holley flow curve says the total volume injected is lower than the Orange cam that came stock but more than the black cam I tried. Less flow at bottom part of curve with more flow at the higher part of the curve. Seems to work just fine. Oh... and I'm still running the 49 main jets (stock from factory was 51). Have not tried different squirters yet. According to Holley, my carb came stock with the smallest size available. So it's all up from here. I'll keep tinkering for a while and see what happens. I even washed the windows today so I can see out of the thing... Later

Took me a long time to find a used 3 piece spoiler. One finally came up on e-bay, which I managed to grab. It's still sitting in a box in the garage waiting for me to get to the bodywork side of things.

Hi All: Well, I'm massively confused. I've been reading a bunch of past posts and just can't quite seem to put the parts together. Reader's Digest version: '78 280Z, MSD 6A ignition, Holley 4bbl swap (all FI removed). Car runs just fine. Tach don't work. I used the magnetic pick-up trigger for the MSD (green/purple wires to distributor) and not the white wire. I still know which wire used to run from the old coil(?) to the tach (blue wire that runs to the in-line resistor). Q1) Am I correct in understanding that the tach on a '78 280Z is voltage driven? Q2) Is the basic problem that there isn't enough voltage from the MSD 6A to drive the coil and the tach? Q3) Should I use the 8920 tach adapter or the 8910 tach adapter to make the tach work? Q4) Do you still need the resistor between the tach signal source (MSD or tach adapter) and the tach? Q4b) If you remove the in-line resistor (2.5k Ohm if I measured correctly), will there be enough voltage to run the tach? Ohm's law and all that... Q4c) If voltage driven tach, does it happen to be a 1-5V range instrument like a lot of old control system instruments? I say "old" because a lot of instruments are 4-20 mA these days. 1-5V is so 20th century... Thanks for the help...

Catalytic converter... OMG. How am I supposed to have any fun with my "project" if they are going to make me conform to the will of "Da Man"? I'll have to check tomorrow and see what stickers are still on the car. Maybe I can pull out the middle glass pack and put in a cat. Still have flowmaster at the end. Once DEQ is done, put the glass pack back in. Registration is good till December. So I have a bit of time to sort the car out. Hell still have tuning to do on the carb for heaven sake. Washington county Zed? I'm there as well. Hillsboro.

Hell, I'm happy I just got the thing running again. I probably won't mess with it too much. I'd really like to (and plan to) go with triple webbers. But they are so damned expensive and the wife says I'm wasting enough money on my two wheeled "projects" at the moment. My biggest concern is going to be passing the DEQ test (emissions test) that is required in the Portland, OR area. Never had to try passing that before. Drag racing a "Z"? That sounds like fun...

What size squirter did you go with? And have changed the diaphragm spring on the secondaries? If you did, harder or softer? And finally, what size main jets are you running?

Hi all. Figured I'd post up in this thread. I have a '78 280. Removed all the FI. Installed Arizona manifold with Holley 390 4bbl, MSA headers, 2.25" exhaust, and MSD ignition. Then the car sat for about 5 years. Brought back to life last summer. Ran like crap (go figure). Couple weeks ago I pulled the carb and tore it apart. Ran it through my ultrasonic cleaner (several times) and rebuilt using Holley rebuild kit. Stock jetting was 51 mains. I downsized to 49s during the rebuild. Had a terrible time with lag when stepping on the gas. So I changed out the accelerator pump cam the other day. Original was orange. I changed to a cam with lower total volume and more linear delivery. Lowest volume I had was a black cam. That made a huge difference on acceleration. As in it actually does now without bogging down and hesitating. Still a lot of tuning to do. But at least the thing is back on the road and comfortably derivable. Now all I need to do is fix the stereo... ...And maybe do something obout the squealing front brakes. Later

I'm tracking down some fuel pump problems myself at the moment. There are actually two relays that control power to the fuel pump. Side by side under that cover on the right fender in the engine compartment. The one that the fused links are mounted to. One relay is the actual fuel pump relay. The other is an interlock relay that uses engine oil pressure and alternator power to enable power to the fuel pump relay after the engine is running. Maybe you knew that already. In any event, from the fuel pump relay, the wires run inside the passenger side of the firewall. The wires pass through a large connector (mine is black - yours probably is as well). From that connector the wires (as part of a bundle) route along the passenger side of the transmission hump, under the passenger seat. Once past the passenger seat, the fuel pump wires split off from the bundle. There are two connectors at this point that connect the fuel pump wires to the extension wires that pass through a grommet just behind where the inner body is vertical. Move the carpet out of the way and you'll find the wires, connectors and spot where the wires pass through the floor of the body. I had to remove a patch of tape before I found the connectors. Once outside the wires go to the fuel pump. At least that's how mine works.

Sorry to weigh in on this so late. I removed all the FI from my perfectly running '78 280Z. Removal was easy. The entire FI wiring harness is separate from the rest of the wiring. In general, removing stuff is always easier than putting it back. Probably why I have a hard time finishing projects. In any event, I installed one of those Holly 4bbl set-ups. I don't like it. Not that it's bad. I just decided I don't like the look. Besides, not easy to fit tower bracing with the carb in the way. IMHO, nothing beats the look of a triple Webber setup and that's what I really wanted all along anyhow. So as soon as I sell my '05 Infinity G35 and have some spare cash, I'm going to go to a triple webber setup. BTW, have MSD ignition, header, and custom exhaust. All I need is a hotter cam (and the triple webbers). Later

Greetings All: Figured I'd post up. From the Portland, Oregon (USA) area. My very first car was a '72 240Z. I loved that car. That was back when I was 19 - uh... sometime in the early '80's. In an effort to relive my youth, about 8 years ago I convinced the wife that I needed a '78 280Z. In a fit of reckless abandon I converted a perfectly good and fine running stock 280Z to a Holley 4bbl, headers, 2.25" exhaust, and MSD ignition. Then the wife said my "project" was out of funds. So the car sat for a while. Then I ended up in Australia for a couple years because of work. Back from that, I found motorcycles easier to work on. So the Z sat a while longer. I almost sold the Z at one point. That deal fell through luckily (bad economy and what not). So I decided to keep it. Last summer I set about getting it back on the road. It's mostly back up and running. Funny enough, the fuel pump packed it in last month as I was taking it on it's first multi-hour drive in years. A new fuel pump and a carb rebuild and she'll be ready for summer once again. Still needs LOTS of cleanup. I have a three piece spoiler that I hope to get installed this summer. And I'd like a different front spoiler... MSA has a nice option I'm thinking about. Then it needs fender flares, headlight covers, and some decent wheels to be added. Then it'll start getting to where I want it to be. As for the motorcycle projects, mostly '80's Japanese sport bikes, if anyone was wondering. Later