aochider

great, thank you very much for the advice! btw, just so im not chasing something totally unreasonable, but i should be able to get my L28 down to 800rpms without it dying or surging periodically, right?? EDIT: that is my near-term goal so it would be helpful to know if i can actually achieve it. i will, of course, still look at those resources and try to learn as much as possible.

i understand how to do each individual component of what you said (timing advance/retard, jetting, vacuum advance, lean/rich mixture) but i had on clue that timing affected jetting. do you by chance know of a good resource where i can read more about it? im having trouble finding important details like that and am instead finding mostly the same old "plugs are fouled, must be rich" kind of advice. thanks!

1978 280Z, Holley 4160 (pn 8007, 390cfm), Arizona Z intake manifold I'm having trouble getting the car to run at 800RPM. I have the timing set at 10deg (I tried 15, but maybe did something wrong, because the idle could not get very low at all when the timing was that high). The idle mixture screws are at about 1 turn out, and the idle screw is about half a turn in (any less and it ceases to move the throttle at all). Since the idle screw is basically all the way out, I've been adjusting the mixture screws with vacuum hooked up. The lowest I can get it without the engine almost dying and then surging is about 900-950RPM. That produces about 16-17 in/Hg of manifold vacuum. Possibly also of note: unless you give it gas fast enough for the pumper to put in a lot, the engine almost dies when the throttle is pressed. Not sure if this is a symptom of the idle mixture screws or if I just need to put on a more aggressive pump cam (I'm using orange, ie, 41R466). I read Holley's guide to tuning idle, but the car just dies or almost dies and then surges (to about 1200) if I tune down the idle mixture screws. Any advice please? Thank you for any help to a new-to-cars, really-new-to-carburetors person like me!

thanks for finding those links. im going to keep cleaning them and reading this diagram to better understand how it works. it pretty much looks like all four of mine are in pretty rough condition so i might as well clean them all for now.

whoa, okay, that is good to know! thanks for telling me. ill go to the local auto store and i imagine they should have some fusible link wire. EDIT: i should also mention im working on cleaning this one up to see if that will be enough, but im do like to go out sooner-rather-than-later to buy little, cheap things that i may need.

i just checked them, and the black one (my labels are worn off) was barely, mostly-not functional. i put in another piece of wire just temporarily to check, and sure enough it works! im guessing i can just get the same gauge of wire to replace it? thanks a lot for your help everyone.

thanks for the info! im not sure about Acc., but On and Start do nothing. i tested things i would expect to work when in the On position, specifically my wipers and turn lights. the dash brake light also doesnt work. and the engine does not crank at all when in the Start position. there are no relay sounds either in any key position. EDIT: im going to go out and see if voltage will run through the 4 wires that connect the ignition switch. i did that yesterday and it looked like small voltages were running between them, but maybe i made a mistake and one of them is dead.

okay, thanks. ill check the fusible links (because ive already replaced the ignition switch). would the ignition module have anything to do with things like the wipers and turn signals?

This is more of a general car question, but it happened on my 1978 280Z with a Holley carb. I started the car just fine and had it idling so I could set the timing. It took me 5-10 minutes (or so, fast idle was still active on the electric choke) to get my timing gun and when I get back to the car, it dies right away. It was running just fine and then stopped as if someone turned the ignition to Off. After that, the car wouldn't start and any ignition-switched items do not work either (such as the wipers, turn signals). The constant power stuff like headlights work fine. The battery is at 12.62V and I had it load tested at a specialty battery shop just 2 months ago, which was when a similar thing had happened to me (except I was on the highway that time!). The time two months ago, however, seemed to fix itself. So, I don't suspect the battery, but I still tried jumping it to no avail. I also put in a new ignition switch, and same result. I checked all of the fuses on the passenger side and they all looked good. I'm stuck. The only thing I can think of with this time and the last time two months ago is that it was exceptionally hot. I have run the car fine since then, but they were at times that were at least 10F cooler. It seems to me that wiring is the only thing left, but I'm new to working on cars so I'm afraid that there might be some other component that can cause such behavior. Thanks!

great info; thanks!

wow, i wouldnt have guessed that. ill try it asap. thank you!

I have a few questions for my 1978 280Z with a Holley 4160 (390cfm, pn 8007, arizona z intake). I'm new to carburetors in general, so I would really appreciate any help or at least pointing me in the right direction. 1. Does timing stay the same? (10 degrees at idle) 2. Does idle say the same? (800RPM) 3. Is there a need to rejet? I believe mine has already been rejetted about 2 sizes down from stock, but I can't verify because I want to avoid opening it at this point. Right now the car actually runs all right. It starts fine with the electronic choke and the fast idle keeps it at 1500 or so. However, it idles around 1000 (and if I try to lower it, it starts to run rough between 800-1200). It is also harder to start when warm than when cold. There is a slight lag sometimes when pressing the pedal, but I can't tell if it is because the pumper is putting too much or too little in. I also can't reproduce it each time, so I'm not sure if that is the problem. Thank you!

Thanks for the help, but I ended up going with the 12V at the regulator. I checked the wiper pins and didn't find any ignition switched ones. The BW at the regulator was simple enough though and didn't require me to go through the firewall or use anything other than wire, a disconnect, and a splice.

Yeah, it is a Holley carb setup. Hrm... Those are good ideas. The wiper would be the best, but from the battery with a relay on the coil would be good too. I don't want to run anything else through the firewall. Thanks for the ideas!

Is there a good 12V to use for the electric choke that is already in the engine bay? Apparently I'm not supposed to use the 12V to the coil, so I'm out of ideas already. I'd appreciate any help!

What is this thing? Thanks!

Sorry to bother everyone with this. Figured out it was the turn signal flasher. Bought a new one and it works great. Thanks!

There is a relay sound (ie, clicking sound, if that makes sense) from my tachometer area whenever I turn on my turn signals. Since owning the car, there was always a rapid clicking but it would settle in half a second and the signal would work as normal. Now, I only get rapid clicking and the signals don't work. Any idea what I would have to replace? The problem is for left and right, and I haven't done anything to the car so I'm guessing something just went out over time. EDIT: I should also note that the behavior still happens regardless of the turn signal lever. I tested that. Everything else seems to lead to the tachometer, which is where I'm stuck.

Thanks for the advice everyone. Yes, the frame rails are what I was talking about. I like the idea of drilling one more hole on each side actually, not sure if I'll do it though. I always felt like a car's metal body should be inherently shaped to move water away from the interior and down to the ground. Surprising how many little pockets or leaks-waiting-to-happen are designed into them though. But, I'm not an automotive engineer or a business person.

I jacked up the rear end for the first time and a bunch of water came out of the front drainage holes (picture of the area I'm talking about below). Seems kinda odd to me because it hasn't rained here in over a week. Makes me think something is plugged, but I'm not familiar enough with this car's (1978 280Z) body to know.

No, I didn't end up doing it out of laziness. That was just my idea that I hope someone else tries or improves upon.

I decided not to do this in the end because I didn't feel like sawing and drilling through steel last week (when I had the struts off). The plan I ultimately decided to not pursue went like this: 1. Cut through raised bump that braces one side of the square portion of the brake soft line to allow removal of the line from the strut. 2. Drill hole through point shared between the clip and strut. 3. Run small bolt and nut through hole to keep clip on, which should now prevent any vertical and mostly all horizontal movement. That seemed like the cleanest way to approach it; it's basically just creating a way to literally bolt on the clip. I initially just considered cutting a slot for the brake line to come out and then using some sort of tie or clamp to prevent the brake line from escaping, but I didn't see a good spot to put a tie or clamp without more even more modification. I hope someone has something to say about what worked for them.

So, I ended up doing something else. I had tried this before, but the car was off the ground so the distance was too great and I stopped right away. Anyway, now that I had the car on the ground and everything was mostly compressed, I put a jack under the bolt (just to hold it up, not compress anything) and then used a single coil compressor hooked on the sway bar at the top and the transverse link at the bottom (the top fit nicely over the sway bar and pressed up against the bolt so it wouldn't slip, and the bottom fit inside the transverse link cutout where the ball joint bolts on). I only had to tighten it a bit before I got a single thread coming through the topmost washer and I could start to thread the nylock nut. Amazing how much difference a tiny bit of mechanical advantage and convenience can make when compressing poly... I would've went with the longer bolt method, but I went to the hardware store, bought longer bolts, tested hex nuts on all of them (including the kit's bolt), and SOMEHOW when I got home the nylock nut didn't fit in on my new bolts. That's when I got desperate and used the coil compressor.

Yeah, the 4th spacer and washer isn't even on there. I had already tried the jack method Fred just mentioned and the top of the bolt still wouldn't poke out of the 4th bushing and washer. I compared bolts, spacers, and bushings to the rear and they seem to be the same. Maybe that's the problem.. hehe. I got the kit off Amazon. I'll probably just go to the hardware store and get a different bolt with an extra 30mm or so. If they don't have one long enough, then I'll contact the company. Thanks for your help! EDIT: I should also mention that all 4 end link bolts seem to be the same length. So, until I do the rear suspension, I'll actually have to buy two bolts because both sides are too short. Makes me think maybe the packet of front suspension stuff was maybe duplicated, but it's not as obviously wrong as "I got two different bolt lengths in the same package".

Thanks; that might work. I should clarify that I'd expect the bolt to be about an inch longer given my previous experience with sway bar end links. Either way, the top of the bolt does NOT make it out of the top-most bushing. I'm used to quite a bit of wiggle room. Might just buy a longer bolt!