sblake01

Well, technically, no. The design of the 78 fuel rail is different. But for the purpose you're saying I guess that's true. Still, overall, he'd be much better off with the correct FSM for most all of the testing involved in troubleshooting the system. I'll have to think about that one before responding...

280ZX's had cruise control? I did not know that.....

This old thread is beginning to drift off topic a bit, and this won't help with that, but even that 'bloated insult' (78 280Z) was faster around a race circuit than a 240Z under the conditions outline in Richard's post.

You really need an FSM for a 77. There are differences between 77 and 78. Some of the realays are in different places, the fuel pump actuates differently, the voltage regulator changed from external in 77 to internal in 78. etc. Try this: 77 FSM

The vented hood was original on the 77 and 78 280Z. Sometimes people put them on they earlier cars becaue that like or want the vents.

You shouldn't have run the pump until it was empty. There was no real need. The fact that it ran proprely from the gas can proved that the problem was in your tank. What were you trying to accomplish by running it out of gas? Anyway, it takes a while to prime the system when you run it out of gas so that's likely why it's not starting. Don't mess with the fuel pump. You can't clean the gas tank without removing it, at least not effectively. Best to have it professionally done, especially an EFI tank. Some people have put an inline filter on the input side of the pump to temporarily solve this problem but at the rate you say the pressure drops, I'd say you need to clean the tank.

Same place in a 77 as a 76. That's a little better description of it's location than I posted, however.

The first location you mention is flat wrong. The 'other possible location' would only be accurate on a 78. On a 75-77, the relay is located at under the dash on the drivers side above the steering column. It's a wide relay. Two plugs plug into it. Half of it is the main EFI relay and the other half of it is the fuel pump relay. See page EF-14 of the 1977 service manual if you don't have one, here's a link.http://www.xenons30.com/files/FSM/77_datsun_280z.zip Test that relay as per the testing procedure in the FSM, pages EF-55 through EF-57. I've seen many a person replace it only to find out that it wasn't the problem.

I would really doubt the you have the original voltage regulator since it would likely have been replaced in the last 40 years. I say that becuse somewhere along the way, in the part stores, the mechanical adjustable ones were replaced by solid state, non adjustable ones. Moot point since your info points to a bad VR anyway.

That's actually an old test that was common back when cars had generators instead of alternators. Even so, your dad has it wrong. It's the negative cable you remove, not the positive. The negative cable is always the first removed whenever you disconnect a battery for any reason. That being said, this should never be done on a car with an alternator while the car is running for the above mentioned reasons and a few more. There are proper tests for an alternator.

Sam, you must be bored!

You need a 78 manual. There are enough changes bettween 77 and 78 to where you can't use the manual from one on the other. 78 had no fuel pump contacts in the air flow meter, 78 had an internally regulated alternator, different relays, etc. So all of you testing would be different. Here's a link to a 78 FSM: http://www.xenons30.com/files/FSM/1978%20280z%20FSM.zip

These?: I remember that someone did a set of those in Australia and a couple years back one of the Z Therapy guys did a set, maybe Steve Epperly. I reacall seeing them at the Solvang Roadster Show in 2008.

From HybridZ:

I recall many a heated discussion in the past on this site about vapor lock on EFI cars. The only way you could actually show vapor lock type symptoms would be if you had low fuel pressure for whatever reason. The handful of times I've helped out someone with a 280Z or ZX complaining of vapor lock it always turned out to be something else. I live in Southern California and it gets pretty hot in the summer. Like I said, I've only seen the symptoms a handful of times so, based on my experience, its not what I'd call a "fairly common problem". The EFI system on these cars is fairly simple. Compare it to modern day systems. Overthinking it is often the fairly common problem.

Don't know if you've solve this yet but I found an old post that might be of some help: http://www.classiczcars.com/forums/showpost.php?p=274539&postcount=9

I already have those. Those are all available on the internet. If it doesn't include a 1970 and 1971 FSM I guess I'm still searching.

It has reproduction of each of the Factory Service Manuals? 1970-1971-1972-1973? If that is so, I stand corrected and will order one because that will complete my collection.

The book "How to Rebuild Your Nissan & Datsun OHC Engine" by Tom Monroe is a good one as is the L20A, L24 factory service manual that I've linked here: http://www.xenons30.com/files/FSM%20L20aL24engine.pdf

The OP's Z is a 71..........

Xenon doesn't have the 70 or 71 FSM or the 71,72,74 or 75 owners manuals at the present time however.

I just can't see it being a 'Factory Workshop Manual' if it covers multiple years. They also sell one for 75-83 280z/zx. More likely a Haynes/Chilton type thing. Not worth $14.95 to me if that's the case.

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What are it's temperature handling capabilities? HVAC ducting doesn't reach the temperatures that are generated by an exhaust manifold.