240zadmire

After relighted the negative post, low/high lights magically come back to live and work again. No need to replace anything. 😉

This issue happened to my 280z ‘77 once. Engine died at stoplight but fire up immediately. I didn’t pay much attention back then. Thought it was just a rare one off occurrence. Weeks later as I haven’t drive the car for at least 4 weeks, I couldn’t start the car at all. No ignition engage, no clicking of the starter … spends hours troubleshoot. Battery was good…. Cabin lights turn on…. Head lamp works for high beams but not low beams. I’ve been driving with high beams for weeks thought that the headlamps are on its way out… just haven’t got time to get around to replace them as I don’t drive at night that often… long story short, when I couldn’t start the car at all and spent hours troubleshoot… turn out the negative battery post wasn’t firmly tighten. I guess when starting the engine, starter draws strong current and if it is not firmly connected, it won’t turn over though other lights draw less current work fine. I’m sharing my experience hopping yours is as simple as mine and won’t need to replace a lot of component. I have been driving the car for months now almost daily at least 10 miles each day. Enjoying it a lot

Hi all, Recently pass smog test. Been enjoying it every chance I get. Even volunteer to do errands for wife just so I can drive it!!!! I've notice the steering wheel can only make one full circle and the "distance/length" of the tire doesn't cover much. to put it into perspective, I'm having trouble making a 2 lands U-turn. What I mean is the other day I at McDonald's drive through, I had trouble making a right U-turn. My Van and sedan seem able to make a right U-turn quite easily. Of course it inches outside toward the other land a bit, but not as much as the Datsun. I had to back-up a bit in order to make a turn. I had to make a three-point turn. A bit of embarrassed as it was lunch time and was quite a bit of long line ... ;) When I rebuild "grease and new bearing, seal replaced", I noticed the travel rod not that long/far. Is this normal or do I have to do a "drift" at the u-turn!!!! regards

Ladies and Gents, it’s a wonderful day today. My Datsun has finally pass the smog test. Last night I readjusted the valves and was careful to have all within the same “resistance” when sliding in the feeler. Took the fuel pressure test again using different rental showed 30psi at idle... drove the car at least 30 miles on freeway before brought her in... the rest is history. much appreciate all the suggestions and guidances from everyone. We will deal with this again in 2 years . 😉 but for now I’m a enjoying it. more other little things here and there but at least I can drive the car now. thanks

Come to think of it, the vacuum hose to the original FPR wasn’t tight enough. That explains when I open the oil cap, rpm lower but not stumble and die. With the tight vacuum hose and the ‘78 FPR, open the oil cap made the engine stumbled and die. However, oil dip made no different. Does that means the vacuum now tight? No more leak? I’ll have to see the CSV once more time

Well, got the ‘78 fuel rail and regulator. It actually a bit worse. Without solenoid/cranking the car, 42ish PSI and 34PSI on idle. another thing “weird” is that open the oil cap, the car takes few seconds before it starts to stumble and die. Also, the original, ‘77 fuel regulator, the vacuum hose to the intake manifold was not sealed completely on the intake manifold. There is quite a suction on that hose too. also, I did jump the wire on the altitude switch. I can’t tell the different on the engine sound/exhaust smell where the jumped wire work or not. the exhaust still smell a bit of gas for sure. is there anyway to lower the pressure? Change the hose to be smaller from the fuel filter to the rail?

Look like all information from other forums also pointing to connecting the wires together. There’s not much info otherwise. What indicator to know the jump wires take effect? Higher/lower rpm? regards

@Zed Head Your brain cannot go on holiday right now! There is a screw at the end. For sure it is for adjusting. And there is a lock screw with a white paint marked. I suppose that is a lock screw and was set at factory. the wire schematic showed like a switch... but you already know what is it. Very interesting. I’m glad the problem give you some challenge. I have zero clue 😉

Sound like there is a high tension spring inside the switch. Gently hitting it on your palm can be heard the tension of the spring

@Dave WM my dad was a hard working farmer, retired many years now.... And I don’t make that much money... kakakakaka. All of these toys are out of my reach. I don’t even know what they are let alone their usage 😉. Learn new thing every day.... this is what I’m going to do, while car is in idle, hot jump the wire. Hope I won’t screw other stuff

You have a lot of toys, wish I could be your neighbor kikikiki need more reading to whether to screw in or out ....

well, you'll need to buy another car with all sort of California "junk" on it, so you can help all of us out 😉 it's 5 pm on Friday and I'm still at work. aaaahhhh

@Zed Head thanks for the pointer. Look like I need to make a jump from pin 9 and 12 to turn the altitude “ON”. The idle should lower a bit. Does that affect the RPM? If you need to maintain 800RPM, don’t you need to advance it a degree to compensate? Then what are we trying to achieve ? I’m sorry, I’m (a lot) dense. Please explain thanks

@Zed Head, @Dave WM et all, yes, there is an altitude thingy dangling/mount under the steering wheel. I will take a look at it later. very interesting to learn at different altitude the car behave differently. Where I live, the elevation is about 490 feet. Why California models always have this "special" treatment. Other states don't have hills/valleys? regards

Don’t we all!? But again, some say money won’t bring happiness. I just need enough so that when the deliver guy knock the door or when wife looks at the billing statements, she won’t freak out, too much. I’m very close. Everything seem to be within specs. The FPR is a bit out is spec as noted by ZH and in the FSM. I’m pretty confident the vacuum is tight. The questionable one might be the EGR pipe from the intake to the exhaust manifold. I broke the original one and luckily to found the 78 one. I had to put an adapter thread to connect to it. I will check again at that area. I’m soooo close to legally driving my car. To experience the loudness, the smog residue on my cloth 😉 and especially the adrenaline rush the wheel might fly off at 70mph on freeway. 😉 so exhilarating !

@Zed Head will go pickup the 78 fuel rail with included FPR this weekend. Hopefully it is in good working order. this is an excellent idea. Will looking into this. Thank you for sharing great info gentlemen. regards

@Dave WM, As far as I can tell, the injectors are stock. 4 of them are faded green and the other 2 are more bright green. I think the 2 brighter green were replaced at some point. Remove the oil cap and oil dipstick does stumble/lower RPM a bit but definitely car won't die. Remove oil dipstick alone does show lower RPM but not significant. I don't have a vacuum gauge, though all hoses are new. I guess I can take a look into the vacuum gauge next. regards

Hoses on the rail are new. Injectors seals are new as well. It was a pain to put the regulator last time even though it was off the car. the ‘78 rail is definitely have less hose. The hoses to connect the regulator is definitely longer, which make it easier to remove/replace. say, the vacuum hose from the regulator to the intake manifold, there is no clamp. It looks loose. Does it need tight vacuum? regards

Look like need to pull the whole fuel rail and injectors to replace the regulator. Say, will the fuel rail and regulator of 1978 works? I might have access to that set. For sure the regulator of ‘78 won’t fit ‘77 but I might be able to buy the complete set. thanks and regards

@Zed Head i noticed when rev up the engine, the PSI did increase pass 40. you’re saying at ignition on without cranking the engine, it should be 36.3? That’s a bummer ;( dont new ones have to go through QC? This is not good news! what do you think about crimp the line to make it more restrictive to lower the PSI? Anybody use the inline adjustable PSI? Btw, the AFM is stock. Though the black cover is removable. Previous owner might have take a look inside. I don’t see any tampering and it looks very clean thanks

Did some fuel PSI measurement just to rule out if too much PSI. Without starter’s solenoid connected, a hair over 40 PSI and approximately 32 PSI on idle. The water coolant temperature is about 88F and resistance approximate 1.7K Ohms Air temperature sensor resistance on page 52 is approximate 1.9K Ohms. I read somewhere saying that temperature sensor and air temperature sensor resistance should be close to one another. The different between the 2 is about 200 Ohms. Am I on the right path? The PCV is working fine, I think. Pull the hose off and I hear hissing. Close the end with a finger felt great sucking. As for the temperature sensor, it kind of old/new. Got it 3 years ago to fix the idle issue and it was barely used. I can get a new one but can you tell me if the numbers above look good? Before and after sanding/clean he bullet connectors of the temperature sensor gives similar resistance. A few ohms less after clean up. One more thing, page 56, saying pin 34 should be battery voltage, however, I only got 11.56v vs 12.78v on battery.

As I’m rechecks all the steps in the FI Bible, page 54 is describing how to check the coolant temperature and it’s resistance... how are you going about checking at different ranges?warm the car and keep tap on the coolant temperature and turn off the car and take measure? regards

One more thing, I didn’t replace the harmonic balancer as I visually inspect it seem to be in good condition. Also, the gas tank was 91 octane instead of 87. Some say 87 is out friend but I don’t know. regards

@Captain Obvious look like the magic number is somewhere between 14.5 to 15 ish. How do you measure it? Is that a special equipment to connect to the AFM wire or something to get a reading? I saw a clip on YouTube a gentleman actually install a 02 censor to the down-pipe to adjust his idle ... I don’t really want to go that route. @Dave WM remove cap or oil dipstick does lower the rpm but still running. I’ll take a video later. I read howto adjust AFM from this site. https://atlanticz.ca/zclub/techtips/afm/index.html But I’ll hold off on that for now. I’m hitting the FSM and the fuel bible first. Let see if all measure numbers are within the specified. Will post update regards

Indeed it was super close! 😉 Yep, the engine is practically new, at least for me as I replaced everything possible. I’ve driven perhaps a 100 miles collectively since the rebuild. Today, I drove about 50 miles (freeway and surface street) for an hour or more straight. Probably about 30 miles was on freeway and I was doing 70-80 mph as freeway was pretty empty in the morning. the piston rings probably not seated in yet. Perhaps I keep the car idling to burn few more gas tank before the next check. Don’t know if it matter but I had to wait a good 45 minutes at the smog station as it was busy today 😞 The PCV valve under the intake manifold is old/new. I bought that new 3 years ago to resuscitate the car back from it 12 years winter sleeping. It was barely used so I thought I can reuse it again. Will double check and replace it if need be. btw, I will follow up on the other thread about the clock. The quart clock in the car is exceptionally accurate! Much appreciate for all the suggestions regards