madkaw

I have a pair of hooks -pm me

EGR working? I'm with Mr. Obvious, somethings not working with your EVAP or emissions controls.

Wouldn't rule out demon squirrels in the crankcase right now - Just think trying to get a timing reading with it running so erratic would be tough with one person especially . Chris, You didn't run the SUs with one fuel line did you? That large vacuum line is now going to your gauge instead of the booster?

Zed, Don't see how he can get a timing reading the way it runs

An unmolested 280z -yes-but Wade, that is completely molested! And as mentioned above, carbs aren't bad, and the SU's are about the best-except for my Mikuni's

Umm, 20det swaps aren't going to be common when you try and find someone to work on it. What kind of mechanic to you call yourself-novice, expert, back yard? Remember, these are modified cars that will need attention and they are probably custom modifications, so you will be on your own when comes to fixing them. Plus the price goes up for the fixes. The 74 is pretty personalized, but if like yellow-your in;) Now the 82zxt swap is much more common and you will be able to find much more help on that. Also, these cars will drive completely different from each other. The 280zxt swap might ride rough being it was set-up with camber plates and probably coil-overs. This one is one I helped work on. It's stock. Datsun : Z-Series None in Datsun | eBay Motors

Carl is right as usual. Unless you have strong sentimental value to the car you might be better moving on. IF you even considered trying to fix, you would need to get under the car and start scrapping to see really how bad it is. There is ALWAYS rust beyond what you see. It is rare to see frame rot without the connecting floor rot. Now your in for a couple grand for floors with labor. Doesn't sound like your tools and experience are up to the task. Search floor replacement on here and look at my thread to see what's involved.

Chris, You have eliminated any possiblities of vacuum leaks? Brake booster is disconnected -right? No-having the crank breather shouldn't cause anything. Wouldn't want to take some pics of your engine bay the way she sits now.

Don't believe there is any selanoid for the early fuel pump wiring . It's just hot during ignition

It's almost impossible to think that both sets of carbs did the same thing.

okay, if the #1 plug wire is lined up with mark on the cap, then you should be good as far as timing. need to do more thinking...

That plug with a green and black wire is for an electric pump. It is an open loop circuit and when a car gets an electric pump, additional wires with a plug are plugged into THAT plug to complete the circuit.

Chris, What is the #1 plug wire in relation to where the rotor is at TDC-that's what I want to see. Is the #1 plug wire lined-up with the rotor???? You never said whether you removed plug wires from the dizzy in all this process of swapping. I think you seen that it isn't carburation -it's something else. It's ignition-timing or malfunction of spark. After watching your video-all I can say WEIRD, and that sucks. I am definetly scratching my head.

Where or what did you read about the 5 speed that was so bad

When you did the engine swap, did you actually remove the plug wires from the dizzy? If so, are u 100% sure #1 wire lines up with rotor at TDC? I know you checked your order, but does 1 start in the right place?

Chris,I would assume they are matched.

my money is still on electrical problem. Kind of fun on-line troubleshooting at someone elses expense-sorry Chris. We'll get it figured out, usually it is stupidly simple:stupid: Here's a bit of an article pertaining to this. The primary resistance is a HUGE factor for the HEI. It wants much more current than a stock coil(3 ohm) will give. Might not seem like much( 1ohm vs. 3ohm), but as far as amperage it is a lot. This is an important factor since all the ignition companies we spoke to stressed the idea of properly matching the coil and module. The best way to do this is to use the coil specified by the manufacturer for its specific module. For example, ACCEL offers a stock replacement and two different performance modules for the typical four-pin HEI. Each requires its own coil to create optimal ignition power. What this means is that you should not mix and match coils and modules. In one particular situation, we combined a stock replacement module with a Pertronix coil and the engine just seemed to run flat—as if the ignition timing were retarded, even though it wasn’t. As soon as we replaced the stock module with the matched Pertronix module, the engine instantly responded and was again crisp and fun to drive. Read more: HEI Coils And Modules - Tech Article - Chevy High Performance Magazine

Was that Pertronix matched for your HEI module? What application was the HEI from? Is this EXACTLY the way it came off the running engine?

Steve j , Sure you dont have it backwards as far as resistance readings? Chris, You are running a ballast resistor? Which coil are you running?

My car has the ballast deleted and reads .9 I run a 81 dizzy. I came up with those numbers by googling typical resistance readings. I'm not an expert spark chaser, but this is what I found

Chris, Did you find the specs for your coil ? After some research, I found the normal reading from + to - posts should be .5-.9 ohms. My coil reads .9 and from center output to post is 6k Not sure if this relevant it not, but you need to verify yours .

He stated earlier he had 3 psi - so it was good. Not sure about the spark tester- what does the results mean? I would think you want a strong blue spark and you could have done that against a bolt.

If you can-watch the spark and see what color it is. It's pretty ease to do.

I guess I'm having a hard time understanding when or how this happened? When did the pedal or brakes start acting like this? Has it always been like this? Air in the line can be difficult to get out sometimes-even after you have bled a gallon through the lines. I had a mustang do this to me and it drove me nutz. It was air in the front line that somehow avoided being flushed out. Only after removing the front calipers and letting the pads come out past their normal travel and then shoving them back in(reverse bleeding) did I get the air out.

Have you actually looked at the spark when arcing to see the color of the spark? I would not start messing with carbs until you have tried EVERYTHING else-especially since you knew this motor ran fine before. The color of the spark will tell you if you are getting full voltage. What have you determined about the coil-do you know or have you tested it?