KDMatt

Please correct me if I'm mistaken, but I was under the impression that all of the 2.8L engines in the S30 where pretty much the same, but it was the heads that changed... so I guess I'm lost as to why the N47 head would be causing problems? Maybe the valves are 'sticking' open a bit and that's what the pistons are hitting? Darrel is right too, dished pistons until F54 block, which came with flattops... except for the turbo, which went back to dished. Also describe what you mean by "truck-ish" in terms of what initially brought you and Ruby to the shop, maybe that's a better place to start...?

, my friend's V8 Mercedes probably could have done it.

I just raced a guy on a Yamaha crotch-rocket and lost. All I heard was "BEN! RACE THE PORSCHE!!" and I was instantly ruined. Damn highschool kids. Needless to say when I caught up to him at the next intersection I made it a point to yell "Tell your douchebag friends it's not a Porsche, it's a Nissan!" Maaan, I need to unslowify this car...

*shudders* Gross, that's naaaaasty.

I'm glad it worked out, and if you took any pictures during this process those might be neat to see. I often dream about removing the fugly 5 mph bumpers that they slapped on the otherwise, flawless S30 body... I want to drive around bumperless I think... crazy as it sounds.

Hey now, I'm a musician and I still know my Z stuff. I agree with ya'llz though, this ad is whack. Lots of weird stuff, personally, I have very serious doubts about the mileage, and... 89 ZX engine? weird... maybe he meant 79, or was typing 80 but accidentally hit a 9? I wouldn't be suprised, seeing as this is a yery rare car. If the seller's attention to detail in the ad is any indication of how much attention was brought to this Z, it clearly must be avoided.

Well... it hasn't stopped any of the ricers in my neighborhood from getting carbon fiber windshield wipers.

-to the original poster- Have you had your clutch/tranny looked at recently? The only way the engine could suddenly 'leap' to 5k Rpm without changing gears or changing speeds is for the clutch to slip (assuming it's in gear, which you said it was). I've never heard of this randomly happening on a bump before, but I suppose anything is possible... from my point of view that's the most likely explanation for the RPM jump. Did the bottom of the car 'scrape' on this 'crease?' ... maybe the suspension bottomed out and some part of tranny or clutch slave cylinder knicked the ground? -To second poster (Chris)- If you're getting fuel and the starter will crank, see if there's spark.

Haha, not bad. I can't quite ditch my bumpers yet just because I have this awkward plastic piece instead of the metal valences... It would look weird without the appropriate metal pieces to me, so I'm on the hunt for the full set of valences. Oddly enough I have the center one, but it's senselessly banged up.

Is it a number left behind by a rebuilt shop, or maybe a stamped replacement part number? I'm no expert, but I was under the impression (from the countless threads on Head castings) that the heads themselves bore no discernable serial numbers.

That is unless one plans to ditch the bigger bumpers. Federal Schmederal, I'm gonna remove mine one of these days.

I guess I like the look of the metal valence, not so much the air-dam look. The valences with the spoilers look okay I suppose, I'm not in love with them though.

Wow, that's exciting news! You don't miss a beat man, one Z gone, another one already in the works. Good call. I'd love to see some photos when you get a chance

Damn... yeah I'm not likin' this at all. That little filter will have to be a sufficient band-aid for now. Maybe if someone has a spare tank they could sell me, I could send that one off to get turned and resealed and stuff? Otherwise the tank might have to wait until August when I go out of town for a week, and will, subsequently, not be driving the Z.

Sorry blakey, I didn't test the temp. sensor, no time. I bought a replacement sensor about a week ago, so I have one ready to go in, which I will do soon. Now as promised, here are some pics of my handiwork. As you can see, the inline filter between the pump and the tank at the input is already looking a little dirty... interesting...

The clicking from the passenger side of the car is an issue I had as well. Check the conditions of the terminals on the starter itself (as well as at the battery). The clicking you hear is the sound of the relay sending power to the starter, and because it's not cranking (or you don't hear the solenoid), that suggests that the power is being stopped somewhere along the line, presumably at the end. My terminals were dirty and corroded, I cleaned them up and the starter hasn't given me trouble since. As for the other challenges you mention I can't really muster a guess (getting the car to start is more important than the gauges), but it never hurts to examine your ground connections, those might be corroded/crapped out as well.

Yes, I've noticed that when I really mash down hard on the gas pedal it sounds like there's a tiger under the hood. Any thoughts on what might cause this?

Condition-wise it doesn't look much worse than my 280, however, I paid about 2k less than what this guy wants

Okay, so I did it today. 4pm to about 11pm with a dinner break and a parts run thrown in there. I replaced the fuel filter in the engine bay as well as the associated hoses. I also replaced the inlet hose at the fuel pump, and added a small filter between the tank and the pump, at Master's suggestion. I noted a couple of things. One, when I disconnected the hose at the top of the fuel filter, there was barely any pressure, I'd say no more than a tablespoon's worth of gasoline came out, which I understand is not normal or good, a lot of gas came out the bottom though... On the plus side, the gas I drained out of the tank was pretty clean. I didn't notice any rust coloration at all, just lots of clear gas. There were probably a few little particles of dirt in there, but nothing major. After I reconnected everything and fired it up it seemed okay. I haven't noticed the surging or hesitation issue, but then again it happened sort of randomly that one day, so we'll see. The idle speed seems to have dropped a bit, I dialed it back out with the bypass screw, and it seems to be idling pretty strong between 700 to 800 rpm (it idles low when it's 'cold' ... which I'm assuming is an issue with the Aux. Air Valve) The one thing I have noticed is that the fuel pump is a lot quieter[i/]. I used to be able to hear it pretty distinctly, but now it's harder to make out, and I'm taking this as a good sign, maybe it isn't working quite as hard now? Either way, this car was due to have its fuel filter changed (I'll upload some pics of my handiwork), the old one, now that it's out, looks like crap. What's a good way to test the fuel pressure? I have a small hunch that maybe it's dropped a bit with that extra filter on the system now... The lady at Advance said it might take a few days for the engine to get 'used to' another filter, which I don't particularly buy, but what do you guys think?

Wait, there's a drain plug on the gas tank? ... Or are you referring to the 'outlet' to the fuel pump?

I tested the temp. sensor on the ECU harness, it read approx. 600 ohms when the air-temp sensor was about 1100 ohms, is that normal. I was going to replace the temp sensor anyway, but I didn't realize a bad one could cause these symptoms. Thanks for the heads up.

Thanks for the suggestion master, it certainly seems like you might be right on about filter related stuff. I let the car sit for over an hour while I did circuit tests on the ECU connector, and when I started it up again, it was fine. So, maybe crud is getting trapped at the inlet for the pump. I will look in this! Also, the Fuel-Pump Killswitch in the AFM does not operate. This was the only circuit test for "surging" that my car failed (pp. 53 in EFI Bible). It still read continuity even with the AFM at rest.

Out of the blue today, the Z began giving me woes. I was on the freeway, I had just shifted into fifth, and I could all of a sudden feel what I can only describe as 'surges' the car would be pulling, and then it would be as though it's dying, and then pulling strong again, and then dying. I quickly got off the freeway, and on the exit, back in first gear, I could feel the same thing more noticeably. I took another turn, and then all of a sudden it was fine for a while. It started doing it again at a stop, I could see the tach bouncing up and down. At home I popped the hood and started pushing on the throttle linkage a bit, if I barely pushed it in, the RPMs would go down, almost to the point of killing the engine. I would push in the throttle a bit more, and it would take the engine a few seconds to rev up... and even with me holding in the throttle at a consistent opening, it would still surge. To top it off, while I was doing this I somehow managed to get a backfire from the intake. So... starved for fuel maybe? ... My worst fear = bad fuel pump Somebody help me please! I've got a show on Saturday

CSK lists different pressure regulators for the two rails. My assumption is that the pressure rating is the same, but I honestly don't know for sure. If you decide to try it, please let me know how it turns out, since those little rubber pieces irk me as well.