MEZZZ

Thanks guys, I will check into all of your suggestions and let you know what I come up with. I have to educate myself on the centrifugal advance vs. vacuum advance. I know it is done with flyweights I remember reading but not sure. I am a bit concerned with that black plastic piece I was just floating around under the base plate.

Glad t help you out, even if unintentionally Stephen has been a HUGE help on here, not just to me but MANY others over the years. Like I said in my last post, pull the cold start valve connection and see if that helps. I still havent pulled it from the engine and done the test outlined in the FSM, putting it in a glass jar and turning on the car. I am thinking at this point it is constantly spraying fuel. Whether that is a result of a bad valve or its getting a bad reading is next on my list. I checked out the water temp switch and it seemed in line with the manual. I have to check the thermotime again as I cant remember what reading I got but I think it was inline as well. That being the case, I want to double check, it would be the cold start valve. Not a cheap part at all from what I have seen, $140+. I am a bit out of my league here as I knew NOTHING about cars when I bought mine. I am learning as I go but if I can straighten it out soon I may have to get some professional help

Ive done some searching on here and in the FSM. I know I havent had the oil pump out but that doesnt rule out a P.O. If it was running well when I bought it (it was) would this still be the case? If I pull the ditributor and make sure cylinder #1 is at T.D.C., the shaft should be at 11:25, correct? If it isnt, I have to drain the oil, pull the pump per the FSM and realign it. Also, can I check it by making sure #1 is at T.D.C and pulling the cap and seeing if the rotor is aligned with the #1 wire? Not sure about this. Lets say I pull it and the shaft is at the correct 11:25 position. Could the pulley then be off? Would I have to pull it and realign at that point? I did replace the pick-up coil per the advice of a guy that looked at my car, saying the spark looked weak. When I did so, I marked the dist. before removing. I set the air gap at .0016 or .016 (manual is in the garage), regardless, whatever it called for. I did notice a small black piece of plastic, sort of crescent shaped that had a hole at the end of it. It was just sitting inside, underneath the plate. It almost looks as if it was broken as I saw more of this plastic, looks like it raises the plate a bit. I could not get the retaining screw out of outside of the dizzy that holds the pick-up wire in place, so for righ now, I just routed it as it should be without securing it with a screw. Might it be best to get a new dizzy, this thing looks like it has seen better days. I checked online and can get a remanufactured one with pick-up coild and new advance for $112. My 14th anniversary is coming up and my wife doesnt know what to get me On a side note, while the car was running, I pinched off the return gas line and the idle increased and seemed to smooth out a little, is that normal? I read something about pinching it off but cant find it now. Thanks!

Okay Stephen, I ran some test over the past few days. Fuel pressure between the filter and fuel rail...36 Noid Light, all injectors wires flash. Spark at all 6 plugs. Compression Test 149-151 on all cylinders. AFM Boot soft and crack free and as tight as I can get them. (I did notice the rubber plug missing on the air bypass screw, a little silicone is around the hole.) All vaccum lines tight. Every electrical connector cleaned with emery cloth and contact cleaner, all ground wires to shiny metal. I pulled out the FSM and ran a few test. Used a multimeter on the water temp sensor, cold 2.25 ohms, ran motor 10 minutes, retested, .085. Checked the thermotime switch, it was 74.8, between the guidlines in the FSM. Then, I pulled the connection to the cold start valve. It seems like it mght be suspect as while it still smokes at higher revs, no where near what it was doing before. It actually had no visible smoke at idle. That might make sense because when I first start it cold, it seems lkike it idles great, about 1100 rpm and then gradually drops down like it should, then it starts running choppy. I then attempted to set the timing, I cannot get it to 10 btdc at all. I have a timing light with a vacuum dial on the back, I set that to 0, put a dab of paint on the mark, idle is between 700-800, vacuum line pulled off the distributor and if I crank the dist all the way to the right (while looking at it, the closest I can get is 20. Any ideas on hwere to go from here? Thanks

Your Scarab is gorgeous!

As usual, you are correct, thats what I meant. I posted that as I was drinking my 1st cup of coffee and still in somewhat of a daze. I am armed with my multimeter and FSM and on my way out for some fun, I will keep you posted on my results.

, dont even get me started on Ebay and their fraud protection services they offer for buying a car. I wouldnt have this one sitting in my garage right now if they did what they claim.

Thanks Ron, I have filed away that page you posted, I appreciate it. I am using the correct plugs, cant remember off the top of my head, something like NGK BSE-11.

Well, its been a few weeks since I have been able to work on my car and the little time I had, I spent on some interior work. I finally (with the help of Sblake01, thanks Stephen!) was able to figure out why my car was not starting. On a side note Stephen, instead of wiring the car back as it was, I opted to rewire a new kill switch and got that in yesterday. A simple on/off toggle, placed low to the floor in the driver side panel around the dogleg area. Works great, flip the toggle to off and the car will just crank, flip it on and she fires right up. My problem is the car is still missing and smoking (black) from the exhaust. It seems to idle well enough albeit a little fast. I turned the idle adjustment and can get it to idle around 800 rpm but it will die out if I try to get to 700 where it is supposed to be for a manual tranny. To date, I have replaced all fuel hoses and filter, all vacuum lines. New plug wires, plugs (NGK), rotor, dist cap, pick-up coil and ignition coil. Fuel injectors and connectors replaced as well. Checked for leaks around AFM, boots are tight, soft and crack free. Checked every electric connection i could find and cleaned them including the bullet connectors going to the thermotine switch. Used electrical contact cleaner on the AFM harness and made sure every ground I could find is shiny. I have checked for spark (got it). Also used a noid light on each injector and it flashes on all 6. I ran a pressure test today on the cylinders, all read between 149-152 across all 6 cylinders. When I start the car, it starts right up. If I accelerate, it belches black smoke, not a ton but still very noticable. I pulled the brand new plugs (0 miles and maybe 10 minutes run time on them ) and they are black, sooty black not oily black. Any idea's on where to look next? I appreciate all the advice I get on here, I am still fairly new to all of this but learning everyday.

Thats very interesting, please keep us posted on/if the seller contacts you. I am sure the potential buyer would like to know this as well. Not long ago, it was possible on Ebay to contact a bidder, unfortunately, that option has been taken away. On more than a couple occasions, I was able to warn a high bidder about a "less than honest" seller.

Thank you...I like your Grant wheel better than mine BUT...I got about 5 extra HP at the rear wheels just by bolting on my shiny one..and the silver gauges had to add another 10 HP I'd like to see some pics of your LED conversion if possible, just 'casue I enjoy lookingat pics on here

, thanks. The first wheel I bought from MSA, another Grant was total junk IMO, so much, I sent it back. Uneven stitching, rough edges where the rubber met the metal. I called and voiced my displeasure and they were very accomodating in accepting it back, as long as I paid shipping. I wrote back asking the guys opinion on a replacement wheel and he told me the one pictured was the wheel he would pick for a later model car. They do not advertise it as a Grant wheel on their website or any wheel as a Grant that I can remember. I got a wheel from MSA just because I wanted that "exclusive Z horn button" they provide at no extra charge

From you, I will tkae that as a huge compliment ! I agree, I want to be a little different, afterall, its a '77 not a '69 series 1 I am dealing with. No, they did not offer anything to me when I called. THey did give me advice that I could carefully trim the top to fit my gauge better and thats it. Stupis as I am, when I wnet to put the speedo face on, I discovered that I had inadvertantley ordered the 0-160 face instead of the correct 10-160 one. Speedhut sent me a whole new set, all 5 faces minus the inverter for $49 vs the $89 price and didnt charge me for shipping. It was not until a week or so after receiving those when I ran across a post about the custom face being made. I just think that once they were made aware of the problem, they should be correcting it. The same with how they wire the faces. The three small faces have a seperate plug for the harness. The speedo and tach are piggytailed together. In order to install, you either have to cut and splice back together, or install the tach out of the car and then pass the speedo thru the tach hole and pull back thru the speedo hole and do it in the car. I read a post from 2 years ago and they were going to address this issue, yet when I spoke to them on the phone I was told they still havent changed their tolling around...duh! All in all, it is a very nicely made set. I like them better than the vinyl overlay from Speedhut and I didnt want to attempt to scan my own. The option of replacing all the bulbs to L.E.D.'s seemed like as much if not more of a hassle to me, so ricer as they are, I opted for them. At least I didnt have flame graphics put on them

Yes Arne, you are correct, it is the wrong face for my car. I touched on this in my original post, typing my dismay for Speedhut to send out the incorrect face for later model cars when they are well aware of the difference in the ammeter/voltmeter issue. I didnt even notice the difference until I went to install it and then I called and got the "oh, really" kind of response. I thought at that time I would just go ahead and use it anyway. I removed the red plastic light so the face sat flat and pulled the bulb that illuminated it. I also had to trim the top of the face which was straight across the top, and dish it out so the needle moved freely. It seemed to be working fine and pegged right after turning off the car. I suppose I will open it up and see why it is hanging now, if I tap on the dash or close the door, it pegs right again.

I dipped into MSA for a few items for my interior, namely a new steering wheel and dash cover for my '77 280z. The Grant wheel went on without a hitch, once I figured out I needed to bend up the horn contact a little. The dash cover was a different story. I read posts on here from 2 years ago about ill-fitting full covers. I had a 1/2 cover on before and thought a full one would look nicer. Since I had to destroy the 1/2 cover to remove the speedo and tach, it gave me an excuse to get a new one. I figured that in the past couple years, MAYBE MSA talked to their supplier about fitment. Looks like I was wrong. The same proplems I read about are still there, namely bad fitment (1/4-3/8") off on the trip reset, dash vent above it and the dash emblem area. I tried warming it up, pulling, stretching, cussing, etc to no avail. I ended up taking a Dremel and grinding out the holes for the trip reset and rheostat. That didnt look bad as the knobs covered most of it up. The dash vent above those ended up needing some major (1/2") reduction to make it lay (almost) flat. The emblem area (I pesonally wish they didnt have one on it to begin with) was off about an 1/8" and made it necessary to use a spacer to raise it up as well. Overall, not too happy with it although it still looks better than before. The Speedhut gauges( I know, ricer but I still like them ) were a PIA to put on, had some issues as well. First the amp/fuel gauge is wrong for later model cars. When I called them about it, they said they were unaware, yet I read a post a couple days later about a member that had them custom make one for a late model car. They should send the correct face per year. Other then that, the reverse indiglo look nice IMHO, but you CANNOT see the needles at night, even painted orange as I did. I originally removed all the bulbs so I got no backlighting. I ended up removing the green lenses and replacing all bulbs with new ones. The pictures dont do it justice, it actually turned out looking nice and I can read the needles. I wired the faces into the light for the clock and the rheostat now controls both the stock lights and the faces. The set also came with its own rheostat so I can control the brightness of the faces with that as well. On a plus note, I actaully have a working clock now too! I found the quartz movement from a '78 on Ebay for $39, has been keeping perfect time for days now! I chose the metallic silver face with dark blue fonts just to be a bit different than the white face crowd. Bright orange paint from the hobby shop on the needles. My clock is keeping perfect time yet while posting this pic I noticed the needle on the center gauge seems to be stuck, it was working flawlessly, time to take it back out and see if it is hanging up on the face. A couple night shots

http://www.autoaircolors.com/ They have some great colors on this site. http://www.houseofkolor.com/hok/index.jsp You can also check out House of Kolors paint at this one. Tons of options with these 2 companies. Candies, metallics, chameleons, whatever you want.

Thanks, I was just down that way a couple weeks ago. I had to do the mandatory Gatlinburg trek with my wife and 7 yr old for a couple days. I thought of Zbarn when I was down that way. I really would not mind the drive down there at all, just to check it all out, all the different cars and the parts. I figure with shipping the way it is right now, I could drive down and back for about the same cost and check it out in person. So you know if Roger takes walk-ins like I want to do, or is he more of a mail-order type place? I really dont expect it to be a pull and pay kind of aplace, I would just be interested in checking it out.

I will have to try Ron again then. I sent an email inquiring about a fender, didnt hear back, wrote again, heard back from him, then I followed up asking if I could drive down and pick up the parts since I was planning on being within a reasonable distance from him and once again, did not hear back from him. I know things can get a bit crazy in any business, with the recommendations I will attempt to contact him again. I live in Cincinnati, probably a 4-5 hour drive to get to the Z-Barn, but I would still make the drive just to go down and check it all out.

I used Simple Green degreaser and some of those detailing brushes, nylon, steel and brass with great results. It takes alot of scrubiing and wiping but it gets looking pretty good (at least compared to the dull and black stuff before). I replaced all the hoses and used new clamps, that helped alot too. I havent done any polishing yet but have a dremel with a polishing kit and thought I would give it a try on some smaller pieces. I wish I had taken a before and after, because it looks so much nicer than when I bought it. Simple Green is the stuff to start with though. I used it on my block and after several applications and scrub downs, I actually have the blue paint on the block again.

Looks great, I like the color and the striping, keep the pix coming!

METALPREP ~ Item Number: PPG DX579-QT List Price: 14.61 Your Price: 12.70 (QT) Total On Hand: 6 (QT) Here is a price from a randon website I pulled , they seem to be gouging alot more than your local NAPA store on the DX579.

WHen I had mine out, I ran a hot wire off the battery, positive to the green wire and negative to the red/blue wire and the bulb lit up. It was out of the gauge housing at the time. I duplicated this on all 5 gauges before reinstalling them. I replaced all bulbs and put on the Speedhut gauge faces. I tested them all twice before putting them back in and they all lit up by touching the pins in the connector. Stephen is much better versed at this electrical stuff than am I. I can see your hesitation in glueing them in place.

Other option is to remove the face plate above the heater controls. Disconnect the map light and fuel light. Then remove the airbox by unscrewing it and taking off the hoses attached to it from the left and right. Then you can unscrew the mount that hold in the gauge and drop it out from behind the dash. The gauge is plugged into the harness, unplug and remove. You can run a hot lead to the light, green wire is hot, red/blue to ground and tap on it and see if it stays constant. Sounds like it might be loose at the plug connector.

Thanksor posting those pix of the Balck Pearl Carl, that engine shot is amazing! I never had any idea my motor would have looked like that at one time Obviuosly, judging from the background and a partial shot of the gold car, these cars are all owned by the same person? Since you know him, can you ask him if he would be willing to adopt me?