Zed Head

Have somebody press on the middle of the hood while you pull the handle, or vice-versa. Or put some weight on it. It probably has too much upward force on the latch now. You probably need to readjust it back to where it was now.

What have you adjusted? The corners would be held up by the two posts with the rubber bumpers. Was there a different hood on it that you've replaced? Don't overlook that it might be the cowl piece that is bent, not the hood.

Is the straight side, the driver's side, of the chain tight? If you rotate things backward you can make it loose and it will do what your picture shows. You can put a wrench on the sprocket bolt and tighten it up without turning the crankshaft. Beside that, when it wears a little it will retard slightly. But it's in range, looks good.

I used one from a spare alternator that I had laying around. Used the ground bolt on the manifold to mount it and ran the wire over to the coil post. I had to extend the wire though so there might be a more convenient mounting location. You can get that type at any auto parts store for a few bucks. By adding resistance to your coil power line you're reducing the strength of the spark at higher RPM, defeating the HE part of the HEI module, so it might be worth an experiment. On the red-green thing, you have two many wires in your picture, it's hard to know what's what. You might trace those wires back to the pickup coil itself and see what is connected where at the distributor. Maybe they're mixed up at the pickup coil. The HEI module is very sensitive and might even work with just one wire.

You never really said where red and green were to start so it's unclear what reversed is. But if your timing light is steady they're probably right now. Green goes to G and red goes to W, normally. I had a similar problem with my tach and the HEI module. I fixed it by putting a condenser/capacitor on the negative (blue) wire that feeds the tach, I assume that there was electrical noise generated by the HEI and the condenser knocked it down. I know it worked because many miles later the tach started acting up again and I found that the wire to the condenser had broken. Reconnected it and the tach was back.

If you find that your fuel pressure really is low and can't be raised then that would be an option. Or you could have them flow-tested to see what you have. It's just another unknown at this point.

Those injectors aren't what I thought they were. Nissan injectors all have the same number on the side, and use different colors to differentiate volume. There should be a number/letter like A11000... in this spot, below. You have mystery injectors. They could be 265 cc aftermarket turbo injectors instead of 188 cc NA injectors. That might explain the low fuel pressure and the reason he used an adjustable regulator. Aftermarket injectors come in a variety of colors. So, unfortunately, you might find that you are unable to raise fuel pressure to spec. without causing the engine to run really rich.

Looks like mostly stock parts. Those pink injectors probably started as tan. The AFM is probably sideways in order to fit that hose connecting to the throttle body, the stock one probably fell apart as they do. So Dave's fuel pressure recommendation is back on the docket. Why is it so low? I wonder if the PO just used the CSV nipple to block a vacuum port. Maybe trying to pass the visual inspection. Overall, it seems close, although confusing. It runs and the emissions numbers are not terrible. The kit you're waiting for won't have much useful in it except a pressure gauge. You could probably go to your local auto parts store and borrow a gauge. Did any raw fuel come out of the vacuum port on the FPR when you were messing with it? The low pressure readings are still the big oddness. You should check your cam timing, valve lash, and ignition timing. You can get it to pass even without the PCV system working correctly. You might have to change the oil right before you go back. There's no major thing you're going to find that will make dramatic changes. Just a bunch of small things to get it right.

Setting dwell first is right. That's the time that the points are closed and charging the coil. So there's a beginning and an end. Once you set that it won't change as you adjust the timing itself. You're back in the old days...

Earlier I was going to suggest that he could probably make the car pass just by tweaking what he has. And he might still be able to do that, As he figures out what he has and how it's supposed to work he'll probably also figure out how to make the oddball parts work. Eve if he finds all of the original parts he'll still have to understand how they work. There's really not much to the EFI systems. Fuel pressure, air flow, and timing (cam and ignition), are the biggies.

I was guessing on the switchover, either 77 or 78. But I know that 78 had the webbed. Also, there's no serial number on the engine bay plate in 1978 so that won't help him ID his engine. I thought he might have a 79 ZX, since the emissions guy wrote ZX on the test paper, but I see the 280Z access door on the side in his pictures. ZX's didn't have those did they? He has a blend of parts, some not even Nissan, like the FPR and the header. We can all guess away but really, he's going to have to dig in to each part to see what he has. Look at what CO ended up with and his engine looked factory stock.

No offense Dave, but I think he needs to consider the whole system before doing too much else. Here's another possibility for the low pressures - the FPR diaphragm is blown. He could spend a lot of time getting the pressure back up just find that the other parts are wrong. He is far away from the delicate tuning, he has major things going on. Different methodologies. I would ID and catalog all of the critical parts first.

Check the injectors. Take a closeup and post it. It might have turbo injectors. Also, check the kick panel by the left of the driver's leg. Make sure the stock ECU is there. Who knows, it might have Megasquirt or one of the other aftermarket systems. Know what you are working with before you get carried away. The engine has had a lot of modifications done but that doesn't mean it's hopeless. The key is to be systematic and persistent. You don't have a one-shot fix ahead of you. On the plus side though, it's a great opportunity to learn about how EFI and engines work. It's a classroom in an engine bay. Good reason to buy and learn new tools. The fundamentals you need to work on these engines work everywhere in life.

Filling and draining might be a waste of fluid and money. If it works well from the beginning then it's probably fine. I had one that had sat for quite a while, there must have been rust on the cones because it was very grabby when shifting, the synchros weren't working right. It took a while to wear back in after I finally tried a funky Swepco/ATF blend to use in it. But it was great once it got a few hundred miles on it. Maybe start with a cheap throwaway fluid to purge any rust particles then fill it with Redline. Don't abuse it just run it through the gears until it stabilizes then switch to the spendy fluid.

Hey Mike, that is a ZX distributor, probably 79-about 81, with the E12-80 module. It's a nice and effective way to get high energy ignition, if you can find a distributor. They're getting harder to find since they are are all remans now. The ZX distributors weak point is the bushing for the center shaft. It wears then the teeth of the rotor and starter contact and things break. Check the play and you might be able to replace it before it goes.

Pretty sure it's this one, circled in red and blue.

I notice a few other things now in the picture. It has the non-webbed intake manifold which came on 75-76. So that's a clue. You should probably check the cam shaft to see if it's stock. Check valve lash while you're there. Give it a good tuneup, back to stock specs if you can get there. Get a piece of hose and connect that FPR vacuum port while you're watching the gauge. Don't try to do a tuneup without the vacuum hose attached and the FPR adjusting normally, the EFI system is designed around it. It is a critical component of the system.

Just noticed that you're kind of mixing timing with dwell with point gap. Your distributor definitely seemed to be off, which would affect ability to set timing. But dwell is a function of points gap. Not really sure what "eccentric screw" means either. Not a biggy, just makes you wonder.

Run the bolts in to their holes without the head and measure the distance from the bolt head to the block. If it's less than head thickness it's as good as it needs to be. In manufacturing, precision and accuracy cost money. There's no purpose to having all of the bolt holes the same depth so that spec would not be set that way.

The numbers aren't really that bad. It only takes a few misfires to blow them up, you're actually within simple tuning range, i think. Are you sure it's not a 79 280ZX? The emissions guys might have used the build date as the model year. The AFM to manifold hose looks more ZXey than Z. Not sure. There should be a sticker on the door jamb or under the hood that says "CATALYST" if it had a converter. Look for that. Did the visual inspection include the EGR parts? How do you know the gas cap failed, do they test that? Lucky for you guys though, new caps are available for the unleaded style filler necks. Find them on the internet. The PCV system has been disconnected also, which tends to dirty up the oil with gasoline vapors and combustion byproducts. You can reconnect it. It has a lot of the "get rid of emissions junk" mods done that cause problems for people.

Check the front cover carefully. It has coolant on one side and oil on the other. A crack or hole could cause your problem. Also, check the thermostat housing and its bolts. One of the bolt holes is a through-hole in to the cover, behind the chain guide. Many timing chain guides have scars on the back side from using a too-long bolt in the T-stat housing.

Have you tried the crude but effective "fuel pressure gauge hanging out of the hood" method. Real-time pressure readings will tell you if the filter is clogged.

Compensator would be a better word for it.

You're not justifying your statement. Explain why. You're asking questions because you don't know then correcting people like you're an expert. Explain how your finger moving the throttle blade is different from the spring moving the throttle blade. You shut the blade with your finger, a stronger spring could do the same. Sorry, but you shouldn't comment on people's attitudes. Calling someone cranky just leads to more crankiness.

No offense. But there's no target to shoot at... Your posts are full of distracting information, then you say "I already checked that" when people make suggestions. "Please understand"? You came here asking... Seems like you're trying to make sure that only you find the solution. Good luck.