Zed Head

85? And you thought you were going 70? What's wrong with all these slow people?! And just a warning? Not bad.... Can't find a picture of the "German-style" plate and don't know what it is? Do you have one? Oregon requires a front plate and my new one, bought because the old one had been crushed so may times, has already been crushed again by the guy at the tire store, driving up the lift.

I was going to buy some NGK B6ES-11 spark plugs but none of the local parts stores had them on-site. Searching around the internet I found that NAPA sells a "Standard Nickel 7910" for the application but doesn't list the B6ES-11 number. A little more Googling and I see that NGK.com has 7910 as stock number but B6ES-11 as the part number. This might be common knowledge but I thought it was interesting. Did "Standard Nickel" buy the NGK brand name? It's not clear to me what's going on here. https://www.napaonline.com/Catalog/CatalogItemDetail.aspx?A=NGK7910_0275400672&An=599001+101979+50018+2018016 http://www.ngk.com/results_cross.asp?pid=7910&x=0&y=0

Gary S., I'm surprised that you found that. He put a space between 240 and the Z so it doesn't come up if you search for 240Z. Karma?

The key test at the ECU connection is for the water temperature sensor. My engine loses 1-2 mpg during cold weather just because the engine never really gets hot. At the ECU, measure resistance between pin 13 and ground. Compare the value you get to the table attached. Notice that as the resistance goes up, the ECU thinks the engine is cold and adds more fuel. Corrosion or oxidation at any of the connections between the ECU and the sensor can increase the resistance. The air temperature sensor does not have as much effect but you might as well measure it also. Measure between pins 6 and 27. It's the same type of sensor so the same table can be used. If you measure before you drive the car for the day, then the sensor should be at ambient temperature. If one reading is correct, the odds are the other temperatures will be also.

Why did you do this? Did you have to adjust anything to get the engine running decently afterward? Unless you blocked the PCV port you would have a large leak in your intake system, probably requiring at least some idle adjustments just to keep it running. Seriously, wondering what the purpose of the change was... The exhaust coming out is "blow-by", typical on older engines and one of the gases the PCV (Positive Crankcase Ventilation system) is designed to remove and burn.

sparrow, I think you missed the point (actually several points). The air bypass volume is large in comparison to the volume of air passing by the throttle blade at idle. But it's tiny in comparison to the volume of air passing by the throttle blade at higher RPM. Check out this site - www.zcar.com . It will probably offer you more enjoyment, and fit your style better.

Here are a couple of links I saved from when I was looking at an upgrade. http://forums.hybridz.org/index.php?showtopic=49864 http://forums.hybridz.org/index.php/topic/67531-ac-delcogm-alternator-swap-part-2-cs144-installation/page__p__634683__hl__alternator__fromsearch__1#entry634683 Search cgsheen or bjhines on the Hybridz site also, you might find some info. I think that one of them is using the CS130D alternator,which is supposedly the state-of-the art and a little smaller than the CS144.

Do you mean "cut" instead of "spliced"? Spliced means connected to another wire, generally. It looks like your white with red stripe wire has just been cut, but not connected to anything. The VR just prevents over-voltage. The alternator supplies the voltage. If your lights are dim and get to normal brightness, that implies a weak alternator. If the lights are fine but get very bright when revving, you might have a bad VR. The best way to tell is with a volt meter while the engine is running.

What is a "J mount" alternator and what "upgrade" qualities are you looking for? The typical change for your 1975 car might be to an internally regulated alternator but all it really gets you is one less component, the external regulator, and the benefits of solid state regulation over the mechanical points of the external regulator.

No problem. Thanks for getting back with the solution. Now I know for sure what happens if you connect two regulators in series.

They definitely look rich. I've mentioned this before, but on my 1976 engine my FPR showed good pressure when cold but when the engine got hot it caused high fuel pressure. Have you checked fuel pressure when the engine is nice and hot and have you confirmed that the FPR reacts to intake vacuum? You should get ~36 psi with the FPR vacuum hose disconnected and ~28 - 30 psi at idle with ti connected. The low pressure at idle will also be there at cruise, lowering gas usage. The best way to check your sensors is at the ECU plug, using the numbers from the FSM Engine Fuel section.

It might not be your specific problem but those are some of the signs of an ignition module going bad. Especially the last symptom. What year is your car and is it stock or modified? Does it happen more after high RPM activity?

From this forum, but I don't think he's doing any more - http://www.classiczcars.com/forums/showthread.php?36463-R-T-diff-mount-Group-Buy&highlight=zsondabrain+mount And from the Hybridz site - http://forums.hybridz.org/index.php/topic/61675-rt-mount-ordering-info/page__pid__940145__st__140#entry940145

Sounds like you might have got an internally regulated alternator by mistake. I just read an account from the past, and a recent one on this forum, about "run-on" when an internally regulated alternator is connected to an external regulator. E just stands for Earth. earth = ground

Oops. Didn't put enough effort in to my reading.

Brake booster and hose. FastWoman's test will tell you though, whether or not you have a problem. Might save you some time or give you some direction.

I have found that the wedge shape of a cold chisel, placed between the carrier and the back of the stub axle will work to pop it out. Slide it between the two with some oil or WD40 and pop it with a hammer. It will lever right out.

You were probably trying to start a new thread in the FAQ section. It's locked so that people don't clutter it up with off-topic questions. If you tried in the regular forum section and signed in, it shouldn't be a problem. I would not start your query by telling everyone how F'ed up the site is though. Have you tried calling MSA and asking if they'll sell you the parts you want without the "crap"? You probably know already from your extensive research that many people believe that the 280Z drum brakes are more than sufficient for everything but racing, if they are in proper working condition. Edit - Was just at the Hybridz site. Saw your post. You're in the FAQ section.

The video looks like the engine is running on fewer than 6 cylinders. If it was ignition and your injectors were firing, your plugs should show rich. But if you're sure that you're running lean, then it might be injector related, or it might be a lean misifre. The test light on an injector plug is a good idea. The engine will run on less than 6 cylinders so you might be able to see an intermittent loss of grounding. FastWoman has mentioned the Christmas tree bulb across the connector pins in previous posts (maybe this topic also). I would get the engine running, pull the injector plugs one at a time, stick the light across the pins and see what you can learn. You might find that it's isolated to just a few cylinders. You might be able to see a variation in the flashing light. At 600 RPM, one injector should flash at 600 RPM. Might be hard to see. That's many mights but intermittent electrical problems are hard to find. The light test might not show everything though. If your injector plugs are corroded or loose you might not be getting good current through to open the injectors, even though the test light shows current. So make sure that you have good connection to the injectors. The test light or Christmas light might not show a bad connection at the injector. Last thought - I just saw a post on another forum with a picture of the PCV hose. It was cracked. The PCV hose is difficult to see because it's buried under the manifold but if it has a hole it will create a vacuum leak. The intake/crankcase leak down test will help find that if it's the case. Sorry FastWoman, I went generic on your test name. I haven't had yogurt in quite a while.

It might be that your injectors aren't firing on every revolution like they're supposed to. That could be an ECU problem. Make sure that injectors have a 12.6 volts at the connector pins with the key On. Ideally, you would also measure voltage when running to verify current flow but that would take some ingenuity. It should drop to ~9 volts due to the dropping resistors and the injector load when running from what I've read. Edit - I just looked back at your post and see that you've already been in the ECU. For what it's worth I had a bad ECU but could find no visible signs that it was bad. I'm pretty sure that the FSM says if you've checked everything and still have a problem, it must be the ECU. Not a very satisfying way to solve a problem though. I've seen several stories about people kicking or bumping their ECUs to fix a problem. Usually they were fixing a rich condition though. Edit 2 - Did you find water in the area of the ECU after the car wash? Has it been getting the occasional watering over the years? You might check the ground circuit to the ECU also. The ECU has to have a good ground to fire the injectors. You might have rusty ground points.

Thought this might be interesting to some as far as gauging the 240Z's current popularity. I had thought about going to this auction to see if I could "steal" a 240Z for under $1,000. The car and auction were on Craigslist for about 5 days before it sold. It was correctly identified as a 240Z, not an SX, on CL. The link should last, they have all of their old auctions up. https://speedstowingauction.auctionserver.net/view-auctions/catalog/id/28/lot/5806/

I installed my plug wires in backward rotation once (clockwise instead of counter) and the engine started and ran, very poorly. Confusing and it took me a short while to figure it out.

Your symptoms pop up occasionally and there are varying opinions on how to confirm the solution before replacing parts. It's a dilemma. In my own personal case, my engine had the same sort of symptoms as yours and I too tested everything and ended up replacing the AFM, which showed as out-of-spec. The rebuilt AFM was the solution for me, but not quite so for others, see here (http://www.classiczcars.com/forums/showthread.php?40392-76-280Z-Question-on-dist-manifold-vacuum-dist-timing-fuel-pressure-brake-booster&highlight=jennys280z) Cozye and FW have had success with modifying the water temperature circuit, but their problems were minor compared to what I think you're describing. When my AFM was bad, the car was barely drivable, and very embarrassing to be in on the road. The AFMs for 1975 - 1978 are essentially the same except for the fuel pump cutoff switch, which 1978 does not use. If you could borrow one, you might be able to get a cheap diagnosis, beyond measuring resistance on the AFM circuits.

How much have you actually driven the car since Post #1? How much driving after all of the changes, but before the ZX fuel rail? I read through the thread and it looks like all of the work has been in the garage. It may be that you've been focusing on the wrong thing, or that you had two problems and now you just have one.

Have you checked the condenser/capacitor for proper function? Maybe it is wearing out, has turned in to a resistor and is hindering your coil charging. As I understand things they usually die completely but if the dielectric material started to break down it might leak current slowly. Many multimeters have a capacitance measurement function, but at the least the condenser should show infinite resistance. FWIW, I have a condenser on my negative post but only for noise reduction to the tachomoter. I installed a Z31 coil and my tachometer stopped reading correctly, until I added the capacitor. I put it on the negative side because that's the side the tachometer sees. But that's another story, my point is that I have a condenser on my coil (-) post and everything works fine. This is a 280Z with the stock ECU , GM HEI module and a Z31 coil.