Zed Head

Austin Hoke was working on one - http://hokeperformance.squarespace.com/product-development/ http://hokeperformance.squarespace.com/l-series-350z-6-speed-adapter He might behind schedule, I don't see it as a finished product. " I still hope to finish the project by the end of summer 2015. " http://hokeperformance.squarespace.com/store/

A more correct name for it would probably be "scavenging" system, based on what appears to be its design purpose. The fresh air is meant to move gases out of the engine internals and in to the intake system. PCS? I found a few interesting articles out there, one about choosing a different PCV valve after modifying an engine for more power. It didn't make a lot of sense since the crankcase volume was the same. Not clear to me how the desired flow rate is determined. If it's based on blowby then we should all be changing our PCV valves as engine wear increases blowby. I tried to find some old PCV valves yesterday to examine but I've removed them all and put them n a container somewhere, from the last time i wondered about them. I was pretty sure that the spring was on the bottom, or crankcase side and the pintle sat on top of it. Which doesn't fit CO's description, since then gravity is all that keeps the valve open at low vacuum. That's why the thought about vertical versus horizontal came to mind. All of these years of diagnosing people's engine problems but we rarely say "check your PCV valve". Who knows.

I was going to post this in CO's "relocating the PCV valve" thread but it's fallen off the "Activity" page and I can't find it. Have y'all noticed that there is a wide variety of part numbers for PCV valves but they mostly look identical? Why is that? Why doesn't one size fit all? And will a PCV valve specified for a vertical application work the same if it's located horizontally? Is there a test for PCV valve function that is ore sophisticated than blowing air through it and shaking it to make sure it rattles? Why is there a spring only on one side of the internal valve? When does the valve close (it is a "valve" after all)? Just wondering if relocating the PCV to the side of the valve cover is as easy as it seems. I've pondered these things in the past.and realized some things but mostly ignore the valve entirely.

It might also indicate a clogged PCV valve. That's where the extra air gets in when you remove the filler cap. The booster hose though, that's a surprise since that would be a huge amount of extra unmetered air. Should have seen an effect there. Odd. Did you remove it at the manifold or at the booster? You might also have extra fuel being supplied, since it didn't lean out and die. Once you fix the leaks, if that's the problem, it will be running rich. Your AFM might have been messed with. You likely have a much longer path ahead of you, since you're learning in the fly. Wait 'til we start talking about the BCDD. The one thing that's confirmed though is that your system is way out of whack. On a properly working EFI system, you can get an idle speed increase just from removing the tiny hose at the manifold that feeds the AC control bottle. And removing the filler cap will kill the engine.

"y"? Seriously, the w and the h were too much effort? You need to look under your new Z car. There is no "subframe" to swap. The 350Z diff is shorter. The 350Z transmission is built for a V6, not a straight 6, it's not a bolt-in. It doesn't fit correctly. The 350Z parts are, for the most part, useless for any Z car built before 1984. If you have a smashed up 350Z that you're trying to salvage from, there's nothing there that's of significant value for your 78 280Z. You should stop focusing on the 350Z. There's no value.

Aack. Octane rating won't affect the fuel-air ratio. Could be you're experiencing something similar to the "clean car" effect. When your engine runs better after you wash the car.

I was looking at what appears to be the factory 1977 FSM. Published in 1976. But it's from the internet so who knows. All good, .038 will run fine.

Hey, I was wrong in my post about your 1977 ignition system. Nissan was setting plugs at .040 by then, not the low end like my 76. But .038" is fine for what you're doing, not worth going back. Here's a test you can do to see if you have a vacuum leak that maybe somebody tuned around in the past - loosen the oil filler cap and slowly remove it. See if the idle speed gets faster or slower, and if the engine dies when it's fully removed. It's a simple test, similar to moving the AFM vane, except it makes the mixture leaner. The other test you can do is to either remove the hose from the AFM and push the vane open, or remove the black cover on the side of the AFM and move the weight to open the vane. The black cover pops off with a flat blade screwdriver, but is sometimes sealed with silicone. If it has a large amount of silicone then somebody has already been in there and may have messed up your AFM tuning. Opening the vane tells the ECU that more air is entering and it supplies more fuel, making the mixture rich. The amount of air is controlled by the throttle blade so don't think that you're allowing more air in, you're just fooling the ECU. Since you've confirmed all of the timing events and compression and the engine should run right if the fueling is right, these two tests might tell you if you're running lean or rich. If you can get it to run better by changing the fuel-air ratio then you'll have a target to shoot at, making the mixture leaner or richer, or fixing vacuum leaks. Good luck.

https://www.whiteheadperformance.com/?s=clsd&post_type=product + shipping which is expensive.

The 350Z diff is a short nose diff. It's not a bolt-in option, you'd have to buy a swap kit, and change the pinion shaft, or modify a driveshaft (you'd need a longer driveshaft anyway because the diff is shorter). Plus it's a VLSD, which many people feel is a lesser option than a CLSD or Torsen style. And the VLSD input shafts are a different spline pattern so you'd need new half-shafts. Lots of money and work involved. Here's a bolt-in option for your 78 280Z if you have an R200 - http://forums.hybridz.org/topic/121007-mfactory-r200-lsd/page-4

Sorry to be blunt. I'm just trying to figure out what you're really trying to do. There are actually people on the forum who have been working on their cars for years, and have never driven them. Because they like the work more than the driving. They're building something. My bluntness is also an attempt to break through, and make the point that there is a basic logic level to work from, starting with how the basic elements of the system work. For example, on the injectors, you could just disconnect the coil's power wire. No spark, no injection. And the fuel pump power system is also described, so you don't have to guess there either. Just trying to help. You have the "searching where the light is" problem. Now that's a funny joke. I Googled it and it's even been Wikipediaized - the streetlight effect.

Are you sure that you're not actually enjoying working on the car more than having it run well? Are there wires attached to the mysterious box? You didn't mention them. And if you can't get it open, then how can you know it's potted? Just saying. There's a simple test of fuel pump operation that get's mentioned about ten times a month. Remove the starter solenoid wire and turn the key to Start. Although, you say that you've lost pressure but haven't mentioned if the fuel pump is operating. You have a lot of good information in your threads. If you could just get them in order the cause of the problem would probably show up. You're jumping around from thing to thing, and some of them don't really fit a good diagnostic method. Like why would you be unplugging all of the injectors? Seriously, once you've tried the obvious things and haven't found a solution, it works best to go through the basics, in an orderly fashion. The car looks very clean and original (unless that's a car from the internet). Doesn't seem like there is much wire hacking, you even have the original rubber cap on the coil, so the basics should work to solve the problem.

Went back through the previous pages and searched for "pressure". I don't see a verified fuel pressure reading. You have a lean plug, a rough running engine, in a car that might have sat for a while. You've replaced some parts but haven't verified that specs. are right. I'd get a fuel pressure reading before spending too much time on anything else. You need to know the number. Your dilemma is typical. You're working on the easy surface items, but you really need to verify the essentials. Fuel pressure is critical for electronic fuel injection systems.

Are those irridium plugs? And what's the gap? It looks wide in your pictures. 77 doesn't have high-energy ignition, and uses about.032", not the .040" later systems used. Still not sure what, exactly, the issue is. It's not clear if you're just working on idle behavior or if you drive ti and it has problems. The 6th plug seems white. Could be you're running on 5 cylinders.

Saved it for you.

Don't overlook that if the car sat for quite a while before you got it the gas might be bad, the fuel pump might have rusted, there might be water and/or rust in the tank, it might have made it's way in to the fuel rail and injectors, etc... There's a lot missing from the story. If you define where you're starting from you might save yourself a lot of time and trouble, People often just throw a battery in to a car and suck all of the bad fuel through the fuel system, hoping the engine will fire. Then they have to fix all of the damage.

Hair only moves if you're a blowhard? Funny, but that test would probably work on the EGR system too, to see if the passages and valve are okay.

Don't install the plate until you examine the inside of the EGR passages. The problem that they have is that the metal between the two ports rots out. So your plate might not do anything. Stick your finger down there and make sure the metal is solid. The EGR valve is controlling flow from the round hole to the square hole, gasket-shape-wise. If the metal is solid, then focus on sealing the square hole. The round hole won't matter if you've sealed off the tube from the exhaust manifold.

Projects like this are great opportunities to learn new skills. Because the knowledge has immediate impact. You've mentioned "more power" at least a couple of times, but there is not "more power" available. It's just the 12.6 volts from the battery. It's basic direct current electrical stuff. You shouldn't really be looking for a better place to make a connection. You should make the proper ones work right. Giving good descriptions of what you're doing will help a lot also. "Turning the key" doesn't tell much because there are three positions to turn to - Acc, Run or On, and Start. We don't know which you turned it to. If you start using your meter to measure voltages you'll start to understand sources and grounds better. Start at the battery by connecting the positive lead to the battery positive terminal then placing the negative lead on various body and engine parts. You'll see how grounding works. And the two tests mentioned for testing the relay are very simple and should be done. Remove the solenoid wire and turn the key to Start with all of the proper wiring connected properly, and open the AFM vane with the key at On. Both of those should supply power to the pump. If you start connecting various wires to other circuits just to get power you'll end up creating more problems. It might be that you have a problem with the wiring and a weak pump, both. But you should be able to separate the two issues. Click the Fiddling with Z Cars link at the bottom of SteveJ's posts and go to the Electrical category. He has some basics in there.

SteveJ is instructing at doctorate level but you're at 101. No offense. You're going to have to learn some basic electrical concepts. Or just do the simple tests, like listening for noise when you turn the key to Start.

Not really clear what the problem is then. Sounds like you're saying that the idle just isn't high enough to keep the engine running when it's cold. Is that it? Another possibility is that the AAR hose is connected wrongly or it's clogged. It really is a very simple system. You could replace it with a cable-actuated valve and a hand lever if you wanted. That's how simple the concept is. The engineering that makes it automatic is the bimetal strip inside that opens and closes it based on temperature. But. Could be that you actually have a PCV system leak that's overpowering the AAR effect. Your engine might have been tuned around a broken PCV system. Maybe you should do some PCV system checks.

How do you know the pump is not getting power? It doesn't kick-in, it just gets power when the key is turned to Start. The simple test is to disconnect the starter solenoid wire and turn the key to Start. You can hear the pump because the engine doesn't turn. The other one is to turn the key to on and open the AFM vane. This will use two different parts of the same system. How far down did you tear things during the restoration? And is it a restoration or a resto-mod? Is the EFI/pump relay still there?

I would do everything listed in the Engine Tuneup chapter, in order. The first action is valve lash adjustment, because it's really important. But most of use do it last because it's oily and smelly and looks complicated. I'm pretty sure also that there's a test for EGR function in the Emissions chapter. Once you've passed by the easy fix zone, the changes made usually add up to "out of adjustment". You have to determine that the basics are correct. You can't really be effective doing easy first. Good luck. Use a small hammer to loosen the locknuts on the rocker arm pivots, if they need adjustment. At least open it up and examine, and take measurements if you have the feeler gauges. You can also check the timing chain and cam timing while you're in there. Engine Mechanical chapter. If you don't have time we can supply some pictures. But you have to get on the methodical track.

You haven't really defined what you're planning to do with it. A 240Z for restoration is very different than a 280Z for driving which is different from a 280Z with a transplanted turbo engine for power. You were looking at the last now you're looking at the first. Do you know what you want it to be when you're done with it?

I spent some time in a wrecking yard pulling a diff with a finned cover from a 240SX. Opened it up and it was a welded open diff. The cover was for looks. Many viscous LSD's come with finned covers, I believe. You have to remove it to know what's in there.