Captain Obvious

Woof. That sucks... Hope you get to the bottom of it. Hoping to help in that endeavor, I'm no hydraulics expert, but I think you can rule out filter bypass problems. The purpose of the bypass on the filter is that as the filter gets dirty, the pressure required to force oil through it goes up. If the pressure differential between inlet and outlet of the filer gets too high (like in the event of a badly clogged filter), the bypass valve will be forced open and unfiltered oil will pass around the filter instead of through it. The engine will still get oil and the theory is that even unfiltered oil is better than no oil at all. There is a filter bypass valve built into the block, and most commercial filters have one built into the filter themselves. All that said... The opening pressure differential across the filter required to open the filter bypass is only a couple psi. I didn't look it up, but probably about five psi or so. Remember that you're only concerned with the differential between inlet and outlet. The absolute pressures don't matter. The point is that a clogged filter should not result in significantly higher oil pressure. The pressure increase even from a completely blocked filter should only be the pressure required to force open the bypass. Here's a snippet from the FSM that shows the lube scheme. You can see the pressure relief valve in the pump and the bypass valve on the filter: As for the pressure relief valve getting plugged with something? I doubt it. It's built right into the pump and essentially short circuits the pump. If the pump pressure gets too high (and we're talking absolute here) it will force open a valve that connects the outlet of the pump back to the inlet. The passages are large and if you've got a goober in there big enough to clog them, then you've got other serious issues. The valve might stick shut, but I'd be surprised if it got clogged shut. My theory is that as your bearings started to weld and the clearances went away, you started bouncing off the pressure relief in the pump. Prior to that time, your pressure was limited by the bearings, but when the bearings went south, the pressure went up until the pressure relief took over. Maybe you spun a bearing or five and blocked the oil supply holes to the crank as a result? Is that even possible? My condolences...

Yeah, the ad is NOW $30K, but it was $300K. I figured it was a typo and it sounds like he fixed it. I agree... It is conceivable that it's a $30K car if it's truly "mint".

Haha! It's fresh in my mind because I too underestimated the value in clean battery terminals myself in the recent past. The tricky part for me was that the oxide that had built up on the posts and lugs was a very hard, dark grey non-conductive coating. I had "cleaned" the terminals on several occasions, but was still having issues. The corrosion was "lead colored" and very difficult to see. It wasn't the soft fluffy white stuff you usually find.

Duplicate post

Haha! Ya don't say... There's some stuff in there that really doesn't look right to me. I'll work up a pic with some numbers on it so we can refer to hoses by name or by number. In the meantime, you really need to check your float bowl setting. Use a mirror and a flashlight and see if you can get a peek. Take off the fuel supply line and large hose between the air cleaner and engine side of the carb for more room if you need it. What's the hard-line to the turbo? Is that oil?

Haha!!! Nailed it!! First reply!!

Just took a quick look back, and I believe the Amp (TE) P/N is 825213-(color). 35-Pin "Junior Timer" series with 90 degree board mount. Price wasn't as bad as I was imagining... At quick glance at a few suppliers, Digikey was the cheapest and says they have them for a little over ten bucks with a min purchase qty 0f 176.

Haha! Yeah, but after me, Len, and Fastwoman install them, what's Len going to do with the other 9997? I recently rebuilt my FI harness with new connectors and while perusing catalogs, I saw the connector that mates with the ECU. I didn't quote it since I didn't need it, but maybe I'll look into the cost just for entertainment value.

Yeesh. You got full vacuum going to the CARB system. You got ported vacuum going to the intake manifolds which makes no sense. No idea what happens when that turbo spools up and pressurizes the intake. You got PCV coming off the top of the valve cover instead of the side of the block. I can tell you that fitting you've got uncapped (and the screw adjust that goes with it) was originally used to control idle speed. No idea what they're doing with it now though. The uncapped hole (I think it's the one you're talking about) looks to be a air bleed. Don't know why you would need one since you've already got such a thing built into the carb. What's the origin of that system you have? Is that a homegrown thing, or was it available as an aftermarket kit?

Superlen, Forgot something... What about the mechanicals? What's your plan on where is that going to come from? Are you thinking you'll harvest and re-use the case and connectors from original ECU's or are you thinking that you'll buy new connectors and fabricate a new enclosure? Have you priced the mechanical stuff? You won't be happy.

Superlen, Admirable task. My advice would be to start small and just get something that will drop in and run. Add all the other stuff like the ability to tune and use MAP for later. Don't include data logging. Skip the CAN bus and don't mess with the AAR or cold start. Run open loop with no O2 feedback, and set it up for the stock throttle body. Once you get to the point where you have one that drops in and works, then start adding features. And BTW... Personally, I would completely skip the "copy/save/email tunes back and forth between users" thing. Completely unnecessary complexity. I actually started a project like this myself, and it's fate has been the same as your project to date, stalled due to life. I know the OEM fuel injection system pretty well, and my car is running pretty well accordingly. I've unfortunately got other things on the car that are crying for more attention than a FI system that's working.

If I were doing a project like this, I would simply control the fuel pump with the new digital ECU. After all, the signal required to control the fuel pump is already available at the ECU connector. The original ECU doesn't do anything with that signal, but it's available.

I usually follow mine up with a resounding shout of "I did NOT just do that!!" :stupid: That's a pretty good one, BTW! Haha!! A philosophy that I quote often as well.

Someone want to give this guy a call and find out just how many decimal points he slipped? Sounds like it might be a nice car, but the price is clearly screwy! rare 1970 240z He says it "won't last long". I suspect at $300K, it will last longer than forever...

Corroded battery cable(s). Clean the connections between the lugs and the posts?

Called it!! :laugh: Welcome back and good luck with the project.

Awesome!! Hard to believe that your fuel rail is picking up enough heat to boil the fuel, but can't contest the results of getting rid of it!

I've got a 77 280 and I'm planning the mounting of some relays for various improvements to the electricals, but I haven't yet decided where to physically mount the relays. Problem is that my car doesn't have A/C, but I would like to add it someday, so I don't want to mount anything in a location that would be taken by an A/C component, so... I'm looking for some good engine bay pics of a 77 with A/C that is mostly stock. I'm primarily interested in the passenger side of the engine bay and/or the firewall on the same side since that's where I think I want mount my relay block. Anyone help me out with some pics?

First post? Been a member for over a year, and this thread is the one that stepped you out of the shadows? Pssssst.... Enjoy the oil pan!

I've had similar troubles getting the float levels correct on round tops, and I don't have an answer either. I understand how the float and the valve work. There's no rocket science there and the geometry is simple. And that simplicity is what makes it so frustrating. Too low, adjust. Still too low, adjust more, and now overflowing out the vent nipple. After much fiddling, I got my fuel levels within a mm or two (low) and called it a day. I have since switched to a FI car so I haven't looked back to analyze the situation more to figure out what was really really going on. I'm not sure how much of a difference 5mm would make, but there are some people who say CV carbs are very sensitive to fuel level in the nozzle area and others who say they are very fault tolerant to float levels. I'm no expert on the topic, but physics dictates that it would take more energy to lift the fuel up out of the bowl and into the stream the farther it had to lift it. Everyone seems to agree that you would run leaner the lower the level, but the magnitude of the impact is up for debate. If you're running so low that you suck air at high G turns, then that's a different issue. The flat tops have about 50% more bowl volume than the round tops. Coincidence?

And BTW, in your application, both the sight glass and the plug covering the fuel screen are on the side of the carb that is sandwiched between the carb and the distributor. That's why I was saying earlier that you might not be able to even get to that side with the carb installed the way you have it mounted.

I'm not sure how you got the car to run with the bottom of the carb off, but whatever... Sounds like the filter screen is passing fuel and the float and valve are working. Doesn't tell you much about the level of fuel in the bowl when the float is in control though. Here's a pic that should answer your questions: As for the sight glass, the target level moved depending on the year, but since you're so far off the flight line, I would set them right at the center of the window and see what happens:

Did you look for the sight glass on the float bowl and the filter screen on the fuel inlet? The sight glass could help diagnose a fuel delivery issue, and if confirmed, the filter screen could be the cause.

Mike, I've got the bias you described. On my 5 speed, the return force away from 5/R is greater than the return force away from 1/2. It's not enough to prevent me from clipping reverse, but I do have that bias.

There is no fuel outlet on the stock carb. There is, however, a small screen fuel filter as the last line of defense against dirt as fuel enters the carb. With your sideways mount, it's on the side of the carb over by the distributor. If you had crud in the line, that filter is probably plugged. There is also a sight glass window into the float bowl that is used to verify the bowl has the correct amount of fuel in it. Now I don't know if you'll be able to get a view of it mounted that way, but it's worth a try. What an odd setup you've got there... If you're planning to continue to run that system, my advice would be to read, read, and read some more. The number of people who believe in the flat tops are few, and a turbocharged setup using just one of them???? You better learn to work on it yourself!!!