Dave WM

He got back to me on face book. They are working away on it, I prefer they get it right rather than rushing so that's fine by me.

looks like a good starting point. War Eagle!

no response yet. I tried a face book message, but I am new to FB so not so sure how that works.

That AAR just does not seem possible to be a problem, unless its not open and there is not enough air bleeding thru. If you remove it, too much air bypassing the throttle, would make for way high idle. Just keep at it. Right to get the fuel leak fixed (obviously you don't want a fire). Looks like you will just have to double check the reg stuff. I agree, its hard to overlook the timing, but sure does not seem like the AAR could cause you so much problem.

the details of what happened may help with the diagnosis of the original issue. Generally speaking you want to go thru all the major systems, make sure wear items are dealt with considering age. ALL rubber lines (fuel/vacuum) are way past due if original to car. Electrical, suspect every connection and ground. check and refurb as needed. This includes rubber covers etc.. need to keep moisture out. Battery, often overlooked, good cables (not clamp on quick fix, think OE style). fuse links and connections to same, make sure in good condition, better still replace with new fuse links and make sure all blade type connectors are in good clean condition. Grounds, make sure ALL grounds (there are a lot) are solid and contact clean metal. look for "green wire corrosion" you will see it creep up copper wires. if it there you must cut back to good copper and make solid repairs. It would be best to address one of the above with a working car, but if you have a situation where you have tried the FSM trouble shooting procedures, then the above may solve an issue that the FSM was not written to address (like a 40+ year old car with wiring and other age related problems). The reason being you "could" introduce a new problem by a botched repair attempt. Multiple failures are rare on there own, but easy to introduce by addressing multiple systems with no way to confirm if they worked after the repair. An example, replacing fuel injector harness connections making poor connections resulting in a non functioning injector where as before it worked but was just ratty of the plastic parts were falling apart. A few of those, and a botched ground fix etc... could result in a major hassle in trying to find them in a non working car. Can't say it enough, its almost always going to be a single point of failure that stops a running car, so diagnosis is the way to go vs shot gun repairs of multiple systems.

are here no shims on the body side of the hinge that you can play with?

You need to get an exact fuel pressure reading. disconnect the small wire from the starter solenoid, engine will not crank but pump will come on. Should be 36 psi. One step at a time.

The more I think about it the more I am inclined to see if I can get it started AS IS. I have everything needed (manifolds/ECU/harness). Only have to build a jig for a test stand, maybe a better way to attach the starter (without having to add on the transmission), but that is not that big a deal. I attempted to use the OHC valve spring compressor just to see how it works of valve seal replacement (with out head removal). I tried using compressed air (100psi) to hold the valve up, but that just did not work. I kept cracking the seal when I attempted to compress the valve spring. Guess the rope stuffed in spark plug hole is more reliable. Anyway off to refurbing the manifold (new FI hoses), and will at least click check the fuel injectors with a 9v battery. if the click will batch fire them with a battery (and resistor) with the manifold un installed just to make sure all are spraying.

sent email to vintage dashes, last contact was they were aiming for end of January. Will let you know the response.

every time I see this thread title for some reason I flash on Def Leppard.

interesting read. I am sitting on my spare N42, trying to decide if its worth taking the head off and risking warping, Or just use as is and see how it performs. The compression test pointed to ok not great, lots of oil leaks from seals but no obvious head leaks (oil in crankcase was not milky). Rebuilder mentioned alum heads almost always are warped and need milling, most likely both sides an then use cam tower shims (I ordered some .015" set). I sure like the idea of getting it as straight as possible with heat and pressure before any milling takes place. That seems the best way to avoid having to mill the top and mess with the shims. I wonder how the pros do this (shops that specialize in rebuilding L28's). I had goals of having a like new engine, but there seems to be a lot of different views on how to get there.

resolve one issue at a time, get it cranking again. Start by checking to see if the solenoid on the starter is getting power from the wire that has a push on connector when the key is in the start mode. A test lamp would be a good way to check. BTW make sure the battery cables are clean and well connected. Basic stuff 1st. the problem with volt meters is they apply no load on the circuit under test. Here a test lamp is often a better diagnostic tool.

ZH is dead on. Even if you get lucky and get it going with a lucky guess on our part, ultimately it will fail again, and the only real answer is to become your own EFI expert. Sit down and read the chapter in the book about EFI, then read it again, its really not that hard just wordy. The BCDD is prob the trickiest part of the system as far as testing goes. The rest is very straight forward. Good luck, hope you get it going with one of the guesses, but please consider the above.

The only time I had on just die out right like that, was when the ECU acted up. I put a backup in it and it worked fine. I then put the orig back in and it too worked fine. could be the electronic flaking out, generally whacking it is a 1st try (just slap the case of the ecu with it installed with your hand) at a fast fix if you are stuck somewhere. Fuse links would be suspect next since you may have an intermittent short that could have take one out. Lastly grounds can corrode esp around water. You may want to just check all those a well. This all assumes the injectors are NOT firing TBD by you later with the listening approach. The intermittent cutting out sounds electrical in nature, but could be a fuel starving issue. On my car hard left turns on low fuel will cause the car to stumble, I presume the fuel is sloshing away from the pickup. Thing about FI cars vs Carb cars, no float bowl to keep a bit of fuel on hand. So with FI any interruption will result in problems. So if the injectors don't fire (ECU) or the pump stumbles (relay) or the fuel supply to the pump is compromised (fuel slosh) you will have problems. Oh and I forgot the time I just ran out of gas... fuel indicator was not accurate.

ok maybe a little more history would help understand the problem. The car used to run while you owned it, then is stopped one day? was there any event related to it not working (cleaning engine bay, replaced a part, etc.... The biggest problem with remote diagnostics is missing some vital piece of info, hence the need for the FSM as it steps you thru everything.

not your exact problem but I talk about listening for clicking. In my case I disabled the ignition by un plugging the center electrode on the cap, and letting it spark thru a plug so the energy had some where to go. In your case there would be no need to disable the spark since it does not start anyway. In my case the issue was a intermittent start switch, it would only turn on the pump in the start mode intermittently, had dead spots. in the run mode it was fine. For your case a fuel pressure gauge hooked up during the diagnosis will help as well, esp if you hear clicking.

yes the FSM is the key. you want to methodically go thru it. couple things that are often overlooked and not really discussed in the FSM is proper grounds on the wire harness, and good electrical connections (no corrosion). Could be something as simple as a blown fuse link or bad chassis ground from the ECU wire harness. Something to watch out for, don't trust wire colors around the battery. Example the ECU wire harness IIRC has two red or two black leads you can not rely on red being positive. More that one ECU has been smoked by reversing the polarity when trying to clean up the connections to the battery. You will need to get used to using a meter to wire trace if in doubt.

it should have a distributor with a reluctor and some electromagnet coils (1 or 2 depending on if its a cali car on not). there should be a ignition module on the passenger side up by the fuse box in the foot well area. The points should work to fire the ignition coil, just prob not as hot a spark and more maintenance, but certainly fine for the job, cars used points for decades. Prob the PO just did not understand the ign module, or it was bad, or the distributor was bad or they just liked points. The key is the ECU needs a signal, as mentioned by ZH just need to make sure its hooked up. I assume the car ran at one time with that setup, but assumptions can get you in trouble. Put the stethoscope probe right on the injector, you will here it clicking away if its working. If you have good ears you may hear it without the stethoscope, or just get some hose about 2ft long and hold that to your ear, with the other end up next to the injector.

can you hear the fuel injectors clicking while cranking (listen with a mech stethoscope)? are the plugs wet or dry after attempting to start? Just wondering since someone has been messing with the ignition (should not be points) perhaps the ECU is not getting the signal to fire the injectors.

Now I need to decide what to do. Nothing, other than seals and gaskets other than head the above and head gasket the above and valve job the above and rings the above rings and pistons the above and crank and rod bearings. Clearly the only way to know what to do is to start with a disassembly, but with out evidence of head gasket leak, I am not sure I want to risk taking it apart when the compression seems ok. More of an exercise to have a "like new" engine vs a "spare". I would make more since to swap out my numbers matching engine and put the money there while I have the "spare" in so I can still drive my car.

they knew about things like the head cam tower shims if they had to machine both sides etc... knew about other things on the L28 head.

talked to the guy from Amtex, seems to know L28's very well. Will prob go there. I mentioned I belonged to z forums, he says he has done work for Z guys before.

I see racing fever or Z fever as specializing in Z's. the reviews seem to be mostly about later model Z cars. I am considering getting a valve job and looking for a place that has worked on L28's. any one here have experience with them for that kind of work? I would most likely pull the head and take it to them.

re tested with teaspoon of oil in plug hole. 175-180 on all #6 intake was a bit tight, could not get the .008 feeler in, adjusted (I thought I had checked this prior to all the testing). Done with testing. will put back on the engine stand. I plan to try the valve guide seal replacement using the OHC tool that compresses the valve springs with the head on. I wanted to do this to my driver, but was waiting on a practice engine. The resistance of the oil sender did not change per my VOM, so I presume its bad.

never though about that, but make since as the hose has just more air that needs to be compressed.