Dave WM

update on the noisy knob, I just melted a bunch of solder into the large void (after inserting a bolt to keep the threads clear). Used my bolt buster to heat up a bolt and just cut bits of reg solder and put them in. The bolt would get red hot and melt the solder bits. Before it was much lighter than the other knob, now its much heavier. Will see if this has any effect.

I I can't rule that out, and its driving me nutz, but I will have to accept it as a learning process.

plane is crossing the mountains, suddenly had engine trouble and is going down. the passengers, the boy scout the priest, the richest man in the world and the smartest man in the world realize there are only 3 parachutes the richest man proclaims "I am a rich important person that must live on", grabs a chute and jumps. the smartest man proclais " I must live on as I must have children so my intellect will be able to improve the human race" grabs a chute and jumps. the priest tells the boy, take the last chute and save yourself, I have lived a long and fulfilling life and I am ready to meet my maker" to which the boy replies, "its ok father, there are 2 chutes left, the smartest man in the world jumped out with my back pack" I know this is not the correct forum prob for jokes, but I think the point I learned is to not overthink a problem.

I know I feel like an idiot, BUT an idiot with a quiet transmission is better than a smart guy with a noisy one

Ok before I delete my prior novel length post and sure fire its not the knob post let me say, ITS THE KNOB!!!! I mean the one I got off ebay to brag about my 5 speed seems to fit perfect and tight, so Dave WM aka "mr know it all" proudly proclaims NOT MY issue. Of course I skulk out to the garage and reinstall the old 4 speed knob and bingo noise gone. Thanks again to the group.

well mine does the exact same thing and its not a knob, if only that easy.

if it make you feel any better mine (ZX 5 speed in a 75 280z) does the same. Here is something you can try if you still have the console off, try it with the rubber boot (the one you show) not installed. I think what maybe happening is the shifter is being pushed un naturally hard due to the rubber boot and the exit point of the shifter. This keeps a slight pressure on the shifter forcing it into constant firm contact with the shift forks. A little hand pressure can relieve this and you no longer get the vibration from the shift forks (which ride on the shift hubs) transmitted up thru the shifter. Different gear selections put the shifter in different angles relative to the rubber boot, thus more or less pressure put on the shaft with a resulting more or less vibration transmission from the shift forks being felt and reverberating thru the shift shaft. Again a test would be to simply remove the rubber boot, and see if it goes away. Of course this is not a good fix since that boot seals the outside world from the interior. But at least it may be a to confirm the real problem. Now next will be "my trans does not have that problem", well I suspect all transmission are not the same, some may have more or less vibration from the output shaft working its way thru the shift forks.

If you follow Wheee! deja vu restoration you will see a clinic on the best way to restore. from that you can decide where to go, follow that order and you have the best it can be.

Yep just a bit too short, makes getting the routing a bit tricky. I pulled out the "Low fuel" light one time, kept wondering why it would go light up even as I was nearly empty, duh it was not in the socket, prob jostled out when I was doing one of the many console pulls.

ok well for other that maybe reading up on this thread, it can be done, you just slip up the rubber boot, undo the C clip, there will be room. Do this with the transmission in place, not while its loose. its a little bit tricky putting back in, a helper on top is advised. Of course its not a huge deal to pull the console, I just hate messing with all the plugs.

good idea on the trans mount, I did the same. did you pull the console to get the shifter out? I hope not, Its not too hard to just un clip it, and then push up and out of the way, then after trans is in you can re insert. Save the time and hassle of pulling the console off.

I goofed up the 1st time I did the remain, knocked it in too far, had to pull out (destroyed a oem seal) and redo. the side seals may be ok, on mine it was plain to see they were leaking (streaks of oil coming from the seam). make sure you lock that spring down inside the seal with grease, you don't want it getting knocked loose while tapping in the seal. The factory seal comes pre lubed with grease around the inside lip, the after market ones do not. Main thing is to take your time and gently tap into place with a suitable tool (sounds like something the FSM would say) note where the old one was, should be flush with the block.

I am sure you already know this, but I think the bolts should be tightened in a star pattern as well. I started at about 25ft lbs and works up in 25 increments. You need to figure a good way to hold the fly still while using the torque wrench. Did you check for leakage around that seal? its pretty easy to see, remove the cover to examine the side seals too. I had a persistent leak at the back of the pan, think about 1/2 rear main and 1/2 side seals (you could see evidence of leakage from both areas). It looks like a pan leak in the rear.

I did not notice any Loctite on mine, I used air on mine so not sure just how hard they would have been to get out. I did us Loctite (blue not red) to put them back in and torqued to 100flbs. while you have it out take a look for leakage around rear main and side seals. good time to replace the rear main (sides can be done too but don't have to have the trans off for that). Also make sure to use a new pilot bushing. Use 2 long bolts with heads cut off as pilot bolts when reinstalling, makes it go a lot easier. after sliding trans on you can remove the long guide bolts and replace with reg bolts.

yea go for it, never know until you try. I am so glad I decided to do the trans swap and clutch myself. Often times you find its not all that hard after all, besides 1/2 the fun is doing the work yourself. Tools are not that expensive anymore and should pay for themselves quickly.

you can also try the larger washers as spacers, worked for me, use some PB blaster down the lock pin holes (plug up the bottom with something so the juice does not run right out). Just don't go ape on it with the washers, you can ruin the threads of the spindle pins if its too tight. either way I would still put new spindle pins and use anti seize compound. Knocking down the high spots around the lock pin area makes them go back but I had new ones anyway so in they went. Get some new rubber washer while you are at it, and some new nuts for the spindle pins.

the tank will always be suspect, I ended up paying to have mine cut open, sandblasted, coated. Expensive to say the least, but I did not want to be fighting it. the inline prefilter (clear fram G3) will quickly show junk. Fuel delivery to the rail in sufficient volume and pressures is critical for the EFI to work. Work that 1st with a good pump filter and testing for flow. the rail while a bit of a PITA is not a huge problem. You will not be dealing with it much once you get things sorted. I ended up installing the injectors into the manifold 1st THEN installing the rail. again you just want to test everything out on the bench where possible. Mine is a 75 with the split rail, trying to deal with in all put together with the injectors installed was a major hassle, that is when I decided to just install the injector and then fit the rail, much easier. Also you want to make sure the injectors are clocked so the electrical connectors will not be a problem, watch for the installation screws to be clear of the plastic molded connector parts. Its really not a complicated EFI, no feed back so no O2 sensors, but you do need to make sure all the electrical connections are good as are the grounds, then just follow the FSM for readings AT THE 36 pin connector to test for how well the sensors are doing their jobs.

The EFI works very well, before throwing in the towel, try to figure out why its not working. 1st guess on the high pressure readings is the FPR is defective, OR the rail is plugged up somewhere. I would start by pulling the entire rail/injectors off (good to check for leaking injectors anyway). then try shooting in some compressed air into the inlet, starting out low and working up to 36psi, make sure that is when the FPR starts to release. May as well take all the fuel lines off that connect it up next and replace with all new and make sure you use proper injector hose clamps. check for blockages in the hard lines of the rail with compressed air. Take your time get it all worked out. Don't get in a hurry just to hear it run, work the issues one at a time. I would start with resolving the fuel pump and lines to get it working, this may include making sure the hard lines are not rusted up causing blockage. Then resolve the FPR to make sure its working properly (per the above test with compressed air at 36psi). test all the injectors for spray pattern and flow rates with a test setup or just take them to a marine place that will clean and check for you, about 20-25$ per. Once you have all that then you can move on to the various testing of the ECU and sensors. Its a bit time consuming but once you have the EFI working as design you will be rewarded with instant startups and consistent performance regardless of outside temps.

I got 555 ball joints, although I feel if I just cleaned up the originals and put some new boots on them it would have been fine.

to get a good working AC in a 240 would require a lot of changes, including ducting. I recall my 240 with the evap mounted down in the passenger side foot area was never very good at dealing with florida heat. The stock fan and duct work just is not designed to flow enough IMHO air for a good result. The biggest beef I have with the aftermarket stuff like vintage air is it seems to delete the vent from the outside. Now my 280 seems to work much better with the evap located just behind the main vents. To get a really good working ac in a 240 and keep all the heating and vents working would take a lot of engineering in my opinion.

I can see an issue if all the fuel is gone from the rail, as in dry, that's why I wanted to conduct the test again, to see if temps had anything to do with my ease of starting, this colder morning did not slow its starting at all. Try the disconnect from the line that goes to the fuel rail like in the video, see if you have gas in that rubber line. should be able to get a few teaspoons out of it when dumped over (it was exactly the same this morning for me, did not do the video thing though). I shot that video weeks ago when another z owner was having some questions about fuel pressure. Seems to come up a lot. Nearly drove me batty trying to find the exact cause of the drop in mine (very inconsistent) which is why I gave up chasing it and decide to look elsewhere for the intermittent starting issue. I chased it for 2 years in fact when I bought the car the guy would break out the starting fluid (some times), helped me get a better price I think, anyway the eventual fix was indeed the switch, it has NEVER been intermittent since that, whereas before it would be fine one day and a problem the next. The only real issue I have now is the hot start in the summer, so when I go to get gas, I just pop the hood (check oil anyway) leave it up while filling up, and it will start perfect. If I don't do that it will still start but not as easy and stumbles a bit. pretty sure this is an issue of the gas litteraly boiling out of the rail from the heat perhaps the later cars with the vents and power driven cooling fans don't have the issue. But come to think of it I have not tried testing it since the switch replacement, and while I know the hot start issue is well documented, I think I will test again (drive hard, shut down, restart after waiting a few minutes) when its summer time.

since talk about fuel pressure and starting difficulties often comes up I made this. I am not saying pressure is never an issue but I wanted to make this just so its not considered the only issue. Its been colder here in florida lately in the 30-40's, and it does take maybe a full second after sitting overnite, but still not an issue. Now if the fuel in the rails completely drains out, I can see how it may take a couple seconds for the lines to refill, but that is not the same as no pressure (gas in line just the rubber hoses not expanded) think about it, you cant compress a liquid so any pressure readings static (pump off) will only be the tiny bit of expansion in the rubber hose. a few drops of bleed off and you are at Zero pressure, but still have fuel in the lines. perhaps a better test is to do as in the video, when you disconnect the line from the fuel filter does gas come out? if so you prob have fuel in the line all the way back to the injector so startup should not require a full charge of fuel going into the lines. you will see in the video I dump out some fuel (there was no evidence of pressure when I disconnect the line). Guess I should qualify this with it being a 75 so maybe some of the talk about how to setup the test may not work for later models that have different circuitry for operating the fuel pump. I just tried the same thing again this time with the temps in the upper 40's. disconnected fuel line, no pressure, drained same as in the video, reconnect. The engine turned over a tiny bit slower (batt temp and oil viscosity I presume) but still started in about the same time (less than a second). I did notice my AAR may be acting up will look into that, it has not been starting fast and then slowing down at idle, rather is seems to just sit at about 1k idle from startup to fully warm. I suspect its stuck at some middle air bleed amount.

how hard were they to install?

those screws on the injectors work well with a hand held impact driver. need a good fitting bit, and a sharp whack with a hammer.

put more gas in the tank, 1 gallon may not be enough for the pickup unit to operate well. check it by trying to start a siphon and see if it continues from line that goes to the pump.