Neb

I ran up to Cadiz, KY this weekend and met a guy who is parting out his '76 280z. I grabbed a dash cover from him, but he has a bunch more. He is keeping the body because he is building a V8 road race setup, but he has pretty much gutted it and has a running engine and pretty much everything else for sale. If you're in need of something, his number is 931-206-7052.

I hadn't even noticed how worn down that thing was. Consider me dissuaded! Now I gotta figure out what to do with it..

Wow, tons of great info Looks like I've got some reading to do.. I'll have to dig up a 9v and have another go with the CSV. I tried advancing the plugs one position; it is ALMOST to where it'll line back up with the adjustment screw slot, but not quite. Its far closer to stock though. I'll probably just figure out a way to secure it as-is until I get brave and decide to reset that shaft. Speaking of which, I finally picked up a timing light. I went to set the timing but I may be doing something incorrectly. As I understand it, I ground the red wire from the water temp switch (on the harness side), and that advances the timing, and then I set the timing to the 13deg mark on the pulley/block. I did this, but then when I removed the ground, it only shifted the timing about a degree. So instead of it dropping to 7deg like in the FSM, it just went to about 12deg. Am I messing something up here? And as a total aside.. man the exhaust smells. I'm not sure if its just years of it not running, or if its still off somewhere in the fuel/air/spark equation, but its got a funky rich smell that'll stick with ya. I hope its just symptom of a cat not reaching its proper temp or something that'll be resolved by some proper driving/usage

So from that it sounds like the original height is 108mm. I measured 106mm on my head (measured height both sides, 3 places ea). So from what I gather this head has L28 valves, and is 2mm shorter.. but there are no shims on the cam towers so wouldn't that mess up the timing chain?

Yeesh, yeah that's a wait. Sorry you aren't having any luck. I'll keep my eyes peeled around here

To think this all started with trying to figure out where my temp sensor hookup was, hah. Thanks to everyone for all the input, this has been hugely educational for me. No shims on the towers on the E88 head. Whats a good way to measure the head to see if it had been cut? Or would the lack of shims make that not a possibility Is that something that could be machined in there? Maybe farther down the road I'll have someone work on that head and swap it out. I think for now I'm going to roll with what I've got and focus energies/monies on getting this sucker on the road. Still have a looonnngg way to go

1.74 on the intake valves, 1.375 on the exhaust

No leaks around the exhaust manifold, so far as I can tell That is a pretty fun tool. So you're saying the smaller valves and higher CR kind of cancel each other out for performance benefits? Now I wanna pull a plug and try to get eyes on one of the pistons.. who knows whats in there Interestingly, I have another head. It was supposedly rebuilt by a previous owner, not sure on where/when, but it does look like someone went through it. Stamped E88, pictures below. Would yall keep the N47 on there, or swap over for the E88?

N42 it is So if I understand this all correctly, that temp sensor + the N47 marking means the head is the (smaller chamber) Maxima head.. and would make this particular setup higher compression than the standard N47 head+N42 block?

I'll try to grab a picture of that casting mark on the block here in a couple hours. This work stuff keeps messing with my Z time.. Assuming N42 block, N47 head.. this thing isn't going to explode right? Thanks again for the information. Yall are great

Took a couple pictures of the head and block. Head says N47, block is L28 431708. I think I grabbed the wrong number off the block though.. its supposed to be by the motor mount you say?

Oh wow.. Well its not the original engine, I know that much. Somewhere along the line it was swapped, but it wasn't me. I had figured it was from another 280z. If its a ZX block, are there other differences I need to be aware of? I'll look at the number on the block tonight and see if that sheds an light on where it came from..

Quick (hopefully) electrical question: My temp sensor (the one on the block below the #5 spark plug, picture below) is disconnect and I can't seem to locate the plug for it. I will continue searching, but in the meantime, does anyone know if this sensor is an input to the EFI system, or does it go to the dash gauge, or what? I ran my EFI bible checks and the temp sensor check came back ok, so I'm assuming that one is the one up in the thermostat area.. Thanks, Ben

For the record, I did not braid those..

Vrooom! Its alive I went to check the pressure in the system and bled a fair amount of air out in the process. Got it to a steady ~38psi and then moved on to checking the plugs. All 6 were wet and showed spark. Put everything back together and it still wouldn't start. So I went back to the distributor cap and started working it CW. Eventually it kicked right off and ran. I rotated the distributor cap CW until it was smooth and let it run for a few. Then fuel pressure started to drop off and it died, which was a pretty big disappointment.. until I realized my little fuel can I'd been using in place of the gas tank (pulled for cleaning/lining) had run dry and fallen over. Refilled it, re bled the system, and its starting/running consistently now. f Ended up with a couple questions though: I couldn't get the CSV to click with my improvised (2xAAs and a switch) 'injector stimulator'. Does it run off a different voltage than the other injectors? Or is mine shot.. My fuel pressure while at idle when running was only about 28psi (picture below). That being said, it idled smooth and was responsive and revved fine. Is the fuel pressure supposed to stay at 38 or so while it is running? My distributor cap required a significant amount of adjustment (picture below) to get it to run properly. I'm assuming whoever installed the distributor didn't align it correctly? I'm thinking if I just advance the spark plug order 1 plug and then grab a timing light I'll be able to get the timing set. Anyway, you guys were great and definitely pointed me in the right direction, very much appreciated!

Great info. I'll get in there tonight and check fuel pressure, verify spark/wet plugs, and then start on the distributor. I do have a can of starting fluid, so I can give that a shot if I get that far. I really appreciate the help and pictures. What a great forum!

Hmm good point with the fuel. I checked pressure BEFORE I went through and checked the injectors (and it was ~36psi, so I'm assuming the regulator is good). I definitely should recheck that now that I've been in there. Would you still see ~36psi if there was air in system? I still need to grab a timing light. I think the starter in my car is aftermarket, and turning the engine faster than 300rpm (I want to say it was hitting something like 700rpm), but I will double check that tonight. And I'll take harder look at the distributor. What should the indications on the block look like if #1 is TDC?

it has begun..

My '75 280z isn't running yet, but I think I'm getting close. I just finished going through the fuel system (new pump, lined tank, new filters, cleaned/checked function on all injectors, checked pressure, replaced hoses, inhaled copious amounts of gas fumes, etc) Next up, I'm starting on the ignition. I visually verified spark on all plugs when I did the compression check, and replaced all the plugs with fresh NGKs. The plugs are wired in the correct sequence coming off of the distributor cap. The car still isn't starting/running though. Within the normal range of adjustment (with the distributor adjust screw still in place), the best I get is a few chuff-chuff-chuffs before it dies. I was able to get it to very briefly come to life by removing the distributor adjustment screw and rotating it almost 20deg CW. It revved to about 2k rpm for about 2 seconds and then died. That was somewhat repeatable around that same point in distributor cap adjustment. I dug into it a little further and set my #1 cylinder to TDC (utilizing the wife+stick+flashlight method), and then checked the marks on the block and the distributor arm position. It doesn't seem like things are lining up as they're supposed to. The mark on the pulley is somewhere in the range of -15deg, when (in my limited understanding) its supposed right around the 0deg mark. The distributor seems to be past the #1 point, and I was under the impression it should be right at the #1. I really don't trust anything in this car, so my next inclination is to pull the valve cover and make sure the cams are in the right spot as well for a third check. Or am I totally missing something obvious here. Whats the next step? Picture attached of the notch/marks on the block with the #1 at TDC (marked the pulley with a silver marker at the tick). Thanks!

I had to source an airbox from ebay.. sadly it didn't come with any sort of snorkel

That is a ton of great info. I will definitely dig into it more when I get around to piecing together the front end. I really like bumper/air dam combo you ended up with, looks great and very clean

You may be opening pandora's box with that one; I've got plenty of questions. Great looking car btw! Sadly I don't have many good pictures yet. My z is very much in progress.

Well that is a great find. I've only been up close to 4 Z's.. and all of them looked every bit of the 40+yrs they had on them. Rust seems like a major issue. But apparently not with a one owner AZ car, Congrats! Hope the bumper thing works out. I'll let you know if anything else around here pops up. I've got my lightweight MSA bumper on order for the rear. No idea how to handle the front yet..

And also, your z is gorgeous!

I am absolutely still learning what will fit what with these cars, so I don't feel qualified to answer that one haha. BUT I did come across some info when bumper shopping on MSA. If you read through their product description, it sounds like there are differences between the 75-76 and the later 280z. Maybe give them a call? http://www.thezstore.com/page/TZS/PROD/classic02n01/32-2068