jeff1216

Ok......here we go Part of this is my fault for taking the machine shops word......The intake valves were adj. to cold spec..........the exhaust walves were either not opening or barely opening.....I adjusted to spec. I expected the car to fire right up after that.....NOPE Now it will not start at all.........................Back to backfiring thru the carb. I am totaly lost.

1978 280Z F54 block with flat top pistons E88 head Ported polished oversized valves Wild cam (stage III) Arizona intake Holley 390cfm A little more info........................I was suprised to find that my 78 had an F54 block.....when I pulled the head off the pistons looked new...very little carbon. I do not know if it has been bored over or not. E88 head was a lucky find.........I bought all new 280Z valves for it.............the machine shop had me come by...The head looked to be race prepped................Huge intake and exhaust valves.....much larger and thinner than the stock 280 valves. Installed the stage III cam and heavy springs. We can get the car to fire when hard and the gas and will run when pumping the gas and keeping the rpm's high. It still sputters un-burned gas thru the carb and will not idle. Fuel leaking from the intake problem fixed. I am now curious ..... is it possible that the car is making more power and compression than I thought......Maybe need 110 octane to run? (I say this because I have no idea what has been done to the bottom end. OR With the hot cam and HUGE valves....Do I need to re-curve the timing? If so how do I recurve the timing? I can tell you this............when turning the motor over the compression is so strong that it will almost stop a fully charged battery from spinning the motor on the compression stroke. Jeff

I am gonna just tear her down and start over from the begining..............Is there a away to remove the timing cover without dropping the oil pan?

OK..........here is where I am now Got tired of fighting the carb and in anger I went and purchased a new Holley (wait till the wife finds out about that) The only fuel I have leaking now is out of the intake where it meets the head.............With the Arizona intake it is very very hard to get the bolts tight...I am still working on that. I pulled the valve cover off and verified that when at top dead center the cam and crank marks were dead on...They are. The car now starts for a few seconds then backfires hard out of the carb. In regards to seting the dizzy up....what is the trick???? I am doing this by myself....I drop the oil pump.... pull down on the dizzy drive gear reinsert.....wedge something under it while I get back up to look at the position....there has got to be an easier way. Is it 11:25 position while standing beside the car or infront of the car?

Doh!!!!!!!!!!!!!

By the way............it did attempt to fire a couple of times.............but the timing is so retarded that I dont have enough adjust. in the stock set up....bolt is out and I am 1/2" past the max timing rotation on the dizzy

I give it is a carb problem................dumping so much gas that it is impossible for the motor to fire

Grrrrrr I have now set the plug wires to the correct order.......I am still having flooding problems but I turned it over anyway..............Now With all this gas I have puring all over the place....shouldnt my plugs be soaked with gas and fouled???? they are pretty much dry and do not smell like gas. What would cause this??

I am now a really confused .......................Before I did all this work to the car it ran pretty good...........just needed some head work....................................as I pulled the plug wires off the plugs I put a peice of tape on each one and labeled them 1 - 6.......Now when I look at the book.........................it dont match up at all.....................................what postition on the clock should the #1 plug wire be on the dizzy.................I thinik it should be like at 7 or 8 oclcok...but mine is at around 2. Car ran fine like this.....................maybe the previous owner was running it 180 out. My head hurts

Is the plug wire to dizzy in the same position on the dist. cap on all Z cars (240,260,280) In my book it only shows the lay out for the 240Z

1978 280Z L28 with Flat top pistons E88 head ported and polished hot cam Arizona intake Holley 4 barrell New timing chain and gears New Ms Header I just finished putting all the the things above together last night........2 major problems. 1 car will not start......once it loads up with gas it blows a huge fireball out the exhaust. 2 raw fuel is pouring out of my exhaust and filling my # 5 and 6 piston a running out of my header gasket at the manifold When I put the timing mark on the (crank) at 0 my #1 piston is at top dead center..................also the timing mark on my cam gear is lined up with the dash mark. I thought maybe I was 180 out.................so rotated 180 deg....the only way I coulf figure out to do that was drop the oil pump and rotate the dizzy drive gear 180 and put it all back together........is this the right way to do it? I have spark at all plugs. I am at my wits end. Anyone close to Charleston,SC that wants to give me a hand feel free to shout....... :classic:

anyone know how I can contact Arizon Z?? I bought the intake off of ebay

I mounted the intake and Holley 390.....................There is ZERO room for and air cleaner.....Now What???

Is there any advantage to using stock rods and flat top pistons with an LD crank in my L28 or do I need to go with a bore and bigger pistons?

What is stock for a 1978 280Z?

they are 12mm...............The way that they are positioned I cant even get a wrench on the nut. The front portion has the D headed stud with the nut on the rear........The rear is what I can get to :dead:

I need to replace my clutch (78 280z) I ofcourse need to drop my drive shaft first...........At the rear differential there is absolutly no way in hell I can get a wrench or socket on any of the 4 nuts ......what is the secret???? My bleeding knuckles really want to know. The nuts are aiming toward the rear of the car and there is just no room to work.....It seems that they would be positioned forward to be able to get a wrench on the darn thing.

1978 280z Head is back from the machine shop ( e88 head all new 280 valves and springs, hot cam) Arizona intake with a holley 390. MS square port header I am going to be putting it all back together this weekend. I am interested pinning the dizzy at full advance......How do I do this? I can see how to pin the vacuum advance with a small machine screw but doesnt this car also have a mechanical advance? If so how do I pin it? Do I need to remove the entire dist. to do this? How many degrees of advance do I need to set it at while at 3k rpm? What type of performance gains can you get by doing this? Thanx in Advance Jeff

Anybody out there has an estimate on what to expect on the ponies?

all parts are ordered or located..... The only thing I am not sure of yet...is if I will use the F54 block or the L28 block E88 head goes to the machine shop zext week for................ Port and polish new rocker arms,valve seats,280z valves,new performance springs, and hoped up cam (Grind: 17034. Lift(In/Ex): .460/.460. Duration(In/Ex): 270/280) Mounted to this will be the Arizona intake with a Holley 390 and a Holley red top fuel pump. The block will receive a 30 over bore, new pistons,rings,bearings high pressure oil pump and new timing kit. This is 100% all going to be done.............I have ordered everything but the piston kit wich will be ordered Monday morning. What type of Hp do you think I can expect from this set up? Anyone running anything similar? Have any idea how hard it is to buy all this stuff and try to run down the UPS guy so your wife has no idea how much you are spending? I need a valium

1st.............all fuses are good all bulb are good all lights work except.............................. Bright lights (head lights)....dim are fine Brake lights dont work only the speedo and a/c light work....rest are black Where do I start?

garage

House

Car

I have only had the 78 280z for a couple of weeks. (stock L28 motor-fuel inj.-5 speed) weeks. It has a noticable ping. Slight smoke at idle. Smokes like a freight trane when you stomp the gas while driving. It is white smoke witch I thought was oil but it has a VERY strong smell of gas. Has a slight backfire on fast decel. I did a compression test today. pumped up between 175 and 180 on each cylinder, but leaked down pretty quick. I took her out and really romped on it today.......motor feels like it is pulling strong until 4th gear ...at that point speedo would not go past 80 and you could hear slight pinging. What do I need to look at.....any idea what the problem may be?