Looking to fix up the old girl

loose_unit · Post by **loose_unit** » Wed Apr 19, 2006 12:14 am

Well, some of you may know about my 280zx and what I'm wanting to do is get it running again.

The useless assho*le that put the carburetta in did a shi*t job and has ruined a perfectly good car, so, i've got to fix it.

I have all the original EFI parts for the ol' L28 with a full set of fully re-conditioned injectors, a new AFM to replace the one that was buggered (the reason why it was converted to carburetta)

NOW, I'd like to put it back onto EFI if i can, that's most likely to be the cheapest option... as in costing nothing? right? or if i could find some money convert it to some tripples...

any suggestions?

geordieggg · Post by **geordieggg** » Thu Apr 20, 2006 1:42 pm

Only thing I'd like to point out is that, if something goes wrong with the EFI like it has with my car, then it's a pain in the neck to fix (car hasn't been running since November!). What sort of carb is on it? I'm assuming it's just a single?

When you say cheapest option, what are you comparing it to? Getting the current set-up sorted out, getting more performance from the car, or just generally improving the driveability of it?

loose_unit · Post by **loose_unit** » Thu Apr 20, 2006 4:56 pm

well

at the moment

when it had a warrent that is

i start the car

drive 10 minutes down the road and it dies

pull over, wait a couple of minutes, start it up and drive down the road for another 10 minutes then rince and repeat...

it stuffs out at 80kmph +... well that's when i notice it...

basicly getting a running car is my goal.

nzeder · Post by **nzeder** » Thu Apr 20, 2006 6:12 pm

This sounds like an electrical fault to me - so going EFI will not help with this one. By the sound of it (and making a few assumptions) your L28 will have the dizzy with the ignitor pack on the side (about the size of a match box with two terminals coming off it) and this pack is breaking down. This happened to me (not with a Zed yet but an old Misti I had - same type of ignitor pack on the electronic dissy) I could get 1/2 way to work, then car would just stop and not start again. Wait a while then all good again. So this pack was the first place I looked as it has the old thermal run-away thing happening (can happen with electronic black boxes). So it would work when cold and then die once it got up to temp. I might have one of those dissy around here somewhere that you can try to see if this fixes the problem - however the plastic guide on the bottom mount of the dissy is busted (common problem and others get a metal one made up so you no longer need to replace the broken plastic thing)

Which part of NZ are you in?

loose_unit · Post by **loose_unit** » Thu Apr 20, 2006 6:17 pm

near wellington mate

i'm going to put some hours into it when it comes out of the garage that it's stored in

(the garages owner passed on so it needs to be moved now)

nzeder · Post by **nzeder** » Thu Apr 20, 2006 6:23 pm

I have a mate coming up to Auckland this weekend for the V8's I could give him this dissy (he has a Zed also

) then you can pick this up from him?

loose_unit · Post by **loose_unit** » Thu Apr 20, 2006 7:15 pm

well, i don't even know what the issue is

but when it cuts out sometimes you'll get a burst of power...

but i'm fairly certain that yes, it is electrical because the carburetta is empty of gasoline (it has a window on it)

but yeah i can pick that up

loose_unit · Post by **loose_unit** » Thu Apr 20, 2006 8:09 pm

Btw, the car is on points.

nzeder · Post by **nzeder** » Thu Apr 20, 2006 9:02 pm

wow points - someone has done a number on that engine. Most of the 240z/260z guys remove the points dissy and install the electronic 280zx dissy. I might point out that the dissy I have is missing the cap, has a broken rotor, and is badly oxidised and came from an engine that I picked up from trademe so I am unsure if it was a runner (I got it for a spare block, crank, rods, head etc) so this dissy would be good for a backup.

loose_unit · Post by **loose_unit** » Sun Apr 23, 2006 3:35 pm

alright, i have some images of the car which may help get it all sorted, including some high rez images of the engine bay.

Here is a link to the images: http://www.aaw.net.nz/joes.php?d=images ... 23-04-2006

And here's the high rez shot of the carb:

(800kb) http://www.aaw.net.nz/joes/images/280zx ... uretta.jpg

Something i've noticed is that when it craps out there's no fuel in the carburetta (gotta love the glass window) so therefor it doesn't run... i've gotta nail the problem... because it's not worth getting a warrant/rego for it if i can't drive it anywhere...

Oh, here's a picture of the chassis number

nzeder · Post by **nzeder** » Sun Apr 23, 2006 4:33 pm

wow a single carbs from a Nissan 260c/240k or a patrol (I don't know enough about them to tell you which one but these are the only L6 I have seen with a single carb from factory (as all the other L6 I have seen are Zed = twin SU or EFI from factory)

Given the chassis number your car left the factory with a L20e = 2000cc with EFI (this is highlighted by only have the S130 chassis number if it was a HS130 H=L28. Interesting then is the lack of a G = 2+2 given your car is a 2+2. However this could be wrong as the car could have been made up of two halfs (never know if the car was imported back in the late 80's early 90's there were a number of cars like this, I recall a number of Rx7 that were like this

)

Anyway back to your issue. The car would have been EFI so do you know if the car is still using the EFI fuel pump? Or is a mechanically one in use (can't tell in your engine bay pics as you don't show the front drivers side of the head/block were these are installed). The reason I ask is that the mechanically ones due fail (the diaphragm get a hole or the like) and if you say the carbs is empty when the car stops it might be fuel pump related (mechanical or electric). Looking at your engine bay pic there looks like a aftermarket fuel pump on the drivers side inner guard. Do you know if this is working correctly? Also the how often does this problem occur (all the time - only get a short distance down the road every time or is it intermittant? ). Have you started the car in the drive and let it run does it stop like it does when you go down the road?

Sorry for the 100 questions but the more info you can give the better to help find the issues/a solution/fix

Cheers
Mike

loose_unit · Post by **loose_unit** » Sun Apr 23, 2006 5:34 pm

nzeder wrote:wow a single carbs from a Nissan 260c/240k or a patrol (I don't know enough about them to tell you which one but these are the only L6 I have seen with a single carb from factory (as all the other L6 I have seen are Zed = twin SU or EFI from factory)

I believe the guy who sold it to me said it was off of a mazda or something?

nzeder wrote:Given the chassis number your car left the factory with a L20e = 2000cc with EFI (this is highlighted by only have the S130 chassis number if it was a HS130 H=L28. Interesting then is the lack of a G = 2+2 given your car is a 2+2. However this could be wrong as the car could have been made up of two halfs (never know if the car was imported back in the late 80's early 90's there were a number of cars like this, I recall a number of Rx7 that were like this )

It was imported in the early 90's that it was imported, at a cost of around $30 - $40k, and either way, i love her and just want it to run

nzeder wrote: Anyway back to your issue. The car would have been EFI so do you know if the car is still using the EFI fuel pump? Or is a mechanically one in use (can't tell in your engine bay pics as you don't show the front drivers side of the head/block were these are installed). The reason I ask is that the mechanically ones due fail (the diaphragm get a hole or the like) and if you say the carbs is empty when the car stops it might be fuel pump related (mechanical or electric). Looking at your engine bay pic there looks like a aftermarket fuel pump on the drivers side inner guard. Do you know if this is working correctly?

It's not an original fuel pump, you are correct about seeing one on the drivers side inner guard, as far as i know it works fine... we had issues getting the car started thismorning with no fuel being in the carb, the fuel pump just kept pumping away, but no fuel was coming through... (there was air being pumped out of the fuel pump when it had no ext line on it)

to fix it we reversed the fuel in line and cleared it with the air from the fuel pump which fixed it.

nzeder wrote:Also the how often does this problem occur (all the time - only get a short distance down the road every time or is it intermittant? ).

It's hard to say, it's kind of intermittant, but it's alot worse when you go full throttle... in fact, that's when it starts to cut out... but it does it when you don't use full throttle either...

One of the projects is to run a brand spanking new fuel line through and/or completely pull apart and test the existing one. That's something i can do without too much difficuly (i hope)

nzeder wrote:Have you started the car in the drive and let it run does it stop like it does when you go down the road?

I've had it running for about 20 minutes idling and it never has any issues... while idling that i've seen, it might be something to test though.

nzeder wrote:Sorry for the 100 questions but the more info you can give the better to help find the issues/a solution/fix

No problem mate. I really apreciate you taking the time to ask these questions.

Regards,
Joe.

geordieggg · Post by **geordieggg** » Wed Apr 26, 2006 10:07 am

I'm picking up an L24 tonight, which I suspect has only got a single carby on it (came from a Skyline I think) - no good to me at the moment, so if it has a mechanical pump as well, I can send you up the carb and pump to test if you like??

Will know more later tonight about it all...........

loose_unit · Post by **loose_unit** » Wed Apr 26, 2006 11:44 am

AFAIK It's not the fuel pump, it's very new.

When we get it over a pit i'm going to checkout the entire fuel system from the fuel tank as I suspect that has something to do with it.

I'll keep that offer in mind though, but it's unlikely that it will be nesscary as the mechanic who does work on the car (He hates me now

) has plenty of stuff to test with.

But cheers for the offer anyway

geordieggg · Post by **geordieggg** » Wed Apr 26, 2006 3:25 pm

Actually, just a thought - when was the last time that carb had a rebuild kit put through it? It may be a combination of things to with fuel supply - dirt in the tank etc - which would cause the needle & seat to block up in the carb (they usually stick closed and don't allow fuel into the bowl), jets to block and so on. Worth a thought if there's no fuel getting into the carb...........