HLChoppers

I decided to buy an msd 6al and install. I now have spark and fuel to the rail but injectors not firing and still no tach.

Great diagram on carfiche.com. Thanks. Still no spark. I have ran trhough the checks listed on the manual and have no came up with anything. What all signals does the ECU need to produce spark? I have heard TP and MAF. Also should the tach be moving at all during cranking and what should the ECU light do when cranking?

Connection at ecu is good no coorosion and good pin fit. I have looked at the EFI Bible and it is a good source if I was looking at fuel injection problem but I am looking at Ignition.

First off let me let you know I have seached many forums and the net for over a week and I am getting no were. I recently purchased 2 81 280zx non turbos. Both had been sitting for awhile but was told both ran when parked (doesn't make since why they would park them). Both have identical concerns, no spark. I have checked power and grounds to coil, ohmed the ingnition module and distributer, checked all fuses and relays, checked resistances in circuits, and checked conectors for corroision. All check good. The things other than spark I have noticed is the Tach does no work, the ECM light lights up when key is on but then goes out as soon as I try to start and it will not come back on until I cycle the key to off then back on. I am a Ford Master Tech so I do know all about tests but, I can not find any good wireing diagrams too use. Any idea of what I need to be looking for or at? Also do you have or know were any good diagrams can be located other than the cheesey chilton versions? Thanks

I was leaning more towards putting the V8 in the 240 for two reasons. Fisrt the 280 already has the wiring for the Injection. Second the 280 has T-Tops so I would be a little concerned with the body twisting with too much tourque. Also I just checked the block and head #s. I have a E88 and P79 Head with a F54 and P30 Blocks. I was thinking for the L28 using the F54/E88 to raise the compression and finding a non-EGR N42 intake. Would the P79 be better for a turbo setup or do you guys think the E88 with about 10.4 CR using high octane gas would be fine? I will probally be buildimg the L28 to run NA and complete the turbo swap Later. Also I am looking at buying a 75 280Z, 76 280Z, 78 280Z and a 83 280ZXT (auto:icon55: ). I can pick all of them up for 1800.00 TOTAL. The 75 and 76 needs alot of work but are soild, the 78 has no engine trans, and the 83 just has some injector issues.

I have a 1981 280zx NA, auto and I just picked up a 72 240 today. I am going to restore both. Here is what I need help deciding. I want to keep one as a daily driver (L28 turbo) but still upgrade for a little more fun. The other I want to make a weekend hotrod with a V-8 Swap. I was wondering what you guys though. Which one should get the hybrid L28 and which should get the V8 treatment. The V8 I am planning on using will be a SBC 327 with a newer 6 speed. With starting these two projects I will be selling the 240 block and 4-speed along with the 280 auto trans. Also if I do go with the turbo setup on the L28 I will have the 240 intake and SU Carbs for sale. Would appreciate any and all comments. Thanks

This is what I used to wire the msd up. 1. MSD heavy guage red and black wires to battery + and good ground (I grounded it to the wheel well) respectively 2. MSD light gauge orange and black wires to coil + and - respectively 3. Stock coil + wire (black with white stripe) taken off coil and connected to MSD light gauge red wire (you will also probably want to splice your tach key-on 12v source wire here) 4. Stock coil - wire (black) stays on coil - with MSD light guage black wire. ALTERNATIVELY you can hook this wire to the MSD light gauge white wire, although the manual says not to do this (you'll see why in a minute) it worked fine for me though either way, also I read that your car will run better if you DO connect it to the white wire. If you're at all worried you can just leave this wire disconnected and the car should still run. (I would like another oppinion on the 'best' way to wire these) 5. TAKE THE MODULE FROM THE ZX DISTRIBUTOR OFF!!! There are two wires that connect into it coming from inside the dizzy, red and green. (one less part to worry about!) 6. Connect the purple and green magnetic pickup wires to the wires that were connected to the distributor module, purple to red and green to green. (this is why the manual says not to hook up the light gauge white wire... it says not to use the white wire and the magnetic pickup wires at the same time *shrug* worked fine for me when I hooked it up though) 7. Tach signal wire plugs into the MSD box right next to the magnetic pickup wires. The only thing about this set up is I do not have a black wire at the coil. I have one black w/white sripe and one blue. From what my diagram shows the blue is the fuel injection and tach wire. I have tried wiring the blue to the coil like it was the "black" wire show ubove good spark no injector fire) and also running the blue to the tach wire (same outcome) and then I tried wireing the blue to the msd tach output and the coil (smoked some wires and a fusable link with this one). Has any one wired an msd up to a stock 81 280 zx and if so can you let me know how to get it wired up before I blow something else up. Thanks

I had a bad ingnition module so instead of buying a new one I figured I would put in a msd 6al. After installing now my injectors wont fire. I have read read and read through the other posts. I read on the install others have done. The only thing I found that was different on theres then mine is I have no solid black wire to coil. I have only blue and blk/white stripe. Please help. The car is a 81 280 zx na auto.

I have tried a few more things. Still running very rough. I found out that the engine runs smother with any vaccum line off. I am thinking that the AFM is not working right. Is there any check I can do to see if the afm is missed up? could a faulty Fuel regulator cause this problem too?

I tried it. Nothing. It is flooding though. I checked the fuel pressure regulator and there is fuel that comes out of the vac line when I stop cranking? Could this cause it to flood that quick?

I have been spending all day looking through differnent post and testing and I am about to go crazy! Yesterday I found out that my intake to head gasket was gone. It was leaking fuel. I replaced it yesterday. While I was replacing it I did a intake cleanup from this post http://zdriver.com/forums/showthread.php?t=19937 After it was all together it will not start. I found two injector wires that broke (fixed them) I have spark at all plugs, have gas through injectors. Double checked timing (even though it was not disturbed). I am Lost Please help.

It was running but it had a intake manifold to head leak (gas coming out). I replaced the gasket and now it is not starting. I have temp fixed the wiring to the injectors. I have spark at all plugs, timing is still on (distributor was not touched). I know I have fuel to the injectors. I did take the egr system off but keeped the fuel pressure regulator hooked up to vaccum aslo the advance as well. I was using a mulitmeter when I tested the wires and both wires on every injector was running 11-12 volts.

I found that some of my injector wiring has broke apart. I am repairing them and tested the rest of the wiring. My question is sould both wires leading to each injector have power? I thought one is supposed to be a ground and the other a pulse. Please help

tried it. Did not make a difference other than the idle does not change any more. Also this car was sitting for about 6 years from what I was told. Also I checked the timing and its fine. It does have an exhaust leak on the down tube.

I finally found a 280ZX for a good price that was not rusted out, in fact no rust at all. I have had a few 280s before but this one is confusing me. It is a none turbo with auto trans (will be completeing a 5 speed swap soon). It is running very rough. It seams like it has a vaccum leak or miss. I have checked and there is no miss, all cyclinders are firing right. I have replaced all cracked vaccum lines already. When it is running and I press on the brake the idle speeds up and then slows down. Please let me know if you have any idea what is going on. Also when I replced the fuel lines there was gas flowing out of the return line coming from the gas tank (constant). Thanks