Gavin

The J hook does interchange and the linkage between the bell cranks measures and looks interchangeable. The bell cranks are different though.

Just want to give my 2 cents and reinforce what a lot of others are saying. If I were you this is what I'd do to investigate the two most probable causes of this within 5 minutes without a multi meter: 1) Remove spark plugs. Look into the holes and see if you can see or smell gas. Crank the motor, confirm that it will crank like this while also clearing any fuel from the cylinders. - If there is significant wet fuel in the cylinders thats your problem. If not proceed to step 2 because thats probably the problem. 2) Replace the spark plugs and wires, loosen the lower distributor bolts, mark its position and then play with it and see if the engine behaves differently when you crank it. Then I'd look at the valvetrain/cam and its alignment, then I'd take out a meter. Doesn't sound like a problem with the starter or its wiring to me. Probably the dizzy stuck advanced. Quadruple check the plug wire order too if you hadn't.

If you end up with a 280z, definitely just drop in an L28ET. They are super easy to install and work on, you'll learn a ton and make the power you want easily. The 280z comes fuel injection and with a stronger drivetrain from the factory which makes things easier. If you get an early car than yes it'll be wise to stick with a carbed engine close to stock for starters. I highly recommend a fuel injected late model S30, in general. The stock L28 n/a is great. And also you might want to focus on suspension first. My Z career started with nebulous thread like this, myself

Thanks for the reply. I don't have a way of shipping it in mind. What are the options and what do you want for one of them? Thanks, Gavin

Hey everyone, I'm looking for a Z or early ZX 5-speed, non-T5. Thanks, Gavin

So the brake master cylinder is uninstalled completely? With the brake booster sitting on its own with the diaphragm still experiencing vacuum when the engines running, but not interfacing with the completely uninstalled BMC? And you would normally have to press the brake pedal while warming it up, correct? A stock Bosch EFI system from this era will probably try to boost the idle a bit with the brake applied, and probably just uses the brake pedal switch. Is the pedal now sitting against this switch and holding it down at all times, since its no longer resting against the BMC pushrod? Besides that I'd suspect a leaking brake booster diaphragm. I'd experiment with blocking off the vacuum line to the booster as well as those around the idle control valve, and try disconnecting the wire to the idle control valve.

I have reused a Felpro gasket multiple times. Never coated any head gasket (maybe 8 installs? lost count). Im sorry I don't have an answer, but I'll guarantee its nothing to do with question 1 or 2.

Checked the fuel filter? My orange car drove me nuts with this, turned out to be a layer of rusty sediment in the pristine looking tank. It'd clog a new filter in minutes.

I also want that .msq, however its going to look funny with that rising rate FPR in the system. I'd just toss that, adjust the fuel table accordingly and retune. Off the top of my head I think the 440cc injectors should be able to handle 18psi but if not, Id upgrade the injectors. Could be my own neuroses but I think its really sloppy.

For this reason among many others I cant recommend driving an S30 on the street daily. Mine is resigned to to and from AX events once or twice a week. It handles that great, even comfortably, but any traffic and it becomes horrible. Besides the start/stop agony of a [probably] sloppy manual drivetrain, nobody can see you in their "blind spot" (now anything aft of 2:00 and 10:00) and even if they do they have no consideration that you [probably] have only one or no bumper. I'd say the safety-nany prophecy has been self-fulfiled and it really might bee too unsafe to drive our cars with all these zombies driving around. gnosez sorry about the car, good to hear you're OK.

I'd look very closely for a short in the fuel system. Enough unburnt gas will look white.

I have had good luck using and re-using Felpro gaskets on both L28E and ET motors. The ones I get have a substantial amount of metal in them.

My first motor looked like that when I pulled it from the JY, and it made it into my second car many years later. Did a quick rebuild last year.

Edit- I hadn't read ahead. Good to see youre so far along! My engine is stage 2 but my suspension is stage 100, and the car is quite well balanced. Thinking about it in stages is only so useful. Heres where I'd focus: - On the engine I'd swap to any version of MegaSquirt to control the fuel injectors. This is really easy to do while leaving the mechanical ignition in place. This lets you remove all the emissions stuff and the AFM. You can upgrade the spark system later which is a great upgrade but a bit more difficult. An unrestricted intake makes the car sound better than any known to man. Keep the exhaust quiet so you can hear the intake! - For brakes, rear disks and upgraded pads are plenty until you do track days, and then you're still fine if youre willing to swap in race pads for the event. I use the modern motorsport rear conversion. Replace the old lines with stainless. I use Hawk HP+ for autocross. I find the modulation excellent you just have to push. - For suspension, If the car isn't for competition, Tokico shocks and eibach sport springs are OK, but really these are less than adequate. I wouldn't recommend bothering with anything less than short stroked struts with ground control or koni shocks and 350+ lb springs. You'll need at least a couple ways of adjusting alignment (camber and toe), especially in the rear, no matter what you do. - Ron Tyler differential mount - Bushings Video from Sunday: 280z Autocross with Porsche Club 7/14/13 - YouTube

Im super low and using 2.5". It is my low point and with a flex pipe and good mounts its served me well. For me leaving the rear compression damping high on the street has made a much bigger difference than height. A seemingly level manhole cover might lightly scrape my exhaust, but it very rarely will bottom out from compression on a flat surface.

Because everyone and their mom has a swap. edit- Oh no, a necro'd thread. Were bad.

I know i just posted in the general pic thread, but you asked, and I do LOVE mine that much

Sounds like your all set, but I switched to studs on the housing. Easier on the aluminum threads, and easier to line up during installation.

Yes and I love it. Takes a cone beating really well. * Its the urethane one.

The only real problem with the brakes is the rear drums. On old drums, its common for the brake shoes to move away from the inside of the drum as you drive, causing a squishy pedal on the first push. Any "close calls" would be caused by this. The front brakes are really fine. I'd recommend Hawk HP+ or something on that level for autocross, but definitely switch to a racing brake pad compound such as Porterfield R4 for the track, and running air ducts to the rotors is a great idea. Remember that the braking is really only limited by the tires until heat becomes a factor (should never be on the street). Besides that, all you can ask for when it comes to brakes is linearity and predictability so that you can best control them. Stainless brake lines help this as well as rear disks.

An S30 is a ravenous beast. Tame it and you will be greatly rewarded. A miata has multi link front and rear and is extremely predictable and easy to drive. A Z is more like an E30 BMW, but less forgiving.

Just reporting my experience. I sectioned my 78 280z struts with the 8610 (rebound adjustable) in front and 8611 (two-way adjust) in the rear with 400 lb springs all around. I did this with the intent of generally trailering the car. To my surprise, with the shocks on full soft, it feels better than it had on the street. Although its feels undoubtedly more stiff than my previous Tokico blues and Eibach sport springs, I suppose I have to credit the quality of the shocks for the superb ride. I have done 5 autox events at a local airfield (60-90 second runs, 60-90 mph top) since the install and the car does not remotely resemble what it used to be. With just a 1-2 clicks on the shocks and old 225 RE070 140 tread wear tires, its completely easy to drive, completely neutral, stiff bit with great weight transfer, way beyond my expectations. I can now let a stranger drive the car without expecting them to hit 1/4 of the cones and spin twice.

Yes you rotate the entire distributor to adjust the timing trigger. Shouldn't have to play with it much though. One thing you could try thats related to this is changing that 50 degree offset value a little, incrementally. I think mine ended up at 60. But of course, there are a lot of reasons it might not idle. I'd now go back and verify things like your Required Fuel value and injector characteristics & control. This is assuming things like your fuel and timing tables are good. Sounds like you're close!

Moby refers to the two screws at the base of the distributor, which are through slotted holes. These are normally used to set the base ignition timing on a stock car. Just loosening them should allow you to rotate the dis quite a bit. The 50 degree number is your trigger offset and this should be set in megasquirt which I assume you've done. You're megasquirts LEDs may not be wired to show the trigger pulse. The fact that you heard the fuel pump (and you should hear the injectors pulse) is a definite good sign. If I were you, from here I'd make sure the cylinders are actually getting fuel and spark, then just adjust that distributor until it holds an idle. After that take out the timing light and set it like stock.