naviathan

I think clatter is an appropriate description. When I get about 4500rpm and up it sounds like my valves are about to come apart and get some black sooty smoke out of the exhaust, but only when under load. It'll rev fine all the way to 5500 when not under load. I won't push her past that though seeing as how she has 215k miles on the engine. I get the feeling she's dropping lean in the upper rpms, however I richened up my AFM and it helped. My plugs are now looking tan and clean (up from looking white and nasty). Ok so I seem to have the lean problem under control and my fuel pump holds a nice 38psi spike when I rev it at idle. Can't imagine that changes when it's under load. But I still hear the valve train noises and it's not quiet it sounds like it's any minute I'm going to hear one last ping and a crack. Anyhow, it's not like I drive my car this way often, however I'd like to remedy the problem as I do intend to push it getting on the highway and playing with the occasional mustang every now and then. Could I be loosing spark? It's running the stock ignition and I wondered if maybe it was going rich in the upper end because it was blowing black smoke.

Never had that happen, however we had a big bonfire one night and had this happen:

Ease of setup and tuning...Talk to Top End Performance (http://www.racetep.com) about their Electramotive TEC3 systems. They'll send you everything including the sensors and wiring harnesses.

I wasn't inffering that the coating is what caused Austin's problem. As a matter a fact I believe I said that he probably would have never noticed the coating burn off had he not had the internal damage from whatever got in the combustion chambers. The damage was obviously caused by something else, but it did bring to light that the ceramic coating he used didn't hold up to the cylinder heat.

Hope or not, check your fuel pressure because if it's dying out while running then you're loosing fuel pressure more than likely. Have you checked your plugs to see if you're running rich/lean?

I have a 79 Fairlady 280Z I can take measurements off of. But I can tell you now the door mirrors are different than the fender mirrors. Same style, but the arm is angled different.

Sounds like your fuel pump is dying. Do a fuel pressure test.

Dude, that sucks. I love the white interior. Did you find the white interior pieces or use interior vinyl paint?

Don't knock the guy. So he hasn't worked on a car before and he's learning. I'm sure we've all been there before.

Sounds like you're covered. Enjoy the car. Even if it isn't running right, it's still a Z and that's what counts.

Well, you're already intent on working on it so why not bring it home and git er' dun... If you're putting a new plenum, intercooler and boost controller in I'd go with the new stuff as it will probably solve your problem. The intercooler is going to require some new piping and boots to the intake anyway, which is where it sounds like you're loosing boost at. Give it a go, and remember, if the Factory Service Manual and the Search link don't solve it, we can usually come up with something after playing 20 questions and pictionary.

I don't see how a coating is going to make any difference in the ability to run high boost. I know it's suppose to help transfer heat from the surface of the components and keep things cooler, but it's all internal to the engine, there's no place really for the heat to go that it wouldn't normally be able to. I think Austin's thread shows what you'll get from the coatings the best. The only reason he foind it was because of the engine damage. Had it gone longer it probably would have completely burned the coating off and you'd have never known the difference when you pulled it apart 30,000 miles later.

You know, when I bought my 81ZX I bought it as a daily driver. That car gave me hell for the first year I owned it. It must have blown every coolant line under the hood, over heated 3 or 4 times, cracked and dry rotted vacuum lines, leaking intake/exhaust manifold gasket, gunked up BCDD, bad alternator, bad battery, leaking seals and more. But, it was what I paid for. It's a 26 year old sports car in good mechanical and exterior condition for $2000. Now I have all that stuff fixed and aside from occassional maintenance it's been the best damned car I could ask for. It was well worth the effort and I learned a few things along the way. Sure it has an occassional annoyance that pops up every now and then, but it's to be expected. I love the car, I love the drive and love the work. If your heart is in it and you have the passion to learn what you need to know then stick with it. If it's just a neat sports car you bought to make heads turn on the street and play with, you might want to go find a Honda Civic in better condition. Don't take that the wrong way, but it's a fact. A Z will cost you time, money, sweat and blood before it finds a groove and keeps you going.

I remember that thread. Bad Juju. Don't coat it. Looked like someone had taken a torch and singed the coating clean off.

You have us. We can find the parts. More than likely someone on the forum has what you're looking for or knows where to get it.

If you're not mechanically inclined shops are great for pointing out the problem, but DO NOT let them do the work. Take it home and fix it yourself. Much cheaper and you can learn about your car the right way instead of just driving it. With a Z it's more than a car, it's an obsession that begins with a look and thrives under the hood.

Do you not have a catalytic converter? The muffler shouldn't make much of a difference if you do. If you don't the only other thing you can do is either put one in or get something similar to the super trap adjustable discs that cover the end of the exhaust and allow you to adjust how free flowing it is.

Throttle linkage can be a bit of a pain. There's little bearings in the mounting brackets and the ball jopints tend to get gunked up bad. Anything on a solid linkage that moves can cause you problems. Switching to a cable is a good idea. In the mean time have someone step on the pedal let it come back naturally and then have them pull it up so you can see what "pops" back into place or shifts. You could also have build up around the throttle plates that's causing them to stick. Only other thing I can think of is get a strong spring on the throttle return.

I'll second the ignition switch. I've seen this many times.

Ahhhh...my favorite part of MS...It's availability of parts and ease of repair. Especially when you're the one that put it together.

Actually it's z-ya that schooled me on it. Here's the thread: http://forums.hybridz.org/showthread.php?p=751117#post751117

Hehe this is funny. I was just schooled on this not too long ago. What's "padding" the voltage in the MS-II is the LM2937 voltage regulator. Look it up on this forum, there's even a link to the datasheet. I would imagine though the MS-I has this as well. The only other things to add in are filter capacitors to clean up any noise in the signal.

http://forums.hybridz.org/showthread.php?t=118858&highlight=subaru http://forums.hybridz.org/showthread.php?t=111435 http://forums.hybridz.org/showthread.php?t=119797&highlight=subaru http://forums.hybridz.org/showthread.php?t=92909&highlight=subaru+rack http://forums.hybridz.org/showthread.php?t=110005&highlight=subaru+rack http://forums.hybridz.org/showthread.php?t=94272 http://forums.hybridz.org/showthread.php?t=87436&highlight=subaru+rack Hopefully anyone coming across this thread in the future won't have to ask this one again. These links are accurate as of today and from the skimming I did, pretty well covers anything you could want to know if you go through all of them.

State Troopers are the worst, especially in NC. I got pulled last Friday and I swear the cops tagged the wrong car. Three cars on the road I'm doing 67 (And yes I've checked my speedo it's accurate) behind a little early 80s honda and another car coming up behind me pretty quick. I saw the cop turn around in the uturn lane and thought nothing of it. I figured ok he's got this guy coming up behind me. As the car pulls up to my bumper the cop pulls up to his and tails him so I pull into the right hand lane. They stayed at my rear left for a while and my turn was coming up so I pulled back into the left lane. As I pulled over the cop pulls around and flys past both of us. Right as I pull into the turn lane he slams on his brakes and swings from the right lane all the way over to the turn lane, nearly clipped my bumper and cut the guy behind me off to the point he locked up all four tires. The cop follows me across the highway then pulls me over. We're all so confused the car in front of me pulls over too. He sites me for 73 in a 55. I had to ask him if he was sure he had the right car, and the guy actually stepped back and looked at my car like he never really paid attention before, then he shook his head and said yes. I said, but the car behind me was catching up to me pretty quick and I know I wasn't doing 73. He said, nope the car behind you was doing 67, you were doing 73, you can plead your case in court. I kept thinking, yeah that makes a lot of sense. The car behind me is gaining on me but at the same time going slower than I am. Guess being the only sports car in the three out there I get the ticket of course. Get to fight this one on the 19th. If he wants to write me another one for the correct speed that's fine, I'll plea guilty and ask for a Prayer for Judgement, but I'm not going to accept a 73 in a 55. I hate State Troopers. They all act like they're God's gift to the world.

I cut this from the megasquirt forums. It might help as it seems several people have had success with fixing their comm problems this way: