mom'sZ

I worked in paint and body shops for twenty five years and chased a lot of water leaks. They can be a real PITA!! But here's some ideas that might help you track it down. Take the carpet out so you can see where it's coming from if possible. Then instead of waiting for a rainy day use the water hose. This way you can direct the water from different areas and tell where it's coming from. Start toward the bottom of the car and work up. Run water over the windshield last. Maybe pop the hood and run it on the firewall, then in the plenum, checking in between each spot. Run it around the door window frames and quarter glasses and finally the hatch. Have someone run the hose while you look from inside with a flash light. A good way to check the seal of the door rubbers is to close a dollar bill in the door at various spots and with the door closed slowly pull the dollar bill out from the inside, there should be some resistance but it should slide out. Hope some of this helps

you know I found them on my own, but the cool thing about the online metals place is you can put in a size (in inches) to have the metal cut to all on there web site and put in your credit card info and ...DONE we'll see what shows up at the door.

I'm going to second (third?) the guess for throttle position sensor. Specifically that the two sets of points inside are both making a connection at the same time. If you pop off the cover on the throttle position sensor you will see two little sets of contact points. one set makes connection when the throttle is completly closed. This indicates to the ecu that the throttle is closed. The second set makes contact (or should) when the throttle is open a large amount (like three quarters open or more) This indicates to the ecu that the throttle is open big time and causes an enrichment for full power. A guy who was a nissan tech back when the 280 was a current model showed me how to adjust it. It was the first thing he said when I told him my fuel injection wasn't working. You adjust it by (gently) bending the contact point arm. He told me it was real common for them to end up both touching at once and that was bad. Work the throttle as you adjust, make the first set touch just before the throttle is completly closed. Make the second set touch when you get the throttle almost fully open, allow some travel in the middle where neither touch and make sure they don't touch at the same time. In my experience, when the coolant temp sender goes bad, the system just goes full rich. (indicated by much black smoke & running for crap, barely able to idle) I am preparing a SCCA ITS 280, so by the rules I must use the stock fuel injection with all the stock sensors. This has caused me to spend some time learning about this system. It's crude, but the more I play with it, the more impressed with it I am. I'd like to learn more. So... sorry for the long post, Ztard what's wrong with your's? oh and sorry, the FI bible is a must have. It explains basic theory then all the service procedures. The factory service manual has it all as well.

yeah... when I looked at those pictures, I wondered the same thing, and are they big enough to fit over a 280 strut?

Jon... thanks.. that it!

Jon: I'm sorry... I have searched and searched One time you posted a link to a metal supply company that sells online and they would cut you pieces to length and ship to you. Do you recall?

Interesting Jon, thank you. My limit would be the tires can't stick out past the stock fenders rule, but I believe I have some room to work with. Carroll Smith's tune to win... got it, haven't look at it in a few years, great series of books. Might have to go dig it out.

MusPuppis: Olie05 posted a link to fluidyne. Fluidyne will make you anything you want. I needed something a little different and found a 2 pass that worked off the shelf from them but they were super helpful and it was cheap $99 and shipped to my door in 3-4 days. Give them a call.

Jon: I was reading an old post and came across a comment you had made about varying front track width. I recall others commenting that Zcars like a wider track in the front. Here is a link to that thread http://forums.hybridz.org/showthread.php?t=103719&highlight=bolt+circle your comments of interest were post #30 and #34 (I think). What effect does varying the front track on a S30 have? Is it just a tool to use to balance the car (understeer vs oversteer) or does increasing the front track have other benifits?

Well I just ordered a set. 15" x 7" pro series with 4" backspacing. $67 a piece and Bill said 7 days. They did need to be made in that size.

I had also heard Roebling Road was to be repaved this summer. Then I heard it had been put off, I think for lack of funds. It's all rumors right now, we'll see. I raced a motorcycle there in the early 90's and the grip was great but it chewed tires something fierce. I don't know if it's still the same paving. It was the first place I ever took a brand new tire and destroyed it in one race. Turned it purple! ....Coming up that little hill, cresting the top and leaning into that fast right before the front straight, that was fun on a bike!

olderthanme: thanks for replying, I want to order today. How hard was that to get done? Does just about any tire store have that capability or did you have to search around? What lug nuts do I have to get? Order from Diamond? The diamond wheels are made for 45* I guess? ...but what, you just bolted up yours with the original studs and lugs? Your wheels are the pro series model right? And had the smaller 9/16 holes?

I was thinking about using these wheels but was wondering about the stud size issue. Could 5/8" studs be swapped into the stock rotors and hubs? Are there any type of adapter lug nuts. Also what about balancing them, does a regular balancing machine work well enough?

I agree with Jamie. If you are going to go through all the trouble, why not make a mold, it's not that hard.

OK... before folks flame me please read my post carefully. I am a former paint and body guy, 25 years experience, so I know what I'm talking about. Under most circumstances I would never recomend top coating over bare metal. But because the poster states I assume he has no compressor or spray capabilities. Because most spray can primer is right next to useless and he states I'm going to say that I think it would be OK to paint over the bare metal. When I'm painting small parts ect. I use rustoleum specifically because it is actually made to spray over bare metal. Now.. there are some decent spray can primers, but you have to go to the automotive paint supply house to get them. (and a can of it will probably cost more then you paid for the rustoleum type paint) The stuff you can buy at the part store or home depot is worthless.

I am not trying to dispute what Ian just said but there was a thread in the last week or two where a guy took his apart and repaired / refurbished it. It does indeed split open by turning it. He said he clamped it in a vise and used a giant screwdriver to turn the top half off the bottom. I believe a source for a rebuild kit was also posted and it was cheap compared to a new / rebuilt unit. I think there is a big spring inside so be careful. I would find the thread for you but I'm at work right now and kind of busy... search! EDIT: why is this thread in the L6 forum?

Well after spending a little while with my nose in the fuel injection bible, I've figured out that the stock system does include an air tempeture sensor. It's mounted inside the air flow meter. After thinking about it, I figured it must have one, how could it work with out it. So... I've got water temp sender, air temp sensor and a crude throttle position sensor. For a fuel only system (no ignition) this may be enough.

I've been reading the documentation. If I understand it right, I can choose to run speed density or alpha-n as the control algorithm. Speed density uses the MAP sensor and RPMs and Alpha-N uses TPS and PRMs. From reading the documentation I've deduced that you do indeed need to run a vacumn line from the intake manifold to the MAP sensor. I don't think I can legally do that (SCCA IT ruleset) so I may be forced to use the alpha-N. I only have to comply with the letter of the rules during actual racing, so I plan to use an O2 sensor and maybe even run the speed density algorithm while setting up and tuning, then switch to the alpha-N to race. I assume most people use the speed density, does anyone have any experience with the alpha-N? My next hurdle is the required sensors. (I can't add any, factory only) I have a water temp sensor. (may have to be calabrated to work) My understanding is that water temp is only used for warmup enrichment. Inlet air temp, haven't got one, could I possibly mount it inside the ECU box? or deduce a number from the water temp? or pick a static air temp and set it using a potentiometer mounted inside the ECU box? The O2 sensor I only need to run closed loop so I can live without that, I think. And lastly the throttle position sensor. (TPS) I'm still working on this one. The stock TPS consists of two sets of contact points. Say I send the 5 volt reference to the TPS, add a resistor to the first contact connection adjusting the voltage down to the lower end of the scale to indicate idle or closed throttle. Then I have to figure out how to send mid range voltage to indicate mid throttle opening when neither contact is touching (3 volt source voltage?), then step it up to 5 volts when the second set makes contact. Granted it wouldn't be linear curve but my understanding is low powered IT cars usually use the throttle more like a light switch anyhow so this might work. I'm going to reread the rule book. There may be some relief in there. Any thoughts anyone?

Moby for my application I'm not sure if hooking the MAP up would be legal. (I'm trying to use it for SCCA IT) Can't MS run using the MAP or alpha-n or something? Where the MAP wouldn't work because of lack of vacumn signal because of radical valve timing ect. For the MAP sensor built into MS, you run a vacumn line directly to a port on the box? As far as the tps, maybe I could come up with a way to simulate the voltage input for the TPS with another black box. Anyhow, I know I don't know $hit about this, and I really appreciate you guys helping me out!

wow... I'm really glad this thread generated some more interest. I hadn't checked it in a while. I am still planning to attempt to use MS for my project, but have been busy with other parts of the build. As Moby said, I believe the stock harness / ECU connection can be made to work. Brad-ManQ45's comment about MS needing a potetiometer type TPS is more of a concern for me because I must use only the stock TPS (SCCA ITS rules). Can't I set up MS to expoliate(sp?) between points on the stock TPS? (I don't know if I'm stating this correctly) Does MS require a variable resistance reading from the TPS or what? Like a signal voltage that varies with the resistance of the TPS? MS also reads the RPM right? The stock TPS in a 78 is really two sets of points. So I get idling, WOT or in between. And Brad-ManQ45 could you expound on your idea of using the AFM and mass air code? And Moby any more on how to use the MSnS_extra029 with the AFM?

correct. at the time (& I believe still) there was no requirement for HVLP guns in Florida, so I stuck with what I had always used. Although at the time more then one paint rep actually told me my SATA would pass the HVLP standard if you turned the pressure way down. Heuristicism: Devilbis Finishline - had one (still do... somewhere) it worked well.

might want to check out this sticky, it will answer a lot of your questions http://forums.hybridz.org/showthread.php?t=106354

Just trying to help... a fuel injected car runs like crap with a bad battery. Mine ran much better once I got the charging system working properly. (first step in getting charging system working = good battery)

X: long time no speaks, how are you. The last four years I worked on cars professionally, I was a full time painter only. This is in Florida, and there were no requirments to use an HVLP gun. I sprayed in a convection heated downdraft Devilbis spray booth. All my top coat guns were SATA jets. (I had three) They sprayed so much better then any other gun I had touched in twenty five years of doing it, I wouldn't have considered using anything else. The atomization could not be touched, here's why. The SATA's cap, needle, and fluid nozzle were hand machined as a set. Once I dropped one of the air caps while cleaning it and bent it, (dumb a$$) and you could only buy a new cap as part of the whole set of needle, cap and nozzle. ($110, more then what most guns cost) Also, this thing put out some paint. (not for amateurs) It also was super easy to clean because it has no packings. The whole gun consisted of like 6 or 8 parts. Those things are works of art, truely a fine tool. Had binks, devilbis, all of them got religated to primer gun status after that.

Like thumper said, we're going to need some more info to help you out you said in your second post So even if we tell you what we think might be wrong, are you mechanically competent enough to check it out? If not, you're going to need a mechanic to check it out for you anyhow. If you are then from your first post you wrote my guess would be TPS (throttle position switch) ****please note I said 'guess'*** I'm also guessing you are considering buying this car? If so, welcome to the hybridZ community and have fun with your new Zcar