zsteelman

Yes I do have the factory service manual and that is how I started diagnoising things. I went through the ignition system first, I have spark, the car will start on starter fluid and stumble for alittle while off of the starter fluid but will not continue to run. The FPR should only open when the fuel ring goes above the 36ish psi so that would be the reason that I am not receiving any fuel back to the fuel return. The lines are clear as they were cleaned before reinstall of new hoses and cleaned fuel rail as well. I have not checked the ignition timing as I assumed since the car would stumble on starter fluid that the timing was close enough to enforce the compression strokes and idle, even if roughly. All of the electical connections are good, tested the entire ECU system and everything was cleared from the FSM perspective. I have a test that I want to conduct on the injectors to make sure that they are opening which would be the following: 1. Pressure the fuel system. 2. With the car off, send a 12v signal to an injector for an extended amount of time, the fuel pressure should lower due to fuel escaping. 3. Remove sparkplug from that cylinder and smell for gas injection. Hopefully this would help me diagnois if my injectors are faulty/clogged/etc. before I purchase a new fuel pump as well.

Ok finally got an update. I purchased an oil pressure gauge and built one as per your recommendation roger. With the starter trigger disconnected I turned the ignition to get the pump running and was able to get a stable 30psi, however I need 38 correct? This is the reason that I am not getting fuel pumping back from the FPR because it is never opening. However, here is the question, I can continously run the pump and it will not pump past 30 psi, however I do not have any leaks in the system and no fuel flowing backwards out of the pump that I can tell. Do you guys think it is a bad pump that will not pump past the 30psi and should be replaced? As I was looking around the car I also tested the AFM via the FSM - All tests came back positive, rules that out. Tested the Idle Switch and Full Throttle Switch via the FSM - All tests came back positive, rules that out. I tested the continuity across the injector terminals and they were successful as well, along with the pulsing lights during the crank tests I feel the electrical portion is ruled out on the injectors, but again I can not hear them clicking even when giving a 12v power source. Any clues? I figured that the car would atleast stumble start with low fuel psi.

Did you ever figure this out? I have ran into the same issue. My ecu has two pins missing that are hot on the ecu plug. Need to find out how to make sure PO hadcorrect ecu. They never got car to start.

The battery is brand new (Purchased a week ago). I am picking up a fuel pressure gauge this week to test and see if I am getting enough fuel pressure. I do believe that it may be an issue because I am not getting fuel flow back through the return line from the FPR as expected. The lines have all ben cleaned and flow, but still nothing coming back. As for the electronics, all connectors were cleaned with QD electrical cleaner and a brasswire brush to eliminate green meanies. thanks

So I have been working on my 1977 280z trying to get things lined out to start. I will start from the back and work forward. Currently pumping gas out of a 5 gallon tank sitting on the floor, fuel return is feeding into a glass jar to detect any junk that may have came through. Cleaned out hardlines with shopvac using a combination of blowing and sucking carborator cleaner through the lines. Replaced all fuel lines with new line from the pump to the injectors. Ignition has spark at all plugs, the car will start if I spray starting fluid into the intake. Tested compression and have about 100 across all cylinders. Started checking the ECU at the plug to determine if the lines were all getting solid power. So far all of the tests worked successfully (a note: the EFI-Bible confused me until I realized that the 77 ecu plug is slightly different. Next step was to test and see if the injectors were getting signal. Hooked up a light to the injector plug, cranked the car and got signal pulses on all injectors. That rules out the wiring and ECU problems. I have fuel pressure at the injectors, when I disconnect the starter plug and turn the key to start the fuel pump engages. When I push the AFM flapper, the fuel pump engages. If I use the starting fluid I can get the car to rev and crack over. However it will not stay running which leads me to believe that I am either loosing fuel pressure so much that I cannot get fuel for the car or that my injectors are clogged. I put a 12v source to the CSV and heard a click that was expected, loud and clear. However when trying to put a 12v source to the injectors (The injector harness was reading 12v on the positive) I did not get a click, I barely got any spark running to the terminals at all. Before I pull off the fuel rail again to clean the injectors any way to test them for sure to make sure that they are bad? I didn't remove the injectors the first time because there were a few stripped screws that I didn't want to mess with at the time. Thanks for the help

Figured it was about time to start documenting this progress so that I can get input from others. In June of 2010 I purchased this 280z from a guy doing a father/son project. They could not get it started and gave up on the project fairly quickly in favor of an 89 CRX. I drug it home back to Fayetteville, AR to get started, picked it up for $500. First thing to do was get rid of all the nastiness in the inside of the car and determine the extent of the floor damage. After I got the car gutted I was pleasantly surprised to only find minimal rust around the plug holes, only one whole that had to be patched. I decided to clean the floor and coat it with Herculiner for protection. The bottom will also be covered as well once I can get the bad dog rails in place. Started off by wirebrushing then painting with rust reformer paint. Next step was to fiberglass the plug holes as this car will be a toy/track car and not see rain often. Once all of that was dried and smoothed I began to lay out the Herculiner which is AMAZING btw. Next step in the project was to remove the park bench from the back of the car. I shaved and welded in new patch panels for the holes that were left. Then followed with fiberglass filler and body filler to a smooth finish. Before: During: After: I think it turned out pretty good considering I was just learning how to use this HF welder WITHOUT gas :S. I will be upgrading soon but this is a good one for brackets and such. Now that winter has started to roll around here in Arkansas I have began refinishing some interior pieces as I can bring them into the house and clean them up without making too much of a mess. Door Panels Before: After: And wrapped for storage: Next was to finish up the taillight panel. Before: After: Now time to attack the dash. I had originally intended to try the dash restore process, but after knocking on it some with a hammer the cracks got too bad to attempt. So I believe I will be buying a full cap and placing it on. I will paint the underdash and cap with the vinyl dye that I have used for the rest of the restore to retain the same color. For now I have converted to my light weight racing dash lol More to come soon as I attempt to get the car started this week. Any comments or suggestions are welcome.

I have one that I pulled off of a 77 280z when I removed the a/c. 30$ shipped http://forums.hybridz.org/index.php/topic/97200-77-280z-ac-and-heater-pieces/page__pid__913263#entry913263

Needing a clean working fuel sending unit that will fit a 77 280z. Pulled mine out and it is corroded and the wire sensor is bent up. Shipping to 72753, thanks. Please send email to zach@zachsteelman.com or PM

Thanks, my car is the same color and same wheels, I also like the look but will probably replace them with some 4 lug mustang wheels to get a bigger tire under the car. I haven't tried to take the wheels over yet as I am fixing some rust issues and the car is on dollies. If you decide to get rid of the wheels or just the centercaps I might be interested.

What type of wheels are on your car? I believe I have the same type and not sure what they are as all of the lettering has been worn off, I need to get another centercap for them. Love the lights by the way, you might want to try Nightshades for the tinting of the lights if you decided to go that route. Also, a thin layer bondo or a layer of fiberglass over that piece of plastic will make the lines fade from the plastic piece that you used. Great Job.

Yea it just depends on what you plan on doing with the car. Mine is going to be a mainly strip car but will be street legal (On nice days) so I'm not too worried about it. I'm not putting the interior back in so I will see the rust coming if it gets there which I doubt it will come back before I get rid of the car in a few years.

I sealed all of mine up with fiberglass then coated upper and lower sections with Herculiner for a watertight seal.

There was an episode of Musclecar on Spike or Speed that did a swap like this on their project blue collar. Didn't look too bad if the linkage pulled the same way.

I have the exact same problem in my Z. The PO rearended someone and it bend just the front pieces around where the bumper shocks mounted and twisted them some. The core support is still straight but everything in front of that is angled...I'm tempted to just cut it off and not worry about it...

I did the hammer and chisel approach, however it leaves leftover tar on the floor. To get around that problem I picked up a "sticker scraper gun" which is basically a soldering iron with a razor blade on the end. It makes short work of the left overs.

I am loving the recent interest in converting other bodykits to fit the car...I am looking at using a g35 bumper, give us an update to see how you are blending this in.

The GTR handles are by far the best, I love the look of those as well and will definately make the shaved look and still have a handle that you can pull on.

Depending on if you put a piece to funnel air away from the top of the tank you might creat an air pocket that will cause turbulence. Dont the majority of cars that use these for actual aeeodynamics have full plating across the entire belly of the car?

I LOVE this thread, however I would love to know how you have the hood set up. Is it a pin on type latch or are you using reverse hinges? The front end of my car is tore up some and thinking about doing something drastic like this as well. Pics would be great.

Yea after seeing some of the cars on here with shaved rears it made me do it instantly. I am shaving all of the marker lights soon as I get this part finished up. I need to get around to painting the interior floors soon as well so I can start putting it back together.

Hey guys, just wanted to give everyone an update on the progress so far. After figuring out the welder settings for this sheetmetal I was able to weld in panels for all of the low spots. After that I picked up some long hair fiberglass reinforced body filler to grip the welds alittle better. First coat Sanded down first layer and highlighted low points to determine second layer Primer guide coat to check lower spots after second layer. Final stages of long hair filler, I have to pick up some normal filler tommorrow to fill the smaller bumps. I also need to look into buying an orbital sander as blocking SUCKS on fiberglass filler.

Nah it doesn't take that long. Honestly you could probably simply pick up a strutbar for another car and modify it (slice and dice) to fit in the Z. This welder has been one of my favorite tools I have ever purchased. It did wonders for helping me create mounting brackets, welding nuts onto the back of panels for threading, etc. Just go get one, you won't regret it.

Well finally got all but two holes welded up. I'm finally getting the settings figured out for this welder I think. Works alot easier when doing lap welds instead of butt welds as the blowthrough doesn't become as big of a problem. http://s24.photobucket.com/albums/c9/zachissak/280z/ Here is my entire build pictures if anyone wants to see it. I try and update it each day that I work on it

Yea the HF wire is HORRIBLE, I did pick up some Lincoln wire but this HF wire is almost up so I figured I would finish it off for these small things and save the good wire for my floorpans and rockerpanel patches. I plan on finishing up the shave today hopefully, gonna be a few days before I get my filler in though so can't get my completed look just yet.

Yea I just wish that the holes were symetrical across both sides.