trwebb26

Last year I bought an old 83' ZXT. I found out when I got it home that it has 280K miles on the motor... I had plans to get it built, but the high miles make me worried. Is a motor with fewer miles a better candidate for a rebuild? In other words - should I look for another motor to sink 3K into?

It should be whatever your coolant temperature is...???

I put in an autometer cobalt fuel guage using the stock 280z sending unit. All you have to do is program it.... hit a button with an empty tank (it reads the resistance) and then fill'er up - hit another button (reads resistance again) and you are good to go. I would be very suprised if this feature wasn't on the autometer phantom guages, too.

I had VERY similar problems with an almost identical setup. Read this post: http://forums.hybridz.org/showthread.php?t=115390 Specifically - this part: The input from my distributor was wired incorrectly from the very beginning (a year ago) as I got it from RS-Autosport. It was wired for a low to high dizzy and should have been wired for a high to low (thanks for the clarification, Moby!). That explains why my trigger numbers were so low (~55 degrees)... I was triggering off of the wrong side of the square wave. As the square wave width changed with increasing RPM - my timing would change the difference in width of the square wave - and eventually skip to the next optical trigger point at a high enough RPM. It makes perfect sense. Start by taking your megasquirt apart and verify that it is wired for a HIGH to LOW input signal. Mine from RS-Autosport was wired wrong. http://www.msextra.com/manuals/MS_Extra_Ignition_Hardware_Manual.htm#hall

My initial vote is timing and the infamous overheating VB driver... but I could be wrong. Give us all the details on your whole ignition setup.

timing?

Generally speaking - on most people's posts where they have the car idleing - the problem isn't with the megasquirt. I suggest checking the basics. Start by pulling the #1 plug... while rolling the crank to 0 degrees of timing - check to make sure the #1 piston is coming up to TDC (and is at TDC when the timing mark is at zero). Leave it at zero and pull out the dizzy - check the orientation of the oil shaft. A picture can be found in the haynes manual or on this website: http://www.atlanticz.ca/zclub/techtips/distributor/index.html While you are at it - make sure you have the firing order correct. With the engine running - put the pickup for your timing light on each wire and verify you are getting an even spark output to each wire. The fuel pressure regulator thing caught my eye... I'm 99% sure the stock fuel pressure regulator is rising rate (it has a vacuum line hooked up to it). For this reason - the tables in Moby's sticky are likely given using a rising rate fuel pressure regulator. If you ran a non-rising rate FPR - and the tables in Moby's sticky - your car would likely be running very lean under throttle conditions. I'll look to some other hybrid members for some verification on this. I've got some other things to check - but let us start here first.

First off... be happy you've got it so it will idle. It helps a lot when troubleshooting. My questions: 1) Has the car ever run well using megasquirt 2) What are you using for throttle position? Turn on the throttle position guage in megasquirt and make sure that it reads 0 to 100% when you step on the gas. 3) Put the timing light on it when it is at idle and leave it there... increase the revs by turning the throttle body. What happens to the timing as the revs increase? 4) What brand of plug wires do you have? 5) Did you recently change the oil shaft - or has it run good since you changed the oil shaft? 6) What coil are you using? What are your dwell settings? 7) What kind of fuel pressure regulator are you running? Does the fuel pressure increase with revs? I think that is it for now. I'll have more questions when you write back.

Yes... I can say with 99% confidence that your wires are causing your resets. Buy some magnecors.

I just purchased a power-brute LSD off of the group buy. I want to install it in the rear end along with a 3.9 set of gears, new bearings, and new seals. I'm mechanically inclined enough to do it, but I'm wondering if it would be worth the money to take it to a guy in town who sets up rear-ends for all of the local hot-rod guys. He'd have a LOT more experience - AND - all of the right tools for the job. I think I'm most worried about doing the job and missing something (backlash, teeth pattern, preload, etc) and having to rip it all apart again. Thoughts?

I'd like the front windshield glass if it is good condition. I can come pick it up.

IMO.

Lookin good, Cameron.

Can we get a moderator to move this to a more appropriate forum?

Don't pay attention to the windows in the dizzy for now. You must answer these questions FIRST. Don't rely on the damper - Take the #1 spark plug out and check for TDC compression by actually feeling the compression with your finger - and checking for TDC using a guage (or CAREFULLY stick a screwdriver inside the hole to check where the piston is at). When the #1 piston is at TDC compression - Where is the rotor pointing in relationship to the cap? It better be pointing at the #1 position on the cap (kind of facing toward the front of the car). If it isn't - your dizzy shaft is installed incorrectly. When the #1 piston is at TDC compression - Where is the timing mark on the crank pulley? It better be at ZERO. If it isn't - then your damper is screwed up and you are on a crap-shoot to try and get your timing correct. Answer these two questions and we'll see where we are at then. If you messed with the oil shaft - I'm 95% sure that it is installed incorrectly. It is VERY easy to install in the wrong clocked position.

Use 60 degrees before TDC on the #1 spark plug - compression stroke. Move the dizzy so that it lines up with an optical mark. Did you take the oil shaft out when you serviced the head? Give us some more info.

yup... the values in the sticky are way rich for stock injectors and fuel pressure. What is the big deal? Lean out the whole map and see if it gets better. If it doesn't - load the old one and continue to drive with the car rich.

I put mine in the cold start hole. BTW - it is a 3/8" NPT - not a 1/2" NPT.

I got the game and the logitech momo "racing" wheel yesterday. The game is pretty sweet. Braking is by far the toughest for me so far. It took me until a few minutes ago that I could pick a different car than the default by finishing a few of the driving schools. I'm rolling an FIA 2003 certified viper now (i'm not going with the 2004 series, yet - i don't think). What car do you guys use? Got any pointers for a newbe?

I stripped it down the steel frame - laid out the guages in foam inside the car, but fleeced and glassed it outside the car. It worked out great.

I agree witn z-ya about the fuel and enrichments. You may try turning off the enrichments while you are tuning - just don't mash the throttle. Being one who has experienced the gambit of timing troubles - please elaborate on your spark setup. If you are running MS&Spark - check to make sure your spark matches your spark map (with a timing light). It sure sounds like a fuel problem... give us some more info.

Read this: http://www.megamanual.com/connect.htm#ms1 See section "d"

I glassed mine outside of the car - no warpage.

Put Megatune on a laptop with the same revision of the firmware as is in your megasquirt. When you power up the car - the settings will be read from the megasquirt and show up in megatune. Then just save off your msq file. You should be good to go.

Do I need to ask if you have Magnecor wires?