Zmanco

Sounds like you still have air in the system. Did you bench bleed the master cylinder before you installed it? If not, no amount of bleeding on the car is going to get all the air out. If your calipers are on correctly, then I'd focus on the M/C.

Not sure which dizzy you have now, but a late 280zx dizzy has less mechanical advance than the early 240s. That means you can set your timing for more initial advance without exceeding 35-36 total advance. Usually you can't go beyond that without detonation.

Whyrualive, when I brought my '73 to CO (still had 3 screw SUs then), i went to Bob Bush at Fortunate Wheelz in Lakewood. He tuned it for emissions and sent me about 2 miles down the road to an emissions tester. I passed there, drove back, and then we reset the tune so I could actually enjoy driving the car That won't solve any major issues such as worn throttle shafts, but it might just get you past this test and let you make any fixes more at your own pace.

I have some play in my 73 but have not been able to find any used parts in better condition. As BJ said, "Bump this sucker up".

Update: I stopped by Innovate today and spoke with Felipe. He's going to bench test the controller at low voltage but thinks it will probably check out ok. He says they have a beta release of firmware for the LC1 that reduces the chance it will generate an E9 error code. Here it is on their forum: http://www.innovatemotorsports.com/forums/showthread.php?t=6616 Assuming he doesn't find anything wrong with my unit he'll load that version. I'll check it out when I return this weekend.

I tried an experiment running the LC-1 datalogging software and found that when the reading goes low, it's giving an E9 error code which means the voltage was too low. I've since spoken to Innovative who says that the LC1 resets at 11.5V. Interestingly, the voltage trace in Megasquirt's logs shows that MS is still seeing voltages significantly above 12V when this occurs. Just to be sure there wasn't some other issue, I temporarily connected the power to the LC1 to the same lugs as the MS (always on, bypassing the MS relay) and it made no difference. This was with a straight connection from alternator output and where the battery negative terminal connects to the chassis. Also, I had this issue with my original alt ('80 280zx) and then with my new upgraded Maxima alt (90 amps). Today I have a business trip that takes me right by Innovative's office in Irvine CA so I'm going to drop the unit with them, but I'm not expecting very much. FWIW, their tech said in a few months they will have a new version that can tolerate operating down to around 9V. X64V, your curve doesn't look like mine at all. Yours O2 readings are still moving. In my case, it plummets down to around 10 and stays flat line for several seconds while the heater "warms up" and then begins reading normally again. Not sure what to recommend in your case except to try what I did and run the LC1 datalogging software to gather some more data.

Isn't the "Battery" terminal of an alternator where all the loads are connected? I ask because I'm not familiar with how the 300ZX alt is labeled. If so, then I'd look very closely at the wiring from the alt to your fuse box and also your battery cables. You shouldn't see more than a few tenths of a volt difference between the output of the alt and the battery post. I don't think the issue is with your regulator - I'd be looking at your wiring. I only know the 73 from personal experience, so can't tell you much about your 78, but wiring has never been a strong point for Zs and after all these years I would not be surprised if you had some corrosion or frayed wire near a connector in the circuit that feeds power from the alt to the rest of the car. Also, make sure you don't have a fuse that is intermittent. I had a headlight fuse where the metal end cap had become loose from the glass, and no longer made a good connection to the fuse wire inside. To my eye it looked good. Finally I pulled all the fuses and this one fell apart in my hands. Lesson learned: always pull glass fuses and measure with an ohmeter to be sure they are good. BTW, I think your Z has a fuseable link. (They hadn't been invented yet in '73 ) I'd check those for the same issues.

I think $500 is on the low side for induction, whether carbs or FI. A decent used set of triples (webers or mikunis) seem to go for around $750 give or take a few hundred dollars, and more than likely you'll need to rejet for your engine which will be yet more $$$. Figure at least $1,000 before you're finished. Having just converted from carbs to megasquirt FI, I can tell you from first hand experience that you're also looking at around $1k. And that's with the stock intake manifold. There's another thread on this, but if I was going to spend the money to build a stroker, I wouldn't want to use the stock FI manifold as it will restrict your power on the top end.

I have most of the middle setup with the stock (1980) intake manifold. I did port match the intake manifold to the head (N42) and TB to the manifold, but other than that it's all stock. Cam is a regrind from Delta Cams spec'd as .480" lift with 284/284 degree duration and stock springs. I'm still sorting out a problem with the LC1 O2 sensor, but once that's done I plan to dyno tune it. I'll post those results as a "baseline" if anyone is interested. I follow Ron's thinking that the intake manifold is a significant limiting factor at this point. I had made myself a deal that once I got the FI set, that was as far as I was going to take this engine. In terms of "bang for my buck", I've been thinking that if I decide I need more HP, then I would consider V8 swaps. Seeing vids of those with LS1's makes me drool a little ...

Pete, I know there are scopes that utilize a PC and its USB port for the inputs. What do you think of these as a low-end solution for automotive work? Without expensive probes I know they wouldn't show the kind of detail you have, but what about for general trouble shooting? There are so many times I wish I could see what kind of noise was on the input and/or output of a device such as MS. If there was a reasonably priced one (say $200), it might be a good addition to our tool box. After all, if you're running with MS, you probably already have a laptop.

I'm running with an LC1 on my NA L28 fuel-only with MS1 v3.0 with MSnS. Periodically I see the O2 gauge on Megatune go full rich (not exactly 10.00, usually something like 10.29). It stays like that for a few seconds and then goes back to a normal reading. When this happens there is no noticeable change in the way the engine runs, and I have confirmed via the logs that the injector pulse width doesn't change. This makes me think the problem is with the LC1, and that my actual mixture is unchanged. Now and then I've also had to recalibrate the O2 sensor as it gets into a state where it's always reading either full rich or full lean. Recalibrating fixes that. I spoke with Innovate Motorsports and they suggested I do another heater calibration just as I did when I first connected everything. That didn't make any difference with respect to going full rich. Then a few days ago the sensor stayed full rich, even after doing a recalibrate. The LC1 blinked 8 tiimes indicating the sensor was bad. Once I stopped cursing I bought another sensor. The new one seemed to be good for a the fist hour or so, then began to go full rich too. Then yesterday it needed recalibration twice, once becoming "uncalibrated" while I was driving. Matt from DIYAutoTune has said he thinks it's time to send the LC1 controller back to Innovate and when they're open tomorrow I'll set that up. But in the mean time I'm wondering if any others have had a similar problem and how you fixed it? FWIW, I'm pretty sure my wiring is solid - I'm unable to get the sensor to change its value when I wiggle the wiring and connections while parked. My ground wires are handled properly and with large conductors. In fact the logs show that these "full rich" events sometimes occur with no change at all, not even a spike, on the battery voltage trace.

I hate to say this, but for me the answer is probably no. Not because I don't think it's worth it (I do), but for my moderately-built N/A L28 it's unlikely I would gain enough benefit to justify the cost.

Ron, that is a thing of beauty! I am curious that the intake filter is inside the engine compartment where it will take in warm air. Is the benefit of cold air offset by it having to pass through a few feet of tubing? Just curious.

Justin, any thoughts about selling a fully assembled intake manifold for those of us without welding skills?

August 11 - next track day at the State Patrol Track. Not my favorite track, but a whole lot better than NO track - still missing 2nd Creek - can't wait for HighPlains Raceway.

You might want to check out the Kumho Ecsta MX. I picked up a set of 225/50-16 at Tire Rack for about $90 per tire delivered. I had my local tire store mount them for $40. Total of $400 for the set. Just had them out on the track for the first time. Very fun tire! Good grip (better than my previous ES100s) and very predictable break away. Braking was noticeably better than the ES100s. I don't expect great wear from them, but so far they seem pretty comparable to the ES100s. With a few track days per season and the rest just fun weekend driving, I've pretty much accepted that I'll be buying a new set of tires annually. At least I get to experiment more They look a bit "beefier" than the ES100s, and I found I had a little more rubbing on the fenders in the rear. I finally cut the inside lips and all is good now. Lastly, they don't squirm when driving on the grooved freeways we have around here. The ES100s were terrible for that. Nothing like big blocks of rubber for a dry-weather-only performance street tire!

You might want to try Bob at Fortunate Wheelz in Lakewood. PM me if you have trouble finding his phone number.

Thanks Mack, I'll try that. I'm out of the country until the end of the month, but will post the results here. It may be hard to verify thngs are fixed without a track as the overheating didn't occur until several laps into the sessions. Hard to get that much WOT throttle time on the street

I'm using the stock FPR connected to a vacuum port on the manifold and thought that at idle with high vacuum that I would see 5-10 psi less less than the target of 38 psi at WOT. I thought that as the vacuum in the manifold reduces (in other words, as it approaches the outside pressure at WOT and high revs) that the FPR would increase the pressure to keep the difference between the fuel pressure and the space into which it's sprayed about the same. Is this not correct? Even though it's old, I'd hate to replace the FPR if it's ok.

I'm using the stock FPR and at idle the pressure reads around 30 psi. My largest VE value is only 106.

Pete, please follow my reasoning and let me know if this makes sense: I have a n/a engine with a reground cam and was running a little above 5000 feet elevation. I'm using stock turbo injectors with a redline of 7k rpm. My Required Fuel is 11.8 msec and I was seeing just under 10 sec max pulse width on the display. 7k rpm equates to 117 rpm per second or 8.5 msec per revolution. As I have the injectors set up for 2 banks alternating, I think that means that at 7k rpm each bank of injectors is firing for ~10 msec duration every 2x8.5=17 msec. This would mean a duty cycle of roughly 59%. I wouldn't think that would lead to overheating of the injectors. The only thing I can think of is I am mistaken and the injectors are firing EVERY revolution, which would then mean I was beyond 100%. I'm traveling in Europe and am a little sleep deprived right now, so I'd appreciate the help to figure this one out. Thanks,

I used all of the grease in the kit. I wonder if I should have bought some more? Interestingly, I can't tell any difference (except for the shutting down) with running different settings of PWM. From other threads I thought I'd have experienced something.

I had the car out on the track yesterday for the first time since installing MSnS on MS1. After the first few laps I lost power until I backed off the throttle. Up to that point it ran great. Ultimately I found that by changing the PWM Current limit for the injectors from 35% to 25% the problem went away. I think I the drivers were overheating by running at WOT for long periods as I had not experienced any issues prior on the street. I'm running stock turbo injectors on my NA car with them split 3 each across the two drivers. I'm a bit surprised that I had to drop to 25% as I've seen quite a few threads here that suggest 35% is a normal setting for others. Any thoughts?

Here's what I'd suggest: Find a map from someone that's "sort of close" to you. Turn off the accel enrichment and then using toolsVEtable1 with the engine running, change the VE values for the bins you're idling in to get the best idle. Then turn accel enrichment on and again, use something close to what others have used. Set the MoreSettingsAFRTargets table. Again, you can use someone else's as a base line. Turn logging on (Filedatalog) Drive with as much variety as you can. You probably want to be careful to NOT go WOT at high revs as you could damage things with mixtures that were too lean for too long. turn logging off Now run MegaLogViewer and open the log file you just created Click the VE Analyzer button and then Run Analysis This will suggest changes to your VE table based on the AFR tables you updated earlier. Save it and then reload into MS and repeat. This assumes you already have a functioning o2 sensor and the other settings are all reasonably close. If you haven't already done so, you need to read ALL the MSnS Software as well as Tuning manuals. There is a lot of info, but until I read all of it, I was really just shooting in the dark. Good luck! PS. I'm doing this at an airport from memory, so some of the menu names may not be exactly right.

cygnusx1, have you succeeded in getting a stable idle with the Bosch pwm valve? I can get a stable idle, but as soon as the efans kick in, it stumbles, and sometimes doesn't recover (stalls). Would you mind posting your Idle Control and Idle Control (Closed Loop Settings) pages? Thanks,