Austin240Z

In the Live action version of Wangan Midnight, it was the shop that did the work on the Devil Z, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cNNeMfg4tDY, 3min and 50 seconds in is where you get a good shot of the sticker on the fender in front of the door. I do not know if the shop exists for real, but, that's all the information I have on it. *Edit* According to some information I dug up, there may have been a real shop for a some period of time(not sure when) but it no longer exists. *End Edit* On a side note I happen to have the shop sticker on my car, just for fun.

OK, I appreciate the suggestions in regards to the thermostat, but again, the thermostat is in correctly. I sell thermostats all day every day, I understand the way they go in, the concept of how they work and even the materials they are made of. I work with mechanics, good ones, I told them of my problem and their first thought was a collapsed hose. I had also checked for that, and it does not apear to be the case either. A few experienced people on another Z forum seem to agree that their may be an Air pocket, and they suggested way to check for it and fix it. Since i had so many posts about the thermostat, I will check it again, and replace it with my second new thermostat(at this point I buy parts in sets of 2) I am curious if anyone has any ideas other than the thermostat?

The only problem with that theory is that both sensors are on the hot side before the thermostat. The thermostat doesnt open until the car and water pump are both OFF, the thermostat does not open while the car is on. When I Installed the Autometer gauge, it seemed like there wasnt much coolant in the water outlet. Also, it looked like there was only enough room to put the thermostat in one way.

So here's the situation, for now I have the stock L24 block and E88 head, running dual SU's with the coolant pre-heater hoses hooked up, heater core is also hooked. I have a new radiator, new water pump, new 180 degree thermostat. At an idle the car will overheat in 4-6 minutes. I had not been able to run the car for more than a minute up till 3 days ago(long story), I had drained the radiator and removed it. 3 days ago, i re-installed the radiator and timing cover, and filled the radiator up with coolant. I started the car with the intention of running it up to normal operating temperature for the first time. Immediately checked all my gauges, amp fine, oil pressure a little high but ok, water temp was still pegged at the bottom as expected. At 2 minutes I double checked everywhere for leaks, no problems anywhere. At 3 minutes I double checked the Temp gauge, still pegged at the bottom. The valve cover and head were pretty hot to the touch, but the radiator was still cold. Here's where the trouble starts: At 4 and a half minutes I realized I was in trouble. I was tripple checking for leaks when i noticed smoke puffing out of the block vent(pcv) which i had left open, I also noticed smoke coming from the breather on the valve cover. I checked the Temp gauge again.... still pegged at the bottom... The radiator was still as cold as it was before i started the car, but the Valve cover was very hot, as was the lower radiator hose. At 5 minutes, with no change in the Temp gauge I decided it was a good idea to shut her down, and trouble shoot. As soon as the engine stopped 1 full gallon of coolant came shooting out the overflow hose and all over the ground. Steam started rising from the radiator that was suddenly scalding hot, which 15 seconds prior had been ice cold. I decided it was time to go buy a new gauge and then troubleshoot. I drained the system, hooked up an autometer temp gauge in addition to the factory gauge, flushed the system and then refilled it. I ran the car a second time. Checking both gauges periodically for the first 3 minutes, everything was about the same, both gauges still at the bottom peg. At 4 minutes then engine felt pretty hot to the touch, and though I expected a change in the temperature on the gauge, it hadnt moved. At 6 minutes I started to see the first puffs of smoke out of the block vent. With a lack of temperature readings on both gauges, and an ice cold radiator, I decided it was probably a good idea to shut the car down again and regroup. Important: As soon as the engine stopped, paying more attention this time, I noticed that a heard a noise which appeared to be the thermostat opening and closing wildly for a split second. Then another in another split second close to a gallon's worth of coolant came rushing out of the overflow into my now makeshift overflow tank. I had left some water in the lip around the top of the radiator which quickly started steaming within 10 seconds after the coolant had come rushing out of the overflow. That's about the gist of it. I did not have a chance to run the car a third time. My Thoughts: Based on what I observed, it doesnt seem like coolant is able to circulate to the outlet where the thermostat is while it's under pressure. Since both of my temp gauges are mounted in that area, that definitely seems to be the reason for the lack of a temperature reading. I am not sure what could be causing the problem, The head isn't all that clean(my good head is in shambles thanks to a shitty cam) but there were no visible obstructions and I had run water through it while it was off the car to make sure it came out everywhere it was supposed to. The only thing I can figure is a possible air pocket in the top half of the head in and around the water outlet due to my draining and filling the radiator. I have not had a chance to run the car a third time, so I havent been able to check and see if the air pocket was forced out if that really is the case. This car has a knack for developing ridiculous, complicated and unusual problems and at this point I'm losing the fight when it comes to figuring them all out one after another. Any insight would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance.

My Z has an interesting nickname "The Demon Z" I bought it on 06/06/06, I got a classic 1972 license plate with the number DWB 666, finished the engine first time on friday the 13th, had some problems, finished it the second time on halloween, then had to take it apart again, and just recently finished it a third time and I seemed to have gotten all my little problems taken care of. The car was in a Police impound for close to 6 years(I found some info on the net that leads me to beleive it was evidence in a murder case) then it was bought, sat behind a cheapo used car place and finally made it's way to the junk yard where I found it. Here's all my pics and Videos First day, the Junk Yard: First few months in storage, trying to slowly clean it up a bit: Cleaning the valve cover and making it all Purdy: VIDEO: Here's one of the few times the car ran while it was in storage:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VPir2GxRn9M Still in storage: VIDEO: Here's when the plug on the back of the head blew:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ihSNpW6OqmQ Blew the freeze pluc in the back of the head: Removing the gas tank: Towed to my garage, Building the new engine: Steering wheel is re-finished: Removing the old engine: New engine done and ready to go in: Twice pipes exhaust(not fully installed at the time, and crapy pics): Brakes and new(but still old) wheels: Primer shots: Half-ass paintjob pics: Prepping the new hood for paint: Crappy cam = engine damage after the first hour of run time: Haha, Short block: Second head(not great but it works): Recent Pictures: Interior and Seat: VIDEO: Most Recent Start-up Video's: On cowl this one isnt very good-http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GMolFt_2CgQ Behind Car-http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tbb9mzHPxZo List of mods(off the top of my head): -Replaced 4 Speed transmission with a ZX 5 Speed. -Stainless steel clutch line. -Garage Custom Short shifter. -Hurst Pistol Grip gear shift. -Corbuea Forza racing seat -Drilled and slotted brake rotors in the front -Front Four Piston brake caliper(not installed yet) -Stainless Steel brake lines -Cut the rear drum brakes off and replaced them with drilled and slotted Rotors and new calipers -Brake proportioning valve -Polyeurothane suspension bushings(in the mail, dont have them yet) -PolyurothaneFront air dam -Aftermarket electric fuel pump -Custom made Pallnet fuel rail -Switched from sealed beam headlights to H4 bulb type -Upgraded Headlight realy system -MSD Blaster II Ignition coil -MSD 6AL Ignition control box with selectable rev limiter -Autometer Tachometer and shift light -77 280Z passenger door -10 Point roll cage (sitting in my friends garage untill the time comes to weld it in) I know there's one or two things i cant remember...

Hmmmm... doubt my old hunk of junk would make it in

16 volts is not good for your battery... anything above 15.4(cant rember if it is .2 or .4) will damage your battery. That is why all cars have a voltage regulator. A charge or battery light will come on when your battery will come on when there is a drop in AMPs being put out by the alternator. A volt meter wont really give you a whole lot of direct information. Take your car to a local parts store, Advance Autoparts can test your alternator while it's still on your car for free. I'm not sure about O'Reilys, and Zone, but they should be able to as well.

NICE gotta love the scammers man

is that cardboard? or plywood? I cant quite tell

I say things like that to my car frequently.... but it's more of a request than a comand. Either way, i dont seem to get a response.

Not bad so far, but this car is a garage queen.... I havent had a chance to drive it more than about 4 feet yet. Got a few little problems to work out first.

not too bad

They're just regular pipe, they flash rusted once they got wet, so I quickly did a little bit of fast sanding and blasted them with some high temp silicone paint from DEI. That's why they look so good from the bottom. the tips on the ends of the glass packs came chromed already, which was nice. haha, thanks, i did not even know that had happend till i saw the video myself, but everybody seems to like seeing the bag fly by so I'm glad it happend =P

Seconded

Hahaha, that's great. My girlfriend says it's mean

Drifting in the pouring rain like that.... Might as well find a big patch of ice, put your foot to the floor, close your eyes and let go of the steering wheel. Actually... on second thought, it looks like that's what some of those guys were doing

Take the valve cover off and take lots of picures, some aftermaket cams have markings, some dont. If it doesnt have any markings like "CRANE" there may be little subtleties that somebody here may be able to point out after looking at pictures. I'm not an expert on cams, but I know my stock style aftermarket cam had some distinguishing features that were much different than the original cam. So there may be a way to tell... But again, I'm no expert, but there are a few here.

Well, there's a Z show on April 12th in San Antonio if you're interested. Hopefully my car will make it that far by then

Thanks, and yeah, I'd love to have one of those myself. Ofcourse I'd love to have the whole 432, but I would settle for the exhaust. Haha, no kidding, and I've posted it on TWO forums

I know it's been about 2 months since this thread started, but I just got my engine to rum more or less, and I have the MSA twice pipes and just took a video this morning. Keep in mind, the carbs arent syncronized, so I had to ease the throttle up. I reved it to about 3k RPMs the first two times and then up to 4500-5000 rpms the last. Sounds pretty decent IMO.

from that picture, it looks like the instructions are the same ones included with the set I got from MSA. They may be from the same manufacturer.

The only thing I can think of that isnt on your list of replaced parts is the O2 Sensor. There is a possibility that it could be your problem. I've seen O2 sensors do a lot of really strange things to cars when they go bad, and I've seen a bad O2 keep a car from starting. I've only seen that happen once, so it's kind of a long shot, but it's the only thing I can think of that based on your list you may not have checked. I hope that helps, Good Luck.

Niiiice

I never had a problem with mine, wooden one from MSA, I just finally decided I liked the hurst pistol grip better. Only problem was that the shift pattern was sitting like this: ( / ) I added a simple washer and it was pretty much perfect.

Nice job nabbing a running Z for $200, I pulled mine barely running out of a junkyard for $500. definately do what bucket240z said, check all the grounds, sounds like you've got some shorts in your lighting, you're gonna have to tear through the wiring to find them. A multimeter is your best friend. if you're going to disconnect any wires, make sure you mark them. On my car, all the wiring under the dash is screwy... Blue wire goes to Red wire, purple wire goes to yellow, so on and so forth.... if you arent paying attention it gets VERY confusing trying to remember what wire goes where.... We'd love to see pictures of your new car. Good luck to you.