5 Star Rising

Sorry, been running around all day.. Use the first post as an open book to any "have you done this yet?" questions.. I have hesitation at acceleration, car over heats, has rough idle, runs rich, temp gauge not reading, RPM gauge stuck, intermittant charging..

Just bought another Z a 77 280 out here in Cali. The car is clean no rust good paint and interior even the A/C works lol but there is definately a few different problems.. I got the car for cheap so Im not gonna be too pissed if it needs alot of repairs. First off the guy I got it from said he thinks it needs a radiator and a head gasket.. Not really sure if it needs a head gsaket but it could use a radiator.. The motor was rebuilt about 3 years ago says the guy and has roughly 10k on the rebuild.. Heres whats going on... The first day I got it I popped the radiator cap and found abunch of rusty colored sludge in the radiator, I flushed it out the best I could with the hose and got it flowing out the bottom but it could still be plugged, filled it up, found a missing rubber seal on the radiator cap, replaced the cap. Checked the oil looked full and clean. Charged the battery but it was gone would not hold a charge cause the car has been sitting for about 2 years, replaced the battery. Checked the spark plugs,ok, squirted some oil in the cyls and tryed to fire up the car.. It took alot of juice for the car to turn over but I got it started.. The idle ran very high and after it had warmed up if you hit the throttle it would hesitate badly and I could NOT rev the car at all, it just had a high idle. I unplugged the TPS harness and it still ran the same no REV.. Not sure what cleared it up but I moved around a bunch of electrical harnesses and also popped the cap on the MAF and moved the cam in side back and forth a few times. I also found some water or moisture inside the MAF and throttle body . I pulled off the hoses and let it air out for a day. Not sure if this fixed it but now I can rev the car. The temp guage is not working and the car is not charging, it happens intermitantly as the battery light is on and off. When I test drove the car it hesitates a bit but then after a while keeping the throttle down the car clears up and pulls. I do hear a rattle now and then under the car might have a possible plugged cat but I will check a little better for where the noise is coming from tomorrow. I did a compression check and the cyls are as follows starting with cyl #1 165 #2 165 #3 160 #4 165 #5 168 #6 165 they all held pressure. T The RPM gauge is not working and is stuck at around 2500.. I put fresh fuel in but NO I did not flush the tank or change the fuel filter yet.. The lifters are noisy. the idle is a bit rough and sometimes the car shakes alittle, it is also running rich and I cannot turn down the idle with out turning the big idle mixture screw. The oil doesnt look milky and I dont see white smoke out of the pipe or smell a sweet smell but when I came back from the test drive the car was overheating and the coolant overflow bottle was bubbling and steaming.. Well I tryed to put the hole story on here by writing a book but bottom line...I have hesitation at acceleration,car over heats, rough idle, runs rich, temp gauge not reading, RPM gauge stuck, intermittant charging system problem.. If theres something on this list of thing thats happened to your car and you might have some helpfull info let me know.. Thanks:iospalo: ...after reading all this mumbo jumbo I wrote half asleep last night I realize I sound like a tweeker lol.. I can assure you im not lol, just wanted to try to list every thing going on all at once so I could possibly get some good hints on whats going on here, been working 12 hour days and I wish I had more time to diagnos every little problem here. But cant wait to do some burn outs! Rob

Well Im not a big fan of using a ton of used stuff when restoring a car but today I hit the jackpot at the local Pick-N Pull (junkyard) here in Cali. I happened to be at the right place at the right time when the forklift guy dropped off a Cherry 76 280Z. It looked like the engine had a fire.But everything else was in great shape. I got a window regulator,rollers,fuzzys, not to mention all the other stuff I have been shopping for new like the 2 front and rear bumper guards,mint interior plastic pieces,original stock radio,console,the car was complete but not when I was done with it.lol Thanks for the help fellas.... I put my new window reg and rollers in tonight and it worked like a charm. Cheers

Well I'm at work right now but, As far as I remember I did find a bunch of stuff at the bottom of the inside door. I remember finding a somewhat long felty roll or tube that was about 8 inches or so and also a bunch of debri that kind of looked like steel wool. would this be my roller and door fuzzy? Also there was a clip that mounted on the door metal under the stainless strip by the mirror. It was just clipped on the door with nothing attached to it. I was wondering what the purpose of that thing was..

I have a 75 280 standard Z. My drivers side door glass has been binding for a while when you try to roll it up or down and also rattling alot while driving. The other day I rolled it down and it would not roll up. I pulled apart my door panel to check it out. It looks like my window regulator may be tweaked and or weakend. I straightened the arms on the regulator abit but it did not help. Anyone have this problem with yours? What year cars have the same window regulator in them as my 75? (Junkyard bound). Any advice would help .... Thanks Rob

Thanks fellas. that was some very greatful information. Off to the treasure hunt at Pick-N- Pull (junkyard) tomorrow. They are having there half off sale. All Fenders $17 each and hoods $19 each. p.s yeah my rear diff mount was shot. I was able to lift the rear end off the mount completely lol. And if I cant find anything at the junkyard I'l be hitting up your Bro for those parts. Thanks man Rob

Any particular year? And is this something I can bolt on my non-turbo motor or is this a huge job to add a turbo?

I have a 75 280Z that I just bought about 3 weeks ago. My question is.Is there any turbo units you can find at the junk yard that can be installed on my stock motor? And how big of a job would it be. And if possible what should I look for? Later model Z's ???

I bought this car 3 weeks ago and it needs work...... I need a bondo-free left and right fender and a hood for my 75 280Z.. Does anyone know what other years of Z's will fit my car. I planned on getting these at the local junk yard here in California. Also off the subject.. while driving,when I hit the gas and jolt the car I here a huge bang coming from the rear of the car. as if a drive axle hits the frame, is this a common problem that happens on these cars? One more question... I noticed that the people that had the car before me had put little spacer-like shims in between the spring coils on all 4 struts. Does anyone know why they might have done this? The car has after market 15" eagle rims on it. I was wondering if they had to do this to make clearance for the wheels or if the struts were so worn out that this was a way to keep the car from bouncing all over the place. Any way I was going to buy some new struts for the stock application. But did not want to get the wrong ones that might not fit with these wheels.. Any info on this would be great.. Thanks Rob

I pulled open my brake booster and yes my reaction disk was gone. I got a RD,glued it to the rod and cafefully installed it. When I went to check my pedal it felt the same,went to the floor, and my brake light came on. Just before lighting the match to burn the car to the ground I decided to check my rod adjustment again that pushes into the MS.For the hell of it I unscrewed it almost all the way out and installed my MS. Amazingly my brake light went out and the pedal actually felt hard for a change while the car was running. But of course my brakes would be dragging at this point. I took it around the block anyway and my car could stop on a dime. The pedal felt great,the light was out, but the brake were dragging.I knew that I would have to spin the rod in abit and measure the adjustment. Well I spent 2 hours trying to get the rod just right. If I adjusted the rod out too far the pedal would feel great ,the brake light would go out,but the brakes would drag.. If I went in to far the brake light would come on, the pedal would have too much freeplay and would not want to springback like a normal pedal. No matter how many times I would adjust the rod I could never find "The sweet spot" Even with fractions of a turn per adjustment. Then I said screw it and took the car for a little farther test drive like 3 blocks. All of a sudden while driving, the car started bogging and started feeling like I was towing a huge boat behind me,I turned around to head home but did not make it. My brakes gradually all locked up completely and the pedal became ROCK hard (so hard that I could barely turn my brake lights on. I had to almost burn up the clutch just to get out of the road and pull over.. What happened here?? Has anyone heard of this happening? I'm thinking the MS rod vibrated out while driving maybe, because after adjusting it so many times it became easy enough to adjust with your fingers. Any one have any input for this one??? I stumped

I noticed alot of you have similar problems as I do. Where your brake pedal goes to the floor,after endless Master Cyls,gallons of brake fluid from bleeding.Has anyone found and solved this problem yet lol? Hmmm I wrench on trucks for a living and have never had this problem with brakes before. I have put 4 different master cyls on not including the one that came with my car. 3 remans and the latest one is a New MS. Still pedal goes to the floor,I bled the system 20 times with over 3 gallons of fluid ,even using a power bleeder. I replaced my front calipers with remans.replaced rubber brake lines and all short metal lines,bench bled all MS's,swapped my prop valve with another used one,checked and adjusted my rear drum brakes,made sure my caliper bleeders were on top,adjusted out my push rod that pushes my MS. When there car is off I can pump up the pedal firm and hold it, but when I start the car the pedal goes to the floor and the brake light comes on. I just bought the car recently and drove it for the first time tonight whoa it was scary lol I locked up my rear brakes on some fallen leafs on my street. Is there something I overlooked,any other tips would be awesome.. Iam ready to give this car back to the old owner for free! lol

I noticed alot of you have similar problems as I do. Where your brake pedal goes to the floor,after endless Master Cyls,gallons of brake fluid from bleeding.Has anyone found and solved this problem yet lol? Hmmm I wrench on trucks for a living and have never had this problem with brakes before. I have put 4 different master cyls on not including the one that came with my car. 3 remans and the latest one is a New MS. Still pedal goes to the floor,I bled the system 20 times even using a power bleeder. I replaced my front calipers with remans.replaced rubber brake lines and all short metal lines,bench bled all MS's,swapped my prop valve with another used one,checked and adjusted my rear drum brakes,made sure my caliper bleeders were on top,adjusted out my push rod that pushes my MS. When there car is off I can pump up the pedal firm and hold it, but when I start the car the pedal goes to the floor and the brake light comes on. I just bought the car recently and drove it for the first time tonight whoa it was scary lol I locked up my rear brakes on some fallen leafs on my street. What exactly does the reaction disc do? If mine has fallen off will it still push out the rod into the MS? I unbolted and pulled my MS away from the booster. I then started the car and reached around and put my hand over the rod,I pressed the brake pedal and the rod pushed all the way out like it should i would amagine.Does this mean its working correctly? I have been on this brake problem for 2 weeks straight. Any help or tips would be awesome.. Rob