Heroez

No. My car left Friday day before the show. He was supposed to take his red 240z the show. Thanks for being willing to help.

Ha! You probably know what my car looks like because of a picture on the inside of that shop. The blue one with the turbo side stripe. He builds good engines, and did a nice job with installing a rear camber kit on my 260z. Put him with a problem on a eccs, and you get seat of the pants diagnosis. I guess after 30 years of working on early z cars that fuel pressure readings and resistance measurements just dont matter as much as they used to? We get along great, I just wanted a fact base diagnosis rather than intuition. I cant afford to replace everything to finally get the fix. Im sure for another grand or so he would have got it. I work full time and the wife, the house, I just dont have the time to work on it as much as I like, so I paid for time and parts in the shop. I had a different shop flat out tell me they dont like to work on turbos. Where has all the skill and give a crap gone? Hey, if you have an 82t you could help me out big time. I need to find out how the ground wire on the AFM goes. Could you take a look at the AFM and give me your best description of where the two end of that ground wire go? Or post a picture? You may have to slide the washer fluid tank up and out of the way to see it. That would be a big help.

Yep. Have you been there?

Thanks for the replies. I am missing a ground wire on my AFM. I was told it goes from the bolt that runs through the rubber isolator, then grounds to the mounting bracket. Has anyone ever saw this on their turbo AFM?

After using the 83 tests, I believe my AFM is bad. I got a reading of 120.4 and the number grew as I slowly opened the flap. Then after a the flap was open maybe a quarter inch I got an infinity reading and the numbers became .239, .283, .314, .321, etc. A couple of wiser folks agreed it was bad. Working on getting a remanufactured unit. I hope that is the end of the stumble at cruise.

Ok. I missed that in the 83 FSM. I will have to check that out. The ECU plugs have been suspect to me as well. Any suggestions for replacing or repairing ECU connectors? I know the 300zx used that style also and they are rumored to be a better fit. How do you release the wire terminals from the connector?

I did a test run without the oxygen sensor. It puts the computer in fail-safe mode. I had not touched the knock sensor. I will look into that. Thanks for the suggestion.

I do not understand how I used the wrong FSM. If I use the 1983 FSM, the AFM test is for the ECU with one big connector, not the ECCS type I have. Also the value range for the first test is different. 200-400. I thought that the turbo supplement for 81 was all there was. Is there an 83 turbo manual? Is it in the 83 FSM and I missed it?

Went ahead with the TPS. It passed the 2 tests at the ECU, and the part itself. It then said to go to the TVS section and follow directions for adjustment. I adjusted it with the multimeter method. Turning it untill it was in the off position where there is no reading. Let the car get up to temperature and the drive was the same. Accelerates/deccelerates fine but still stumbles and backfires while trying to cruise with light throttle pressure in the 2-3k rpm range. I did wiggle the ECU plugs while it was sputtering and noticed no change. The problem is still there. Any suggestions folks?

Wouldnt that have shown up at fuel pressure readings?

I had a spare TPS from a 1981, which I just used as a tester, but removed it. Its just a 2 wire on/off style on the turbo. At the time I tested it with key on, and pressing the linkage with a test light. For fun I adjusted it to different settings to look for a change. I may as well do whatever the supplement says to test it. Its been high on my suspect list. ECU connection too. Is that the only way to test them? I can try a wiggle test again, could not hurt. I am interested in how the wire terminals can be released from the connector housing. Im not sure what to use. A needle, cat whisker? I would try the 300zx ECU plugs at this point. The timing...the tuner said it was fine. I dont know much about it on the turbo. I dont have a timing light. Something to read about for sure. I forgot to mention my skill level is middle low under the hood. What do you think?

Hello Z people. I have what seems to be a problem I just cant solve. I am working on a 1983 280zx turbo, 5 speed, federal model. It is clean and looks well taken care of, all original. The car is new to me, and has a problem. While driving it will suddenly lose power, stumble, and backfire. It will only do this at light throttle pressure or cruising in 2-3,000 RPM. If I press the throttle harder or completely let off, the problem is gone and the car acts normal. I have read all kinds of posts from a dozen or more websites. I tried all the usual things and I will try to list all I can remember. Vacuum pressure at idle is 20, so no big leaks. Hoses look new and feel supple. Fuel pressure numbers checked out and considered good. Went throuh a tank of Chevron 93 octane gas. Cleaned electrical connections under hood and at ECU. New fuel filter, battery, alternator. Removed clogged catalytic converter. Swapped in a spare TPS. I went for help to an elder at a Z car shop. He sent the ECU to get rebuilt, tuned the car, and made a test pipe which the welds didnt hold so my muffler swings around. The tuner was dumbfounded and was going to swap in an AFM as a guess. He did offer some advice as I was leaving to never come back: Just dont drive in that RPM range. Great huh? So now a large chunk of funds are gone with the wind. So by now I have cleaned connections 3-4 times. Went forward with a tune up. New NGK plugs, cap, rotor, PCV valve. Did the one by one pull on the injector wires and all cylinders are firing. Desperate now I pull the cover off the afm and move the carbon trace board around and try several locations. Nothing. The problem persists. So I fall into depression and just walk away for a bit. Eventually I snap out of it and buy a multimeter. I pull up the 81 turbo supplement FSM and do the AFM check. First at the ECU pins. Range should be 240-400 ohms. I get 199, a fail. Next it says test at the AFM. 199, fails again. It says replace AFM. So excited now, I buy an AFM from the classifieds. I test it. 201 ohms, fail. Tried it anyway. Problem still there. Now... it may seem like I may know what I am doing, but I am in the dark, way out of my element. I need some advice on what to do next. I am lost. Please help.

Like a candy cane. I see a pattern here. Alpine white and viper red? As break came, I saw some green leftover from one of the Ernst mixers, and it came to me that adding a green would work. I used like a pine needle green, and it did what you were wanting to do. So its possible to tweak the duplicolor green, but it adds to the cost because you have to buy an extra darker green to mix with it. Another thing I wanted to mention is that a paint store I use can put custom colors in spray cans. Yeah Skittle, let me know. We clean out the cabinets regular, and a lot of paint is disposed of. Whites and viper red is the more common colors we use. I bet we have enough extra to paint your car a few times.

Sorry. I was told you can get duplicolor in quarts. I am not familiar with this type of paint. Adding blue may work. I will see about getting some similar green and playing with it. We are painting some Concrete mixers that have a similar green in the chevrons on the drum. I will add blue, and see what happens. If that doesnt work I will try red, black and white. May be next week before I see any leftovers though. Im about to raid a cabinet, maybe some is in there.

That depends Skittle. Are you opening the cans and dumping them in a spray cup? If you are thinking about spraying blue, then green, it may work if your green is just dusted on so the darker blue shows through a bit, but its highly likely it will be mottled looking. I can hook you up with some single stage if you can find a color example you want to use. I will just mix that color up. I can get a bag of skittles and match that green. Or do you want the 79 green? That should be in the mixing software already.

How about a bigger turbo?

Sounds like you may have a change of plans.

I wonder what a search on that topic would reveal?

That also depends on how attached to you are to the climate control system and glove box. It is behind the seat or something else has to go to make room. A custom console, or passenger footwell would work. How much out of site?

A die grinder with a bur bit would speed the process.

I go about it differently than what you are thinking. The metal you add should overlap and have a step in it. Lets say you want to add 2 inches to a fender. My peice of metal would be 3 inches wide to allow .5 inches each side for overlap. Putting a step in the metal on both sides allows you to fit the additional metal to the underside, and the surface is flush with the rest of the fender because of the step. I do it that way because I can run in a couple self tapping screws and its held in place. This frees up both my hands to weld with. It also cuts down on the amount of bondo used. You can punch holes in the fender and use spot welds to mount it. Welding the fender to the step/overlap in the metal peice you added. The way they did the mustang was effective. It will vary by application as well, as to technique used. I am no old master myself. Im a newbie. You never really stop learning. One thing I can for certain say, this is dangerous work. Please, make sure that you make safety your number one priority. Having someone on fire watch when welding doesnt make you weak. Putting on a safety glasses actually... does not make you look stupid.

The doors too? Its traditional to leave the doors alone. It gives her that racecar hourglass figure. Its your vision though. Your project should be done your way.

Be sure to post a photo and let us know how it goes.

It definately seperates the men from the boys. We are cutting, welding and grinding, so- If you are going to go, go big! If you want to try it yarddog, I will supply the bondo, glaze, and masking tape, for the bodywork.