ZR8ED

Hey John. Simple answer.. looks cool.. hehehe Seriously. Lots of talk on this subject. Few have done anything about it. Effects on a street Z are minimal to none. (unless you are driving over 120mph all the time) http://forums.hybridz.org/showthread.php?t=91946&highlight=belly+pans http://forums.hybridz.org/showthread.php?t=77236&highlight=belly+pans http://forums.hybridz.org/showthread.php?t=70936&highlight=belly+pans Good links to lots of reading..

This may sound a tad harsh, but I don't mean it to. You want to save some money by selling a car that has more money invested than its worth, in order to get enough money together to put a down payment on a car that will have additional payments as well as higher insurance premiums, and end up with a car that will lose 20% of its value the minute you drive off the lot? All that so you can have air con? and some warranty on a car that won't break down till the warrenty is up? except the warrenty will cover any screw up recalls from the mfg? Do I have that right? Save your money, maintain your car. following the maintenance schedule for a new car to keep its warranty up is no cheap joke either.... and 17mpg sucks a$$ big time.. I get way better than that.. 25-28mpg. I've been through this several times now myself. Unless you NEED a new car because of your job (traveling, taking clients etc) or commuting extensive distance. Gas price is another item.. you may get a better mileage car, BUT you may be buying a car at a time when gas really shoots up and makes cars rather unatractive to buyers.. (more for SUV dinasaurs) Think about the $$ side.. dumping car to save money by buying a much more expensive car doesn't make $$$ sense.. Good luck!

As the title says.. cars screwed up. Z31 VG30ET motor, Z31 harness and custom burned ecu, 370cc inj, t3/t4 turbo, 3" exhaust etc etc. Car was running very nicely.. till last week or two.. drove it in the rain, when WAM... wideband O2 is pegged at 11:1 air fuel in all throttle positions except under deceleration with foot off the throttle... it then read 17:1. I check lots of stuff.. Wiggle harness and the car runs better.. ok clean and check harness and all sensors.. ok.. lets just redo the entire harness to make sure.. Ok here I am. still idles near 11:1. Part throttle i get normal looking numbers, WOT see's 11:1, decel with foot off throttle 17:1. very light throttle, see's 11:1 a/f I verified the O2, TPS, MAF, chts, dizzy, plugs wires, and ign. fuel pressure is at factor settings 30psi with vac removed at idle. I did notice my detonation sensor (factory inst) not working as described in the fsm. unplug it and the idle should drop and timing should retard 5 degrees... when I unplug it... nothing happens.????? I'm unsure how to setup my tps.. manual shows bringing idle to 850rpm and set it up.. my car idles at 1000.. ( I like it there) I redid the whole harness, unplugged the whole harness, unwrapped it, removed any wire no longer used (harness was from an auto matic 86 turbo...lots of electric gear) I redid ever ground, added some more to be sure, and removed wires all the way to the ecu that were not used. It took me 12hours to redo it all. Car still runs as stated above. Even with all these wires/connectors etc removed. It idles pretty smooth, starts well, drives not bad... it gets a bit "herky jerky" as throttle changes and air fuels jump around, but it will drive and will pull boost. 10psi at this point. Lots of rich smelling exhaust at the back of the car though! Engine bay looks cleaner, and I now know my harness very well, but so far, no good.

That darn "while i'm at it syndrome"!!!! Ok I got Medieval with the car today. I unwrapped the entire harness. Checked most of the sensors according to the fsm. O2, tps, maf, chts, egr, and cold idle up. seems ok so far. Removed about a dozen wires no longer used or needed. Removed about 5 poor grounds and redid them Removed the poorly functioning idle control Removed the wires and connectors from the tps to the auto tranny (harness came from an auto tranny 300zxt I have been regrouping the wires, and custom fitting the harness better for routing and length. This should have been done a long time ago. I've been working on one thing at a time. I have varified that the car still starts and runs after all of this work!! yeahhhh! air fuels now seeing about 12:1... not sure if it is fixed, getting better or what. I'm sure the car needs a good run to clean up the spark plugs by now. I'm now in the process of neating up the harness, and using all new wire loom covers. It should look neater, and be easier to work on and trouble shoot. I hope! hehehe We'll see after I get back into it tommorow weather permitting. (its raining out now) I just might make it out for our clubs last event...The drag event! One more day to go. Lots to do. been a great day today though!

Well letting the car dry out didn't help. It has been sitting for three days now.... Started it up.. still idles at 11:1. I've been busy parting out an 88 300zx this week and have not touched the 280 other than starting it up to see if it ran better. Anyone have a good pic of the wire connectors at the ecu side. I have an fsm, but I don't think it is laid out very easy to follow. anyone have a labeled pic? I'm going to start removing wires from the harness tonight. I'm going to try and locate and remove all wires from the ecu that are NOT being used or needed. I'm going to get Medieval on this car.

Well I'm screwed. no more time.. Car still not running right. I checked some more things tonight. The only thing that had an effect was wiggling the main harnes connector to the ecu. The right hand side of the ecu (looking at the 3 connectors on the side of it) I wiggled it, and the air fuels jumped back to 14:1. Wiggled it the other way... 11:1. I repeated this 10 times, and the air fuel monitored read the same thing each time... So I cleaned the terminals and used some dilectric grease... Car still runs the same way, and now when I wiggle the main harness connectors, the car doesn't improve!!!! So I either cleaned the connectors and gummed it up worse, OR I made the connections better, and one or more of the wires are making better contact and still giving the ecu bad signals..... I unplugged the cyl head temp sensor... no noticeable effect I unplugged the dizzy harness.. car stalls... hehehe unplug idle control no effect idle up control.. no effect I unplugged the second connector from the TPS.. no effect..though I think that is left over harness from the automatic tranny that the harness came from. I cleaned the main tps connector, and reset the tps settings. no improvement. though it did run worse when the tps was not set correctly. I pulled spark plug wires.. car only got worse. What the frig is making the car run pig rich? what should the temp sensor do when unplugged? it is a major pain to get to the sensor..looks like the timing belt covers have to be removed as well..... I think my next step is to sort which wires are what that plug into the ecu, and CUT off ALL the wires that do not go anywhere... maybe there is a short somewhere, and the ecu is getting a bad signal from a wire that is connected to nothing needed... SOOOOO it looks like I have 4 Z's.. All four start, and can move under their own power, and I have to take my Honda to a major Z car event. yeeeessshhh. Outa time..... AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

Brad. I unplugged the wires that go to my egr. (two) The egr itself was not disconnected. It has been in factory condition since the vg swap. I did install a brand new egr at that time. Today if you start it, it idles smooth at 1300.. warms up slightly and settles in at 1000rpm. 20 inches of vacuum, and (11.5:1 air fuel ratio now that I cleaned the connections on the dizzy) I'm going to pull off the tps tonight and replace it with another used unit off my running 88 300zx. I just bought the 88 na today. I'm going to see if the wires are wet on the air fuel monitor and see if that is a problem. What the problem was before is non existant at the moment. now I'm dealing with a full rich reading at idle, and all throttle positions...the ecu is getting a wonky reading from something... I can check the ecu connections tonight as well... heck maybe there is a hole in the body there and water got to it???? It seems awful sudden for this to happen.. runs perfect for an hour. stop the car.. start car in rain 10 min later, car runs at 11:1 air fuel all the way home, and the next day after everything dries up. and it reads full lean under no throttle deceleration... nothing in between.....

Ok I checked the egr. unplugged it..car defineatly idled much much worse. Car is still idleing at 1000rpm and reading 11:1 today. 20 inches of vaccum and about 25psi of fuel with vacuum line attached. (near factory spec) I tried unplugging the o2 sensor (stock one) no effect unplugged the idle up solenoid.. no effect unplugged the idle bypass solenoid no effect. the car seems to idle nice and smooth. I pulled apart the dizzy.. rotor seemed a bit charred.. I cleaned up the connection points and rotor. this had a very minor effect, and air/fuel now sits at 11.3 - 11.6:1 air fuel when at idle small improvement. Timing is the same.. car is repsonsive with throttle at idle and driving.. no stumbling or hesitation... At idle standing back at the tailpipe closely...will make your eyes water..so I think the guage is working, and reading the rich condition correctly.. I'm running out of ideas. Cleaned and used dilectric grease on the o2, tps, egr, idle up, cold idle plugs. no change.... Can't see any leaks, temps are good, injectors look dry, hose clamps so far look tight... I tried to check the tps according to the manual looking for continuity between the top and bottom pins (vg's have 3 positions) I couldn't get any...that is assuming I did it correctly.. I'll be back with more info... This is getting old fast...

i actually have a complete running 88 300zxt I can use for parts. I have had zero problems with my I/C pipes etc for several years now. When it did leak, it was very obvious. The car idles very nice right now...even reading 11:1. air/fuel. kinda strange. The last few days the car has been running very strong and smooth. This sudden idle drop is appearing more and more like electrical. I'll get rid of the air idle control.. it always gave me troubles thinking way back... I ended up putting in a blockage in the pipe to reduce air flow...hmmm it just hit me as I typed this... I was being chased by the rain, but I managed to clean some of the connections up, once that I found the TPS connecter doing "wonky" things when I jiggled the connector... That is one other thing I didn't mention..I rained on the ride home..It was raining when I started to drive home......maybe something got wet?..hmmm My air fuel ratio harness is mounted on the frame rail, I wonder if it got wet, and its just the guage going "wonky"....hmmm Well I have time after work tonight..I'll get back at it...I only have a few more days till Zfest! Thanks, Scott.

This just gets better and better... MSnS is starting to look better and better. Ok. More update. More playing with idle, and fuel pressure. I think I have it running very good. I go out for a drive and yup, its running quite nicely. I stop by to look at a Z for sale, and when I come back to my Z, I start it, and it idles at 11:1 air fuel and 20 inches of vacuum. I drive the car home, and it is pegged at 11:1 air fuel, but the car is running ok. The only time the air fuels lean out, is when I shift and the bov goes off, or when I coast with my foot off the throttle. Other than that, idle, accel, WOT, it is pegged at 11:1. Great! just great...now what. I get home exhaust is stinking.. i pop the hood and start checking for vaccuum leaks, wires off etc. The car is idleing at 1000rpm..fairly smooth, and reading 11:1 air fuel. I wiggle the connector for the TPS, and the car starts to run like crap etc.. I check the air fuels...sitting at 12-13:1.. what? It is running leaner, but stumbling and idleing at 1100rpm approx. i pull the vaccuum line from the FPR, idle comes up and smooths out, air fuels in the 13:1 range. idleing at 1300. I plug it back in, and idle goes back to 1000, and 11:1 Looks like I may have some electrical gremlins plaguing my attempts to dial in the car... I'll let it cool down, and see if the problem goes away again. Let me cool down as well. Any ideas on prices to wire a MSnS for a VG30ET motor? This is getting rediculous.

Lots of responses here, Here is a low buck idea (I like the low buck stuff, as doing things the proper way is usually expensive enough that most people just live it and don't make any changes that may help) I learned this fact from some of my autoX friends over the years.. In a direct answer to the original question "Many folks have told me that my Z's front bar is too large and I now feel the same way. Is there a way to "loosen" the bar by grinding a flat along it's length until I acheive the desired effect? or is it easier to just buy and try? Is there another way to reduce push asides from sway bars and spring rates? Tire pressures maybe. I don't have camber adjustment. My tires are wearing PERFECTLY even all around right now in mixed curvy road and track day driving." You can loosen the effects of the bar by switching back from the urethane endlink bushings to rubber endlink bushings. This is the route I took with my 1.25" front bar, after installing my more rearward positioned, lighter weight VG motor. The car pushed badly when driven hard. (it was fairly neutral before on the same track) I switched the bushings back to rubber, and it made a noticeable difference. Tires, springs and shocks were untouched. Quick method to check, cheap too!

Well that kinda makes a statement now doesn't it! Hmmm drivers beware of the "hood of death" Fear the V8!!!! hehehe Are you going to drive it or sell it now?

Well... ya'all know mine. 1 very simple little bolt in VG30ET, oh no wait,that was my dream, reality has set in, BWAhahaha Let me rephrase this. One complicated, overly expensive, but freaking torqey/fast VG30ET powered 280Z. Fast, Not cheap Not simple Will be reliable when I stop touching it.

Thanks Bernardd. I have a gauge on my fuel pressure regulator, and I noticed that it was set a bit lean (factory settings) It was adjusted a bit when my mechanic was messing with the timing and idle before. I have now tweaked the idle some more after taking it for a long drive. I upped the fuel pressure, and I don't get that higher air fuel ratio while driving now. It was still in the high 13's at partial throttle positions. I adjusted it a bit more, and had to adjust the idle again after increasing the fuel pressure. I need to go out for a long drive again. I'm running 30psi at idle now (vacuum line off and plugged) This is where the manual says it should be, and I will continue to adjust it from here. I'm going to put the boost back to where it was (15) and adjust the fuel as needed. I will likely have it dialed fairly close before I even get it on the dyno. But that is ok. It will save dyno time and $$ I'm watching for this low idle condition. it happened 2 times while driving in town. I didn't know I could remove the idle air bypass...I don't drive in the cold anyways...hmm... mabye I should just unplug it, and see if the low/rough idle stays always, or doesn't come back... More to report back with again......

Well another update. Still no dyno session. That will have to wait till next week when I have another day off. Ok so here is where it stands now. I took the car for a 1hour drive to a club meet. I parked the car and let it idle. Fully warmed for sure... It is idling at 1400rpm. I hop out and adjust the idle to a nice 1000rpm. Idle is smooth, Air fuel ratio is in the high 14's low 15's, vaccum is in the normal range 18inches approx. I come out of the meeting 3hours later, and fire the car. It idles at about 1000rpm. smooth, same air fuel (15's) same vaccum. Cool. I drive the car home no problems. air fuels are in a good range all the way home. It got a bit lean when transitioning quickly to WOT, but then richened right up into the mid 11's (air fuel guage) Different speeds different throttle positions, I never saw anything higher than very low 15's. Most of the cruising was in the mid 13's. I pull off the highway near home.. and car idles like crap at 500-700rpm.. vacuum reads 10 inches, and air fuel reads 17's. It does this for the next three sets of lights that I stop at. The last 3 stop lights, everything is back to normal.. 1000 rpm, 14-15:1 air fuels and vacuum at 18 or so. I pull in the driveway and cool down the motor and pop the hood. I notice the idle is closer to 950, so I adjust it to 1000rpm dead on. Idle is still smooth, air fuels are good and so is vacuum. I think it is somthing other than my general tuning, since the condition can come and go.. Maybe i should swap in my spare air idle control? and clean every contact I can find on the throttle body... More to come..

I've had some troubles with the timing since I installed the ECU. A fellow member of this board did the burn, and ran it on his own car before I got it. The rest of the engine is pretty stock. Stock air idle idle control. It seems sometimes it will idle at 12-1400.. but when warm, it is idleing at about 900-1000rpm. It should technically idle at 700 since is has stock cams etc.. I watch the air fuel ratio, and when sitting at a light, the idle settles down to the 900-1000 rpm mark, the car idle lopes a bit, sounds like it wants to stall, and my vacuum reads about 10 inches, and the air fuels read high 16 into the low 17's (at which point the guage reading turns to just lights and no numbers) I'f I just touch the throttle slightly, and bring the rpms above 1200 rpm, the idle smooths right out, air fuel reads in the 14's, and vacuum is at normal (18 inches) I think I'll try and richen it up a few psi... that is if I can find my adapter for the fuel pressure guage. ( I don't have one mounted in the car/or under hood) Oh and Mike.. I try to only replace or upgrade when I break it... Its a long very expensive lesson about "while I'm at it" syndrome. I'm a recovering addict....I have to be careful. Scott.

Oh yea.. I have a very nice wideband setup.. spared no expense this time around...though I'm not using the data loging. Other stats VG30et SVO injectors. Mallory fuel pump Mallory FPR 3" exhaust downpipe and back.. Larger Throttle body. 60mm 2.5" in and out I/C Large Volvo i/c t3/t4 hybrid turbo. 5spd 3.7LSD 315's out back Custom burned ECU to match my turbo/injectors Jacobs ignition system/coil Just looking to get safely back to 15-17psi Currently set at a safe 10psi till I resolve some of these questions.

Hi uh.. I'm still at it with the Z. It runs pretty good... cold idle, the air fuel is around the 12-13's. The car warms up to full operating temp, and air fuels are around 14:1. IF it idles at 1200-1400rpm. Some times it idles there.. and sometimes More often than not, it idles at 900-1000rpm.. at which my air fuel ratio goes to 16-17:1 and the car idle lopes a bit, and my boost guage reads 10 inches of vacuum. (at my elevation, it should be in the 18 inch range) WTF???? Same on the highway... slow speeds on the highway that cause some engine loading... around the 10 inches of vacuum to almost 0 inches, the car will go lean.. I mean LEAN.. 16:1... Squeeze the throttle and bring on some boost, and the air fuels go below 12:1 depending on throttle.. WOT I get 11.4:1 I'm looking for some good info, on rpm/fuel pressure, timing and how they interact with eachother. I don't know whether to bump the fuel up a bit, or make sure the idle doesn't get under 1200... ie at full temp, set the idle a touch higher than it is now.. OR do I mess with more timing... I"m sure I'll check them all out, I'm just looking for some info on their effects on eachother, so I can cut down on my experimenting time.. I"m on my own this time. No local help... Other than that.. Temps are great, oil pressure is great, and car pulls like a freight train.. Thanks, Scott.

At the momement I'm the "while I am at it" stage. In sourcing out wires, I have found lots of old wiring from my younger days.. ie old wires for powering under dash lights, multi stereo amps, old gauges, old switches.. I'm in the process of pulling them out.. found several "hot" wires going nowhere.. this can't be a good thing.. So the car is getting lighter at least. I'm still trying to figure out the consequences of unplugging that seatbelt relay and looking for other accessories that I hardly ever use, to see if they are affected as well... who knows where power has been robbed over the years keeping some circuts still in use... Car is working well in the mean time. More work to come...

Well last night was about finding which power source is feeding this ebrake switch. as I understand the wire is simply a ground.. when the brake lever is pulled up, it completes the circut, and the brake light lights up on the dash. I started by measuring the voltage at the wire.. 11.3 volts... ok. Tested the voltage at the fuse panel.. 12.2 or something close to that. This means I have a short somewhere and only some power is getting through.. (I think) Then I started pulling one fuse at a time to see which circut was causing the power drain. Wahhlaa. Ign fuse/fuel guage fues.. I pull the fuse, and I get no power from the ebrake wire. I plug fuse back in. Still no power.. Hmmmm I recall hearing a relay click off when I pulled the fuse (car ign turned to lock/off) Hmm this meant a relay was staying on after the car was shut off. I have two new relays, so I test unplugging the fuse and see which one is "clicking" off. hmmm neither... So for now, if I pull the fuse, and replace it, I get no power drain. Its getting late and I'm getting desparate. I listen again when I pulled the fuse with BOTH of my new relays unplugged.. again I hear a click!! I go to my fuseable link holder, and see two other relays! One is warm to the touch! Thats strange... I retest my matrix, and I consistenly hear the click from that relay when I pull the fuse. (I unmounted it and held it in my hand to be sure) I then tried to pull the relay off without pulling the fuse, and again I hear a click! Check the ebrake wire, and now I have no power to it. I tried this several times in several combinations to confirm that this relay is not fully turning itself off, and holding power open even when the key is turned off. I searched through my FSM, and I think the relay is a seatbelt relay. I no longer have stock belts so I am unsure about why its sticking on, and why its feeding power to the ebrake switch.... Tonight, I'm going to try and run the car without the relay hooked up, and check to see if it somehow is controlling power to other accessories that I need. I doubt it, but I"m not going to pull it and assume all is ok.. Question? Do relay's stick? What would keep it from shutting off.. why is it warm.. the car hasn't been running...I was only testing wiring.. All other relays near it were stone cold. More to come.. BTW Matt. I can't make the 30th. too early for me to make it. We're just going to have to make a Z road trip and meet part way somewhere else.. Sunday afternoon drive or something.

Well another update.. I talked to one of my long time Z buddies, and he thinks the pully or something is 180 degrees out.. we are going to use his dial guage and mechanically verify the timing. TDC and mark the pully, and disregard any of the marks on the pully. We are also confident the timing is within 5 degrees of where it is supposed to be. Though that is not good enough when pushing serious hp, so this relegates my car to cruiser status until I finish this mess. Other than that, the car runs beautiful, handles great, stops great, feels great, sounds great, and turns heads..what else is there? oh yea.. black cars, look better in the shade!.. cool man coooool..

Man I forgot how great it is to work on a stocko 240! My 71 240 is coming along very well. I've worked on it a couple of hours almost every day this week. Finished list: (its bigger than the todo list) wired up reverse lamp switch (replaced switch and wires) balanced carbs set idle freed up the throttle linkage (was sticking) got the license plate light working. freed up the wiper linkages plumbed the washer bottle hoses. mounted 280 front signal lights in the MSA air dam (temporary till I find some nicer lights Installed new rear carpet. detailed interior/vacuum detailed engine bay/clean up set up timing. checked/gapped plugs checked all fluids rewired fuel pump replaced some vacuum lines cleaned grounds/misc wire connections checked alt volts checked battery checked coil Car is about ready to go. I need a new master brake cyl rear brakes are contaminated...may need rear cyl, and flex lines.. not sure.. replace manifold gasket. Minor leak. Install new drivers seat (have one) move fuel pump location (electric fuel pump now) Thats it. It starts easy, idles pretty good except for the mild exhaust leak. Drives nice when it has gas in the tank...(don't ask) Its a great little car!

Well I"m still not sure how it is getting power with the car turned off.. I got po'd at it and cut the wire.. I need the Ebrake more than I need a warning light, and I don't want to fry my new battery. I've got other things to work on..

I've got some dyno time coming up this week. I'd like to sort this out once and for all.. I should have plenty of fuel and injectors to give it.. I've adjusted the timing a bit more today. Time for a road test later and see what kind of numbers I'll get.. I just can't wait for the dyno day. I think I can balance the timing/idle/fuel pressure a bit better. I'll just have to be careful.