ransomnotes

Ok, I answered my own question here. It WAS the green EFI Relay that needed to be hooked up to switched power. I ran another wire from the ignition switch to the black/white wire under the brown on the EFI relay. It started right up!!! My wife looked over at me as soon as it fired up and we both had HUGE smiles on our faces. There is still some tuning to go like setting the proper timing, TPS adjustment, figure out why my temp gauge is not working now, clean up my wiring job, etc. Well, I'm super stoked now, and I guess this thread could be helpful to some people using an 83 harness in a 78.

I have reached a point where I'm stumped with the wiring of the 83 harness into my 78 z. I think I'm missing something really small like one or two connections I haven't figured out yet (EFI Relay?). I've gone over diagram after diagram after schematic etc. etc. before and during this whole swap process. Most of it has been very confusing because the majority of the write ups have been for a different harness than the 83, and also have been more for 240's and 260's. I did find one write up and a schematic dealing with the 83 harness that helped a lot, but there are still some quite confusing parts. I'm getting ready to move across town and would really love to have this running within the next few days so that I don't have to tow it. Any help would be GREATLY appreciated. All the schematics I've read talk about using the 83 fuel pump relay (didn't do), but the fuel pump is coming on like it's supposed to, but still no start. Here's where I'm at at this point. Coil I'm using the existing 78 - wire to coil for the tach. Not sure where to ground the other end of the resistor shown here. I have it grounded at the dizzy right now. Up next is where the yellow wire and black/white go to ignition switch. Grey covered black wires going to ground. Ignition Switch - Black/White and Yellow wires connected. Here are the green and brown wires supposed to be hooked up to 12v. They are plugged into the spot where the 78 harness plug was. Figured this is supposed to go here since it is going to 12v. Same part of harness as above. Relay says EGI and not sure what the white connector is. Main EFI Relay that was unplugged when removing 78 harness.

ha ha! I wondered who would call me on that first. It's an old sewing machine table I gutted, and lacquered a bunch of my grandpa's old nudie cards onto. The whole table is twice as long as you see in the pic, and there's about a quarter inch of clear lacquer on top. Thought it was a cool way to preserve them, and I've always loved the table.

Here's a setup I've been putting together for my NA but it looks like it's gonna get a different home on the turbo engine now....minus the NA injectors. This was my first shave/port intake project, so I didn't go that crazy with the external shaving. May have gone a little crazy with the porting though . Talk about a lot of work. There were rodent nests inside the intake along with a ton of gunk inside and out. I also cut and welded the EGR. Pallnet rail, 60mm Throttle Body, and BMW AFM with Z guts in background.

Well we towed her to a friend's house a couple days ago. Here are some pics of her. My 78 is back there looking at her like "Yeah, I'm taking that engine soon!". Today was the first day I could spend some time working on it. We could not get her to crank so I replaced all the ground and hot wires to the starter and solenoid, and put a fresh battery in. Still nothing but a click and the solenoid started getting super hot and smoking a bit. So I pulled the starter and whacked it with a hammer a few times, put it back in, and after a couple tries she started right up. Smelled like burning leaves and insects for a while . I'm so stoked. Wish the clutch and brakes were good so I could drive it, but oh well. Still trying to get the doors open. I either have to crawl through the side window or the hatch. Not so worried about the passenger side, but the drivers side would be nice to have open so it wouldn't be so difficult to start pulling the harness and ECU. Just for kicks I turned on the AC and it blew nice and cold. Too bad I won't be using it.

Ok, picking up the car tomorrow. I am going to have to get rid of the rest of the car very soon after pulling everything for the swap. No title means contacting one of those "Cash Paid for Junk Cars, Will Tow" places, or Craigslist. I did a VIN check and everything came back squeaky clean. The last time it was registered was in Colorado in 96. Just wish I had a title so I could take it to the salvage yard. I may post some stuff in the classifieds here but I don't have the time or money to ship a bunch of BIG parts. Considering I'm paying $300 for the whole car, I would just give the rest of the car away for dirt cheap to whoever can pick it up first. I will post pics after taking some tomorrow.

Hey thanks! Yeah, thankfully I got that guy to do a rebuild for me, so it will be that much sweeter to have a fresh engine. I was pulling connectors yesterday and they all looked shiny and new. Everything under the hood looks ten times better than my 78 that was stored in a garage. I bet once I get some ground wires replaced and a bit of cleaning I can get it started. It will also be nice to have about three to four other people helping me with the swap. I can't wait! I'll definitely be posting pics as stuff progresses.

Well, I got it! $300. I made a ton of calls today to get everything planned out. I talked to a friend of a friend who is going to rebuild the motor for trade. I really trust this guy and he's all excited about doing this motor. He'll also store the T5 for me until I need it. Found a cherry picker from a co-worker, and I also talked to another Z owner/friend here who is willing to store it in his driveway until we get it stripped. I told him he could have anything he wants off of it once I'm done taking what I need. Figured that offer would persuade him to store it for me Ha Ha, and it worked! I'm so stoked. It's on!!!

See, that's the thing. I don't have a place to put it. My options would be A: Get it home, pull everything I could possibly need for my swap, pull anything else I would want, box it all up, give engine to friend to rebuild, and haul car to junk yard. But, I don't think they will take a car without title here. My friend that usually helps me work on the Z just had a baby yesterday so he's out of commission for a while. That means a LOT longer to disassemble, and the wife getting more irritated by the day . B: Somehow talk the guy into letting me pull everything I need from the car where it is (one of his rental properties), and he can get rid of the rest. This is a long shot, I know, but worth asking I think. Would be a big PITA too because I'd be working in dirt, not my paved driveway. And then there's not knowing the condition of the turbo and engine overall. Those areas on the cam being worn worry me too. I'm a professional tattoo artist of 15 years who loves doing trades, so I will have to find a good mechanic and/or someone at a machine shop willing to trade in order to fund a lot of this project. I've talked to a couple guys in the past but I questioned there abilities a bit too much. There are a few others, one being an exhaust guy, who I still need to talk to. IDK. What's an average time estimate of the complete tear down of everything needed for the swap? I've read up on it a LOT, but have never done it. It would just be a lot nicer to have a licensed running car I could drive around and work on here and there (learn), before I do the swap. eec564 The car is here in Lawrence. Give me a couple weeks to decide before you snatch it up though! HA HA!

I'm having trouble deciding if this donor car is worth buying. I've been searching for a turbo donor car ever since I bought my 78 z. I search Craigslist regularly, and I even drive around through alleys looking for a lonely 280zxt. The only one I've been able to find is an 83 2+2 that's been sitting for several years under a tarp. The guy was asking $325 but I bet I could get it for $300. I checked it out today and the engine is pretty clean considering how long it's been sitting. There is no title, only bill of sale, and the owner wasn't sure if it was an 82 or 83. I checked the head and it's a p90a, so 83 right? He tried to start it and got nothing but a click from the starter. Could be something simple like a bad ground, or something larger. I had an appointment with my tax man so didn't have time to check it out further. I did peak into the valve cover though and it didn't look too bad in there, although the cam appeared to have some worn spots on it. Not the lobes but between them. This isn't normal right? Anyway, I didn't have a chance to check the turbo itself, but the car has 117k miles, a bad clutch, and who knows what else. The body is pretty rough too. I would prefer to purchase a running and driving donor, but like I said this is the only one I've seen for sale in a year around here. Any words of wisdom would be greatly appreciated!

I'm a pick n pull junkie, and the last time I was there I loaded up on Volvo and Saab quick release connectors. Almost all of them ended up being super clean. I've already replaced a couple and need to finish all the others before I install my new injectors and rail. I don't recall seeing any BMW's or VW's at the couple of yards I go to, but I'll keep my eye out now. Well I tried out the Toyota TPS as is just to see what would happen. Once I pulled the old one off and mounted this one I realized that it's set up backwards. The pins are on the left side instead of the right. I was on my work break so I didn't have much time to fiddle with it, but as I predicted there is too much gap between pins. I had to mash it to get WOT. So I think with some adjustments I may get it to work. At least now I have a cover for my original TPS, and I gave it another good cleaning while it was out.

Yeah, I was going to check Blue's tips for any info as well. I feel like I have a pretty good understanding of the TPS after having problems with mine a while back. I did a lot of research on his site and in the FSM to get the problem fixed, but I will need a newer one eventually. It's just not in the greatest shape, and $5 a piece is a good deal if the Toyota's work. If not, then oh well...I tried. One thing I noticed right off the bat was that the contacts are a bit more spread apart on the Toyota TPS than the stock Z one. Thats pretty much the only thing different that I can tell visually. And theoretically the contacts could be bent into the right positions for the Z. I'll just have to make sure they work in the right direction and give it a try I guess.

While at the pick n pull today I noticed that some Toyota TPS's are almost just like the one in my 78z. I picked up a couple and tried to fit one on an extra throttle body and it lined up perfect. Anyone try this swap? It's been too cold to work on the car much lately, but I'll be trying this out soon.

Hey, just wondering if anyone has compiled a list of interchangeable parts for a 280z, or if anyone on here has success stories of their own. l've heard of Toyota brake upgrades but not much else. I'm not so much interested in a turbo motor swap but any other upgrades that would improve performance would be great. I would love to know of more swappable parts as I'm a sucker for salvage yards. I'm currently upgrading my injector connectors with Volvo and Saab ones.