datsunlover

I used a razor blade w/windex and had no problems with scratching on the glass.. you have to get a feet for it and hold it just right, but it will work... cool that you found another way though!

wow.. how many cutters did you go through?!? Those shafts are typicaly quite hard as far as I know..

As far as I know, the only Z to ever have a 'dual pickup' distributor, was the 75-76 280z.... (My 75 had one, I swaped it out for a better zx unit) So.. yah, what he said.

Could be the wrong part I supose.. but ussualy alternators all work on the same principal.. Heck, you can run a mazda with a chevy alternator, ect so I'd say somehow he (precious owner) wired it up wrong... Or it is just faulty I guess.. If the car starts and runs with the alternator OFF, I'd say it is the problem though!

Actually, I didn't change the sidewall that much.. The 14"s I WAS runing, were actually quite small, 195/60/14 iirc (I know too small, it was all I had at the time, yada yada) Can you even GET a 45 series 14" tire? I've never seen one is all.. Anyhoo, I stood a 16" (205/50/16) rim up along side one of my old 14"s, and the 16 is a little taller too, but probly closer to the 'proper' tire hight.. I'm betting this has had an effect on the 'feel' of things too, as I have basicaly raised the effective gear ratio..

To add a few more cent's here.. Last year I was running the 14" 6 spoke Z rims, and this year I run some aftermarket 16" wheels. They felt about the same (a bit lighter maybe) as the old 14's, but I did notice it takes a bit more effort to stop than last year. The thing is, the cornering and overall handleing is VASTLY improved over last year with the slightly wider and lower profile tire I run now, so I am willing to trade a little braking for that. I wouldn't want to go any bigger though..

Heh.. my girl is just happy that the car "looks nice" and isn't in a million pieces. It's kind of like the chicken and the egg thing.. My buddy has an 04' Hemi short box/reg cab truck, with the factory 20's. I looked through them at the brakes one day, and they are HUGE!!! Made me wonder if they put the big wheels on to fit over the big brakes, or HAD to put bigger brakes on to stop the thing with big wheels...

lmao Those are frigin hilarious!

I was thinking of something like that for my craptacular daily driver (claped out 93 Nissan 4x4 p/u truck) "My other ride is cool"

I sat in one of those one time... a little crampy, but friggin cool none the less! I'd drive it.

Yah, I've noticed that... I was trying to figure out if a thick black wire (seems stupid to me to use black for a hot wire, but they're all over the place in this car) was a ground or a 12V by doing continuity between it and one of the battery terminals (battery out of car) It didn't work too well. Got a beep off the +, AND a beep of the - as well! WTF?!? So I threw the battery in, and did a voltage check; it's a ground. I'm going to try to hook it all up to the car today.. problem is, I have no driveshaft, or exhast maifolds/pipes on it yet, so I probly won't be able to try firing it for another week. I'm planing on leaving evrything accesable though, in case I need to check conections (passenger side carpet/seats, and dash board plastics are all removed) but hopefully I've got things right.. Thanks again man.

I've heard that the 'X' stands for "Extra metal" in a 280zx.. Now, weather or not that's true, it makes some sence as the zx's are a bit heavier than the s30's and you would think that after 10 years of building those, Nissan would probly have made some improvements in the structural soundness, although the suspension got a little 'softer' and whent more towards comfort rather than performance.. I don't know about cracking, but after a few years in the salt they rust just as bad as the first gen Z's. From what I've seen, it's the front frame rails and floor that is/can get week, but subframe conectors would probly be enough to stiffen it right up.

Thanks man, I think I have things figure out now. I do have a pretty good understanding of automotive electrical, and my multimeter has been a big help over the years! Mine has a beep function for continuity testing, which I like as you dont have to look at it.. just listen. The thing that freaked me out was that the chevy harness is a MESS with wires basicaly going in a big loop. ECU - engine bay -fuse panel - some back to the ECU - WTF?!?!? Basicaly the EFI/engine harness is integrated into the chasis harness.. Serious waste of wiring and very hard to work with. I spent tonite sorting through the harness, and basically 'chasing my tail' doing continuity tests (beep.... beep... beep... ARRGGG!!!!! ) and pouring over the ecm pin identification photocopys. There is one 2 wire clip I have no idea what it does or where it goes.. but I'm hoping it'll drop into place when I wire the rest of it up. It's actually going to be easier than I thought, because the chevy appears to use exactly the kind of fuel pump wiring I need for the rx7.. Basically, I ground that afm wire, 'fooling' the mazda fuel circuit (2 coils; if they're both on, the pump runs) into thinking the car is running. Then, I take the wire that comes out of the chevy fuel pump relay (turned on by the ECU for a 2 sec. prime, then a constant 12V after startup) and conect it to the other 'side' of the mazda circuit, and it should power the mazda pump. No hacking wires, no messing with the factory relays/fuses. Aside from wiring a few ign. on 12v (ecu power) , park/nutral switch and brake switch for the tranny, evrything else should just plug in as if it was still in the chevy caprice. Just need exhast and driveshaft now...

Strange that the whole widebody kit they sell for 86-92 rx7 is only $689 (although I really like it...) but they want $475 for a Z hood.. that has cf glued on top of glass...

I probly should have clarified that.. I understand it, and it is correct. It's a weird electrical system the mazda uses to control the fuel pump. The pump relay is controled by that piece, which needs power put to it (from the computer, or in theory, any 12v.. like off a toggle switch) which turns on the pump relay. Kind of a relay controling a relay imo... The AFM does give variable resistance, but at full closed position there is an EXTRA switch in there (separate from the resistor, but mechanicaly attached to the flap mechanism) that doesn't make contact if the flap is not moving. When the engine is running, (flap moving) it will make contact and allow the fuel pump to run. This relies on the computer to 'prime' the fuel system before starting. I think I'm closer now, as I went to my local GM dealer and got some photo copys of a ahop book. It gives me all the pin outs for the ECU, and imagine that; there's one for the fuel pump! (2 sec prime, and pump run) Oh, the engine is from an 89 Caprice, ex police car.

Well I can say for sure (in Canada), it's at least 86 to 87, cause there are two 6 spoke Z rims bolted on the front of my 87 parts car at this moment. Weird thing is, the FIRST gen's had the mustang patern as well, and it would seam they changed lug paterns for the first two years of the 2nd gen, then changed back. Frikin auto co's.... Anyhoo... got a price in mind yet?

Well.. I LIKE it!!! I must go drink beer and share this with people...

My buddys girlfriend is 'one of those' chicks.. She got a tattoo of a little mouse on her.. ah.. lower stomach area.. I asked 'why a mouse?' She said "Oh, so my pu$$y has something to play with." heh.. apparently she's a freak in the sack, my buddy keeps telling me sometime I should.. well..ah, never mind.

And 2ng gen RX7's with 4 lugs too..(like my soon to be complete V8 conversion..) *ahem* But I'm not paying no $1000!!

I have a decent voltmeter, and that tool is the only reason I even figured out what wire needed power! Also which wire to ground out, 'fooling' the car.. The mazda uses a similar setup as Z's where the AFM has a switch that will shut off the fuel pump if no air is moving through it (engine not running) and the engine harnes is compleatly separate fromt the rest of the cars electrical system. With no ECU (ripped out) I hooked up the batery and evrything else still works (lights, fan, horn, wipers, ect) All that is needed is to ground that one wire. From what I've figured out so far, the mazda uses a relay box under the dash, that gets a signal from the ecu (I assume it just pulses this for a few seconds for priming) to turn on the fuel pump. Really, I'd like to figure out a way to keep all the mazda pump wiring intact, as it is engineered and working.. all it needs is that 12v to the right wire, and it goes.. I'll see if I can scan the crapy diagram I have of the tbi ecu and maybe you can make sence of it...

I've heard of it, but I think it'd be easier and cheeper to just buy a T5 from a camaro/firebird and bolt it up..

I've posted elsewhere, but I thought maybe I could pick some brains here too. I'm building an 86 rx7 an using a 350 tbi/700r4. I'm trying to figure out how to hook up the mazda fuel pump and I'm a little confused.. I know a few of you guys have RX's, and possibly you've run into this.. Heres whats going on; I ripped out the mazda ECU tonite. (left all the wiring harness un-molested for now, till I figure this all out) I grounded the wire that used to go to the AFM, and I found the black w/red stripe wire that gives power to the 'circit opening relay' under the steering wheel. (am I on the right track so far?) Now is where things get silly.. According to grannys speed shop (web site), there are two coils in the relay under dash: The "run" coil gets it's power from the ignition switch in the "run" position (black w/ white stripe wire in Ba-01(F-08)). The ground leg of this coil (brown wire in Ba-01(F-08)) goes out to the airflow meter, where it is grounded when the airflow meter senses actual flow. If the ignition is on, simply grounding this wire will close the relay contacts and power up the fuel pump Thanks for any help guys. I tried that, and nothing happened. (I just have the battery hooked up, nothing else.. do I need the alternator wired up for the mazda wiring to work properly?) Thats when I decided to put direct power to the black w/red stripe wire.. because according to another page on the grannys site; Black w/ red stripe...this wire used to go to the rotary's ECU, which sent out 12v+ thru this wire to energize the circuit opening relay and turn on the fuel pump until the airflow meter switch was closed. I assume they mean from the ecu, when it powered up. So I found a 12V source (plug for the radio, it's out right now) and pushed a jumper wire into it. I assumed that I could jam the other end in the black w/red strip, and the pump would run when I turned the key. Wow was I suprised when the pump turned on right away! The fuel lines are not hooked up to anything yet, but luckily I pulled the wire off before gas sprayed out. Sooo... what's going on? My key was only turned to acc, but the pump came on when I put 12V to the black w/red stripe.. does that mean the 'other coil' (in the circuit opening relay) has constant power all the time?!?! In which case, I have to find a 12V source that ONLY comes on with the key in 'run' or 'start' positions? Assuming thats all I have to do, how do I get it to 'prime' (pump for a few seconds to build presure then shut off till motor turns over) properly? Grannys says something about an oil pressure safety switch, but.. wouldn't that mean I'd have to crank the engine a few times (to create some oil presure) to make the pump come on? That doesn't seam right...

Just to throw in my $.02 here, My 280z had the stock 3.54's last summer, and it was.. ok. Fun anyway.. This winter I instaled a 3.90 I pirated from an 81 ZX and let me tell you, it makes a WORLD of diffrence! (I'm sure some of this is due to the 240sx 5 gear I installed, but afaik, the KA has the same 3rd and 4th ratios as the stock 4 gear) Its definatly got more 'pull' with the 3:90's out back.

Sometimes I find it's helpfull to get a hold of the stud stud (whichever way you chose; vice grips, two nuts, fancy tool) and try to turn it IN slightly before trying to turn it out. While un-threading it, keep going back and forth, in, out, ect. Sometimes bits of rust/crap can jam up in the threads (working it back and forth helps clear the threads), and the more you try to turn it out, the harder it gets. That's when they snap ussually.