twoeightythreez

Joe, Thank you for the advice. I have tried running with PCV disconnected and the oil burning continues. Today I started it cold and drove right to the hobby shop (only about 1 mile from where I parked, and let it cool down.) I then pulled plugs and saw none visibly fouled on the electrodes, no liquid oil on the plugs. (I would think that if it's the rings or guides passing that much oil that a cold start w/o a warmup would be sufficient to leave liquid on plugs) The electrodes are whitish-grey like they're supposed to be. I then did a cranking compression test, here's cylinders 1-6: 160, 150,150,155,155,160. That's within tolerance, I think. I then started the car up after letting it get COMPLETELY cold, and no puff of smoke upon startup. I then revved the engine to 4000 rpm for 10 seconds and snapped it back to idle, and there was this HUGE amount of carbon exiting the tailpipe. (the ground about 1ft behind the taipipe was BLACK) But still no smoke. Two days ago I pulled the downpipe off the factory elbow, and no oil, just tons of carbon. Does this hang the turbo for sure or do you suspect engine problems?

george, It's actually pretty easy to relocate the PCV to one of those plugs, the hard part is actually drilling the hole, that plug is made from some super-tough stuff! Not only that, it's almost impossible to get a good grip on that plug w/o damaging it's threads, and if you're gonna drill into it whilst still on the intake you'll have a much better time simply drilling and tapping the intake itself. (much softer metal, aluminum is) I believe there is a boss on the top side of the intake that is thick enough to accomodate drilling/tapping. I forget the bit size but it's about the same dia. as the hex that's already in the plug. The best way is to find the size of the PCV threads (I think it's like 3/8npt or close) and then buy the correct drill bit and tap for that size. Or...you could do what I did... Plumb the block breather into the intake side of the turbo (OK I haven't gotten this far yet, I have a breather there right now but it's what I'm planning) and then, using some 5/8 hose, plumb the upper valve cover PCV vent into a PCV valve. Some autoparts store searching should find you a valve that has hose nipples on each end that will work. Find a PCV valve that will fit snugly into the 5/8 hose on it's outlet (the side facing the cam cover) and with an inlet that will accept a 1/4" vacuum hose. (by inlet I mean the side that actually faces the vacuum source..e.g. the intake) Now that you have the valve and the hose, remove the plug that blocked off your heater controls vacuum if you have a non-ac 280 and install a fitting there from an auto 280z. It will have a 1/4" nipple on top and a much smaller one on the bottom. If you have A/C your heater controls hose goes on the smaller one and hook the Pcv vaccum side to the 1/4" nipple (which originally fed the vacuum modulator) This should give you ample vacuum to remove crankcase gasses but not so much to allow you to suck oil from the cam cover. Of course, this is just how I did it, there are several ways to relocate your PCV valve. Good luck

I really hope someone doesn't report me to 1-800-CUT-SMOG....if they do I guess I won't recieve the letter in the mail until I leave the state Darn oil-burning motor.

About then one of the guys turns white, and is pointing down at front of the engine. i bet if he was a smoker he lit up about 2 right then!

"I can't get my tach to work now with MS" When you installed the relay board, did you gut all the factory wiring out? The tach signal is tied into the factory ignition module, which is on the r/h kick panel. If you removed that, you probably have to jumper the coil wire to the tach wire, and the tach should work fine. (I think I did this with mine when I installed MS)

Awesome vid btw...I'm beginning to think mine are going to consist of my dad (who's flying out from Allentown to help me drive across....2 cars, need 2 people) shooting me pouring in a cali qt, then an arizona qt, than a new mexico qt, than 2 texas quarts....and so on (don't have time to rebuild/tear down motor, only 17 days till I leave and the ship is underway quite a few of those for the last of the workups before deploying)

You need to go into "car 1" in megatune configurator, and select DIY wideband 0-5v, as well as selecting it in the MT2.25 (or whatever version you're using.) Otherwise your air fuel won't be accurate. I found this out when I installed a speedhut wideband gauge, which is calibrated to the default LC-1 input. THe coolest thing about the LC-1 is that once you get one of your own you can program it to make a narrow band gauge read like a wideband gauge (you just specify voltage targets for the 2nd output to read against the range of your narrowband gauge) Good luck. I agree with the whole new car thing. Even with me having to pull timing and run low boost (7psi) because of my outrageous oil use, I still have made that car walk. Some dude in a 325 thought he would be wise on the twisty uphill stretches in the mountains today. I went to FOURTH, and concentrated on keeping the back end in the back...as the onslaught of torque made that bimmer disappear! That car knows NO hills now, unless an intercooler coupling blows off. I have to totally re-learn how to drive the thing, corners are coming up so fast now. I know, it's not the same, a bimmer weighs more than a Z and it was a 325 n/a but he was still pissed, (I should have waved him down and told him to "drive a datsun, then decide"...lol) as it was a brand new car with the temp plates! (I not only smoked him figuratively, but literally, my turbo was red-hot...especially on the 8 west on the way back....maintained 90mph up a 6% grade in 5th on less than half pedal, until my I/C coupling blew off....and I used 2qt of oil over 245 miles...ouchers)

oh ya...it's a 1978 coupe build date 5/78 vin HLS30464534

$1200 in 2003 from "all z auto salvage" which closed down sometime in 2005. It still has a clean title, as the yard owner was registering it for his use when I bought it. I have since put over 10K into it, all the work save for the paint job and exhaust was done myself. Labor of love.

About 8 years ago..... Was finishing the 430bbb install into my '72 4-door skylark, oil in motor, mounts tight, engine run in, time to go under and make sure everything is tight. Idiot I am, I still haven't hooked up the parking brake. So, it's up on ramps, no wheel chocks, and in Park. To make matters worse, Allentown's East side has a landscape not dissimilar with that of San Francisco, and my ramps are parallel, with an umm....Incline... but back to the stupidity. I notice the trans selector on the TH400 isn't tight. Somehow it slips my mind that the car is on ramps, with NO CHOCKS, no parking brake and the car's on a friggin hill, and I reach up with a wrench and tighten the bolt, which disengages the parking pawl. I realize a millisecond too late what i've done, and slam it back into park. 4200lbs of Buick start rolling backwards, gaining speed due to the hill, not to mention the ramps, accompanied by the ominous clack-clacking of the parking pawl trying to re-engage. I realize I might just be on a roller coaster to the next world, so what's my natural instinct? You guessed it..I reach up and grab the engine crossmember. The adrenaline allows me to hold the car up on the ramps for about 30 seconds while I scream for help. Nobody is around, freakin city neighborhood, houses all over, apartments within sight not even a block away, still nobody anywhere...so I quickly run the scenario through my head....yes I installed new springs...they haven't settled yet...there should be JUST enough clearance for my head...if I turn it sideways. I use the last few seconds of my rapidly diminishing strength to shift my body between the hooker headers and get as close to the center of the car as possible. I will my arms to let go, and the Beastly Buick starts it death roll. I flatten my body to the ground and turn my head right, my right ear flattened against the asphalt, and my calculation was EXACT...the crossmember leaves a deep black grease mark on the left side of my face as the car passes over. The next second I realize I'm still alive, and grab the bumper in a futile effort to stop the car. Me=150lb and the 4200lb car does not care a bit. I get dragged down the street until the car hits the curb on the opposite end. I quickly get up, get in the car, start it up and drive back up the alley and park the car. That moment my dad comes home and asks "what happened", so I tell him and he was rightly pissed off, seeing how his son was almost crushed by his own car. Being the idiot I am, I still hadn't learned my lesson. A week later I installed an edelbrock 750 on the 430, and start adjusting idle mixture. The parking brake is hooked up, so I put her in drive and set the parking brake. Good. I adjust the idle mixture to perfection, and decide to rev the engine to hear the good ol' big block sound. (I forgot it was in drive) I snap the throttle open, the car surges forward, hits me, throws me 2 feet back into the garage door, denting the crap out of it, and once again I'm questioning my continued existance as the beastly buick slowly pins me...crushing...at about 1/2 mile per hour, before the parking brake finally stops it. Whew! (I'm glad the choke wasn't on!) It took me about 5 minutes to wiggle free from the car's grip that time. Needless to say I was careful as hell around that car from then on. (It has since been junked, the quarters rusted too badly to pass yearly PA safety inspection and I didn't have money at the time to fix it. The motor went into another buick which I have since sold.) Now I also learned my lesson, use wheel chocks, because now I had to not only buy a new garage door but I also had to install and paint it too. Yay.

I always start the car in neutral with clutch out, sometimes I start it in 1st (man those gear red. starters are STRONG) when I was tuning the MS, it would sometimes stall out and be VERY hard to start again, and always when I was at the base gate with cars lined up behind me. Solution: use starter to move car until engine catches 20 feet later!

Ok yesterday I was sitting in traffic and she started smoking bad...I mean I couldn't see the cars behind me, so I got it to the freeway and ran it out to clear the plugs, went to the base hobby shop and pulled the plugs. All six have carbon residue on them but the electrodes themselves were whitish, almost normal (I'm running 15.5 to 16:1 on cruise, 14.7 at 80 kpa, 13.5:1 at 100kpa and maxing out at 10.5:1 at 140kpa.) I pulled the downpipe off and saw no liquid oil, just to be sure I waited an hour and fired it up, no liquid oil sprayed out. No oil on the intake side, either. So the turbo is good. I changed the oil and took it for a drive in the mountains, good old 30 weight dino oil. I couldn't see any smoke but she was burning for sure, (I'm sure the Bimmer I owned in the mountains got smoked out), because when I got back, after using 3/4 tank of gas 245 miles later, (20mpg is indeed not bad considering i got that turbo red-hot!) I was TWO QUARTS LOW. DOH! I put a quart of Lucas in it and another qt of 30 wt and will try another run tomorrow. I don't understand how it keeps running, burning that much oil . I want to tear the motor down and see what's wrong but I don't have time...i have a few more underway periods left in the 17 days I have left in the navy, the 17 days before I start the drive back to Allentown. I guess I can just keep a couple of cases of oil in the back and try to chance it, or do you guys think I should just get another motor? I'm thinking the valve guides must be bad, it smokes worst at idle, and not at all when it's cold. (once in awhile there's a tiny little puff, but once warmed it smokes like a 2-stroke) Is it possible for a head gasket to blow and still have compression but leak oil into the cylinders? I'm at a loss.

Another reason to convince myself to pay $1,400 plus for a stand alone FMS.. You don't HAVE to spend that much for standalone... My MS-II (Fuel and spark) cost me $300, all I had to do was (yipe) build it, wire it, install it, and tune it...no big deal

You can run the ZXT injectors, you just have to tweak the idle and midrange mixture. Search the site, several people have detailed how to "tweak" the stock EFI. You basically adjust the clockspring inside the AFM to get a good idle and adjust the temp sensor resistance (with a potentiometer) to get good midrange.

I won't even bother trying to smog it...but yes the MS fits nicely in the factory ECU location, it's easy to use the factory wiring (there are plenty, and they are numbered) All a smog station would see on my car is the wideband meter, boost gauge, and the MS-II (it fits in the stock ECU location, but it's obviously not the stock ECU), plus my AFM is long gone and I have a FMIC. I'm leaving cali in about 2 weeks bound for PA (hope I don't get snowed in along the way, it's looking that way though) Good luck with your smog woes

I'm using a JSK fuel rail, it's still barbed, and I'm using a seal kit I got from Carquest. The seals they sell are a bit smaller ID and are a REAL tight fit on the ford 437cc inj. I'm using, which are about the same size as the nissan ones. These Carquest outer orings might just fit the supra injectors. If not, you can wrap the supra injector with some electrical tape so it's a tight fit. As long as it won't back out it'll be fine, as the sealing is accomplished by the inner O ring anyway.

<<> As in Buffalo? Or are u from Erie? Or are u N of border? One of my former shipmates are from there (buffalo)..If you're still in PA there are a few people on here from that state...me included I'm on my way back home to PA soon, but I'm from the other side of PA (allentown) Z is gonna get the shakedown cruise of it's life in 3.5 weeks.....3100 miles. EDIS sounds awesome...I'll definitely try it out...maybe even try EDIS-8 on my skylark when I get home!

oh ya..on the duct thing...it will fit, (it will eventually stretch around the bigger opening) you just need lots of patience. (You probably want to buy a new one though...old one is probably cracked and contributing to your crappy idle in a big way)

I used the MSA TB which had all the fittings on it. You really don't need the fast idle, though, but if you really want to keep it you can plumb into the spacer, or just about anywhere to the manifold after the throttle plate. (the bypass takes air from in front of the throttle blade and bypasses it)....you could probably tee off the PCV valve vacuum, or the brake booster hose. Just remember if you have any leaks in the fast idle valve you'll have a leak after the AFM, = bad idle. It's probably best to just not hook the fast idle bypass up and see how much u need it. In florida you will probably find you don't. (You'll probably have the hold the throttle open for a min or so when cold-starting but that's it) If you need to plug the vent hole in the TB hose a 1989 Grand Prix 3.1L MAT sensor fits perfectly (I found that out during my MS install)

Ok some bad news, hopefully will fix itself...it does not appear to be the turbo after all...I pulled the o2 sensor and it had no oil on it, just lots of carbon...the "oil" I saw out of the tailpipe must have been condensation and residual oil. Since I'm going to have a shop make me a new air filter pipe after this short underway we're doing (and weld in an IAT bung so I can have it in the right place, and also relocate my wideband farther back before I burn it up in the factory o2 location right behind the turbo) I'll be able to see if the oil burning abates a bit. If not, a cross-country drive definitely will give 'em a chance to seat. I'm doing the thing I read about here to try to seat them, lots of speed changes and such. The good news is now that I have a wideband I can lean it out quite a bit, this might help a lot. I took the car to a shop to get a leak-down done, but they never got past pulling the plugs out, since they appear to be fouled on 1,2,3,5, and 6. (they weren't last time i pulled them) Pretty much I'm gonna change the oil and drive it to see if the rings seat, if not I guess my "good deal" engine wasn't such a good deal. I did notice that after the highway run (the shop is in El Cajon) it was using no oil, even after 5 minutes idling. Weird. Then, after waiting 10 minutes, fire it up, and it starts smoking a few minutes later. I leaned it out a lot (so my cruise AFR is like 16.5:1) and leaned the idle 14.7:1 and it seems better, but still using oil. Hopefully the rings seat.

I'll bet you will see a nice coating of black shiny oil in the bottom of the turbine housing. Can anyone guess how I know this? Shoot, It got worse last night, I don't even have to pull the DP to see the oil, all i have to do is rev the engine to 4000rpm in neutral and a black pool forms behind the tailpipe Guess it's time to upgrade that turbo

K, tried disconnecting it entirely. Still smokes after it gets hot (No smoke whatsoever on cold start, no blow-by either) I think my so-called rebuilt turbo is blowing oil like crazy. (I'm using a quart per 100 or so miles...and not fouling plugs, no WAY it's actually burning all that) Yesterday I tried installing a new coil (huge accel super coil...holds like a qt of oil!) then I decided to reverse the pcv flow, and while I had it apart I hooked a hose and blew through it, motor is open, then tried sucking on it, and got a lungful of crankcase gases....kids don't try that at home! lol So now I have the PCV hooked up like this... I turned the block breather tube so it's pointing straight up, and installed the breather there (It's a bit too close to the hood when it's on the valve cover for my comfort), then removed the pcv valve and plugged the opening, took out the nipple for the heater controls and what do ya know, it's the same size and thread as the PCV valve!) Then a hose goes from there to the valve cover. Yes, I know I need to find another pcv valve, one that has a small spring in it, eventually (it's upside down so it's always open unless I'm boosting) The car seems to run a lot better now. (but she still smokes like dennis leary) I'm afraid to drive it for fear of being pulled over, it smokes so bad (and that fixit ticket would be HUGE....car's not referreed) I also installed my wideband and found out that my cruise AFR is like 16.5 to 1 so I'm gonna richen it up a tad. Thank you for all your help, I'll keep you guys posted on the progress.

savageskaterkid wrote:I think they're called magnetic switches. Umm...that's what a relay is....a magnetic switch. Whether they stay on when field coil power is removed or not depends on how you wire them. An example of a HUGE relay is the starter solenoid, which is exactly why you don't want to wire the lighter in series with it...the field coil terminals on a starter solenoid still draw a few amps

THe easiest way to disable the car would be to install a relay inline with the power to the fuel pump. Depending on the year the relay is in differing places, on my 78 it's under the black box under the hood (the one the fuse links bolt to) On all fuel-injected Z's the FPR has ground all the time when the key is on, and switches on and off by providing a 12v signal. The 12v signal goes through the ECU, so once you find the wire you can install the relay in line so it can cut the signal to the fuel pump relay. Search the megasquirt forum, I installed an MSII into my Z and the stock pinout is in there. The field coil terminals then get hooked to ground and to 12v thru a toggle switch that you can hide. (The filler panel that is under the steering column shroud is a great place, the column shroud hides a button nicely) This would be how you hooked the relay up: Terminals-what to hook to it 30-wire to fuel pump relay 85-12v FPR wire (from ecu) 86-12v from toggle switch (momentary if you wired the relay as "holding") 87-ground Hook the toggle switch (you could use a momentary switch if you wire up the relay to be "holding"..I don't know exactly how to do it but it involves a diode from relay power to the field coil terminal....then it would stay "on" until you shut off the car.) to a switched ignition 12v source, and the other side goes to relay terminal 86 (check first, though, all relays are different, so make sure the contacts and field coil terminals are correct! It will have a diagram on the relay.) Hide the switch in a place that only you know about. (potential thief will think it's for a valet feature for an alarm-this is a very effective deterrent, no fuel, no start....but it will still crank and the crook will think the car is a POS..it will start and run for a few seconds till fuel pressure in the rail drops, and the crook will think it's broken...and will go elsewhere.) Good luck!

Ok, i checked while the motor was running, pulled the breather hose off the motor, and Pfssst....it was pressurized. So, I checked my 2nd pcv valve again ,and it allows air in the intake, though the passage is in front of the throttle blade, so I'm guessing pressure still builds up (though air can't flow INTO the motor that way.) So, I went to PepBoys and bought a breather, and drove for about an hour to allow the oil a chance to burn off, and it all seemed OK. I let it sit for 1/2 hour and started it up, and it was smoking again. My question is, shouldn't there be a vacuum at the nipple on the valve cover? My car has air coming OUT there, does this suggest a clogged lower PCV valve or is this normal? (I cleaned and inspected the PCV before I installed the motor, it was working fine) I'm thinking of getting a custom air filter tube in front of the turbo made so I can put a hose on it to the valve cover, possibly this will help? (the factory TB location has no vacuum on it, ever, and the engine pulls about 18in/hg at idle) I don't think it's my guides, because if I let off in gear it pulls about 25-27in/hg and it doesn't smoke then. It only smokes at idle after warmup, (no smoke at all when cold) and it's a LOT. I'll take a vid of it to show you, it's a genuine James Bond smokescreen. The engine has 170-180psi cranking compression across the board, and there is absolutely NO blowby at all. There is no oil in the turbo piping. I'm so confused as to why it's burning oil right now. The only thing I can think of is that a week ago the electric fan motor burned up w/o my knowledge, and while I was tuning idle VE I didn't notice until the MS temp readout was at 240 deg F. (ironically the stock gauge was accurate at that moment, it was a hair under 250..if only it was reliably accurate, my temp gauge will show 190 deg as 140 or as 190 depending on it's mood...but it seems to indicate the engine is overheating well) I'm hoping I didn't collapse my pistons, but wouldn't the cranking compression go down as well? Should I put the breather on the block connection and then plumb the PCV to the valve cover? Any suggestions would be awesome. Thank you all for the help you've given me so far. I hope I can resolve this, otherwise I might just have to buy 30qt of oil to prepare for my cross-country drive. It's funny in a way because it reminds me of this one episode of "Talespin" where baloo didn't have his plane but Louie did, but it used a lot of oil, so Baloo gets a great idea. The next scene shows the plane trailing a thick blue cloud, panning to Louie cursing (at least as much as a disney cartoon character can) as he's sitting on the cowling of the airplane pouring a quart of oil in every 10 minutes, and the oil not getting into the engine is spattering baloo in the face....too bad that scene is reminding me of my Z right now