98cobra+75280z

. . . . . when your girlfriend cant stand the car because its not practical, so you go out and by another one!!

I've been a member on here for a couple of years now and have since owned two z's. The first one I bought back in '07, its a '75 2+2. I swapped in a '82 l28et and drove it around for a year or so. the body on the 2+2 is pretty rotten so i started looking around for a good roller that i could swap my stuff into. While looking around i started updating the drivetrain; -MS 1 v2.2 running an HEI 4 module. -larger water-cooled turbo -walbro 255 pump -AEM wideband I got the car to run on MSnS about a month ago, and then i found the perfect donor car. Its a '77 280z that is extremely straight and only has rust in two areas, the pass frame rail and battery tray. Working on the car tends to be a slow project, i only have time on some weekends and on breaks. I'm currently finishing up my last year at Purdue University studying mechanical engineering. And on my summers i have been working for Ford in dearborn so there is no way to work on my cars then either. Im hoping to finish, or at least get the 77 driving this winter break. As for some of my custom touches i am currently finishing the back roll pan that the previous owner started. I also finished my center console and started going through the suspension and prepping the engine bay for the turbo motor. Here is a switch panel i made that will go under a new pioneer radio. let me know what you guys think, it was made from a sheet of aluminum and some hand tools. my plans after this week, since finals will be over, is to button up the suspension and body work. Paint the engine bay and run all the wiring for the megasquirt. Then patch the frame rail and battery tray. Then install the interior and engine then hopefully load up my base tune and drive it around a bit. Ill try and keep this thread updated with pics if you guys want!

I've been a member on here for a couple of years now and have since owned two z's. The first one I bought back in '07, its a '75 2+2. I swapped in a '82 l28et and drove it around for a year or so. the body on the 2+2 is pretty rotten so i started looking around for a good roller that i could swap my stuff into. While looking around i started updating the drivetrain; -MS 1 v2.2 running an HEI 4 module. -larger water-cooled turbo -walbro 255 pump -AEM wideband I got the car to run on MSnS about a month ago, and then i found the perfect donor car. Its a '77 280z that is extremely straight and only has rust in two areas, the pass frame rail and battery tray. Working on the car tends to be a slow project, i only have time on some weekends and on breaks. I'm currently finishing up my last year at Purdue University studying mechanical engineering. And on my summers i have been working for Ford in dearborn so there is no way to work on my cars then either. Im hoping to finish, or at least get the 77 driving this winter break. As for some of my custom touches i am currently finishing the back roll pan that the previous owner started. I also finished my center console and started going through the suspension and prepping the engine bay for the turbo motor. Here is a switch panel i made that will go under a new pioneer radio. let me know what you guys think, it was made from a sheet of aluminum and some hand tools. my plans after this week, since finals will be over, is to button up the suspension and body work. Paint the engine bay and run all the wiring for the megasquirt. Then patch the frame rail and battery tray. Then install the interior and engine then hopefully load up my base tune and drive it around a bit. Ill try and keep this thread updated with pics if you guys want!

Im still trying to work out some of my tune, i am thinking of purchasing VE analyzer but i am wondering if this software is worth the extra money. Autotune in Megatune doesnt seem to be getting my AFR's down to where i have them set in my target table. Also on a side not my car recently willrefuse to rev past 3500rpm. It stumbles like the spart cut rev limiter is kicking in, but my limiter is set to 5000 rpm for now so it can't be my rev limiter. I also have launch control turned off so this isnt the case. What other things could cause the odd rev problems? thanks,

what are your AFRs at idle?

What would you suggest i advance my timing to , just looking for a ball park area, right now at 800 rpm it is around 20* or so

What is your timing around 800 to 900 rpm, mine is set to be 20* BTDC. should i advance my timeing or retard it further? I wont be able to tune again until Wednesday so ill take a look to see if my EGO correction is off or not, Thanks for the heads up. My VE table is the same one from the FAQ section for the stock l28et, it seems smooth to me but i can post it later if you guys want to take a look at it. I can say there are no sudden jumps in it.

So i have gotten my car to idle and drive resonably well. There, however, seems to be a couple things that i can t smooth out. Ill start by a describing my car '75 280z -'82 l28et -MS1 v2.2 with a GM HEI-4 module -Walbro 255lph pump -stock (260cc) injectors -stock FPR -FMIC with BOV -slightly larger (water cooled) turbo Issue 1. The car idles way to rich, i mean like afr's of ~10.5 to 11.2. what should these l28et's idle at? I cant seem to correct this and retain a good idle quality. I played with the fuel REQ and took it down and that raised my ARR's but once they hit like 12.5 or so i got some lean pops in my exhaust. This makes me worry that the car will lean out when i drive and get under some boost. I then tryed to lower the fuel in my VE tables, which kind of worked but not really. Is there any other options.? Issue 2. The AFR's swing back and forth from 11.2 to 16.0 when im cruising under a light load. this happens all the time when cruising even though ive been using autotune in megatune to try and get my VE table closer to match my desired AFR's. What can i do to get this to smooth out?? One additional question, I have a manual boost controller so im wondering how much boost can i push with stock injectors? this is of course only going to happen once i get these other issues handles. thanks guys.!

Never mind. i finally figured it out. sorry about all the posts.

I just got my AEM wideband installed and now im currently trying to get my AFR target tables to read in AFR's instead of volts. I am wanting to use the autotune feature to tune my VE tablesand make the car run a little smoother. How do you modify the code in megatune to make the AFR target tables switch from volts to just AFR's. thanks guys,

I have a AEM wideband that has the 0-5v output which i can plug into megasquirt. Are there any modifications that i will have to do for my MS1 to read off of the wideband controller or do i need to keep my narrowband for megasquirt and my wideband for just monitoring purposes.

LETITSNOW you are now my hero!! thanks so much, i switched those two settings and she fired right up. idles smooth and afr's thus far seem good. HYBRIDZ you guys helped me so much through this build. thanks!!!!

thanks so much for responding, hopefully ill get it to idle this weekend. Your not kidding school takes up all my time and as luck would have it these next few weeks are exam weeks so my weekends are cut even shorter. Last year though and then i can finally have the money to truely do what i want to my cars, instead of going the cheap route on everything haha. thanks again

sorry i wont be able to look at the car till the weekend. Im not sure if where the timing is at since I am the only one working on the car so ill have to get my brother to help this weekend and hold the light. Im finishing up school so i only get the weekends to work. As for the plugs, I just put new ones in this weekend so they are fresh. If i post my settings can you guys look through them and see if im missing anything, oh and when setting timing should the middle led be set to trigger or spark output C? thanks for the help guys

with the timing light it only pulses about once a second, or so. Is that normal under cranking or should it pulse faster.

It has that. I am getting enough spark and fuel for the car to stutter but it wont hold an idle. I am thinking its possibly the timing. I cant get the middle LED to light up when i tun the crank to 60 BTDC and im thinking it could have something to do with my settings. Here is a screen shot maybe it can help.

my plug wires are routed above the injector wiring, and dizzy wiring. and secured by the factory clips. So they run quite a bit above the megasquirt wiring. Is this enough or should it be farther away.?

So i have been working on my car here and there for about a year now but can't seem to figure out how to get it to idle. Whenever i try to set the timing the middle LED never lights up, I can get the car to spit and sputter but never hold an idle. I dont believe the injectors are firing and my timing is probably off still. I am in over my head and since i'm back in school and winter is coming soon i need to get this car running, since my other car can't be driven in winter. Im hoping someone in the indiana area could give me some pointers, and at this point i'm willing to answer any questions and pay (within a reasonable amount) to anyone that can help me get the car started so i can begin tuning. If you guys have questions about my settings i can upload screen shots of megatune. Oh im running a MS1 v2.2 with an HEI module and wired as per Mobys writeup and stock 280zx-t injectors with a 75 resistor pack. Thanks for any help you guys can give. Kevin

You wouldnt need a HEI module with a v3.0 board, however i have a v2.2 so i need something to control dwell which is what the HEI module is for. I would really like to find out if i can get rid of the Q5 transistor like is mentioned in the article that i posted earlier in this thread

If i delete the Q5 transistor how will spark get sent to the HEI module?

HEI is all i know of, since its a v2.2 board not a v3.0. I don't really want to dump any more money in this car so MSD is out of the question. What are some other ways?

I have a 75 280z with a 82 turbo motor. I am sure many of you guys no this already since i have been posting in hybrid for a while. This project is coming on a year and a half now with no success. I am so frustrated with it and need some help. I cant seem to get my MS1 v2.2 to get good spark out of the HEI module. I get a very weak and slow spark (by slow i mean when cranking at like 400 rpm the spark only flashes once every couple seconds). I have triple check every wire in the car and am certain it is all correct, as Mobys write up explained. Another problem i am having is my Q5 transistor keeps burning out. This makes the computer fail to give an rpm signal to my labtop when i hook it up to my stim board. What is causing this and do i even need the Q5 transistor? i found a write up that seems to say i don't. http://forums.hybridz.org/index.php/topic/94597-megasquirt-280zx/page__p__890582?do=findComment&comment=890582 . Should i follow this board mod? will it work? I have another project car that i can finally work on for this winter, but this only can happen if i get my z running. If i cant im parting it out and taking the money i saved for my turbo install on my 98 cobra and buying a daily driver. So im hoping i can get some help and figure this one out. Please let me no what you guys think. Thanks Kevin

i just went out and attempted to start it with starting fluid, no luck. I have spark but it is weak and not as fast as i would expect. The car is cranking at like 400 to 500 rpm but there is only one spark every 2 or so seconds, is that normal or should there be far more sparks as i would expect. The car still just stumbles so i am thinking i need to readjust the timing on it. Is there any reason the spark is this weak or slow?

ill go buy some starting fluid and check tonight. if it is fuel related could it be the '75 dropping resistor pack that i wired into the injectors.

I have been trying everything i can think of for 6 months now and havent got any progress. I have a MS1 v2.2 with a relay board and a HEI 4 module. I have it wired just like Moby's writeup and i have spark and compression, the car stumbles like it wants to start but nothing. I have set the timing several times and im pretty sure all my settings are correct in megatune. Is there anyone in southeast indiana that could help me or anyone that could guide me online. I am at my ropes end with this car. I will post anything that may help but im not sure what anyone will need help. Im sorry to vent so much but i havent had the car for over a year now and ive been spending a lot of money to get it back and reliable, but i cant get it to start so i can begin to tune. Thanks everyone.