Mitchel0407

Hello everyone, maybe somebody can help me. My 1977 280z is running rich at idle and the idle mixture on the AFM doesn't seem to help. I spend the last few days cleaning the electrical connections and timing the ignition again as it was out of spec. The car runs way better but the AFR gauge still shows 11,5 at idle. I'd like to bring that down (or up depending how you look at it) to 14,7 as the car stinks of gas. The previous owner mentioned that that was the reason it didn't pass inspection (auction company didn't mention that). I tried messing with the idle air mixture screw but that didn't help. When turning clockwise a bunch the car did start to run richer but when turning anti clockwise it didn't get past 11,5 AFR. Does anybody have any tips or things I should look at? The AFR does seem to be working alright as far as I can tell. I did notice the ignition coil is a 1,5 ohm unit with a total resistance of 2 ohm with the external resistor. I believe it needs to be closer to 1 ohm total so I'll probably replace the coil.

I suspect the stock alternator on my ’77 280z is dying as the car runs a bit rough on low rpm and the voltage needle bounces around. The battery also won’t charge properly so I bought a new battery to see if this will help but if not I’ll need to replace my alternator as well. Can you make an detailed explanation as to how you wired the new GM style alternator? I found a bunch of information on the mounting of the GM 1 (or 3) wire alternators but not much on the wiring.

Had a busy weekend working on my girlfriends car (brakes, oil, alternator, water pump and timing belts) but yesterday I had some time left to work on the Z. The car was running rich so I ordered a cheap AFR gauge to measure the air-fuel ratio of the car. I installed the gauge in the engine bay for now with the power wires just clamped to the battery as I can’t drive the car till I get my inspection done. I read some threads about the EFI Z’s running rich or running rough in general so I cleaned the contacts on all the electrical plugs and readjusted the throttle position sensor. The contacts of the AFM and the cold start valve where actually pretty corroded but cleaned up nicely. For good measure I also decided to change the spark plugs and do a compression test. O boy was I glad I did that. The spark plug in the number 1 cylinder turned out to be a different one without a manufacturer name. It was also heavily cracked and the spark plug wire wasn’t even attached! (am I glad I ordered new once). The compression was pretty consistent from what I could tell but my battery and probably also the alternator are dying, only to be caped alive by my battery charger. The engine cracks very slow with the sparkplugs in (even only one) and when dialing back the idle the engine can’t keep a consistent rpm. It even died after a while. I the end I just jumped the battery with my girlfriends car witch helped a lot. After the cleaning the car also ran much better with an AFR of 11.2 and after warming up for a bit it changed to about 13. When revving the car to about 4000rpm the AFR changed to about 15. I’m not very familiar with AFR ratios but 13 at idle (after warmup) seems pretty good to me and hopefully lets me pass inspection. But for that I still need to wait for some backorder parts from Z-Services.

I only have one of each key and nether are original keys. I ended up ordering original blank Nissan keys from Z-Services for the ignition and a new door lock set for the ’77 280z. About all Z’s coming with two keys is wrong by the way. As outlined in a article from S30 World some early and late Z’s actually came with only one “reversible’ key. https://s30.world/articles/overview-of-keys-and-ignition-locks

Just curious, what made you go with a draw through setup instead of port injection? That saying I love the clean installation!

Came with four almost brand new tires and the original wheels on also pretty good tires. The original wheels good use a repaint tho.

Hello everyone and welcome to my 1977 280z project! I will be using this thread to document my journey with this car and all the little thing that will be done to it to ultimately restore and modify it to be my dream car. I bought the car last week at auction for the decent price of €20.500,- kind of on a whim as this has been my dream car ever since I first learned of there existence (thanks Wangan Midnight and the Devil Z, I know its cliché). Yes €20k is a lot of money but a mid-condition one sells for over €32k here in Europe nowadays. (You can see which side I tied up and which side my dad tied up 😂) What drew me to this car was the paint (absolutely not perfect and needs a repaint at some point but looks good enough for now), the goodies like new wheels and tires, new wooden steering wheel, factory 5 speed gearbox, R200 diff and the claim that the engine was rebuild 10 years ago. Although when picking up the car it turned out there was no documentation what so ever. The car runs and drives and is in fairly decent condition but currently has no valid inspection (called APK in the Netherlands) as the previous owner stats it’s because of the car running rich. Of course it has a cracked dashboard, some small surface rust forming and is missing bolts all over the car but these are all thing that can be fixed over time. For now my main goal is the fix some little stuff and get her on the road so I can start to enjoy the car. So naturally I placed the car on my Quick Jack lift and ordered a bunch of parts from Z-Services EU in France. There are a few thing I like to address before taking it in for inspection. The hood doesn’t open as the cable brackets are missing, the door hinges need rebuilding as the doors won’t close properly, some general maintenance and fixing some sweating oil seals around the car.

Hello everyone, I’ve been looking all over but haven’t really found the answer I’ve been looking for. I just bought my first Z (1977 280z 5 speed) and noticed I have two different keys and no spares. I suspect the door locks have been changed at some point. As you can imagine I would like to open everything with only one key. Does anybody know where to buy a full lock kit with matching keys? So that’s for the doors, hatch and ignition. Or can I rekey the original locks? I can’t seem to find matching locks online but I did find lock sets for Datsun 720, 510 and 280zx. Does anybody know if I can make one fit a 1977 280z?

Just got home with the car and finally took it a good run around the block as the registration is suspended at the moment. The seller told me it didn't pass inspection as the car was running rich. I did notice there was a wideband sensor and a crank angle sensor installed but not connected to anything. Maybe it was used to tune the engine? The car isn't perfect but I did get it for a pretty good price. The bodywork isn't all straight, I suspect it had some damage to the rear at some point in time. The hood latch cable has popped out of place so the hood won't open anymore (why did I close it all the way). The passenger door isn't lined up properly, it only closes with force and the bottom rear part of the door sticks out a bit. And the car sweats some oil (pretty much everywhere). But all in all I'm happy at the moment as it has new wheels and tires (got the original wheels with almost new tires with the car) and it drives pretty good even though it's running rich. Clutch and brakes work very good and even all the electrical works. I did notice some nice goodies too. The car has some kind of aftermarket suspension I think and a brand new wooden steering wheel with NRG adapter. It is indeed a 5 speed and has the R200 rear end. I'll look some more into the forum and will probably start a build series documenting the car as I have no documentation what so ever.

Hello everyone! I'm new to this forum and today I'll be picking up my very first Z. It's a silver 1977 280z coupe with a 5 speed manual gearbox. Any recommendations of what I should be looking for? I bought the car site unseen at an auction. Yeah I know, not the greatest idea but I got a good deal on the car. I do know from a dealer I saw the car at a while back that the frame rails might have some rust spots but the seller listed the car as "free from rust and structural damage". Luckily the seller won't get his money until we bother agree the car is as advertised so I can still low-ball the shit out of hem. (The seller was bragging to the dealer how he would make a massive payday trough the auctions the dealer told me. But guess what, he lost money on it) My plans for the car are to just get it road worthy for now and then upgrading it over time. I was thinking about rear disk brakes, ITB's with new engine management and some carbon fiber body parts like the hood, fender flares, spoiler and aero bumper. After the cosmetic upgrades I'll be painting the car Nissan Midnight Blue as I just love the color. And yes the car is loosely inspired by the anime Wangan Midnight I saw when I was a kid. Call me a week but it was my first interaction with the S30 chassis and I loved them ever since.