J Taylor

Fixed the z finally a couple of weeks ago after 6 months of messing with it. Decided to put on the drag radials tonight and take it to the 1/8 mile track. 1st pass....bogged the car, went to 2nd and the CHTS harness popped off and made the car bust up real bad so I had to let out. 2nd pass, I go to launch and snap the front U-joint. The driveshaft is pretty new too....may have 2-3k miles on it. What a bummer. This car just doesn't seem to like the dragstrip. Last time I went I blew the motor at half track. I used to run the crap out of my 84 300zx turbo for 2 yrs and NEVER had the problems I have with this car. JT

Unplug and spray your ECU connections with wd40 and see if that helps. These cars are really bad about having bad connections there and making the cars lean out. Alot of times all you have to do is unplug it and plug it back in and the problem is solved. JT

I only wish it had messed up some valves. If it had I would have found the problem 6 months ago. First thing I did was a compression test. Put the stock cam in and the car is a complete beast again. So nice to be able to drive the car after being so frustrated with it for so long. I'm going to call crane Monday and see what they say. After closer inspection of the cam, the pin didn't break off, it just slipped out somehow. I would have put it back in a left in the cam but the pin rode on the face of the cam after it came out and ate a groove all around it. I hope they will replace it. JT

The car isn't from Mobile, is it? I looked at a talon turbo a little while back that was for sale at a automotive place here that looked identical to that. #1 piston was chewed all the hell up. JT

After almost 6 months I finally figured it out. I notcied last night that I have 4 valves open at TDC instead of 2 like I'm supposed to have. I thought about it all day today and figured out the only way this could be is if the pin on the front of the cam had broken and the pully had turned faster than the cam and then seized together. SUre enough, I pull the cam pully off and the pin is broke. Apparently when it died so many months ago the cam had broken. Apparently when it wouldn't crank at first, the pully was spinning but not the cam and when it finally cranked, the cam must have cought somewhere on the pully and started turning. The crans cam is coming out tonight and stock going back in it for the time being until I can get ahold of crane and see about replacing it. What a load off to finally figure the crap out after this long. JT

SOme of you may know I have been trying to run down a problem with my 280z turbo for going on 6 months now. Have checked everything I know to check and came up with nothing until tonight. The shop that assembled my head with the crane cam, springs and all said I should check the springs to make sure one hadn't broke or anything. They all looked good but while checking it I noticed that while at TDC I have like 4 valves that are open when there are only supposed to be 2. WHen the crank pully is on 0 on the compression stroke the marks on the cam also align perfect but the cam is in the wrong position and the valves are not opening at the right time. I am pretty sure this is where my problem lies that I have been trying to track down for so long. My question is, why is it like this if everything else lines up? Also, how could it get like this? Just to refresh, 6 months ago I was driving the car(had been perfect for the first 100 miles the new head and all was on the car) and it dies out of the blue. Wouldn't crank for **** for a few mins but then cranked right up later but has ran like **** ever since. Only pulls 10 vacuum, idles less than percect, won't rev past 4500, and makes no boost. I always thought it felt like a timing issue but everything lines up. I would like some input before I start pulling this apart just to find it goes back together the exact same. JT

Damn, that is sweet. I have been throwing around the idea of a auto in my car ever since I got it but never liked the idea of putting lots of power behind the nissan tranny. I may be interested in one of the 6 adapters. I would miss my 5spd but I'm sure I would miss it less after a few good launches on the auto. JT

PLugs are gapped at .035. Not sure about how much the pump flows in a min but it sounds normal (loud T-rex pump). We pulled the fuel rail off and fired each injector seperately into a bucket and each looked good and had a decent pattern. Swapped coils with a friend and it didn't help. CHecked the harness by the factory manual to each sensor and it all checked out good. Any more ideas? JT

If you disconnect the temp sensor it will die after about 5 seconds. How did you figure out the leak on the compressor housing? Like I said, I have sprayed several cans of starting fluid over everything and can't find any leaks. JT

AWD92GSX: That link would be great. I have thought about an intake leak but havent't been able to find one despite spraying several cans of starting fluid all over the place. Other than that, the AFM bench tested fine. The turbo spins freely and has no play. Cam timing is good, timing is set at 20, new cap, rotor, plug wires. Replaced distributor, coil, MSD box, igniter, ECU, bench tested wiring harness and it and all sensors showed good. Good fuel pressure. Injectors are all firing and all have an ok spray pattern. I'm sure there is more I have checked that I can't think of at the moment. When running, it FEELS like cam timing is off. After a timing belt job on my 84 300zx turbo the cam timing was off and would run very similar. Would idle less than perfect, make a small amount of boost until about 4k then bust up bad. Like I said, everything internally checks out fine but Im about to the poing I want to pull the motor back out and apart and just look at everything and reassemble. JT

5 months and counting trying to figure out this problem. I have checked or replaced EVERYTHING I know to, and then some. The car is a 77 280z with a zx turbo motor and wiring harness. The car runs like **** . It doesn't rev like it should and will only rev to 4500-5000 but really works hard to get that. Will make no boost. Compression is good, leakdown is good. There is a pop pop pop pop sound coming from the exhaust. Can also faintly hear it in the engine bay as well but can't pinpoint where it's coming from. Even though the motor checks good could there be anything internal causing this? ANy help would be great. About to have a nervous breakdown over this. JT

Awesome. Thanks. JT

*Bump* Someone has to know the answer to this. I'm assuming it will all bolt up but just want someone to verify. JT

A friend of mine asked me to post this for him since he is too lazy to get his own hybridz account. He has a 240z that he has installed ground control coilovers on but now has changed his mine on the project and wants to put everything on a 280z I just sold to him. Will the 240z control arms and everything bolt up to the 77 280z? Thanks, JT

The mass air sensors are all the same but the turbo and na injectors are different. JT

I haven't installed SDS yet but I'll keep that in mind for when I do. ANy idea what the prob could be with stock harness and stuff in it? JT

I forget where that yellow wire is going but it is to the same place it was going on the old harness. I put the 2 harnesses side by side and made the same changes to the new one that the old one had. Here is one thing I found after messing with it for a while. On the pass side part of the harness there is a relay. If I mess with the relay(pull it in and out while cranking) the car fires. I can turn the key to the on position and everytime I touch the relay to the plug the coil wire sends out a spark. I dunno if this is normal or not but just an observation. I have pulled the harness back out now and trying to decide if I want to go ahead and start installing the SDS. I really hate to do it not knowing if the wiring is my orginal problem or not but that is about my only option except for towing it 3 hours and dropping it off with Ira. You arent the same guy that has the black 280z turbo are you? The one that used to have stripes. JT

STILL trying to troubleshoot my 280z turbo. The car has been running real rough and won't make any boost. I have checked everything you can name. I finally swapped in a new turbo wiring harness last night and now the car won't even crank. If you pull the coil wire off and crank it it gets no spark until you let off the key, then it gets one big spark. With the coil wire on, same thing....car won't crank until you stop cranking, then it gets that one spark and you hear it try to fire. ANyone got a clue what the problem could be? Thanks, JT

I saw a mass air on ebay a while back that supposedly was a zx turbo AFM with the guts of a na inside. I haven't heard of this besides this before but maybe someone else knows more details. JT

Oh yeah. Also have some 3rd gen rx7 R1 seats I have been thinking of getting rid of but I would want considerably more for those. They have don't have the tracks to go with them. JT

My girlfriend has a 89 or 90 prelude si we have been talking about parting out and it seems like it has nice black seats in it. If you are interested I can check on it and get back to you. EMail me if you are interested. Thanks, JT

Funny you should mention that. I just got off the phone with Ira a few mins before I got online and he told me the same thing about the same car. Can you give me some specifics on how much to mill, etc? I am looking for around 10:1 CR. I was really hoping to stay away from machine work and keep this as low budget as possible since I just dropped a small fortune for parts for my other z but I guess I can take some more time and spend some more money if need be. I would appreciate some specifics if possible. Thanks alot, JT

Alrighty. I forgot I also have a n47 head on a parts car behind my shop so that one is a possibility as well. Maybe this head with the flat top short block? JT

Ok. What I have is the n42 block (dished pistons) and the p79 head. From what I have found online this makes ~7.8:1 CR. After reading a bit more I think what I am going to do is find a zx short block with flat top pistons and get my friend's e88 head. I found a square port header from another friend for cheap (anyone need a round port 6-2-1 header?). I think I can pull this whole motor off for $100-200. Only thing is, will I be able to run this setup on pump gas? I am open to suggestions so if there is another setup that would work better shoot it at me. Thanks, JT

ALso, will the fuel injection be able to compensate ok for the higher compression? Thanks, JT