Brian1

Thats what I was thinking, If I can get away with just cutting off the flange and having the shop use that, it would be ideal.

isnt the stock downpipe cast iron?

Hey so Im getting exhaust done for my car, 3 inch turbo back, And I have to get the flange for the stock 280zx turbo so the exhaust shop can mount the downpipe, however I have had no luck with this, and I have decided just to make the flange myself. I was wondering if it would be okay to make the flange out of aluminum? I ask this because im kind of worried about the heat of the turbo possibly melting the flange? Any help is appreciated

so you think the gauge is the problem, and not the sensor just giving to few volts at lower oil pressures for the gauge to get a good reading? because with the old sensor the gauge would still read at idle. thanks for the reply

1983 280zx turbo, hey i just changed my oil pressure switch because the old one was leaking, I got the new one in there nice and tight, and my oil pressure gauge says i got good pressure throughout rpm range. until I let it idle, the needle drops down to 0psi and the red light comes on. I cleaned the connections up since they were drenched in oil from the previous oil pressure switch, but it didnt help. Does the the switch have to be torqued right? or is there something else could be causing this? Also, the little hole on the end of the sensor is quite a bit smaller than the original sensor, maybe thats the problem? any help is appreciated, thanks.

thankyou hughdogz

Dont those hoses run to the vacuum tank thing for the ac and cruise control? Because one of my hoses on the vacuum tank got a tear in it, so I just cut it a little bit shorter and plugged it back in to its little T-fitting, but it didnt really matter to me because my ac doesnt work anyways. Ill go check them out, and try switching them around anyways, thanks. Can anyone tell me what the ignition module looks like and how I might test it?

okay, just checked the distributor and its all dry under the cap. another thing i noticed while driving was the i gotta go up to about 11 mph, then shift to 2nd so it doesnt cut out, then go up to about 18 mph, then shift into 3rd before it cuts out again, then once I get up to about 32 mph, it will cut out and I cant go any faster even if I shift into 4th or 5th.

alright, I just checked all of my connections under the hood, and everything is connected and sending volts. I was looking at the AFM but I cant really tell where the connector to it is, I checked the voltage at my ecu, which checked out fine, but I cant really tell where the connector on the actual afm itself is. Is it under the afm? And I set my timing like a week or 2 ago. as for getting things wet, yes, I changed my water pump in a bit of a rain storm actually haha. Alright, Ill go check my cap and rotor, see if anythings wet. As for the zclub, do you know how I might get ahold of them?

By ignition module, do you guys mean the ignition unit?

well i fixed the belt, but to no avail. bcdd.. boost controlled deceleration device? I have an open down pipe, (took off the cat) so i can hear the exhaust pretty well. when the engine cuts off, the exhaust stops making sound completely, like the car just turned off, but if I listen closely, I can still hear the engine turning in the bay, and the only sound coming out of the exhaust is the sound of my turbo slowing down. When I let off the throttle the exhaust suddenly comes back on, and the car is idling fine again. Is that what your car was doing wardle?

uhm, I think that actually the belt might be a little to tight as it is kind of winning, I guess Ill go loosen that. I know I had some troubles when I was pulling the radiator out and kind of bumped some things a little bit, but I dont think anything really got hurt.

Alright, so I just replaced my water pump(which for some reason made my temp gauge start working again) because my heater stopped blowing hot air. Now, I got everything back together and my heater is working, everything is fine, and I go to take my dog to the vet, I get half way down the street, and as soon as I hit about 13mph in 1st gear, the car immediatly looses all power, stops making noise, and just starts coasting until i let off the throttle a little bit, or shift up to 2nd. When I shift up to second gear, the car will go up to about 21mph, and then do the same thing again. It only does it under load though, when im idling, I can rev it up just fine. My car is a 1983 280zx turbo 5spd new plugs, wires, fuel filter, fuel pump, air filter, cap and rotor are fine, checked my afm at the ecu, and it doesnt loose volts when the motor cuts out. Any ideas?

you know, now that you mention it, it does smell a lot better, but I can still smell a hint of richness, maybe because of the open down pipe? I don't know.

Alright guys, figured out what was wrong.. And I feel kinda stupid, haha. I originally brushed off the idea of my plugs being bad because i figured since I changed the plugs and wires when I got the car, there was no way they could be bad already. Well one thing I forgot was, that one of the plug wires broke, and I just replaced it with one of the old wires. So I was out checking my plugs on my lunch break one day just for the heck of it, and realized that I didnt bring the right socket to pull the plugs out, so I just shut my hood and went back to work, forgetting that I didnt plug that wire back in (which just so happened to be the old crappy wire). I go start my car after work and notice that it is holding normal idle, and there dont seem to be any dead spots in the throttle. Except for the fact that I had lost a cylinder, haha. So this started worrying me even more than when my car was acting crappy, so I looked under the hood, and noticed the wire was unplugged, Once I plugged it back in, the car went back to its normal self. Hmm, I thought, funny how the car drives better when cylinder #6 is completely not firing. So, I went and bought new plugs and wires again, installed them and the number 6 cyinder is no longer cutting in and out. haha, So basically I think what happened, was that the old crappy spark plug was giving a weak spark, and not burning all the fuel or something, with eventually fouled out the plug. Anyways my car drives great now, and thanks for all your guys' help, I figure even though it was just a spark plug problem, I still learned alot from going through the steps to check out all the other possibilities. Thanks, Brian

Alright, I will try to get a hold of the Portland Z club. Also I noticed today that the car smells really rich. I don't know if that helps anything, but is there a way to bring down the fuel mixture? Maybe thats why my car is running the way it is? Also, I took the cat off my car, so its just an open down pipe so maybe it is supposed to smell that way, haha.

So today, I checked the grounds on my ECU, which were fine, and then I checked my AFM at the ECU, and all the terminals were giving the correct voltage. So now I am really stumped, haha. I am going to try to get a fuel pressure gauge and check to see if i drop pressure when ever the engine misses... might point me to the fuel system or not. except it smells rich when it misfires. I don't know. anymore ideas? I am about 10 seconds away from driving it to a Nissan dealer and paying the 100 bucks for them to tell me everything I already know... haha thanks, Brian

I changed the original spark plugs a while ago when i first got the car about 8 months ago, but from what i can remember, the gaps where fine and they didn't have any bad coloration or anything. I just went out and checked all my connections and they aren't corroded or anything, except for the fuel injector wires which are a little melted and look pretty crappy. But I also held a screwdriver up to them and listened to it and they are all opening and closing. As for the timing, I set it with a timing light to whatever the book said it should be(like 20btdc or something like that i don't quite remember). One other thing I was thinking was that even though I checked the Air Flow Meter, all I did was feel how the flap moved, but today I was told that the spring can stretch out and the flap will open too easily, and that it also may have dead spots in the voltage it sends to the ECU. I haven't checked this yet, because I think I have too pull the whole AFM out to check it. But does that sound plausible? Brian

Hi, this is my first post, but i have been searching on this site for a long time. I have a 1983 280zx turbo, 5-speed. Basically, I got two problems. First of all, when i go to start my car when its cold, it has to warm up, if it doesn't, then i will try to leave the driveway or something and as soon as the turbo starts to spool, the car will bog out like its not getting enough fuel to compensate with the extra air. after a few minutes of warming up, the problem will completely go away. (Maybe carbon build up on the valves?) The next problem, is that even if the car is warm or cold, when im driving down the street trying to hold a constant speed (at about 1/3 throttle or so, regardless of rpms) the engine will kind of have a steady miss it feels like. But if im accelerating or decelerating, everything is normal. What I have done so far is replace fuel filter, air filter, fuel pump, fuel pressure regulator, spark plugs, plug wires, checked cap and rotor (look great) checked compression (I think they were all like 125), checked fuel pressure(Normal), checked vacuum lines(look crappy, but no leaks from what I can tell) replaced head temperature sensor, checked air flow meter (flap opens and closes fine), checked ECU (all the wires are securely connected to it), reset the timing, and checked the throttle switch(which from what I understand isn't like a TPS, in that it only sends two signals to the ECU, one for off throttle and one for on throttle). Also, the connectors that hook up to my fuel injectors are a little melted, i ordered some new ones which should be here any day now. The car sounds like it has a loose lifter (doubt that has anything to do with it, but im pretty fresh out of ideas, haha) So if anyone can give me some more ideas, I would appreciate it very much. Thanks, Brian