Mikez31ss

I've only had my valve cover off once and I didn't pay any attention to the cam gear. Today I had the cover off and I did look at it. Anybody ever seen one of these and know any history on them? Just curious...

Ok I got some pics. I just realized that you can look in the spark plug hole and actually see the top of the piston. So I verified that it's definitely at TDC. This is a little past 0 degrees obviously: Here is 0 degrees with red tape marking the line on the cap: Here is a pic showing the stator point: And TDC with the dizzy turned all the way clockwise: I can't see anything that would prevent it from starting. When I removed plug #1 to check the piston position it wasn't tightened at all. I checked the rest and only #2 was loose. I don't think that would keep the motor from starting but I'll try to start it up tomorrow.

Good eye there Adrian It isn't pointed quite at the #6 stator point is it? # 6 is the one you can just see just below the edge of the rotor in that pic. I'll go out and try to get a pic of the rotor w/ the crank mark set at 0.

I'm not sure Adrian. I don't suspect that really but to be honest this is shaking my confidence in everything I know about cars. I know that everything in the motor is just like it was. The car ran great before so I assume it was right and still is. As in, the cam gear is correct, the crank gear and balancer are correct, and the oil pump is correct. Nothing has been changed in the engine itself. It's just my understanding that when the crank mark lines up at 0 degrees, the engine is at TDC and the rotor should be facing #1 on the dizzy. Is that incorrect? The weather has been bad here for several days. As soon as it clears up I'll find someone who can crank the engine while I watch the marks with a timing light.

My friends are usually busy when it comes to helping with car work When the balancer mark is line up with 0 degrees the rotor does indeed point to #1. I'm having a hard time with the "pencil in spark plug hole" method of determining if the piston is up. It works so well on a vg30 lol.

I originally posted that pic in post #96. That was when I had just got the dizzy to spark. The engine was trying to start then but I was getting backfire through the carbs. With the electric fuel pump pushing 9psi there was too much gas coming out of the carbs to keep trying to start it. I disassembled the dizzy and turned the shaft around to what should be correct after that post. Then I ordered and installed a mechanical fuel pump and a good FPR. I'm just a little confused now because it isn't even trying to start or backfiring. The smoke was definitely from the distributor area. I was looking at it when it happened. But if it wasn't the ignition module I can't imagine what else it could be. There is nothing in the dizzy to pop and smoke. I have 3psi fuel pressure now. I removed the top covers of the carbs and there is gas in the bowls.

I tried to start the motor today. It wasn't even coming close to firing up. Then there was a pop and a puff of smoke from the distributor. I'm guessing it was from the ignition module. I don't know what else it could have been. Everything inside of the distributor looks normal. This was so simple and should have been an easy modification. I don't even know what I did wrong. I've been maintaining and repairing my own cars for over 10 years. I've done timing belts, repaired ecu's, built a motor, etc etc but this is making me feel like an idiot. Now I really am thinking of going back to a points based distributor just to get it running Later that day... I was afraid that the e1280 module was fried but apparently it isn't. I checked for spark and I still have spark. I don't want to keep cranking on it after the pop & smoke thing though.

Thanks Adrian. I'll save that problem for later. I posted this pic on another forum and one poster said the position of the rotor as shown in the pic is correct. I would think that it shows the shaft is 180 degrees off as I mentioned in this thread. Am I wrong?

I used this page as a guide: http://datsunzgarage.com/engine/index.htm I added the proper diode in the "L" wire of the "T" plug with the diode facing the plug. Looks like the same procedure in your link so I think I should be okay there. On the other thing...I just had the battery charged and the TS bulbs all work. I did remove the airdam and front turn signals to do some work. I'll check to see if the connections are tight but as I said, the lights all work so that is probably not where the problem is. FWIW the lights flash noticeably faster as hazard lights. Maybe a problem w/ the TS flasher?

Probably what we call zip ties. Zip ties rock Some pics of the fancy new mount when it comes in are requested. Ok I did indeed jump the b/w to the black. I corrected that and all is well there. Except the indicator lights don't work and the turn signals operate very slowly. Could be blown bulbs on the indicators and the turn signals may have always been slow. So I'll try starting the car tomorrow. The spark is very bright and I have 3psi w/ the new pump and FPR. I'm 99% sure the head gasket didn't blow while the car sat idle so I should have compression. The car ran great before all this "improving" so it should still be capable of running great. It was always hard to start. I say always...I've started it maybe 10 times and driven it maybe 5 times The PO kept a can of starting fluid so it has a history of hard starting. I was hoping the electronic ignition would solve that. Now I just want it to start. I really want to start it and make sure the timing is spot on before I take on the carbs.

I'll check that tomorrow. I think I may see the problem though. If I followed my notes then I jumped the wrong terminal. It is supposed to be b/w jumped to w/b rather than b/w to black. I'll post the results tomorrow night. Thanks for the help. How is the Megajolt road tuning going?

I haven't tried the hazard lights with the switch on and a new fuse installed but the hazard lights work when the switch is turned on. They work even w/o a fuse. When I converted the alternator I installed a jumper wire between the b/w wire and the black wire on the harness side of the voltage regulator plug. I also installed a jumper wire between the white wire and the yellow wire on that plug. Actually as I said there are two yellow wires together in that terminal so the jumper bridges the white wire and the two yellow wires. I tried removing the b/y for the fan controller but the fuse still blows. I tried removing the jumper between the white wire and yellow wires on the v/reg plug but the fuse still blows. I didn't try removing the jumper between the b/w wire and the black wire on the v/reg plug. That b/w wire actually runs straight to that fuse, doesn't it. DOH Think that's the problem? I'll try that tomorrow. I see that the b/w wire goes on to the ignition switch but I'm not sure how that ties in with the turn signals unless that fuse covers different circuits.

Ok...got power to the coil again. Stupid mistake on my part. Had nothing to do with any of the other changes I've made. It was too late to try to start it up though. Still leaves me trying to figure out why that flasher fuse keeps blowing.

This doesn't make sense. In the diagram you only see one B/Y wire from the starter solenoid. I have two. One runs into the cabin to harness "B". The other comes into the cabin to relay "B". The diagram only shows the yellow wire between the alternator and regulator. In my car the yellow wire runs to relay "A" in the car. The fuse that keeps blowing is the farthest right in the diagram. It has a B/W wire and a green wire. The diagram seems to show a B/W wire running to the green wire from the voltage regulator. I don't see that in my car. I dunno if this has any bearing on the problem but if you remember I had a B/Y wire in the coil area. It had 12v in ignition on. I used that wire for my e-fan ignition on wire. I'll disconnect that tomorrow and see if it makes any difference.

Thanks for the headsup on the diagram. Two of the harnesses are labeled wrong but no matter. I noticed my Ign/flasher fuse was burned out so I replaced it. As soon as I turned the ignition key to "on" the new fuse burned out. I must have crossed a wire up somewhere. I haven't touched the flasher or turn signal circuit so I'm not sure how I did that. The emergency flashers still work but the turn signal lights do not. I'm going to try to figure out what is wrong but I seem to be digging myself deeper into the hole here...

Got the fuel pump, FPR, and all that in. After trying to start it a couple of times w/o success I checked for spark. No spark. No power to the coil. I must have done something when I removed the electric fuel pump. Could have happened when I did the 280zx alternator. I guess I need to start at the coil end and trace that black/white wire back to see where the problem is. Have you ever seen a wiring diagram that shows the 4 connectors in the pic below? There is no power now in the b/w wire that the electric fuel pump was tapped into. Strange...

I don't know if these are ZG flares but they are molded in.

Donovan celebrates his first goal by doing his best John Cleese impression.

I can't remember if I posted here or not so... BBS two piece wheels front 15x9 4.5" backspace. rear 15x10 4" backspace. No spacers/adapters.

I removed the tension rods to check the condition of the t-c rod kits. Everything was fine except for the plastic balls BD and MSA don't sell replacement parts for the kits. Has anybody come up with a solution other than buying new kits.

Good deal. Glad you have your car to that point. I'm guessing Megajolt is similar to MS. Fuel and timing maps? That would be fun to have that much control. I had a tec3 on my shiro and I've studied Nistune a bit. Oddly enough it's less intimidating than playing with carbs lol. Ok...I'm probably stalling on the carbs but I wanted to wait until I got a new fuel pump in and makes sure the car will start and run before I open up the carbs. That way if there is a running problem after I install the new seals and gaskets then I won't be wondering if the problem lies w/ the carbs or the ignition. It would have been great if eurocarb had sent instructions or part names with the service kits. I don't want to disassemble anything that doesn't need to be disassembled. Less chance of screwing something up

Hope you're still subscribed Adrian. I got sidetracked by a few other things but I'm going to get back to this soon. I had spark so I'm thinking we solved that but I never got a chance to start it up due to the carbs. I'm hoping we can figure out what the problem with the tach is. I'm thinking at least part of the problem involves not getting any signal Also I think I have one of those screwy in between models. My car has a 2/73 build date but it has a lot (or all) of the parts covered in the late '73/early '74 FSM supplement. It has the fuel cut relays etc. Maybe the original owner had the dealer install all the updates mentioned in that supplement ? I dunno. Hope you're doing well!

FWIW the 85t had a damaged hood when I bought it. I replaced the hood with an 86 hood. Drove it like that for years with no hot start problems. Guess some cars are just more heat tolerant

I wired up some relays on my 240. No big deal. But...I had good advice from Dave (Zs-ondabrain) and others. I'd recommend you send the other one back and get the appropriate plugs and send them to Dave to make you a harness. Plan B would be to do it yourself. It doesn't sound like the kit you bought is worth keeping. If you can't remove the headlights then you need a factory service manual or a Haynes manual before you go any further. http://www.xenons30.com/reference.html

I've never heard about hell having hurricanes or mosquitoes so technically yeah there's some differences