nienberg.11

KC, I think that's the same refrigerant that I bought on ebay from Sumo's recommendation and it looks pretty promising. If I had kept talking only to local mechanics I'm sure I wouldn't have found out about a cheap alternative like that. Sean73, I'm glad to hear that even in AZ you're being kept cold enough by Z a/c. I've never had mine running on a full charge of freon and I'm hoping that it's going to be dramatically colder. Most of you probably have the same interior cooling issues as me (hot tranny tunnel, poor weather stripping, no uv protection in the window glass, etc) and I also have a black interior so I need all the coldness I can get. Oh btw, the compressor isnt locked up. The belt for it is on, and it's spinning. It just won't engage because of the lack of refrigerant. Have any of you had issues with the ducts inside the car? I was kind of shocked to see how flimsy they are, plus the fact that all of the foam seals on the ends of mine have long since turned to dust. Also, in the past I've had vacuum issues where I could have cold a/c coming from the vents, and hot defrost all at the same time which is a little counterproductive. I don't know where the vac lines that open and close the different vents are located to check them.

Interesting. I did not know there was such a thing. I'll look for that.

Thanks for the link Sumo, I just bought one of those. J Soileau, I asked my dad if he still knew anyone that could get r12 and he said he didn't, but this kit is only $48 with shipping, so whatev. As far as the system being open, it hasn't been. The a/c would still get sort of cold up until this spring when it shut off due to low pressure, so I'm confident that it's uncontaminated. The only issue I worry about is the old, cracking hoses on the system.

I wish it were that simple, but one of the mechanics I spoke with told me that all of the following steps must be done or the system will be contaminated, causing the compressor to lock up after a while. -Oil in the compressor changed -Compressor O-rings changed -New receiver/dryer installed -lines flushed -R134 added He mentioned using a special kind of vacuum to get all of the r12 out of the system also. I'm going to look into that kit anyways though, and if it's dramatically cheaper I'll give it a shot and hope for the best since I wouldn't be ruining anything vital or valuable. Thanks for the tip. Edit: after searching autozone's website I came up with nothing matching that kit. I suppose I'll call and see if they know what I'm talking about.

Guys, my a/c has run low enough on r12 that it won't turn on anymore. I know that r12 is illegal, but my dad seems to be able to get it anyways back home and he recommended that I just have it charged. So I got on the phone and tried to find some shady auto repair places here in Columbus that would fill me up with r12, but no one would play along. They all said that I was out of luck or would have to pay $300-$400 to have the system converted to r134 and filled up, which is plenty steep for me since I'm a poor college kid. So my question is, what have you all had to do to keep your a/c running?

Oh I guess when I think of vapor lock I'm meaning that the fuel rail gets heated up while the car is shut off and gaseous bubbles form in it, interrupting the fuel supply until they're worked out. I might be using the wrong term for that. I doubt you need to run it with the cap off. If there was a vacuum forming in the tank you would notice surging and power loss while going down the road rather than having trouble starting it. You might try heat shielding the rail better, but it would be a good idea to wait for more people to weigh in before you put too much time into any solution.

Vapor lock perhaps?

I've never wanted to upgrade from the belt driven fan, but if something that cheap could do a better job, why not.

I had similar issues when my afm got disconnected. Might want to let that dry out a bit.

Glad to hear you got it working. I suppose I'll put my pump on the classifieds now. Before you get too excited about it running make sure your throttle plate is still straight, though. Enough force blowing past it to knock off intake piping couldn't have been good for it.

repost

I don't know why you're saying you didn't find anything. If there is gas going to the pump, and none comes out the other side when it's running... put 2 and 2 together. Those safety cut offs are electrical and would not allow the pump to run at all. This is an issue of a bad pump. If you're worried about spending a lot on a new one I have a perfectly good stock pump I will ship to you for the cost of shipping. It's kinda dirty and you'll have to put it in your pump's mounting bracket, but it worked perfectly when I took it off the car a year ago.

Have you checked your fuel pressure? I once had a similar problem where the car would run fine until I put my foot into it. Then it would nearly stall out. Turned out to be a restriction in my fuel lines leading to insufficent fuel pressure under high loads. In my case this was caused by a clogged canister filter in the line going from the tank to the pump. I drove it as usual but left the hood open enough to watch my inline pressure gauge and as soon as I stepped on it, the pressure went down to nearly zero.

So I take it that you've already tried enrichening the afm setting?

I wouldn't prioritize by what you hope is wrong. You need to do what veritech and I said. Start with the pump and work your way forward from there.

When I was tuning on the stock efi, I could get the car idling as well as possible, but as soon as I'd touch the gas it would bog down. Likewise, I had issues with it popping in boost, which turned out to be from an overly rich condition. I leaned the afm some and now it doesn't idle consistently but runs smooth. The best thing to do would be to get a wideband on it and see what's really happening.

I like it Olie. Chalk one up for guys on a budget. That actually looks pretty decent.

I must have missed that detail while reading the previous posts. Reading back over it you mention "plenty of fuel pressure before the pump." If your pump is in the stock location, then I think you are mistaking gravity for fuel pressure. I would check the functionality of the pump. Run a hot wire directly from the positive battery terminal to the positive terminal on the pump and see it it's pumping. If it does, then maybe leave that wire connected while cranking the car. This won't hurt anything and will determine if the pump or its associated wiring are bad, or if there is a blockage (most likely in a filter) keeping the pump from getting gas to the rail.

Phil, aren't you able to measure the flange on your own t3 as well as the spacing of its bolt holes for comparison? Might have to get dirty to get the measurements, but still...

Mikelly, I've heard about your shindigs before and have wanted to go to one for a while (or to any event where I'm not the only s30 guy). I've heard that these get togethers are basically just a few guys getting together at your place to drink some beers and admire some nice cars. If that's so, are a couple of college kids welcome?

Why don't you actually pull an injector but leave it connected to its fuel line and pigtail, cover the end of it with a thick plastic bag or anything else that will hold in gas, and crank the car for a few seconds. There should be a spoonful or two of gas in the bag after just a couple seconds. I've done this before to make sure that the injectors are being signaled to open by the ecu. Having fuel pressure alone doesn't mean that the injectors are opening. Also, you could check the wetness of the plugs which is a more common practice, but in your case they may already be wet for whatever reason and would not be informative.

That's all right. No rush.

As usual I'm jealous, Phil.

Great, thanks Jon.

I would be fine with using my brand new "stock" disc and a stronger plate. On ACT's website, however, there is nothing listed for the '77 280z.