NewZed

What's a WMS?

2+2's and Turbos use CV's.

There appear to a couple of 280ZX's at the Arlington Pick n Pull.

If you mean that the two pictures are oppositely oriented, then you are correct. Your red arrows are pointing at the same thing. At a glance, the drawing right side half moon looks "bigger" , which would mean closer, therefore higher. But close examination shows that Nissan drew the edges of the raised half and tried to shade in the face. Not a great picture, really, and no words describing it, like they do in the 280Z instructions. But, in the end, it's orientation of the rotor that matters anyway. You would have been better off if you'd never seen that picture.

I think I misdirected in Post #19. Because I misinterpreted the picture in the FSM. Had my half-moons backward. I re-oriented the pictures to make it easy but still mistook the direction of the half-moon depression in the FSM drawing. I said it was right, when it was wrong. In Post #13 the OP says he started this adventure because he couldn't set his timing. So, in sum, it seems like he reset everything 180 off. A worthy attempt, just didn't hit the mark. Probably just needed a one tooth move, to get the CAS within the adjustment range. Resetting everything, while on the compression stroke and realizing that the half-moon depression in the hole faces backward should get it done. johnc was right.

Curious, since all we have out here are pictures from various angles. Is the rotor electrode 180 degrees off from the half-moon on the bottom of the shaft? Or is it some odd angle? And is it the correct rotor, with only one hole? You haven't really confirmed that the rotor is incorrectly oriented on the distributor, looking at only the distributor (forget about the drive quill in the engine). Could be that there are other rotors that will fit your distributor. Or the PO just drilled another hole to reclock the rotor. In the same vein, you could drill a new hole if you wanted to.

I don't see 604 046 anywhere on the official Nissan factory Technical Service Bulletin. That's the one I'd use. The jimwolf page might be misleading. Edit - actually I did find it. The other ones might work too though. Are you running an automatic?

California Datsun product will be far from a Rebello product, in quality and power. The company used to be called Datsun Parts LLC. Search the web for Datsun Parts LLC. Beware. And Rebello's 3.0 will certainly cost much, much more than the California Datsun engine. If CD's price is in your range be prepared for a shock when you talk to Rebello. They are in two completely separate universes.

Here are a couple of sources. But if you're running the 1978 NA ECU, you must be running an NA distributor also, not the CAS that the ECU needs. The 1978 ECU doesn't do ignition control. You need the whole ECCS (S for System), or aftermarket engine management like Megasquirt. http://jimwolftechnology.com/wolfpdf/ecu-id.pdf http://www.jatan.net/tsbs/040359.pdf

So everything is now narrowed down to the bottom of your distributor shaft and the top, since the oil pump shaft is correct. Focus on the screw hole on the top and the half moon on the bottom. Those are what oriented the rotor to where the engineers intended it to be. The rotor will spin around to wherever without that screw. If the rotor screw is in, then the screw hole seems to be off. I tried to mark where things should be but might have "screwed" up.

Vacuum gauges don't tell you if there are vacuum leaks. They only tell you how much vacuum is in the intake system. Very general information, along with small details about variations between cylinders. The simple tricks for ID'ing vacuum leaks are to remove the oil filler cap and see if the engine dies, or a vacuum hose and see if engine RPM changes. You need a feel for how engines should run though to get much out of it. You don't have to go through every single thing. Just the things you're studying. Fuel pressure, for example. You said low pressure in your title, then reported some numbers, but didn't acknowledge that the pressure numbers were correct. You said that you can hear all the injectors working but said above that you can tell #1 isn't. So which is it? Listening to 6 at a time is not the same as one at a time. And you didn't talk about the noid light work. These are the details that will make the difference. If you want to maximize your productivity when looking, look through the Engine Tune-up chapter and do everything described. Could be that your valve lash is off.

"there are no vacuum leaks whatsoever" How do you know this? It seems like you're not even using the FSM, that gets mentioned endlessly on any Z car forum you can find. You can check if the injectors are functioning using a screwdriver and your ear, or a mechanic's stethoscope. And some small Christmas tree light bulbs to check power pulsing.

The XR700 without the optical trigger is no better, probably worse, than a later model 280Z ignition system. Any Z igntion system after 1978 will flow more current through the coil and allow wider plug gaps. Crane developed the XR3000 as the next level ignition module. The XR700 still requires a ballast resistor to limit coil current. It was designed to replace points with an optical trigger. Without the optical trigger, it's pointless. Which is ironic. In other words, you're spending a lot of effort on something that's not that special. Install a GM HEI module and you'll have a more modern high energy ignition system. And it's easy to connect to the 280Z pickup coil leads.

Nah, you missed my point, which is actually your point. Don't get defensive, I'm on your side now. The rotor should point directly to the depressed side of the half-moon Yours doesn't. It's not even 180 off, it's 160 off. Nothing to do with TDC, as you said. Why haven't you taken the rotor off yet? That will tell you what you need to know.

Actually, looking at the pictures, it looks like the rotor is more like ~160 degrees off, not 180. Hard to be sure since the pictures aren't from exactly the same position. Something weird with the CAS shaft or the rotor fit.

Rotated your first pictures just to show what you're talking about. The oil pump drive quill looks right but the top of the CAS shaft with the rotor is 180 off. It's either the rotor or the top of the CAS shaft that's not right. If the bottom fits, that's all that's left.

The simplest answer (Occam, Einstein, KIS, whatever) is that somebody pounded/manipulated your rotor on to the distributor shaft 180 off. Remove the rotor from the top of the shaft and see what's under there. Consider what connects the top of the shaft to the bottom, on a ZX trubo CAS/distributor. Never had one myself so don't know how they're put together.

Since you're rotor is way off, the plug wires may have been rotated to make the engine run. You might try using different plug wires to find the new "#1" wire. Since the engine runs right, one of your plug wires will probably give you a light in the range. I can see why you decided to mess with it now. You might be able to still set timing, just in a non-spec. way.

Sorry, I didn't really look at your pictures. What timing number were you trying to hit? Just curious, since you're working with the ECCS system.

I re-ordered your story to chronological. Looks like you were disturbed that something about the distributor wasn't where you thought it should be (you never said what was not right) so you messed with your perfect-running engine and got lost in the details. So, nothing broke, you just moved your good parts to the wrong places. That explains "why". If you're sure that the distributor is exactly 180 degrees off then the fix is easy - just run it with the wires 180 out or drop the pump and flip it 180.

You're probably going to convert several decent-to-good engines in to many boxes of parts. The engine in my car now runs excellently and is in great shape and it sat for 10 years, never started, before I got it. Actually the guy I got it from got it running after the ten year spell and probably did a poor job of resurrecting it. But it's still in great shape. 1978 280Z N47/N42 engine. The factory assembly mix-and-match, and assembly, processes are probably much better than yours, done to a set of specifications. Your franken-motors will be no better than the one that you're wondering about. You're just mixing and matching parts that may not be within fit tolerance specs. And they're all essentially stock parts anyway, so it's kind of a pointless exercise. If you're just having fun with puzzle pieces that's one thing but if you're expecting something significantly better than what you already have, the odds are against you. You should build a test stand with engine management and test run all five of them. That would be fun and you'd learn something, without wasting too much money. You'll probably realize that you have at least four and maybe five good-running engines. Modify one and keep or sell the rest.

Do you tell the people at the shop that you're from Pluto? That might be part of the problem.

Blurry. Poor. Some cameras have a close-up option. Usually looks like a flower.

These are half-shafts, in Z car-speak. Drive shafts in Nissan terms. Good luck.

https://row52.com/Vehicle/Index/JN1HZ04S9BX409079 The wrecking yards have databases they can search, connected to other yards. Call and ask.