NewZed

Cut your stock springs and get some KYB's. KYB's have worked for many people with lowered cars.

The 1974 manual is pretty poorly done. Lots left out and what's there is hard to grasp. Open the Body Electrical chapter and read about the Starter Interlock system. Find the red emergency button in the engine bay and give it a push. Your starting system may be locked out. Probably why the PO added all of those wires. You can't go on though, just connecting wires and listening for clicks. Eventually your misery will be ended when the car catches on fire if you keep working that way. If you take the time to learn what the engine needs to start and run you could wire up your own ignition system. The "custom wire" was a start but it needs a switch, as you've found.

Never mind. Got my b(e)ar(e)s backwards. Edit 2 - Now I realized I actually had it right the first time. Bare (minimum), not bear. Unless he's trying reach the standards of an actual bear. Anyway... What people are trying to tell you is that they've worked hard to know what they know and and that you, apparently, know absolutely nothing, like you grew up in the middle of a city and have only used mass transit. Not that there's anything wrong with that, but you are totally clueless and talking about doing things that require orders of magnitude more knowledge than you have! The transition from shiny magazine pages to reality takes lots of effort, sweat, and frustration! It's not easy! So, no matter how enthusiastic you are, you're going to waste time and money. The only question is how much!

Put a meter on the wire to the starter solenoid and see what voltage does. If it goes to zero, you've lost power to the solenoid probably back at the switch, If it drops to around 11 and stays there after the engine stops, something locked up. The starter's still pushing, just can't get it done. If it starts at 11 then drops to 6 or some other very low number, you have a bad battery. They can show good voltage but fail when they are loaded. I just went through that, even swapped in a spare starter I had. Then I put a meter on the battery and saw it drop to 6 volts after a few cranks.

The engineer in you should take some measurements and post them. Maybe somebody out there will do the same. Be more precise than "about 1/8 of an inch". Look back at your posts and you'll see that there is nothing there that can help anybody help you. No numbers. The brackets all look similar. Your measurement tool and technique in the last picture is terrible.

This is why the engine won't shut off.

This is not a plan. But, since you're just looking for a project, it doesn't matter much. Get that V6, tear out whatever's in the car you buy, drop that V6 in, and see what happens. There are a bunch of V6 options out there. You could call around first and see what the local shops charge for a rebuild. You might be over-budget pretty quick.

Recommend an engine. That's what he's looking for. "Modern engine" can barely be more undefined.

You can buy pre-flared and -fitted straight lines at the auto parts stores. Bend to fit. Any old used line you get will be work-hardened and corroded.

You have a mess on your hands. Be careful or you'll burn some wires and then you'll really be hating life, especially if you don't know electrical. Get a meter and learn how to use it so that you can check for power and continuity, to avoid shorts. There are diagrams and drawings in both electrical chapters that show where the parts are. But since the engine starts and runs you should leave those other parts alone for now. The TIU and the ballast resistor and the coil don't matter for your problem. Here's another source for an easy to use wiring diagram. http://www.atlanticz.ca/zclub/techtips/wiringdiagrams/74_260z_manual_wire.gif Here's a copy of the switch schematic. 260Z's are hard to work on. Looks like the wires switch colors somewhere inthe harness, and they don't show the B, A, I, etc. codes so you'll have to cross-ref to another schematic. A pain. L = blue, W = white, B = black, Y = yellow, R = red.

This might help. From Body Electrical. You might figure things out faster with a meter though. Not sure on the letters. Maybe B = Battery, A = Accessory, I = Ignition relay, S = Starter. Can't think of an R right now. Edit - actually those letters may not mean much. Looks like R powers the coil, and I powers the TIU, for example. But the schematics in the larger wiring diagrams use them, in a chart.

Lots of inconsistency here. If you don't know one, you probably don't know the other. Check out the wiring diagram in Engine Electrical. http://www.nicoclub.com/FSM/260z/ The red wire might be for a relay to help the switch. The 260Z's are known for a starting problem. " It appears someone soldered a red wire to the black and yellow wire and attached it to the starter." Also notice you're writing is getting weaker. Weak thinking = weak writing = weak results. Best to keep the effort level up, everywhere.

plus the engine doesn't shut off with the key. Doesn't sound like it works "just how it should". I'd focus on the switch.

To your knowledge, did the engine ever shut off, using the key? In other words, did you buy a problem or create your own? Probably had the wiring converted to internal voltage regulation and needs a diode on the L wire.

Sounds like your flex-plate is broken or torque converter is bad.

You can check for voltage at the switch terminals (the solder posts on top of the switch) and at the dimmer switch. To see if power is making it through, but not getting grounded. That would at least narrow it down to source or ground. I had a power switch that had just dried out (the little fiber board that holds the wires) and got loose. You can bend the tabs back and open up the switch to clean the contacts. Then bend the tabs back extra tight to make sure good contact is made. You didn't say if "cleaning" means just spraying with Deoxit or spraying and working the crap out of the switch. If it's been sitting a while you have to work it.

It's not more versatile, it's easier to understand. The important components are epxosed and easy to comprehend, like the vane inthe air flow meter. More air = more vane movement = more electrical signal to the ECU (simplified) = more time that injectors are open = more fuel for the engine...etc. The distributor has mechanical timing controls. Parts that move. Easy to understand and learn from. Compare that to a hot wire mass air flow sensor and ECU timing control with a crank angle sensor. You'll be connecting wires by color with no idea why.

Dead-head could be a problem with an Aeromotive regulator. They leak down immediately. The rail will be full of vapor on a hot engine and won't refill quickly. An FPR at the end of a long rail feeding eight injectors could have pressure consistency issues, across the injectors. Hard to rationalize which end would be high or low since the FPR is at one end and the pressure supply is at the other. But if the rail internals are small you could imagine a pressure drop at the end if the injectors in front use all of the pressure faster than the pump can build it, like at open throttle. The FPR can only close up completely to allow pressure to build, but the pressure has to build from the supply side. So you'd probably want a large diameter rail. Just a thought.

Overfueling or flooding is one way that ECU's die. Could be the injector transistors are shorted, or, apparently, the solder joints at the cable connection point. People have had a milder case of the problem (running way too rich) and fixed it temporarily by beating on the side of the ECU or wiggling the main cable. I had one die while I was test-driving the car and the guy that helped me push it off the road said he could smell a lot of gas. It died and restarted about three times then died for good, before I pushed it off the road. Ran home and picked up the good ECU, swapped it in and drove home. I put new transistors in (not direct replacements, just an experiment) and it worked. Just an aside. Several people have reflowed the solder joints at the connector and fixed a similar problem. Anyway, if you confirm that the injectors are dumping too much fuel only when they're getting the signal from the ignition system (engine cranking or running), odds are it's an ECU problem.

A V6 transplant in to a Z car isn't the best starting point for "learning about engines". Get a 280Z with stock EFI and you'll learn a ton about the basics of electronic fuel injection, electronic ignition, and engine mechanicals on an engine you'll actually have room to work on. Then choose a path to another engine and more power. You'll be better off in the long run..

I wrote a while thing about injectors then realized that the most likely suspect is your FPR. It's blown and allowing fuel through the vacuum hose when the pump is running. Try disconnecting the vacuum hose and see if fuel comes out when you recreate the issue. I also get the impression that your pump runs all the time when the key is On, and may have been rewired. So the intake manifold would start receiving fuel as soon as the key was On. If it's not the FPR then consider this: The injectors would only stay open if they had a short to ground on the ECU side. You said that you "get a pulse" with the noid light but what does the light do when the key is on but the engine's not turning? IT should be completely off. Describe the "flooding". Does it fill with fuel if the key is turned on and left on, or only when the engine is running? The first would be a short, the second could be too many ignition pulses or overheating in the ECU. How long does it take to get lots of fuel? Seconds, minutes, or many minutes?

WAG - the ECU needs dropping resistors and you don't have them installed. ECU injector transistors overheat and stop working right.

Since you've already started it and run it for a while it may be too late, but I would focus on the cam shaft and rocker arms, if they're new. That seems to be the most common problem people have with rebuilt L6's.

"Tech" doesn't mean much these days. No offense to any techs out there, but it's just the title that shops give to people that work there. If you can turn a bolt without cross-threading you can probably get a "tech" title. As opposed to a certification or degree in a technical field, like automotive mechanics. Even a certification is only as valuable as the organization that gives it. The factory probably knew what they were doing when they wrote their break-in procedure. Page 27. http://www.xenons130.com/files/ownersmanuals/1982%20280zx%20ownersmanual.pdf

An oil pressure switch and a relay would probably do the job.