NewZed

This doesn't sound right. Sounds like your problem is in the master cylinder, maybe a blown seal on the front brake master cylinder piston. Even with no air in the lines, there is fluid movement, just not the large quantity you would see with air in the lines.

Tony D has posted a good trick over on zcar.com, maybe here also, about connecting a jumper wire to your negative coil terminal, turning the key On, then tapping (quickly) the jumper wire to ground. Every third tap should make all six injectors click. That will test the wiring from the coil to the ECU and also what the ECU does with the pulse from the coil firing. Every tap to ground does the same thing that the ignition module does (except "dwell time" control), and the ECU opens the injector every third spark (three sparks per engine revolution). I've tried it, it works. It's convenient also since there's no noise from the starter motor, just the small zap of the wire hitting ground. Easy to hear the injectors. You could also take a meter and test continuity to Pin 1 from coil negative first since that needs to be there for the ECU to do its job. Finally, one thing that I've found but some people have difficulty accepting is that the ECU won't fire the injectors if the tachometer and it's resistor are not wired in. I've had the resistor fall out and the engine won't run, also tried to start two cars with tachs removed and they wouldn't start until the tachs were plugged in.

Sounds like your nephew could figure out what's up with your race engine. You should get it dyno'ed with race gas just to see where you're starting. Should be a good winter project. Good luck.

Quantity matters also. There shouldn't be a huge imbalance between the two though. The rear reservoir may be supplying the front brakes.

Now you know a little bit more about what you have. From the initial purpose of the thread timing would be one of the most important pieces of information. You still have the major problem of owning a sensitive, possibly high-performance engine, but with very little knowledge of the basics of how an engine works. No offense, I'm no expert myself, but that seems to be the situation. The timing that you measured is 32-34 degrees advanced. If the engine is still pinging while you're driving, adjust your timing back to 10 degrees or less while you're trying to figure out what to do. I would make a friend of someone who knows these engines and learn while he/she works on it. It will save you money and if you pick the right friend you'll be able to drive the car while getting it right. What kind of shop do you work at, and which area do you work in? Curious, since you're surrounded by timing lights. Edit - curious also as to why someone would build such a high compression ratio L6 engine. It's not one of those Datsun Parts LLC engines is it?

Anybody here have an account on zcar.com? I was going to give advice to a guy who's car broke down as he was on his way to be deployed from Seattle, but find that I have been banned. Presumably for starting a new thread to give advice to someone that the admin, Heroe, decided was unworthy, because he did not search hard enough. Here's the thread - http://www.zcar.com/forum/10-70-83-tech-discussion-forum/336898-emergency-need-help-asap.html The advice is "put the car in to 5th gear and turn a wheel to move the car. This will turn the engine. If the engine or transmission is damaged, you'll hear noise or it won't move because it's locked up. If it's an electrical problem, the engine will turn over easily." Just passing it on, trying to help a guy in need, stuck in Oklahoma.

The nerve might be that you're blindly following general suggestions from the FSM or some other source, possibly leading to unnecessary work. There is no "requirement" to do anything. You're free to make your own decisions. You say the engine runs well, gets decent mileage, and has sufficient power, but you're still talking about doing work and spending money to get numbers on a gauge. A kind of a bureaucratize mentality, in a free-thinking forum. It sounds like you're waiting for someone to chime in and tell you to rebuild, but it's probably not going to happen. In post #8 I linked to a thread about a large volume head on a dished piston motor. What engine are you working with? You never said. Get the head numbers and the block numbers and see if it looks like it's been messed with (new gaskets, etc.). Who knows, you might have P79 head on a dished piston block. That might explain the lack of response at low RPM and the low numbers. Don't get offended, it's all part of the learning process. Get some more data and come back.

The distributors that use the "matchbox" modules tend to break the circular magnet under the pickup coil. One possibility. Test all of the distributor parts and check the gap between reluctor and pickup points. There's a whole series of tests in the Electrical chapter of the ZX FSM's, Ignition system section. 1980 would be a good one. http://www.nicoclub.com/FSM/

It's only a 16th but the guy in post #2 said 25/32" not 23/32". May not matter, just sayin'... Feb 2001. Pretty good detective work.

Set up a mirror so that you can in the reservoir. Put a little boat in there with a flag on it that you can see moving up and down. Something. I have a broken shovel handle that is perfect length for actuating the clutch and brake pedals. I use it all the time for bleeding.

The basics aren't being addressed, it seems way premature to be planning a new head gasket, or an E85 conversion. Sticking the E85 nozzle in the tank isn't really experience. No offense but you don't even know what your static timing is and the engine has been described as "pinging". Damage is occurring every time it's driven. At least buy a decent timing light and take a measurement before starting a discussion about modifying the engine.

You'll make a lot more progress if you get methodical and test each potential problem area individually. There's three areas right here, above. Test each one - 1. Eyeball the hose while someone pumps the brakes. Does the line expand like it's collecting fluid? It's probably not orientation but it could be a bad hose. I've not seen any red brake hose, where did it come from? 2. Watch the reservoirs as someone pumps the brakes. Which reservoir is moving more fluid? That's the system that has air in it. Unless... 3. Watch the fluid. Does it transfer from one reservoir to another? If so, your master cylinder is messed up. Does it drop and never come back? If so, you have a leak, either internal or external. You have enough clues now to focus on exactly where the source of the problem is. You just have to pick one area at a time and dig in to each one.

My memory dragged up the cavitation prevention concept after I posted. I had read that same thread in the past. Maybe I'll find one and retrofit............

The stock cap is vented to let air in but not out. The hose to the charcoal canister takes the overpressure and holds the gas vapor until vacuum from the engine running pulls it in to the intake manifold. The problem you would have with drilling holes in the cap is gas leaking through the holes when you corner as the liquid sloshes up to the filler cap. It's called a reservoir tank, not a vapor tank. Implying that it collects liquid at times. Watch out for liquid coming out of your vent hose, wherever you decide to put it. The location will determine where the gas fume smell originates also.

On the 75-78 illustration, there is also an AAR mounting block coolant supply line like the throttle body heater in 79-80. I think that it may also exist in the 79-83 engines also, maybe not. My 95 Pathfinder still has an AAR. Nice work, what did you use to draw them? Anybody know the purpose of the pressure relief valve from 79 on? Is it for pressure-actuated bypass of the heater core? I wonder if a retrofit to early engines would be some cheap insurance.

Is the tight side of the chain tight, and the timing mark on zero? The tight side is the driver's side (left). Put the timing mark on zero and use a 17 mm wrench to turn the cam sprocket back to make the tight side tight. There is a lot of slack in an old chain and the v notch can off even though the timing mark is at zero, Also, I think the number 3 that you're looking at might be for alignment with a bright link, which is only used when installing a chain from scratch. The hole, with number, that you want to see is under the big washer on the end of the camshaft. If you look closely you might the edge of a stamped number peeking out from under the washer. Could be wrong on the hole number, I'm going from examination of my own random parts. The description with pictures that you want to follow is in the Engine Mechanical chapter of the FSM.

265 psi is very very high pressure. With a good gauge, 170-180 psi is where most stock engines seem to come in. The simplest "fix" might be to install a head with a bigger combustion chamber. You can do that in the driveway. Otherwise your car's range is limited to where the right fuel is available. Sounds cool though.

This Hybridz member might still have them available - http://forums.hybridz.org/topic/98295-steel-brace-for-r200-clsd-finned-cover-in-s30-new-list-and-design/

The internet copy makes it seem like they have stock, since they have a core charge, and the part ships in 3-5 days. The core charge would be forfeited if you don't send yours in. Remove Surefire/Cylinder Head Part Number: 2321 Availability: Ships within 3-5 business days. Warranty: 1 YR Do you need related items? if so, they would have a few cores available. But I went through the checkout process and find that it's just a dream, probably just a rebuild service. Send your core in and they probably just farm it out to a local machine shop. My "requested quantity" was one. For Your 1978 Nissan/Datsun 280Z 2.8L FI 6cyl Remove Surefire/Cylinder Head Part Number: 2321 Availability: Ships within 3-5 business days. Warranty: 1 YR Sorry, the requested quantity for this special order item is not available. Please adjust the quantity. Do you need related items? Would have been nice to know that someone else out there was hoarding parts.

Somebody must have seen a need and contacted all of the big parts houses. Autozone sells heads also, but under the name Surefire, plus another brand, Moore. The Surefire pictures are the same as the OReilly PowerTorque. Same part number and price too. http://www.autozone.com/autozone/parts/1978-Nissan-Datsun-280Z/Cylinder-Head/_/N-ivfvlZ8znuv?filterByKeyWord=cylinder+head&fromString=search Hopefully these rebuild shops are collecting cores from the wrecking yards and at least keeping the parts from hitting the smelter. I know the local yards in the Portland area have companies that come in and strip certain parts from cars and just dump them all in a big crate to be shipped out to rebuild houses.

I'm no electrical expert but somewhere along the line I've learned or suspected that current draw increases with load in a DC motor. I Googled around and found what looks like a reputable source that illustrates it. It's at the bottom of the page linked below. So the fact that your fuel pump's DC motor is drawing so much current that it's killing 30 amp relays is a sign that your pump is working very hard. Harder than it seems like it should be if you have a typical return-style 280Z fuel system regulated to about 36 psi. You might examine the flow path for the fuel and see if you have obstructions, like a blocked filter or maybe you're using a 240Z return line and it's too small for the pump volume. In short, your pump might be drawing too much current because it's working too hard. I would focus on the fuel flow path first, not the electrical draw. http://www.me.umn.edu/courses/me2011/arduino/technotes/dcmotors/motor-tutorial/

I was looking around the OReilly site trying to figure out who "PowerTorque" is and find that they supply complete rebuilt cylinder heads. The picture shows a head with exhaust liners, and a camshaft included, but the Compatibility is all the way back to 1976 so there's an issue already. Interesting though that a chain like OReilly Auto is selling big parts like this. http://www.oreillyauto.com/site/c/detail/PTQ0/2321/02257.oap?year=1976&make=Nissan&model=280Z&vi=1209226&ck=Search_02257_PTQ_1209226_2513&mn=PowerTorque%28R%29&mc=PTQ&pt=02257&ppt=C0332 They sell long-blocks too - http://www.oreillyauto.com/site/c/search/Engine+Block-Long/02239/C0332.oap?year=1976&make=Nissan&model=280Z&vi=1209226&mn=PowerTorque%28R%29&mc=PTQ

This might provide some insight on the issue above - http://www.msdignition.com/page.aspx?id=15713 The instructions might help also. There's a troubleshooting section included, testing for spark, etc. You have to use part number 7222, it doesn't recognize 7AL2 (goofy!) - http://www.msdignition.com/instructiondownload.aspx Apparently MSD has filed bankruptcy so it wouldn't be surprising to me (natural born cynic) if they were just returning everything as "in-spec." until the company dies. No guarantees that your unit is actually good.

In looking at the picture the rocker arm wear surface was worn completely off of the edge, As the lobe wears down the wear surface will move to the middle, away from the edge. How can that one be dead-on if the edge of the rocker arm surface is degraded? Something was rubbing on it. Foreign object, mouse trap spring or something? Just saying...

Sometimes people put late model heads, like the P79, on dished pistons - like here:http://www.classiczcars.com/forums/engine-drivetrain-s30/49184-1978-280z-2-2-cylinder-head-removal.html Or swap in low compression turbo engines, but run them NA. That would give a low pressure reading. Or you might not have the pressure check test right. If you use the adapter tube that comes with many pressure testers, you'll get a low reading. The adapter is a big hollow tube, that lowers the compression ratio for the test. If you are using a typical pressure tester it will have a valve on it to hold pressure inside so you can see the gauge reading. If you don't release the pressure between each test you'll get a bad reading. Your readings might be going up when oil is added because you're not spinning the engine quickly enough. You should re-run the test, with all plugs out, a fully charged battery, throttle blocked open, no adapter, and the gauge reset before each cylinder's reading. You might be worrying about nothing. You're planning to take apart an engine that runs great. The engines don't have much below 2000 RPM in general, so that's not abnormal. Edit - forgot to add the usual advice about adjusting valves. Valve lash can affect pressure. And it's always good to check valve timing on an unknown engine anyway. It's easy to do, and it will also verify that your ignition timing mark is correct (damper rubber good), since the notch, groove and zero mark should all line up if everything is right.