NewZed

Look in the hole it came from and put the transmission in reverse. See if something moves. If not, try neutral. If nothing there, try top gear. Nothing? Try fourth. Or look at the drawing in the FSM. They're all labeled.

You're welcome, and good luck with it. After looking at the drawing again myself, I would vote for a weak reverse return check spring. "Return check spring" must mean something. I have the 78 5 speed out now and will probably take that plug out tonight and see how it looks. Edit - I was looking at the 4 speed drawing (1978 FSM has both). On the 5 speed it's just called the return spring plug. But they're in the same spot, so probably have a similar function. Edit 2 - the return spring plunger just re-centers the striking assembly. The plunger rides in a groove on the striking rod, the plunger is pushed out of the groove against the spring when the striking rod is rotated as the lever is pushed left or right. No direct effect on reverse, except that with a light touch it will pull the lever back to the center. No lockout effect though. Out of ideas.

The early/late 5 speed pictures are at the bottom of this link - http://www.geocities.com/inlinestroker/ratio.html You might be able to figure something out from the FSM deawings.

What year car is the 5 speed from? I had a 78 5 speed transmission with a similar problem. I posted a question about it on the forum, about 2 years ago, but got no responses. An 83 I had and the 80 transmission I'm using now both have firm reverse lockouts. The 78 had essentially no resistance from 5th to reverse, just dropped straight down if I wasn't careful. I've seen some comments around the various forums about improvement in the lockout in the later 5 speeds, but don't know the details of the improvements.

What's the fuel pressure? When was the last time it ran right? What's the history of the engine and parts? Several possible causes, some simple and some expensive, but confirming the basics is a good idea before getting carried away.

Find a thin piece of flexible plastic (coffee can or margarine lid), cut it in to strips about 2" wide and use them as ramps to get the gauge edge past the lip of the dash cap. Lubricate things with some soapy water and you might be able to get them out. Once the edge of the gauge is past the lip it will slide out pretty easily.

A followup on the 25:75 ATF:Swepco 201 blend in my wrecking yard 1980 5 speed - the transmission must have had some minor rust, corrosion or "varnish" on the synchros or bearings. After a few thousand miles with the ATF/Swepco blend, it works like a normal transmission. The synchros work fine now, no more grinding or notchiness, even at high RPM. Just using all it would give, it slowly got better and better. The bearings aren't dying either, still quiet. I never took it apart and don't know the usage or maintenance history so can only guess at what the original problem was. It might even have been freshly rebuilt and the synchros needed to wear in. The clutch released fine. Maybe the pilot bushing was tight on the input shaft? Didn't seem so when I installed the transmission. Maybe the Swepco blend has magic healing powers. On the Synchromesh variants: I found this onthe Swepco web site - http://www.swepcolube.com/products/swepco-717-synchromesh-transmission-fluid - it's been around for a while, apparently, but I've never seen a report of anyone trying it. The links on the web site are screwed up so you can't really see any technical data.

If the head is missing the injector notches, won't it also be missing the EFI manifold bolt holes? The four big ones across the top?

http://forums.hybridz.org/index.php/forum/30-v8-z-forums/ http://forums.hybridz.org/index.php/forum/74-gen-iii-iv-chevy-v8z-tech-board/ http://forums.hybridz.org/index.php/forum/81-powertrain/

Not me!, I just saw this on Portland CL - A rare opportunity (but, unfortunately, probably becoming more common) to trade up(?), if they have a welder, a wrench, a jack and some jack stands (safety!) - http://portland.craigslist.org/clc/cto/2919057472.html Text - "I would like to trade my 82 280zx for a rwd w/welded diff i thought about welding this one but just dont want to because once i start with that then i will just keep adding things to it lol it is a stock t-top car and runs great also my daily thats why i want to trade but if you throw me the right cash then i might just sell it. hit me up text only for now please or reply to this ad thanks for looking "

Rev needle jumping about, along with getting better after a cool-down, sounds like ignition module, especially the 74-78 type. From what I've read the ZX E12-80 modules usually just die, but maybe they have a slow-fail mode also.

Maybe you're developing a speed tolerance.

A big C clamp, or a big screw type wood clamp (the long ones for gluing boards together like in high school wood shop), and some fixturing. A gear puller and some fixturing. A long bolt run through the middle and pull it in with some fixturing. Fixtures could be big sockets, pieces of wood or metal with holes drilled in them, bars of metal placed along side the bushing, etc., stuff like that. Set it all up right and all you have to do is turn the screws.

One possibility - the nuts and studs are bottoming out before generating full clamping force. If you have aftermarket studs they might have wider unthreaded portion in the middle, wider than the combined flange and gasket thickness. A thick washer (with ID bigger than OD of unthreaded portion of stud) can fix it or add insurance.

Sorry about the bad info on swapping cams. Pretty sure I've seen accounts where people have done it and survived but apparently the odds are against it. I took a look at some other sources, the FSM and Monroe's rebuild book, and if you put all of the advice together, the safest route is to just get another head complete with untouched cam, rocker arms, lash pads and cam towers (never unbolted - misalignment) and install it as a complete assembly. Apparently, the cost of new or reground rocker arms is the big killer if you want to do a cam swap the right way. Seriously, you could probably find a used engine for the cost of a spray bar assembly. Used car economics don't make a lot of sense sometimes. Here's one for $50 with a few extra parts, but a little far away - http://forums.hybridz.org/index.php/topic/105590-for-sale-280z-l28-engine-transmission-50/

My mistake on the shafts. 280ZXT in to a 280Z is what the OP is doing, same body styles. Dave Irwin was using 280ZXT shafts in a 240Z, correct? But using the MM adapters. Odd that that wouldn't slide in, since the MM adapter package is made from 280Z parts, I believe. Still trying to get all of the mix and match stuff right, myself.

Don't you want to refer him to JMortensen and CHEQUERED FLAG JOE's stuff? Might be happier in the long run. hint.

Just happen to be browsing the FSMs. Here's the illustrations for 72 and 76. I'm not sure exactly what the sealing mechanism was designed to be, but I think that metal rings are supposed to do the work. The rest is just carrier and alignment material. If the rings don't have a flat good sealing surface on both sides, it will leak. Have you checked the center rings of a used gasket to see what's getting crushed (good) and what's not (bad)? Good luck with it.

Maybe it's the injectors or an exhaust leak. Maybe the lash was too tight before and now that it's right, you're hearing normal noise. They are noisy, in general.

The 280Zs and ZXs I've seen (my 76 and a 78 I had and various wrecking yard cars) have the shorter siamesed pipes, the 240Zs I've seen have the longer separated pipes. BlueStag, have you taken a good look at the manifold side? It may be too corroded to seal correctly. The head interface on my manifold was so corroded that even after a resurfacing it was a narrow sealing surface. The cast steel will corrode over time. You might be replacing the wrong part. And, assuming that your engine creates a little bit of carbon in the exhaust, where are the carbon trails at the flange and manifold surface? That will tell you where exactly the leak is happening. You might find that you have a mismatched sealing surface, and some simple re-centering would fix it. There is a some play around the bolts at that interface, that will allow the surfaces to get offset. You could put some sort of witness material on the surfaces and bolt it together to see if it's an alignment issue or a surface flatness issue. How about some pictures?

Look in Engine Fuel of the FSM for a description of how the thermotime switch works, what it's for and how to test it. It's only purpose is for easier starting.

Get a used one. That might be a point of discussion though, a mismatch between cam and rocker arms. Not sure, but I don't think the rocker arms are as sensitive as the lash pads. I think that I've read accounts of swapping cam only, with no issues. But, your whole thread is mainly about peace of mind anyway. In the end, you're probably looking at about the same cost and effort to fix the spray bar and reinstall it on a cam that might already be damaged and dying, versus installing a used cam that might not like the rocker arms, and die. Those spray bars are difficult to find, but a local wrecking yard might have one. They're used up to late 77 on all of the L6s, 240 through 280. Edit - here's what will probably happen - you'll find an old Z car or engine, take the valve cover off and there will either be a usable spray bar or a usable internally oiled cam. That's when you'll have to decide.

I just re-hosed 6 injectors using 5/16" (7.9 mm) Gates 225 psi (that was the rating, I don't know where it would ever be seen) FI hose from Baxter Auto. They're installed, with about 100 miles of running on them, no signs of leakage or weepage, not even the smell of gasoline with my nose right over the fitting. No clamps on the injector side, just the barb and ferrule (if that's the proper name). They went on nice and tight, with a good bulge at the barbs. 1/4" (6.3 mm) seems a little tight, that puts more strain on the hose, which could lead to earlier cracking with age, but would probably be fine with good quality hose, if you can get it jammed on to the barbs. I've seen 7.5 mm printed on what looked like factory hose. That's probably the ideal, design size, since these are metric devices. A little too tight or a little too loose, or search around and probably pay more money for 7.5 mm hose.

Couldn't the OP just get an internally oiled cam, block the spray bar holes and live happily ever after? Less chance of ground up cam debris in the oil. Seems odd, but the L24 and the L28 used the same cam, according to the atlanticz info. I think that the internal oiling came around in late 77 with the N47 head.

Thanks for taking away the feeling of security I used to have, riding around on E, knowing that there was still 4-5 gallons in the tank.