NewZed

A couple more options for stock parts - http://www.zspecialties.com/ http://www.courtesyparts.com/

Atlanticz's site has a few wiring diagrams. Looks like the 240s run positive to the coil through the tach. You might be able to jump across the tach plug to get power to the coil or run a temporary wire, if you really need to start it. Be careful. http://www.atlanticz.ca/zclub/techtips/electrical.htm

The guys on that madelectrical site cover what bjhines is saying (Edit - sort of, no offense), plus a little more, from a different starting point, and add some funky pictures. It's an interesting topic, especially with all of the old crimped splices buried under the typical Z's harness tape. These guys suggest a common central terminal to run all of your loads from, plus put your sense wire there. Seems to make sense, although I'm sure there's better looking hardware out there. If my stock 280 harness wasn't in good shape, with low voltage drops, I'd probably tear it out and go with the central distribution point. Second edit - This would allow the shortest, direct path to any new accessories, with dedicated fuses. http://www.madelectrical.com/electricaltech/remotevoltagesensing.shtml

Thanks rayaapp, I appreciate it. I see that this one has the super high vacuum advance. Kind of scary. And the dual vacuum advance curves (dual vacuum ports from what I've gathered), which I assume are switched some how. Not really clear yet on how that works, I would guess rpm based (Edit - just found something similar in a ZX FSM. Apparently it's an emissions control thing, with a cold, warm, normal position - strange). Thanks again.

I need a spare distributor and have located one from a 1981 Maxima with L24E and automatic transmission. I have downloaded every manual from the Xenon site so can find curves for almost all of the Z engines, but can't find anything similar on the internet in the 810/Maxima world. Does anyone know where this information exists or does someone have the information for the 1981 year? I'm looking for mechanical and vacuum advance numbers and when they happen. Thanks for any help.

Ignition timing is one of those hard to understand areas that is made more difficult by the way the distributor data is reported. As I understand things, the distributor turns at half crankshaft speed because the spark is only needed on every other up stroke. But the distributor data is reported in distributor shaft revolutions, so must be adjusted to tell you what is happening relative to the crankshaft. Therefore, the rpm reported should be doubled, because the cranksaft is going twice as fast as the distributor. And the degrees reported must be doubled, because the crankshaft travels 2 degrees for every one that the distributor does. The vacuum level is the same. So your L24 D606-52 specs would be: Mechanical starts 900 rpms ends 2000 rpms with a total of 12° Vacuum starts 100mm Hg ends 245mm Hg with a total of 11° With static at 10, you should get 33 degrees advance above 2000 rpm with over 245mm Hg (high rpm cruising) and 22 total at WOT above 2000 rpm. Your data is close to that, with wear and gummed up weights as possibilities for the 2 extra degrees and the higher rpm. But it looks like you had vacuum activated for both data sets. This is my current understanding and I welcome any comments about whether it is right or wrong. It seems to work for me, I have a DCF5-02 in my car with 17 (8.5 reported at the dist.) mechanical at 2500 rpm and 18 (9 reported at dist.) vacuum at 11.61" (295 mm) Hg. I'm running 17 static, so I'm at 52 and 34 (Edit - SHOULD be at 52 and 34, I don't have the right timing light to confirm), cruise and WOT, above 2500 rpm. I've heard not a knock or ping with 89 octane, but it is kind of cold here. I worked my way up a few degrees at a time and the engine got more responsive every time. I have a stock 1976 with EFI, but using a 1978 distributor. I'm just throwing all of this out there for conversation, and might be repeating something already well-known, or maybe even wrong. It took me a while to figure out what was up with the various distributors and how the specs. were reported.

I'm just a rookie myself, and don't even have an AFR gauge. But 16.8:1 AFR looks like you're running out of fuel, in addition to timing issues, if that AFR is what you are seeing when you open the throttle. Edit - I don't have much experience with carbs either so can't offer any solutions, just an observation.

The "cranking" circuit should be fairly simple to follow out. It just puts power to the small wire on the starter, when you turn the key to Start (it does a few other things but that's the basics). The ignition circuit is on when the key is On, that's why you can start an engine by putting a car in gear, rolling it and engaging the clutch, with the key at On. You can also short the big terminal on the starter to the small one (temporarily) to get the engine to crank, or start if the key is On (make sure it's not in gear if you try this). If you find that the car will start by shorting the starter, but can't figure out the wiring problem from the ignition switch, you could wire in a push button starter, either temporarily or permanently. Start at the small wire on the starter and work your way backward if you're having a "cranking" problem. p.s. I had a Start problem for a while when my key would not turn the "insides" of the electrical portion of the ignition switch far enough to hit Start. I had to bend the little tab at the back of the switch in the direction of rotation to get it do its job. But see if you can short your starter first before you go to that. Edit - the above is for go 260z's problem. It sounds like HakosukaJD has something else. 9V at one side and 0.5 at the other side, all the time, sounds like you have current flowing, which should only happen when the ignition module tells the coil to fire. Otherwise it should just sit there at 12 and 12. You might have a short between the coil and the module. Or a bad coil (maybe). Was your coil getting hot while you were measuring? I'm no electrical wizard so use these ideas carefully... I can take a beating if someone wants to shoot me down.

That's good information bjhines. I was probably confusing things with my one vs three comments, since "one wire" alternators can have multiple wires. The whole "one wire" thing seems like marketing buzz, I don't really get it. If you have a three wire setup in your car, all of the modern technology is there to be used. Why go backwards if you have it? I'm pretty sure that you can hook your S wire to the B terminal on a regular three wire alternator to turn it in to a pseudo one wire, then just rev your engine up every time you start it to get it charging. Anyway...

It sounds like you have all of the parts right in front of you. You could take some measurements. Look at the differences. You didn't refer to any search results either, from here or elsewhere. I'm pretty sure that I have seen this topic mentioned in the past. If you show what you found when you searched, people will usually help you fill in the blanks. You're just offering a blank piece of paper, to be filled in from scratch. That's no fun...

A few simple guesses suggest that you probably put a carb in there somewhere (to improve over "EFI crap"). Maybe even a different engine (although you didn't post under a swap forum). I just took an EFI harness off of a parts car last week and I seem to recall some distributor and coil wires in the vicinity. Did you look at the wiring diagram and make sure that your ignition module/distributor/coil circuits are still intact, and have power? Or at least trace it out so that you know it should work? The ignition module is in the cabin over by the fuse box on the passenger side, up under the dash. You probably disconnected an important wire.

There's no benefit to one-wire over three-wire in operation, as I understand it. One-wire is just two wires easier, but you lose a few things when you're done. The link below is kind of hammy but it's pretty descriptive. Scroll down a half-page to see the pros and cons. If you don't run a good voltmeter, or at least wire up your ammeter (you're back up to two wires already) with your one-wire alternator, you'll have no idea if it's working right (unless you're really tuned in to your fuel pump buzz and brightness of lights). If you're building a race car it might be the way to go, but long-term dependability is nice for a street car. Easier is rarely better (unfortunately), no offense intended to the one-wire camp. http://www.madelectrical.com/electricaltech/onewire-threewire.shtml

So you're implying that you had misfiring injectors before and the new connectors fixed that and gave almost 10% extra fuel mileage. That is worth following up on. Was the car misfiring or stumbling before? Does it run smoother now? Type and year of car and engine would be useful too (can't find it in your profile). I'm interested. More details would be nice. I still have the original, cracking, loose connectors on mine, although they have been cleaned up (low budget). Edit - Just noticed 280Z in your title. My mistake.

The Body Electrical (BE) section has drawings of all of the relays, in their locations. http://www.xenons30.com/reference.html The wiring diagram here looks pretty good. Opened in Firefox, you can zoom in and scroll around on the gif file. http://atlanticz.ca/zclub/techtips/electrical.htm

Page EF-8 in the FSM describes the fuel pump safeties. Alternator and oil pump switch. Use vise-grips, pliers and a vise if you really want to see what's in your filter. You really should check fuel pressure anyway, just as a typical maintenance check of pump, filter and lines (pressure drops), and fuel pressure regulator. Borrow a gauge if you can if you don't want to buy one. You're not getting a lot of replies here, because this is 101 stuff, and you're on the grad level site. Download the manual and start reading, it's full of good things. The Engine Fuel section is the best.

That's not good. You might have been running rust particles through there for a while. Might explain the excess noise. If that was my pump, I would test pressure and flow then decide if it's worth keeping.

That looks like the stock pump too (maybe not original but factory issue) and they should be pretty quiet from what I've read. That atlanticz link is a good one, read the whole page. Might help you get your safety system back working. The way you're set up now, if you bust a fuel line, your pump will just keep pumping gas. Not a good scenario.

I'm asking. What was the issue? Save someone else from having the same problem in the future. That's what the forum is about.

That sounds pretty noisy. You should crawl up under the car, right where your first video is pointed and see what kind of pump you have and how it is mounted. You can probably squeeze up under there without even jacking the car up (parking brake on of course). I've read that the Walbro 225s are pretty noisy. Or yours might be mounted with no sound deadening rubber mounting material. Ideally, the pump body and fittings are not contacting any metal, only rubber. If your pump runs continuously with the key at On but the engine not running, then someone probably bypassed the safety switches.

Maybe it's described in the FSM...

The atlanticz site has a variety of full and partial diagrams. http://www.atlanticz.ca/zclub/techtips/electrical.htm Edit - The FSM diagrams in the downloadable FSMs from xenons30 are pretty good also. 1972 is the earliest available though. http://www.xenons30.com/reference.html

Simplifying (or maybe not) this concept even further - has anyone run or even started an engine on a typical engine stand, like the 1000 lber that Harbor Freight sells? Of course, the transmission mounting points are occupied so that's a problem. And the torquing of the engine's mass when you hit the gas might be dangerous, the whole thing could fall over. It would be fun to build a solid sturdy engine stand with space for a bellhousing, starter, radiator, etc. but afterward it would just sit and take up space. I have this vision of possibly fabricating a plate to sandwich between the stand and the engine, to mount the starter on. Just thinking at this point. I've already ruled out a rope around the crank pulley... If anyone has done this with an L engine, or seen it done or heard horror stories of why not to do it, please share. I still remember watching a high-compression big-cam small block chevy motor dance around on the shop floor just so my friend could hear the results of his work as soon as possible.

Thanks for the ideas. If the Ranchero and Falcon are possibilities, then the Mustang should be in there too, I assume? I checked the weights and the E30, Ford products and the Chevy II all look in the 280Z ball park. Firebirds and Camaros are surprisingly heavy. That E30 looks like a tight fit. I am curious about the 240K in Noddle's sig though. Is there a US analog or is that Asia only? And I would guess the Maxima and 810 are Datsun options (maybe they are the 240K analogs?). I think that I've seen a 510 with an L6 but not sure. I've only been on these forums for a little over a year so haven't absorbed it all. I wiki'ed E49 - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chrysler_Valiant_Charger - I'm starting to understand how the Mad Max movies came about...

xonix, I think the conversation went off on a tangent with the E85 comment. Probably the worst case in your situation is that you find that you can't optimize your timing without running high octane, or at all. If so, you'll have a freshly rebuilt head that you can probably sell to someone who wants what the Maxima N47 offers, and you can go from there in getting the head you want. But you might be fine with how the Maxima N47 head ends up running. If you do stick with the Maxima head, I'm sure it will of interest to some out here how things turn out for you when it's done. Modifying for E85 is a whole separate topic from what your original question was.