terse Posted April 3, 2015 Share Posted April 3, 2015 Hey good job there, great progress. Keep it up ... I'll be doing this swap soon in the next few months, and your thread will be very helpful. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pac_Man Posted April 3, 2015 Author Share Posted April 3, 2015 Thanks. I've noticed a lot of threads on HybridZ are outdated and often times there are questions that aren't answered. I spent a lot of time digging through posts as well as making a couple threads myself to get help. My goal in this is to have a newer thread that documents all aspects of the swap to make it easier for others to follow when they attempt the same. Hopefully I've done well so far. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
terse Posted April 3, 2015 Share Posted April 3, 2015 ^^ Awesome! Thanks for thinking about us lol. Yes you've done well documenting your build. I have a L28et sitting on the stand waiting to go in, but somewhat of a daunting task, so Ive been doing as much research as I can... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pac_Man Posted April 4, 2015 Author Share Posted April 4, 2015 Made some more progress today but not as much as I'd hoped. Got the old wiring harness and ecu out and got the new harness in. Had some trouble getting the old harness out, pulling it though the inside of the car seemed to work best. The AFM is the only connector that doesn't fit easily through the firewall but you can make it work. For installing the new harness you just have to push the ecu connectors through and then pull it until the grommet seats. It's easy, at least it was for me. I also switched the crank pulley from my old engine to the new one (the 280zx is 3 row). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pac_Man Posted April 5, 2015 Author Share Posted April 5, 2015 Decided to put the horse before the cart: This was a lot more work than I expected: On a side note, the Z31 ignition coil bracket lines up perfectly with the stock 280z coil mounting points which was a pleasant surprise. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pac_Man Posted April 18, 2015 Author Share Posted April 18, 2015 Well I thought I had about all of the wiring done, went to make sure the starter wire from the ignition switch it getting voltage, and nothing as far as I can tell. I think the multimeter I was using may be busted and I have another laying around somewhere so I'll have to find it. Needless to say it's not encouraging... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pac_Man Posted April 25, 2015 Author Share Posted April 25, 2015 (edited) Alright, a bit more of a proper update now. Since I'm a full-time student, progress tends to be slow. The owner of the shop I was working on it in said it was taking too long and I had to move it. Fair enough. Ended up getting a friend's dad to help and he brought his truck and trailer to move it to my house. It's been in my driveway for a while now and I've been chipping away at it as time and weather allows. The starter is getting ignition voltage now and the engine turns over. Unfortunately the battery has been sitting a while so it was clear that it wouldn't last long if I kept cranking the engine so I stopped before I drained it. At this point my main concern is oil pressure- or rather making sure I have it. I also sorted out the intake setup as well as mounted my oil cooler: At some point soon I'll get around to measuring for the driveshaft and try to figure out the transmission crossmember. I can work outside until 8pm if the weather is decent which is very helpful. Edited April 25, 2015 by Pac_Man Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pac_Man Posted April 28, 2015 Author Share Posted April 28, 2015 Good news- I've got oil pressure! Bad news- no spark. I've got fuel pressure and compression but I verified no spark with a spark plug test. Tearing up my ignition wiring to inspect and verify it. I'll have to continue that tomorrow. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NewZed Posted April 28, 2015 Share Posted April 28, 2015 Good news- I've got oil pressure! Bad news- no spark. I've got fuel pressure and compression but I verified no spark with a spark plug test. Tearing up my ignition wiring to inspect and verify it. I'll have to continue that tomorrow. Don't forget that everything starts at the CAS with the ECCS system. The computer controls ignition. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pac_Man Posted April 28, 2015 Author Share Posted April 28, 2015 Is there anything in particular I should look at with the CAS system? I'm guessing it receives power through the little tab on the distributor. If I still have issues after rechecking the wiring I'll have to start getting into more methodical diagnosis. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cgsheen Posted April 28, 2015 Share Posted April 28, 2015 There are four wires to the distributor. Just check the red and black to see if it has power and ground. Signal back to the ECU (green and white) is a little trickier. Leave that until you've double checked your coil and igniter wiring. Make sure you have power to the coil and igniter at IGN ON. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pac_Man Posted May 1, 2015 Author Share Posted May 1, 2015 (edited) Well I think I found the culprit. I had a wire that needed to go to switched power hooked up to a black/white wire which actually wasn't switched power. That's what I get for making assumptions without my multimeter to check! I have spark, but now I don't seem to be getting injection pulses. I ended up running around for most of the evening so I didn't even really get a chance to look into it yet. Hopefully the weather is decent tomorrow as well so I can look into it more. Here's a bizarre note- I put my throttle linkage back together like it was with the old engine and my gas pedal sits on the floor and opens the throttle when you lift it up toward you. I flipped the linkage so the hook is upside down and that fixed it. Random things of interest. Edited May 1, 2015 by Pac_Man Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pac_Man Posted May 2, 2015 Author Share Posted May 2, 2015 (edited) So close, but so far. I have fuel pressure and my injectors are firing. I have spark. I have compression. The engine cranks and fires but just won't catch and start idling. I doubt it's because it is a fresh rebuild. My first suspicion is timing, but I don't really know where to start. I've been trying to research those who have had similar issues but have been unsuccessful in really finding anything useful. I got it to barely run for a few seconds and I had to hold my foot down with the accelerator pedal to the floor or it would try to choke. It was very rough. I also noticed my tach isn't reading anything and I'm frankly stumped on that. Could the signal resistor be missing? I'm not sure where its physical location should actually be but I recall reading somewhere that it's inside the car on the passenger side so it should still be there. I also installed a stealthy killswitch for the fuel pump positive wire. Thinking about it now, I suppose posting the location on a public forum may not be the wisest choice. Edited May 2, 2015 by Pac_Man Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NewZed Posted May 2, 2015 Share Posted May 2, 2015 I'm going to guess no AFM signal. It starts, sucks extra air, but the AFM isn't communicating with the computer so it leans out and dies. Have you checked the AFM to computer wires with a meter? Easy. Attached a sample from 1982. Can't remember what harness you have. If you didn't connect the blue wire in the engine bay to coil negative you won't have tach. That's how 1976 works. You have a blended system now. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pac_Man Posted May 2, 2015 Author Share Posted May 2, 2015 (edited) I'm going to guess no AFM signal. It starts, sucks extra air, but the AFM isn't communicating with the computer so it leans out and dies. Have you checked the AFM to computer wires with a meter? Easy. Attached a sample from 1982. Can't remember what harness you have. If you didn't connect the blue wire in the engine bay to coil negative you won't have tach. That's how 1976 works. You have a blended system now. Hi NewZed, I attached what I believed was the proper blue wire but didn't notice anything when I was cranking the engine. I located another blue wire and didn't think it was the right one but tried it anyway. Still nothing. I'm a bit stumped at this point on that. I'll go test the ECU connectors. If the AFM signal is not reaching the ECU, would the ECU also not send the signal to the fuel pump relay to power the fuel pump? Because I think I'm having that issue as well. I jumped the connection with a wire in the meantime but that's obviously not a permanent solution. Oh and for reference, I have an 82/83 harness/distributor/engine. Edited May 2, 2015 by Pac_Man Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NewZed Posted May 2, 2015 Share Posted May 2, 2015 Hi NewZed, I attached what I believed was the proper blue wire but didn't notice anything when I was cranking the engine. I located another blue wire and didn't think it was the right one but tried it anyway. If the AFM signal is not reaching the ECU, would the ECU also not send the signal to the fuel pump relay to power the fuel pump? You should test your wires before you connect them. Make sure they're the ones you want and also make sure that they're not connected to something they shouldn't be. For example, the blue wire branches off to the ignition module and Pin 1 of the old EFI harness. Connecting random wires based on color is risky. I think that the fuel pump relay is one of those things that can be done several different ways. But if you didn't devise a new way to power the pump relay, then the pump won't get power because the 76 AFM had a switch that powered the relay. Your 82 system doesn't have that. A methodical approach, with a meter, to each issue is the best way to go. You can burn up most of your work, or damage something, with one bad connection. You'll end up using the meter anyway just to figure out what you damaged by not using the meter. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pac_Man Posted May 2, 2015 Author Share Posted May 2, 2015 The way I have the fuel pump relay wired is the relay is activated by the signal from the ECU, similar to the stock 280zx setup except without the fuel pump modulator. Theoretically when the ECU sends voltage to the relay I should get voltage to the fuel pump. I just measured resistance at the ECU and got ~200 Ohms from two different testers. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NewZed Posted May 2, 2015 Share Posted May 2, 2015 So the immediate question is, is 200 approximately 240. Might affect the way the engine runs but probably not your issue. The bigger thing though is, you really need to take all of the measurements, or as many as you can. The page number is at the top of the image I posted. You'll probably find some problems and know more when your done. Once you have the ECU connector and meter in your hands and the pages available, why not keep going? Test everything you can with the meter, just to be sure. http://www.nicoclub.com/FSM/280z/1982/1982%20280zx%20FSM/efec.pdf Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cgsheen Posted May 2, 2015 Share Posted May 2, 2015 (edited) Did you remove or disconnect your stock electronic ignition module from under the dash? The blue wire on the stock engine is the "signal to fire" to the coil, it also "tees" off under the dash, to the resistor, and then the Tach. If you haven't already, you need to remove the blue wire from the stock module. Then check your tach. Did you have the distributor spindle out of the engine and/or are you sure it's set properly? Did you check your mechanical timing? Get the engine set to TDC on compression stroke, check position of the rotor. make sure it's pointing to the cylinder one post on the cap. You can undo the distributor adjustment bolt - take it all the way out. turn the distributor whatever way it takes to get the engine running. note it's position. If it's outside the adjustment window, you need to reposition the distributor spindle properly. When it's set correctly, the adjustment bolt will be almost dead center of the adjustment range with timing set at 20 degrees. There's a picture in the FSM of how the top of the spindle looks when properly installed, but lots of people seem to have trouble with that. Edited May 2, 2015 by cgsheen Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pac_Man Posted May 3, 2015 Author Share Posted May 3, 2015 (edited) Well just to see what happened I loosened the distributor bolts and rotated it. I moved it as far clockwise as I could and got the car to run a lot better. It dies immediately if I take my foot off the gas pedal, not sure if that's due to timing still being off or what. Here's what it's like now, but I only got a few minutes with it before having to leave again. Also I disconnected the whole ignition control module and still no tach. :/ Edited May 4, 2015 by Pac_Man Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.