Guest 79 280zx Posted April 6, 2004 Share Posted April 6, 2004 Hi, for about a year now, I have been trying to heal a very sick EFI. Replace a few sensors here, vac control there. She'll run fine and convince you it's finally fixed, Have a small celebration, turn the key and bang, the same annoying intrermittant problem dug it's way through all the new stuff. I've finally crossed the line. I'm sick of cleaning constantly corroding wires . Soldering connections and replacing them. Changing all the vac lines. Spraying carborator cleaner till I was high as a kite. Exchanging fuel rails and injector seals, even injectors , finally to have a HI Press Hose simply blow itself off of an injector and cover my manifold with gas. ...Good old fashioned Holley 390 4bbl and an Arizona z manifold should solve the problem, Dave seems quit willing to help me get it done. My parts car will soon be housing this old EFI system till i figure out what to do with it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest bastaad525 Posted April 6, 2004 Share Posted April 6, 2004 GAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHH don't do it dude!!! I know the ZX EFI can be a beetch sometimes, I've had two ZX's and now the ZXT EFI in my 240 as well, and have had more than my share of problems with all three setups. Usually, they can be tracked down and fixed relatively easily. The number one recurring problem I have is the wires corroding, and Tony D just made a suggestion to me that baffles me that I have never thought of before. After cleaning off all the connectors, coat everything with di-electric grease. He used to have problems with wires corroding all the time, put that stuff on and had no more problems. As it stands right now I have to disconnect all my wiring harness connections and clean them off at least once a month or I have problems... I think I'll have the same luck as Tony D after I put that grease, I shouldn't have to mess with it anymore for a long time. The stuff is great for waterproofing, as well. But, if you GOTTA go carbed, go triples or good old SU's. I know some will hold steadfastly on to four bbl carbs as the hot ticket, and on a nice big V8 where they can sit in the middle of all those cylinders and supply them more or less evenly, sure that's the way to go. They are NOT the ideal setup for an L6 motor! It has been shown time and again that with the 4bbl carbs and manifolds on an L6, the #1 and #6 cylinders will run too lean, while the #3-4 will run too rich. This is not idea for performance, and can actually be dangerous. Not to mention it will fuddle your every attempt to tune the thing 'just right'. There is also the issue of fuel puddling up in the manifold, underneath the carb. I have heard more than one story of people having a simple backfire thru the intake ignite built up fuel in the manifold and blowing it off!! Please, please, please, take some time to really evaluate the options before you shortchange your Z like this. I dont know how much it costs to convert to a 4bbl and manifold, but I"m sure it's not pocketchange. You can pick up a set of like-new (actually BETTER than new) SU carbs from Ztherapy.com for about $600-700. They are better in that they have ball bearings on the throttle shafts, instead of just brass bushings, so they are expected to have a much longer service life than the average of 20 years for the stock ones, before they start to leak. They also use grose jets for metering, instead of needle valves. They are fully warranteed for one year. They look NICE, and factory 'correct', as original Z's came with them. They'll come with SM fuel needles which work well with the 2.8L motor (the stock needles were meant only for the 2.4 and are said to not supply enough fuel for the 2.8). I ran a set of these on a built up, high compression 2.9L and made good power. They are easy as heck to tune, service, and rebuild. And most importantly over the 4bbl, they will supply all 6 cylinders EVENLY, though you want to try to track down a set of the 260 intake manifolds as the early 240 manifolds aren't perfectly even (still better than a 4bbl setup though)... which is fine as the 260 manifolds alone are rumored to add 5-10hp. I cannot stress it enough... this is a MUCH better idea than going with a 4bbl There's also the option of triple carbs, though I wont get into it as I'm not too knowledgeable about them. What little experience I've had with them on friends cars, and as much as I have read about them, tells me they are great for built setups running hot cams and high compression, but aren't so great for daily street driven Z's and are a pain to tune initially. If you buy them used they can be relatively cheap, I think I've seen them as low as $300 sometimes, but expect to spend some on top of that tuning them on a dyno. Well... that's all I can say... I hope this post will at least get you to really consider it before you make that mistake (just my oppinion guys, sorry to anyone who's already running a 4bbl, no offense). Trust me, I know the urge, I came from the muscle car side of the tracks, having owned a Camaro and a Ford Galaxie... I was interested in the 4bbl too because it was what I knew. But, after doing a lot of research myself, I found that there are better options out there that will most likely be cheaper as well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest 79 280zx Posted April 7, 2004 Share Posted April 7, 2004 Hey Bryan, Really impressive reply! I immediatly contacted Dave at Arizona z with 'visions of exploding manifolds dancing in my head!' You see, I already purchased the Holley390 before I posted this and I'm waiting for him to make the manifold for me. Dave got really intense on the subject and answered each of your objections. He says he wants to post a reply himself, so this might get entertaining as well as educational! Again, thanks for lookin' out for me, but as my grandfather used to say... 'my minds made up, so don't confuse me with the facts!' 8), (Kinda' runs in the family) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
v8dats Posted April 7, 2004 Share Posted April 7, 2004 man bastaad you can really write a novel! u should write a book about your experiences with your z! it would sell! j/k Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mobythevan Posted April 7, 2004 Share Posted April 7, 2004 you would have to sell a box of kleenex with each book because at times it has been a sad story. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest bastaad525 Posted April 8, 2004 Share Posted April 8, 2004 man bastaad you can really write a novel!u should write a book about your experiences with your z! it would sell! j/k heh yeah I really been kicking the long posts lately... well like I said in another thread... I try to answer them the way I would want them answered, with as much detail and info as possible. Eh... so I got too much extra free time on my hands *shrug* Not that I know nearly enough, anyways.... so, sorry if my replies ever seem biased... I can only speak from my own experiences or from what others have shared with me. About the exploding manifold thing, I was merely stating that it HAS happened in the past, I wouldn't say it's something that is going to occur every time someone runs that setup... but you have to be aware of potential problems like that, you know? Maybe there have been design changes to the manifold that I'm not aware of that keep this from happening? No matter what Dave at Arizona Z has to say, there is nothing he can say to change the fact that the 4bbl manifolds for the L6 have EXTREMELY unequal length runners, and no matter who you talk to, anyone that knows anything about performance and the way cars run, they will tell you that is NOT a good thing. But, if you're minds made up, more power to ya. Hey... I never said that it can't be made to work, and it can be made to work okay, for sure. Just gotta ask yourself if 'okay' is good enough. Now... someone go and desing a manifold to run twin 4bbl's the way SU's are setup, and I might be convinced moby - heheh tell it on the mountain dunno if you read but she's down again... nothing big this time thank goodness... lower radiator hose decided to commit suicide by getting into a fight with the alternator needless to say it lost. Ah this car just loves to mess with me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
v8dats Posted April 9, 2004 Share Posted April 9, 2004 dont ya just love that car or what? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest bastaad525 Posted April 9, 2004 Share Posted April 9, 2004 The term "Love-Hate Relationship" has never been applied as well or true as it is to the relationship between me and my Z. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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