feero101 Posted February 25, 2011 Share Posted February 25, 2011 (edited) Hey everyone this is my first post, as I am sure you will all notice as I will probably come off as completely ignorant! But I have been chasing my dreams searching for the perfect Z! I finally found one, just a few miles from home surprisingly enough! There's quite a bit of surface rust but nothing too major, all but the battery box, thats pretty much toast. The interior is trashed... of course the weather stripping is in horrible condition leaving plenty of room for rain to fill up my Z. Supposedly everything worked just great before it was parked about 8 years ago, and has been covered for the last 3 years. So I put a new battery in it and whatta ya know! NOTHING! not even a door buzzer, of course this would not be easy! but hey, thats the fun part. Tear down begins tomorrow, gut carpet, take out seats, remove dash hopefully and start checking my electrical! He even through in a complete extra 82 280zx motor, oh.. by the way, my new toy is a 1982 280ZX. anyone live around Fort Smith AR? I'd buy the beer if you would like to help fix up a virgin Z! Pics soon to follow! and please let me know if I'm posting in the right spots! Thanks! Jonathan also, where should i start with the electrical? Edited February 25, 2011 by feero101 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BluDestiny Posted February 25, 2011 Share Posted February 25, 2011 Well it was sort of an intro but your question is in the right place. Start checking and cleaning every connection under the hood. Did the PO tell you that he unplugged anything? Also as with any car drain and replace the fluids Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
feero101 Posted February 25, 2011 Author Share Posted February 25, 2011 No but I did find a box right next to the battery that looks like it needs to be full of relays but is completely empty. Has some abbreviations on it. I'll add a pic after work. Reads acc, L, h.l., ign, egi, b, br, gbr if you know what parts I need. Thanks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
feero101 Posted February 25, 2011 Author Share Posted February 25, 2011 Also my ignition is stuck on run? Or possibly lock? It was turning just fine lastnight Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
feero101 Posted February 27, 2011 Author Share Posted February 27, 2011 Ok little update. Clearly I'm a newb. I've read millions of threads about fusible links but never learned exactly where they were. Found out that my fusible links where the problem... Imagine that! Wired all that up and she cranks!! Didn't try too much, dropping the tank tomorrow! It's been sitting 8 years with half a tank. It's probably all turned to jello by now.... Also wired up a push button start! Moved the cig lighter to the right side and hid the main switch to inside the ashtray. And once I finally got power to the car I realized my headlights don't get power and the driver side brake light stays on all the time and when brakes are applied I get nothing. More gremlins to workout tomorrow. Def going to have to replace the battery box, noticed a hole through the firewall into the cab... Yay more work! But now I'm going to relocate the battery to the spare tire area. Should be fun. Then I'm going to try out some interesting fab I'm not used to. Anyone else used the spray foam insulation to create a form to cover in fiberglass? Think I'm going to form out some nicer curves in the hatch area, also to add some surfaces to add a few rear speakers. All is well in Fort Smith tonight besides a few electrical issues! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
feero101 Posted February 28, 2011 Author Share Posted February 28, 2011 So finished another day on the Z today, dropped the tank to remove the bad gas first. went pretty well, wasnt too bad. It was easy enough to remove by myself with the aid of a few jack stands. There was only about a quarter tank in there and man did it smell like some old varnish! took it down to the car wash and washed it out, not too much rust flaked off. getting it back on took a little longer than expected. but it probably only took 2 hours total, so not too bad i would say. started to rip out the carpet to get a good look at the floor pan. IT'S PERFECT! i was so surprised to see a beautiful floor pan under there! the only rust is the battery tray which has eaten through the firewall, so ill tackled that asap. put some 91 octane in the tank and tried to fire her up for the first time in over eight years.. no such luck. ive got good spark but no fuel. switched out the inline fuel filter and blew out the hoses with my compressor. now im having some problems with my fuel pump. at the pump im getting about 1 volt. hahaha i was hoping for 12! so i tore this baby apart getting to all my relays, cant figure out whats going on. so i hardwired my pump and got absolutely nothing... more money coming out of my pocket... this 400 dollar baby has already turned into a 700 dollar car over the course of 2 days.. now a bit more for a pump.. i think i am just going to hardwire the pump into my hidden ignition switch so i wont ever forget to turn it back off when im done driving. what do you guys think of that? so here is a few pics of my lovely Ms. Ro"Z"lynn! ALSO! in pic 7 its of my fusible link box.. should there be another male connector on the middle section??? of course the actual connectors are gone and i have them wired up individually. btw its a 82 NA 280zx Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zeause Posted February 28, 2011 Share Posted February 28, 2011 Im from fort smith, i just bought a 73 240z last saturday! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dsommer Posted February 28, 2011 Share Posted February 28, 2011 Good to see some more Arkansas guy on the board. Can't help with the ZX issues but if you're ever up toward the Rogers area give me a shout. Be sure to check out bransonzfest.com for this years event, you won't be disappointed! David Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
feero101 Posted February 28, 2011 Author Share Posted February 28, 2011 zeause have you seen the 77 280z over by lowes on rogers? i almost tried to pick that baby up... but got a way better deal on my zx Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
twofouroh Posted February 28, 2011 Share Posted February 28, 2011 ALSO! in pic 7 its of my fusible link box.. should there be another male connector on the middle section??? of course the actual connectors are gone and i have them wired up individually. btw its a 82 NA 280zx Probably not - That would be a spot for a diode or breaker or something. When Connectors go missing from fuse panels, they generally leave big melted holes to let you know! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
feero101 Posted March 1, 2011 Author Share Posted March 1, 2011 Just picked up a new fuel pump... This baby will run tonight if it's the last thing I do!!! Ha, will update when I'm done Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zeause Posted March 1, 2011 Share Posted March 1, 2011 (edited) Yeah i checked it out too, but he told me $1200 and it that it hasn't ran since 08 then i came across mine for $1500 running. My brother in law is going to talk to the owner of it tomorrow or wednesday to see if he'll come off the price any. I second the idea that you should check out branson z fest. This will be our 3rd year going. We go up with 240sx every year because ive had so many and my wife has one and all our friends have them, but the 240z is going this year! Dsommer i seen your car in the show last year. It was one of my favorite s30s there, unbelievably clean. I really like the white. Edited March 1, 2011 by zeause Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
feero101 Posted March 1, 2011 Author Share Posted March 1, 2011 new fuel pump was the trick! ha, if it was only that easy. but i am getting fuel now! she stumbles around a little then dies off. took the battery out for a charge to make sure i can do all the trouble shooting i want with full juice! man.. i could have cried when she actually ran for a bit.. was beautiful! and yeah he told me 1200 about a week ago.. its got some rust for sure.. and i didnt even get to really look around. But as i was taking a quick look at that 280 i got a random text from a man in Van Buren. thats where i got this beautiful beast! $400 with an extra motor. but now that i know this motor isnt locked im needing to get rid of it. by the time i get to the level of wanting an engine swap it'll be a 350.. but thats waaaaaaay down the road. once i get my baby rollin down the road we should meet up! id love to check out a nice local Z! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
feero101 Posted March 2, 2011 Author Share Posted March 2, 2011 She runs!!!!!!! More wiring to work out this weekend.. But refardless she's taking her first trip under her own power in over 8 years Sunday evening. So pumped Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Oddmanout84 Posted March 2, 2011 Share Posted March 2, 2011 She runs!!!!!!! More wiring to work out this weekend.. But refartless she's taking her first trip under her own power in over 8 years Sunday evening. So pumped Fixed. Good to hear you got it running! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zeause Posted March 3, 2011 Share Posted March 3, 2011 Yeah congrats buddy! hope it goes good Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
feero101 Posted March 3, 2011 Author Share Posted March 3, 2011 Ok.... Well back to square one. I found out that two plug wires were switched. And a vacuum line was missing going to what I believe is the fuel reg on top of the fuel rail. But now I'm hearing a strange hissing noise while the fuel pump is priming. And I get a what sounds like a backfire through the airbox.. Needless to say she's not running now. Pretty upsetting. She totally blue balled me with the whole "running" lastnight. I'm at a loss. This blows Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
feero101 Posted March 4, 2011 Author Share Posted March 4, 2011 Didnt get to make it to the Z today. still hopping that pulling the rail and cleaning the injectors this weekend will solve my problem. cant narrow it down to which injector is stuck open.. but im sure that cylinder will be brimming with fuel.will i need to replace all the injectors at one time? if so it will probably be awhile till i get this beast running. im going to check and see how they are looking on my spare engine. hopefully those are nice and shiny! but im sure it wont be that easy, ha never is. but i might just have to start on the interior while im saving some change for 6 injectors and all the fixins to switch them out. im thinking about fabing up some pretty bitchin custom fiberglass moldings around the interior and custom center console. plus i do need to take of the dash cap thats in right now. ive got some cool ideas for smoothing out a new dash. all glass of course. i really enjoy working with the stuff. but still if there is anyone in the area who wants to work on a fellow Z hit me up! im always open to learn! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
feero101 Posted March 4, 2011 Author Share Posted March 4, 2011 also i have notice that i have a blue connector in my engine bay right up close to the pass. side headlight. what in the world does this go to? i have searched everywhere and cant figure out what this goes to! haha this is getting sad. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
feero101 Posted March 5, 2011 Author Share Posted March 5, 2011 (edited) So it started to rain so I'm done for the night. But I did switch out the plugs for shits and giggles. Haha 1 yr warranty. They looked pretty bad too. My plug wires haven't came in yet but I'm getting a spark still. Yanking off the fuel rail tomorrow to clean my injectors.. And I think my timing is off pretty bad, maybe that's what is giving me a backfire through the intake.. I'm feeling like I'm at a dead end here. I'm on my phone but will upload a pic of the blue mystery plug in a few. Edited March 5, 2011 by feero101 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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