sounds fun! cant wait to see it.

 

It would be best to either keep the factory Bypass value hooked up, or to install a POV.
Not only will it be easier on your poor turbo, but it will hold boost between shifts.

Its the plastic device that hangs on the right side of your engine. All 280zx's had them from the factory.

 

Its the plastic device that hangs on the right side of your engine. All 280zx's had them from the factory.
[/QUOTE]



oh kinda like a hair dryer.

my sisters got one of them.

 

Wiggle the wires on the ecu.

If something else is not allowing your engine to make power, your exhaust flow could well not be enough to make boost.

 

ok it's definately what you said it was.

now I have a new problem.. My car is driving like crap now, it's backfiring under load and just kinda scares me to drive. I had no problems timing the engine before when it didn't have that dumb front side 81 cas.

Is there a decent way to set timing on those without chopping my hands off in the cooling fan? I checked my haynes manual and it was pretty vague about my years setup?

any takers here?

 

What who said what was? What was the prob?

Yep...
-Loosen the distributor base (two 10mm bolts) so that you can twist the distributor by hand, but there is still some tension to keep it in place.
-Start the car
-Aim your timing gun right at the timing plate / crank pulley
-With your free hand, adjust the distrib until you get to ~20*
-Shut car off
-Tighten distrib

 

no video?

 

I always heard you had to adjust the crank angle sensor on the 81's since it wasn't located inside the dizzy.

I'll get a vid when my car doesn't sound like it's going to choke and die

 

from that description it sounds like it could be an ECU or AFM problem/connection problem.

 

i'll go out and shake my connections around and see what happens.

 

clean them to and make sure all the female ends are bent so they grasp the male ends tight. at the AFM and ECU most importantly but do them ALL!!!! TPS, CHTS, injectors, AFM, ECU, CAS. .... i think thats it...

 

There are 4 bolts associated with the 1981 crank angle sensor.

The two outbound bolts hold the sensor to the a/c bracket. The two inner bolts are what you loosen so you can turn the adjusting screw.

First to do is see make sure it is about .045 (think big spark plug gap) from the teeth on the flywheel pulley.

If it's not the right distance, that needs to be first changed.

Also..........if the idle is too high, the timing won't be accurate so idle must be brought down.

Most need no adjustment since nobody adjusts them out of range anyway.

 

when I had a troublesome turbo Z, it would backfire as soon as I made boost. otherwise it ran pretty good at idle and low throttle driving.

In the end it was a small vacuum/boost leak. I had one injector with no o-ring at the base. I couldn't see it from the top of the engine and I sprayed starting fluid on it while the engine was idling to no effect.

You may still have a very small leak or a bad AFM.

 

well i'm pretty sure I got it all figured out..

2 words... Casey's Gas...

I had the same problem with my gtp 5 years ago and thought my car was going to blow up. All i had to do is go fuel up at a different station with 92 octane, tossed in some cleaner and it's purring again.

stupid low quality gas...

 

With my wiring issues I had random problems were sometimes it would run fine then run really badly above I think 3500 RPM. It would sputter and cut out. I'd reach down shake the wires and everything was fine. Then with the Z31 swap with wiring issues my car would run fine, but randomly idle very poorly.

 

That was due to the ecu wiring? Mine still does that sometimes... and I'm pretty sure it's not the wiring anymore. After a rev, if I just let off, it drops to about 400rpm & just bumps like it's going to die... tap the throttle & it comes back to ~750.

 

ok new update....

this car is driving me nuts.... when i try to adjust the timing via dizzy i does nothing whatsoever. I'm not sure if it has something to do with it being a 81 because the are basicly empty.

My timing is sitting around a 1/4 inch past the 20 mark and nothing will bring her down. It's idling around 750-800 after it warms up and never really strays.

Also.. when i drive it the boost kicks in great sometimes, other times it will stutter and backfire. When i get it back to the house sometimes the engine starts chugging for no reason and stutters when i give it gas.

Also.. on the harness with the ignitor lead under the dash and near the ecu, there is a yellow wire that diagrams say to tap into a 12v true ignition source. whenever i hook that up it runs like complete crap, poofs some smoke and idles like junk.

and finally the fuel pump harness with the black/white/yellow/ green wires near the battery.. I was dicking around with those and my car still starts and runs fine without the green lead hooked up. From what the diagrams say it should be ran between the fpr and the fuel pump... the only wires i currently have hooked up now on that side are the black and green ones.

All my wires are tight and clean, vacuum is sitting around 18-19 at idle and everything else looks fine.

I've searched so much today that my eyes literally started to bleed from the sockets.... lol

anybody have ideas here? Could something be out of whack on the timing chain or oil pump?

thanks again.. you guys rock!

 

its possible for it to be the chain or pump shaft if you ever removed any of those. sounds like an AFM or ECU problem. mine did this to. the timing sounds a little high but i think its alright, 1/4 inch past 20 is probably 25 degrees advanced.

 

i went out and dicked with the cas and got it to idle and rev pretty smooth.

do those front side 81 cas's screw up or get inconsistent over time? I've been looking for a 83 dizzy with the oil spindle for awhile, but never found one to replace it with. I hear they are worlds better when it comes to timing the car.

I didn't mess with the chain or oil pump, everything looked good when i did the inspection while it was getting rebuilt / cleaned up.

man i love to hate my z :P

 

well the fun continues.... the car runs great on the highway, in town and everywhere else while it's moving. After i park it and let the car idle or turn it off, leave it for awhile then start it up it's has a *blub blub blub* to the idle.

Once i give it gas the problems cease.. then when i repeat the above the fun starts again... is there a sensor that could be going fubar?

 

Sounds like your AFM may be sticking?

Are there worn grooves in the carbon track on the circuit board of the AFM?

Have you tried starting it, and when it's "blub blub blub" tried moving the AFM with your fingers and the plastic cover removed?

You will not be able to adjust timing without moving the CAS on the bracket on the lower front left side of the block by the harmonic dampner.
Even then, it can be touchy. I would not do that first because you might start more problems than you fix.

 

One last quick question.. sorry to bother you guys again.

Do any of you know off hand what color the detonation sensor wires are on the 81 turbo harness? I searched the 81 - 83 wiring diagrams for around an hour and didn't see anything at all.

basicly the only wires i have that are free down there are blue and green ones with the female push ends on them with the clear rubber covers and there is another set of red and black wires, they were cut though when i got the harness and have no ends.

i'm pretty sure a knock sensor that isn't hooked up right will make the car run funny.

 

I believe the detonation sensor wires are red & black. That sensor won't keep the car from running correctly unless the wires were twisted together. All it does is retard timing when it senses detonation.

 

second ^^^^^^ big second, that is absolutely correct. i did my S30 turbo swap with no detonation sensor and it ran fine and the wire were red and black.

 

I'm pretty sure my problems are stemming from the front 81 cas.

I got on it pretty good today and out of nowhere the engine started stuttering and would make a noise similar to somebody making a light farting noise with your lips and tongue... lol

When that happened anytime i hit the gas my engine would sputter, lose all power and making the farting noise. After i yanked the cas off and adjusted it the car started up fine, with still a few sputters and backfiring at full boost.

I'm seriously thinking about ripping all that crap out and going megasquirt.

That or find a 83 dizzy/cas setup and replace the 81 cas.

I can't deal with my car being lightning fast one day and going to hell the next for no reason