I will this weekend. Out of town currently. The 83 had been a V8 retro.

 

Found these taken before cleaning.

 

OK we made some great progress tonight. Wired it back with the original igniter. Discovered we were NOT getting power to the coil when starting. As soon as the switch turns to the start position the coil loses power. So we ran a jumper from the battery to the coil and WE HAVE SPARK! Is this a bad ignition switch? I'm thinking it is.
Discovered the fuel pump is NOT running but is getting power. Tomorrow I plan to swap it with the one from the parts car and try again.

 

Swapped the fuel pump, replaced some aged rubber lines and it started up!!!
Only now it's missing on #1, 2 and 6.
Plan to remove the injectors tomorrow and clean them. My worst fear with this car (that was "running when I parked it") is that it has a terminal problem.

 

just an fyi your 83 turbo car does not look like its a turbo there is no J pipe on the intake

 

It also has the "Nissan OHC" valve cover, as opposed to the "TURBO" one that turbo cars come with...

But then again, my car had no J-pipe either.

 

Yeah that's what I was thinking. That's actually better for me for parts swapping.

 

lulz... yep... that 83 turbo sure ISN'T a turbo.

 

The PO told me he bought it as a 280zx-V8 swap but when the owner showed with the car the V8 was gone. He made a deal and bought it anyway.

Pulled the fuel pump off it yesterday and finally got the 79 to run. Only problem is it's missing on 3 cylinders. I'm hoping it's the injectors. Plan to clean them later this week.

 

Sounds like what happened to my '82, and it was the simplest mistake. I was running on 3 cylinders. And couldn't figure out what was wrong. Tried everything possible. Except I overlooked one thing. The spark plugs...Turned out I had 3 bad ones from factory. And didn't discover that until months later when it was too late. By the time I got the Z running again. I blew the head gasket. Because of running on 3 cylinders too long. So when you get a chance. Please check your spark plugs. I would say...swap them to different cylinders. Then if the dead cylinders trade places. There is your problem. Good luck, and keep us posted.

 

Super noob strikes again!

How do you know which cylinders aren't firing?

 

^ Who is the super noob? lol I hope you are not referring to me.

Anyway, one quick way to know the cylinders aren't firing. Is unplugging the injectors while the car is running. Or you could do the spark plug wires. I just find doing the injector plugs. Are a lot less shocking.

 

Unplug the spark plug wires one at a time. If the engine changes idle then it's firing on that cylinder. If there is no change the cylinder is not firing.
(I used a leather glove to avoid the shock)

 

No, I refer to myself as Super Noob because of that question lol.

I mean, when your driving down the road, and think "Hmm, only 3 cylinders are firing" what makes you think that?

 

Miss doesn't follow the plugs. Guess I'll check the injectors. The plugs I pulled from the engine looked all the same. Worn but worn the same.

 

UPDATE:
Finally got the injectors back in. I had to replace all the rubber on the fuel rail and order new pintle caps. I also cleaned the intake while it was reachable.
Engine now runs MUCH better. I noticed some white smoke when I idle it up. I'm hoping this is the seafoam I added to the 2.5 gallons of fuel in the tank.
Now I have two electrical problems to sort out.
1) the tach doesn't work
2) Every time I start and stop the car one of the fuses blows from the former fusable link. It's only a 20 amp fuse. Maybe not enough?

 

^ I would say you still have a short somewhere in your wiring. I would check your ignition somewhere. Considering you are blowing a fuse, when you start, and turn off the car. As for the tach, maybe the board? Or a broken wire somewhere? All it takes is more troubleshooting. I have to do that myself, with some problems. I am having getting mine running. Hope you get it sorted out.

 

Aaaah!
The short is the back! I narrowed it down to the EFU relay. If I unplug the relay the short is gone. I tested the wires running to the relay. 2-Green wires (ground) 2-Yellow wires and 2- blue wires. The yellow and blue wires are hot and clean.
BUT-
When I plug the relay in the short comes back. OK so bad relay?
What puzzles me is if I test the 6 legs of the relay NONE of them have continuity. This means (logically) plugging in the relay shouldn't change anything right?
Very puzzled!
The FSM tells me there should be continuity between 4 and 5 (2 green wires)

 

The short was a ruse. The problem was that a quick blow 20 amp fuse was not enough for the load. After replacing it with a slow blow 30 amp it works great. Everything in the dash works now except maybe the clock

We had it running great. However, after fixing the brakes and clutch now I have a white smoke problem. It's dumping fuel bad and back firing. Plugs are wet with fuel. I tried clamping the hose from the cold start valve and it cleared up. What would cause this valve to stick open? Is it getting bad info from another sensor?

 

Well according to what I just read in the 280Z Fuel Injection book, the cold start valve should only operate during cranking.

 

I'm wondering if the ignition switch might be the problem. The 79 switch was damaged from a short so I swapped the 83. I'm thinking the 83 might be different. It might be causing the EFI relay to stay in start mode which would cause the ECU to continue to enrich the fuel with the cold start valve.

 

Looks like the "S" on the ignition switch is what energizes the EFI relay. Same on both 79 and 83 switch. Sorry for the rambling

 

Tried starting it with the cold start valve electrical disconnected. Imagine my surprise when fuel began spraying out of a hole in the hose. This tells me two things:
1) there is a hole in the hose caused from crimping a 32 year old hose
2) there is STILL pressure from the valve even though it's electrical is disconnected.
Does this mean the valve is bad?

 

OK, dumb mistake. Was thinking the fuel ran the other way. The rubber line has pressure all the time.
I pulled the cold start valve and tested it. It pulses fine.
If I run the car with the cold start valve electrical disconnected in runs OK, maybe still rich but certainly doesn't smoke and blow fuel out the exhaust. I discovered the first injector is not working. This really sucks because they were all working.

 

Looked online. The part number for the 79 and 83 ignition switch is the SAME. Another dead end.