not sure if im posting these 2 photos correctly off my photobucket site.

the first one is from Nismo's awesome instructs on timing set up from a very old post. It also reflects what Haynes manual says of course.

the 2nd photo is the position of my oil pump shaft before removal at TDC with the dizzy rotor pointing forward. mine's more like 11:29 maybe.

does that look like mine was previously stabbed a "tooth" off or am I ok?
I never shot the timing before taking all this apart, to see where the notch on the balancer and timing marks lined up at. I actually never intended to take this all apart but made the noob mistake of letting the timing chain tensioner pop out while swapping heads. a fate worse than death..

 

Did you line up the two dots on the oil pump & shaft?
Is the motor at absolute TDC? (Pointing right at 0*)

 

i took that pic before i removed the oil pump. i havent put it back in yet. i thought i had it dead on at tdc but maybe not. when i re-install everything i'll make sure its spot on.

 

Ok so I took my timing cover off because I was a tooth off. When I checked it with my friends timing light. It was correct with the plate. Now I bought a light and im off like 20 degrees is the lowest I can set it too. Wtf what could cause this? The light? I just need some advice on this because I dont have the money to buy new oil and radiator fluid. I heard you can loosen the oil pump shaft and adjust with needle nose pliers, but that is out of the question since I broke a bolt from the bottom.

 

Btw its an 83 280zx na

 

What dots on the shaf?

 

You don't take the timing cover off... you just drop (remove the oil pump).

The dots... Please tell me you did not do all this work without a Haynes or FSM in front of you...

 

Haha I did my homework.apperently not enough. -_-thanks dude!

 

The two holes you aline one on the shaft and one on the pump are just a factory set up, Its just for reference in relationship with the stock distributor. Does this make sense>

In theory the 83 280zx n/a (I think all n/a) you can have the timing anywhere your heart desires, as long as at BTDC 10 degrees your rotor is pointed exactly at the number one spark plug and goes 1-5-3-6-2-4 counter clock wise. And to get extra advancement or retarding on the distributor there is a 8mm bolt on the back of the pivot gasket as well as your timing adjustment 10mm bolt on the front, if you can't advance or retard close enough to 10 degrees. Just my to cents before you take off the stabilizer bar and drop the oil pump.

If you have taken these off and moving a tooth just remember to be on the compression stoke and use a pair of clamping needle nose pliers to hold the shaft in place as you take off the oil pump, and from there you can hold the pliers and go down a little and move a tooth up or down.

If you are at TDC you don't have to worrie about the holes, you can't install the oil shaft wrong in the oil pump, the holes are just a reference for humans.

P.S no book is going to tell you this, PRIME your oil pump before installing, just top off with oil, dry pump = no pressure for a bit and can cause damage.

Mixon123

 

I took it apart again. Its a no start. Im not recieving spark from coil. Its a new coil it has power. I dont know what else it could be besides the dizzy or control mod.it just cranks. I brought it up on compression stroak and aligned the points on shafts.....wtf please help I have to get that car back home.

 

I think the reason this always comes up is because people aren't setting the motor at TDC before they reinstall the oil pump. I had never done this before and pulled it out, lined it up, put it back and no start. Then my friend and I hand rotated the crank with the dipstick down the number one spark plug hole until it was right at about the top of it's stroke and the timing mark on the crank was lined up with 0 on the plate. Pulled the pump, lined up the marks and put it back in and checked via the reference pictures and we were good to go. A quick fix though is if your timing is off you can take the adjustment bolts out of the distributor and actually turn it beyond the adjustment range and then put the bolts back in to hold it in place. We did this and actually had the car running decently because timing was almost to where it should be. Just is a pain.

 

Thats what ive been doing. Man what else cold be the problem?

 

It's a new coil? And you testing the volts while cranking it over? No spark is coming off the coil wire at the end where it hooks up to the rotor cap(take that off and set volt meter, and see whats she kicks on crank over. Theirs is a positive/negative on the primary coil its marked check....check all ground from battier down. Have you checked the coil if its in its ohms range car off.

So what I am saying is if the primary coil is not giving any spark. It has nothing to do with timing>>>>SO SO SO if you read on checking if the ECU is working you put a lamp test on the number one spark plug and see if it lights up on start up (fuel disabled), and if it does not, check power and then the ECU

How you tested your battier.

Dont get upset but if there is no spark, forget about timing RIGHT NOW

 

I got voltage going to the rotor during cranking.

 

Coil is all clear for sure. How do I check the dizzy?

 

FUEL FUEL FUEL....the pump. PRESSURE, IS IT HOLDING!!!!!!! TEST

Do you have a lamp test, (little bulb that fits in the injector connection) you can rent them at autozone/autostore for free. Like I said if you don't know if the number one spark plug is getting juice on start up, you are lost (Lamp test).

The distributor carries the spark to the plug (!!LAMP TEST!!) and the electric system picks up when warming up, so if your IC unit is bad(or anything electrical in the dizzy) it's not going to effect the start up.

If you want to check the distributor than you need to take a look inside>(ONLY IF THERE IS NO SPARK TO THE NUMBER ONE SPARK PLUG ON START UP) Things like, the stator, reluctor, breaker plate etc. its really ez. BUT!!!!!!!!!!!

This is what I would do, even know we don't even know the problem with your ride....you changed something, chained moved a tooth because??????( because if it did there was no reason to mess with the distributor and oil pump) ANywho

I don't know how you found the compression stroke on the #1 cylinder, but if was going to find it I would take off the #1 spark plug and put my thumb over the hole (NOT IN THE HOLE YOU WILL LOSE THAT FINGER) and have somebody crank her over just a little(barley each time) till it pops it off with air a big burst recognizable, than set it to BTDC witch is (10 -+ 2 degrees) and install the distributor,so the tang is 11:57 on the oil pump with the small side toward the front and the rotor pointing at the line in between the green/red wording on the front of the distributor if you put the oil shaft on the way THEY want you to and if your distributor adjusting bolt/s is in the middle.

hope this helps Mixon123

Let us know more HOW DID YOU GET TO THIS POINT start to finsh!

 

Will do thanks bud I appreciate it. Btw I installed energy suspenion bushings and kybs now I have a **** load of positive camber is this normal?

 

Ok checked everything zero spark. Wtf?!

 

Has to be the dizzy. I did drop it lol.

 

It was the dizzy shaft bent when I dropped it. Thanks for all the suport guys.

 

I have a 280zx na. I read to set ignition timing to 8 degrees, but the car runs like crap. Im running 91. What could be the problem? What should I set it too? Im so lost. Any guides?

 

1983**

 

I do have almost any part for the dizzy.

 

Whole list of things. Need more info on car. Did you just pick it up? What have you replaced, adjusted and what are the problem symptoms i.e. runs like crap at low rpm and better at high??

 

Well its a new coil. New cap. New rotor. New wires. New dizzy. It runs like poop. At low and high rpm. I was running it way advanced since I was a tooth off now its in range and cant get it runing at specs.