79fairlady280

i found out that i need to replace my ecm in my 280. the only problem is i bought the car with a mega squirt system, so i dont have access to the oem ecm. So my question is, how can i check to see if im buying the right ecm? Will a Datsun ecm work with my fairlady? and if so where can i buy one? any help would be awesome thanks.

NismoPick

So you're converting the whole thing from Megasquirt back to stock? You have the stock harness & all stock sensors?

BlueKitsune

Ouch, You have to get the right MS ecu then you have to program it for your Z. Otherwise you going to have to reinstall the stock wiring harness to use the stock ECU again.

79fairlady280

yea thats the problem, i think the guy i bought it off didnt know what he was doing. i dont have the stock wiring harness either. any idea as to what i can do?

NismoPick

Did the car ever run w/ megasquirt? How do you know it's the ecu?

79fairlady280

because ive adjusted the timing twice, checked the injectors, the maf sensor is working properly, replaced all the vaccum lines and it still isnt burning fuel right. it smells way too rich so im assuming the ecm is the culprit. the idle is very rough and the car has a tendency of dying if left idling. also i compression tested all the cylinders and they read 140-145. any other ideas as to what it could be? im assuming its the ecm though because the car is a fairlady, so emission standards would be different right? if the guy who owned the car before me programed it to meet american emission standards, would it affect the cars performance?

79fairlady280

oh and to answer your question yes its running.

killaimdie

Check your air regulator. It's part of the startup/warmup process, causes the car to run rich until the air temp has increased. It was causing mine to die immediately on idle, start hard, and I left a thick black exhaust residue in the parking lot where I was working on it. It sits on the front driver side of the engine and has an electrical plug attached to it. Should be pretty easy to find if you have the Haynes manual. don't know how to check it though, the bi-metal spring on mine had actually detached from the rest of the assembly.

bojo68

This one's kinda subjective, but personally, I'd play wiht the mega squirt until I got it right, but that's the kinda guy I am. If your not inclined to mess with such stuff, it's probably easier to put a used stock setup back on. I do have an extra ecu for a 79, trade for the ms sys..

NismoPick

Exactly. Megasquirt is completely tunable. Hook up a freaking laptop & check the parameters. No need to scrap an awesome EFI and go back to ancient technology.

bojo68

The problem with that is...., I need a sys to control the eight additional injectors my transplant eng is gonna need...

79fairlady280

yes, youre right about that. do you know where i could get the software for it? as for finding the air regulator, are you talking drivers side left or right? i also have the same problem where liquid carbon deposits shoot out the exhaust when it runs cold. (sorry i neglected to add that bit of info). also it has a problem accelerating from idle. once it gets going its fine, but when getting it moving it tends to lag.

79fairlady280

and dang, whats youre transplant engine?

NismoPick

Start here: http://www.msefi.com/index.php

bojo68

Well, the simple answer is a ford v8, although, it's debatable how true that is. Let's put it this way, it's a production eng. that came in a vehicle with a ford badge.

79fairlady280

are there any specs that i can go by to program it to japanese spec