240z Resto

[Makesy]

Finished forming the fuel lines which was fairly straight forward. I also finished off the brackets to hold them in place.



lines ready to go,I tried to fit them....



What a b*****d of a job that was!

After a lot of swearing and recutting, I got them fitted, but I'm not over the moon with the outcome..

Growing fed up of the fuel system, I turned my attention to some bodywork...

Under the ash tray was some fairly unsightly surface rust.



A quick sand back and spray later and it should keep it at bay for now until I set about the full bodywork



Tonight I turned my attention back to the EFI. I wired everything up, save for the ACC input which I can't find on my car. Instead I resorted to a direct Positive connection with a toggle switch.



Coil back on...


I need to neaten everything up, as in my excitement it got.a bit untidy...



Fluids back in, I powered everything up and turned the key...

A bit of a chugg and.....

The car wouldn't start!

I think it may be a timing issue, as I'm sort of back to where I started when I first got the car.

I have a vacuum leak somewhere and the EFI is throwing up a TPS error code!

Needless to say, I am not best pleased!

 

[SacCyclone]

1 step forward and 2 back... that's normal stuff but frustrating I know.
Getting close to running is exciting though!!!!

 

[Makesy]

With a fresh look at the car today I managed to fix the TPS error. It seems that if the sensor is allowed to reach its absolute minimum, the ECU assumes it is broken and records and error.

By adjusting it so there is a slight reading on the sensor, I fixed the problem!

The fuel pressure was still an issue however.

I was struggling to find the leak until I noticed that some of my new paint on the intake had started to disappear under injector 1.

Not the best picture in the world, but I spotted the fuel leak



This is sort of my own fault, as I cheaped out and decided to re-hose my injectors some time ago rather than replace them.

I popped a jubilee clip over the leak but it hasn't fixed the issue, so I suspect new injectors are in order...

Fuel pressure bobbles around 34 before dropping off to around 25-30 with the pump still running

 

[Mark N]

Was that fuel pressure reading with only the fuel pump running, and not the engine running or cranking?

 

[Makesy]

Was that fuel pressure reading with only the fuel pump running, and not the engine running or cranking?

It would hit around 34 and then slowly drop, even with the pump running.

It just so happens that I swapped out the FPR with the one you sent me and it now sits at 36 and doesn't drop whilst the pump is on, indicating my FPR was perhaps to blame.

When the pump is turned off, it slowly drops off over 5 mins or so to about 20 where it sits, which is still a bit concerning as I do recall a few months ago being able to leave the car for days without seeing the fuel pressure drop.

 

[Makesy]

Got my fuel rail reinstalled tonight and gave it a go at starting.

I did have it running briefly but pretty rough, and not all cylinders were firing.

Pressure is holding steady at around 36, which is positive.

I'm a bit stumped...

Tomorrow I will try some easy start, and failing that maybe change the spark plugs.

Injectors are possibly past it too, but if that's the case I'll move to modern ones.

 

[Makesy]

Finished fitting my Zstory exhaust today.

Pretty straight forward install.

 

[Makesy]

With a request via @Mr Ex Jnr , 280Z owner Mick popped over with his mate this evening to help have a look at my car.

First they sorted the timing as best they could, though indicated it was a tooth out, but should run at about 10 degrees now

However, my injectors don't appear to be actuating for some reason - possibly as they are not high resistance types.

I'm going to attempt fitting some resistors into their circuits to see if this helps any, but this is turning into quite the headache!

 

[Makesy]

Back again! Life got in the way, and I abandoned the car for a few months (Sorry Z!)

I gave resistors a go, and had no joy. Z Car Depot ended up shipping me a replacement ECU as it turned out mine was broken!

I've managed to have the car splutter to life and broadly fire on 2 or 3 cylinders, but as soon as I put my foot down, it would kill it, and render it unstartable.

I'm quite frustrated now, and unsure how best to fix the issues I'm having.

A mate came over at the weekend and we ran a compression test. Bear in mind that this is a cold engine which hasn't run properly for many moons:

Cyl / Psi
1 / 120
2 / 120
3 / 130
4 / 125
5 / 115
6 / 120

Results looked on the low side, but this could be due to the temperature, and from what I gather, not low enough to prevent running?

I pulled a couple of plugs and they looked wet, and the car does fire up on easy start, but then dies off, suggesting a fueling issue.

Fearing that the injectors are duff, I'm tempted to buy a new set for ~£200

Or....this: https://zcardepot.com/products/fuel...gulator-efi-280z-280zx?variant=30876589097073 and use some injectors from a VR6.

I'm really out of ideas otherwise, and desperate to have her working!

 

[jonbills]

Those cylinder pressures look OK for the engine to run.
I read many threads on classiczcars.com about 280z injection systems that aren't working and injectors can get gummed up but many other things can be wrong too.
I think you have to be methodical and go through the FSM step by step.
It may take a while but you'll know the engine at the end!

 

[Makesy]

Those cylinder pressures look OK for the engine to run.
I read many threads on classiczcars.com about 280z injection systems that aren't working and injectors can get gummed up but many other things can be wrong too.
I think you have to be methodical and go through the FSM step by step.
It may take a while but you'll know the engine at the end!

I removed the old fuel system @jonbills, but I'll have another look at the FSM. Apart from the fuel rail and injectors, everything else has been replaced.

 

[jonbills]

I removed the old fuel system @jonbills, but I'll have another look at the FSM. Apart from the fuel rail and injectors, everything else has been replaced.

91 pages on Tapatalk! I've got no chance of knowing

 

[uk66fastback]

Apart from the fuel rail and injectors, everything else has been replaced.

You've maybe answered your own query above then ... (as regards knowing where to look first) ...

If you rule them both out then it's the set-up somewhere ...

 

[Makesy]

I've had a bit of time to play, and still haven't really got anywhere.

All injectors are receiving slightly over 12v, suggesting all wiring is as it should be.

After all my messing about, it looks like I have a mix of injectors. Some are green, indicating they're from a 280Z/ZX, and some are brown, indicating they're from a ZXT. The ZXT injectors push out more fuel, and it's not good to have a mix of types.

I suspect 1 or 2 of the injectors may have died, as plugs are a mix of wet and dry when pulled after cranking.

I didn't want to spend money on old tech, so I've placed an order for a fuel rail from Datsun Europe.

This allows me to move away from old barb-style injectors that are getting harder to find, and into 14mm O-ring style injectors featured on more modern cars. It also allows for potential upgrade options should I choose to in the future.

I plan to run this with a set of refurbed injectors from a 2.8 VR6 corrado that run at roughly the same rate as the stock 280Z injectors, and then work my way up should I wish to do so later.

All my kit should arrive next week. This is my last hope before 'throwing the towel in' and handing it over to a garage!

Fuel rail image:

 

[Makesy]

Whilst waiting for all my kit to arrive, I noticed @SeanDezart post about a new gasket he'd released for his exhaust. The new gasket is designed with cutouts for injector ports on EFI cars.

I had a lightbulb moment when I realised this could be an issue I'm having!

When I removed my fuel rail, I spotted this:



All the ports were mostly covered up by the gasket!

I had a full gasket kit for an L28 lying around, so I set about installing that one instead.

 

[Makesy]

Installed my new fuel rail today.



Quite pleased with the results, though I need to hide that wiring better.

Once I know the car is running, I'll tidy up the wires, hoses etc.

Next job is to fit AN fittings to fuel hoses and install an adjustable FPR

 

[MaximG]

Yep that gasket issue wouldn't help.

 

[Makesy]

AN fittings in place...



Fitted up to the car, with the FPR...



And it still won't start!

With practically everything involved being
new/updated, I'm kind of out of ideas.

I'll be approaching a mechanic in the new year, I guess!

 

[Makesy]

I half abandoned my project whilst I was deciding on a mechanic , as I'd decided it was out of my capabilities by this point. But recently decided to have another crack at it.

Over the past few weeks I took a little advice from a few different folk (thanks @johnymd) found TDC again, rechecked the leads/firing order and bought new sparkles.

I hadn't been motivated to spend a lot of time on the car so not a lot of progress was made very quickly.

This week I topped up with a little more fuel, and played with the EZ EFI settings a little more to try and find the right balance.

And then on Tuesday this happened...

Finally it's alive! For those of you that know how much trouble I've had with this car, you won't be surprised to know I'm over the moon!

It needs a good few other bits sorting, and a bit of fettling to run nicely, but finally it was moving under its own steam for the first time in what feels like forever (18 months)!

Now, onward to fixing everything else!

 

[Rushingphil]

Fantastic news - well done! You must feel like you've just given birth

Now you can really start to get it running sweet