Sunbaked '76 Cali 280z

[SacCyclone]

The condensation water out the exhaust is normal, especially if the car was started multiple times and shut down without coming up to temp. I remember my mate was playing with the AFM at the front with carb cleaner and was able to get it to run much better. We did clean up the connections of the 2 temp sensors as they were corroded. Check them again as well, the long ocean boat ride was probably not kind to old electronics.

 

[Robotsan]

The condensation water out the exhaust is normal, especially if the car was started multiple times and shut down without coming up to temp. I remember my mate was playing with the AFM at the front with carb cleaner and was able to get it to run much better. We did clean up the connections of the 2 temp sensors as they were corroded. Check them again as well, the long ocean boat ride was probably not kind to old electronics.

Thanks Mike, that's good to know!
I'll give all the connections a look. Was planning on checking them all soon anyway.

What was he doing with the carb cleaner and the AFM to make it run better?

 

[Robotsan]

These are all the parts in the oddments tray which look like they could form part of the aerial assembly. Anyone able to tell me which ones specifically are part of it and which are not?

View attachment 52806

By the way @SacCyclone these are all the parts in the centre console. Aside from the lower of the 2 big plastic pieces, any idea what else forms part of the aerial assembly? Not sure if it all is, or if there were other parts in this tray when you handed the car over?

 

[Jay.]

Glad that it finally arrived, must be like Christmas! Looking forward to all the updates

 

[SacCyclone]

The long spring on the right looks like a return spring for the SU carbs....there are usually 2 of them.

Round plastic chrome and rubber is for the mast.

The others I'm not sure but start a large plastic container for misc nuts, bolts, and other small bits as they come in handy down the road. I have 2 coffee cans of misc nuts and bolts that I am always accessing.

I have not played with the AFM much but I believe that there is a part at the front of the AFM that moves and he was using carb cleaner to get it moving freely??? Gary is in Monterey at the big car show and I can ask when he returns.

Mike

 

[Robotsan]

The long spring on the right looks like a return spring for the SU carbs....there are usually 2 of them.

Round plastic chrome and rubber is for the mast.

The others I'm not sure but start a large plastic container for misc nuts, bolts, and other small bits as they come in handy down the road. I have 2 coffee cans of misc nuts and bolts that I am always accessing.

I have not played with the AFM much but I believe that there is a part at the front of the AFM that moves and he was using carb cleaner to get it moving freely??? Gary is in Monterey at the big car show and I can ask when he returns.

Mike

Thanks Mike, I'll have a play around with those bits. And good plan with the nuts & bolts jar!

Re: the AFM, I found this guide on fixing it so I'll use what you've told me and that together.

Hopefully though after I've run the car for a while next week we might even find it doesn't need the AFM fiddling with.

 

[SacCyclone]

That guide look like a great place to start if you need to enter that world.

 

[Robotsan]

Got back from the Lakes today and ran the Z for 30 minutes as suggested.

Idle sorted itself out nicely and it sat there happily chugging away. The smoke also stopped. It was whitish I think before.

But .. still when I give it some beans, it chucks out big clouds of black smoke. See video below. So does that mean it's still running rich?

I will pull a plug or two out later once it's cooled down and see how they look.

 

[Alphabettispaghetti]

can you leave it at circa 3-4000 rpm for a good 5 mins or more, let it get properly warm?

 

[Robotsan]

In terms of the gauges.. @SacCyclone I know you said the water guage & fuel gauge are non-op, but the water temp does seem to be working - maybe?!

After 30 min on the drive in about 21°c weather, the guage is reading about 200°F I believe. I'm guessing that's ok? As 185°F would be the middle, and maybe if it was moving it would be sat at more like 185?

Here's the temp & oil pressure with ignition off:



And then on - see how oil pressure has crept up a bit too? Although I've read that should be in the middle too.

So if these gauges are at least moving, does that suggest that they are working, and that the sensors maybe be broken instead?



The fuel gauge does seem to move a tad too - it lifts slowly off the far left and moves about 4mm on ignition on, which would maybe make sense if it was empty and you'd put 5 gallons in Mike?

I also took the car for a little spin up our cul-de-sac and back to turn it round - was great to actually drive it The brakes do drop the car ok, there's just a hell of a lot of pedal travel.

The suspension is hilarious though. I'll look forward to that being upgraded!

 

[Robotsan]

can you leave it at circa 3-4000 rpm for a good 5 mins or more, let it get properly warm?

Ah ok, I'll try that. Regarding the temps - have a look at the 2nd post I've just made above. Not sure if it's getting too hot anyway just from being sat still? I'd like to know that first before stressing it at 4k revs for that long, just in case it overheats.

 

[toopy]

Was the radiator/top hose nice and hot? if not it could be the thermostat is not operating properly/clogged/stuck partially open/closed!
AFAIK the temp should hold reasonably steady when stationary if the cooling system and mechanical fan are working correctly.

Oil pressure gauge can read that low on idle with an engine that's up to temp, important bit is that it sits approx in the centre of the gauge or higher from a cold start and then also increases from low down when revs are higher when hot. It moves at a sedate pace so you won't get an instant change when revving rather a gradual increase if you keep revving or hold the revs higher.

 

[SacCyclone]

As for the oil pressure gauge, we swapped out the sending unit with 2 other spares that we had and this one worked the best, the others showed nothing.....the car has good oil pressure as the one in the car showed in the middle of the range several times while I was in possession of the car. Best to get a new replacement sending unit for the oil pressure gauge.

Same goes for the water temp sending unit, sometimes it worked fine and other times it showed no movement. The wires to the water temp sending unit were corroded a bit which is typical but we cleaned them and the temp showed normal. Again, prob best to replace the sending unit on the water temp side of things.

Both oil and water gauge were checked using 12V and they both worked.

Gauges in these cars are known for being off and not showing correctly. After you replace the sending units to get the gauges working, I would throw a set of mechanical gauges in the car under the passenger glovebox so you know exactly what you have. IMO

Mike

 

[Robotsan]

Was the radiator/top hose nice and hot? if not it could be the thermostat is not operating properly/clogged/stuck partially open/closed!
AFAIK the temp should hold reasonably steady when stationary if the cooling system and mechanical fan are working correctly.

Oil pressure gauge can read that low on idle with an engine that's up to temp, important bit is that it sits approx in the centre of the gauge or higher from a cold start and then also increases from low down when revs are higher when hot. It moves at a sedate pace so you won't get an instant change when revving rather a gradual increase if you keep revving or hold the revs higher.

Ah, I don't know if the rad and top hose was hot. I'll have to run it again tomorrow and check that.

So that temp could be a bit high then? Either that or the guage / sender is a bit off as Mike suggests.

I just started it again from pretty much cold, to move it back into the garage and checked the oil pressure gauge did as you said - moved almost to the centre, so that's good!

Thanks for that info

 

[Robotsan]

As for the oil pressure gauge, we swapped out the sending unit with 2 other spares that we had and this one worked the best, the others showed nothing.....the car has good oil pressure as the one in the car showed in the middle of the range several times while I was in possession of the car. Best to get a new replacement sending unit for the oil pressure gauge.

Same goes for the water temp sending unit, sometimes it worked fine and other times it showed no movement. The wires to the water temp sending unit were corroded a bit which is typical but we cleaned them and the temp showed normal. Again, prob best to replace the sending unit on the water temp side of things.

Both oil and water gauge were checked using 12V and they both worked.

Gauges in these cars are known for being off and not showing correctly. After you replace the sending units to get the gauges working, I would throw a set of mechanical gauges in the car under the passenger glovebox so you know exactly what you have. IMO

Mike

View attachment 52871

Thanks Mike that's really useful. I'll add new senders to the to-do list!

Managed to get the aerial back together too

 

[Robotsan]

I also decided to get the car up on some ramps and pressure wash the underside, as it had lots of caked on California dirt under there and in the wheel arches, so I wanted to see how it would all look clean.

It's all pretty good under there - just some surface rust on the subframes and other bits.

But I've noticed the old underseal is peeling off in a lot of places, mainly where there are bolts and things. Is this now a ticking time bomb, rust wise?

I was thinking of getting something like Lanoguard and coating the entire underside with that to hopefully stop it from rusting away now it's in England? At least to keep it as solid as possible before I can afford to get the underside professionally redone.





Really impressed with how clean the metal is though..

 

[Robotsan]

Shifter bushings - talk to me! The gearstick right now is one of the sloppiest I've ever driven - incredible amount of side to side wobble, even in gear.

Is this the right kit to sort this out?: https://www.z-services.eu/en/shift-lever/204-oem-shifter-bushing-kit-240z-260z-280z-280zx.html

£28.50 delivered is a good price for something coming from the EU I think.

Or should I have a proper look down there first to make sure its not any other bushings that might need changing?

Also seems that the Americans like to go for copper or aluminum bushings for this - anyone got any experience with that?

 

[MCBladeRun]

Shifter bushings - talk to me! The gearstick right now is one of the sloppiest I've ever driven - incredible amount of side to side wobble, even in gear.

Is this the right kit to sort this out?: https://www.z-services.eu/en/shift-lever/204-oem-shifter-bushing-kit-240z-260z-280z-280zx.html

£28.50 delivered is a good price for something coming from the EU I think.

Or should I have a proper look down there first to make sure its not any other bushings that might need changing?

Also seems that the Americans like to go for copper or aluminum bushings for this - anyone got any experience with that?

Motorsport Auto - The Z Store - Solid Shifter Pin Bushing Upgrade Kit, 72-81 Z/ZX, Manual Non-Turbo

Solid Shifter Pin Bushing Upgrade Kit, 72-81 Z/ZX, Manual Non-Turbo

www.thezstore.com

It's what I fitted

 

[Robotsan]

Motorsport Auto - The Z Store - Solid Shifter Pin Bushing Upgrade Kit, 72-81 Z/ZX, Manual Non-Turbo

Solid Shifter Pin Bushing Upgrade Kit, 72-81 Z/ZX, Manual Non-Turbo

www.thezstore.com

It's what I fitted

Nice one. How much did it reduce the slop and play in the gear stick by, if you had to give a percentage?

 

[Robotsan]

Was the radiator/top hose nice and hot? if not it could be the thermostat is not operating properly/clogged/stuck partially open/closed!
AFAIK the temp should hold reasonably steady when stationary if the cooling system and mechanical fan are working correctly.

Oil pressure gauge can read that low on idle with an engine that's up to temp, important bit is that it sits approx in the centre of the gauge or higher from a cold start and then also increases from low down when revs are higher when hot. It moves at a sedate pace so you won't get an instant change when revving rather a gradual increase if you keep revving or hold the revs higher.

Just ran it again, and held it at 3k revs for 5 min.

This was temp and oil pressure just after starting:




And then this was it after 5 min:



Is that ok looking?

A loud fan came on after about 3 min, so that's working.

And the radiator and the top hose are both nice and hot now.

I then gave it some revs, and there was still black smoke puffing out of the exhaust on each press of the throttle.