ISPKI

Hello Ladies and Gents! I am in need of a Thermostat housing for a 1977 280z. I am not sure if these differ from past years. It does not need the sensors in it as I have all new sensors and thermostat. Mine sheered almost in half when I tried to install the thermal transmitter for the gauge. Thanks in advance!

Speaking of bumpers - are you planning on hacking these apart and making one solid vehicle out of them? I need bumpers for my 280 ;D

Over rider bars come up on ebay quite frequently from what I have seen in my search for bumpers for my 280. They are not expensive, much less than the bumpers themselves. In fact, there are some on ebay for 65-100ish $.

Update: I tried grounding the wires from the temp sender and the needle continues to sit in the middle of the gauge. I am assuming that I need to ground one of the wires leading to the gauge itself, not the wire leading into the sender. Regardless, I tried them all and had no change. Also - I pulled the gauge out and apart, needle is not stuck. I read online about testing the temp sensor with a volt meter. I set the meter to 20k and touched each of the two leads. Got 512ish as a reading. Side question: Is the sender and the sensor the same thing? When I look online they group them together as coolant temperature sender/sensor. Also - What is the little nub thing sticking out of the engine right next to the sensor/sender?

The fuel gauge reads correctly. At least it seems to be, not sure how accurate it is but it does change when I add gas to the tank heh. The only gauges that do not appear to function correctly are the temp and voltage. Not sure why the voltage gauge suddenly stopped working, that will be the next thing to be fixed once the car is running right. I should have some hours to mess with it tomorrow. I will check the temp sensor with the method you gave me. Thanks. Ya know, I knew saving this thing from going to the junkyard was not going to be easy. I knew fixing up a car that has been neglected this long would not be easy. I did not think it would have so many small issues.

Not sure if I should have a different thread for each of these but, next issue; The temperature gauge reads right in the middle of the range at all times. As soon as I start the vehicle, the gauge immediately moves to the middle and sits there. Obviously this cant be accurate as it does it no matter how long it sits or how cold it is outside, so, I am going to assume it is probably the temperature sensor. I checked the connections to the sensor and they were badly corroded. I scraped them off mostly, cleaned them out etc etc, but the gauge still reads in the middle at all times. I am going to elevate this issue to the top of my list since, from what the manual says, not getting a temperature reading can make the vehicle difficult to start and run poorly.

Also - through reading the service manual it says that pressure at idle should be about 30 and the moment the throttle is pressed down, it should jump to 37. Seems like mine is not behaving correctly as it drops before bumping itself up, like the regulator is not responding properly. Could this be an issue with anything else in the system? The AFM perhaps? Also - Where is the fuel return line? is it the line right at the fuel pump or is it the second line coming out of the rail near the filter? I am figuring that if it is the line from the pump, it probably is not the issue since the pump would have to manage the return of the fuel.

I do not believe it is clogged lines as I replaced most of them with brand new fuel injection hose and new clamps. To my knowledge, there are only two line that I did not replace, the large line coming out of the tank and the return line to the tank. I took the large line off when I removed the tank and cleaned it so I know that the line is not clogged. Also found that the fuel pump does not turn on when the key is turned to "on". I have never had a vehicle that did that, but it seems to make sense to me that it could be one of the reasons that the vehicle is difficult to start.

Hey folks, havent posted on her in a while as I havent been able to work on my car much over the winter. Its a 77 280z in case you all didnt know already. So, I havent been able to start it for a while, found that the wires going to the fuel pump were stripped open. Fixed those, got it running again, and it runs pretty shitty like it used to. I also finally got a fuel pressure gauge and got it in the system between the fuel filter and the fuel rail...thingy. The gauge reads about 31-32ish at idle, when I rev the engine up it drops down slightly (around 28ish) then bumps itself up to high 30s right quick. I seem to recall from my research that that is relatively normal behavior. The issue is that as it idles, the rpms slowly drop and get rough/bouncy. This happens very very slowly, usually over a 10-15 minute period of being on. It also gets to the point that I cant drive it. I tried to pull out and drive down the street after letting it idle for a few minutes and it would not even get up a hill. In fact, when I step on the gas a little harder, it makes this bogging noise and wont get over 2000 rpms. In addition to this, the thing is a pain in the ass to start. Now that I have a gauge hooked up to it, it appears as though when the vehicle is off, the fuel system drains out almost completely. There are no leaks from what I can tell (I replaced many of the fuel lines and clamps already) so where the heck is the fuel going? Yesterday it had 31psi in the system when I shut it off. When I tried to start it today, it had 8. The battery, fuel pump, fuel filters, fuel lines, fuses, wires, ignition switch and lock cylinder are all new.

Meh, matte black or chrome looks better IMHO. CF wrap lumps you in with the ricer crowd. Watch out, you will have em stealing the CF off your car when you arent looking!!

I am in need of those bumpers, post up those pics and we can talk price.

It is too darn cold out to work on this stuff!!!

The freakin fuses are all good. The links were converted to maxi fuses by myself. Not exactly sure whats up with the headlight now, that one used to work before I got all the other lights working. Regardless, I have larger issues with it now...like it wont start... Seems like the starter is on it's way out...well it is on it's way out, sometimes it doesnt engage with the trans enough and just spins free, now it seems to be cranking very slowly, almost as though it isnt getting enough juice, but the battery is fully charged (and new). It also seems to not be getting enough fuel pressure, but I havent been able to check that since I have it parked under a cover to try and keep snow off of it. It may have to sit for another few weeks before I can continue work on it.

I actually found that the entire lock cylinder was worn. I tore it apart and installed a new one. I also found that the wires running to the side marker lights were frayed open. I made up a pair of bullet connectors wrapped in heat shrink and liquid tape for sealant and soldered those on. Now I have all the lights working except for the driver side headlight.

You gotta realize, these arent built like your mom's mini van. These are built to be higher performance than your average commuter car. I had a lengthy conversation with a fella out in WA (name was Oliver I believe) he said a huge mistake people make in owning a z car is that they think they should baby it because it is old, when in fact, the motor needs you to rev it pretty high to stay in good operating condition. And yeah, these ye ole' engines like the high RPMs. Hell they get almost as high as my EK civic. In the end, an L24 doesnt have a ton of power, but it is pretty ballsy when you consider how light and agile a 240z is.