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Login to post Forums » Grassroots Motorsports » Picked up a Datsun 280Z

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Feb. 5, 2012 3:07 p.m. PseudoSport Reader

Messed with the car somemore today. When I rev the engine it makes enough blue smoke to block out the neighbors house. Still disapointed because other then the smoke it runs great. Currently I'm trying to decided between re-ringing the spare engine or having it bored.

Here are some pictures of everything back together.

As for the transmission I found that the slave cylinder was rusty and stuck fully out. I just unbolted it from the transmission and the clutch fork return to its normal spot and the clutch engauged. First time I've seen a slave cylinder fail like that. I'm also going to need a new slave cylinder hose too.

Also while I was under the car installing the fuel pump I noticed someone had installed polyurethane diff mount bushings.
Feb. 5, 2012 3:54 p.m. mad_machine SuperDork

you might not have to re-ring. If that engine has been sitting, the rings might just have to reseat
Feb. 12, 2012 6:49 p.m. PseudoSport Reader

Last Wednesday I poured some marvel mystery oil into each cylinder and let it soak for a few days. I was hoping if the rings were stuck that it would soften up any sludge. Today I checked and all cylinders were still holding oil so I cleared it out and dumped some in the crank case then let it run for about 30 minutes. After the mystery oil burned off the engine was still smoking. PCV system checked out fine so I removed the valve cover to see if things were any cleaner. Even after only 30 minutes things were looking much cleaner. Then somehow removing the valve cover lead to unbolting the intake, followed by the head, and 2 hours later I was holding a #5 piston. Didn't plan on getting all that done since it was cold out but everything was going smoothly and I was able to drop the oil pan without lifting the engine. When I first looked at the piston it was really clean. Top 2 rings moved freely and the skirts were smooth. Then I noticed the oil control rings were completely stuck. On the outside they looked clean but when I removed then with a pick all behind the rings was carboned up and the oil holes on the inside of the piston were blocked up. Think I found my problem.

I've already bought all the parts to re-ring the engine so hopefully it will be back together this week.
Feb. 12, 2012 7:05 p.m. WilberM3 Dork

PseudoSport wrote: Then somehow removing the valve cover lead to unbolting the intake, followed by the head, and 2 hours later I was holding a #5 piston.

and holy crap that slave looks bad! glad it appears to be all external. hopefully we'll have you autocrossing with us for once by april!
Feb. 12, 2012 7:54 p.m. SilverFleet Dork

Wow, that was quick work! I can't wait to see that thing putting around. You scored such a crazy deal on that car.
Feb. 13, 2012 11:35 p.m. PseudoSport Reader

Pictures of #5 with the head off. That was alot more oil then I was expecting.

Pistons cleaned up and new rings installed.
Feb. 20, 2012 8:52 a.m. PseudoSport Reader

Datsun is going back together smoothly. The most time consuming thing has been making sure everything is clean before putting it back together. All I have left is to install a few more bolts in the oil pan, A/C compressor, radiator fan, belt, remove valve cover and install 2 bolts in the oil spray bar thingy I forgot about, and reinstall valve cover. Here are a few more crappy cellphone pics from the other day.

Pistons going back in the block.

Here is the timing chain tensioner compressed with some zip ties before I bolt it back in. This made things a lot easier this time around.

Head and everything else is back on but I didn't take any pictures since I had just done all this a few weeks ago.
Feb. 20, 2012 10:14 a.m. jstein77 Dork

failboat wrote:

Javelin wrote:

The 240Z would be a great candidate for an all-new body like all of the muscle cars that have been released lately...

tell me about it. these renderings are a few years old but damn...thats what the Z should have been http://www.the510realm.com/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=12874&start=0

Nice car PseudoSport

I'm surprised no one has commented on this concept yet. I think it looks great.

Pseudo - you're doing a great job on both the build and the documentation of it. Thanks and keep it up!
Feb. 27, 2012 10:13 a.m. PseudoSport Reader

Engine is all back together. I had some trouble getting is started back up. After a lot of cranking and some starter fluid I finally got it going. Trouble was 2 cylinders were not getting fuel. All the fuel injector connectors are broken and corroded but #3 and #4 were really bad. I guess moving everything around again didn’t help. I made a trip to the junkyard and grabbed some new connectors off an Audi. They plug into my stock injectors but are quick disconnect and much more water proof. Saturday I was able to solder in 4 of them before the wind kicked up and I couldn’t feel my hands. 4 was enough for now and the Z is running on all cylinders. I do get a little blue smoke sometimes but the exhaust system was full of oil and I think its burning off since the smoke is getting less and less. I bet it will also help to drive the car and seat the rings. Other then running a little rich the plugs look ok and are oil free.

Sunday I installed the new clutch slave and master. I was able to drive the Z forwards and backwards a few feet but I still have some issues. I have to pump the pedal a few times to make it work. Very annoying if you drive towards your house and push the clutch in only to have it do nothing. I'm going to try and bleeding it again because I ran low on fluid after doing the brakes must not have gotten all the air out.

Next issue is the brakes. I ended up buying a reman master cylinder from AutoZone since the old one was leaking. Nice surprise was that when I opened the box the master ended up being new and not rebuilt. Everything bleed fine but when I started the car and hit the brakes I heard the booster hissing under the dash and the idle shot up. I did pick up a master and booster from a 280zx last week which are an upgrade but I was going to hold off on installing them. Might have to mix match some parts and swap in the booster anyway. Some good news is I noticed that the calipers and all the brake hoses are new.

Picture of some new parts:

Parts have still been pretty cheap for this project.

Brake master: $25

Clutch slave and hose: $23 shipped

Injector clips: Free (junkyard just said have a good day and waved me through.)
Feb. 27, 2012 11:13 a.m. corytate Dork

hmmmm are we gonna have a z mafia at the challenge?
Feb. 27, 2012 11:56 a.m. PseudoSport Reader

In reply to corytate:

I hope to have the car sorted out by spring but I don’t think it will be challenge ready till 2013. Our team is going to focus on just the Jeep this year. I’ve been following your build and look forward to seeing your Z at the challenge.
Feb. 27, 2012 12:12 p.m. corytate Dork

PseudoSport wrote:

In reply to corytate:

I hope to have the car sorted out by spring but I don’t think it will be challenge ready till 2013. Our team is going to focus on just the Jeep this year. I’ve been following your build and look forward to seeing your Z at the challenge.

thank you, so you're one of the jeep guys? very cool challenge car!
Feb. 27, 2012 6:11 p.m. corytate Dork

corytate wrote:

PseudoSport wrote:

In reply to corytate:

I hope to have the car sorted out by spring but I don’t think it will be challenge ready till 2013. Our team is going to focus on just the Jeep this year. I’ve been following your build and look forward to seeing your Z at the challenge.

thank you, so you're one of the jeep guys? very cool challenge car!

by jeep guys i meant turbo cherokee, not the millions of jeep owners here lol
March 4, 2012 10:36 p.m. PseudoSport Reader

Decided to take the brake booster apart and see what failed. You can see why it might not have worked.

Reman brake booster has been ordered. Hopefully by mid week I'll have brakes again.

I also fixed the turn signals. The wiring was hacked up from the old alarm but I patched it back together for now to test them. I'll need to solder in some new wires before putting everything back together. Last thing to fix is the wipers. Motor is getting power but I think the linkage or motor is stuck.

I'm also staring to collect parts to turbo the stock motor. I'm still looking for a cheap manifold but so far I have a used T3/T4 60 tirm.
March 5, 2012 12:24 a.m. SyntheticBlinkerFluid Dork

Escort Canoe
March 12, 2012 11:55 a.m. PseudoSport Reader

Still sorting out the brakes. Here is what I’ve done so far.

Replaced leaking master cylinder then found out the brake booster was damaged. Bought a used 280zx 10” booster and master but the master leaked and the booster binds so I got my money back. Ordered a stock reman booster from AutoZone which too over a week to show up. That was with free 2 day shipping. Guess the 4 days of screwing around was also free. Cleaned, painted, and installed reman booster then went to bleed the new master I already had and installed once. Now the new master won’t bleed on the main circuit so I had Autozone order me another one.

So it’s been a few weeks now and I still don’t have brakes.
March 12, 2012 1:51 p.m. racerdave600 Dork

Mine has had many of the same problems, keep us posted!
March 15, 2012 10:21 a.m. PseudoSport HalfDork

Reman master cylinder #2 showed up yesterday. This one was also brand new but it came with new reservoirs and caps! Apparently this one was made with love since I could bench bleed it no problem.

Installed it in the car, bleed everything, and now the brakes finally work like they should.

Since the car now runs, shifts, and stops I decided to insure and register it yesterday. I might have gotten a bit ahead of myself but I can’t really do much more trouble shooting with it just sitting in my driveway. First test drive did go as well as I hoped. I pulled out of my driveway then quickly turned down a less busy side street. Right away I noticed the car does not want to go past 2000 RPMs. It feels like its hitting a rev limiter. I can rev it fine in my driveway but under load I have the issue. Next the fuel pump is very loud. I can’t even hear the engine or any other noises over it. It makes trouble shooting anything else difficult. Last problem is I’m still getting blue smoke out the exhaust. Defiantly much less then before but enough to make people look at me funny. Test drive didn’t last too long and when I got back to my house I pulled the plugs and they all look great. None of them were oil soaked like before.

Now I’m thinking that my exhaust system is full of oil. Before with the bad rings it was enough to have oil pour out the end of the exhaust. What are the chances that when I get on it the oil is still burning out of the exhaust system?

As for the rev limit of 2000 RPMs I cleaned and tested the TPS and connector but that checked out. At some point it looks like someone opened up the AFM since the cover was held on by copper RTV. When I removed the cover everything looked normal. Guess I still have some more testing to do.
March 15, 2012 10:43 a.m. Javelin UltimaDork

PseudoSport wrote:

Nice blow off valve! (cat)
March 15, 2012 10:47 a.m. Javelin UltimaDork

In reply to PseudoSport:

Man, you are making some killer progress on the Z! As for your latest issues, yes, I think you could still have some residual oil in the exhaust. With clean/dry plugs and the new rings I think you're okay on the engine. It might be worth your time to clean out the exhaust manifold on a bench, but otherwise just run it until it all burns off.

I would definitely swap the fuel pump out before further trouble-shooting the 2K RPM issue. As an aside, you may want to do the regulator as well. I have run into that before where the regulator lets in enough fuel to work in the driveway, but craps out under load, and it killed the fuel pump, too (returnless in my case). Might be cheap insurance.
March 19, 2012 10:36 a.m. PseudoSport HalfDork

Worked on the Z all day Sunday. Timing was too far advanced and I had to drop the oil pump since the distributor shaft was a tooth off and I could not get timing close enough. That’s all set now but the car still has no power and will bog when I leave my driveway. I actually pulled out a side street on the way back to my house and it stalled out in the road. Luckily it started back up but I can’t give it any throttle. I think the problem gets worse the more I drive it. If I give the car full throttle it cuts out around 2000 RPMS then cuts out and goes quiet for 1-2 seconds, tries to accelerate again for 2-3 seconds, then cuts out again. I was able to get the car up to 4000 RPM but it cuts out worse the higher it goes.

I spent the rest of the day going through the factory service manual and 280Z EFI bible testing everything. AFM, TPS, air temp sensor, cold start, coolant temp sensor, grounds, etc. All connections and grounds have been cleaned and I checked every pin on the computer and everything tests fine. Also confirmed that no one messed with the AFM since the factory glue blobs were still there and its never been adjusted. I’m staring to think it’s a fuel issue. When I get the bog it feels more like fuel cut. There is no back fire, sputter, and the tachometer does not drop out. I tested fuel pressure at idle but the harbor freight tester leaks so I only got a quick reading of 36 psi. I want to go for a drive with the tester and see if pressure drops. I think there might be something in the tank clogging the pickup. New fuel pump is quiet when I first start the car but gets louder after a few minutes. If there is a clog that might explain why it’s making the noise since it’s struggling to pump fuel. Fuel filter is also new so I have a feeling I'll be dropping the tank later this week.
March 19, 2012 10:54 a.m. SyntheticBlinkerFluid SuperDork

Booooo!
March 22, 2012 1:08 a.m. PseudoSport HalfDork

I did another fuel pressure test. With the car off fuel pressure was 36 psi with the pump running. I then turned it off and over 30 minutes pressure dropped maybe 1-2 psi. With the car running the pressure was about 32 psi. When I revved the car it went up to 36. Hmm, car was still cold so I let it warm up. After the car warmed up the fuel pump was still quiet and fuel pressure was still 32 psi. I then got in the car and accelerated hard to the end of the driveway and back a few times. This got the fuel pump buzzing. Pressure was now a shaky 25 psi. When I revved it in park the gauge dropped to zero for a split second then came back up to about 20.

So I ended up dropping the gas tank. I used the fuel pump to empty the tank which made it much easier to remove. Once it was out there was still a few gallons left so I poured it into a bucket. Gas came out brown and chunky.

Here is the rust that was in the fuel I drained out.

Inside the tank was rusty but didn't look to bad. I picked up some muriatic acid at Lowes and poured some into the tank with some water. Right away it started smoking and I could see the rust bubbling. This stuff is serious. I shook the tank then moved it around every few minutes. I could still see rust in the tank but as soon as I washed it out with a hose it was all gone. I was thinking about using one of those gas tank sealers but I've seen a lot of them flake off. Right now there is some flash rust but I might just rinse it out again and run it the way it is.
March 22, 2012 4:18 a.m. Appleseed PowerDork

Keep it full of gas, as much as you can, and re-rusting wont be an issue.
March 26, 2012 11:41 a.m. PseudoSport HalfDork

By the time I got around to cleaning up the flash rust the inside of the tank looked worse then when I started. Since I had to start over and clean it again I used phosphoric acid this time around. It removed all the rust and left a zinc phosphate coating that helped keep the tank from flash rusting. Once I neutralized the acid and rinsed the tank out I poured in some ATF and swished it around. So far after a day its still rust free. Outside of the tank had been cleaned up, primed and undercoated but before I could take any pictures and install the tank it started raining and had to move everything into the basement.

With the on and off cold rain on Sunday there was not much I felt like doing outside the car. Instead I decided to install new bushings in the shifter. The old ones were made of plastic and were broken/missing. That made trying to find gears tricky. I found a write up online that said brass door pin bushings are a great replacement. I picked up a multipack of bushings from AutoZone for about $6 and decided to give it a shot.

Only one pair of bushings will work. At first the inner diameter is too large but once they are pressed in the retaining pin fits perfect.

Picture of the new bushings installed.

Shifter greased and installed back in the car.

I haven’t been able to drive it since the gas tank is still out but while I sit in the car shifting gears making race car noises I have yet to miss a shift!

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