260z turbo swap
 

M-kay I have been making the turbo swap in my 260 and I got everything in and wired. (Thanks Snw for all the help) I got to start the beast and it won`t start. I got no spark. So after many hours and lots of schematic reading I decide it is one of two problems. 1. My crank angle sensor isn`t telling my ecu to work my coil. 2. my Ecu is bad. Now How do I test both of these? especially the Crank angle sensor?

I`ve narrowed it to these because everything else is working. EFI relay good. Can get a coil spark if I jump it to the battery, And my injectors are firing. The donor car was a 83` 280zxt and it hasn`t been easy finding diagrams and getting the wiring done, so this is highly discouraging.

if the injectors are firing the CAS isnt bad i believe. you are using the turbo coil and ignitor chip right? is the ECU LED turning on like i asked?

Yeah led is lighting up. Am using the turbo coil and igniter. Tested the CAS using a wire to bridge the power and running a multimeter on the plug that provides the signal to spark and it is working ok, tested the wire from the ecu to the igniter and it gets no interruption of signal. Ergo I believe my ECU is bad. Is there any way to test this other than it lighting up? I don`t know anyone locally with an 83 turbo 280zx so I can`t steal one for the test.

Is the coil bracket and ignitor grounded securely? It won't spark if it's not grounded.

yes grounded well. Again I can interrupt the spark by pulling out the plug going to the ecu and it sparks, but I am not getting any signal from the ecu telling the coil to spark, again I have good signal telling it to spark coming from the cas, going to the ECU, but not coming from the ecu. so I think it is bad, Any way to test this, and in anticipation of it being bad, does anyone have an 1983 280zx turbo ECU for sale?

go get some pictures. like, now if you could. of the connections you made and the coil/bracket etc. and also of the cas connector/wire if you could

No pictures tonite camera is dead, Trust me though, I`m not getting signal out of my ecu telling my coil to spark. Can autozone test an ecu?

no one can test these ecu's as far as i know. but. the LED wouldnt light up if it were dead, at least i dont think. because when my ECU started to act up before it completly shat on me. the LED never lit up. thats why i think its a connection that you made, or the coil/ignitor section itself

Right but My coil/igniter will fire if I manually interrupt the wire, I`m not getting any signal out of the ecu telling it to interrupt the power to cause a spark. I know yours is different year than mine, but could you take a multi meter and tell me what kinda voltage is coming from the ECU and going to the igniter? That would be really really helpful.

i did before once and i think it was somewhere around 12 to 13 volts.

Hmm that doesn`t sound right. Could you double check? Also Ohm`s too so I can figure If my ecu is bad or my igniter.

mmmm.... isnt the ignitor pulse fed not a constant power? i dont think a volt meter will pick that up. but i remember trying to test that when the car wouldnt start one day thanks to spark. just like your problem. and it turned out to be bad connections. all just bad connections. check your connections is what im trying to say. anything you self wired make sure they are done perfectly. and then the ECU plug wires can back out sometimes so try to push on each individual wire further into the plug/connector

Everything has been double and triple checked still no good, I`m gonna start looking for a standalone.

did you make your own grounds? i know there were a few i had to make? thats why i ask for you to take pictures and let me know what connections you actually made yourself.

The only ground I made was the ecu earth. What other grounds are needed? I`m gonna be pissed if I miss read the schematics.

i believe there were 2 or 3 grounds i made. well, ground points. i think i actually grounded lik 4 or 5 wires. one im pretty sure is an AFM ground. ill look into it.

Cool, I`ll go get pictures in a bit too.

Pictures
 

http://i221.photobucket.com/albums/d...18-08_1118.jpg
This is switched power to igniter.
http://i221.photobucket.com/albums/d...18-08_1119.jpg
This is igniter plug itself, I had to build.
http://i221.photobucket.com/albums/d...18-08_1121.jpg
this is the connection between the igniter and the wire I ran to ECU plug.
http://i221.photobucket.com/albums/d...18-08_1122.jpg
This is connection to ecu plug for igniter.(other end of the wire above.
http://i221.photobucket.com/albums/d...18-08_1123.jpg
This is a ground, it grounds like 5 things according to the schematic. It is grounded to the intake manifold on the other end.
http://i221.photobucket.com/albums/d...18-08_1124.jpg
This is the oil cooler. Thought I`d throw this in for fun.
http://i221.photobucket.com/albums/d...18-08_1126.jpg
This is the FI relay, theres a mess of wires, I split the harness open to follow some back and around and haven`t got it all prettyed up again.
Sorry for the crappy cell phone pics.

hrrmmmmm... that seems all wrong. well not all wrong, but your definatly missing some connections. also, dude, use macro setting on the camera. lol. lemme go pull my car into the garage and ill take pics. well, first its gotta charge. i let the bat die :(

LOL If it where my digi camera I would macro, but that was cell phone pics. I appreciate your help.

i dont wanna take pictures, so im going to try to explain everything first cause you only posted like 3 connections, and thats way wrong. did you sit down like i suggested and drew your own schematic out? you really should have before just wiring.

any who

there are these 2 wires, one is green, one is brown, its a constant power source! both of them. these 2 wires will need to be connected straight to the battery!\
http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y43...2/IMG_0738.jpg

now, in that plug that held the wires for your ignition harness, one is a switched power, (on position with key) and the other is ran to the other coil connection.




here is an illustration for your harness, and is the exact same as my 82 harness (at least wire position and use wise just different colors and +/- 1 or 2 wires that werent used anyways.

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y43...2/site1081.jpg


ignor the fuel pump section though.

simply study the connection in that illustration. find plug 2 in that photo and then on your harness. did you make the connections from the lower YW wire to the ignitor chip? also in that plug did you run the straight Y wire to the starter signal? it should also be a yellow wire (its the spade plug that goes to the selonoid on the starter itself) and then ground the black wire on that plug.


now plug 3 there should be a black and white wire that goes to the other post on the ignitor chip but also to the ON signal from the key ( i wired it directly to the hot wire that runs off the ON position. use a volt meter to assure that this gets power through it only when the key is in the on and start position.) i believe i grounded a few extra thing like the ascd speed controller wire and the AC circuit wire.


i think your simply missing that start signal wire i speak of, mine wouldnt spark but everything else worked when that connection went bad. i dont know why it isnt just put to the on position so you can push start the car but it isnt. im almost positive thats your problem.

here, i simplified and added in grounds as to my swap

http://i96.photobucket.com/albums/l1...k/site1081.jpg


ground that nuetral safety switch, that might also be the problem



EDIT: oops, i forgot to take out that other green wire from the schematic. ignor it as well.

Yeah I`m missing that wire completely. I`m gonna go put it on now and see what happens.

chances are, it starts, if you for sure have the other wires there properly. i remember i re-did all my connections EXCEPT that start signal. and the car developed the problem of everything worked but spark! and re-did that connection. since that day the car has started flawlessly every time, even if it ran crappy (but that was due to dirty and loose connections)


p.s. whats up with the hand tatoo? never really seen that before haha. is there like a full sleeve? or jsut the hand?

Its just the hand there, Maybe I`ll start a show off your tattoo thread in off topic, BTW it didn`t start. I`m gonna double check everything again. I`ll get better pictures too.

Ok double tripled and quadruple checked. Still no spark, I can still get spark if I manually unplug the wire to ecu, and my injectors fire. I am not getting signal from the ECU to the igniter telling it to fire. I got a friend coming over a little later and we are gonna try to pull it and see if it will fire that way. I love this damned car. I`ve never even driven it. (old motor had carb problems and no compression on 5 and 6.) I miss my camaro....

hmmmm... check that you dont have the wires on backwards for when you made the ignition harness. did you ground that inhibitor switch wire like i suggested?

Yeah I did. My wires are good. I`m still not getting a signal from my ECU to interrupt the coil to make spark. This is getting real old.

theres no reason it would send every other signal and not spark if it werent wires... or a dead ecu.... idk.... try cleaning all the connector plugs (not the ones you made) re-bending them, and also clean out the dizzy and stuff.

I`ve done that, The dizzy is brand new and the rotor to match. The condenser on the coil. Not the igniter, where does that hook to? Wanna snap a picture of that for me?

didnt use the condensor, it doesnt do shit. well, not techincally, but w/e

ITS ALIVE!!! Redid all my wiring, and figured out why my wiring was wrong. Someone had already rewired that plug to suit their needs. So following the yellow white wire and yellow wire on the schematic didn`t do shit. Because it was wired wrong. I had to chase wires, all the way from the ecu out. My harness is laid open and its guts are everywhere, I`ll have to fix that tomorrow, And get some better connections made, but it is alive! And sounds so mean. Can hear the turbo through the exhaust, SICK!! I can`t wait to drive it. I`m gonna take some sleeping pills so It can be tomorrow.!!!! Snw If we ever meet in person I owe you a weeks worth of car fixing beer!

Now to fine tune the timing, how do I do that? Where should it be? Anything need disconnected first?

really? promise? lol! i knew it was connection somewhere. but didnt expect it to be that! where do you live again?

Boise Idaho. And I promise. Like 5 cases of beer for you. And me of course. I am thinking about MSA next year if money and car permit. There are still some bugs to work out, My number six is missing. I can pull the injector wire and it makes no difference but its all corroded and nasty so I`m gonna clean it and re bend it and my downpipe is leaking, I think its not tight. I gotta tighten it up. I gotta take the heat shield off it so I can get it in the proper. But it sounds so mean. 2 1/2 inch exhaust into a 2 /12 inch cherry bomb. Sounds awesome cept the missing and exhaust leak. I`ll get some video after its going. I can`t wait. I have put almost 1500 dollars into it in the last week getting it running. (counting tires) I just can`t wait..... So giddy....

idaho ehhh... UGH. i want beer now! take a vacation to chicago and through a hotel party. lol

I love chicago, I was born here and spent the first 4 years of my life in chicago. I`ve been back twice since then. It`s my favorite city in the world.

What do you think of a tattoo thread, wanna see my art? I know I would love to see everyone elses.

that would be great actually. i want one for my self but cant figure out what yet

She`s registered. I got school today so I gotta put off the finishing touches till tomorrow and then I`ll have video for you.

booo. just do it now. clean, scrape, and bend the connectors and contacts. got new wires and plugs and cap and rotor? if not go now and order that stuff so you can have it by tommorow

also change all the oils/fluids if you havent yet and oil filter.

All i need to do is clean the connectors. I got new cap, rotor, wires, and Bosch Yritium Plugs. Or however thats spelled. New oil. Royal Purple. And even new anti freeze. Be patient, I know you got almost as much time in my car as I do snw, but you must wait.

bosch... no bueno bro. order yourself some NGK platinum's at most, regulars will do fine though.

I got a brand new set of ngk platnums also, I wanna try these bosch though. I been runnin a set in the wifeys car and it does great. So I`m gonna give em 100 miles in the Z and see where I`m at.

Pictures
 

Engine in the car.
http://i221.photobucket.com/albums/d...cture001-1.jpg
More engine in the car. Sorry for the crappy pictures I didn`t feel like moving the tractor.
http://i221.photobucket.com/albums/d...Picture003.jpg

you dont need that voltage regulator thats on the pass side if your using the ZX alternator. ill try to get you the removal instructions via my dad he has them somewhere. the 260 is a complicated one. need a diode otherwise the car doesnt shut off once running lol!

also, DUDE! you didnt clean/paint the engine or engine bay when the engine was out??? wtf?!?!?! thats like rule number one!

and i hope your recording a vid of it with that camera you just posted. lol.

No didn`t clean and paint. I had one week to do this swap, Have to have the car for to get to school. I`ll make a video, but I`ll use the digital not the film camera. I`m gonna go put the hood on it now, and get it timed, Also I`m using the 260z alternator cause the zx alt was bad. Give me 30-60 minutes and I`ll have vid for you.

i hope 30 cause i gotta leave around 5 ish....

Mkay videos are uploading slowly... Its still missing on number 6, determined its an injector, Need to pull it out and test. Am going to swap it with another and see if it works then, if so then bad wiring, if not working still then bad injector. We will see. I`ll get the video so you can hear its miss. Stupid slow youtube....

you got spark on it? did you check to see if the plug is giving off the signal?? (simple LED in the connector will suffice) also, you shoulda removed that PS bracket lol. you left allotta crap on that motor that you can use anymore.

Yeah I got spark, But I can pull the number 6 injector and it makes no difference in my engine. Plus I pulled the coil wire off crank it a bunch and pulled plugs one by one. Number 6 was the only dry plug after that. It seems like it sometimes fires though. I think It may be gummy. I`ll know tomorrow. I did drive it today though. Like 1/2 a mile. Longest I`ve driven my Z so far and I`ve owned it since November.

try the LED test like i said. get an LED and disconnect the injector plug and stick the LED in the clips contacts it should pulse. if it doesnt its not getting signal. mostlikely it will, if not though, wire on a new pig tail if still no. try foolin with the wire on the ECU itself. where the vid!?!?!? and did you get that timing up to 20-25?