As far as converting the motor to FI, yeah it shouldn't be too difficult. As long as the intake and exhaust manifolds bolt up then you're golden. I'm not sure what you mean by "pencils" but as long as the injector itself isn't broken then they should be alright. I've got my fuel lines clamped on and havent had any leaks. Just make sure you get the clamps good and tight. Drive it for awhile to let the fuel lines warm and stretch then loosen the clamps, add some loctite and retighten them and you shouldn't have any leaks until the hose itself rots away. Just swap everything from the L28 over to the L24 and you should be alright.

 

As for pencils, I believe he means the tips of the injectors. That little yellowish, pencil color plastic tip or whatever. I had a cracked one on one of my 280ZX injectors and I accidentily broke one from the set of my 300ZX injectors. New hose being clamped is no big deal, that's what I did when I replaced my injectors with ones from my 300ZX. I'm not sure if the cracked or broken pencil part as you call it will matter. A mechanic that we know said you probably need those on there, but he wasn't sure because he doesn't know much about fuel injection. He just said they're probably on there for a reason. Best guess would be at least to get everything set up and try out the injectors as they are. Even if they are leaking, if you just need them to move the car, you should be able to get by on that. If you do end up getting new injectors it won't hurt seeing as you'd have new injectors for when you get a good L28.

 

pencils, brown plastic like caps that crack and flake off, they are at the tip of the injector.

 

No that shouldn't be detrimental. I've heard of people breaking those off to install injectors that wouldn't otherwise fit. I've never tried it myself, and like duowing said, they're probably there for a reason. But if you give em a try as is it really shouldn't hurt anything.

 

Thank you guys. I am trying to get this car up and running, really bad. At first I did not like the way it looked. It looked kinda wierd to me. Long hood and short rear end. But the more I was around it, the better it started looking to me. I can't wait to see how it performs. I would like to really make it into the weekend car, track ****, daily driver, and show queen. And all around, do it all car. A lot of work ahead of me. I think this car has more personality and style than any of my other cars, and it is a Z. But first lets get it running. So I may have alot more questions for you guys to answer. Thank you

Anyone have any ideas on this cam thing though??

 

If you've got some dial calipers you can measure the base circle of the cam and compare that to the lobe height and that would give you cam lift which would tell you whether its stock or not. Look for a part number too. We could be able to tell you from that.

 

Hmm, the motor mystery deepens. I took the valve cover off tonight, I looked for markings on the cam, all I found was Japan and a 6. And something really wierd. The cam looks like it still has assembly lube on it. White thick grease like stuff smeared around where the bearings are. And you can see where it splattered off the cam onto the inside of the head, and it is still around the rockers and tops and botom of valve springs. So this motor looks like it might have got the head rebuilt. I don't know about the rest of the motor though. Will find out more when I lift it off the pallet it is on. Timing chain is good and tight, Motor does not look dirty, or filled with gunk. I need to get a manual though. I should take front cover off and check timing, I have no idea about the marks though. Have to get a manual first. I am starting to think that this might actually be a good motor. I had my doubts before, because who would sell a running motor and a car for 20 bucks??

Also on the front of the cam on the 240 motor, there is a offset ring, with a lever that rides on it going to a ??? Fuel pressure regulator ?? Or I really have no idea now, to what it is. Just that my 280 motor has no such thing on it. So if someone could explain that thing to me, it would help. And if I was to remove it, would I just make a block off plate and unbolt the little offset ring on the front of the cam ?? These old school motors are really new to me. Such simple enginering, and very cool. Again thanks for your help guys.

 

The cam and lever you speak of is for the mechanical fuel pump. DO NOT attempt to use that with the fuel injection from the L28. It won't produce enough pressure for the FI. You can see if your L28 has a block off plate already on it to bolt onto the L24, if not then you can just fabricate something.

 

Best places are junkyards and ebay for the interior parts. Good luck with that. Those pre-fab carpet kits that VB and MSA sell don't look too bad but I have heard some not so good stories about them. As for the plastic stuff, nobody makes anything new for them anymore so as I mentioned before, your best bet is a junkyard, or ebay. The interior parts quality on the cars is suspect at best. It has been by far the weakest link I have seen in my experience. I regularly see 280ZX's with great bodies and drivetrains but with bad interiors. Almost impossible to find one with a really good interior. If you do find one, it spent most of it's life in a garage.

Rod.

 

Hmmm, replacement interior panels. Now maybe you're on to something there Rod. I dont do injection molding or any of that, but some good quality fiberglass panels would probably last a lifetime and would be relatively cheap to make. Thanks Rod You're the bombdiggityshiznettoblamzam

Of course first I've got to find some good ones to make the parts off of. My interior is stripped. Guess I'll be hitting up the junkyard.

 

Hopefully your junkyards are better than mine. The other day I bought a cracked, vinyl flacking off rear tail light cover interior peice of junk for 15 bucks. From the local pick n pull, just because it was the first one in one piece that I've ever seen. I started fiberglassing it, I didn't even have to try very hard to get the vinyl off. Just run my hand over it, and the Vinyl, so dry, just peeled off. I started making cardboard templates, for the rear most pieces, they won't be corect, but it is cheaper and easier than searching for the pieces that I need. Plus when I get the templates cut out of cardboard, I can fiberglass directly to them, and they will be good for another 25 years

 

Quick update: still cleaning engine bay and the pan that goes on the bottom. I have never seen one so filthy. There is at least a half inch of crap on everything. I bought the local autozone out of the orange engine cleaner, and I am still scrubbing and scrapping sh*t off. I also have a question. Don't these cars have a front sway bar?? Mine does not have one. Why would someone remove it? Anyways back to work I go. Laterz

 

Yes, They ALL have front and rear sway bars... No bueno if yours is missing. That's gonna be one squirley ride!.

Rod.

 

Thats gotta suck with no front sway bar. I'd source one of those before trying to drive that thing. You'll be miserable driving a car that gets its reputation from its handling. Mines pretty bad and it's got a front sway bar but the bushings are shot beyond belief. I can't imagine trying to drive it without the bar altogether though. Might was well upgrade to a better one since you have to get one anyways. They don't run very much for a set either.

 

Hmm, I'll guess I'll start looking for one. Since I've been cleaning stuff I found rust, surface only, along the bottom frame rails, there are places where it got scraped and dented up, so after the motor is in and driving I guess that I'll have to get under there with a wire brush and sand paper, and get the whole bottom of the car clean and reprimer, my brake lines looked a little rusted too, along with the exhaust. So now my list of stuff to do just got bigger. YAY, got more to do. I think I am starting to lose faith in the beast.

 

Screw the wire brush and sand paper Get yourself a drill and a coarse wire wheel, some goggles and a dust mask. THat'll make quick time outta any removal project. Probably do the entire undercarriage in one day with that little setup. Of course a good pressure spray to get all the gunk out first would help too.

 

Hey that's a good idea. Guess I'll have to go buy a drill with a cord. Because doing it a battery at a time would suck. I just keep plodding on, making progress, little by little each day. Hoping to one day be completly done and satisfied. Today I got a little of my faith back, some people at my work found out I have a 280, and they were like, WOW can't wait to see it. So when I got home I was excited again to do more work on her. But as soon as I opened the garage door, I got bummed again. Nope she still looks like a junk yard escapee. So back to the garage I go.

 

Don't sweat it man. I know guys that have been working on their Z's for years! Mine has been in the shop for 11 months now and I started out with one in REALLY good shape, so you can do the math.

You can do a really decent job in less time, it just takes time, dedication and a couple 50 gallon barrels worth of elbow grease!

Cheers,
LWW

 

Keep On It Vegaz, I Spent 20+ Hours A Week For 14 Months Restoring Mine And Its Still Not Done!! It Is Well Worth The Labour. Wanna See Pics As Ya Go If You Got A Cammera

 

Yeah, just stick with it man. It will pay off in the end. Just look at WildmaN if you need inspiration!. He has overcome much adversity and heartache only to be now closer than ever to having a kick *** 280ZX. He has done an amazing job, as have many others in this forum. I've been discouraged too. If you saw what a raging hunk of crap my car was when I bought it, you would feel a lot better about it

Rod.

 

Thanks you guys. This car is one hell of a project. I'll take pics as I go and get em up here soon.

Quick question, how the hell do you sepperate a tranny from the motor. For 2 hours I have been trying to get this tranny off the end of the motor. Tranny is soppureted by jack and jack stand, motor is on the hoist. Can't get em apart. All the bolts are out, there is room for a prybar, all the way around, but no matter how much I push and pull, they won't come apart. Am I missing something??

 

Yeah, just hang in there. When it seems like you break two things for every one you fix, you're headed in the right direction. Just stay away from Kragen for parts and tools and your life will be much easier

 

Yeah those two can get stuck together pretty good. If you got a friend to help you and an extra pry bar you can get done fairly quicly. Just insert a pry bar at opposite ends and the both of you pry at the same time. This will help not to damage anything. I've had trannies get stuck on me a few times. I've even pulled one off with another car before. I ran a chain around the engine and secured it to a truck, and then put two straps with hooks into the the space between the engine and the tranny and hooked the other ends of the straps to a car and slowly pulled them apart. It popped right apart. I was tossing the engine (cause it had a huge hole in it ) so I wasn't worried about damaging the engine though. If you get THAT deperate just keep both parts on or near the ground cause when they seperate they will drop Don't ask how I figured that out But for the most part, a couple of people with prybars should get the job done. One prybar with too much pressure in one spot might bend the input shaft or crush a pilot bearing or something along those lines. So try to use two. If you can secure the engine well enough you can use one hand on each prybar by yourself if you need too.

The best time I ever had seperating the two was when I spent a day and a half trying to seperate them by myself. Couldn't get it more than like a 1/2" apart. And the tranny would rotate too, just wouldn't come undone. I didn't have anyone to help me pry it so I called my brother up to come help me. He pulled up and we were walking toward the garage door and we heard a loud thud. I opened the garage door to see that the trans had just fallen off of the engine after almost 2 days of prying and pulling at that sucker. I had it hanging from the engine hoist

 

Yeah I know how you feel bro'. I felt the same way with my Z I am restoring. He didn't run right, exhaust gasket leaked. Backfiring, sputtering, no power more than a gas powered golf cart. etcc.. Anyway you get the idea, now I am glad I stuck with this Z. He is really turning out great, and I hope to to fire him up this Friday. I am so close, that I can't sit still. Believe me man, you will not be dissapointed. I have put my heart and soul into my '82 most of this year. I started a project list in July. And I have knocked out a good chunk of it. Because I would diligently work on him every chance I got. Even getting up early before work, so I could get stuff done on him.

So all in all, just keep at it man. The reward will be great in the end. Trust me on that one. The Z car itself is worth everything you put into it.(self value of course) But you get the meaning, there is a great satisfaction to owning a Z. Especially a 280zx, man I love my Z. So onward my Z brother, and keep the faith. ROCK ON!

And thanks Rod for referring me to this Z guy almost giving up. Hopefully we can keep him going, like you guys have kept me going through my project.

 

Thanks you guys. To the garage I go.