280z Oil Change

On September 4, 2021 the oil was changed on the 280z.  As with all of my older engines, I split the oil filter open and checked for any metal particles on the filer media.  Thankfully there were none.

Fuel Rail and Injectors

I noticed that the hose connecting the sections of the fuel rail was starting to crack.  The previous owner had replaced the injectors although I wasn't sure about the seals so I used this as an opportunity to inspect, clean up and replace the rubber on the fuel delivery components in the engine bay.

Removal of the components was pretty straightforward, although it is noteworthy that care must be taken with the fuel rail so that you don't bend or otherwise damage the tubing.  OE fuel rails aren't impossible to find although they aren't exactly inexpensive.  Each side of the fuel rail is removed after loosening the hose clamps on the rails and injectors then gently pulling the rail away from the injectors while pivoting the rail at the hose connecting the rails. There are a lot of wires and other hoses that might be in the way, so remove what you can and work around what you don't.

Once all the components were removed, I performed the usual wire brushing and prepping for paint.

After testing the injectors I returned them along with new injector seals.  New injector clamps were used on all hoses since this part of the system is pressurized.  Since these hoses and tubes are very visible this work made the engine bay look so much better!

Restoring Misc Cooling Bits

Many brackets and tubes in the engine bay are showing their age.  In April of 2020 I took the opportunity to address the heater hose brackets, auxiliary air valve water block and the coolant passages that feed the water block.  As a bonus, I also cleaned up the engine lift bracket as well.  For all the metal pieces I used a wire brush to take them to bare metal then used Rustoleum Metallic Paint & Primer in a champaign mist color to coat the parts.  I've found that this paint both closely matches the cadmium zinc plating on the original parts but also holds up well in the engine bay.

Engine hoist bracket and water outlet

Water block tubing

Water Block

I also replaced the rubber hose that feeds the water block.  I often use my garage door to cure painted parts in the sun!

To finish things off I also used OE-like hose clamps to attach the heater hose.

As an added bonus, I also performed the same treatment to the alternator wire harness bracket.

Dealing with the Isolation

With the COVID-19 pandemic keeping us at home (and working from home) I find myself busier with work than when I was actually in the office.  To keep my sanity during this busy time I find myself retreating to the garage for brief periods of mechanical delight.  For tonight's installment I found myself rummaging through a box of parts I had acquired from ZCarDepot and found sets of hood and tailgate bumpers that I had never installed.  These made for perfect short distractions!

Removing the old bumpers was easy.  As you can see they were the original units and the rubber was hard and cracked.

Using stainless fasteners and a little 3M Dielectric Silicone Paste for protection and lubrication, I installed the new units.

 

While the replacement of these bumpers was not critical for the function of the car itself, they were critical in keeping my sanity...

No longer clicked off

I had previously converted all exterior lights on the 280z to LED.  When converting a classic car to LED lights, it is common to need to change the flasher(s) to an electronic unit due to the lower current draw (older flashers used a bi-metal that was heated from the flow of current to disrupt or flash the bulbs).  One thing that I also found common on this type of conversion is the fact that the flasher will sometimes click even then the blinkers were not engaged.  For me, this clicking was not a bother as it only occurred at higher RPMs (when the voltage was higher from a fast spinning alternator).  Recently, the clicking started at lower RPM's so I decided to do something about it.

First, I noticed that my voltage seemed higher than normal when the RPM's were above 2500 RPM.

When seeing the higher voltage my mind immediately thought of the voltage regulator.  When testing the voltage with a multimeter, I found that the voltage was reading as high as 15.6v when revving.  This is high by today's standards but for older cars this high of a voltage was not uncommon.  Even though I never took an official reading before, I decided to change the voltage regulator anyway since I already had a new one that I purchased when Black Dragon Auto was going out of business.  This unit was similar to the OE unit although it did seem to have a lesser build quality (OE on the right).

One thing I noticed right away is that one of the contacts was stuck closed on the Black Dragon unit; had I not taken the time to open the unit I would have never known this.

I also took the time to clean up all contacts at the alternator since they had years of corrosion built up.

After installing the Black Dragon unit into the car I noticed slightly lower voltage but it still bothered me that it would run in the 15v range.  I did some reading and found that this was common on the cheaper regulators and found that there was a particular regulator that seemed to be recommended from Intermotor.

Internally this regulator seemed to have an identical construction to the OE regulator I removed.  I installed the new regulator and also ran a ground wire from the chassis ground directly to the base of the regulator to ensure that the unit received a good ground.

In addition to the new regulator, I also read that the intermittent clicking from the electronic flasher relay can sometimes be caused by current leakage in the car wiring.  This minimal current would not be enough to generate the heat required to cause the disruption in the old bi-metal flasher.  While this clicking in the electronic units is common when searching for the problem, not many people have found a solution.  In my research I found one customer response from the manufacturer of my flasher on the Amazon Q&A section which  recommended a small resistor between the hot and the load terminals of the flasher.  No other details were given but this made sense for a solution since the units "detect" engagement of the flasher by sensing ground.  I tested this by creating a jumper harness with a resistor across the leads.  I used a 1k Ohm 1/4 watt resistor.

This harness eliminated the "ghost clicking" when the signals were not engaged and all lights worked perfectly except for the dash indicators which dimmed and brightened instead of flashing on and off.  I probably would have left it this way if I weren't already planning on making a more permanent solution.  I purchased a Dorman flasher socket pigtail with the intent of making this permanent solution.

I wanted to use a resistor with a higher resistance but still 1/4 watt of capacity.  The next resistance value I had on-hand was 4.1k ohms.  Since this was all trial and error, why not give this one a go.  I created a new harness using this resistor that would plug-in to the existing female spade connectors in the old harness.

While the electronic flasher I used would work even if the leads were swapped, I wanted to make sure the harness matched in the event that another flasher was used in the future.

I then removed the terminals from the old flasher socket and connected the new harness, using heat-shrink tubing over the connections.

So what was the result of all this work?  My voltage now stays very consistent at just over 14v no matter what the engine RPM and I have a flasher that no longer clicks when the turn signals are not engaged.  If I were to do it over again I would have used a resistor around 2k ohms as my flasher clicks one extra time after the turn signals are disengaged; this is still a very minor nuance that is still much better than previous behavior.

Pure Energy

Wow, has it been a while since I've done any work on the 280z!  I was able to take advantage of a beautiful day today and spend an hour or so under the hood.

This time I installed a new coil.  Why? I have been chasing an irregular miss while the engine warms up.  Coils are cheap and the one on my car looked to be the original so why not give a new one a shot?  Yes, yes, I know what you are saying: don't just swap parts but rather diagnose the problem.  For me this is an easy way to see if the problem changes or best case goes away.  It also gives me a chance to clean up some crusty terminals and nasty looking brackets.

After removing the coil you can see just how green and crusty those terminals have become over 40 years.

After removing the ballast resistor I used an ohmmeter to verify that the resistance still met factory spec (which is conveniently stamped on the bottom of the bracket: .9 ohms between the + terminal and the center terminal, .4 ohms between the COM and center terminals).  This one was still in spec which is good because you can't buy them anymore!  I cleaned up all terminals as well as the bracket and ceramics.  The bracket received a fresh coat of paint along with the coil bracket.

I also created new jumper wires between the resistor and the coil since the older units looked pretty nasty. As usual for me the terminal rings were both crimped and soldered.

I chose a Pertronix Flamethrower coil (model 14001 - 1.5 ohms) after reading a few articles and experiences from those who had used one.  Apparently a factory-spec .9 ohm coil is very hard to come by but after some reading the Pertronix should work fine as long as the factory resistor is left in-place.  

Before installing the refreshed resistor and new coil I cleaned up the ring terminals from the factory harness and crimped new spade terminals since the old copper units looked pretty nasty.  

The end result was something that looked factory fresh but with the shiny copper should provide a clean path for that energy to get to the spark plugs.

So did it cure the intermittent miss at idle when warming up?  Maybe.  The test run went well but I want to give it a few runs before making a final verdict.

Controlled Reception

After replacing the Pioneer tape deck that was in my 280z with a Retrosound unit, I found that I was annoyed when the power antenna would rise when I set the unit to Bluetooth mode.  Why would I need the antenna in this mode?  Even though the unit had separate wires for an amplifier remote switch and power antenna, they both apparently were energized at the same time.  I don't listen to the radio much anymore so every time I powered on the head unit to listen to podcasts I heard one less rise tick off of my aging antenna.  I had told myself some time ago that the next time I pulled the console out I would add a switch inline with the antenna so that I had more control over when it was extended.  Since my head unit had become loose after installation I decided to correct both issues at the same time.

To control the antenna extension I decided to use a toggle switch inline with the power antenna trigger wire.  This was simple to construct and splice into the harness.

The trick would be where to mount the new switch.  I definitely did not want to drill any plastic; while that would be the easy route it would also permanently change whatever was drilled.  I decided to construct a bracket out of a strip of steel.  I used one of the HVAC blower bolts to secure the switch under the dash and mostly out of sight.

The result?  I can now extend my power antenna only when I need it.