General Chat
Q:
by the skin of my teethe.
Just picked up the donor car for the 79 project I've taken on. It was a 35mile drive home in a car that hasn't run in at least 5 years. The hood hinges were broke so no hood, t-tops off, and windows rolled down.
Flash back to early last week.
The gas cap was missing.... yeah.
I checked the guage after getting a battery in it and it said empty. OK just add gas and start her up. I get it started and pulled it into the lift with no problems.
flash forward to today
So I picked her up. And instantly there is an issue. It cranks and sputters. It won't run... and it was running great before when I racked it. So I start looking and for the life of me nothing looks to be an issue. I can smell some nasty gas, but I was expecting it, right. Maybe clogged filter? I check nope. For giggles I turn the key on to see the gasoline fountain... nothing!!!
So something is wrong with that for sure. Maybe the driver in the ECU is burned up that runs the pump for the 5 secs when the key is switched to "on". Anyway, I give it a crank. It starts to bubble out the hose. I guess the gas evaperated... all 5 gallons or maybe it just got siphoned who knows. I get it on the road after putting 2 gal in to go 2 miles to a gas station... but NAOOOoo. I get 1/2 mile down the road and sputtering comes back... So I'm like "NO WAY" now... So I send the GF to get 6 gal.s of fuel (brought GF along to tail me in case of problems). During this time I'm hoping that no cops drive by and see my out of date reg. I also took this time to investigate the fuel system a bit deeper. I checked the FP, CTS, fuel filter, injectors, and FPR so time to see how hard it would be to do a "on the roadside" job. I pulled the hoses off and disconnected the wire loom right there on the spot after pulling out the interior floor and removing the cover. I pull the 8 6mm hex screws and pull the sending unit out... DANG rust-o-rama! The entire tank is full of rust. I mean it's actually congealed into a semi-liquid. REALLY NASTY! It's very similar to aviation gasket by Permitex... THAT NASTY... I get everything moving again and I clean the sump soc pickup filter. I clean out the large particles and add as much gas as possible. I start to contemplating leaving the car and having it towed at this point...
I get to the gas station check everything once more fill up tires and add more gas.
Off to US 101. 8 miles @65 mph all is well. Well there is a HUGE accident on 101 at this point... The car starts to run a little rough. I am not liking this at all. The radio says it's a big one so I take the open opportunity to break the law and drive back wards on the on ramp shoulder to get off the freeway which is like another 2 miles of gridlock... good thing I got off!! I get 1/4 off 101 and the car sputters and dies! I'm sitting there going "shoot!". This time I have the idea though. I'm losing fuel pressure at the tank because the filter sump is clogging up.
So it comes back apart and I dump the rest of the good gas in after cleaning up the filter. It starts up with little effort and drives fantastic once again!
I get a little farther down the road and it slowly gets worse... So I'm really getting fed up now for sure!! I have to get on a windy road. I can't go any faster down this 2 mile stretch of windy road either... and not because I'm at any risk of driving off the side.
At the end of the 2mile stretch I pull over and shut it off. I pull the sending/pickup unit once more... I figure if I have to do this one more time I'm going to tow this thing and go home and eat dinner. I rub the filter down with my fingers and gas. I take off the air filter. I double check the CTS. And I scrap the bottom of the pickup pan in the tank until I'm sure I have all the large chunks out of there. I slap it together and start her up. It runs great again!!! So now with a twitch in my eye I take off down the road... I keep expecting more trouble... I get all the way home. Which is long way from the last breakdown point. I pull in the driveway and do a celebratory 360 burnout and it still doesn't DIE!!! I parked it and had dinner.
That's my story and I'm sticken to it! sorry 'bout it being so long.
Anyway it was a Z adventure and I hope you enjoyed the tale...
Ray @ DMS
"I reject your reality and substitute my own"
Please check out Thanks!
"You can get anything you want at Alice's Restaurant, excepting Alice"
Post Edited (Sep 6, 10:41pm)
A:
Good story man, sounds like a real adventure.
1976 280Z
Draw-Through Turbo, 10 PSI, 4 Bbl Holley, E88, L28 (Flat), 10:1 CR, 5 Spd
1974 Corvette Stingray:
350, 400 Automatic, T-Tops, 8.5:1 CR, 78,000 Miles
1994 Acura Integra:
1.8L, 5 Spd, 189,000 and Counting!
A:
I shouldn't have let 4 gals of gas sit in there for over a week before picking it up... that is really what did me in. That gas broke up the rust and gunk that clogged the filter. I probably would have made it all the way home on the first day without insident...
"I reject your reality and substitute my own"
Please check out Thanks!
"You can get anything you want at Alice's Restaurant, excepting Alice"
A:
Sounds like you had a fun day
A:
dude... thats something id so do.
its days like those that make life an adventure!!!
77Z- (mfg. 7/77)
"Arm-chair Autox'er"
A:
What an adventure! Thanks for sharing.
---------------
1982 280zx
A:
Ray,
It reminds me of my early days with my MGB. I believe that for the first year I owned it, it got pushed, pulled and kicked more miles than it ever went under its own power. Good story with the Z.
John
77280Z (Spooky), 83ZXT (Garage Queen), 86ZXT (Bulldog).
Proud owner of 10/03 Z car of the month.
A:
For a 35 mile drive I would have gotten a tow truck. Don't cheap out its not worth the headache. I nearly escaped a 5k fine & a serious charge on my driving record that no insurance company would have touched if I wanted insurance for driving an unsaftied car to a garage with plates registered to a different car & no insurance. I got off with a small fine because the cop was in a good mood, I co-oporated with him & didn't run.
This whole world smells bad, I'd buy another if I had
back what I paid for another mother@#$%@# in a motorcade
A:
It is a felony to run different plates... They are suppose to impound the vehicle. Although I am not sure what I did was any less illegal. I think it is also a felony to drive back wards even on the shoulder of the road. That could get me 2 points on my record automatically. I should have rented a flatbed trailer. I had a moving permit. That cost 15bux. It would have been a big hassle to get pulled over or caught by a CHP though because I didn't have any of the tittle transfer papers on the spot with me. We had them filled out before I ever picked up the car. So as far as they knew I wasn't the owner, and the ignition was torn apart... It would have looked pretty bad. I'm not sure the moving permit would have completely covered me. I was cool on insurance. My coverage covers me in any vehicle that I drive if the current reg owner is uninsured like in this case. So I tried to cover most of my bases.
"I reject your reality and substitute my own"
Please check out Thanks!
"You can get anything you want at Alice's Restaurant, excepting Alice"
A:
Well I think you mastered the roadside repair. Good story.
1972 240z w/L28, tokico shocks and springs, and a 5 speed waiting. Also running high performance ultra mega blinker fluid, that's at least an extra 50hp to the wheels.
1987 Toyota Supra Turbo 5-speed. Belongs to me until my friend get's back from Iraq.
A:
I got a car impounded with the improper registration thing before...sad chapter in the life of Chris..
1976 280Z
Draw-Through Turbo, 10 PSI, 4 Bbl Holley, E88, L28 (Flat), 10:1 CR, 5 Spd
1974 Corvette Stingray:
350, 400 Automatic, T-Tops, 8.5:1 CR, 78,000 Miles
1994 Acura Integra:
1.8L, 5 Spd, 189,000 and Counting!
A:
Good that you made it home safe and sound! Reminds me of all the headaches with my past Z's myself with fuel problems. Ahh, memories! LOL!
Dave
12/70 240Z, L-28, flat-tops, N-42 head, N-33 intake, MSA 10-2002 cam, ZX ignition, early 5-speed, R-180,4:11 gears, 903 Blue paint.
A:
reminds me of my younger days! great story ! glad it all turned out GOOOOD!
thanks for sharing-its been a boring day.
____________________________________
1980 280ZX coupe
2001 maxima
1994 F150 4x4 van works custom truck
170000 and never needed mech repairs
1996 ford explorer -they cant all be good
A:
I forgot to mention that at the last stop I put my vice grip pliers over the return line next to the filter to choke it. I had forgot about them until this morning... when I pulled them off. LOL
So that might have greatly contributed to my making it all the way home.
"I reject your reality and substitute my own"
Please check out Thanks!
"You can get anything you want at Alice's Restaurant, excepting Alice"