[mikeinlv]

Car: 1982 280ZX Turbo (completely stock)

Problem: When car is cold for about 3-5 minutes it is very sluggish and backfires into the exhaust I believe, is this a timing issue or what?

History: I have had the car for about 1 month now. I just had head gasket replaced by local Z shop, so it would be done right. It has new fuel injectors in last 6 months as well as new plugs wires and distributor. It has also had radiator cored and flushed in last 3 months, they should have had head gasket done instead of radiator I think.


Thanks for all your help,

Mike In Las Vegas
Z-ya

 

[zakaron 79zxt]

Well, I'm going thru the same deal here. I'm thinking mine is cam timing/chain related because I do get some chain slap noise and I believe the chain is slacked (even on #2 setting). When I had it tightened before (threw cam timing off though) the car had less hesitation when cold but lost performance cause of my setting. I plan on redoing the timing set and hopefully that will rid me of the niose and hesitation. Something you may want to try is to clean up all the connectors/ground straps. It did seem to help me some and I even got my a/f gauge working when I cleaned everything up.
-zakaron

 

[bakachan]

backfires into the exhaust? are u sure it isnt backfiring into the afm?

how can it be cold in vegas? god that place is hot in the summer!
i have a 78 and have wrestled with hard starting on mine also. this past weekend
i found a couple small vacuum leaks and advanced the timing just a bit
it doesnt pop thru the afm and starts easier. if u want to do a quick fix with minimum cost and hassle and if u dont have the time just wire a switch to
the cold start valve to spray a little gas before you start cranking

 

[Lee Smith]

I don't think the T [ turbo ] has a cold start valve.

 

[mikeinlv]

More Information maybe

I think it might be something electronic, because if I let it sit for a couple hours during the day even and it cools down it has problems then too (ie very sluggish on acceleration and some backfires into the exhaust( i think the exhaust could be elsewhere though) and after 3 minutes or so it is fine. It is fine if I let it idle for 3-5 minutes too. But I do have to say OMG this thing is fast when it gets going 0-60 mph WOW and 60-100 OMG WOW!