[Jeremiah_d10]

Hey I’ve gone through out the whole car and replaced the whole ignition system before this just to get avoid any future problems along with the fuel system and the air flow meter and the car ran like a top, I then had to replace the oil pan gasket and decided to replace the oil pump for proprietary maintenance while I had the oil drained, the car ran like a top before I got headers on it and everything but when I went to start it, it wouldn’t run, after the car wouldn’t start it would backfire and all that, I went back and took the oil pump out and found out that the rod that connects the oil pump and the distributor has a timing mark on the pump and rod and I re aligned that and still the car wouldn’t start but I thought that maybe taking the distributer off and flipping the rotor 180 degrees would have somthing to do with it not being in time, this is my first distributed car I’ve tinkered with so I thought maybe the firing order got messed up with that, I’m not sure if I knocked what ever meshes with the rod between the distributer and the pump out of timing cause I did spin the rod ever so slightly when I took the oil pump out but if I knocked it out of time how do I put it back I’m not sure what to do but I know my ignition is cutting out and it has to do with the distributer, don’t know if anyone has had the similar problem
Thanks

 

[Dave M]

FSM covers this in great detail.

 

[Jeremiah_d10]

FSM covers this in great detail.

Where could I find that?

 

[Dave M]

google FSM 280z

 

[pilgrim]

Where could I find that?

Nicoclub.com has them available for free download.

 

[chaseincats]

XenonZcar.com S30 Factory Service manuals

 

[kickstand80]

Firing order is 1,5,3,6,2,4

 

[kickstand80]

You may have installed the distributor drive rod incorrectly.

 

[Greg Reid]

As soon as I saw your topic, I figured I knew what your problem is....I just learned this lesson last week. The manual isn't super clear on this....What I have found is that if you line the dots on the oil pump as the manual said and insert it, the drive gear on the crankshaft will slightly rotate the distributor drive clockwise as it engages the gears.
The important thing is that after you install it, looking down at the distributor hole from the top, the drive tang should look like the hands of a clock at 11:25. If the gear rotates it as you insert it, you very well may see the hands at 12:35 instead.
The fix is to offset the dots on the pump shaft one gear tooth counterclockwise (from the top). It will then rotate to 11:25 when inserted and with the smaller of the two 'bow' shapes towards the front.
My car barely started and only after I advanced the distributor to it's very limits and even then it was popping, backfiring, no throttle response and so on...until I put to drive at 11:25.
At 12:35 ignition timing is severely retarded and you won't have enough physical travel to advance it where it needs to be to start. See photo below for the WRONG position. It should be a mirror image of this. 12:35 to 11:25 looking straight from the side.

My 2c

 

[johnh240]

Quick tip for changing the oil pump in the future. BEFORE you drop the pump, remove the distributor and grab onto the dizzy tab with some NEEDLENOSED locking pliers (or something similar) so the distributor drive rod can’t drop down. And DON’T TURN THE ENGINE OVER! Now you can drop the pump and replace it without losing the timing.