1981 Datsun 280ZX 2 + 2 from North America - Comments

I recently received a "free-bee" in the form of a 280ZX Turbo, first production year. It was my mother's husband's and he just can't drive it anymore. He was a mechanic, so it was well cared for, but he wasn't into the cosmetic thing, so the interior isn't pristine. There are only two small spots of rust on the lip of the metal roof at the passenger t-top. That will be addressed very soon.

The car did run very well once off idle. It has 225K miles and still appears to have plenty of power left to it. In fact I drove it home, about an 800 mile trip, from South Florida, to the Panhandle Florida. No problems. Haven't had much time to get into the car mechanically and didn't need to up to this point except for the mentioned rough idle. Car hardly ever stalled, so I wasn't too worried.

But after a couple weeks, had an issue crop up. I have been suspicious that the rough idle is from a deteriorated injector somewhere. Planning on pulling all of them and sending them out for cleaning and rebuild. Pretty sure all the electrical components are in good shape.

BUT all of a sudden, after purchasing premium gas from a Shell station here, it has started to run very poorly.

When I depress the gas pedal, I get hesitation, coughing, sputtering and no power. I have to really work the pedal to find the "sweet" spot and struggle to get the car up to speed. It will catch sometimes and have some pull up to 3500 rpm and then go back into the weak acceleration mode. I hear something that sounds a bit like a weak backfire, but I think it comes from under the hood. If I let off the pedal just a tad, it will smooth up and power up slowly in rpm. It happens again as I reach 4500 rpm. If I can coax the car up to 50 to 55 mph, it does OK, but I can feel it running a bit rough (especially compared to how smooth it HAD been running).

I am seriously wondering if it is nothing more than bad gas, BUT, this was gas purchased at a reputable vendor. Hard to imagine, but I guess anything is possible.

It may be just a small amount of junk or water, but I was wondering if anyone else has seen this kind of problem?

Bought my 1981 280ZX for $850 and it looks like it got rolled off a cliff. LOL it is my first car, and once my mom got done yelling at me (it was so loud on the test drive it set off car alarms) we got into working on it.

All 4 tires were in bad shape, I bought two.

One of the tail lights was broke, and took 2 headlights off a 1982 280, which was easy.

Then I wasted some money on a grant steering wheel (I am glad I did hehe) and shift knob, only to take it to the inspection place to hear I had an exhaust leak... ergo the car alarms going off... I just thought it was the Flowmasters... so I bought some pace setter headers (get old Nismo race headers or something, not these), and began to take my engine apart. But the stock EGR pipe didn't fit into the header, and they didn't include one, so my car sat for about 4 months.

My friend came over, and decided he could make the pipe from a radiator pipe out of his Fiero, and we got to work. Now, 3 days later, I have a car waiting to get the open headers attached to my Flowmasters.

LOL it has always run like a monster, and I love it. The K&N cold air is nice as well. I can keep up with almost anyone up to 60, but after that, I begin to fall behind. I don't care, it handles so well I don't have to get it over 60 to win, just pick a tight course. Besides, it's my first car. I love it!

I have a 280zx had the problem above, where it will only start with starting fluid. I thought it was the thermo-time and you should check that out. Mine happened to be the battery was simply not powering well, and so the fuel pump wasn't doing its job. When I replaced the battery, my troubles were gone.

I would change the fuel filter and run some dry gas in it.