# 81 280 ZX Turbo backfiring, accelerating like a snail



## nissan_drift (Jun 17, 2004)

I recently purchased an '81 280 ZX Turbo from a towing yard as is. It's got approx. 178K Miles on the engine. When I first fired her up she ran smoothley the first few miles. 150 miles and an oil change later, she's started to show her age.

It's gone from being able to top out on the speedomoter to struggling to maintain 55 mph, not to mention taking forever to reach said speed. When I try to accelerate it starts backfiring and sputtering, taking off slowly at first then gaining speed at a more normal pace untill it reaches the top end of the gear at which point it starts sputtering and backfiring again. When it shifts gears and the RPM's drop lower it accelerates fine again.

To try and fix the problem I've changed the spark-plugs and plan on replacing the fuel filter in the morning. Since I've changed the plugs, it seems to take off a little smoother but still has problems at the higher end of whatever gear its in. It also won't go over 55 mph either.

Any suggestions, ideas, similar experiences?


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## das280zx (Jul 17, 2003)

hmm, that is strange. your timing could be out of whack. Now on the 81 turbo 280zx, the timing is controlled by a crank angle sensor. This sensor is located at the front of the engine and reads off of a wheel on the crank pulley. It can be adjusted. I don't know how to do it, but check over at zcar.com, plenty of people there will know how. Also, there should be a slight amount of timing adjustment in the acutal distributor (which is very simple in the 81 model, all it does is distribute the spark that is doled out by the computer). Anyhow, the mounting holes on the distributor are slotted. It can be loosened and turned a little bit to adjust the timing, but only slightly. The timing should be set to arount 20 degrees btdc, if I am not mistaken. I think the sensor in the crank angle unit can also get dirty and not work too good. So I would clean it all off and then get a timing light, if you don't already have one, and see what it is set at. Good luck with it all!


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## nissan_drift (Jun 17, 2004)

*bump*

bump


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## das280zx (Jul 17, 2003)

did you try what I said to do? Or is it still a mess?


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