car sputters like mad randomly

if i nail the throttle in 1st it pulls and pulls, shift to 2nd and half the time the car will just begin sputtering. i think i may have a bad #1 sparkplug wire, but i can't find an FSM or any kind of online manual for the S12. which set of plugs are the primary ones and which are the ones that cut off above 3k rpms? i'll probably rewire the coils to both run the primary signal sometime this week when i have time to play with the car, but i'm just trying to sort a few small isssues out before i really start driving the car very far.

Mmm ... CBR

Uhm, yeah ... sounds like one of a few things.

02 sensor
fuel ... (filter, pump)
dreaded "Orange" gasket
plugs
wires
cap
rotor

heh

Judging by your other post, I'm gonna guess you know enough about cars to handle the tune up end.

On your car, the primary coil (Intake) can be found by tracing the wiring to the transformers. The transformers are physically attached to the coil bracket. The wiring comes into them, and then goes on to the coil.

If there's 3 wires going to the transformer that's your primary coil.
The 3rd wire is your tacho signal.

Now, the dreaded "Orange" gasket ... just sounds a lot worse than it really is.

On the hot side of your turbo, where the outpipe slips on is a big orange rubber gasket. These things fall apart religiously, and are the #1 cause of boost leaks. Also the actual clamp sucks too. It's welded on upside down for starters.

Nest solution is to toss the whole pipe system. These cars beg for intercoolers, so just swap one in plus all the necessary piping and be done with it.

Nest solution is to toss the whole pipe system. These cars beg for intercoolers, so just swap one in plus all the necessary piping and be done with it.
This si something that every turbo owner should do... Also coils are a big problem...

Also a cause of some problems like this, is the TB (throttle body) Cleaning this, or even replacing it with that of a KA24E (60mm) can make a big difference...8)

Judging by your other post, I'm gonna guess you know enough about cars to handle the tune up end.

On your car, the primary coil (Intake) can be found by tracing the wiring to the transformers. The transformers are physically attached to the coil bracket. The wiring comes into them, and then goes on to the coil.

If there's 3 wires going to the transformer that's your primary coil.
The 3rd wire is your tacho signal.

yeah, i know my way around an engine bay pretty well ;). my guess thus far is the tuneup crap, wires/plugs/rotor/cap. it feels like a spark issue to me more than anything and i believe my boss yanked one of the #1 sparkplug wires earlier today and he said that the wire wasn't even connected (didn't have a clip on the end to secure to the actual plug, it was just a wire stuffed into the boot). he also left the car running sitting in place today, and it has no fan shroud on it so when he came back to it it was overheating :laugh:. the guy is a little absent minded at times, but a good guy none the less. :wink:

any other stupid stuff that i'll most likely overlook? i'd like to get it running good on the CA for now until we decide on a swap. i'm trying to get him to go FJ20, but we can't find any FJ motorsets here in the US.... i like the FJ though, and they are terribly uncommon in the states compared to the other swaps out there. he's still stuck on the RB25, although with this being a drifter a CA18DET or SR20DET are much better candidates to make the car handle the way i want it to.

FJs are around, but good luck finding one. I've come across a few in some shady places, but all were NA.

These cars are brutally sensitive to faulty ignition components. I know mine doesn't even like to run on lightly used plug wires.

My Charger will run even with plug wires arcing to the headers ... so it's an adjustment.

But yeah ... Nissan decided to use body grounds fro just about every major electrical system. Since every Nissan likes to rust, get used to changing grounds.

Don't count out the little SOHC either ;)

Don't count out the little SOHC either ;)

oh we're not counting it out. we're actually going to start tuning it up today :D

according to 1988 200sx FSM...

Intake / Exhaust
standard: BCPR6ES-11 / BCPR5ES-11
Hot: BCPR5ES-11 / BCPR5ES-11
cold: BCPR7ES-11 / BCPR6ES-11
======== / BCPR7ES-11

intake plugs are primary, exhaust cut a 3k rpm.

what is this "orange" gasket??

orange gasket is Turbo car only,

it's a thick stepped orange gasket that connects the outpipe to the turbo

he also left the car running sitting in place today, and it has no fan shroud on it so when he came back to it it was overheating :laugh:. the guy is a little absent minded at times, but a good guy none the less. :wink:

Haha, that car is familiar:-) I left it running for 2-3 minutes at idle, and it overheated, but it is still good. The reason for the overheating was that I took the turn into the shop too sharp, and since the car has no fan shroud, the battery ( no battery tie-down) fell and stopped the main fan from spinning. So in 3 minutes steam started coming from the engine bay. That was the second day after we got the car, so I thought: " Oh well, looks like we will make some phone calls for RB25s. " But the engine still has 150-155 compression, and it is running strong. So we will keep the CA18ET. On top of that, we are picking up a parts car (97K miles on the engine) for $50, so we will have many spare parts.

Also, we hooked up an old school Apexi boost controller, and the engine is still strong. By strong, I mean it was holding 1.25 bar with no intercooler. That is after new wires, cap, rotor, plugs, oil change. Also it is running with no catback :razz:

That 1.25bar boost though made the intercooler pipe ( well, no IC on the car, but you get the idea) blow off hard in first gear on one of the runs.
And of course, that made me look closer at the orange gasket. It was split in half. So that was the reason why the car would sputter sometimes.
So this weekend we are just gonna put a T25 turbo off a z32 300zx, custom intercooler piping, Evo8 intercooler, and an HKS Racing BOV. We might also hookup a Pivot fuel controller, and some Evo8 injectors ( we have tons of them laying around). Then, on an open DP, I am sure we will break 200whp on our dyno. The popoff valve is welded shut already :pimp:

George

Hmm ... what's the deal on the Pivot fuel controller? I've never heard of it.

Or is that a typo? I've heard of Pilot, but I don't think they make fuel controllers ... I only know their strut bars *lol*

I ask, because eWhores outbid me on every SAFC, and I'm too cheap to buy new ;) But Pilot works with Keystone (so does Apex'i now that I think of it)

Should get you to the 200whp mark no problem. Even the stock system can (barely) crack the 200hp mark.

Oh yeah, get a blank fuel rail ... those Evo8s won't like your stock one ;)

and fuel pump ... Carter has some very big pumps for less than Walbro.

Matt, Matt, Matt, I've told you before, there are FJ20ET motors out there if you want them! 1500-2000 will get it shipped to your door. Maybe a tad more. They are all in Australia! You have to make emails, phonecalls, and generally bug the hell out of the fj20.com forum but you can find them. Some will be S12 versions, some will be Skyline versions with slightly different intake manifolds, but you CAN find FJ20ET's if you know where to look.

icantdrift: The FJ is too heavy, go withthe CA18DET... it's lighter, but stronger than the SR20DET. But if I had to choose between SR and FJ for drifting, I would go SR. You don't need the FJ, that's for brute dragracing or some kind of tricked out full-race roadrace car (which is why I love the design of the FJ so much).

NOW... onto your CA18ET issues... interestingly enough, my 280ZX Turbo does the same thing... does it do it typically when you enter into boost with mild accelleration, and then goes away when you slap on the pedal? Once mine reaches 3300 rpms it finally kicks in the fuel with the boost and away it goes. Sound familiar?

I was thinking airflow meter myself. But who knows.

eer... sounds very familiar!. This post is great :D

I get the same thing but I can't pin point it but the boost will kick in when I throttle back alittle. Some warm days its fine. Its been in inside storage 10yrs and I've started driving it again last Oct. (military) I replaced the plug wires but not the plugs could that be it? and fuel filter is original (83,000miles)