[Diy_efi] nissan L28 engine

[Ian Molton]

Hey guys.

good news on the L28 in my 280Z... it seems to turn freely!

the plugs have come out with only a dry powdery carbon coating on them, 
they dont look crackedor damaged at all. knowing nothing about petrol 
engines I read that this suggests either over rich fuelling, excessive 
idling, or the wrong plug type. on the plus side, I guess it means the 
engine likely doesnt have any serious oil burning issues...

radiator needed 2 litres of water to top it up. no idea how much a 
system can lose standing around for 6 years, but it doesnt _appear_ to 
be going anywhere nefarious...

sprayed in some WD-40 and tried turning it over by hand. I got some 
motion without trying too hard (turned the alternator pulley because the 
crank is near inaccessible behind that mother of a fan...) so I let it 
stand a while and turned over the engine (minus plugs) with the starter. 
it seems to turn freely enough and the oil pressure idiot light goes out 
(although the guage reads 0). The cranking was pretty even - no sign of 
binding.

tried reconnecting the plugs and got no start. then I realised that I 
couldnt hear the fuel pump when I turned the key. After first setting 
off the alarm (didnt realise it worked!) and then disabling the damn 
thing, I could hear the fuel pump when the key was turned. however still 
no start.

What next? I assume I'll need a strobe or something, and is there any 
way to monitor an injector (bosch L-jet) to see if they are being fired?

can I squirt carb cleaner or something into the air intake to start it? 
is it safe to do so?

On the plus side, the drivers door I removed seems to be in reasonable 
shape - its down to clean metal over much of the outside. theres some 
bad pitting, but not much else. the underside of the inner panel is 
quite rusted though - but nothing terrible.