1981 2.8L Turbo 280zx Crank Angle Sensor

[GsaSlick]

An old friend of mine bought his 81 2.8L Turbo 280zx several years ago and loves the car more than anything else in his life. He's run into some trouble and needs a Crank Angle Sensor which he was told is specific to the year and model engine he has. I've done some searching and cannot seem to find anything for him. I drive a Z32 and I feel his pain in wanting to make his baby run right again so I thought maybe you guys in the Classic Z side could give me some help. We've checked Courtesy and Junkyards in the area and we're just out of luck it seems. Any and all information would be much appreciated, thanks and god bless.

[XJared]

Are you talking about the sensor in the distributor? The trigger wheel or the optical sensor?

[GsaSlick]

From the information he's given me my understanding is that it is right on the crank, and it's called the crank angle sensor. He's been told his best bet is to convert the distributor, rotor cap, oil pump and a few other things to a newer year model to fix his problem, however most of those parts on his current engine are newly replaced.

[XJared]

There is no crank angle sensor on the crank on an 81.

[ravera]

IIRC 81, and only 81, had the CAS before they switched to the 82-83 setup.

[GsaSlick]

His is definitely an 81 and it definitely has a crank angle sensor, which is why he needs the replacement.

[jc0526]

81 turbo is the only year the CAS was actually on the crank. Damper is specific to this year as well.

Call this number - 281-250-9047 (Kin)

They guy that answers is a goofy MFer that you can hardly understand but he may be able to help.

Tell you budy its time to look into megasquirt or a Z31/NisTune conversion.

[HowlerMonkey]

I've sampled a waveform from both the 1981 crank angle sensor and the 1982/83 distributor and they are the same.

The crank angle sensor has one pickup for the 120 degree pulse and two pickups on the same line that are spaced 1/2 tooth off from each other for the tone.

This gives 180 peaks from a 90 tooth wheel on the crank pulley.

Since I have never seen one fail, I would like to ask why the person think's it's bad.

Does ohm out an open circuit on any of the pickups?

What does the waveform look like?

What are the symptoms on the car?

If he cannot find the original crank angle sensor, he should be able to run the later distributor.......as long as he also gets the 1982/83 oil pump shaft because they are different.