Junkyarding

This past rallycross the FX had been having power and driveability issues. Luckily this time I saw the CEL come on so I pulled the codes later. Turns out the error is from the AFM. Unfortunately perusing Root’s boneyard revealed 3 AFM’s in a addition to the one in the street FX and one in the rally FX were all bad. The street FX was in the best shape, it should be since it was a reman bought recently from NAPA, so I swiped that one into the rally. The street then got the next best one I could find.

So this past Saturday I decided to go check out ABC in Pearl City. Haven’t been there in a while so might as well see what they got. Mostly overcast, but still hot. Not a single Corolla AFM to be found. In fact AFM’s seem to be one of the first things to go, there was hardly a car with one left! That being a failure, I was now in trolling mode, looking for anything to scavenge to at least make the trip out not a total failure. So far it was looking a little sad, I scabbed the “Ram Air” emblems of the sides of a Pontiac. I did find someones stash of horns in the trunk of a car. Hey, they left it there, it was free game! I took the pair of FIAMM with 90 degree outlet and two wire power. Hey, I left them the Made In Spain ones.

I then went back to something I had seen when I first arrived at the yard, a Datsun 280Z. This was a pretty rare find, most everything in here is from 90’s or newer, with a few 80’s vehicles. This 280 must be fresh, it was up front and had almost everything intact, including the AFM! Did some Net searching and figured out this was actually a 280ZX, the fuel injection and uglyfying body elements should have told me right away. And some more Net searching confirmed the rememberence of hearing that the front struts can be used in a 510. They pretty much bolt in with the only modification needed are the spring perches. This nets you a lower height, cartridge capable damping, and larger vented discs. It was fairly easy to remove, technically only three nuts, two bolts, and brake line were all that needed to be removed. I did also detach the sway bar and front tension rod for more room. Eventually got them out, but it cost quite a lot of sweat. The forklift guy was cool enough to see me struggling and lifted the front of the car onto a pile of stuff.

Oh, and the other cool bonus item I grabbed was this funky work light that was in the 280ZX engine compartment, bolted to the inner fender bulge. I didn’t realize the little dome section detached from the egg until I pulled it out tonight, neat-o!