chipndip829

Hey everyone, My names Chris, I acquired a 1976 280z just over a year ago. The motor was in tired shape, it had a cam on it but all the valves were bent. I swapped the head for a stock cam and wired up a megasquirt system. It ran alright but it never made tons of power. I saw that a few people were putting RB's into z's and thought that would be a cool swap. Keeps it in the family. After building a whole new l28 to have the head gasket go, it was the final straw. I would start in swapping the RB despite the cost and time. I've created this thread to document progress. Here she is when I picked her up from the PO. As you can see it has the MSA bodykit on it. Update 1 - More pics!! So a bit of a background, I picked up a motor from JDM engine depot down in NJ. The motor I received failed a leakdown test. Initially diagnosed it as a head gasket but upon further tear down it had 5 leaking valves. They said the warranty was only intact if the head was on. To me it was worth a rebuild as you never know what the engine went through in its past life in Japan. Here are some pics from the machine shop The new engine will contain the following King main + rod bearings Cometic headgasket CP pistons Manley Rods ARP headstuds ARP mainstuds ARP rod bolts N1 oil pump HKS fine tune belt new tensioner + pulley new water pump I also ordered my oil pan from PAT1 and patiently waiting for it to come in. I've heard really good things about him. I went for the whole new oil pan option. I kinda cheaped out on my motor mounts and went with the CXracing kit. They aren't as bad as I expected. I'm unsure if I will run it for long after the install. While waiting for the engine to come back, I decided to mount the transmission. It fit really nice without any cutting needed. Next up was the fuel system. Although it is a 280z with fuel injection, I may want to run more power down the line. This is my rigged up system. It is an aem 380lph external with -06AN supply and return lines all the way. I used a aeromotive fuel pressure regulator you can see mounted on the firewall. I modified the original fuel pump mount. I cut and rewelded the end as to provide a little bit of protection for the lines. There is no 220v line in my garage so any welding past flux core can't be done. I am hoping to move into a shop in the near future.

It definitely can but I'm doing all in my power to keep that from happening. Forged internals, mls hg, arp studs etc... Yeah the hoke system is a lightweight pulley with a laser cut 36-1 disc attached, bit more reliable than glued magnets. It solved all the issues with trying to use the dizzy, which I admit was a stupid idea from the start. I'm liking the tuning options presented to me with any of the offered plug and play ecu's for the RB. Boost per gear, dual knock sensors, sequential fueling. This was a long time coming, just the failed head gasket was the nail in the coffin, also the fact that its freezing where I am = no more z weather The headgasket wasnt from detonation, it was actually a "new" engine that I assembled but stupid me being cheap didn't replace the head bolts. Leaked on first start. Tore the engine out initally to cure a leaky oil pan. Hud, sending you a PM

I ended up ditching the whole system as it was really not worth it. I bought a crank trigger kit from hoke performance(worked amazing) and bought the quad spark so that I could control an edis 6 coil pack. The setup worked really great but my engine blew a head gasket. I'm in the process of tearing the whole system out and selling it as a whole. RB25det here I come!

A little update on the build. Megasquirt wiring was cleaned up quite a bit, I have working relays and fuse panels now, Yay for not burning up wires. Once it's running I'll go back and cut to length and make it look factory. I went to a buddys shop and he was able to weld my distributor up. So now I have fixed timing using only one of the coils. I purchased the GM HEI 7 pin and did the mod per diyautotune on the ms2 3.57. I'm getting in the final stretches of the project. Here's to hoping that it all runs when it's back together.

I did end up dissembling the distributor but it looks like the plate with two holes that goes on the two magnets seems like it always stays with the top half. I can't see a way to weld itto the magnets. I'm still N/A at this point so COP doesnt have much benefit as just a simple advance table. I'm looking for a reliable EFI system. I'm surprisingly not doing that bad on the build. The figures are right where I expected them. The good news is that I finally got the megasquirt in the car. I chose to mount it in the passenger side. I took suggestions and grounded everything to the engine and NOT the battery. I ran my relays for the fuse block and one for the fuel pump. I am able to turn on the MS2, communicate(burn), turn on and off the fuel pump, and test both injector banks. Things are looking like they are going smooth. I have an order for a LC2 WB coming, IAT, and CLT. Those should be the last components I need other than the HEI!

Diyautotune has resolved the issue. The harness was supposed to have these pins. Great company if you are looking to megasquirt your Z. That being said I am back in track on my build. I tried to lockout the dizzy. I used thin metal wire. I'll see how it holds up. I would have welded it but I couldn't find a place to get the tip into.

I finally got my order in from diyautotune. A few mishaps but hoping they get back to me quick. It looks like the 10' harness that I ordered is missing the pins for the fuel pump relay and the ignition out. These pins are 37 and 36 respectively. I need 36 to trigger the coil right? I couldn't believe that they were not part of the harness!? Did I get a bad one?

What is keeping me from wanting to go to full ignition control is buying a 83 turbo dizzy. Prices seem like they are rediculous for just a distributor and then I need to find the base. Does the notch match the '76 dizzy? I did pickup one of the v3.57 boards so it should have the bip373 chip in it? I haven't recieved it yet do I can't check. Edit: DIYAUTOTUNE states 5 volt ignition output (JS10 jumpered directly to pin 36) for EDIS, Bosch 124, or GM HEI ignition control Slot for installing a BIP373 (not included) for direct coil control So unfortunately it looks like I would need to solder on a bip373. I picked up the assembled board. I'm horrible with solder. Fine when it comes to wires but not boards.

Ah. Too late to go back to stock now. I just ordered all the parts! I'm just going to state that I have no clue how distributors work. I've built subaru motors but coil on plug is so easy. I'm really trying though. It seems as though there are many ways. I think I have three options 1. From what I learned, the '76 dual pickup coil has two Variable Reluctors (VR) that are wired to the transistor ignition. (ignition module?) Seeing as I would be wiring only one of the two pickups. I would be looking at needing a new ignition module to just run the single? This drives the tach in to the megasquirt thus controlling fueling? I would assume with this that vacuum and mechanical advance would still be active, The only use for the pickup is driving MSII and the tach. 2. If megasquirt can act as the ignition module. The MSII VR sensor can take in a lead from one of the pickups. This would drive tach and MSII fueling. Megasquirt would in return drive the HEI which would step up the spark driven by the coil. The timeliness of that signal will control spark? Of course I would need to get rid of vacuum and mech. advance (Weld?) for this 3. Alternatively if I want to run MSII with spark control I may need to upgrade to the '82-83 turbo distributor as it has an ignition module on it. The output of that ignition module would trigger the MSII and then I could wire a HEI out from the MSII to control the spark from the coil?

I know that the dead coolant sensor will make the car run super rich. I tried unplugging the CSV but it sill floods. To my undertanding that is where the extra fuel comes from for the cold start. Does it increase the pulse for all of the other 6 injectors? The harness has no factory colors anymore. It looks as through the whole harness was redone. All the wires are white! So there is a possibility of using the stock '76 distributor with only one pickup? I know the coils are R/G or B/G. Is this part of the GM HEI I keep seeing?

Hello all. So I recently picked up a new 1976 280Z Non CA. It has a few mods to it. Stage III schneider cam, headers, monza exhaust. Something failed on the EFI and the previous owner cracked open the AFM and tweaked a bit. This is causing the engine to run extremely rich. The coolant temp sensor is dead also. I've decided after seeing many split wires and splicing that it would be best to start new with Megasquirt. I plan on purchasing the MS2 3.57 assembled unit and wiring harness. I know this question strays from the normal. I know the option of going to a 82-83 dizzy. As of right now, I just plan on running MS2 for fuel only. I know there is a trigger input that comes into the ECU like the stock setup. Is this acceptable for the MS2 or can I not use this. My understanding is that the injectors fire on every third pulse. Looking through wiring diagrams I put together this diagram. The 1976 datsun looks like it uses a dual coil setup with a transistor ignition box. Can I still have the megasquirt hooked up with this setup or will it not like it? Any advice would be greatly beneficial.