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My BIG pilot jets for the HSR carb arrived today.....at some point the beast will have enough fuel to idle! cheap at amazon! No name China made, but they work.

Oops. Looks like it is.

I would use the Engine Electrical and Body Electrical chapters for the diagrams. They are more detailed. I don't see the ignition relay involved in the lighting system.

When I was fixing up my car I was bit thick and lost my ignition relay. Now I’m trying to make a replacement relays for, because new is not anymore available. Is this correct? I took it from the Classic z car wiring diagram and it does not make sense. Why the black/white has connection to coil side and the connection side? Also why there is one dummy connection? The blue/green. This is really frustrating, because I think that this preventing me from having blinkers and there for I cannot get my car inspected.

I found this video on visiting a Metal Supply Shop in Japan. While doing a S30 Fairlady Restoration, the Body Man needed more sheet metal to finish his job. This video shows a side of car restoration that most people never see- where the sheet metal actually comes from. The rest of the video shows detailed 240z body restoration It shows how to repair difficult body areas of the 240z. I hope you guys find this video interesting. Toolman

for curiosity, on an HSR carb, the pilot jet for idle sprays into the bore right behind the needle. here is a pic. When I looked online I couldn't find a pic anywhere.

04-09-2025 TURBO UPGRADE UPDATE: So, I started the day by pulling carb off and changed the pilot jet out to 37.5 and then dropped the needle back to the stock range and put everything together. she still won't run! so i put the largest pilot jet i have in the carb a 42.5 with the air screw all the way in she runs great! but won't idle. There is still not enough fuel to idle, so I have to pump it, and so i got it running, and then I leaned out the door and sprayed starter fluid on places where there could be a vacuum leak and I found 3 places. Then I decided to get some permatek black gasket maker and run a bead on those spots then wipe it clean. once it is dry enough i will try again. Right now, with the 42.5 pilot jet AND the choke pulled she ALMOST idles! it's a big engine, so she wants fuel! Right now she will start without starting fluid using the 70-accelerator nozzle. so, iII went ahead and ordered some pilot jets that are even richer which will be here in a couple days off of Amazon. For the first time in 5 months the car left the garage and i was able to sweep it out and put the Z car back in the garage with the tail facing out. Laugh if you want but after 5 months of mental hell that is a huge deal! i almost have her ready to go! can you believe she likes a 42.5 pilot AND choke?!? but still wants more to idle on her own. 2.9 litre, she wants fuel! After letting hte gasket maker harden up for an hour, she still wants more fuel, so when the Idle jets come in we will continue to feed the beast until she will idle on her own! SO cool to actually get her out even if just in the parking lot.....progess is progress. FWIW a neighbor commented on the car while it was out. Sent from my iPhone

It has been a very slow progress for a couple of months unfortunately but i hope to take a test run this summer.

A injector duty cycle of over 85-90% is indicative of running out of injector. 100% duty cycle is the injector wide open. Because you changed your fuel pressure and required fuel without any kind of math to calculate the fuel injector flow change with the extra fuel pressure, it’s hard to really know if the injector duty cycle megasquirt reported was true or not. Based on an Internet fuel injector calculator you would have needed to be running 60lbs of base fuel pressure for the 260cc/min factory 280zx turbo injectors to flow 330cc/min. It’s likely that you were locking the injectors up with that high of a duty cycle which would explain the abrupt lean event at/ above 4500-5000 rpm. I’m sorry to hear about the rod knock. It seems like this was a lesson learned the hard way. Be sure to check your pistons because detonation with the intensity and duration to stuff a rod bearing has more than likely taken some ring lands with it as well (from experience). Broken rings/ ring lands could account for the oil consumption. I would also change out your fuel pump to one that will more than accommodate the power levels and fuel type you intend on running for the next motor.

I love it when a plan comes together! Fully operational below dcoe throttle body actuator for DBW ITB. Mostly hidden!

The TKX looks like a good transmission. Playing with gear/speed calculator I think the 3.3 rear end gearing is the way to go. Nice Z by the way, love the color

This is some great info, thanks for sharing. I’m looking into transmission upgrades now and I haven’t sourced my diff yet. Any thoughts on diff gearing, I’m going back and forth between 3.3 and 3.54. I’ve a big brake kit so I’ll be running 19” wheels, so I’m leaning toward the 3.54. You got me excited on the transmission now, I was kind of lost. Was thinking of a TREMEC TKO, but I’ll look into what you were suggesting. Thanks again for the info.

Very nice build so far, looking forward to your updates as you go.

I track my Ford powered 260Z. My personal experience is that transmission gearing is extremely important to getting the most fun on the track. In Florida, you will most likely be doing track days at Daytona and Sebring. Both tracks have very fast sections. Before doing track days, I autocrossed the car. In autocross, you only really need second gear if you have the right differential / tire height. I used Hoosier 275/35-15 tires and have a 3.36 rear end. With a 1.94 second gear in a T-5 and 6,500 rpm, 2nd gear was good for 73 mph. When I started doing track days, I needed all the gears. I had replaced the stock 1st through 4th with G-Force gears and shafts, but fifth gear was still stock. With that set-up, these were my gear ratios. 1st 2.95:1 2nd 1.94:1 3rd 1.33:1 4th 1:1 5th 0.59:1 Worked great until I needed 5th gear. that big a drop absolutely killed the fun (no acceleration in 5th). After my first time a Daytona, I changed 5th gear to 0.81:1. The .81 gear absolutely transformed the car. Now 5th gear is warp drive. The transmission that you show probably doesn't have a good selection of gear ratios, and probably won't hold much power. If it were me, I would get the new TKX with the close ratio rears. That transmission will handle the power and maximize you fun on track. If I didn't already have so much invested in my T5, I would get a TKX. This is the TKX I would get: https://www.speedwaymotors.com/TREMEC-TCET18084-TKX-Close-Ratio-5-Speed-Ford-Manual-Transmission,452007.html?srsltid=AfmBOoq-x1paVSDoNvgI38myLy79UBWXzZFW-QeQ4bK1_vWnSHM7bEEJ Gear Ratios 1st - 2.87, 2nd - 1.89, 3rd - 1.28, 4th - 1.00, 5th - 0.81

Got the engine on the stand. Ended up having to take the clutch off to fit, nice and easy to do with the engine out. Still needed some spacers to clear the flywheel. I’ll start looking into clutch upgrades and a lighter flywheel. Bought some furniture dolly’s to set the transmission on so I can move it easily. Got a small garage, so need to rearrange stuff as I work. I’ve got a track day at Sebring next weekend so it’ll be a few weeks before I can work on anything. Probably start taking apart front suspension and subframe and get engine bay wiring out and cleaned.

Looking for any 240/260/280 fuel gauge in almost any condition. Just need it to light up. The cheaper the better

Thabks for the info. I'm pretty sure I have a bit more with in my engine bay than a s30 does but yes I like the idea of making a cardboard mockup. Or maybe even 3d print one. Sorry to threadjjack. But thanks for the info

The first engine was a stroker turbo engine where I had hopes of big power with the ProTunerZ manifolds. I wanted a turbo capable of high boost. This was is where the GTX3071R Gen II came in. Well having the wastegate hoses switched and a speed contest with a Toyota Camry TRD and to rich of a tune scuffed two of the six pistons. This toasted engine one, an expensive lessons learned the hard way.😆 It was dam fun to drive at 20 Psi! So Engine number two is a stock setup with 10 Psi and I finished the final intercooler design. Engine three and two years later is another stroker turbo with 88mm JRE forged pistons that I hope to finish the next two weeks. Its finally out of machine shop hell. The plan is to unbolt all the good stuff and move it over to this new engine. I hope the third time is a charm! I tell you all this to say the turbo has been one of the best parts so far it just works and works well at high or low boost levels. Its definitely a quality piece, but wasn't cheap. I did purchase it from Full-Race Motorsport Black Friday sale. I think it was 20% off. I enclosed a chart with several second gear full throttle pulls. Hope that shows you what your looking for. I also enclosed the compressor map from Garrett Boost advisor at 375HP. Garrett Boost Advisor GTX3071R Gen II Turbo 375HP I know when I first started trying to fit an air-to-water intercooler. I could get a smaller barrel intercooler to fit with the stock turbo and manifolds by replacing the J-Pipe and placing the Intercooler in its place. This would leave room for the stock AC compressor if it had AC installed. The reason I didn't go that route as its only rated for a max of 290HP. What you don't get from product description is a lot of tech specs about its cool capacity, so I passed one this one. When I went to the larger turbo and manifolds. I didn't have the room that I did with the stock setup. The compressor housing is bigger on the GTX3071R and this moved everything out against the shock tower. I wasn't a fan of cutting up my new compressor housing to weld a short 90 degree elbow on it. This is where I came up with the current design to pipe it down and up to the larger Intercooler to handle the heat of the higher boost levels. I just didn't have the room with the larger 600HP rated core between the strut tower and the engine. My recommendation is to mock the one your looking at in carboard and see if you have enough room between the engine and the strut tower. Good Luck!

first is idle, then carb. once the SM needles are in, you need a sync tool. if you need further help, I can make it easy to understand.

SU's on an L28, you need SM needles. I had the same problem. I set the idle at 20 degrees at idle with vacuum disconnected and plugged. then I added the SM needles. problem solved. The SU's are made for 2400cc's. you have 2800cc's. and the timing needs to be correct. The manual for the L24 is 18 degrees at idle with vac disconnected and plugged. I went 20 because I am at 6000 ft elevation. Again, I had the same issue. turn the screws down 1.5 to 2 turns. SU's are known for going lean at high RPM's.

Let that ship sail! Find another decent body for a few grand and save yourself a ton of time and money. I've seen many "resto plans" dye on the vine after the joy has passed, months and years go by and the person doing it burns out. Just my ywo cents!! Good luck.

Looking again at the pics.....if you don't want to dip it, no sense in really even trying to restore it. It needs it so desperately, you should do it, or just find another Z car IMHO.

the car body after acid is put into a vat of neutralizing solution, the car is completely submerged....hence there is no acid left to weep out. There simply is no other way to get all the rust out. The water gets into every single crevice there is. People talk about bare metal between pieces of metal.......it would be there either way.....these cars were built out of raw steel and THEN painted. The panels were not individually coated and then assembled. They didn't do it that way. The only downside to a dip is the amount of work to completely remove EVERYTHING from the shell....and of course the transport to and from. Some Z projects are SO rusty, I can't believe anyone wouldn't want to get all the rust off!

Metalworks in Eugene, OR is the closest place I have found to you and I (Los Angeles) that has full-car capability. I've only seen good reviews from them. I've seen the stories of weeping and paint being ruined just like you, but it's always "a friend told me he knew a guy" and never any firsthand or even secondhand evidence.

Who are you sending your car for dipping? I've heard some mixed things regarding weeping of it from the seams. Not trying to poo-poo it, i would've done it myself if it weren't so cost prohibitive at the time.