zeiss150

here's my story... F54 block (rebuilt with flat top pistons .020) N42 head (rebuilt) e88 intake MSA header 6-2-1 2.5 inch exaust 81 280zx dizzy and coil (rebuilt ) SU's with SM needles 2mm HKS steel head gasket(I wanted lower CR so I could run crappy 91oct) Schnider cam 460 lift 270 duration schnider performance valve springs (no valve float) New 3 row radiator stock K&N air filter my motor has a CR of 9.2:1 I haven't had it dyno'ed but Its a fast N/A Z. I can kick a G35's ***! but I don't even mess around with WRX's. but........... I wish I would have built a turbo... cause thats what im doing now. I used to think that 180 rwhp would be enough ... but its never enought... never! Good luck, let us know what you build.

N42 head has the same cc's as the N47 the differances are... N42 bronze valve seats (because of leaded gas) square exaust ports N47 Steel valve seats (unleaded gas) round exaust ports with steel exaust liners. The liners are suspended hoops in the exaust path that heat up to burn off pollution. You will get people fighting about which head flows better ... but most N/A people prefer the N42, but... you need to have the valve seats changed over to steel and you might as well replace the valve stem seals and get a 3 or 5 angle valve job while your at it. Good luck with your engine build.

Yep! thats the whole rebuild kit. Doesn't seem like much does it. you have the front and back oil seals, bearings, thrust bearing and matting ring, and the compressor and turbine housing gaskets and hold down brackets with bolts. I was suprised how easy it was to rebuild. Does anyone know the stock trim and AR for the nissan T3? $99 is about right ... I paid $90.29 for mine from turbo city in Orange CA (714)997-1196 if anyone wanted to know. The kit comes with "how to" instructions.

According to my local turbo shop there is no need to balance the turbine shaft. The main thing that you don't want to do is bend the shaft... that would be bad times. so just be very very careful when torquing the compressor nut. Keep in mind im no turbo expert... im just going by what my local turbo expert told me. Im sure it wouldn't be a bad idea to balance the shaft, just like it is a great idea to balance your crank even though you don't have to.

Yeah those exaust bolts are a biiiiiiiitch!!!! It took me about a week to figure out how to get them off with out cutting them. I had to modify a wrench so it would fit onto the bolts then I had to use a "cheeter bar" to get enough leverage to get them off. I talked with the turbo guy that I bought the rebuild kit from and he was like .... oh yeah ... those are a bitch... I just use a center punch on a couple of the sides of the bolts and that usually breaks them free. that would have been nice to know before I started doing mine:evil: once you get the turbine and compressor housing off, then take the compressor nut off, then just four small bolts and poof its all apart. If you have any other questions ... let me know. Matt-

answers to your questions are on the way!

Just to add my experiance (which pales in compairison to the other guy's on this site)but... I have an F54 block (pretty much the same thing as your N42 block it just has different cooling) and I rebuilt it with a 20 thousandths over bore and FLAT TOP pistons. I was going to be running an N42 head (Z head not the Maxima head) I would have had over 10:1 CR and I was worried about blowing up my engine with crappy 91 oct. california gas (stupid pollotics). So I decided to use a 2mm HKS head gasket which would lower my CR to a usable 9.2:1 CR, and on top of that I put in an MSA schnider 460 270 cam with performance valve train to prevent valve float at high RPMs. Long story short I have a bitch'n SU powered, non-detonating, honda killing, G35 embarassing, 240Z. The throttel is super jumpy and on a rainy day like today, I lost traction just giving a little more throttle then usual. I love my NA rocket ... But... I'm going turbo... more power .....MORE POWER. Horse Power = haroin. so now I need to take my engine apart and put in dished pistons to get my CR to a usable turbo 8.3:1 CR. The moral to this story is ... build your engine for TURBO applications ... cause we all wind up there eventually. Just my 2 cents ... I hope it was worth more than 2 cents. P.S. N42 head = 280 Z MN42 head = "maxima" <----- the M is for P.P.S. There is a thread on here about the NM42 head that is about 100 pages long that will confuse the crap out of you... but its fun to read if you have a few day's... P.P.P.S. Dont even get people started about the P90 head... ok I'll stop typing now.

if there is oil in your down pipe, and its comming from the turbo (because there is none in the exaust manifold) then I would guess that your oil seals in the turbo are shot. I rebuilt my nissan T3 ... it was pretty easy. You don't need any special tools. I got the rebuild kit from a local turbo shop in my area for about $90. Good luck ... let me know if you have any questions.

Just an update for everyone! 2126 was right on the money. It was my turn signal. I took it apart and "rebuilt" it (cleaned the contact points lubed and so on) I put it back on and like magic... it worked. Thanks for the tips 280zforce and 2126. You guys rock! My tail lights work awesome. Long live hybrid Z!

How do I check the volts with the volt meter... the black wire goes... the red wire goes... ? the meter should read? Sorry for the dumb questions ... and they are dumb... but I just don't know how to do it. Thanks again

wouldn't the fuse blow left and right? Ill check that ... thanks NOPE not the fuses I checked continuity and they are all good

yeah I did that ... its not the bulbs... I cleaned the connectors ... I changed the bulbs its not that.

Hi Z people ... My driver side break light and blinker arn't working. The tail light works just fine but no driver side blinker or break light.... passenger side works just fine. Where can I start trouble shooting? Keep in mind I suck at electrical stuff, so try to explain it to me like im a 2 year old. Thanks for your help. P.S. I do have a volt meter.

As far as I know the Z31 t3 is exactly the same as the 280zx t3 the only differance is the water cooled bearing section. My block has a 20 thousands over bore so my CR should be 8.6:1 with the P90. I figure if I start with 550 injectors then I'll have a lot of room to grow with a bigger turbo/ throttel body(70mm) in the future. So far this is all theory for me ... I only have experiance with N/A L28s so going turbo will be a huge learning experiance for me. You should be able to paint your car yourself and get a professional qauality job out of it. I painted a vespa scotter that turned out awesome and it wasn't that hard. And you're right, the quaility is all in the prep work. good luck and keep us posted

Im about 60% done with my car. I have a 72 240 I've compleatly re-done the interior, as well as rebuild the engine. I upgraded to an L28 F54 short block with ballanced rotating mass and 20 thou. over bore and flat top pistons. It has an N42 head with headers and Im running SU's right now. Its a realy fun car to drive I would guess that I have about 180 RWHP. the rest of the work that needs to be done is body work. I'm doing everything myself so its taking me a long time. I plan on converting my engine to turbo, so im slowly gathering all the parts nessary. I bought a Z31 water cooled t3 turbo and rebuilt it so thats ready to go. I have an N42 intake manifold that I will be Cleaning up and putting between 420 and 550 injectors into. I also have a 60mm TB. So I just need a P90 head, CAS distributor, Map sensor, IC, and megasquirt engine management, and I hope to get somewhere in the ballpark of 300 RWHP. The body work is the hardest part. Once Im done with that I'll paint it 350Z red (paint code A06). It might take me another year or longer to get the paint on:(. I'll probably do the turbo before I finnish the paint. Right now its a great sleeper car. I smoked an Infinity G35 last week with my whimpy 180 HP so I can't wait to see what she'll do with 15lbs of boost.

are thoes injectors "plug and play" or did you have to modify your intake? Sounds like it will be a beautiful car. I can't wait to finnish mine.

Hot tanking my 30+ year old 240 block seemed to get rid of all the rust it had. the rust would have to be really bad to mess with the flow of coolant. I'd be more worried about the rust messing up your radiator. 50 thousand miles is nothing on a Z oil pump .... but... I like the idea of starting fresh with everthing its worth the $80. What injectors are you using and how much did they cost you? Good luck, it sounds like its gonna be a beautiful car (also what color paint?)

I may be missing some info. but if you put 240 rods on a stock L28 crank with a P90 head you get a 9.16:1 CR and if you do a 20 thou. over bore you get 9.28:1 CR. There also seems to be a positive deck height of 2.730mm (i don't understand how thats possible with the given CR) (stupid engine calculator, or maybe just stupid calculator operator). So Im guessing that the forged pistons have a different pin height in order to get an 8.5:1 CR? I'll be building a 8.02:1 CR turbo motor: 20thou over flatop piston block, 2mm hks head gasket and P90 ... Im hoping that 8:1 is "zippy" enough off boost but still affords me enough slop in the tuning so I dont blow up my engine. If I want a little more CR I can take out the 2mm head gasket and use a stock one and get 8.6:1 ... but I'm not sure if thats to high. arnt forged pistons just insurance against detonation? and if you dont detonate, do you need them? So I guess I don't have any new info for you... just more questions... sorry!

it probably works as good as that time machine in Napolian Dynamite. What a deal .. only $990 AU. buy two!

Yeah I know ... but its not original ... its a cover.... an uncracked dash through nissan is about $700 or so last time I checked. Then once you buy that ... it will probably crack.

Thanks for the posts guys... The reason that I would want to do that is because I Have a 240 with some frame damage but I have a perfect dash, center console, gages, seats, tail lights. It would probably cost more to fix the frame than it would to get a 76 280. And if I get a 76 I might get a non-egr intake with an N42 block for the 3.1 liter turbo I might build. It is also easyer to find a 280 than a "good" 240. So just to be clear ... the chassis has all the same dash mounts and heater core mounts center console and all that stuff ... right? thanks again P.S. has anyone done this?

Has anyone ever changed a 280Z into a 240Z? What I mean is can you put the 240 tail lights and dash and front turn signals and all the stuff that makes a 240 a 240 on to a 280z chassis. And what makes the 280 heaver is it just thicker gauge sheet metal in the chassis? I was just wondering... anyone?

I think this is the page you were looking for... http://www.geocities.com/zgarage2001/z.html bean dip is right on the money though! it's under performance tips

Good info so far guys, but does anyone know the industry standard for today? I know that back in the day the 280 - 280zx had SAE rating that I think was Flywheel horse Power with no accessories (no water pump, no altinator, no AC). Basicly if it doesn't make HP they took it off. So do they use that same stupid kind of HP rating? They should have a HP to weight ratio ... then we could judge pound for pound which car has more balls.

Hey Z people! So I was driving around in my 240 today and I came up on a infiniti G35 that thought he was a bad a$$. long story short I smoked him!:burnout:Now maybe he was not that good of a driver or maybe he wasn't trying that hard but it sure was fun for me. Long live the L28! Here is my (stupid) question... How does Nissan rate there horse power? Is it break HP (at the flywheel) or is it Rear Wheel Horse Power Or is it some other thing that I don't know about? I know that the 350Z and the G35 have 289HP but I don't know if thats at the flywheel or rear wheel? and what is the industry standard? For example the Isusu WRX sti has 300 hp but all the stuff I've ever read on it never specifies flywheel or rear wheel? Everything we talk about on hybrid Z is RWHP so I just want to know what todays cars are going by. Thanks for the Info.