Z-Gad

Don't know what you are doing Saturday, but here is an event in Ocala Fl... http://zfest.net/autox.htm

Alternator is now charging and wiring is all good!! Turns out that the yellow wire going to the T-connector into the alternator (sense wire) is a constant +12V (which I did not have and had to locate a +12V source). The white/black wire going to the T-connector into the alternator gets a signal from the idiot lamp in the volt meter in the car. I had no signal to tell the alternator to turn on... After swapping Fuel/Volt gauges, to one with a working idiot lamp, the alternator charges properly and I have ~12.7V at idle and ~14.2 or so after 1500 rpm's. I have been meaning to do the internally regulated alt and maxi fuse block for a while now. I finally was forced into doing it and after an hour or so of driving today, I can find no problems. BTW, the stock fuel, oil/water gauges all turn off as they are supposed to. I no longer have the drain on the battery when the key is off. That was a short in the voltage regulator. Regards, Mike

Yet another update... I found that the gauges all take power from a blue wire which was attached to the external regulator. Gauges need to be connected to this wire with a switched 12V. Alternator is still not charging however, but I am making progress...

OK, completed the Maxi-fuse block upgrade (eliminating the fusible links and a bunch of unnecessary wiring), installed an internally regulated 280zx alternator (eliminating the external regulator), and results are as follows... The alternator is still not charging. It has 12.3 volts when the car is off and not running. When the car is running, only 11.7 volts at the alternator. The T-connector going to the alternator w/ the sense wire and the idiot light wire has no voltage running through them whatsoever. Could someone tell me what their voltage to the T connector is? Maybe I can trace the voltage to a source... I am down to physically tracing the wires through the car. More to come as I find things out...

Well, I have searched and searched, but did not find anyone else with the same symptoms that I have... Anyway, here is the situation. My daily driver 280zt has had a voltage drain for years. Whenever the car is turned off, the gauges (stock volt meter, fuel gauge, temp, etc) all still have power and stay on. I remedied (bandaid-ed) this by adding a battery cutoff in the car. This has worked fine (except for the rare occasion that I forget to switch it off). It usually takes only 6-8 hours to drain the battery low enough that the car will not start. Anyway, I noticed that the car was not charging today as I drove into work. I stopped at a buddy's house, bolted in a spare alternator he had, and it showed no change. I went to the auto parts store, picked up yet another alternator (which I had them test before I left the store), and voltage regulator (it's externally regulated and no changes have been made to the charging system). I plugged in the new voltage regulator, and new alternator, and the car would not charge. The volt meter showed 12 volts (verified by multimeter), but all the stock gauges (besides the volt meter) did not work, even when the car was running (not even the tach). I checked all fusible links with the multimeter. I then unplugged the new regulator, plugged in the old regulator and all the gauges worked again, but when the key was turned off, the gauges still remained on. The new alternator would not charge with either regulator and I believe the diode block is getting blown when I plug in the old voltage regulator and switch the battery kill switch to 'on'. I am about to bypass the regulator, install an internally regulated alternator and a maxi-fuse block. I would like to fix the problem before making these modifications, so I do not exaserbate the problem. Any assistance/suggestions are appreciated. Regards, Mike

No ETA just yet, as the front cradle for the mounts is welded to the body of the car. I am only a few weeks of working on it away from being road ready (if my engine management system ever would arrive...grrr... another story), but my vacation is fast approaching, so it may not be until August before I am able to make my maiden voyage... Engine mount cradle is a definate possibility, however, unless you are using a TH400 tranny, my transmission mount will do you no good...

Hope to see the car in Reynolds Ga Sept 11th!!

very cool !!

Going to a coilover setup should give you plenty of clearance...

I may have an extra driveshaft... Contact me if interested. Regards, Mike

Any drawback to doing A/N brake lines throughout the car? I am really liking the sound of this option thus far. It will make the line lock and brake portioning valves a piece of cake.

Looks awesome with the interior in Scottie!! I look forward to lining up next to you at the next SEZ Mike - the shop's website is http://www.mazworx.com You may wish to contact them directly to inquire about pricing. Their work is supurb.

Clifton, although I purchased my turbo second hand and am pretty sure it is a p-trim w/ a .58 a/r housing. My old T-66 was a p-trim w/ a .58 a/r housing... Regarding the timing, I used to run 16-17 degrees of total timing @ 20 psi w/ my old turbo stroker motor. Perhaps I should have rephrased my earlier post. I said "advance my timing", when I should have said "add more retard"...Anyway, at this point, I do not want to change anything besides the cam before another run...timing will be a later issue...

Cam is an ISKY Intake 490 lift 276 duration Exhaust 480 lift 266 duration 114* lobe center 44* overlap

I am unfamiliar w/ your dyno #'s. As far as a concervative tune, I am only running total timing of 24* (could probably advance it 4-5 degrees), and air/fuel of 11.5:1 before and 10.5:1 above 6000 RPM's. These are far from optimal. The SP57 has a 57mm compressor wheel and P-trip turbine wheel. It is the baby of the SP family. There are hybrid T3/T4 turbos w/ larger compressor wheels. The cam is another limiting factor. A turbo should spool and a cam should come on at the same RPM. A mismatch of a small turbo and a large cam will have the car running out of breath as the turbo gets out of it's optimal range. The opposite is true as well. In my case, the larger frame turbo does not come on until 3700-3800 rpms. The cam is out of it's efficiency range by 5200 or so. The numbers are what they are, whether they are high or low. The dyno operator said something about Mustang dynos reading a little lower, but as far as I am concerned, the numbers themselves don't make too much difference. I am interested in the comparitive numbers after specific modifications are made. I expect a significant increase once I do the cam change. That is why I am doing this little experiment, to see if the cam is a limiting factor w/ the larger turbo. Then, the SP57 comes off and I have a T72 waiting in the wings Ofcourse you'll get to ride in the 2JZ Z!! Half the fun is building it, the other half is giving people rides in it!!

As many of you know, I have been hard at getting the 2JZGTE 240z together. I took a break today and took my daily driver to the dyno to get a base line. While waiting for some parts for the 240z, I figured I would go for some instant gratification and ordered a cam from ISKY. I wanted to see what difference a cam change would make with my engine/turbo combination and get concrete before and after results with ONLY a cam change. I do not have a scanner (that is working), so you'll have to bear with me... Anyway, Specs on the car are as follows. 77 280z, stock L28 longblock, SP57 TO4 turbo, Evolution wastegate, 55 lb injectors, Spearco intercooler, 3" mandrel bent exhaust, TEC II EMS, very conservative timing and fuel (it IS my daily driver), pump gas and 17 psi. This was on a Mustang Dynamometer in 4th gear... Max power : 266.0 @ 4500 RPM Max torque: 319.3 @ 4000 RPM Both hp and torque start dropping at ~5200 RPM and take a dive at 5500. The guy driving the car said that it felt like he hit the rev limiter at 5500. My air/fuels are ~11.5:1 until 6000 where they drop to 10.5:1 (which I know is rich and is not helping). Hopefully, I will be able to install my cam tomorrow and dyno the car again the beginning of next week. I figure I should be able to get by with no changes at all to timing and fuel (since it was so rich) and re-dyno the car. More updates to come...

Big Congrats!!

fronts are no problem, rears may be a pain...

You can reach 400rwhp w/ the N42 manifold. I ran 122.2 mph in the 1/4 mile @ 2750lbs and according to various calculators, that puts me in the 390+ rwhp range. I was running a ported N42 at the time, so a little better tuning, or slightly more boost would have netted it. James' intake would be the better choice if it is still available... Spork - I may be interested in that intake/ fuel rail if Joe and you don't work something out!! Mike

Lookin good!! keep'em coming

Yep, I cut the body away. I took some pics of the rears, but have run out of room in my little photo album here. I really need to get some web space of my own... The rears were cut, a 5/16' rod was bent to the contour of the wheel arch and welded in place between the inner and outer panels. i think it helped dissipate the heat of just welding the 2 panels to each other, since I had it all done AFTER I painted the car... grrrrr I am going for the "looks good from 50 feet away, at 50 mph" look. It really needs a better paint job someday, but it is no show car anyway... I just plan on driving, racing and enjoying it

OK Ivan... friends it is then The wheels are 16x8 I believe, but have some crazy 3.5" backspacing so that they would clear the springs w/o going to coilovers... perhaps Rick (Speeder) will chime in w/ more info...

AWESOME JT!! You must have goosebumps all over after 3 long years of waiting!!

OK Ivan, you busted on the factory steel wheels in my engine shots, so I has to get the new ones on the car. Anyway, just finished installing the flares and test fitted Speeder's (Rick), now mine , old 16" HRE's. I must say that they fill the ZG's nicely. Link to my photo album... http://album.hybridz.org/showgallery.php?cat=500&ppuser=7981

I just ordered mine last week. .490 lift with 276* duration intake .480 lift with 266* duration exhaust 114* LC