S30Mark

No road bike here, but very soon I will be purchasing a hard-tail off-road 29er.

Shenanigans. I work at a VW/Audi performance shop and also daily drive a TDI.... Questioning the reliability of European cars is nothing new, but the ALH TDI is a whole different story. At heart, I'm a japanese car guy, but the reason I didn't flinch at buying a TDI is because I know how reliable they are. Mine has 205k on the clock and is just now receiving it's first modifications. I get ~50 MPG in the summer time and have gotten a personal best of 53 MPG... With that said, I'm not too familiar with swapping a TDI into a non-VW chassis. The cool part would be that they do not have an in-tank fuel pump so fuel system plumbing would be fairly simple. I believe you could just make a custom mount for the accelerator pedal. With the ECU, you could send it out and have the immobilizer deleted. I'm not exactly sure, but without immobilizer, you may not have to run the OEM instrument cluster??? I think the Suzuki Samurai guys like the VW TDI swap, so maybe some samurai forums would have good info for the conversion. With a few mods, these engines are capable of ~150hp/~300 ft lbs and at the same time will get 55+ MPG in a much heavier car. As for the injection pump being expensive, they are completely rebuildable. If you find one out of a TDI with an automatic then it's an upgrade:) Don't listen to the nay-sayers. If the swap itself is easy enough for you to tackle and you aren't looking to build a drag-car, then I'd say go for it. Or maybe look into a Mercedes inline 6 diesel swap.....

SDgoods^ IMO I think some custom white letters (on your tires) would REALLY set your car off. It would go along with the racy feel of the diamond racing wheels. Just my opinion, thought I'd share:) Nice ride!

I thought they all shared ground signal? I don't have the diagrams in front of me, but I thought I remembered mine sharing a common injector ground...? To check the harness disconnect the ECU connectors and the injector that you're testing. Then go from one pin on the injector side and find the other end of the wire at the ECU connector, test resistance. To check for shorted wires just measure resistance at both pins of the same injector connector. It should be OL/OFL/infinite resistance. If you get resistance between them that means either you forgot to disconnect the ECU connector or the wires are touching. Sounds to me like a bad ECU... Before I read your latest update I was gonna remind you that (I know you said the fuel tank was cleaned out) just because you have fuel pressure doesn't mean you have enough volume.

Yea, most of the time manufacturers will have you test the component first(AFM for example), then make sure the harness is ok, and then last but not least they'll tell you to replace Engine Control Unit. Have you searched any local junkyards to swap an ECU or CHTS on the cheap? I think I have $90 in my Z31T ECCS swap...

Blocking off the EGR won't have any negative effects on how well it runs. Just make sure you block off both ends. You don't want a any unmetered air getting in behind the AFM. You also don't want an exhaust leak in front (upstream) of the oxygen sensor. The engine sounds lean to me. When my car would start and I'd try to rev with the bad ECU it would pop and crack and backfire like gunshots. It was actually kinda scary. It also sounds like you have a dead miss. Not sure how well you've checked the engine health, but you don't want to be chasing your tail on the input signals to the ECU if your outputs (injecrors/spark plugs/wires)aren't in good shape. From what I've read you may be onto something with the CHTS, but that should in theory cause a rich condition.

I hope this helps at least a little bit. When I bought my 83 ZXT it would turn over and fire up and run for maaaaybe ten seconds. After that it wouldn't restart. I found that the ECU wasn't providing ground for the injectors. I went straight for the Z31 ECU/MAF swap as originally planned. After the Z31 ECU/MAF swap I had a lot of trouble getting the thing to run. I'd say study all your wiring diagrams and DOUBLE CHECK to make sure everything is getting the proper power and/or ground signal. My problem was that since my ZX is just a donor, I rushed through everything just to see if it would run and make sure my L28 was good internally. The reason I'm posting here is because I feel like I was in your shoes. I was at wits end, and I wanted to say eff it and get MS. I gave it one last thorough lookover. I cleaned spark plugs, charged the battery, double checked all my wiring, made sure I had fresh gas in it, checked/cleaned/die-electric greased all my important connections and it fired right up. I feel like these cars are more sensitive to voltage drops than a sensor that may be reading slightly out of spec. I also feel like the connectors suck, so make sure they're all good and maybe even give them a wiggle. Last but not least, have you pulled the rail out with the injectors still attached to see if they're spraying ok and make sure they aren't leaking? One or more could just be massively leaking into the cylinders at all times causing a rich condition, eventually fouling the plugs. Pull the rail, Key on engine off will put pressure to the injectors for you to check for leaks.

WOW! Will does some AMAZING body work and paint! It seems hard to find a body guy who actually takes pride in his work like he does.... I know as a technician it sucks to go over someone's hack repairs. Looks like you'll have a flawless Z when it's said and done. Keep the updates comin.

Ah, you beat me to it. They are easy. Usually they make the manifold easy to get off when there is a commonly failed part underneath it. American cars on the other hand.... Who knows. LOL.

Nice power slide at 1:38! Stock L28ET?

Nice job! I can only imagine how much reading, research, measuring, cutting, welding, measuring, cuttingweldingreadingresearchcussingbeerdrinking was involved in that.... Hahaha.

^ Dang, beat me to it! "Hit the ground runnin'! Change." Van Halen, not Van Hagar Phil, was your 280Z tach accurate? Seemed laggy? Came on strong, but damn.

I like your wheel choice. Sounds like about the same size that I'll be looking for. Sweet build.

Nice. I like the idea of a diesel Z with decent power. It's surprising how high the LD28 revs. My little 1.9 TDI red lines around 4500RPM. I love how a diesel will pull a vehicle up an incline without touching the accelerator pedal. Oh, the mileage is nice too I like your ideas, can't wait to see how this one turns out.

I think I recognize that car from a few years ago. You got that from Cincinnati/N KY, right?