BLOZ UP

Lots of backend problems lately.

Those don't look like 265s, but it's hard to tell.

Not sure when I'll be back. My car's not ready or tuned yet. It'd also have to be a street car only night, since when I went there last they didn't give two shits about street cars until 30 minutes after closing when they rushed me through my 2 or 3 runs.

Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm.... Got everything back together, started filling up with coolant and the thermostat housing is leaking again. I think the timing belt cover might be interfering with it, this is the second time in the same place. So I drained what was in there for now, but decided to start it anyway to see if I've got rod knock or anything. After a bit of cranking and then reinserting the distributor the correct way, it started but was misfiring. I turned it off and decided to wait till another day to check it out. It might just be fouled plugs (pressure test caused lot of pulsing, plus lots of cranking, so it's plausible). So, I go around to the back to start pushing when I notice this: That's a good cup or so. I dunno. That's coolant that made it out the tailpipe. Kind of odd. That means it had to make it out the chamber, up through the manifolds, turbo, downpipe, up and through two mufflers, and up again and through one more muffler. So how much more is in there I wonder?

I'm just trying to make sure the tongue angle isn't going to be whack.

Yeah, it does worry me. I read of a bunch of people using the 8" ones on the 250Z forums, but no long term follow ups. I've got a 25% off coupon I plan on using on it so I can get the 12" for basically the same price. Alternatively, I can get the cheaper one and find some nicer 12" wheels and tires for it elsewhere. That's a good idea with the spares. I thought about the swing down wheel but yeah, that's a bit overkill. I think I'll look into some sort of kickstand so I can support a bolt-on folding seat for events but that's getting a bit ahead of myself. So, just below the bumper on a stock 240Z? That should line up well with my lowered 280Z bumper. Think I might pick it up soon, my coupon expires soon (and this is about the only expensive thing not excluded on the coupon). Bright yellow rattle can job and I'll have a cute matching trailer.

I'm looking at getting wheels and tires soon. I'd like a trailer attached to a ball on my 280Z rear bumper. The one I see a lot of people run are the HF trailer. It comes in two flavors, 12" tire 1100 lb capacity, or 8" 870 lb. capacity. The difference appears to be limited to just the wheel and tire size. Does anyone have either of these? How high is the tongue off the ground when the trailer is level?

Man, 280zs are heavy.

Planned on getting a bit further today but got held back back this head. 3 stud holes were cross threaded. It took a while to get one stud out and fix it. Even after fixing two and putting studs back in, the exhaust manifold warped quite a bit and it required some persuasion to go back on. I really need to cut out some more of the flange between runners. But I got it back on. Put the head back on (which, by the way, is heavy with the exhaust manifold. Reminds me of the iron head 5.0 motors). Torqued it up with my nice new long 10mm hex driver. I added 10% to the torque values, so 52 ft-lbs. instead of 47. If that, and the new gaskets (and some extra deck cleaning) don't work out it looks like I'll need to deck the block and heads. If that's the case I'd rather run low boost while I build up another motor. Tested out the brake lights, which are satisfactory. Turn signals light up dim with the tail lights... that can't be good. Need to put in the LED flashers before I diagnose any further. Oh, I also measured the current draw of the LED park/tail lights, here're the results: 1.52 A - All incandescent 1.02 A - LED license plate and side markers 0.62 A - All LED So I dropped 0.9 A, which at 12.5 V is just over 11 W. Meh. I'm guessing peak power draw is down though, as incandescents draw a lot initially.

Yup, just replacement bulbs. You also need digital flashers, one for the turn signals and one for the hazards. Bulbs were acquired from superbrightleds.com, and are the following: 2x 67-W15 (15 LED license plate lights) 2x 67-R15 (15 LED running lights, upper innermost) 2x 1157-R45-T (45 LED tower for upper outermost brake/tail) 2x 1156-R45-T (45 LED tower for turn signals) 2x 1157-A45-T (45 LED tower for front combination lamps) 2x 67-R9-WV (9 LED red clearance) 2x 67-A9-WV (9 LED amber clearance) I also have a LED festoon but I got it from my parts car. It's not very bright.

So I got the rest of my LEDs in. Here are some shitty comparison photos: Before: Right-side done: Both sides done: Front before: Front after: The fronts seem slightly dimmer. It might be the slightly whiter shade. The rears are definitely brighter. The current draw is noticeable less too, since the other lights don't dim when the hazards flash (see video).

My car has been LEDed:

New OEM gasket is noticeably better quality: Head back on. I got a much needed long 10mm hex driver. My short one gets stuck all the time and it takes three times as long to mess with the head bolts. Hopefully this will allow more consistent torque on the head bolts. Got the other side off. Looks intact, as the plugs indicated: I was supposed to get some more LED bulbs in on Saturday, and finish off the replacement off all the incandescent ones. Looks like it got delayed though. Just need to clean off the head and block, fix an exhaust stud and put it back together. Might have a coolant leak but I won't know until I fill it up and start it. Hoping to make it to the NJ Z Club car show this weekend.

NJ requires you to meet only the emissions of the year it was made. They also don't check for emissions equipment, they just do a tailpipe test (in my area, anyway). They also don't do safety inspections... but anyway... It's easy to get historic plates for your car, it just can't look like a junker. 25 years old and no missing exterior parts and they will give you the plates. I have a VG33 swapped 280Z that's 'Historic'. Clive (IIRC) has a LS swapped 'Historic'. Yeah, there are a lot of states that don't do emissions testing for certain vehicles. That '75 or newer thing is just for California. Most (if not all) other states have a rolling 20/25 year exemption. This usually means that you are exempt from scheduled testing, not compliance! You can be pulled over and referred to a test and/or cited if your car is spewing smoke or a cop actually knows and cares about what's under the car/hood. That said, pretty much the only places that will bother you are CA and NYC. Now, federal law is a different matter. You are not supposed to disable, modify, or remove any emissions equipment. But as far as I know this is only prosecuted on a large-scale operation level, meaning that they just go after illegal imports and any shops that disable shit for cash. I've never heard of an individual being prosecuted.

That dash looks amazing. Lamborghini Diablo meets 280Z. What they should do if they made the Miura again. Definitely doing that instead of getting a cover or new dash.

Got one head off today. So, when coolant comes out of your exhaust manifold, it's not a good sign. Yeah, think the gasket blew. Note that I didn't drain the coolant from the block yet. Had some trouble getting the drain plug loose with the head on. Luckily very little was left in the head. #5: #3 #1 Deck height on #5 seems to be normal at first glance: The other side appears to be intact but I'll be replacing it while I'm here. It looks like my cam seals have a leak as well.

Have Z31 and DIYAutotune disc on hand.

Can I get the printing in black/red instead of white/red? I kind of want a yellow shirt to match my Z...

Technically it's a frontier motor now, a VG33E, with a single turbo in my 280Z. I blew a headgasket though and am in the middle of replacing that. I'd be happy to help you out. Let me know.

Those images you linked are from a personal website, not photobucket or imgur. Regardless, I get your point but 1) imgur and pb are not going anywhere for the foreseeable future, and 2) How long will HybridZ be around? How long before it experiences another data loss event?

Just upload it to imgur.com, it's way easier.

Well, found one problem: Disconnected charge piping. That would cause it to run worse. So, onwards to replace the headgaskets. Just disconnected the upper intake and charge piping. Need to drain the rest of the coolant and oil before going further. But to do that I need to empty out some containers. Advance has a sale on Mobil 1, I meant to pick some up...

12v radio/accessory circuit was another bad HF fuse. Looks like most of the 10A fuses I have are bust. That's OK, I used the dome light 10A, and replaced it with a 5A since my dome light is an LED anyway. Not sure why it wasn't 5A from the factory... what incandescant bulb uses more than 5A... Now for the headgaskets... after further inspection, it appears my radiator cap might have been the source of all the coolant. Was it loose and did the car overheat? Possibly. Surely I would have noticed when trying to drain the coolant, and I don't recall it being loose... Anyway, I pulled the plugs: #1 is on the bottom. It looks like the gasket that blew was the passenger side one. They all are pretty clean and have water on them. The other side looks OK, except #2 looks a bit hotter than the rest.

Mine seems to display a shit load more stuff too, I could have sworn it used to be set to "New since last visit" but it appears to be on "Content I have not read", which is a lot more. This would be a server-side setting and have nothing to do with your browser/OS.

Welp, fixed the turn signal and hazards. Guess I can get started on the head gaskets now. Turn signal was corroded C-3 connector. Cleaned it up and put some dielectric on it to help prevent moisture. Hazards was bad fuse. Two bad fuses, both from a Harbor Freight pack. Cleaned up a bit of PO wiring hacks. Refitted the firewall grommet. Now I just need to get my +12v accessory working for the inverter and whatnot.