GrayZee

Sorry, my last post didn't really answer any of the original questions first, the engine will run just fine without the O2 sensor second, do yourself a favor and get a good charged battery in there because if you can't turn the engine over good and strong it will be impossible to say what the problem really is. third, you said that you have spark and the injectors are clicking so I'm gonna "assume" that it is a fuel problem.. Maybe the injectors are dirty causing a poor fuel spray, or flooding the engine. In which case it may yet start (even if it runs crappy) providing you can get it turning over long enough. If you can get it turning over really good and it still won't start and you think it is flooded, take out ALL of the plugs and turn the engine over (this will clear it out) Then put the plugs back in (or better yet new plugs) and hopefully it will start. If you still have problems you might want to take the injectors out and test them, if this engine came out of a junkyard or had been sitting a long time.. the injectors could be messed up from sitting.

Not true, I have a autometer mechanical oil pressure gauge and NO electrical connections going to oil pressure switches. The fuel pump on a L28et is controlled by the ECU via a relay. The ECU can tell if the engine is running by the airflow reading. If the engine is not running and you try to start it the fuel pump should to into a "priming mode" as soon as you turn the key to the "on" position. The priming mode will only last a few seconds and the fuel pump will automatically shut off unless ECU gets a airflow reading suggesting that the engine is running. Also the priming mode is also like a "computer boot up" Meaning if the fuel pump runs when the key is turned to on, then that means that computer is likely functioning properly. If you don't hear the fuel pump turn on then the ECU is either fried or something isn't connected properly.

One thing I like about the 7.4CR is something I found out one day that I accidentally left the headlights on and killed the battery. I decided to give it a push-start and pushed the car about all of two feet and popped the clutch. The engine fired up instantly!! I do have another F54 engine with flattop pistons, after reading Drax's post I'm tempted to drop that in my car and try it out.

I can't comment on the limit of horsepower you can get with that DP (although I'm sure it's pretty high) However if you think you need something better I can tell you that it is possible to get a 3" DP with two 45degree bends to fit in a early Z. The outlet flange on the turbo is only 2.5 but mine has a cone that flares out to 3" before the first bend. When I first got my turbo engine running I had a 2.5" DP with mandrel bends but the rest of the exhaust was crush bent with a plain old run of the mill muffler. It was a completly stock turbo engine and boosted to 7psi. Last spring I got a complete 3" mandrel exhaust with flow through muffler and the difference was AWESOME! Now there is pretty much no lag at all and it runs 9psi and I've never messed with the wastegate. here is a pic: http://members.shaw.ca/icecube/DPclose.jpg Also if anyone is interested to know, I gave my old DP to a buddy with a turbo 240 with a borg-warner transmission. We were able to figure out that it is possible to have a 2.5" DP like Scotties even with a B/W tranny. All we had to do is grind a bit of one of the aluminum "fins" on the side of the tranny.

Yes he did get it in, but last time I talked to him he still did not get it running as the electrical issues where a bit of a mystery to him. I am doing this swap as well, I haven't gotten that far into it yet as I've still need my pathfinder everyday so I've been reluctant to disable it. I bought a extra 4x4 oil pan and installed a pipe for the oil drain coming off the turbo. Next I'm gonna swap out the pathfinder throttle-body and intake manifold and replace it with a 300zxt intake and wire up the multiport injection with ecu. I'll run it N/A for a bit while I get the exhaust manifolds fabricated. (I'm not going with the 300zxt exhaust manifolds like warren did) Instead the crossover will run across the front of the engine and eliminate the need to put in a lift kit, hammer out the firewall a bit, put a spacer between the steering box and frame and relocate the alternator and engine mount. I plan on mounting the turbo over the left inner fender-well opposite of the battery. Like I said it'll be running N/A for a bit but once all the mods are prepared I will pull the pathfinder engine block and drop in the 300zxt block. If you have any questions feel free to email me at: eyeamdeath@hotmail.com

Interesting, but WAY too expensive. For that price you can buy a complete 280zxT parts car.

Ok, I've been doing some thinking.. (I know I really shouldn't do that anymore) anyway here it goes... Ok three Z cars.. first one (mine) has a stock turbo and with a 3" exhaust it spools up really fast, but my friend has one with a turbo out of a 7.3 ford diesel and it takes a while to get going but man it hammers hard in the high end. The 3rd Z car has a custom supercharger system made from a GM V6 SC. It's a nice setup and it's mounted on the passenger side of the engine with some fairly simple plumbing. Anyone have any thoughts on twincharging? You could use the SC to get the car going and then have a big "laggy" turbo take over for the high speed conquests! There seems to be more than enuf room but how would it work? The biggest problem would be controlling the switchover from the SC to the TC. Any comments?

Yeah I think traction is the number one problem, funny you should mention running rich, about that you are most likely right. I think one problem is the injectors, but not for the reason you may be thinking. (the fact that the injectors cc's are so big) Bernard can lean them right out by tuning them down on the laptop. However that would be treating the symtom and not the cause. I think those injectors are messed up as I don't seem to be able to keep fuel pressure for long after I turn the engine off and sometimes it's hard to start shortly after turning it off. (it floods) They were running sweet a couple of weeks ago but they are getting worse. I think I'll have to take them out and have them cleaned up or replaced. All this will have to wait now because this weekend was the last track day of the season. Oh well there's always next year, I'd like to see high 12's. Don't know it it'll happen, but I'm gonna try!

I finally took my car to the track and here's what happened on three races 1st run: .570 reaction, 2.5 60ft, 16.27 @90.99mph 2nd run: 1.05 reaction, 2.5 60ft, 14.93 @93.68mph 3rd run: 1.07 reaction, 2.6 60ft, 15.14 @94.19mph I feel I could have done better if I had better tires (bfg ta's that have more birthdays than I car to admit) I had a set of hoosier's offered to me, but until I get a new clutch I figured I'd better pass on that one, as I didn't want to be towing the car 60 miles home. Here's a list of my mods as of today.. 76 280z with a L28et bottom end with over 120000 miles 83zx 5spd with R200 3.54 rear axle a rebuilt P90A head stock turbo 240sx 60mm throttlebody 480cc injectors re-tuned z31 ecu/maf (courtesy of BernardD) Walbro 255lph in tank fuel pump 3" flow thru exhaust (3" including DP) the exhaust system made my boost run at 8.5-9 psi with no further adjustments. The car has NO intercooler Next year I hope to run with a new (stronger) clutch, drag slicks, bigger turbo, intercooler, bov and about 14psi. Probably also gonna try and lose the heavy 280 bumpers in favor of those plastic ones at motorsport. Of course we'll see if the money is there to actually do all of this...

Just wondering has anybody here ever thought of (or maybe have done) a pc installation in a car (a Z in particular) Pehaps a small lcd touch screen mounted where the vent controls are? It would be good for re-tuning the ecu, mp3's, DvD's, trip planning programs, somewhere to upload digital pictures when you are on a trip.. I realize that a laptop would probably be easier, but it would be fun to do just for the hell of it. Your thoughts anyone?

I have a miss that comes and goes sometimes too, but I think that it is probably in the ignition wires or cap/rotor or one of my hydraulic lifters. I wouldn't think that your problem would be with rockers as they are all adjustable anyway on a 81. Unless they ratio's are different between exhaust and intake rockers.. but I don't think that they are??

I got my 300zx ecu running in my car now and man what a difference! The power band is broader, and better drivability. My fuel mileage went up by about 2mpg (even though I was driving the hell out of it racing a 2003 350z ) I used to have a nasty detonation problem so I backed the timing right off and now with this ecu I'm running my timing even more advanced than before and not a hint of detonation right up to 6000rpm! It's just a 84 turbo ecu, but I'm gonna be putting in a re-tuned 89 NA ecu soon. Until then I'm running with the o2 sensor unplugged

Talked a little bit more with my buddy about the swap.. Seems he's leaning toward the Vg30et. May have to shoehorn it in and make custom manifolds, but that'll hit 13's no problem with a few mods I'm sure!

Yeah, seems all the good engines are overseas... here in north america most of the engines make really good boat anchors!

Thanks for the info Yasin, it is kinda a cheezy looking thing anyway! Actually are you saying that it is so bad that I would be better with a pipe from the turbo to the throttle than without a intercooler at all? If that's the case, than that's fine it's just that the unit was "FREE" I'm more worried about the swap right now than fabbing or buying a intercooler.

Yasin, I gave a little bit of thought to the ka24 as it would surely provide alot of power, it's just that I was hoping for a easier swap. My buddy is building a ka24 right now.. (remember the pics of the manifolds on the pathfinder thread?) The swap is close to being finished but I think the owner of the car is spending more time going to the beach than working on his car these days. It'll be a good swap I'm sure, it's just that I know first hand that it is a BIG job to turbo it unless you wanna buy a kit I guess. As for the z18et, call me a dumbass, but I have no idea what kind of engine that is! As far as I know the Z series engines are from the old NAPS-Z 720 trucks? but the smallest one I've heard of is a 2.0 Guess I'll have to look it up.

Ok, as some of you already know I am in the process of a Vg30et swap in a 87 pathfinder. I was offered a intercooler from a 91 Mr2 turbo (for free) The first thing that crosses my mind is that it is meant for a engine of a much smaller displacement. However.. the shape of the cooler and pipes coming out of it are perfect to fit in the pathfider. Would it be a good or bad idea to install this intercooler? Even if it was just temporaraly because anyway I look at it I'll have to custom make a turbo to throttle pipe, might as well plumb it infront of the rad while I'm at it and build a nice custom intercooler later on. Also the Mr2 turbo produces a very similar amount of power at the vg30et both are 200hp and the nissan pushes 220ft/lbs where the Mr2 falls in at 200ft/lbs The Mr2 cooler is very small though, what do you think? More harm than good??

Yeah a ca18 "D" et would be a nice engine, but what do you mean by "cheap"? Maybe they were available in Europe? I thought only in Japan actually, but I could be wrong. Anyway I'm sure they didn't have them in North America, so that would most likely rule out the cheap part.

I'd like to stay away from the sr20 idea just because the recent high demand for those engines has skyrocketed the prices. For the cost of a sr20 I would rather go to the trouble of installing a vg30et. That route would definatly deliver the most HP but installing one sounds like a major PITA I know a little bit about the vg30et as I am currently swapping one into a 87 pathfinder (going with custom exhaust manifolds on that one) and yes, the turbo vg30 driver's side mount is different. However at least my pathfinder already has a vg30 in it now and still has some room in the engine bay. So the mods won't be THAT extensive.. (I hope) Also I know that 200sx's came with vg30's but they had a totally different intake manifold. I assume that it is lower and clears the hood better? The ca18et in a 200sx would probably be a piece of cake. However I just found out that the ca18et engines only produce 120hp stock! Man, that sux! Assuming that it runs 7psi like most nissan turbos then even at 14psi I estimate the HP would be about 160HP which still dosn't sound like alot.

A friend of mine has found a 86 200sx in good shape and at a really good price, but it is a ca20 with a auto trans. The first thing he is considering is what can be done with this car to increase power. The first thing that comes to mind is swap in a ca18et/5spd and start adding some turbo upgrade goodies (mandrel exhaust, intercooler, bigger injectors, possibly re-tune the ecu, ect.) However from the research that I have done on the net I still haven't found a 200sx that could break into the 14sec quarter mile. I would think that a mildly done 4cyl turbo could pull that off, or am I wrong? We also considered a vg30 swap as those cars did come with that engine but they don't seem to perform any better than the 4cyl turbo. Of course there is always the vg30et, but I'm betting that would be alot more difficult to swap. What we would like to see ideally is a 200sx that could pull a quarter in the 14sec range with some modest turbo mods. and 13sec range with some crazy turbo mods. What do you guys think, is it possible or am I asking for too much?

Yeah, you never know with the welding if it is "completely sealed" but that's what the POR15 is for. It'll seal up everything.

Ok, got the top welded on now I need to sandblast it again and I'm gonna paint it with "POR14" to make sure that it is definatly sealed. Hope to have it installed soon, but for now I have some more pics. http://members.shaw.ca/icecube/Ztank2/

Ok I figured out the baffle system. You guys are gonna laugh.. I needed a piece of 6" pipe in a really thin gauge to be able to weld it to the tank without warping it like crazy. So I came up with a piece of galvanized house venting from Home depot. It's called a fish collar lock or something like that. Anyway the size and shape seemed ideal and it was a whooping $2 Here are the pics: http://members.shaw.ca/icecube/baffle1.JPG http://members.shaw.ca/icecube/baffle2.JPG I had to cut a "V" section out of the pipe to allow for free movement of the float from the sending unit. I poured water in the tank and moved the tank around to see how stable the water within the pipe stayed. I was quite happy with the results. We started welding up the top of the tank up, but no pics of that yet. I'll keep you guys posted though.

What kind of slippage are you referring to? From the clutch? or are you talking about a automatic tranny? If you have problems with the clutch you can always upgrade to get some really wild clutches that can support tons of HP. However some of those clutches would also need upgrades to the clutch master cylinder and slave cylinders. Even then you might still have a heavy clutch pedal. As for trannys they say the T5 borg-warner trans is the strongest, but I wonder how much truth there is to that, my buddy has blown a few BW trannys in his Camaro, but you rarely hear about a blown up Nissan trans. Not only that, the Nissan tranny allows you more room for a turbo downpipe. I have a 3" pipe with two 45 degree bends. No way you'd ever fit that in with a BW trans. I would be more concerned with gear ratios. The late 280zx's have a steeper ratio than the early ones. I have a 83 trans with a 3.54 R200 diff and I don't find it sluggish. Better to keep the engine rpms down and take advantage of the torque that the turbo engine has to offer IMO Besides even with a steep gearing ratio I still manage to have lots of traction problems if I try and launch the car