seattlejester

A bit of an update, I have been playing around with the car a bit. Things noticed so far... Car does not see boost according to megasquirt, will have to fit a manual gauge for testing, no whoosh sound from blow off valve either so either the blow off is making a leak, the waste gate is not closing, or another boost leak of some sort. I was hoping to drive it off the waste gate spring pressure for a while, but I will plumb in the boost control solenoid to help close it if it is a weak spring causing the issue. Motor will not rev past 4k. At about 4k it looses rpm signal and thinks it is cranking until the rev drops below 4k. That sounds like a rev limit, and I believe I have set a couple of limiters so those will be looked at. Will take my laptop and run a log to see if I can see anything else obvious when it occurs. Not sure if I mentioned, but oil gauge fault traces back to back oil pressure sending unit out of the box. Company says the supplier is at fault, and will sort it out and send a new one when they can switch to a new supplier. Car runs pig rich on acceleration (below 10), will have to run a few more auto tune sessions, maybe take a look at accel enrichment, definitely uncomfortable when getting on throttle with the bucking. Shadow dash app is finicky at best, when it works it works great, but sometimes just cuts out and crashes. Thinking of moving over to MSdroid and trying the hardwire option, currently MSdroid cannot detect my ECU version, despite having generated the file it is searching for.

Dang looks good man, keep up the work!

Reading plugs really only tells lean or rich, and that is a rough estimate at best. And your focus is indeed out of whack. You can determine the lean or rich better with a wideband which would not be a bad investment. Set timing to your ignition system/engine. The base timing is what the engine wants to run at. If it is running hot you can turn retard the ignition a bit, but that is a roundabout guess work method. At the minimum, get values for exhaust temp to see if it is out of range and adjust timing down if that is how you want to do it.

^I'm pretty sure those units are pretty expensive, like upwards of 600$. If you have the turbo block, you should already have the turbo pistons, the oil source, the tapped oil pan etc. It really should be a bit of a dog right now if that is the case with the low compression numbers. Are you just going off based off the of the casting code? Now would indeed be a good time to check what you actually have. If you have the flattop NA block then you really won't be able to boost much without something drastic to reduce the cooling charge. If I remember, my turbo manifold had square ports and your N47 head has circle ports I don't quite recall the overlap though. Something to look into. A cam with an NA grind will not be ideal for a turbo just for reference. And if you want top end, a T3 turbo really isn't going to give you much in the high end, it would be more useful for the bottom end/quick spooling it really will run out of puff at the top. Looks like you have quite a bit more reading ahead of you, definitely take advantage of what you have megasquirt is pretty powerful if you put a few hours into it. And focus down on what you really want. What you state and what you plan kind of clash at times. Need to add a fuel pressure regulator of some sort, fittings, lines. Good luck.

Given how easy it is to pull the L-series, I would say having a complete motor to swap in would actually be faster then removing and reinstalling manifolds etc. A weekend is going to be mighty tight to get it all sorted, should be a fun adventure. Just for your information, MS2 also has the ability to do both fuel and spark cut, and since two step is essentially a spark cut at a certain rpm, it can definitely accomplish that. I believe it even has a launch control tab in the current stable version, haven't looked into it much, but there are a few people running around with it. Just so I don't come off all weird, you can definitely run megasquirt to control fuel only and run MSD to control all the spark/ignition related items, nothing wrong with that.

Wideband should be one of the first things on your list, as well as a way to control ignition, you have untapped potential in your current setup, might as well use it while you await boost . Your thinking is a bit unconventional. Not sure why you would want to run an MSD box when you have megasquirt, that seems a bit backwards. You have megasquirt 2 already, and an MSD box costs upwards of 200$. I'm pretty sure you can get a turbo oil pump and distributor for less then that. Or you can definitely get a a trigger wheel, hall effect sensor, and coil packs or a megasquirt friendly type distributor for less then 200$. Upping regulator pressure to force more fuel through the injectors is a bandaid, you could potentially hold them open for a bit longer with more fuel pressure, but you are fighting a couple of factors. The longer they are held open the faster the fuel pressure drops, to remedy this you up the fuel pressure to help with the recovery. Upping the pressure opens a couple of other problems, really not the best idea. As you say, some 440cc supra injectors on an aftermarket cockerstar or palnet fuel rail will be much more reliable. Or at least the injectors from the turbo car. The factory injectors are 188cc I believe. A really really really really really really really rough rule of thumb is 1hp per cc with about a million other variables, but as a rough guide line it is not bad, you usually want an injector to run no more then 80% duty cycle and a bone stock 280zx turbo will run ~180hp so you would want a ~220cc injector (factory turbo is 265cc). So you could possibly run more pressure to get you by, but not necessarily recommended. If you are on a budget maybe perusing some american makes for injectors/junkyard diving or maybe taking a look at some injector service companies that can modify injectors may better fit your budget. To get most of the parts you are going to need to harvest a turbo car anyway. Might as well take the other parts to really make use of the swap, turbo, manifold, oil pump, distributor, crank pulley, injector, etc. You don't need the AFM since you have megasquirt and the 240sx throttle body. The most budget friendly way you are going to be able to proceed is to take a l28et swap and massage that into your car. You already have the most expensive part of the process which is megasquirt, so putting an L28et complete swap with your intake manifold/throttlebody/ecu would be the most budget friendly option. Looking forward to what you decide.

I followed the half half procedure (half motor oil, half assembly lube) if you just used assembly lube it may very well be the cause. It doesn't look that bad at all though, if you can spin it with just one hand. If you removed the towers, could you do a quick check and see that they are in order? The order that the towers are mounted are stamped on the side, make sure they go back into the right spot.

When you say you have it set to 10*, do you mean in the megasquirt settings? Check timing order, then try and run a timing light to see when the spark is actually firing during cranking. Other then the fact you are running ms 2 you haven't given us very much information at all to go off of.

^Oh that is a good point. Classic insurance for my car from grundy was very easy to get with lots of coverage at a pretty killer rate. My friend on the other hand will not qualify for classic even when his car turns 25 due to milage and commonality. Jon: gotcha, thought I would throw it out there, if you end up parting it out please let me know, I have been searching for some alignment tabs for the doors for quite a while.

Oh I plan to. I am waiting until I can make an under tray before I paint it so I can minimizes the flex. Still looking for a bumper and a grill of some sort to finish it out so putting off body work until all the aesthetic pieces are in order. mmmm VQ, I wish I would have waited, saw a vq with trans going for sale last month or so, but I have to admit, the boost is real nice. Bought a bunch of wiring, connectors, and some really killer heat shrink from my local electronics store (not radio shack), and wired in the Leash electronics fuse/relay box. Took maybe an hour and the car starts and doesn't stumble at all. I am tempted to go over every single one of my connections now, but I think I will open that can of worms later. Turns out my turn signal mod had a flaw where the coiled cable wrapped itself between the hub boss and the column and severed a wire and my horn. Will have to take the column apart again to figure out how to solve that little problem. Haven't been able to figure out how to fit a filter onto the turbo quite yet. For the time being I ordered a mesh insert and have an adapter pointed away from the front so hopefully nothing gets in while I am trying to figure that out. Boost controller is sitting in my upgrades box just waiting to be wired in. I am having major connectivity issues with shadow dash, when it works it works great, but it cuts out and doesn't come back on. Kind of risky driving around without any parameters. I have downloaded ms droid which has a hardwire option so I think I may give that a shot, I don't like the gauges as much, but I need some kind of readout. (video) Not getting any blow off valve noise, so either a boost leak or a really crummy blow off valve. Will have to chase that down as well. Currently waiting on funds for an exhaust, and waiting on some motivation to fix the turn signal/brake light. Currently in the middle of a move so motivation/strength is lacking.

^Truth I have always enjoyed the build process much more then the end product in all my hobbies. I would take a grain of salt with what people consider rust free around here. When I bought my car, the seller said the only reason he was selling it instead of cutting it apart was that the frame rails and floor weren't eaten through (rust free). Turns out it was aluminum foil thick and a couple taps with a screw driver and I had a colander. Depending on your tendencies it can definitely be something you work on during weekends over a couple of years, or if you want you can throw a bunch of time and money at it until it is finished. If you don't want something that will sit, then buy one that has had a bit of work (rust fixed, suspension updated, new bearings, etc) and you will be far ahead. If you want to become very intimate with the car I believe jon has a car for sale that could really use a bit of everything. If welding isn't your thing, having a car transported from california or arizona wouldn't be a bad idea.

What would be extremely helpful is what makes you think things are ok. You said you have spark, but as newzed points out is it a strong spark? How did you check the spark? You said you have 3.5psi of fuel pressure, but where do you have that fuel pressure? Can you see fuel flow? What kind of gauge are you using? Factory fuel rail? What are the condition of the plugs? Can we get a few pictures of your setup? Newzed is definitely on the right track. Engine needs fuel, air, spark, and compression to run. Without one of those you are not going to get very far. If you have indeed checked the spark aspect, you have to make sure the timing aspect is correct. If you have checked that you are getting fuel pressure, you have to check that you are getting a steady fuel flow. You can bypass air and fuel by using ether, so you are left with spark and compression. Checking valve clearance, timing, spark order, spark strength should help narrow down the problem. You shouldn't need a ballast resistor with the 280z wiring harness. Make sure you haven't ordered a 6 volt coil or something of that nature. You should be all 12v. Holler if you need a hand, plenty of helpful people here, but we can only help if you supply as much information as possible.

Checking spark order should be on there...embarassingly that's what caught me off guard for so long.

I've written a few e-mails, but never had the real drive to send them, as I felt someone else would do a better job. Glad to see they will still be floating around!

I can actually offer specific insight as well. I have a 240z, and one of my best friends from high school just bought an 325i E30 a couple months ago. I bought mine locally for 500$ and spent the last two years building the body a bit, and this last year I finished putting an engine swap in. All in around 20k or so. Things I have done: New floors, frame rails, battery tray area, chassis stiffening, roll bar New bushings, shocks, springs, ball joints, camber plates, wheels, tires New seats, gauges, dash Newer engine (37k miles), ECU, ignition, etc Bigger brakes, new lines, hydro brake Essentially everything has been gone over, I had it down to the bare chassis. The ride is nice, and the boost is nice, manual is nice, everything is pretty pleasant. I am just starting to trust it as I have been going over and replacing some crummy wiring and some redundant relays etc. It starts each time and I am just about getting ready to enjoy it. It still has a lot of potential left untapped, but right now it is high enough where the I am falling short. My friend drove down to portland and purchased his car for $4500, and we have been repairing the small faults over the weekends. All in he is around 9k or so. He has done: New bushings, strut tops, ball joints, control arms, drive shaft Z3 steering rack Wheels, tires Fluids all around New brake pads and rotors Exhaust His car handles almost mind-blowingly well. Just replacing some of the older parts and it runs quiet, smooth, everything feels tight, and the fast turning z3 power steering rack is glorious. I drove it the other day and it just would not let go on the twisties, then he drove it and I had a sore elbow from holding on so tightly. The main difference is knowledge and price. As I had such a cheap chassis to work with, I had no problem cutting out rusting parts and using parts from other cars etc to improve my car over all, through the process I have learned a ton of things. You have to understand my friend was the guy that got me into cars in the past, I was scared to jack my car up by myself back then, so I feel I have come a long way. I also learned how to look for information I needed and formulate my own opinions given the multiple paths to accomplish the same task. Those skills have become the best tools, as well as the physical tools in my arsenal from having done everything. One of the reasons that his project is going well is that if needed he can ask about something or request my help. His exhaust for example, I welded it together and supplied the muffler from my old exhaust. To remove the old bushings he was trying to use a drill on the rubber bits and then a press. I showed him the datsun way of lighting the bushing on fire and then using a sawzall to cut the sleeve and bend it towards the center. So if you want to really dive into a project car, I would say the Z is a good choice. It is fairly cheap to get started and there are lots of paths available for what you want to do with it, you can go from cookie cutter to extreme, to uncharted territories. If you want a car to drive, the E30 is really a good choice. It too has options, although maybe not as varied, but definitely a good chassis. It definitely has more creature comforts of AC, power steering, ABS, etc. He's planning on boosting his car over the winter and doing suspension mods, and I am planning on upping the boost, tuning and doing suspension mods, so we should be in the same ball park, budget and power wise for a fair comparison in the future.

I had the same thing happen. Had the window down, just minding my own business on a main street. Notice a truck jockeying for position next to me. Turn to look and see the passenger is telling his buddy to slow or speed down to line the exhaust up with my window, then he floors it and my car fills with black smoke. Left me deaf and blind and had to pull over to wait for it to clear. I'm told this is called "rolling coal" and certain individuals will install controllers to change the fuel levels to get the black smoke. Some people really have nothing else better to do.

That is car speak for does not run in my book. Honestly it has a few parts on it which are ok, the wheels look ok, though I suspect they are the 6 inch versions, the front lip is nice, and the supposedly mint interior are pluses, but unless you happen to have quite a bit of experience/knowledge with rust repair the body looks pretty untrustworthy. If you plan on having it shipped up or hauling it back up, then you might as well consider a car with less rot from other states.

There's also some info about just putting a bolt through and mounting the mount behind the mounting plate if memory serves. I was going to say unless he moved the radiator support or radiator, that it isn't likely even with electric fans that he moved the engine forward enough to use the factory mount given how much the mount has to move, glad you got that figured out.

^Truth. Rear quarters, fenders, door, hatch, roof, headlight bucket, and that's just what is poking through the paint. For the price you can't argue very much though. It depends on your definition of a good buy. If you think that is only slight rust, then your judgement is far kinder then mine.

The engine mount for the ZX is different then the Z series mounts, same bolt pattern on the engine though, but the angles are off. I have not heard of anyone having to push the driveline forwards. I know the mounts for the transmission are a bit further back then the factory mounts, and I believe the drive shaft is a tad longer, but moving the engine forward to reuse the factory transmission mount sounds like a lot of work. I recall the oil pan being quite close, the radiator fan would essentially be in the radiator, and a couple other problems. Just take a measurement, easiest way to find out for sure.

Doing a whole fuel cell just for a suspected fuel delivery issue is a bit overkill. And as six shooter said you can get away with using the stock tank without problems. It would be advisable to check somethings before chasing a non existent problem. Impossible to assist without more info. What's the fuel pressure, what fuel pump, fuel filter condition, line thickness, etc etc. Can't help without facts.

For the rear discs... No real performance gain as mentioned Quite a bit of work, to do them "correctly" one would have to undo the stub axles and bull the stubs and put the full 4 bolt bracket in Getting the parking brake to work and hang properly can be real tedious Finding the hitch pins/retaining tabs can be irritating More volume is used so need a bigger master cylinder Lines will have to be figured out as the stock setup will not work Most kits will limit you on wheel size to 14 + Depending on the setup, the rotor will have to be custom sourced. I think turbo280z on youtube has a good video explaining the problem that can occur where the pad isn't fully engaging the rotor, just the outer 1 inch of it. That is just playing devil's advocate though. I'm personally all for it if you can work it into the budget. Taking the rear hub apart is good to get new bearings and seals in there if it has not been serviced recently You can cut one of the bolt tabs off to slide around and use just three bolts if you do not want to take the rear stub apart Taking time to figure out the line routing and stuff will be real helpful if you plan on lowering the car as the stock configuration can cause interference Definitely easier to service in my opinion, you can get away with just pad replacements if you are running a soft compound on the street for a while, so one bolt off, swivel, insert pads and good to go. Drums are a bit more tedious. Regarding a wilwood setup. It boils down to pads and rotors. The options for different types of rotors (vented, slotted, drilled, etc) and pads (full range soft to race), are going to be more readily available then it will be for a toyota suv/truck. I would imagine they would be a bit lighter as well? If you have spent any time adjusting the rear parking brake, you can very quickly see how a spot caliper or something with a simple hookup would be appealing, the Z parking mechanism isn't the easiest to service and or adjust. Out of the 4 or 5 I have been under, and another 5 I have asked owner's about, no one has had a working parking break mechanism. My thought was the installation of camber plates, not necessarily coil overs, just the camber plates. If the budget for suspension is 2000 I would spend it on new bushings all around, new ball joints, tie rod ends, etc. If you went coil overs you will most likely need some kind of adjustable LCA and an adjustable Tension rod for the front so that will blow a 2000$ budget right out of the water. 1500 was what I ended up spending on the engine alone and that was with being ridiculously frugal. Valve regrind, head decking, inspection, cleaning, new valve stem seals, etc 250 Block boiling, deglazing, boiling, inspection 250 New rings, rod bearings, crank bearings, etc 150 New water pump, thermostat, thermostat housing 100 New timing chain kit with timing chain tool 150 New gasket kit 100 Block plugs, spark plugs, plug wires, rotor, coil etc 100 Alternator, voltage regulator delete, etc 150 Motor mounts, paint, oil, filter, etc 150 And that is using the cheapest name brand parts I could find, reusing pistons, reusing head bolts, rod bolts, getting discounts for lining up and adjusting the valves myself, bringing a bare block for cleaing/glazing, self transportation, buying parts on e-bay, assembling my self etc. I think you may either need to give yourself a larger contingency or budget more generously. My one major "I wish I would have..." would be I wish I would have budgeted more/saved more before embarking on this whole trip. Always good to over budget and save, then under budget and abandon.

Yes M22x1.5 is what I have found is the thread pitch. It is actually a common drain plug thread, granted I don't think any drain plug will be quite long enough. The toyota motors have a banjo fitting with the same thread, doubt that could be used though. They did sell a plug I think 15mm long with the thread pitch at my local parts store from dorman if memory seves. Violates the 1.5 x thread width to length rule, but I imagine might be better then nothing in a pinch.

Definitely rust repair, that's pretty obvious. Depending on the condition, a body alignment, no point in building up a car if it will crab. If you are thinking of any roll protection, now would be the time to drill the holes and put in the mounting plates for a bolt in bar. You may never need it, but it will be a pain to take everything off interior wise to put in the plates/reinforcement brackets. If you don't plan on doing any type of racing where it is needed, great, glad you see them as a hazard as they very well can be. Fuel, making sure you have enough flow to meet eventual power goals. It can be a real pain the arse to drill new holes and retaining clips every time you meet a power goal. Fuel cell may indeed be quite tedious, but something to replace the old fuel system. The number of problems resulting from a rusty tank or pickup is numerous and the solution is easy if you have the tank out. If you are going for a bit of power, a sump of some kind will come in handy. Cheaper/easier then a surge tank. Sealing, going over every nook and cranny, like between the rear fender and the trunk floor and sealing everything. With the car stripped you can literally lift the car with 2 people, flip it over on some boxes and start sealing. Way easier then laying on your back. Camber plates, definitely you can still run stock style suspension with just a camber plate on top, but welding in a camber plate can be difficult if you are leaning over a fender and have to sand away all the paint. Much easier standing in the engine bay. Brake lines, definitely do them. The DIY kit is 50$ or something silly, and you get brand spanking new lines. Replacing the old flex lines with new flex lines is also a good idea, but not as difficult down the road as replacing the hard lines. Gauges and switches, adding/wiring gauges while the dash is out is probably the best thing in the world. Having to remove the center panel and use wire strippers and crimpers in side the dash is a contortionist act in and of it self. Wiring, definitely down the road, but making sure the wiring is up to par. A big pain was putting the car back together to find that my right turn signal wasn't actuating very well. Taking the steering column apart is quite an annoyance. Installing the relays for the headlights etc would have also been easier without the engine in the way. Ordering everything ahead of time. Nothing kills progress like realizing that you forgot to buy a cotter pin, a seal, a bolt, an adapter, etc. The number of days where I start on something only to realize I don't have the right part is too embarrassing to recount.

3 in 1 is straight 20wt oil and is what a lot of people use. The line with the bolt in it is the overflow line. It shouldn't be blocked, it should be routed back to the air cleaner if memory serves. You probably don't want it to route to the air cleaner right now with your fire out of the carbs problem, but it shouldn't be blocked like that. Have you checked the timing? What is it at?