OldAndyAndTheSea

If you're dead set on using bondo to fill the holes, I'd suggest against it being used alone, unless the job is strictly temporary. When I did my car the first time, I did the same thing to the doors, and it wasn't before long that I had a bunch of little bondo plugs starting to become noticable under the paint. I'd hate for you to have the same. If you're going to fill the holes with something, (other than weld, which is obviously preferred) use JB weld to skim the holes.Then bondo the area. Bondo is incredibly coarse and especially brittle, a few door slams, and you may have a problem on your hands. The JB, although like I said, is not ideal, but it will certainly work much better for you than the straight bondo will. (make sure you tap the rivet holes down a little with a hammer to create a slight low spot to fill (without creating high spots surrounding the hole) I know the holes are small, but the second one of those plugs may get a little wet, and swells, then contracts, before long, you've got a totally avoidable paint issue. Take pictures! More pictures! Keep up the work. I'm jealous, because its freezing here, and I've wanted to paint my engine bay for the whole week......UGH!

I definitely vote turbo swap. I'm having a blast converting mine. And sweet Enkei rims. What's the color going to be on the car?

Yeah, I've got a blanket on my turbo, wrapped manifold, and wrapped downpipe. I'm hoping that will be enough. Won't know til Spring (hopefully) though...

Love the WHITE!

Do I see a DIY in your future? I'm telling you, it'll save you that 4000 dollars, which you could put into the motor or suspension, and you learn something in the process! Win Win WIn Just takes some dedication, which it looks like you've got. Keep it up! looking forward to the progress!

Second this! ...Nothing more annoying than looking in the rearview and seeing that gasket hanging down.

Thank you. Even though this wasn't my thread, I once again leave more educated than I came.

I also heard, so this is strictly speculation but, a pusher fan should only be used when supplemented with a puller fan, like a mechanical clutch driven fan, or the like. If you think about all the air from just moving down the road smashing into a fan, then trying to push that same air again, it just doesn't seem very efficient if you ask me. Hopefully someone with more knowledge on the subject will chime in. That being said, I'm going to run an electric puller fan on my motor.

Had some fun. Making sure everything fits.

So I've been having some fun. Mocking everything up. Making sure it all fits. I will have to trim my wrap a little bit for decent clearances for manifold bolts, but other than that, all is indeed very well. 8 megapixel Engine pron.. and here are a couple what I would consider "accurate" pictures of the valve cover. Turned out nice. and the finished (sans throttle body) N42 intake Exciting!!! Updates to come! EDIT: Mocked

Today I installed my Turbo Oil pump and distributor driveshaft. I filled the pump before installation. Removed L28 oil pump and drive shaft In with the turbo checking the tang (11:25) Motor is on 1 TDC (you can even see the damper in the last picture) Also while I had the vavle cover off to confirm timing, I decided to clean it up and respray it. Here's the result. Obligatory valve cover removed shot I officially have a turbo motor

Dont disappear like 95% of the Carbon guys! And make Center consoles!!! And Door panels! and Dashes! haha Excited to see progress. Kaminari stuff is definitely a step above the competition.

Agreed. The special features with the real Burt are awesome. I feel Hopkins was a bit more humble, and subdued

Okay, so while the motor is out of the car, I touched up the block, and began the turbo conversion. Okay, now with the block looking fancy again. I swapped my turbo oil pickup and installed my turbo oil pan, with the MSA gasket. Since apparently NO TWO people do this the same way, and it's some sort of Dark Magic that makes these things NOT leak oil; I took the entire day to install this thing. Parts used: Turbo 280zx Oil Pan with stock metal trim pieces Turbo 280zx Oil pickup tube with gasket MSA 'Competition' Oil pan gasket UltraBlack Permatex RTV sealant This is what I did. For the record. (mainly in case this leaks, so I know what NOT to do again.) 1. Removed the stock oil pan 2. Removed the old gasket and CLEANED the area. Took extra special care to clean the surface with solvent, multiple times. 3. Removed the stock oil pickup, once again cleaning the area underneath. 4. Now I spent the better part of two hours carefully inspecting and massaging anything I deemed a "dimple" in the turbo oil pan. Test fit the pan numerous times to insure uniform contact throughout. I believe it's straight, I HOPE its straight. 5. Installed new gasket and Turbo pickup tube (torqued to roughly 7-8 ft-lbs) 6. Cleaned and prepared both the surface of the block, and the pan once more. 7. Sparingly used the RTV to adhere the gasket to the oil pan. (roughly 1/8'' bead) No sealant is used between the block surface and the gasket surface. 8. Cleaned again. 9. Carefully set the pan on the block and began the put the bolts in place. Starting from opposite corners, and working my way evenly around the base of the motor. Used the 2 OEM trim pieces. -Only finger tight for the first 12-24 hours. Will torque to 5-7 lbs once the RTV has been allowed to set. That's where I am now. Giving the RTV sufficient time to cure, before torquing. Let me know if you guys think I did something way wrong, as I'd love to avoid a mistake with the motor still out of the car. Who knows, maybe the oil will stay on the INSIDE this time. Fingers crossed! Next step: Installation and timing of the turbo oil pump and the distributor drive shaft.

I definitely agree with all posted above. Most importantly do your research, and build your whole setup on paper first, before you buy ANYTHING. That'll save you hundreds in the end. I am currently converting my 76 n42 L28 to a turbocharged application. (I'm swapping oil pan/pump/shaft/pickup today so it's fairly fresh in my mind). It is fairly straight forward. If you do end up going the L series route, feel free to PM me as I have fairly extensive notes on the subject.

Take the door apart. You will learn everything in about 20 minutes. Like David said, and was mentioned above, I bet one of the threads broke off causing the handle to no longer push against the rod, which opens the latch to the door. Taking them apart will not only teach you, but it will make you MUCH MUCH more comfortable with the inner components of the doors. Plus, I'd be willing to bet all that stuff needs a squirt of silicone. It definitely wouldn't hurt. Best of luck!

wow!!! I like!

Pulled my motor out today. My friend Pat stopped by for a bit, and lent a helping hand. Tomorrow I start the cleaning, and prep for freshening up the block, Then I can swap over my Turbo stuff. Updates to follow

Pulled my motor. Now the actual work may begin! Finger guns of victory!

Based on the quality of work on your Z car. I'd let you cut me open any day of the week. Knock it out of the park!

I adapted the OEM harness to accept my Autometers when I did the swap. I mean each gauge usually only has three wires, the same wires that probably went to the stock gauge. Unless some mouse or squirrel decided to ruin your wiring, id say use the stock harness

Sounds like the air flow meter is to blame. If the car will run if you pour gas in the manifold, you obviously have spark. So rule that out. The AFM does a couple of different things. First, it controls fuel pump operation. Check to make sure this works. Remove the air filter boot from the AFM and physically push the flapper open with the ignition on. You should be able to hear the fuel pump running. The second thing to air flow meter does, is exactly what it says: Measures the air entering the intake, this is how the ECU "knows" how long to keep the injectors open etc... The internals of your AFM should look identical to the picture below. The fuel pump contact points often times get dirty, and require a little cleaning to make work again. But the problems you've described indicate to me a Air Flow Meter problem. That's where I'd start. Here's a picture of the internals of my 1976 AFM. The fuel pump contact switch is located on the middle left (there is an arm pointing to about the 7-8 'o clock position.) Make sure the connection between the two metals is clean and unobstructed.

PCV stands for Positive Crankcase Ventilation If you have the stock FI and you remove your PCV stuff you may run into tuning issues. That being said, I'm going to be running standalone FI and I still intend on keeping the stock(ish) PCV Here's how I modified my non egr n42 to accept the PCV valve on my turbocharged application.

Happy New year everyone! Make those Z car related resolutions before it's too late! Phew, we made it through another one.

Finished up my exhaust, I'm going to clean up everything, prime it, and paint it all later. For Christmas my car got some exhaust wrap, and a turbo wrap, so I've been playing with and modifying that. Also, wrapped my exhaust manifold and the downpipe this morning. Ran out of zip ties too, so I had to finish it up for now with a couple doubled up plastic guys. Here are some pictures. I'll edit it out later for the mock up pictures once they dry.