Boog

Recently painted, just finishing up cutting and polishing. Still needs little things done, but she is back on the road.

Looks awesome so far. We have the same car setup, z and a cherokee. Mine is a 2002 though, I have been drooling over those new ones.

I'm running 15x9 0 offset, 225/50's with coilovers. I had to trim the stock spring perches a bit in the front, but they fit fine besides that. Also, I second the need for a new air dam, mine rubbed, got a new one, tada.

So you're saying that its probably just the turbo?

Forgot to add, the car idles beautifully. It has a p90A head and let me say, the difference in lifter clacking is amazing.

Hey everyone, I'm on my phone and I just got done typing up a huge post only to lose it, so I'll keep this short and to the point. I got an 83 for a turbo swap into my 76 280z, and it starts and idles. The car on a cold start idles but when the throttle is pressed, it chokes and dies. When warm, it revs up, but painfully and only to max 4k rpm. I replaced cap, rotor, plugs, not it. Did an oil change, not related. Took apart the intake, the turbo doesn't spin. I'm now in the slow process of taking off my intake manifold to replace the turbo with one I have. I'm wondering if a stuck turbo would explain my problems, and if not, what else could be an issue? Let me know what other info I can provide, and thanks in advance!

Sounds mean!

Ok, so I talked to the guy on the phone about it. He says when he unplugs the temp sensor on the engine, it idles well but doesn't rev up, and still dies after a minute or two. When he unplugs it, it revs up, but still dies. He also said it was running on 4 cylinders when he got it, but didn't die. He said that two injectors were firing badly, and so when he pulled the engine to replace exhaust and intake manifolds, he replaced two of the injectors with other L series injectors (not turbo). I'm thinking the engine is dying from the sensor not working and causing it to run too lean and die. However, I think the engine would also benefit from new injectors (if he doesn't still have the old ones), or if he does have the old ones, I would just clean them out and test them properly. Any thoughts?

Thanks for the input. I'm really trying to find a donor car at this point. It seems like the safest way to go. That way I get the power I want, with a little room to crank boost, with all the necessary parts needed. I can then swap them out with aftermarket stuff as I go, starting with a 100% 280zx setup. I have my eyes on a 280zx turbo, 1982, for 850. It is in good shape, except the owner says it starts for a minute or two and then dies. He thinks its clogged injectors, but from the sound of it there is something else wrong. Anyone have any ideas? For the price, I would love to jump on this.

Oh it's not a car, just the engine. Comes with an extra intake manifold and the fuel rail, and some injector coil setup? Not sure what it is exactly but if it is what I think it is, I'm going to put it on my 76 engine and run MS until I can swap in the big guy.

I'll definitely start a build thread if I get the engine. i have tons of pictures already documenting the stuff I've done already, may as well throw them up on a thread. As always, thanks for input.

Awesome! So what should I do instead of soldering? An update on the engine. I found an 82 engine that runs and has all accessories besides the ecu a few hours north in Canada for 300, so as soon as I get pics I'm jumping on that deal. It has a pallnet? fuel rail and besides that is stock. My plan is to buy the engine, swap the dizzy onto my current engine, get a MS set up, and then clean up the turbo engine while I learn MS on my NA with the 82 dizzy. Thoughts?

Also, would it be better to re-wire my engine bay with a MS 12' harness, or get one of these http://www.diyautotune.com/catalog/18-megasquirt-pigtail-harness-p-114.html and just solder all the proper connections?

That is actually what I would love to do, the only problem is I'm not sure if my bottom end can handle boost. I'm not sure what shape it's in, I put on a perfect stage 3 head when I found that my original was warped from overheating. The mechanic who did the swap said my bottom end was decent, but I don't know what that exactly means.......I do like the idea of MS first though. Which should I run? Would MS2 work fine for my plans? I've heard converting isn't hard, just time consuming. And I have all winter, haha.

My problem is I don't have space to have a whole second car at my house. I've also been searching for a few months and there really isn't anything in my area. The only option I have right now is a '81 that's 5 hours away, and I'm considering that just because of my situation....I'll keep my eyes open for a 82-83 car though I can pull stuff from......

Awesome, thanks for laying out my options. The pictures helped. One question I still have is if I get a l28et but don't want to drop the money for MS quite yet, can I wire up and run a l28et on my 76 factory ecu? Will it run? I want to get a MS setup, but I don't want to spend extra on a 280zx ecu, and then spend more on the MS later, and have to rewire everything twice.

Thank you for all the input so far. So what I am gathering is that I should buy a running engine (turbo), swap it in, rebuild my current engine, and then swap the turbo parts over to it. Megasquirt was discussed, should I implement that as soon as possible? Is it easy to convert MS from non turbo to turbo? I have heard it is easier to learn how to tune on a non turbo. If I didn't swap to MS asap, could I run the l28et on my current wiring? Or do I need the 280zx engine harness? Again, thanks for the responses. I am actually looking into picking up a l28et pulled from a running car in the next few days that I found near me.

Dang, I wish I saw this earlier. Sounds like it would have been fun.

Hey guys, I just realized I never said what the problem was. The light bulb charge indicator thingy in the voltmeter was out, and strangely enough the lamp wire routes through that. So if the bulb is out, the alternator won't start. Figured if anyone was still curious, or even remembered this problem, I'd say what was wrong. Thanks for the help from anyone who did!

Hey forum, I've been a lurker for a while, mostly coming on to figure out how to solve my problems with my car. I figured I'd get some input from more experienced members on what path I should take with my build. Well, let me just tell you my current plan for the my car. I have a 76 280z, and I'm hoping to do a turbo swap on it in the very near future. I currently have a stage 3 N42 head on my stock engine that I was planning on swapping over to a l28et when the time comes. I'm looking to get around 200-250 hp out of the engine. So far, my plan is to find a l28et, throw it on a stand, tear it down, and learn about it, because I'm not super knowledgeable on engines. As I do that, I'll clean and replace things as needed, following a rebuild book. This is the first time I've ever written this down, so it's kind of interesting for me to see where my head is at, haha.....Anyways, I'm just realizing now I probably don't need anything aftermarket for that amount of power, but I was thinking a fuel rail just to clean up the bay a little. Pretty much I have two possible paths for my build. The first is to buy a l28et and rebuild it, and then swap it in. The second is to accumulate the necessary parts to convert my current engine to a turbo setup. My only concern I want to have the car drivable until the swap, and also having a solid setup to fall back on if the turbo swap doesn't go as planned. Any suggestions, criticism, or input would be appreciated. I don't have a huge budget for the build, and essentially what I would like is to have a l28et in my car that is solid enough to build up in the future if I ever feel the need for more power (or should I say, when I feel the need for more power ). Thank you guys in advance! This is a great community!

Ok, lots of testing updates. I got a NEW alternator, now on my third. Still no luck. The battery won't go above 12v, the alternator is not putting out a charge. I had the car running after charging the battery all night, and when it started to die because of lack of battery juice, i removed the negative battery cable. This caused the car to die immediately. The car should run off the alternator alone, but it died immediately. I checked the continuity on the alternator to battery wire, my sense wire is fine, my ground is fine. This leads me to believe there is a problem with the lamp wire. My gauges all work fine, the voltmeter reads fine in the dash. Another thing I remember reading about that I think is important is when I connect my negative terminal, I hear the click of a relay. Is that bad?

Dang, went back and re-tested alternator output......Was only 12v, which I assume was only from the sense wire going in. Don't have an ammeter, so I can't test current, but I decided to just exchange the alternator.....I might have got some coolant inside it, would that fry anything? LOL

Battery is 2-3 months old, the alternator was putting out 15 volts to my meter.

Sorry for lack of detail, I'll see if I can address that. It's a 1976. I do not have the BAT post connected straight to the post, it is connected to the white and red(?) one that is original. I just hard wired the sense wire from the battery to the S terminal of the T plug, and that seems to have done something. I also messed around with the lamp wire, and that seems to be working. However, after charging up my battery enough to start it, the car ran for about 6 minutes and then slowly died away as the battery died. I thought that the alternator was not putting out charge, but I disconnected the original wire that goes to the BAT terminal, started that car (after charging again), and the alternator was putting out plenty of power to charge the battery. Do you guys think that the car died because the battery was just drained so far? Recap: T plug wires both work fine (sense and lamp), original BAT cables are in place and working, negative hookups are all fine. Also, the alternator is a brand new one made for a 82 zx by Quality Built.

Hey everyone, My alternator died last week at a gas station, so I figured why not convert to a zx internally regulated one? I swapped it over, but I can't get it to charge yet. Here is my current point. BAT post is connected to stock battery cable. Ground is connected to the ground on the alternator. T plug is just plugged in. I did the wire bridging in this article http://www.atlanticz.ca/zclub/techtips/alternatorswap/ to cut out the external regulator, but my voltmeter in the dash still isnt working. Any ideas? Should I re-wire the T connector wires? I'm thinking its a problem with that... Thanks in advance!