Nismo280zEd

I don't know what the original goals were for the car. Obviously quick with the lighter SR20 motor in it. RHD again being another goal. While I myself have thought about going RHD I decided not to from fear of having to pass on a two lane road. How do you see around the car infront of you? That was my biggest concern, I still would like to do it though. Things I might change shall I ever take on this challenge. I don't know about you but putting a motor in the Z would be alot easier if the front cross brace was removable. I'd Also Box in the rails and change the bottom cross brace a bit (this would be my personal preference for clearance issues with the radiator/intercooler) Also, I'm sure you are well aware of the collage of braces that hold the dash to the Z. It drives me nuts, I'm actually in the process of cutting them out and putting a more space friendly bracing system. I'm retrofitting a Maxima A/C system into my Z so I would also modify the shape of the cowl panel for more space on the inside of the Z. (another personal thing though) I'd clean up the firewall as mentioned as well. Change the location where the wiring harness comes through (has a tendency to collect water there) Honestly If I were going through all that trouble I'd cut the floors out and weld in some nice flat straight ones to improve airflow under the car. While doing that I'd throw in some reinforcement for chassis flex. Before you know it one thing leads to another and I'd probably have a tubed front end with sheetmetal hanging on it lol. Like I said... props to you for undertaking it. It's going to look very original when done. Wiring is super easy, I'd recomend creating a new harness to keep things tidy and update the 20+ year old wiring. If your running the SR your not using the factory loom anway, might as well clean it up! I'm on my third re-wire for my Z, every time I do it I learn new tricks and cleaner ways of doing things. (I'm an EE major so I also gain more knowledge that I want to apply as time goes by) Keep it going man! -Ed

Amazing build. Hats off to you. After reading this thread I no longer want a cross flow head for the L motor lol. WAY too much work.

Wow.... that is a TON of work just to drive on the other side. Then you still have to change alot of the wiring also. Shouldn't be an issue if you've got an SR in there though. I think if I had to go through all that trouble I would have changed a few things on the car, but props to you man.

You are correct, I will just be cutting and welding. (Wish I had a spiffy bender) The rear subframe on the Z had the long supports that came down off the frame that allowed the lower control arms to bolt up and the diff/mustache bar I believe. Regardless, the new subframe mounts a little higher but there is still a 3" gap between the where I need to mount it and where the Z frame is on the back side. The car needs to have a strong rear suspension as it will be seeing some sideways action. I was going to pretty much hard mount the subframe to the Z using metal bushings. so the square tubing is going to be used to lower the frame down to where the subframe needs to mount for a nice strong mounting location. The same tubing I purchase will be used to make some mounting points on the chassis for the multi link suspension arms. -Ed

Ok so my specialty is in electronics but I'm pretty good with my hands. Doing some fabrication on the back of the Z, swaping out the S30 suspension for S14 rearsubframe and drive train (axles and suspension, modified diff). I need to modify the Z in some areas. I was looking at using square tubing, found two sites metalsdepot.com and onlinemetals.com one uses A513 steel the other uses A36 the difference in price being 16 bucks per 8' section. I'm familiar with google and looked up the specs. A513 is stronger than the A36. Says the A36 is easier to work with than the A513. I don't work with metal on a daily basis so I wanted some help on this. For structural support (redoing some of the frame for the suspension to mount. Which steel should I go with? I was looking 1.5" square tube 1/8" wall. I need to research some more but I'm pretty sure either steel is overkill for my application? -Ed

Well, since my Z is still under the knife I can't comment on how specifically the Z does with a welded diff. However, I daily drove my 240sx with welded short nose R200 for about 2 years. I loved it. Honestly only one set of tires chirped bad, the others you just hear scruffing. Except for gas stations, the cement on gas stations makes those suckers squeal while turning lol. Avoid Direzas(not star spec), They chirp the worst, good tire though. You just have to get used to driving it, you don't coast through corners you power through. Pulling into a parking spot you gotta be on the clutch constantly, U turns are easy... just mash the gas and turn the wheel the opposite direction . Yes you can't drive it like an idiot, you have to be aware of your car and it's capabilities and yours. Driving in the rain is no different, yes it will come out from you but so will an open diff. Welded diff is VERY predictable, you can feel when your on the edge and when you do power over it's easier to control and spinning an open diff. With that said, if you daily drive from rural area to downtown everyday, I would not do this. If you drive 3-5 miles to your job then go for it. Speeds over 40 in the rain arn't the best idea, hydro planes real easy. Although, I was usually on bald tires when i would hydroplane. That's another issue, kiss your tire life goodbye. Upgrade your engine and tranny bushings as the welded diff will transmit those forces back up the drivetrain. In summary, I love the welded diff. Going to put one in the Z when I get the rear suspension finished. However, I like a loose rearend and sliding around. If you want everything tight and to feel secure, maybe this isn't the best idea for you.

Ok, Here is for the specific coils I'm using http://www.bosch-motorsport.de/pdf/components/ignition_coils/Single_P50_P50_M.pdf I'm trying to get the base site that had the list of all the coils... but I'm a genius and didn't book mark it. I know I tracked it down through a Pelican thread. EDIT.. found the linke http://www.bosch-motorsport.de/content/language2/html/2847.htm that is the base site for the coils. -Ed

lol I'd love to man, but UH and my laptop haven't gotten along this past week. Ever since I updated AVG the firewall has locked me out of UH wireless. Spent 4hrs thursday, finally got it to work, now it took a crap again. It's on Bosch website. I'll post the link when I get home. -Ed

Ok... so by some dumb luck I stumbles across some outstanding information on the COP units I'm trying to run with megasquirt. I have a chart showing current (amps) in relation to battery voltage (Ubatt) what the charge time would be for the COP unit. I was trying to figure out at redline (6,500rpm) how many ms exist between each spark event. Then I could compare that number to the one I have for charge time and figure out if the COP can charge up before being asked to fire at redline. So... here is the math I did (6,500revolutions/1 minute)(1minute/60 seconds)(1second/1000ms)(6sparks/1revolution) that gives me (sparks/ms) which is .65 so we take the inverse of that which gives us (ms/sparks) which is about 1.538. So in theory I have 1.54ms between each spark event at 6,500rpm right? And my cop @ 7.5amp and 14v require between 1.8 and 2.0ms to charge. Now... I running MSnS and trying to configure it as wasted spark 2 coils fire at the same time. So... my question is... My 6sparks/revolution... is that correct for say OEM type ignition distributor and coil? Also... with my wasted spark setup.. will this change to 3spark/revolution or... would it change to 12..? Little tired from work and wanted to run this by somebody else to see what they think. Thanks, -Ed

Sounds similar to my Hellas. Still not sure If I want to do HID this way or retro fit a projector.

Well said... I had forgotten those horrible bottle additives still exist. (slick 50, prolong,etc.) I think this would be a good place for this link. http://www.mobiloil.com/USA-English/MotorOil/Files/Mobil_1_Product_Guide.pdf I found it very interesting. I also have some links to oil filter analysis if you'd like. -Ed

Yeah I saw that last nght also. Infinity was playing with this idea on underpaneling about 2 years back. Not sure what happened.

I was wondering if I was the only one that was aware of this aswell. The article seems to imply oils with additives can be bad. Its bad times right now for good oil for older vehicles. Our Z's grew up with oil loaded with high ppm of ZDDP in it. Recently the government keeps changing standards based on efficiency (mpg) and pollution. As noted here... the ZDDP is toxic to catalytic converters, however let me ask this. How many people have had to replace the cat on their 83Z because it was too clogged to operate anymore? The current laws want the catalytic converters to last the life of the car, in order to do this they came up with new standards for oil. Reduction of ZDDP for tail pipe reasons. I've been doing research on this for the last month about and still learning things; however, from what I have read is that optimal engine wear of older vehicles you should be looking at a 1200ppm-1400ppm of ZDDP in your oil. Most oils on the market are around 800ppm or lower. Diesels are still in the loop-hole and can have higher ppm of ZDDP in their oil, but now they are a target too. The latest CJ-4 rating effectively reduced the allowable concentration of ZDDP. So this means like stated in the quote, newer ratings don't necessarily mean better. Modern engines are built much "tighter" now days, the specs are much closer, this is why they can get away with "thinner" oils. Also engine design has improved. The rockers in valvetrains have come a long way on modern motors from our Z motor. Thus our older motors require more protection from metal on metal wear. To compare this to medical terms for the OP... It's like having the right viscosity of blood but less oxygen in it. Yeah you will still operate but your going to encounter more problems and a shorter life span. Great article but don't push to the side the importance of additives, detergents, and friction modifiers.

Just noticed something... The link you provided to your headlights... says "sealed beam housing" all over the page. It sounds like you can change the bulb, but then how is it a sealed housing? Or does it Just have a rubber "seal" making it a sealed housing?

thanks, didn't know about that

So.... MSextra is down.... ugh.... any ideas here? lol? I need to reference some COP info and wiring for MSextra.

I think thoughts like this are give you a sense of false security. The alarm is meant to bring attention to your house and hopefully scare off the intruder not to protect you. The dog, (while I own one too) provides very poor protection as well. Shotgun, while that is probably the best defense. If you keep it locked up unloaded, it's pretty useless as well. Discovery I believe it was used to have a show where two criminals would break into people houses showing people how easy it was even though they "thought" they were secure. Even locks in most homes are underrated. Occasionally they would come across somebody who thought they were "impenetrable" and rise to the challenge. I remember one episode they broke in, alarm went off, they walked out the front door with the loot before the cops showed. It was really interesting to see how the animals act when somebody really did break in about 8/10 were friendly and the other 2/10 either ran off or were aggressive. What was even scarier is how neighbors didn't even question them. My car got broken into in my driveway last year while the alarm was set on it. It's a very violated feeling you get but it makes you realize how vulnerable you really are. How fences give and alarms give a false sense of security. -Ed

Well I guess if you garage keep your car and don't daily it your fine. However, daily driving your Z in houston will be HELL on it. Houston has more road debris than any place I've driven. The front of your car WILL get chewed up if you daily your car. 45 always has dump trunks driving on it without the covered tops on them they are supposed to have and 610 is known for foreign objects such as chairs, sofas, ladders, etc. My car also rarely sees the garage (wife's parking spot) So my Z suffers from the cancer we call rust. I swear my car fell off the boat and got dragged here through the ocean. I think it more boils down to where you keep your car also, if it never dries out yeah it's going to rust. The humidity gets stupid high as well as the heat which makes for terrible driving conditions in the summer (get ready for some Houston road rage) Houston's climate it's self won't be that bad on the cars (as long as you treat your interior like once a week) but the people that live here will cause havoc on it. just my .02 been here 22 years -Ed

Unfortunatley I was not able to do anything else with this before my classes started. Now I spend my two days off downtown from 6-5. Maybe with the new job promotion I can vet some free time to work on this again.

Update, confirmed the wheel is steel, also with more bench testing I got both sensors to work very well. Using the clewett sensor, using a .020 air gap running through a 9mm coax cable getting very clean signal to the ECU. Seems the problem lied in the sensor wire mainly it was too sensitive to all the electrical noise the Porsche motor creates. Also playing with the air gap on the bench with the scope helped alot. Now I'm just trying to use the tuning pots to get MS to recognize the signal. Hopefully this doesn't take as long. Going to read over the megamanual again for some tips. Hopefully I can get this thing running before classes start again on the 25th. -Ed

Good News, Rigged up a bench top setup for testing at my Father's House. Using a diyautotune 36-1 wheel and an OEM Porsche VR sensor. Signal came through clear as day on the scope on the bench setup. Very excited to test the previous Clewett sensor (GM part) Hopefully I can make it work just aswell on the bench, if so, maybe the problem lies in the AL trigger wheel on the car. -Ed

Very true, my car is the reason all of my relationships have ended except for my current wife. She gets frustrated sometimes with the money that is required to bring the Z back to life, but at the same time she really misses it. It's the car I picked her up in on our first date about 4 years back. The car hasn't run in about 2 1/2. Find somebody that has an interest in cars or your life is going to be hell.

Well we got the two factory VR sensors off the car and It looks promising. They have more (magnetism?) than the GM sensor on the car. So hopefully this will produce a stronger signal. Found some metal in the garage to mock up a sensor mount, should be substantial enough just to test the signal. I also noticed Porsche ran the sensor wire away from almost everything electrical, going to try a similar routing. The gentleman I was speaking with on MSextra was going to give the wiring he has them wired up with, but the forum is down. Hopefully I can figure it out with the scope. -Ed

Yeah, I'll have to look up the spec, but I set it up with a feeler gauge to the middle of the spec range. I'm going to try running the OEM porsche VR sensor as I can't even get a signal direct from the sensor anymore. (think my oscilliscope needs to be adjusted) There is somebody on the msefi boards running the OEM VR sensor on the a crank trigger wheel, he said he had problems with "weak" signals from other VR sensor but the OEM worked fine. Worth a shot, we have two practically brand news we put in before the stock ECU took a dump. If I can't get signal with this, I'll be more than happy to box everything up and send it your way for inspection/testing. I simply don't have the space at my apart for bench top testing. Plus my wife would probably kill me with it all sprawled out in the garage for testing lol. I know it's not the easiest setup to be working with but I honestly didn't think I'd have this much trouble just getting a signal from the crank. -Ed EDIT Forgot to mention, Friday I ran some coax to try and "clean" up some signals. I removed the grounds from the motor, soldered them together, soldered the VR sensor ground to them and the other temp sensor grounds, then soldered a lighter weight coax to the ground, ran it OUTSIDE the car into the the ECU extra grounds I have for the extra coil drivers, then ran another coax from that directly to battery ground. I figured this would be an extra "clean" setup without any interference as nothing was touching the car chassis except the ground to the battery. This is when I lost signal completley from the VR sensor... but as mentioned I think my oscilliscope needs to be tuned up. I tried adjusting the VR pots again trying to get something on the RPM gauge in megatune while cranking, no luck.

I bought some shielding wire from DIY auto tune, so I have an extra 10' or so. I'll try going to PIN 2 on the MS and see what happens. -Ed