vale2489

^ Bingo! The EFI relay was not grounded on the coil... Fuel pump still does not turn on, although it did fire with a little help from brake cleaner. Lost spark for some reason after the second attempt to fire it up. Also I did not hear any turbo spooling upon startup ( I did prime it several times before starting) The PO said he could hear it clearly when he got it to run years back...must be sludged up or seized somehow...gonna have to pull the inlet tube and check it out. Looks like I'm gonna have to go through the fuel pump wiring and figure out why I lost spark. Thanks for the info cgs! Also, here is a link with pictures of what I'm dealing with http://www.zdriver.com/forums/240z-260z-280z-motor-swaps-non-v8-269/new-site-new-77-280z-l28et-swapped-kinda-owner-37362/

Hit the efi relay with the multimeter and nothing with the key on...ran the black and white wire straight to the brown wire and behold! Ecu power ( the green light finally came one). It will crank but no fire and no fuel pump prime (I'm guessing this is because it was running 12v constant and not ignition switched so it is not switching off when it needs to?) does it sound like new EFI relay time?

I have the 82 wiring diagram and i'm slowly making sense of it...my dillemma is I didn't do the swap my self so my familiarity with the setup is not favorable right now...the harnness wasn't hacked by any means but there is a few head scratchers (I.e. alligator clip on the starter running a yellow wire to the plug under the dash). Thanks for the break down above, those are the little tid bits that help me out a bunch...I wish just I had a weekend to myself to sit down and figure this out (have some wife induced spring clinging that is taking away from my play time).

I'm in the process of putting together a large post with pictures of every connection made...but before I go through with it I'm gonna make sure the ecu isn't toast... I believe I've tracked down the wires that supply power with a multimeter but the green light on the ecu isn't turning on with the key is in the on position

I've seen one swapped z cruising around as well as some clean restorations cruising around Moscow/Pullman area...must not be on here.

I picked up a 77 280z with l28et (from and 83zxt I believe) swap...the PO wired it up enough to hear it run before he got more involved with the car several years ago but I can't get it to fire for the life of me (cranks fine). I've been going through wiring diagrams and guides on here as well as zdriver and for the most part wiring looks to be correct but there are a few things I just can't wrap my dumb head around. I was wondering if there is someone local I can chat with over phone/email...or if worst comes to worst meet up and take me for a ride on the short bus (I'm seriously that horrible with wiring...my only other wiring experience is sr's into 240's which is about as easy at it gets). If anybody else wouldn't mind communicating via phone or email from greater distances that would be fine too, I just don't want to clutter of this forum with posts and get flamed with links back to the guides I'm following (the youdamnfool one posted on here/fsm wiring diagrams).

rb25 is a bullet proof platform, parts availability is getting much better...but why a neo rb25? I don't have any first hand experience with them but many guys on the 240sx forums said they are a headache as far as wiring goes (and some other issues I can't remember off the top of my head) and really not worth the extra trouble(I assume your planning on using a standalone? that may change things a bit), I'd just stick with a pre-neo rb25...you could get into a motorset or possibly even a clip for well under $2700

Getting the motor in there isn't that big of an issue, you can buy everything you need to bolt it in from McKinney motorsports (probably other places, I just don't know them off the top of my head) and it will fit perfectly...the only issue is going to be wiring (they might even be able to help you out with that also), there is a really good wiring guide for an rb25 on here, I have no idea how similar it would be to an rb20. If you really want to get some basic swap experience without throwing down serious coin look into an l28et swap..which will get you about the same power as an rb20 with ALOT less headaches

you could use RA gears in the wrx tranny, alot cheaper than a dog box or sti tranny (providing you do the work yourself). I'm too lazy to dig up the info on it, but search around www.nasioc.com , there are some write ups on svx manual conversions

Is the shell in the background an FC RX-7?

Awesome launch, you made that dsm driver look like he was asleep at the wheel, lol.

Are you just going to be throwing in a stock 5.3? Or are you going to be making insane power out of it? What year of the 5.3 are you using? I could see the concern running a T-5 behind it...but I would like to see the math you used to determine that it would grenade a t-56 which was put behind a motor that put out more power/torque than the v12 did. There's a shop in sacramento that deals mostly with jags and have had quite a few v12 manual trannies in the past, I'll see if they are still in business and get you their name if interested...imho you'd be better off with a T-56

Haha, talk about a tight squeeze in the front. Looks awesome! How come every motor swapped into a z32 always looks easier to work on than the vg?

On my last sr I just made sure the cam timing marks lined up before I stabbed the cas...fired up first try. If it is indeed timing that's off, pull the valve cover off and rotate the crank till the mark on the intake sprocket is at 10 o'clock and the exhaust is at 12 0'clock while at tdc (it takes quite a few turns but it eventually gets there) then stab the cas. That way you know nothing can be off and should fire first try, good luck

Call UP Garage in Tacoma, WA (253-565-9823), last time I checked they had good prices on rb25's and sell quality stuff,Ask for Doug.

You just use an rb25 tranny on the 26 to get around that issue

I'm going through the same debate right now...SR and the RB25 are my top choices right now. I'm a little biased towards the sr as I've had two s13's with an SR, and even in fairly stock form (basic bolt ons) always kept a smile on my face. For it's displacement it is a fairly torquey motor as it puts down ~200ft/lbs at the fly wheel stock, and with a few bolt ons you can put the to the rear wheels easily. Another adavantage is the parts availability. There are a couple of dealerships in the states that you can walk into and pretty much buy any oem part you need (West Covina Nissan is one...can't remember the others off the top of my head right now). The Aftermarket options in the states are limitless and anything you need can pretty much be shipped to your door in a few days. I also achieved 25-30mpg when cruising, and was probably one of the most reliable cars I had. The RB25 is also a good option, they sound good and pull hard...and the prices have been coming down on clips/motorsets and can be had for nearly the price of an s13 blacktop sr.However,the aftermarket support is nothing campared to the sr here in the states and the never ending quest for more horsepower is going to be expensive, if you spin a bearing or melt a piston be prepared to wait along time to get parts. Choosing the RB26 based on the reason it has two turbos is not a good idea...yes the spool up and response of a twin turbo setup is awesome, but the ceramic turbos on the rb26 don't have a good repuation for reliability and you may involuntarily be looking for a turbo upgrade fairly quickly (one turbo is exensive enought...imagine having to replace two), You can do a single turbo conversion but it's going to be costly. This is going to be the most expensive option altogether and once again parts are going to be difficult to obtain. Hope I shed some light on the subject...these are the thoughts that are going through my head right now as I'm trying to decide what to stuff into my 280. Good luck

I've ran both bellmouth and divided on my nissans and wrx and really didn't notice any advantage of one over the other, pick one that strikes your fancy.