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Pac_Man

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Everything posted by Pac_Man

  1. You're talking about the one that goes on at the end of the turbo exhaust side right? I never could find one, but I went with an external wastegate and swapped the covers to block the internal wastegate hole. Doing that seemed easier than finding the right gasket. You could try using a 7 bolt one and drilling out a hole for the wastegate.
  2. I went from a stock L28 with an Exedy clutch to a stock L28ET with a Fidanza flywheel and Exedy OE replacement clutch. I didn't notice a change in driveability, nor did I have to alter how I drive the car.
  3. Found a picture for ya, best one I have.
  4. I wasn't aware of this... do you mean the rubber mount itself is different? I ended up getting a transmission crossmember from a 280zx turbo which has a little hump that moves the mount back 15mm. From research I discovered that the l28et t5 mount sits back 30mm, so I had a local guy cut and weld the middle section back an additional 15mm and it worked perfectly. Got a brand new custom driveshaft from Powertrain Industries with serviceable zerk fitting u joints for just shy of $300 shipped to my door. With the amount that the only local driveshaft shop wanted to set me up with what I needed, I still came out better. I don't think I have any good pictures of it all put together... it went (Turbo)>(3 1/8" [or 80mm] silicone hose w/fitting for PCV)>(AFM)>(3 1/8" to 3" silicone adapter)>(3" aluminum pipe)>(flexible intake ducting)>(3" aluminum pipe)>(3" air filter)
  5. I reused the alternator that was in the car previously. Externally regulated 280Z alternator.
  6. Haven't done much to it for a while until recently. I bought an intercooler so I've been working on getting that to fit well. I've got the outlet->intake mocked up but the turbo->inlet is proving to be much trickier. I managed to get my AFM situation figured out- had to relocate it because the intake pipe/filter went through the core support on the driver side but I'm using that space for the intercooler piping. I also added some extra grounds to see if the car would react at all... nothing. There's something funky with my electrical system, at least for my gauges. My oil pressure gauge reads low, my temperature gauge reads low, and my AFR gauge reads weird as well and the reading changes when I turn the headlights off or on. I'm still trying to figure out what could be causing it and the only thing I can really come up with is a low voltage signal to the gauges. I'll have to check what they're getting at some point. I decided to verify my oil pressure with a regular needle gauge which I screwed in place of the stock oil pressure sender unit. Mechanical gauge read ~40 psi at idle after a dead cold start. Not sure if that's too much... I didn't get a chance to warm it up and see if it dropped. At least I know that I don't have low oil pressure, but I wouldn't have guessed I'd be worried about the polar opposite. I still need to drop my transmission and inspect/replace the rear main seal and/or oil pan gasket at the back as well as figure out my dump pipe situation. I think I'll just have to take it into the exhaust shop... much easier that way.
  7. P90a heads have been documented as having factory solid lifters before. It's uncommon, but known.
  8. Have you checked your fuel pressure? That's a good place to start. Checking for vacuum leaks is also a good start. They're both pretty easy to do and don't require any fancy or expensive equipment.
  9. Like was previously mentioned, the stock l28et manifold has an emergency pop-off valve which will vent excess boost pressure at a certain point. Enough that I removed mine in order to run an 8 psi spring. It was a while ago, but I know that I removed it because it would have caused issues at 8 psi if I left it on. It basically creates a boost leak, which would make the car lose power and stumble until the pressure goes back down.
  10. Well my car has been at the point where I can actually drive it around for a while now but I have some gremlins which make it kind of sketchy and I want to try to pin down what my issue(s) is/are. Background of the car: 1976 280z, l28et swap Stock engine setup and ECCS, z31 coil, EGR deleted and blocked off, pop off valve removed and plugged. New battery. Alternator tests good. Brand new CHTS. New aftermarket FPR with a pressure gauge. Brand new O2 sensor. My issue lies in air/fuel ratio... I have a wideband gauge which I know isn't precise but can at least give me an idea of what the car is doing. Startup is difficult, and I'm under the impression that it's because the mixture isn't rich enough for easy fireup. Idle upon startup shows lean. Idle is also a bit high at ~1100 rpm. Not sure if that could be the cause, but I haven't been able to find any indication of idle adjustment on the L28ET throttle body like people have mentioned. The odd thing is after driving the car around and letting it warm up, idle AFR shows normal with a bias towards rich, which seems to be as it should be. Things get weirder, and this is why I think I have some kind of issue with grounds or something. Driving around normally, I can turn my headlights on and the mixture will go from slightly rich to slightly lean. Driving around with the headlights on indicate that it has a permanent issue of running lean with the lights on. I've had a heck of a time finding any indication of what could cause this specific issue, both looking through the FSM and google. I'm hoping someone on here can give me assistance since at this point I feel I'm in over my head. Thanks in advance, Pac_Man
  11. Alternatively, the Z31 turbo connectors can be cut off the harness and spliced in. I think they have a slightly different style of clip so they're more secure.
  12. If the red charge light is on or the voltage gauge isn't working at all, then the battery won't charge. Just FYI
  13. That depends on your goals. I believe they're ball bearing but they have a ceramic turbine so they're sensitive to higher boost levels. Can't remember at what PSI they start to let go though, but I want to say it's something like 15 PSI is pushing it.
  14. Well, the new FPR definitely helped a lot. Of course the car still isn't running right... And it turns out I'm a dummy and don't know how narrowband AFR gauges work. What I thought was rich is lean and vice versa. Fuel pressure is where it should be but the gauge is very erratic with the car running. Not sure if that's normal. With my new knowledge I know that the idle is lean, not rich. FPR has helped a little but not much it seems. So knowing now that the idle is lean I have to completely change my way of thinking. Under boost the AFR gets richer so that's a good sign.. Here's the kicker- while coasting down a hill at a constant speed I can turn my headlights on and the AFR gauge will immediately change with it, going leaner. I'm also getting a constant popping noise from my speakers every couple of seconds. I'm wondering if my ground circuit isn't actually grounded very well.
  15. That's the plan, sheen. I did make sure the lines are corrected right. I do have fuel in the return line, so if it is in fact a blockage my guess would be it's in the fuel rail since I didn't have an issue before. New FPR is on the way and it's adjustable with a pressure gauge built in. Worst case scenario, I end up with an adjustable FPR. We'll see how the car behaves after replacing it, I really haven't had the time to work on it (just started a new job yesterday).
  16. The straight barb connection is receiving fuel and the curved is connected to the return line. Since the mounting bolts only line up one way I'm fairly certain it's not corrected wrong.
  17. At this point I'm basically talking to myself, but the goal of this thread is really just to provide a recent chronicling of the classic L28ET swap so hopefully continuing to tack stuff on won't hurt. In the spirit of actually doing diagnosis, I hooked up a fuel pressure gauge between the filter and the fuel rail and ended up with a reading of 70 psi while priming and a severely erratic needle jumping between ~60-80 psi at idle. Removing the vacuum line had no effect. I didn't have this issue before, and I know my fuel pressure was not that high with the original engine. At this point my suspicions seem to be confirmed- the fuel pressure is excessively high, causing the fuel pump to be noisy due to strain. And given the consistency of my unreadable rich condition, I can only come to the conclusion that the high fuel pressure is also causing me to run extremely rich.
  18. Been driving the car a bit but getting what seems to be pretty shitty gas mileage. Speedometer doesn't work and I can't really determine why so I'll probably have to unbolt the cable, see if the gear is spinning, and if it is then my issue would likely be the drive cable itself. The car is running pig rich. I got some more posi-taps yesterday and hooked up the O2 sensor to my AFR gauge and it isn't even registering most of the time. I get a single block of red every once in a while. Drove it around the neighborhood and put it under some boost as well and nothing changed. This rich condition, paired with my previously quiet fuel pump screaming at me and the occasional stalls when putting in the clutch and/or shifting into neutral leads me to believe that the stalling is being caused by the excessively rich condition, and my fuel pressure is suspect. The CHTS is brand new and, while I have not actually tested it, did not make a difference in the running condition of my car once I replaced it. Other than that, my setup for idle air is suspect as well. Research points me to a bad/improperly set up IAC/Air Regulator as cgsheen suggested, or possibly even my AAC valve setup. I'll have to do some more research and reading up in the FSM to determine how they function and if how they're set up right now could cause an issue.
  19. Thanks for the advice, cgsheen. I'm using the stock manifold and stock setup, minus the EGR and pop-off valve (I know it's there for safety, but with boost levels barely above stock my research determined it would cause issues on boost). I'll test the air control valve when I get the chance. Turns out I'm pretty dumb. I got exhaust done yesterday and upon inspecting it found that the vacuum line for the wastegate has been disconnected. Huge vacuum leak. I should have realized when my boost gauge showed -6 psi at idle but never really bothered to look at the conversion to inHg. With the line plugged in vacuum is at -9/10psi cold, which seems right where it should be. Idle went from 1400 rpm to 900 rpm and the car runs heaps better. But of course, not everything is butterflies and rainbows. I'm still getting a random stumble and dying. Came up to a light after driving for ~10 minutes, clutch in to neutral and the car just died. Sitting at a light later in neutral and the car starts to hesitate so I give it gas to keep it alive. Sitting outside my friend's house and the same thing happens. Slowing down into a turn and downshifting to 4th and the car dies. Most of the time it's fine, and then sometimes it just doesn't want to cooperate. TL;DR- huge vacuum leak which when fixed made the car run awesome. Car still randomly stumbles and dies when sitting or when depressing the clutch. Still have some gremlins to track down I guess, but a huge step forward.
  20. I remember there being a difference with bolt size, 10mm vs 12mm in the S30/130 R200 and Z31. I can't remember which is which, though. EDIT: Ugh, didn't realize how old that discussion was. Going to search and see if I can find it but if anyone knows off the top of their head it would be very helpful.
  21. I took a look at their website and my impression is that the pistons are custom made to order. Initial look at the surface of the piston tells me they are probably forged, and Venolia's website states they make forged pistons. Given that the difference between the dished and flat top L28 piston dish CC is 10.9 CCs and the resulting difference in compression ratio seems to be about another 1.5:1, I would probably guess somewhere around a 10:1 compression ratio with an E88 head. It is just a guess, though. If they're actually custom it would be difficult to know for sure without measuring with the head on the block.
  22. I tried using a friend's spare ECU which he had in his car and it was running fine. Still having the idle death upon warm up issue. I drove the car to the exhaust shop and back essentially problem-free. Thermostat was out and it never really seemed to warm up as a result. However, the car was warmer once I got back and the temp needle started to climb. Within maybe a minute of sitting in the driveway, the car died just like it has been. i replaced the CHTS just to be sure and it hasn't changed anything. I suspected maybe my fuel pump, but then the issue would probably be more prominent while driving if anything. I know the AFM is good because aforementioned friend ran it in his car when he was having issues. At this point I'm really stumped, though the only thing that points to being suspect to me is my idle control setup. I'll have to do some reading of the FSM and see if something in my setup would cause this issue. I've heard there's an idle adjustment screw on the bottom of the L28ET throttle body but I have no idea where it is.
  23. If you can do all the disassembly yourself I can't imagine you'd get railed on cost to have one guide replaced. That said, it wouldn't be a bad idea to do them all and maybe even have a valve job done or at least have the head inspected. That being said, I know all too well the feeling of just doing what absolutely needs to be done due to budget constraints. I have a local small-time shop where I get most of my stuff done- flywheel resurfacing, mainly. But they also removed a broken stud from an exhaust manifold and put my wrist pins in. I can generally expect most of what I go in there for to cost $30, and I know that's what the flywheel and stud removal cost me. Wrist pins I want to say were about the same, maybe even $20. The shop won't impress you- blocks covering the floor with narrow pathways between them and not the cleanest place in the world, but they do good, honest work for fair and honest prices. Went on a bit of a tangent, but my point is that you should try to find a reputable and independent shop that has been around for a while and is well-known. In my experience, the real gems with automotive work/shops/machining/etc. are fairly difficult to find unless by word of mouth. Don't be afraid to ask around.
  24. Asking around definitely can't hurt. I get flywheels resurfaced at Jay's Machine Shop in Everett and I needed my transmission mount modified. Talked to a guy there and he pointed me to some old hot rod guy who works out of his garage in the middle of the forest of northwest Marysville. Unfortunately I can't really make any recommendations myself. Only thing I can think of trying is to call Z Sport in Everett, ask for Chuck or Mike if he's not available- both have been working there for a long time and know Z cars pretty well. If they don't think they could do it for you then they could probably recommend what has worked in the past.
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