Pac_Man

Definitely the flex plate spacer. Usually it will pop off, but heating and some prying will remove it if it's being stubborn.

Stock T3 compressor inlet on an '84 300zx turbo is reportedly 2". Given Tony D's use of the Z31 boot on the 280zx T3, I'd say with fair certainty that the 280zx is also 2".

Still working on it, unfortunately. Monday marks the beginning of finals week and it's been on the back burner. I was thinking I'd give it a shot when I get the change by removing the master cylinder from the brake booster so I can actuate the pistons the full length as was suggested earlier. Of course if that doesn't work, I'll have to remove it and try to bench bleed it. Tricky part of that is I don't even have a vice to put it in... Guess I'll cross that bridge when I get to it.

Well I tried bleeding it on the car with someone pressing the pedal so I guess maybe that's my next step since it feels exactly the same. One weird thing I did notice though was that the bleeder on the rear driver side wheel cylinder (the one I previously expressed doubt about) seems to be drawing fluid back in even after tightening it back down. I also can't get the clear line to fill with fluid when bleeding it, only go a couple inches and then it will start to retreat back up the line as if it's being sucked back in. Before I go pulling the master cylinder off the car, could this be the source of all my grief?

I'd say hook in a fuel pressure gauge and make the hose long enough to tape it to your windshield. Get it to run normally and look at fuel pressure. Drive it down the road or whatever you need to do in order to get it to run like crap. If fuel pressure drops, then your issue likely lies somewhere in clogged lines or a pump that is going bad. Is the pump OEM? Ever been replaced? When my fuel pump started to go bad it would randomly make the car cut out for a few seconds like the engine shut off and then pick back up again. Eventually it would die while I was driving around town and I'd have to give it a few tries to restart it. Got worse and more frequent in the course of a few months.

Most of the extra stuff you'll end up with has to do with accessories such as headlight cleaners and the like. As long as your ignition and EMS are wired correctly and the car starts and runs normally, everything else is just about guaranteed to be extra. I'm curious about that black box, though. If it is for the distributor, maybe it's a signal converter for the digital dash models?

Thanks, I'm fairly sure the MC isn't leaking since the pedal doesn't sink but I suppose it's still possible to some degree. Wheel cylinder is brand new and isn't leaking. Sounds like the MC is the source of my stress so I'm going to tackle it tomorrow when I finally get some time and have some help.

That's basically what I was trying to confirm. I'm not the one with the magical disappearing fluid so I'm not worried about the possibility that it leaked into the booster.

Maybe I'm just getting hung up on the wrong information. I'm concerned that my driver side wheel cylinder is faulty. The passenger side bleeds like you would expect- a steady flow that fills up the whole tube, whereas the driver side does not. Is this even relevant? Something to be concerned about? I disconnected the hard line to the cylinder just to make sure it wasn't some sort of blockage in the line but that drips once it is taken off so it seems fine. I'm going to try bleeding the master cylinder in the car tomorrow. Should I put the car on an incline of any sort?

Yes, I think the fluid drained almost completely.

That sounds like it would be worth a shot. I'm concerned about he driver side bleeder, though... On the passenger side I could get the clear tube full of fluid while bleeding. The driver side not so much... I'm worried there's an issue with it.

Hi everyone, HybridZ is really where I come when I'm at a complete loss and everything I've tried hasn't worked. I'm going to be as detailed as possible so bear with me, I'll try to keep it concise. A few weeks back, I replaced the passenger side rear suspension assembly- everything from the control arm to the shock insulator. The driver side had already been replaced as it was previously damaged in a crash around the spindle area. At this point both sides of the suspension are from a later 280z. When I was adjusting the drums, the flathead I was using slipped and bumped the rubber boot of the wheel cylinder and a little fluid oozed out. Guess that explains my inconsistent brake pedal. I wasn't drastically losing fluid or anything, but it must have been a small leak that would occasionally rear its head and my pedal would be just a bit softer than usual. I grabbed an extra wheel cylinder I had that looked like it was in good shape and replaced it. That's when the trouble really started. I stripped the brake line bolt and the wheel cylinder threads. Bit the bullet and ordered a brand new wheel cylinder... cheap and not a bad thing to replace while I'm in there. I also got pre-flared brake line to replace the OEM one I messed up. I made sure it was Japanese style brake line- double flare and 10mm bolts. I "rented" a tube bender and shaped it as close to the OEM one as I could. I ended up with a 30" line as it was either 20" or 30" and I figured it was better to be a bit long than a bit short. Replaced the wheel cylinder, bolted the line up, made sure it didn't leak and didn't hit anything with the car lowered, and bled the rear brakes. Here's where I may have gone wrong- my understanding is the front and rear circuits are separate so leaving the fronts alone I only bled the rears at first. Finished the rest of my work and finally was ready to drive my car after not doing so for several weeks. I could tell immediately something was off. The pedal practically went to the floor right away but I could pump it and build up pressure. Ok, air in the lines or drum is adjusted way too loose. Checked both drums and they're tight but rotate as much as I want them to. Must be air in the lines still. Bleed the rears again and retry but it feels exactly the same. I think I bled my rear brakes about 4 times, then bled the front and rears, then bled the master cylinder, rebled the rears, and the pedal never felt different. On a recent endeavor to bleed the rears for god only knows-th time, the passenger bleed screw snaps in half inside the wheel cylinder. Fair enough, now I can have two new wheel cylinders. Again, cheap insurance. Replaced it, bled the rears again, and the pedal still feels the same. I get very light braking on the first push, but if I pump it quickly I get normal feeling brakes. Today I attempted to bleed the rears yet again. I bought a simple vacuum bleeder to do it myself. I'm a bit stumped because the driver side wheel cylinder just doesn't seem to want to bleed. I recruited someone to hop in and push the pedal so I could get a better view of what's going on. I crack it wide open and it seems like fluid is barely moving through it. On top of that, the pedal feels normal with the bleeder open and seems to build pressure better than with it closed! Is my cylinder bad? Am I going insane? To quote Zoolander... "I feel like I'm taking crazy pills!" I have a turbo motor waiting and this is really the one thing standing in the way. SOS!

Hi Mike, To my knowledge, there seem to be two styles of oil pressure senders on the S30s. My '76 280z has a fairly small one, and I imagine it would interchange with the larger unit without issue. It's kind of difficult to see in this image but if you lean toward your screen you'll get a better idea of how large the profile is in comparison to the rest of the engine: ACDELCO Part # E1802 STANDARD MOTOR PRODUCTS Part # PS171 AIRTEX / WELLS Part # 1S6539 ULTRAPOWER Part # 1S6539

The fact that it ran fine until it got to the end of the driveway makes me think it's fuel related. When my fuel pump was going bad, the car would randomly start to struggle even at idle and pressing the gas pedal down didn't do anything. You'll have to do resistance testing to be sure if the AFM, TPS, etc. are off. The FSM has readings for all of the EFI components and you can download it for free at xenons30.com or probably find them posted somewhere here. Honestly with how long it sat you might be best off pulling the fuel rail off, having the injectors cleaned and rebuilt unless you would rather just replace them, blowing some air through the hard lines, and then see how it does. Of course I would suggest checking for vacuum leaks and EFI component failure before that as you don't have to tear into nearly as much. The garage mechanic way of checking for vacuum leaks seems to be spraying starting fluid around various intake components and listening for idle surge. You could also use a smoke machine or figure out a way to do it with a cigar or something.

I have the stock oil line T fitting thingy... not much else left over from my build aside from that, a stock turbo core, and the stock T5 shifter. I do have the differential pinion flange for the T5 driveshaft if you need it, it's different than the NA R200 flange.

IIRC, the early 280z (75-76) had the bronze seats and the later 280z (77-78) did not. I could be wrong about that though. However if my memory does serve me right, then the head from the late 280z is n47, not the n42. And I think they have diamond exhaust ports with emissions linings. Whether or not the linings have any negative effect on performance has been debated though I would be partial to thinking their effect is negligible. Other than the exhaust ports and valve seats though I believe the n47 is basically identical to the n42. Again, if memory serves me well you can use a square port header on a square, round, or diamond shaped exhaust port head with no issues. Of course at this point I think you would be better off time-wise and financially to just have your n42 checked out and worked on as needed and then have the seats replaced while you're at it as jester said. Definitely talk to a cam manufacturer about your goals and setup to help figure it out. Regrinds seem to be the best option as far as what you get for your money but I don't know when that is or isn't possible. While you've got the head off the car, I would suggest some porting/polishing. That seems to help a lot with making it easier to get power out of the engine.

I believe both should be square port heads so the header will swap between them. It's not necessarily a "better" head, they're probably pretty comparable. Chamber size is nearly identical but the n42 has larger valves unless the e88 is from a 260z. Flat top pistons and a cam will help you get on your way to 200hp.

Some of the P90A heads have been found to have solid lifters. It's thought that the some of the first ones went through before the switch. That said, it doesn't seem to be very common.

Stock EFI won't give you 300hp. You'd be lucky to get close to 250 with a stock setup. There is a guy working on a plug n play ecu which will allow more hp than stock and could probably get you to that 300hp goal but as always it has been delayed and currently in a limbo of sorts: http://www.classiczcars.com/topic/48583-hellfire-status-release-date-annouced/

I was also going to suggest something easily detachable but still solid so you can keep the risk down for someone bashing the window just to rip it out.

The stock 280zx computer can't be tuned for bigger injectors so you'd just end up running rich. If you max out the stock injectors you would need a tunable ECCS like 300zx ecu with nistune or megasquirt. Check the turbo yourself once you get the downpipe and intake boot off. Minimal side-to-side shaft play is acceptable, though front-to-back movement is a bad sign. If you hear scraping or high pitched squeaking while you turn the impeller by hand it probably needs to be replaced or at the very least rebuilt. If it doesn't move at all, that's an obvious sign that it's only good for going in the bin. A t3/t4 turbo will bolt on but it will probably need to be reclocked. This is also easy to do and you can find guides on Youtube etc. of how to do it. You'll also need to swap out the oil feed and drain flanges with the ones from the stock turbo. There's also a good chance that your downpipe will not bolt onto it. I've found that the old stock turbo from the 280zx has a different bolt pattern than the typical one you find on most turbos today. That means you can't swap the exhaust flange from the old one to the new one to keep your downpipe. If it does work, awesome. If not, you'll be spending some time and money figuring that out. Either have a downpipe made or possibly swap the turbine housing. I didn't try that myself. Yet another issue will be the wastegate. People have generally found that the stock wastegate will not fit properly on a newer replacement turbo. I went with an external wastegate so I didn't deal with that myself and can't offer guidance. You can get a Factory Service Manual in pdf format from www.xenons130.com/reference It will have the values for the ECCS so you can perform a pinout test yourself on the ECU to confirm that it is bad. All you need is the FSM and a multimeter which you can get cheap at virtually any hardware or auto parts store.

That is an issue with the 240/260- the carburetor fuel return line is smaller than the 280Z EFI return line.

Well, my main point is you don't have to worry much about a dirty intake unless you have significant blowby. Especially without EGR which I would assume you don't have either. I think it's safe to assume you're running an intercooler as well with the numbers listed in your signature. There is a company that makes fittings to go into silicone hose- you just cut a hole out and it has a rubber grommet that goes on the inside to seal it and a large threaded nut on the outside to secure it. Inner threads are 1/2 NPT which is easy to find larger barb fittings for the 5/8 PCV hose. That's what I currently have for the valve cover vent since I'm not using the stock 280zx AFM boot. Of course your dilemma seems to be more about the intake. I'm sure you could weld a bung into your exhaust and run a 1-way valve to allow crank pressure to escape through the exhaust but if you do get some blow by I guess there is a chance for concern of oil getting into your exhaust. Not sure if that would have any negative affect. For simplicity's sake, I think running into the intake somehow would be easier. I can't imagine it would cause your intake to get noticeably dirty for a long time with fresh rings.

Oil is what causes grime and varnish to build up in the intake. If your blow by is that bad then a catch can will definitely help, though it's generally a sign of your rings wearing out.

Well I'm up late on a weeknight with nothing better to do so why not an update? I got a T5 driveshaft that had been modified and shortened a bit. It has replaceable U joints and the rear diff flange is the smaller R200 version so it will bolt onto my stock diff. Unfortunately, the front yoke is not the stock T5 yoke. Working on that with a local driveline company. At this point I have the wiring harness completely labeled, even the wires I won't use are labeled thus. Since finding a 280zxt coil and ignitor was nearly impossible, I ended up getting a Z31 coil and ignitor. Smaller, more modern, hotter spark, and more available. What's not to like? Luckily some spade connectors I have fit on the coil perfectly. Thanks to cgsheen, I found out that the 280zx fuel pump relay is a super simple one. I couldn't find a stock one readily available or for a decent price so I just ended up getting a generic relay with a connector that was pre-wired. Stainless braided line just arrived today so I can get working on that tomorrow and hopefully have an oil feed line by the end of the day. Probably most interesting of all is I had an aluminum flywheel fall into my lap. Pretty sure it's a Fidanza. It's off being checked for flatness at a local shop. If it's good to use, I'm going to just go ahead and throw it on. If not, I'll probably end up selling it or something. Can't beat free, right? I had a couple friends stop by to give me some help on Wednesday getting the engine down from the stand. It's now sitting on a metal dolly (and surprisingly sturdy on it as well). It makes a huge difference having a couple helping hands. Now I can get the rear seal installed and then the flywheel and new clutch once I know which flywheel I'm actually using. I put the foxbody Mustang shifter I got for the cheap on my transmission and it's looking good! The rubber boot was intact on my stock shifter and I managed to get it over the Mustang shifter since the one on it was shot. Definitely the way to go and I trust it more than those cheap ebay shifters that still cost at least 2x what I paid for this one. Intake filter and tube are on their way. Just using a 3" cone filter and flexible tube. It's getting down to the wire on this build. I'm going in for surgery on the 23rd of this month (yes, the day before Christmas). It will be a short recovery but working on a car with a finger that has been sliced open certainly won't be fun. Here's what I have left to do: - Get a few hose clamps on - Cap off the FICD and a couple other vacuum fittings - Install rear main seal - Make and install oil feed line - Install flywheel and clutch kit - Figure out the driveshaft situation - Get transmission fluid - Have the flange on my downpipe replaced with the v band I have - Pop the old engine and wiring out - Get the new wiring in and spliced in as needed - Drop in the new engine - Fill fluids, prime, and start (hopefully) - Get wategate dump tube made - Break it in - Drive the crap outta it Here are some pictures to keep you interested: