Swervey McZCar

That is a good deal. The calipers from an 82-83zx are $70-100 + the cost of the rotors. Pallnet has some for sale right now for $50 that include the braided hoses. He also has the correct brackets for sale. If you get them from a junk yard, make sure they come from a manual trans as the parking brake will surely be seized on an automatic car.

I am considering the purchase of the car shown in these pictures, but the owner does not know if the installed turbo is aftermarket or stock. She has had it for about a year and I am hoping to buy it as a parts car for the rear end/trans, ECU, but the deal is not worth it if the car was originally NA. Is there a way to tell if this was a turbo car from the body? I can't read "turbo" anywhere so I was hoping ya'll might know an easy way to distinguish a turbo from a factory NA car. The car is an 1987 "Turbo." All help is appreciated, -Stan

9mm is the correct thickness for the spacer when doing this swap on a 280z using the 84 vented rotors and the S12+8 calipers from a 87 Toyota 4x4 (with 4 pistons the same size, not the S12W). I know you didn't need that much information, but this thread has lacked some specifics I did have to "touch up" my calipers a bit with a carbide bit as the rotors glanced them a bit on their outside radius when the tire spun. I got a batch of remans that looked pretty used, so individual results will probably vary. Don't be scared of it, it was only a minute amount of material. -Stan

I appreciate the help and advice!

This is where I got some of the notions I was/am working with. It has been a little while. I THOUGHT I had read that the polarity of the injectors did not matter. If that is wrong, I'll need to figure out which side of the injector connector need pos. as I cut off the butt connected crap the PO installed (not you Simon, the guy who sold me the turbo donor).

I have a mostly stock L28ET in a 79zx with a stock ECU. N42 intake, Pallnet fuel rail, 60mm TB but nothing really special or fast. I ordered some "low profile" EV1 connectors from connectorsfast.com. I like them, but the pigtails they crimped on for me are a little strange. I thought the wires were of two different gauges but after further inspection I believe now only the insulation is different (one wire just looks thicker than the other). Anyway, I know all things being equal it does not matter which wire connects to pos or neg, but in this case, what would you folks do? The negative gets switched, right? Is that where I want to reduce my EMI? Does it matter? Probably, that is why I ask Thanks, -Stan

PM youremail address and I'll send you the manual. What year is the engine from?

Your heater won't see much if any flow if you don't have the restriction in the top part of the 3-way.

I tried 3 from the salvage yards before I gave up and sealed mine with radiator stop leak, the epoxy stuff. Worked great first try. I tried silicone first with no luck.

Do you have coolant/water in the oil? I am getting my head checked right now because of the same symptom (plus coolant in my oil). I suspect that coolant was entering my oil (however) and turning to steam when it mixed with the hot oil. The breather tube on top of the valve cover picks up the steam from the valvetrain and it enters the intake there. When it cools or hits air above normal atmospheric pressure it can become water/coolant again. It is the only explanation I could come up with. Now the bigger question is how did the coolant enter my and yours oil? How does your dipstick look? Milky? Over full? My car used quite a bit before I figured out that the cause wasn't my leaky heater bypass fitting. The oil level was still about right but it was nasty.

I see 2-cars per week with this engine and they still make gaskets for a flathead ford. What the heck man? Anyone interested in a group buy of Cometic Head gaskets? Maybe just to stock up and sell them to hybridzers as they need them. They get good reviews from the folks on this site who have actually used them. They will make custom gaskets in small lots. Headgasket.com will also if the preference is for copper over MLS. For ease of intsall, I prefer MLS personally. -Stan

Has anyone ever done business with Z CAR Customs. Looks like they have a good selection on these gaskets. http://www.zccjdm.com/store.php?seller=azcarbum&pd=858312 -Stan

You may remember I was considering the 300zx ECU swap because I THOUGHT I was revving to quickly for my AFM to react. Well, the poor performance may be the cause of the blown head gasket but I supect just a symptom of the blown head gasket. Either way, I am in the market for a head gasket. My engine has less than 1000 miles on it and if I am going to have it apart again, I might as well put a metal gasket in. Does anyone have a 1mm or 2mm head gasket laying around? Please let me know if you have one. I will buy something this time Thanks! -Stan

I appreciate the replies, but I am undecided about which EMS I am going to use.. I jumped the gun a bit on the z31 ECU maybe. If I decide to go that route I will re-post this "wanted" ad. Thanks, -Stan

I have outbuilt the stock L28ET AFM (lightened flywheel and larger TB) and need to upgrade. Am willing to pay a fair price for a 88-89 300zx ECU, MAF and coil. Also need the CHTS, and O2 sensor if you have them laying around. A z31 chopper wheel would be great but I can find without too much trouble if not. My throttle response thanks you, -Stan

What have you tried? If you read the posts, you are asking questions you get suggestions then no feedback. I know you are trying different things but what? First, Make sure your ECU gets voltage during Start (not just ig on). I think you did this, right? Try swapping the wires to the ignitor. Unplug the tach at the resistor. Doing both worked for me. If I re-connected the resistor wire the engine would die. I ran a new wire from the negative side of the coil to the tach resistor and it has been good times ever since. I had this same problem a month ago after researching and reading on many sites for several months. This was nowhere.

Oh yeah. The light on the ECU comes on for a moment and then goes off during cranking. After it cranks, it will flicker when it processes the signal from the O2 sensor above 2000rpm.

Try taking the blue wire off the negative side of the coil. The wire that sends signal to the tach. You can undo it from the coil or at the resistor under the dash. Sounds like it is a dead ground.

Is this on your 77 or an S30 in general? Sounds like that has already been done in your profile. Probably doesn't apply, but if you use the body harness (rather than running wires from coil straight to the ignition switch) in an S130 you must swap/reverse the wires going to the ignitor. They are exactly backwards.

Where does this PCV terminate? "Here's what I did for the PCV. Its a variation on Sean's method (X64v). I used some heater hose and plumbing fittings to route the PCV plumbing up to an unused fitting on the bottom of the throttle body. It takes a 3/8" hose easily, which also routes around in a loop without kinking" This needs to be after the Throttle plate, right? The only fitting I can think of large enough to plumb to a PCV (on the TB) is the coolant hose that warms the TB. That won't do anything for PCV. If I am way off base or completly misread I am sorry. -Stan

Are you planning to request the T3 / T4 hybrid flange be used?? They know what it is.

I have a spare turbo manifold if you need it. Personally, I would hate working this project without one. Will I get it back if I send it your way? If not, we can strike a discount on the group buy. Please PM me if interested, -Stan