Iowa280zx

I got the intake/exhaust off in about 30 minutes and could see 3 nasty spots where it was leaking. Also... I found the last bolt on the exhaust manifold was broken off inside the block. God bless the junkyard that actually used that rear loop to pull the engine Something tells me this is going to really suck and I'm definitely not using a easy out on it.

Think I figured it out... I ended up going ghetto style and used gas line to poke around my engine and listen. There was a leak on the far rear of my exhaust manifold and I'm willing to bet there is a few more around there. This should be a big pile of fun since I'm not taking the head off, just the intake/exhaust.

Well I ended up putting the car up on a lift and noticed the guy who did my exhaust missed a few welds, so i patched them up. The noise is still there and I am totally unable to figure out where it's origin is. Any idea on worst case scenerios? Also.. I have the original n/a engine sitting around from the swap. Could it be worn rocker arms and could those be transferred from the n/a to turbo engine? It's a 83 and the turbo is a 81.

Everything feels pretty strong. I'm only running 4-5lbs of boost though atm. I'm kind of leaning towards exhaust at the moment though. I'll throw it up on the lift tomorrow, check and post up what I find.

one other idea I had was that maybe it's possible that the guys who did the exhaust missed a weld or something. I hear the normal injector chatter and the only time the clicking happens is under load and while driving. Sitting out of gear and revving the engine won't make it happen. Could a small exhaust leak like that cause the clicking nose? It's all in tune with the rpm of my car when I get going too and goes away when I am off the gas and cruising. Any other ideas would be much appreciated because it's driving me batty.

I did a cold adjustment earlier today and only got to drive the car for 5 minutes before the wife called and wanted me home. The noise never really changed from what I could tell. I'll do the hot tomorrow assuming it's not raining over here like crazy. Something tells me it's not going to fix it though. If I can get a quality sound clip from my digital recorder I'll post it up, 90% of the time it just gets wind noise and exhaust when I try lol. I remember having to clean the crap out on my old turbo eclipses lifters back in the day. Is that possible on a 81zxt or is it just one of those situations where once they get old you are just kind of s.o.l.? It's got to be somewhere in valve area from what I can tell. It's hard to diagnose it though since it won't make the noise unless i'm driving it

I also just used some seafoam in the oil earlier today before I changed it. Didn't seem to make any difference.

The turbo seems to be working fine and spools like a champ.

Hey guys, I need a few pointers here... I have a 81 280zxt, it runs great, idles fine (most of the time) and is bone stock except for full 3 inch to 2.75 exhaust. The thing thats puzzling my atm is when I start the car up, it sounds like a normal Z does.. I hear an ever so slight chatter from the valves but it's not obvious unless you are really listening. But when I actually take the car out for a drive it's a constant ticking fest and it comes and goes when ever I give it gas and let off. It's quite noticable and extremely annoying. I never noticed it before I got my exhaust finished, but it's worlds quieter than it was and I'm assuming it was there but I just didn't hear it. Also, I've checked for exhaust leaks and didn't find any. Any ideas here or is it just my valves going bad? The only thing that confounds me is that the car drives fine other than the annoying sound.

Man.. this car is about to be put in storage indefinitely..... I was driving it out to knoxville and for no reason it started bogging under boost.. mind you I've only been running 5psi since the car started running perfect. No clue what it is this time.. it drives fine, idles great and everything seems solid until I hit boost. It either goes nowhere or starts backfiring. Tomorrow I'm going to pull that damn filter again, recheck the whole fuel system and if all else fails maybe wiggle all the wires around and pray. Would running all new rubber fuel lines be risky? maybe one of the metal lines is getting clogged or something... who knows.

lol... i went to get that i/c from the supra and it was smashed to crap... On a brighter note my car is running perfect. yay!

that blows... I'm heading up to a junk yard tomorrow and picking up a supra intercooler + whatever z parts I can find. Is your tps sensor set correctly? The only other thing I can think of is maybe a crappy fuel pump, but I'm sure you replaced that already.

Man, my car makes me wonder.... I have the tps hooked up so it avoids the switch while it idles but sends a signal at 3/4 throttle.. if i have it adjusted correctly it runs like crap and it purrs when hooked up like it is.. Also, if I plug the line going to my fpr the fuel pressure shoots up to 50 and the car runs so much better... I'm confused lol

I'm still using the stock 02 housing and the downpipe just bolts to it.

I went to indianola muffler. They charged 100 for a 3' downpipe that stops right before the bend in the rear end.

LOL you got it right with the rich guys in their 350's. Last week some preppy looking guy with the plates "ZUL8R" tried keeping up with me He wouldn't take his ride above 90mph though.. lol Now that my car is running decent I'm going to center in on the body, go with a 300z ecu setup and probably try and toss a supra i/c on it. It's a bit loud for my taste atm because I didn't get a chance to run my exhaust all the way back. For some reason the shop didn't want to make the bends for the backside.

Are you still having issues with your swap? If you need any help let me know.

The car has been running perfect since I cleaned it out. It's hard to believe that something so small could F my cars performance up so bad. Is there any Z following in des moines now? It would be so cool to get about 10+ people together and go on a Z cruise.

I got my fuel pressure to stay around 39-42 by pulling the float in my trunk, removing the filter and cleaning it. I used some dawn dish soap + a toothbrush for 5 minutes or so and now I can see through the filter again. Hopefully something dumb like this will help you out.

I adjusted my valves and atm I'm sitting in the same boat you are. 29-31 fp and when the fpr is unplugged it shoots to 40. Let me know what happens when you replace the fpr. That could be my problem too.

could it be a bad damper or fpr? The original one from my n/a setup is still on the car last I knew.

Well i bought a fp tester and at idle the car sits right around 30 and when i give the engine gas it will go up to around 38-39. There is a noticeable stutter in the gauge though thats pretty consistent. It will idle at 30 and every 3 seconds or so it will hiccup and stutter for a sec and the gauge will dip down to 28 and back up to 30. You can hear the sloshing inside the gauge when it happens. I can't think of anything else that could be wrong... I'm really hesitant to buy another ecu just for testing purposes because the last one I bought was dead and the junkyard pretty much told me "tough luck..."

I'll hit harbor freight this afternoon and pick one up. On a side note... I took it out for a drive today and ran over a nail.... blah.