ZR8ED

Well I'm going to stop this thread and move over to the "ive got some problems with my z forum. Seems the car still has a random "stalling".. I have had it out for a drive today, and it just died. when I turned the key while coasting, it caught right away and kept driving??? the starter even screeched like when you leave it on after the engine catches and runs on its own... Oh and now I have a steering wobble.. I topped up the power steering fluid, but it still seems to wobble as I drive down the street..seems like less wobble when going around the corners, but in a straight line, you can feel the car wobbling back and forth. The steering wheel moves back and forth a few inches Oh well.. it was fun while it lasted..now its getting complicated. See ya in that "other forum"... Scott.

Well this thread has really gotten into a life of its own. Does anyone have pics of their belly pans, diffusers, ground effects, sheet metal work etc? I still only have seat of the pants feel, at 220kph the car is rock solid...problem is.. it was solid before. Well at least it hasen't ripped off, doesn't hit the road in driveways, speed bumps etc. It doens't make any weird hums, thrumms, vibrations, etc. So I don't think it is negatively affected by the air traveling around it. My areo experience derives from a lifetime of sailing experience, 5 years of sailing theory and practical training, 20 years racing catamarans, and one design mono hulls. Anyone planning aero mods? I've seen very little on street Z's the few I have seen are friends that have copied my front pan. Anyone interested in experimenting? I'll explain with some pics this weekend. Scott.

Well lots of progress, with some setbacks. First the bad news. I found more wrong with the new 280zx. (not entirely unexpected on a 22 year old car.) hehe 1 Wiper motor running very slow. I cleaned the connections, and oiled the armatures and linkages. Works great now!! 2 Washer fluid resivoir and motor is missing. Simple fix... I rewired the headlight washer and routed the hoses to the windshield. Works great! 3 Washer fluid directors plugged. Blew them out with compressed air. Works great now! Now the good news. Cleaned all the bat connections, and replaced the + wire, cleaned the fuseable linke connections, relay connections, any other wire connection I could find. The car starts fine now...Though I think the bat has seen better days so I will replace today. Fixed the rear window opener. I found it was actually disconnected. Works great now! Replaced two seat bolts. Guy had used longer bolts that had a shank so the bolt could not be bolted tight??? Found a small hole (size of a loonie) (dollar coin for those not from the great white north of Canada) I will patch it with steel this morning. I think I will make a sandwich of steel and patch it up quick. As much as it is a pain in the rear fixing a new car so I can drive it, I'm really quite happy, because I now know more about this car, I know what I'm up against, and I'm getting familiar with it. (its my first 280zx)

It never ends. My 280 may not be right after all. It is still running really well... but.. After a few days of driving the car (no issues).. the idle got higher. Approx 3-400 rpm higher than what it was the last week or so. It is now idleing @ 1400rpm. That is the first thing I noticed. Last day or two, I hear a bit more backfiring out the exhaust than usual. Gas mileage seems worse..stinkier too. Yesturday, I check under the hood, and adjust the idle back down to 1000rpm. I then notice that my BOV valve is partially open (vents to atmosphere) last time I had this, I had the timing checked, and noticed that timing was somehow retarded to 1 degree at idle (supposed to be 20) I checked my dizzy. nothing out of the ordinary ..doesn't look like its moved etc.. I have not opened it up to see if something has gone bad inside.. I'm not sure I'd know what to look for in a 300 dizzy..other than obvious signs of trauma. I'll get a timing light and check the car out, but... What could cause this? VG30et motor, stock electrical, reprogrammed ecu, larger inj, larger turbo etc.. Why would my timing shift? What else would cause higher vacuum? Thanks, Scott.

Well the car is home and I will start to work on it tonight. I found out though that the guy from Ottawa didn't get the message (was already enroute) and show'd up to see the car. Was already to buy it till he found out it was sold! and a deposit was taken. He understood, but was still kinda pissed he made the trip for nothing. Apparently he looked it over and was interested in buying it. Sorry man. I got a couple of things to work out, and I'm making a list of things to look at to cert it. The starting issue is still there. To get it to start, the guy had to run a jumper cable from the bat to the starter to get it to start, so I'm thinking that the problem may be in the hot bat lead, or maybe the wire from the ign key switch. I am going to clean all the connections I can find on the car first. I need the car to be able to drive to get anything I can't fix at a local garage. ( I'm going to get a 10 day permit this week, If I can solve the stalling problem.) It seems to be a starting issue, combined with an occasional stalling issue that appears to be electrical in nature. I don't like how the bat is grounded, so that will be my first stop. ( it is not grounded in a stock fashion... it is grounded to the bat tray, and then using another ground wire to one of the valve cover bolts.. certainly not ideal. To update the 280. I have broken my rubber diff mount. I don't think anything is wrong with the halfshafts, or the clutches in the diff. I have confirmed that my brand spanking new rubber diff mount is dead. no wonder the diff is making noises. O well, it will be a fun Z working weekend!

Well I've finally found one. I've been "daily driver" carless for more than 2 months now. The 69 240 is still a project car. I won't have it running this year. It will be a fun winter project this year. My VG30ET is running very strong @ 15psi Though I seem to be now having some diff troubles in 1st and 2nd with more than 10psi of boost. Its making some kind of rapid knocking sound. (I checked my halfshafts to see if they were rubbing.. no dice) Anyways for the update. I sold my 03 Altima a few months back, and I live close enough to work, that I have been riding my bike back and forth. Its been great so far. I will NOT drive my 280 to work. Fall is definately here, so I need to think of winter when the 280 is gone. I may still ride my bike for a while, or even walk sometimes, but when it hits minus 20, I will need some transport, at least to get around after work. So I've been hunting around for a Z. 75-89. (I wanted FI) Well I just found a 82 280zx. Its a 2+2 which is great for me, since a 4 seater would be missed after selling my Altima. Its a Dark blue 82 2+2 with black leather int, and 16"x7 7 spoke wheels. The body has min rust, and the usual places to look for rust, all showed to be in great condition considering the Canadian winter here. It has an aftermarket stereo with amps, tinted windows, new engine 3 years ago. The interior is not too bad, and has the usual cracks in some of the seating areas (leather). Resent tires, and new backhalf exhaust. Car should cert pretty easy, and no emmisions test for me either. It also turns out it is a car worked on by my former mechanic!( new engine) I thought I recognized the car. It was even painted by the same painter as my 280! I'm pretty happy right now. I pick it up tommorow evening. Only one problem. The car will drive and idle beautiful.. for a while.. then it just stops..just like I turned off the key. I can easily start it back up again, but it will do the same thing again after a few min. I'm thinking electrical. The guy told me its been doing it for a few weeks now, and he just stopped driving it and put it up for sale, cause he wants to finish a jaguar project car he's working on. Anyways, I'll dig into it this week for sure. In the mean time.. the 280 is running, and its kinda hard on the eyeballs, as they keep getting jammed back in my head when I nail 3rd or 4th gear... heck even 120kph - 220kph while staying in 5th comes up in a few seconds. Edit: On another note. the seller told me that a guy from Ottawa was on his way to see the car, and was expecting him in another 2 hours (4 hr drive) he told me about the guy on Friday that he was coming out to see it. Well I beat him to it, and he had to call him and hope he wasn't too far along the highway and that the car was sold and he would have to turn around. If it was you:.. Sorry man. I got there to see it as soon as I could. Hope you had a cell phone and didn't have to come all the way for nothing. [/img]http://hybridz.org/nuke/modules/coppermine/albums/userpics/10131/normal_new%20280zx.JPG[/img]

http://zacksz.homestead.com/projectboost.html Here check out some of my info on my swap. I did this 4 years ago. I'm not sure if any other versions of my write up exist on the internet. I have written a fairly detailed account, and have taken many pics of the process. Search this site using "ZR8ED" and you'll find more pics of my swap. Good luck! BTW don't forget to check you turbo to steering clearances. The turbo does not clear the steering at all. I to used the stock 280z tranny mount. I modded it slightly to set the tranny back further. My engine sits very tight to the firewall. Scott.

Well here is some "real world" seat of the pants testing I've done. At our annual OZC lapping days at Mosport, I ran my highly modded l28 at the track, and managed 5 hot laps with very good rubber, suspension, stock brakes with SS braided flex lines and KVR pads (stock rear drums) I switched to the s12w rotors with metal master pads and 300zx vented rotors during the winter, and the next summer I managed 24 hot laps before I was waved off the track because my driving groups session was over!! No other changes made to the car. BTW on 280's, the spacer needs to be 314 thou.

15 psi = Ok now I'm getting somewhere. 15psi in 5th pulls like a son of a gun! I can't floor it in 1st or second. I have some suspension mods/ repairs to do, and I definately need my diff snubber back now that I removed the solid diff mount. I think those little items ought to make all the difference for me. I think the front of the diff was lifting up, at low speed throttle mashing. 3rd through 5th are smooth, and really put you back in the seat. I'm much happier today! Life is good! Hard to believe its only going to get faster! 8) Ain't it great when things go your way? Good luck in your own projects! Scott.

Well Its a new day, and I feel much better now. I took the Z out for a test spin. Everything went well. No more exhaust leaks, no more rough idle, Its like a whole new car. Oh and I forgot to mention, the car is WICKED fast! I have the boost turned down to about 8 psi, and it pulls much harder than it did @ 14psi. I guess the ign timing was pretty bad after all. The car ran well, after a couple of seconds of WOT to clean all the carbon and crap out the exhuast...kinda like a James Bond smoke screen for a second. Its all clean now! I even had a Modena Ferrari pull along side and take several glances on the highway before pulling away from me... too bad I was only running 8psi, or I might have been tempted.. But no, I wanted to stay calm and do a thorough check out. I Feel GREAT now! Re-energized again! As soon as I get home from work, I'm hitting the roads again.. after turning the boost up. I'll go back to 14-15 psi tonight and see how it goes.

Well Its been a real bummer lately. I had a problem with the car running crappy, well kinda running like it was retarded or something.. O Wait! it was! (idling at 0 degrees advance) Mysteriously. Well I get that fixed just find a fairly serious exhuast leak on my crossover pipe. No problem to change... On a 300zxt.. But on mine, I have the engine stuffed so far back, I have to pull the right side exhaust manifold off to get at the cross over pipe. Well I ordered all my new gaskets, and pulled everthing off. It went fairly well, till I was tightening up a nut and snapped a stud clean off!!! Oh man was I excited! NOT!!! Well the weekend is done, and I have it back together. After all this crap, I'm now nervous to drive it for fear of something else breaking, or at the least, being a pain in the a$$ The car has been out of action now for weeks, and I'm even more weeks behind in testing and setting up the car. Its been very disheartening. Add to it, I've recently sold my Altima, and have been car less this whole time. I fortuneately live close enough to work, that I can ride my bicycle. I've been riding on and off most of the summer anyways, but right now its full time, till I find a winter beater. Hopefully I can get the car out and get the boost turned back up, and test the rear diffuser/pan. I'm tired......

I second that Mike.. You ever find a Z you didn't want? Man You are one hard dude to follow with all these projects on the go! If you put all that enthusiasim into your green hulk, you'd have a Z to surely be feared. Get on with it.. I want to see some progess during my long winter hibernation! I will be relying on you for my Z fix! Don't let me down! 8) My Z will be away for winter in another month or so. So get you act together and don't forget the pics... lots..its ok, I have highspeed. hehehe. Scott.

Guys guys guys. I had no idea there were so many people on this site with webers that needed help. I've been off the weber scene for 3 years now (gone turbo), but I am still a "Weber Warrior" at heart! I've only briefly looked over this thread, so I'm in no position to comment yet... I've still got a bunch of pump jets, main and airs kicking around, as well as spare gaskets and such from my rebuilding days. (I don't do rebuilds anymore) Maybe in the future I'll get back into it as a hobby again. I've kept my manuals, and all my testing notes and results as well. I've got a ton of misc mikuni jets as well.. way too many to list, and no sets that I can remember. I have them in a big case that I'd like to get rid of sometime. Anyways, I'll take some time and brush up on this thread. If you got a question just ask folks! Thanks, Scott.

Hey guys. I just got myself a nice guage and SS braided steel hose to have an underhood fuel pressure guage. One problem. I have a fuel temp sensor that is part of the stock 300zxt FI. It was originally set up on the fuel rail, to tell the ecu to increase the amount of fuel to compensate for higher temp fuel in the rail. I modded this sensor and using an adapter, I have it hooked up to the extra fitting location on my pressure regulator on the fender. I'm sure it doesn't have the same function (fuel can't get as hot there, as it would on the fuel rail itselft.) So. I would like to disconnect it, and use that fitting mount to install my pressure guage. Do you think I could just unhook it?.. ground it? I will likely just unhook it and drive around and see if it runs different. If it runs richer, thats ok, and I can compensate if it runs leaner as well. I'm just not sure what the ecu will do with no signal? Any ideas? It will be after the weekend before I can try anyhow.. Thanks, Scott.

Ok OK I'll be the guinea pig here. I'm doing some exhaust work still, but I'll get out the yarn and the video camera as well... it'll be fun! I'm surprised how technical this discussion has gotten. There are some good ideas. Anyone else built one? Anyone tested one? Anyone have one on their Z? I should drop Tony D an email and get his thoughts.. Tony? are you out there lurking? I'll let you know how the yard thing works... it is something I've always wanted to test.. Too bad I never did a before? Any chance someone here would like to video their car for comparisons? Stock?, Stock with wing?, wild?, wild with wing? It wouldn't take to long.. Scott.

The BOV was mearly a symptom! After getting another timing light on the car.. The first timing light bit the dust. Ahh Uhmm.. the timing was a bit shall I say... OFF. how about 0-3 degrees at idle... Whoops! Not sure what happened. I have a reprogrammed ecu in the car car to control the new injects, and somehow it has affected the timing. (the 300zxt ecu controls timing) I readjusted the timing, and the idle smoothed right out, and the BOV valve closed all the way! Looks like clear sailing right?.. well almost. It seems I have detected an exhaust leak, which needs my attention now.. Sheesh! I haven't even been able to test it. O'well. The car sounds much nicer and smoother, I'm sure that was the whole problem. Not sure why the computer change would require me to readjust my timing. SO if you ever notice that your (vent to atmosphere) BOV is partially open at idle, check your timing. Retarded timing creates more vacuum which can pull it open. Thanks all for your imput! Scott.

My BOV vents to atmosphere. So I have no choice on that one. It used to be closed all the time, except during shifts. There is no provision for routing to afm.

Hey guys it never ends. The car has been acting up lately..there is a lot to the story which I will omit. I'm working on several things at the same time, and trouble shooting as best I can, but I need an answer to this to help me. I have the Turboxs BOV for the last few years. It works great. till now.. The car is hunting for idle.. 700-900rpm. Problem with the BOV is this. At idle, I can see that it is partially open. If I blip the throttle, it snaps shut. When driving on the street, I can hear it blow off when I shift. When I'm really on the throttle, my boost spikes a bit (14psi) then drops to about 12.. it doesn't matter which gear. Even with my boost controller that I turned all the way! The car is running very rich right now. Back to the idle. If I pull the vacuum line off the BOV, it snaps shut. The idles goes up with the vacuum line open to atmosphere. (normal) When I cover the end with my thumb, the idle drops back down to normal (still surging) BUT. the vacuum on my thumb seems excessive. I alway recall having to hold my thumb on the end to keep it plugged. Now I can easily let go, and it sticks to me...I even have to pull it to get it off my thumb. This part seem very strange. Plugs are black. muffler is black, and spits carbon all over the driveway when reved. backfires under decleration. seems to idle like its running on 5cyl (yet above 1500 rpm, is very responsive with the throttle) (in neutral) A At light loads low rpm, you can hear it miss, as well as higher rpm low loads. it sounds very muffled at the muffler when it does this. Maybe too much info here folks, but I'm dealling with a few things at once, and am not sure which is related to what. ie running rich, can't get boost over 14psi, and won't hold there anyways. surging idle, and missfire/surging while light throttle intown cruising. AHHHH the joys of the Z. Thanks, Scott.

Owen: The rear pan ends at the diff mount. There is no edge to keep air from going over the top of the pan, around the gas tank and muffler area, and out through the mesh at the back. John: I'm not too sure what what you mean. The pan is very similar to my front belly pan. Any air that goes above the pan will travel slower than the air under it. That is the definition of down force is it not? Air planes use the reverse of this to gain lift. The air that is going over the pan will exit through the mesh. This is probably why the 280's had holes cut out in the rear valence, to let trapped air out from around the gas tank area. Same with my vents on my wheel wells. To let air trapped in the wheel well area, so they don't act like parachutes. hehehe. As far as does it work? I have not had the car beyond 200kph, so I doubt, any effect will be noticeable under that speed. It looks pretty mean though..hehe not too scientific... I'm getting a bit confused now talking about the pan and the diffuser as two different items? I was thinking that the pan was supposed to channel the air that is already under the car and makes the air move faster under the car, than over it thus creating down force. The principal of this design seems sound, and this pan design has been partially taken from a very successful GT1 240 that my friend had built years ago. The original had used zues fasteners, and was not as nice looking, but is pretty much the same. Though my car will never likely see anything beyond 160mph like the race car does. As the summer progresses, I hope to get some seat of the pants info. Hopefully a fall track day will come up, and I can get some more experience with it. This is mainly a street car, so in the end, its more about the form than the function... as long as it doesn't make the car handle worse, I'm ok with it. It sure looks better than the ugly off side tank hanging down. Scott.

The angle of the diffuser is somewhere between 7-9.. I'm sure it has flexed slightly as it was bolted tightly to the car. The diffuser actually is higher closer to the diff..it angles slightly down, then levels off, then starts to rise as it exits. I did this to simplify the installation at the diff mount, and to reduce the amount of air that may get over top of the diffuser from the tranny tunnel. If you look at the previous page of this thread, I have a pic of the front belly pan (red Z before it was painted black) The hard part was designing it to be removeable from the car, and to function properly. every part was prefabbed from card board, and assembled on the car...duct tape was very helpful. Once I had measurements, it was fairly quick to hand cut each piece. We used a vice with angle iron to make a metal brake to making clean bends. Including all the redesigns, and hashing out ideas, and problem solving mounting and asthetic issues that arrised at each stage of building, I figure it took myself and a friend 20+ hours to do over a 3 week period. Materials were approx 150.00, for SS bolt hardware, aluminum sheet, flat bar, and angle braketing. As for a kit?.. way to hard.. too much custom stuff..too much rework would be needed, as different body kits, exhausts, gas tank styles, etc would make it too hard to do.. some of the MSA rear skirts would make it very easy to a pan if you wanted... finding something to attach it to is the hard part...especially it you want it to be removeable. Rims. Simmons 17x8 and 17x11

Its been a long time coming, but as usual, things never work out the way you thought they would. It is alway harder. For me anyways. But, its finished. My rear diffuser is finished. I have decided not install the side fences...yet I think they may give me streetability issues with such a low car. The rest should work, my rear angle is set between 7-9 degrees, as per Johns C's info. It goes all the way from the back of my diff to the back of the rear valence. I have used mesh at the back to allow trapped air out as well. This was not originally part of the plan.. It is one piece, and can be unbolted and removed from the car to work on the gas tank etc. It was pretty tough to design it to be removable. It would have been much easier to just make it and put it on. I have pictures of the pan, I will post them hopefully this afternoon. I'm pretty busy today cleaning the car for the Zfest car show tommorow morning. Scott

Hey I have noticed silmilar things since my i/c install 2 years ago. as of this writing, I am getting 10psi in first 13 or so in second, and 14 psi in 4th and 5th. I am using a turbosmart manual boost controller. I had the same issues with a home made boost controller, except a bit more extreme. I ran 18 psi in 1, 2, 3 gear, and I had to feather the throttle in 4 and 5th gear to keep it from seeing 20 psi plus (I hit 20 once or twice, thats how I know, and why I'm on a new motor.hehe) Not sure the reasoning. I did end up with more turbo lag, but I expected that.. 1st gear more than 2, and 2nd more than 3rd etc... In first gear, I hit full boost in the 4000+ range, and once it hits, I have to shift right away.. in 5th, my boost comes on slower and at a lower rpm.. slower ie 2500rpm...but takes longer because of the low engine speed.. say at 65mph... Sorry I don't have an answer for you, but I can tell you that it doesn't appear to be uncommon.