69sroadster

Blue, I just snapped a few pics for you and others to inspect. I will be getting some better ones of the under side in a month or so when I pull the engine out to replace the slowly dying stock T25 turbo. The compressor side oil seal is starting to finally leak into the intake side. I figure I might as well finally switch to top mount, replace the head gasket, switch to solid lifters, swap cams and change out the clutch for the increased power levels expected. If the tranny deal works out, I'll also bother to switch to a Z33 6 speed. I'll clean up the engine bay some more with the wiring and hoses. While it's out you'll get a better picture of what I did to the leading edge of the cross member and motor mounts. Basically I notched back the front vertical side of the cross member about a quarter of a inch and rewelded in that front vertical surface to create more room between the front sway bar and the crossmember. This probably wouldn't be necessary if you kept the stock oil sump. I wanted to use the Greddy one with the extra baffling for higher lateral g's etc. but it was a little tigher of an area to work with as a front sump. The motor mounts needed to be a little higher etc so I welded on top of the stock ZX mounts on the crossmember some additional 1/4" thick steel plates. Next I drilled through these where I needed the mounts to sit. It was a bit of trial and error as the first go was sitting a little too low. The engine is sitting pretty darn close to where I want it now. The transmission mounts I cut off the body and then rewelded farther forward on the body...almost started an interior fire in the process but I was prepared for it at least. I also had to cut open the shifter hole on the body about two inches forward. I'm guessing if I use the Z33 transmission the shifter will be a lot closer again to the original position as it is farther back than the SR transmission shifter.

I measured out the lengths of my old N/A 2+2 axles (u-joint style) at 20" and 20.75" respectively. Does anyone have the lengths of the turbo 280zx CV axles and/or the Z31 CV axles? I'm curious if my R-200 2+2 S130 has some kind of different setup, which I would be surprised to learn and am not expecting. Traeg, you should just need a set of the outer companion flanges and the CV axles from a turbo 280zx (tripoid CV joint) or a Z31. I orderd two new nuts from MSA for the companion flanges and had a hell of a time getting those to break free on the car. I also bothered to replace the rear wheel bearings while I was at this project and both stub axles. I had someone tell me that my right rear wheel was wobbling pretty good although I couldn't feel it in the car even at highway speeds. It was hard to see it, but the right side stub axle was slightly shearing at the base of it and had a small angle to it. Maybe someday I'll swap those stub axles with some from TTT but for now the used turbo ones are holding up. If your back end is good then all you would need are the CV axles, companion flanges and I recommend two new companion flange nuts...and some grade 8 fastners for the axle to companion flanges.

I wonder if the non-power antenna ZX's came wired the same for those that did have a power antenna. Maybe he might be able to use existing wiring/relays (if they're there) through his stereo unit tapping in to it and wiring in his aftermarket power antenna. Personally I hate power antennas as they always seem to have problems after a few years. FWIW, I recently found another way of getting rid of an external antenna altogether but still having an option to listen to FM/AM. If you have an aftermarket head unit with an external 3.5" jack or usb jack, you can use a portable MP3 (with radio) hooked into the head unit to tune your radio stations. These typically use the patch cord as the antenna inside the car. I found out that mine works just as good as the car's external antenna, but doesn't incur the very small amount of drag, maintenance for failing gears on power antennas, or random acts of violence at the local mall/theater for bent/broken fixed antennas.

FWIW I'm not sure how much that exhaust kit you're looking at costs, but I bought a legal high flow CAT and muffler from JEG's and a stainless downpipe off ebay. I took all of this to my local exhaust shop with a good reputation for working custom setups with stainless and he did the rest for under $350. All 3" mandrel bent SS, custom hangers and also helped put a nice cut on the other side of my valence to have it exit on the same side as the exhaust manifold as you mention. I think all told I was in $550 and I have a lifetime warranty SS 3" custom exahust (read tailored fit). I also opted for some higher cost welding stock that he claimed would hold up just as long as the SS pipe (can't remember what it was). He stated that if you used to standard stuff for welding that those will break down well before the SS pipes will. I'm not a welding expert and he may have fooled me but it wasn't that much more anyways so I took him up on it. So far everything is still doing great and it's been about 5 years. He also said that I should clean the SS from time to time using just dish soap and water to keep the other chemicals off the SS and make it last. Honestly I was very pleased that he took his time, charged a reasonable price and tried to make sure that what I got would last. Good luck and hope you get to unleash some of that cool inline 6 sound without breaking your bank and getting the local govt controllers upset. What caused the strut to pop off?

One of my amber turn lights on the fender finally stopped working due to a break down of the socket clips inside. I tried to repair it with a soldering gun and some manipulation but it's not cooperating this time. If anyone has a spare amber fender turn light (left or right side, doesn't matter) please let me know and I can pay for one to replace this bad socket issue. I usually have a ZX in the local PnP to draw from but not this time and I don't seem to have a spare in my stash. Thanks, Sam

Is it possible that what I have installed is not a turbo 280zx cv axle but an N/A cv axle, and that is why when I did get a right side turbo zx cv it didn't swap over? What is the difference between the N/A and turbo ZX CV axle? I'm beginning to think that i swapped out my u-jointed axles/stubs for N/A cv axles & stubs. Traeg...it depends on what they are going into. Older S30 models have a couple of options to pursue.

I wonder if that is what they did to me too...I didn't look into it at the time. How much was the O/H? There's a shop here I can check with but could use a ballpark estimate.

Has anyone seen evidence with the TTT TC rods that the rod end has been trying to roll under/over its pivot and/or any lower control arm twisting fatigue? What forces acting on the control arm would be causing this? Would the disc brake torque load put a significant stress on the less controlled TTT TC/lower control arm/ball joint or would the upper strut assembly take the majority of that stress? I'd like to know before I change out my TC's and find some busted lower control arms or ball joints if any has done this swap before.

That's good news! What size is the MSA option?

I apologize to all of you who have tried to find a build thread by me earlier. I thought I had one going that was neglected and I guess it was on another forum. So this is going to start off with the basic overview and then I'll add in more of the finer details that I can along the way and some eye candy. This car was my dad's in the early 80's when he was stationed in Japan. It stayed in the family until the late 90's when it was sold to a friend of mine who didn't drive it much. This friend sold it to me for $850 and I drove it from his place in Oregon all the way to my home in Arkansas with no problems (minus the existing A/C charge). At this time (fall 2006) it was a somewhat neglected original that was starting to show some age on the paint with about 100,000 km on the clock. I was going to do a SR20 swap initially on a 2000 roadster I had but decided that the ZX would be a more fun daily driver to play with. I may have been wrong about the fun part on that call later but it's still a blast. I sold the L28, ECU and tranny to a guy from Fayettevill AR for a good price and think he put it in a 240Z of his. The SR I got crated to my house with the tranny and about 70k km on it for $1700. It still needed a new water pump, engine wire harness (they cut it, idiots!) ignitor, ECU and MAF. The good news was that the engine and tranny were in great shape. I worked over about 2 months on weekends and some week nights to get the engine and tranny in the car. The only issue on initial start was that it would only run a few seconds before shutting down. We found out that the MAF was not the correct one and after a good part change it has worked ever since. The SR has had ARP head studs and rocker stoppers added. I'm running unorthodox pulleys and no power steering since my body didn't ever have it. I also have a lightweight flywheel and aftermarket clutch. Otherwise the SR20 engine, turbo and tranny etc are stock. I had a portable dyno back in the day showing just under 240 whp and 270 ft/lb. That's before I had the exhaust redone with 3" mandrel SS and high flow CAT/muffler. This car gets me about 29-30 mpg on the highway now and is a blast to drive (3.7 gears and 255/40/17 tires, GPS verified). I've had the swap in the car since fall 2007 and have been racing a the local SCCA course as much as I can around work since 2010. So far only one HPDE at Hallet. I've had no real significant issues but a handful of smaller ones. I'll cover those as the story goes along. I'll also try to keep this in order as I add in the details. I swapped out the rear diff internals with a KAAZ 1.5 way LSD for a 240sx with an open carrier. I also purchased a set of turbo ZX flanges and CV's. I installed an aluminum radiator and T-Bird electric fan. Still working on the sticky solenoid driving the high speed fan setting, but the low is still more than enough. I installed a set of Tokico HP struts/springs all around. I installed a new Polyurethane bushing kit all around. Installed a custom A/C line kit for the SR swap and retrofitted to R-134 (discovered that custom hoses had the high/low ports on wrong hoses w/o losing hands) Purchased a set of 17x9 front Rota RBR and 17x9.5 rears. Also purchased a set of 17x9 and a set of Hankook DOT-R slicks for racing on. Replaced the stock stereo system and speakers, installed Excelon deck, Soundstream amp and Sony sub....sounds great. Had a shop tint the whole car. Installed a set of Corbeau racing seats on both fronts. Modded the driver sliding bracket to sit lower and lean back more...still have to do the passenger (left) side. Installed an oil cooler and had the used hose that wasn't the right size blow out when racing at Hallet. Fixed that problem and haven't had an issue since.

BluD, I started one a long time ago and didn't do a good job with it. I can still take some pictures to post up for you to look at. If I was better at fabrication and had more patience I would have mounted it a little farther back than I did. I don't want to thread jack so I'll just say in this thread that the two big issues are #1) the SR20 front sump vs cross member/sway bar and #2) for LHD bodies the turbo vs steering shaft/brake booster. I'll work at updating my build thread since it's sooo outdated by now I'm sure. Expect that to get some loving later today after shopping and superbowl fun.

Hey Z33 guys, I don't have any good search results that answer this question directly so I want to confirm my suspicions...does the 350z series get its vehicle speed on the speedo through the abs sensors on the rear differential? -Sam

I'm not sure if anyone else has had troubles keeping their ZX cool. I looked at doing the Jags That Run kit but there was an issue getting a good radiator, so I went to Jegs and ordered a generic aluminum one (26"x19" 2 row) to use with the JTR mounting kit. The JTR thread talks about how to do this swap in an L28 powered ZX, but mine was a slight change with an SR20. I had to trim my JTR mounts a little to fit. While I was doing this swap I also went to the junkyard and pulled out a 18" electric fan from a thunderbird. The shroud that came on the fan needed a little trim on the corners to sit in more "flush" against the radiator. For now I am just running the fan on the low speed using a headlight solenoid...and it's rare that I ever need to use this while I'm moving. Keep in mind that I have a bit more front motor clearance with the shorter 2.0 ltr vs the L28, so the Tbird fan may not squeeze in. I also have a larger front mount intercooler and my A/C heat exchanger up front making airflow a challenge, but like I said it's working pretty well in the Arkansas heat with the 2.0. Just thought I'd share a little info for any other hybrid ZX's out there. Be careful with the Mk8/Tbird fan if you get one because those edges WILL cut your fingers even though it's just plastic.

Add in a rear strut mount, change to a stiffer rear spring/strut combo, get some rear poly bushings in. Consider a 300zx CV and flange swap if the turbo 280zx CV and flanges are hard to come by. R200's will be just fine. You could also get a LSD for a 240SX with open diff. I have a KAAZ 1.5 LSD like this and it works great.

So I've swapped in a set of used ZX turbo CVs into my 1979 N/A 2+2 and the right side is now needing a replacement. I ordered one from autozone for an 82 turbo zx for the right side and it is too long. Wierd, I would have thought that this would be the same longer length on an 79 N/A 2+2 but I guess I'm going to have to use the shorter left turbo CV on my right side. Has anyone else run into this before? All of the search discussions as usual covered swap issues into an older 240Z or 280Z.

I think I need to rescale mine but the last time it was 680lb at each corner with me not in it and about half a tank. This is a 2+2 JDM manual steering, with a stock SR20DET engine & tranny, 3" SS exhaust with CAT and muffler...and a working A/C. I've since swapped out the front seats and done some other things so it's probably a bit off now.

Thanks Vert88. I'll check the yahoo japan site and see what comes up.

I'm looking to just switch to the S13 suspension the next time I bother spending money on suspension parts. Not swapping entire rear suspension, but using the S13 coilover setup as described by cutting the zx front tubes and rewelding the lower section in place instead from the S13 kit.

I sandwiched new rubber tc bushings on one side and poly on the other side with no issues for probably 4 years now with a lot of autox and a few 15 min track sessions. I'd agree with the TTT TC rods if you don't care about the increased cost.

Would you be willing to helping me find a replacement jdm front right bumper turn light assembly and left fender mirror for a zx/s130? I'm willing to throw in some extra cash for your trouble. For now I've tried rigging up a modified US light and it's not the best looking setup...they're different sizes in width...as is the fender mirror internals that I tried to switch out. Sam aka 69sroadster

I finally had a chance to make a top speed run in my SR20DET 280zx 2+2. The turbo, cams, intake, exhaust manifolds are all stock and I was running 93 octane at 11 psi. I have a lightweight flywheel and underdrive pulleys. GPS showed 145 mph and climbing strong when the ECU decided to cut fuel and end the momentum. I found this wierd since I don't have the transmission sender hooked up to the ECU (running a mechanical sender) and the ECU is not in safe mode. Oh well when I switch to the Power FC and other injectors this issue will go away. What a great little motor. Oh yeah I run 255/40/17's and have the factory 3.70 gearing.

just an update to how this finally panned out. the first problem i discovered earlier on was that the left front caliper was literally seized with a little bit of brake application still on the rotor. I replaced the caliper and still had some wierd issues as described above. I checked everything again and after a bit of driving noticed some wierd wearing marks on the left front disc. I pulled it off again and noticed that the left front caliper floating pins had an issue for the caliper to ride on. The upper/forward pin was also seized. I could not for the life of me get it to free up so I found a replacement one at the local yard cleaned it up and greased it appropriately. Magically the brakes still feel firm, but at the correct height and have much better feel and stopping power. I chalk it all up to the old and not serviced well caliper and mounting bracket/floating pins.

i'll have to look at where i have the sensor plugged in since I can't remember. Since this post I haven't been to the track again yet, but I have swapped in a generic (read chevy) aluminum radiator that fills in the frame rails in the ZX and put in a thunderbird 18" monster electric fan. I've never got the higher speed to kick on with the fan due to a sticky solenoid, but i've never even come close to needing it either. I have to say that fan is awesome for flow but damn sharp edges. I also had to spray out some oil from everything up there since my oil cooler line busted and clogged up some fin cooling area.

I've re-bled the MC on a bench, and in the car, and the rear and front calipers....not much difference really. I've checked the vacuum booster reaction disk (okay) and MC adjustment rod. There are no leaks. The only thing I can think that is still going on is either the brake calipers are having issues...ie not self-adjusting or something like that.