islanddozer

Looking for an update ?

Big difference between changing a gasket and rebuilding a l28et for 250hp. Gotta have some money for horses. Change the gasket and save some money. In that time search here and plan your motor first. Spend the money on block and head then slowly add fuel management parts. Good to go Cheers

better check that it is not leaking from the vacum activated heater valve on the side of the heater

Throughout the years I have replaced and modified the car. At first I wanted to keep it stock, But as it got older parts started to get harder to find and more expensive to keep stock. I had a buddy in the towing buisness and told him to keep an eye out for me for 280zx's. He called me up and had 2 that were abandoned on the road. Both 1981 turboz's for $500 delivered. I already had 2 1981 na 280's in parts in my shop. Had to get hold of another buddy up island in ladysmith to store some up there. Between my buddy and I we own 14 1979-1983 280zx's. 1 - 1970 240z serial #000149. It has been in a barn for 20 years. Best thing I ever did was get rid of the ac. Then replaced the rear end from a standard ( r200 I guess) on her original 3 speed auto. The car just launched at a stop but hiway speeds made her rev higher than I wanted. Funny thing, I spent alot of time rebuilding the whole rear end, bushings, bearings, susspension and brakes. The next day my wife takes it for a dinner meeting. She parks in a parkade on a hill and puts e-brake on. She had a couple glasses of wine forgets to put e-brake down and drives. She had the back end on fire and continued to drive home. I get home to see 2 melted tires and all the work I just completed in a burned mess. She then tells me she wondered if there is something wrong the car because "IT HAS NO POWER" !!!!!! Needless to say she will only see the steering wheel from the passenger side:grin:

you might want to reconfigure your line. yours looks like it might be stcking out on the turbo end. here is a pic of the original

funny, didn`t even noticed the turbo donor car in the background. lol Here are some pics of motor and car stripped

opps same pic twice. Here she is a year later in white

that was her in 91 at 225,00kms. Rebuilt engine and change brakes and good for another 200,000. Quick black spray in my yard until body is ready

Hi all! I live in Victoria, BC, Canada. I have had this car since 1991. I got it for $500 with 225,000 kms on her. Always been a Chevy Pick-up kinda guy so to have a japaneese car in my garage took some getting used to. Love the idea of 4 wheel susspension and disc brakes. Great for logging road rides :0) I rebuilt the original motor and addressed some rust issues painted it and drove her for another 200,000 kms till she started to let me know it`s time for another makeover. I started in Nov.08 by removing the engine for a l28et change over. I was recovering from ear surgery so I had alot time on my hands. I spent a good hundred hours sandblasting parts. Then spent even more time port and polishing head, intake and tb.

I want to thankyou for your suggestion to weigh the box. came up as 37lbs. I took a bad pic of it. I was going to redo the pic properly with the scale visable then I started thinking. Hey I have every bolt out of thing right now and I have 5 of everything, I decided to weigh everything going back in this thing, and have a pic with the weight. Already have a file for the l28et I built why not for the rest. I am new here and blogging isn't my thing but I have extensive 280zx expierence and I would like to share and help others with their projects. Should I start a new thread here ? or just make a new thread for my project ? Thanks !

looks like you got what you need. good luck !

I take it you mean oil feed line for the turbo. 6mm o.d but it has a flange for the supply bolt. Not a common fitting.Used for trans oil lines and power steering. I'm sure a machine shop could copy one. I will take a pic for you.

Thanks for the advice. I will weigh it when I remove it if u wish. I have had this rebuilt motor in my garage for 6 months now and it's time to get the car in shape for some extra horses.

thanks for the info. I have the crossmember and mounts but have power rack and pinion. Can it be converted? I am after a clean engine bay with nothing but motor and brakes visable.

I am rebuilding a 81 zx and putting in a turbo motor into a non turbo body. I have stripped it and wondering if I should stay with the original p/s box or go to rack and pinion. I have both so parts aren't a issue. Seems to me the turbo puts out lots of heat and the original box, even though it has heat shields, would take a beating. Curious of your opinion.

I have just scanned all the guages for a 280zx and 280zxt. I have turned the background into glow in the dark and personalized it with "myZ ". Anyone interested can email me cheers

I was lucky enough to have a buddy working as a tow truck opperator, and he hauled me 2 81 280zx turbos that were left on the street for $500. I have taken one engine and rebuilt it. I found all parts needed for the rebuild by researching part numbers on rockauto.com and cross referncing the numbers with my local supplier. Rebuild cost $750 for engine internals including moly/chrome rings, forged pistons, and felpro gaskets. I have all the components for the other l28et including rear end, trany, cv shafts, wiring and electrical. Motor is apart and looked like the piston pins were were starting to seize up but wear looked good. I am sure it would cost to ship these items but if you were interested we could come up with something. Merry Christmas everyone

why don't you throw a turn signal relay on your power lead to your signals. just get a cheap gennaric one. cheers

Hello all. new to this site but not new to 280zx's. I have 14 280's but this is a first time rebuilding a l28et. I have 2 complete 81 280zxt's here in my shop. 1 for parts and 1 to build. both sat for a long time. The engine I rebuild is going in my daily driver I have had for close to 20 years. It's a 81 280zx that I rebuilt 15 years ago and its time for a complete overhaul. I have a couple questions reguarding the f54 block. first of all I have the same problem on both blocks. The second from the rear, head bolt thread were non-existent and on the block I have been working on, a piece of the cast was sitting on the bottom of water jacket. I drilled it out and put a helicoil in to replace the threads and JB Weled the area missing. Worked great but was wondering if this is a common problem and to let others know of the problem with the cast. Secondly I have all new parts I crossed referenced on rock auto and went to my local supplier for the parts. I thought I might want to check it out with you guys that have expierence with this block. I have sealed power moly rings E-488kc fedral mogul 7136 .25mm over main bearings clevite 77 cb-966 p rod bearings cloves 9-4134sa timining set My biggest worry is with the rings. They are quite different than stock. they are .03 over but it is the side profile that disturbs me. The crank has been turned and balanced and the block honed. I have ported and polished the p90 myself. I also ported and polished the plenum. To start with, I am going to run the stock auto tranny and fuel system. I am trying to configure my laptop into the interior and run the megasquirt system. Figured I better break this new motor in without running any risks.

Hi all...I'm new to this site but new to datsuns. I have 2 turbo blocks in front of me and they both have a corrosion problem on the second to the back right hand side (looking from front) head bolt thread. The cast iron has dissappeared and has left hole in the threads. I drilled it out and replaced it with a helicoil and jbwelded it. Anyone else with this problem with an 81 L28 turbo blockand what did you do ?

The egr pipe is a major loss of vacum. fix that first and if not that could be throttle vavle switch needs adjustment. good luck

I was just trying to suggest you spend the money on a complete turbo motor with wirirng harness. save ya time and money. cheers

sorry but you don't just bolt a turbo on and go. you need many electrics and vacum changes and muffler upgrades. Plus you need a low compression block to start with or you blow your motor up. If you still want to blow your motor up I have 1 in good shape