Dat73z

Hopefully it's something simple, chasing down rattles and vibrations is pretty annoying. If you were closer I'd say swing by and grab my Mishimoto fan shroud for the twin spal 12s! Couple of minor weekend updates since I'm still waiting on parts. I final mounted the hot side piping with the murray clamps. They are surprisingly simple for their cost. Basically a worm clamp with a constant tension mechanism and an inner band to prevent cutting the couplers/distribute forces more evenly. I pulled my gas tank about a month ago because I wanted to double check a few things and I'm glad I did. I was concerned with delamination of the tank lining, in-tank fuel movement, and the return hose submerged in fuel/degrading since it wasn't rated to be submerged. The redkote tank liner easily peeled off the AL tank cap but seems very well adhered to the rest of the tank so I'm going to run with it. I added 2 one way check valves in the baffle plate as the gap below was coated over. I also replaced the in-tank 1/2" return hose with a SS hardline.

A couple of minor details I sorted over the weekend for the turbo build. I final loomed the fan harness and verified everything works as it should. I mounted the fan harness under the fan bracket so it looks tucked but still serviceable from below. Really happy with how the wiring came out, especially since I was sort of dragging my feet on it for a while. I then mounted the splash pan. Note this is another reason why I raised the radiator. I think some rads I've seen like the AZC hang way low and definitely the Wizard slightly low, probably for the later 260/280 configurations. I wanted to at least run the 240z splash pan and later the full 432r undertray so I took that into account on fitup. Finally I got a nice uniform brushed finish on all the charge piping. I was mostly bothered by all the gouges the pipes picked up over the years and from fabrication/mockup so I sanded those mostly all out. I saw some pipe polisher tools which you can buy for $200 or so with abrasives but I was hesitant to spend that kind of money on a tool I may only use once per year. So I did it all by hand and I hope to never do that again. I have some Murray turbo clamps coming in this week so the pipes will be final mounted then. I didn't feel good about how the tbolt clamps were unevenly squeezing the couplers so a last minute change.

It was a nice long weekend. Didn't get much done but I did button up the build a bit more since I'm waiting on some final parts which apparently are shipping from the UK because there is no stock in the US. @AydinZ71 thanks I was more disappointed because I almost cooked the part by rushing thereby ruining the SS properties which at this point I know better 😅. Your welds are looking really good, especially coming from the mig 👍 @Zetsaz Here's some pics of the diff section brace. On the 240z there is like a strap arrangement for the OE exhaust hanger in that area, not sure about the 280z. Basically as with most other things on this build i used some scrap 1/8 SS and cut some shapes which I welded into an L bracket. I then tacked a SS nut I had left over from the exhaust mani so I don't have to mess with that in the car. It's super solid when mounted due to the poly bushing. I also slotted the chassis side hole, so I can tighten it down last however the vbands like to settle in to seal. I can move the entire car from the exhaust with the pipes only moving a couple mm. Note how I positioned the hangers, I offset them so regardless of which plane the exhaust wants to move it is constrained. It's something really simple but I've seen a lot of cars where that's not considered and the exhaust can freely swing in some direction.

The idea is to use the lease aggressive cutting method to achieve the result. I've found on really hard paint I might use a hard pad but fine compound. Or on really soft paint, a soft pad and soft compound. Some cars I've found there's really no need to go in a lot of stages, one or two could do it with a great result. On the edges you could also lay down a tape line just to be safe for burnthrough. Lots of great videos out there now, here's one on water spritzing. Once you've found the right combo it should go pretty quick and you'll get a great result. Good luck and keep at it!

I'll grab some more pics this weekend when I get back into it. I have the exhaust off currently to check the torque on all the rear end fasteners. With the way I have the diff and rear muffler hangers positioned, the exhaust can't move more than a couple mm in any direction even when I'm banging or pulling on it as the hangers use poly bushings. This probably also means I'll get more vibrations in the cabin

I run the 300mm t3 bbk front and rear, 15x8 0 offset Rota rkr, 225 50 15. I'm planning to go 15x9 and 245 45 all around. For the t3 bbk the rears with the ebrake mechanism are hard to clear 15s. I told the tire techs to be really careful where they stuck the weights and marked the areas where they should go.

Waiting on parts and time so decided to finish up a few small projects. I forgot to post these pics earlier but I braced the rear exhaust section with an adapter bracket + hanger off the OE diff exhaust strap mount. My welds aren't the best because I had 15 minutes to do it and was rushing but oh well it's done. I also have some brackets fitup for the front bracing but I'm not sure if I want to weld it up as I'm undecided on the final driveline. I want to run a s15 6 speed with a PAR gearset 1-5 or the 1-4 in my s13 trans. Something to figure out later

And after plugging in the remaining sensors for the turbo build last night it turns out the O2 sensor I ordered is incorrect. I placed an order for the correct O2 sensor and was promptly hit with the supply chain mfg backorder message ship date tbd 🤬. Hopefully I won't be waiting 6 months like I had for other pieces. I feel like this past couple of years has been a struggle to get parts but I'll take it as a sign to wrap up the things I've been putting off on other parts of the car.

Looks good keep it up 👍 Some tips on the buffing: the tools and compounds you use makes a huge difference. I think 10 or 15 yrs ago I tried wetsanding and buffing a car at home with turtle wax and a drill like you're using. It was extremely difficult and I got poor results, burnthrough in areas as well. At the shop we used a rotary, wool pad, and 3m compound for freshly painted cars. Ended up buying a cheap porter cable DA and a bottles of meguiars m105/m205 for home use. I got pro level results and was able to do an entire car in a day. It was worth the cost and I still use the porter cable today. you probably know this since you're doing it but you don't want to go excessive on the compound as you want it to break down. You can spray the pad or panel with water if you need more cutting action or longer spot work times

Fortunately or unfortunately with the way gas prices are I'll probably only need a couple oil changes per year... Yeah I'm running oil temp from the pan to a channel on my Stack integrated tach. Good info on oil temps. I don't recall why I went so far overboard on the oil system but I suspect I'm going to run into significant overcooling issues on the street. I was thinking the other day I'll probably have to go through $20 of gas just to get up to temp 😂

Thanks @rossman and good info.Rebello put a pump on the engine so I assume it's good...we will see 😅 Counting the bottles I realized I put in 8 quarts with the big oil filter minus a small amount of oil from the turbo feed when I was testing. That gets me to the high mark of I think the 280zx dipstick...need to check the part # on that. I am going to assume I'll need to dump in another quart or two for the volume of the oil cooler and lines once the oil thermo valve opens. Basically the same volume of oil as my Porsche at 10+ quarts...expensive oil changes. Now to figure out if I dump that in before or after the first start.

Had an hour open up this PM so I got the surge tank off and flushed then tightened the rest of the lines. I already flushed the stainless hardlines with acetone after I pressure tested the fuel system. Last thing is to set timing. I think that's about it until my buddies can make it out in a week or two. The strategy will be to fire it up and sync the carbs, let it heatcycle/burp the coolant then fully cool down, recheck torque on all fasteners, fire it up to check everything over, surge tank on and we're boosting. There are some areas I want to make some heatshields for, like the brake distribution block on the firewall. Not sure if I want to get into that or focus on other areas around the car. Probably no more turbo updates until it's back on the road for shakedown.

Out of time for today but I did manage to prime the oil system. Turbo and head are getting oil and pressure is building. I found it interesting Rebello did an internally oiled cam with spray bar. Little by little day by day... 20220625_113037.mp4

This morning my wife postponed our day out to tomorrow so I went through the oil system one final time. I flushed all the lines and checked torque for all fittings. This afternoon I'm going to prime the system to ensure oil is getting to the head and turbo. Lots of small details to cover before the first start.

Tonight I started buttoning up the dozen or so minor things around the car which needed to get done. One of which was the boost gauge illumination.

Got the harness back in and verified all circuits work. I ended up relooming the headlight harness with the Tesa tape as well. A couple more sub harnesses to loom in like the fans and the electrical is complete. I think I may go for a first start this weekend if time permits. Really since I took the entire car apart for this build I should put a wrench on everything one last time just to be sure, especially the driveline.

This morning I was able to finish looming the harness. I really liked how the Tesa tape laid down. I had an oopsie on one section and the tape doesn't leave any residue but sticks to itself really well. Before I reassemble for the last time, I'm going to flush out the cooler lines just in case. I've read/heard a lot of horror stories over the years of finishing a build and some junk in the lines grenades the motor.

This morning I pulled the harness out of the car for looming. I'm going to depin a couple of unused connectors from the MSD harness and then I think it's good. It feels like a big day, a lot of work over a week to get to this point. Fortunately I have most of today off work but unfortunately my back is taking a beating from all this. Going to see how far I can get today. Losing patience, really want to just get it done but also done right since I'm already at the tail end.

My oil pressure switch came in the evening so I wired it up. I realized there is one three prong relay in the cabin dangling which I can't remember where it bolts up. There's a phillips screw on the floor so it must go somewhere on the pass kick panel. Once I figure out where that goes and finalize the wire lengths there then I can pull the harness back out. Edit: it is the horn relay and it gets tucked way back in there

After that detour, last night I was able to integrate the new fuel pump signal subharness into the main harness and get it organized. Tonight I'm going to pull the harness for the last time and start looming.

This morning I added the breakout for the oil pressure fuel pump cut switch. I saw online O'Reillys can get the 3 terminal sensor within a day or two so I'll call and order that today. I also need to get a different color wire for the pump relay trigger so I don't confuse myself in the future. There is currently 12v starter solenoid (under heat shrink to indicate) and 12v switched ignition hooked up.

Didn't get much done tonight mainly because it was 100 degrees out when I got off work. But I did manage to pull out the 73 add on fuel pump harnesses and relays. I think I'm going to run the new wires into the harness and trim them to length once the oil pressure switch gets in so I can keep moving forward

Thanks, that means a lot. Slow and methodical is how I approach things I dislike such as wiring and bodywork so hopefully I won't need to redo this again anytime soon. After some further thought I think I'm going to completely eliminate the late 73 fuel pump add on harness and relays. Wire in a dedicated oil pressure switch instead and remove all that factory complexity. Unless there is a compelling reason to keep it that I'm missing. Now to order an oil pressure switch and wait for parts again.

Thanks @AydinZ71 The OE style connectors are because I already have a big box of them. The strategy I'm working is to get the harness routing and shape exactly how I want it with the zip ties. I will then pull the harness back out of the car and loom with this Tesa tape, snipping off the zip ties as I get to them. I think I have like a dozen rolls of this stuff

Over lunch I was able to tidy the wiring to the firewall. I also forgot my friend who shell swapped a couple years ago gave me a blade type fusebox as he couldn't use it in his S1 shell. Unfortunately his old car has some wiring issues and there was one connector melted to the plug. Through the magic of crimping and soldering I was able to restore the fusebox. All circuits work and now I can use blade style fuses.