Whitley_280z_2+2

Alright, I want to close out this build thread and I got some pics this morning so here goes. Going on 6K miles and the car is still fun! It spins 1st and 2nd easily and goes around corners effortlessly. Overall it was a great project . . . thanks for the help! Some engine bay shots: I really like these shots: This one is probably my favorite: Time to RB swap a K5 Blazer...

Yeah it definitely appears that there was a short somewhere but if you have all the correct fuses it should have prevented the wire from melting. I would first double check the fusible links like you said (and maybe the main fuse panel inside) and then try and find the short using a multimeter in continuity mode. I’ve had problems with the original plastic wiring connectors falling apart which can lead to a short.

Yikes! I’m curious to see if you can figure out what caused that. Is the wiring all original? The fuses are not bypassed right? I’ve found the colored wiring diagrams you can find online are really helpful for working with Z car wiring and identifying specific circuits.

Nice! You’re making great progress. Bold move putting the engine in before wrapping the engine bay wiring ; ) what headers are those?

Got it 👍 I wish I could take better night pics...

Got tired of the door seals making terrible door gaps... gunna leave it like this for a while and see if that helps

Been doing lots of little stuff to the car recently so I thought I would give an update. The clunk I thought was in the rear end was just loose driveshaft bolts. I don’t know if I ever mentioned this in this thread but I built this car with my dad mainly during high school and then finished it over breaks during college. When we had it driving I was away at college and then an engineering internship so I never actually drove it. So over Christmas break I’ve been learning to drive stick on this thing and it has been a lot of fun! It’s especially fun racing civics, mustangs, and maximas ; ) just recently fixed an AC leak under the dash and while we had the system discharged we put in a low pressure service port in the engine bay instead of only having one under the dash (was a real pain to work with). We also cleaned up the interior a little by putting in some of the plastic interior pieces. Also, the Tach has never worked so we put in this obd2 gauge called an Ultragauge. I researched these for a while and this was the only one I thought would be any good for under $100 because it’s made in America and they have a lot of information on their website. I’m really satisfied with it and it’s the perfect size. Definitely would recommend for anyone else LS swapping their Z. Also check out them MPG’s! Also this weekend I took it to a cars and coffee and saw another guy, forgot to get his name, with a VQ swapped Z that was really nicely done! Also saw this Miata that is goals for the LS swap club: Someone posted this on the cars and coffee page: Overall it’s been really fun to drive and learn stick on and it’s pretty reliable!!

Ok I gotta ask... what’s your day job to have a 150k budget???

General rule is thumb: if you can’t find it on engineswapdepot.com than it’s either really creative or stupid hard. Also @Neverdone that’s depressing why would anyone get into cars ever only thing similar I could find: https://engineswapdepot.com/?p=53173

I used the vintage air defrost vents and just made some simple metal brackets to mount them up. It doesn’t really line up with the metal piece that goes at the back of the dash so just drilled a bunch of holes. If you don’t care to retain the stock look it doesn’t look half bad.

Ok correct me if I’m wrong but you are going to be installing the JCI sender down by the oil filter right? If that’s the case can you just leave the stock oil pressure sensor and then wire the JCI one to the gauge. That way the ECU will still know the oil pressure. I got rid of the original oil pressure sensor and installed an auto meter one in its place. Then I just had to have my ecu programmer “disable” that function.

Why don’t you want to drift it? That thing would look cool sideways

Best engine swap - Saab B204 turbo Pair that with a BMW E46 320d 5 speed and you basically have the perfect car ; )

Thanks that helps! So what I’m hearing is Mfactory is the cheapest unit that isn’t a rip off.

Ok thanks everyone for the input! In wrapping up, are there any options in between (price wise) Mfactor and this I should look at? I really like the feel of the stock suspension rear end for the 280Z because it's just kinda neat so I don't think we're ready to go 8.8. I was looking at other S13 LS center sections but couldn't find anything for better value than the Mfactory.