HB280ZT

Hi All, Well I was messing around with some 17" wheels that a friend of mine had on his 280Z with stock suspension and 2" wheel adapters. I decided to try them on my 77 280Z with 10" coilovers and here is what I found: 17" X 7" +38 offset sports maxx wheels with 225/45/17 tires They would not clear the wheel bearing cap on the front end of my car so I could not check them there. However on the rear they bolted right up and cleared inside and outside with room to spare, 1/2" from strut and 3/4" from inside of wheelwell lip. So that being said I would love to try a set of 17" X 8" +25 offset with 245/40/17 tires on the rear. Is anyone running anything close to what I am looking for. The wheels that I have found on-line that may work are 4 lug wheels for a 240SX. HB280ZT

You need to go to a good, I mean good drive shaft shop and they can get you all the parts (new) that you need to make a custom shaft using 1310 series u-joints. My car uses the stock 82 Nissan tranny with the stock R200 rearead and they had no problems getting the parts. I had mine made in the Tampa, Fl area and it works great. I believe PST drive shafts can help you out: http://www.pstds.com/ I have heard that they do very good work for people in the racing community. HB280ZT

Look into a Miata battery! They are about the same size as the PC680 and work pretty good. HB280ZT

Hi All, Well I am getting closer to a COP setup on my Z. I have the coils mounted However, I can not seem to get it running in a wasted spark configuration. So I now need to try it in a sequentail mode and I need help with the wiring and MS configuration. I have looked at several of the MS sites and they show how to do some of the setup but not all of it so? Matt has been helping me but I really need pictures of the wiring if someone here has done it already. Here is some of my setup: Custom distributor wheel 6 LS1 truck coils Spark A, B and C is using a ground switching configuration like this: What I really need to know is how to hook up the last 3 spark signals in the ground switching configuration? Thanks for the help. HB280ZT

The problem with factory and most after market seats is that they do not have the slot in the lower part of the seat for the 5th/6th point harness to run through. You need this if you plan to run on the track with the groups I have run with in the past, NASA, SCCA etc! So what to do without putting out upwards of $1000 for seats that can be used on the track and as a daily driver? HB280ZT

The big issue I have with most of the seats mentioned is that they will not work with a 5 or 6 point harness. So what are my options? HB280ZT

Hi All, I remember seeing a thread that talked about using an 82/83 turbo distributor with modified wheel to run a COP setup using MS. But for some reason and I searched I can find it anymore. So if anyone has done this please tell us and show us how you all did this and how it is working out. I know a crank trigger is better but at this time I have parts for the distributor and not the money or space for the crank trigger setup. Thanks for the help. HB280ZT

Hi All, Well have been working on the issue over that last 4 months or so and came up with something interesting. I am now opening up the waste gate just a bit to bleed off pressure and it makes the flutter go away, but still gives me full boost. So that can only mean that the turbo is the real problem. So how to fix it? 1 - replace the turbo - very expensive 2 - replace just the hot side - expensive and they do not have one like my current setup so I would have to replace my custom downpipe also 3 - replace just the compressor side - maybe if I can figure out which one to use? 4 - change cams to soemthing that will breath more air - maybe but what to use? So what do you all think? HB280ZT

HI All, Well I am now having another problem with my new alternator, it was put in the car 4 days ago! So the issue is it is putting out 15 VDC at idle and upwards of 18 VDC at speed. Well I promptly got off the road and disconnected the alternator and made it home on the battery. It showed 12.24 VDC on the PDA most of the way home and dipped down to 11.88 VDC by the time I got home. So I will be off to the parts store (Advanced Discount Auto Parts) to have them check and hopefully replace the alternator for the 3rd time in 3 months, twice in one week. We will see if they give me a hard time again with the exchange. Will keep you all posted on the results of my quest!! HB280ZT

Yes I have a ground wire between the battery and the block and one between the block and the chassis and I think they are 2 guage. If you look at the picture the blue wires on the battery are the positive connections to the fuse blocks, alternator and starter. The brown wires are the grounds to the engine and chassis. Plus I have another ground wire, same brown wire between the engine and chassis on the other side of the motor around the A/C unit. As for the wires between the relay box and the MS unit I used the wires that came as part of the MegaSquirt Wiring Bundle 12' that I got from DIYAUTOTUNE. Not sure if I added anything else as I built this setup 4 years ago now.

Thanks for the information. As for where I am getting power it is coming directly from the battery via a fuse and 10 guage wire. The ground is also a 10 guage wire and it is grounded to the intake manifold with the injectors and such. Here is a picture of my battery and basic wiring:

Hi All, Well I am having a problem with the battery numbers that I am reading/datalogging on my PDA. What I mean by that is that as the car gets hot the voltage numbers drop, from 14 VDC to as low as 11 VDC. I know when it is low because the car runs like @#$% ! Now I have replaced the alternator and battery and checked all of my conections and I still have the same problem. I have looked at all of the MS V3 diagrams to see where the system gets its VDC reference but have not been able to find it, yet. So if someone can tell me where datalog gets the VDC reference from for logging then I can start looking at possible components that could be causing this problem. For more information about my system I am running everything through a relay board to my MS unit. The relay board is on the fender between the brake master cylinder and the water washer bottle and the MS unit is installed in the factory 280Z ECU mounting location. So if someone can point me in the right direction that would be great. HB280ZT

Just for clarification #16 was the first 240Z availible to the public so #17 was the second and is owned by a member of the Suncoast Z Car Club in the Tampa, FL area. The cars 1 - 15 were used for racing and promotion. Enjoy!

Ed, Your comment is far from the truth. I would like to datalog as many parameters as I can when I run on the track, both track events and drag racing. Because the last time I was on the track I did not have as much time as I wanted to look at the gauges, just a quick glance. Now drag racing you have even less time to look at things so to me this could be very useful. HB

It is something that I am looking at but not right now as I am working other turbo/engine/MS related issues. However will have to look into the FSM and see what it says! HB280ZT

Pyro, I now wish I had the N42 cam but I got it as a bare unit. So that being said which cam should I look for to send to Delta to have the intake side reground to a 256/248? However from research I found that the exhaust side is also very important on a boosted engine, be it turbo or supercharged? If I do this I will have to do alot of research on how to set up a L28 head myself, fun, fun!! Of course I will start with the search button here. But if you know of other places to reference please let me know. As for more rpms I am not sure the bottom-end can handle more then the 6500 rpm's I am already turning. Well not unless I have it all blueprinted and balanced. Thankd for the help. Harry

Pyro, So you think it is a H3 compressor wheel, hum, will have to look into that. Thanks for that info. I have also been thinking about a new or better cam the only issue is the cost and finding someone in my area to set it up correctly. As for the dyno numbers I hope to get it up above what I have done in the past. Which was 298 rwhp at 5200 rpms with 325 ftlbs of torque at 4100 rpms. Harry

Yes I have 2 ground straps between the engine and the chassis. As for the sensors will have to see about checking them when I get a chance. Still working on a way to get the alternator exchanged for a new one. Thanks for the help. Harry

Pete, I really, really like that setup. How did you go about doing it that way? Do you have any suggestions or tips or lessons learned for someone who wants to do it the say way? Also you are driving them off of a? More pictures please HB280ZT

Brady, I have checked all of my gounds and they were good to go, I even added extra ground connections when I setup my new wiring with the MS install. So that being said I will check them again. Here is my wiring setup. As for the wastegate opening early that maybe happening as I am running the WG off of the output of the turbo and the MAP sensor is manifold pressure. So maybe I should try to run both off of the manifold again. I have been using both to fix the same type of problem but only under part throttle. So I may have to change that and do another dyno run to see what happens. So anything else I should try? Have you looked at the msq to see if anything looks screwy? Thanks for the help and to make me think! Harry

Brady, I had to replace the alternator about 3 weeks ago and have noticed the voltage change as the car gets hot. But when it is checked by the auto store (lifetime warranty) it always passes because it never gets hot on the test bench. So I am working on the alternator problem. As for it causing the problem not really sure as it did it with my last unit and I had it on the car for about 5 years. Also it does this at about the same point on all the runs I did on the dyno except with we did a 3rd gear run. The 3rd gear run was just to fast and it did not show much on the datalog or the dyno sheet. Now the 4th gear run loads the engine up pretty good and we get alot of information, and the problem also! Harry

evildky, The 55 lbs/min was the infromation that James Thagard gave me when I got the turbo from him. He also said it was a Hi/Fi wheel which I have never been able to get a map for, so I am guessing that the wheel is really a 60-1 and is not that large compared to other people are running on a Z. Harry

The AFR numbers were close to the same as I had but like I said they did not do any MAP readings. Will have to see if they can next time. Thanks for the help. Harry

Brady, When you get a chance look at the datalog and msq. They explain things better then I ever could. As for removing the BOV, I have taken it off the car and blocked off the hole with no change in the problem. Also when you see the datalog I have not gotten to full boost when this all happens. All of the numbers provided are from the datalog as the dyno did not tap for vacuum/boost. As for boost creep I fixed that problem a few months ago by getting the waste gate hole matched to the WG puck, now no more creep. Harry aka HB280ZT

As for the BOV, the 1st gen was hooked up in a recirculation configuration. Then I vented it to the atmosphere and noticed it was leaking badly, so I replaced it. Then I got this new Tial and no more leak, it only vents when I get to -17 inches of vacuum. Also I have blocked off the BOV without any change in the system. I have also done leak tests of the whole system and fixed 2 problems. I even removed the intercooler and ran a straight pipe in its place and it did not miss, flutter or stumble. As for a boost controller I am using a 15 lbs waste gate actuator plumbed to the output of the turbo. I have also tried it plumbed to the intake and no change.