motomanmike

All the "basics" have been methodically tested. Compression is great on all cylinder, new plugs, wires, new cap, spark is extremely stong and firing order is correct. The only unkowns are this is a second hand engine as many of us have had the experience with. I don't know if the AFM is any good, I have it hooked up and the flapper moves, I popped the cap off it and its very clean inside, the contacts are good, the wires to the plug are good and the plug from the harness is good and continuity to the ecu is good. I will test it per the FSM. The only reason I think its all fuel related is for one the pump is bigger, the feed line is bigger and I get a strange hissing sound at the rail when the fuel pump is running and its not a consistant whine its random. I'm not sure this is normal as it doesn't sound normal. I'll get the fuel pressure solid and report back. It will be about a week or so. Thanks for everyones input, I really want to drive this thing!!!

I ordered an external fuel pressure regulator, I should have it by next weekend, comes with a gauge so we will see how it goes, man they aren't cheap either.

I'm getting closer to being able to drive the car but wanted to ask a few questions. Current status of the car is as follows. 1. L28ET swap from a 82 280zx, Engine has all sensors and plugs that come factory. 2. 280z fuel injected tank. New Walbro GLS392 pump with -8AN line run back to front, one-8AN russel filter before the pump and an izuzu rodeo V6 fuel filter after the pump its the 5/16 size of the factory fuel rail and I have it right at the rail. 3. Ignition spark is stong, car runs fine at idle. 4. 6 brand new fuel injectors. I'm really getting close to driveability. The car will start. After a few failed attempts at cranking it will start. Once it starts it sputter sputter sputters and then will idle but it idles high i'd say roughly 12-1500 rpm(I don't have a tach hooked up yet). I have 2 vacuum leaks on the intake manifold but plugging them increases the roughness of how it runs terribly to the point it will die. The factory vacuum solenoieds are hooked up, as is all the other appropriate sensors wires and plugs. AFM is mounted good with nice tight seals. Knock sensor, tps sensor, head temp sensor etc etc. What I think is happening is the walbro pump is overpowering the stock fuel pressure regulator and choking it out. The reason why I say this is I put alligator clips on the fuel pump 12v feed and started the car, when it started running rough i'd take the clip off the battery that i was feeding the fuel pump with, it would settle and level out, then start to run rough as it started to run out of fuel, i'd put the clip back on the battery the car would then level out and idle then back into its cycle of idling high but still won't take throttle and would choke under load. I know I have the firing order right. I left timing where it was and it should remain unchanged but I havn't toyed with the distributor. What I want to know is, do you need to run a separate fuel pressure regulator before the rail, the FSM shows a fuel dampner by the pump in the rear of the car what is its importance as i've seen guys run just a pump and the stock rail regulator. I have no way of telling at the moment what the fuel pressure is, I have no gauges to test and I have just the pump running to the stock rail. Plugs are wet after the car runs. When I shut it down, they are wet. Also, do the injectors have a specific firing order, it doesn't appear they do since nothing in the FSM mentions the firing order if they do so i'm assuming they all fire at once. I appreciate any direction. I've had enough this weekend but made leaps and bounds of progress and just want to get back on the road. I'm tired of paying insurance on a car I can't drive!

I hate to hear story's like this about being ripped off from someone on this forum, 650 isn't a bad price per say for a decent running motor but a popped one its pretty steep. The options with the regular L28 are there, they are plentiful and cheap, however i'm finding the turbo motors aren't all that expensive to source either just have to look daily like a religion every classified you can, online and on paper. Good luck. I'd find a decent L28 block if I were in your situation. Detonation ate that motor, I can see if clear as day.

I like the gobble gobble, people look at you funny at the stop light but they sure know what it is the second time around and it ain't no turkey!!! LOL. I'm having an issue with my swap currently fitting the huge stock afm from the L28ET swap into an S30, I think I can make it fit but its going to be close. I got my motor to fire up last night and i'm super excited to drive this thing but i've got another few weeks before it will be completed.

Did you guys use the stock intake boot to the AFM in your swaps, I'm having a huge clearence issue with this brick of an AFM, i'm currently searching options to re route but currently i've got the stock 280zx boot, afm and i've got it bent up to go out where the original fresh air tube was cut through the radiator support on the S30. I'm wondering if will have any affect if I moved the AFM up front of the radiator and mounted it there, it would be cleaner but I'm not sure if the length of pipe would affect performance, i'm not up and driving yet but i'd say mid swap, i have the wiring sorted and am currently working on fuel and air delivery.

Giggity is right JSM LOL I think it might even get a giggity goo

Guys I got it. She's alive!! Now all I have to do is spend another 20 hours tidying up. I cranked with the oil pressure sender out for a bit, verified it was feeding oil. Checked that oil was getting to the turbo and the head all is well there. So I decided to hook up the plug wires, spray in some snap and see what happened and long and behold she fired up, revved to about 2k, i heard the turbo spool up and then she ran out of combustable but WOW i'm excited. There is very minimal wiring involved but its just scary to think you might fry an ecu and a bit of uncertainty since all this was second hand said to be good. So I wanted to read and read up and the rest is behind me so now its on. I'll let you all know when its on the road and complete I appreciate you guys taking a look.

I've scaled these pictures down, they loaded fine at my house and were very clear when viewing. I appreciate any help you guys can offer. Heres what my distributor looks like. Then I have 3 plugs closest to the ecu, one is a T plug very close to the ECU. One is an 8 Pin plug from what i've read is the ignition portion with green/blue, yellow, yellow/white, black, below that row I have yellow, yellow, yellow, black. pic is below I know that i'm supposed to run switched power to the yellow wire in the first row, the yellow with white tracer is my coil trigger, the two ends are ground from what i have read but i'm not sure really, I can't find the links to anything clear as far as diagrams. the bottom part of that plug they said black was ground and the other 3 wires, yl,yl,yl not used? One plug is a smal T plug very close to the ECU, I don't have anything going to it, wire colors are green and not sure blue I think i've read people ground it i've read peope send power to both sides who knows. The other plug has a few blank spots in it but has quite a few leads, one I have traced continuity to another pin as ground on the other what i call "ignitino plug" I havn't tried to do anything with it at the moment. My engine does not have a crank sensor behind the crank pulleys it seems to be the one on the distributor. I have read as much as I can on the post with yadamnfools write up but most all of it refers to an 81, most links are dead and i'm pretty sure what i'm working with is an 82 or 83, I have all the factory molded plugs wired up for the knock sensor, head temp sensor, AFM, distributor, injectors, air regulator on the manifold, and the two plugs for the vacuum solenoids, all grounds are grounded. I'm at the portion where i'm running jumper wires to see if I can get the ECU to light green, and get spark. I have traced wires to find constant hot and ignition hot to jump wherever I need. I have my starter wired up into my old 73 harness, it will crank the motor over, i've previously wired in the alternator upgrade from a zx so it is done with the diode etc and was funtional before the swap. I have not run any power to my coil yet but will when I know the ecu is good and powers up. I'm very understanding if people act like I want to be spoon fed but i've spent 3 days trolling and trying different things very reluctant to send 12volts somewhere it isn't supposed to go. I've printed diagrams, i've read and read. i'll take whatever tounge lashing dished out. I really appreciate anyones help and time pointing to good links or documents for the 82-83 S30 swaps.

what year is this harness, i typed up some questions last night, 20 people look but no one replied so i'm on my own it appears.

I guess its dead I've been trolling for 2 days and I can't make sense of any of it, each harness I see pics of is already hacked up, many post conflict eachother. I'm in the middle of an 82 zxt swap into a 73 and i'm scratching my head at the moment. I don't want to splic in power on the wrong wires and backfeed voltage trying stuff so as of now everything is plugged in to the factory plugs on the engine minus a few and i'll keep reading

Anyone have a new link for the write up that youdamnfool did? The link seems to be dead at the beginning of the topic.

So the stock systems by design recirculate the boost I guess because the stock valve is downsteem from the throttle plate? Hvae any of you guys ran a BOV that vents to atmosphere and did you notice any greater boost lag with an intercooler set up and BOV?

I never get tired of seeing an orange 240Z. Love it. Get that thing running!! It wants to go.......... just look at it.

Nice Z. Thats a pretty good buy for not having to do the work, or source the parts. The car looks pretty clean. How is it holding up underneath?

Heres a good side shot, clean car.

Here's my buddy's car, its a pretty nice V8 swap, arizona z car rear subframe, q45 diff and an LS1.6 speed Pulls nice. All the gauges work, look factory. Recaro seats, nice car I thought it might get someone motivated. It did me, i've got one corner rebuilt on my Z 3 more shocks to go. The fish eye looking pics were took with my GoPro Hero2, it kind of makes pictures look funny.

Did you get any idea how much he's asking for these? Most people mount regulators where they can bolt them up solid (firewall, fender well, frame rail etc) and can easily run fuel line too. Gollum is 100% right, you get what you pay for.

I'm pretty confident it will be a better motor if you shipped it to rebello. How is this build coming along?

AGM's are sensitive to charge voltage being that they can't vent but are the best for the application as they will never drip battery acid. I use lead acid batteries, Deka brand, 624mf part number. I've thought about AGM batteries but the auto group sizes are steep.

I've done the alternator swaps with 3 years no issue by simply cutting the stock alternator T plug off, wiring a diode to the proper ign terminal and jumping the sense wire right to the battery stud. I left the stock regulator and everything plugged in on the main harness on both my cars. My ammeter works and has worked the past 3 years no issue. Both are 1973, same charging system on the 260. Much easier simply wiring a new plug configuration. My first z 3 years and my second z going on a year. Your battery drain is your alternator wiring configuration most likely Tony D, you have your constant hot to the ignition terminal and its sucking the battery down. I had this issue also at first.

I'm in search of a coil, with bracket, and coil igniotor along with that portion of the wiring harness for an L28ET. I know I could fab something up but i'd much rather just have it plug and play as it is a car i'm getting running to sell. I appreciate any direction you can steer me in as a few companies i'm not naming want an organ donation price for them. Regards, Mike L

I'd worry more about finding a good chassis, then finding the engine set you want. Be patient. A good base to swap into is far more important than whats powering it. These cars did rust, some rusted on the way over here so finding a good chassis is the biggest part of the battle in my opinion. 280z not so much but 260z and 240z not rusty is hard to find at a reasonable price. Are you sure you want a Z? Why do you want a Z ( I don't know who wouldn't) but ask yourself all of these questions before hand. They are what I like to refer to as a "RAW CAR". No power steering, very few creature comforts just raw mechanical greatness. I had S13's built up years ago, way before the drift scene blew up in the US, they both had RB20's in them, Again I can't stress this was AWHILE ago, say 1996-97. I loved the cars, however as soon as Fast and the Furious came out the uniqueness of them went away and everyone wanted drift cars. I didn't like it so I sold them all. Now I see S13's every day with turbo motors but I don't see any Z cars on the road on my daily grind and I like that uniqueness. I bought my first Z knowing nothing about them, who Datsun was made by or anything. Its rusty, i've got it patched together almost looks rat roddish. Knowing now what I know I never would have bought that car. I'm glad I did though I was much more choosy on the second one I bought. I bought a second one cheaper than I could have done the body on the first one. Just some food for thought. Regards, Mike

Anytime I've shipped them, I built a small JIG. I used the metal parts of the motor mounts that bolt to the block they bolt to the mount on the crossmember by two bolts. I cut some boards at angles and screwed the motor mounts to the boards and it sat on the pallet very similar to how it mounts in the car. Worked great on the last one I got shipped here from florida. It keeps the pan from getting beat up. So basically it sits likes its mounted in the car but on a pallet. I used two of the transmission bolts on the back of the block bolted through wood supports so it wasn't "laying" on the pallet at all. Then finished with criss crossed ratchet straps and it was solid as could be. Use good wood though, not some pine or something it will fail. Don't ask me how i know.