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my 550$ 280zx na to turbo adventure


col10see

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Hi everyone!

Newer to the forum but so far I am pleased... so the story starts, I have always wanted a 240z just for the looks mainly, so cool, just bad without trying. But living in utah good luck finding one not rotted out completely for a decent price.... any way I found this beauty in reasonable condition, just "not running" for 650$, I looked at it twice and then offered 550 cash the seller took and thus the adventure had begun...

 

It would start and immediately die and not start again for a few minutes... after chasing wires for a few weeks I found nothing odd... but then I got bright idea to clean the grounds... even though they looked ok. Vrooooom she started right up. REALLY! THAT WAS IT! I was so excited! I got the wife and set out for a ride and to fill it with some fresh gas. On the way back I got on the gas and what do ya know it died not to start again until after we called a friend to tow us home. As we were trying to figure out how to push it up the driveway I thought, maybe ill try to start it up.... it started right up as if there was nothing wrong. This same thing happend about three times and after a little research I came to the conclusion it was the black box, the ignition control unit. I ordered a new one and the problem was solved.

I smog tested it, it passed easy!

 

With more driving time came my want for more power! I decided to go to a turbo.

 

The order/do list:

Non webbed non egr intake

Stock Turbo manifold

Turbo injectors

Oil line

Oil fittings to branch off oil psu

Weld in oil return bung on oil pan

Oil return barbs and hose

Silicone fittings for intake

Blow off valve

Bov adapter

Intercooler

Intake tubing

Edited by col10see
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I decided to lock my dizzy advanced. But didnt take a pic of it after:( this it the position I welded it. I used a tig welde and used some 1/16 308L stainless filler rod because it will not rust but still melts with steel. And the tig has no spatter to worry about.

post-38288-0-34193000-1367071534_thumb.jpg

 

I also had to build my own downpipe dr gas provided me with a 2.5 mandrel bent U to cut and weld. I just used a holesaw to cut out the o2 bung from the pacesetter headers I had and welded it into the new dp.

 

post-38288-0-39183900-1367071803_thumb.jpg

Edited by col10see
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Got the return bung on the pan and painted it up. I want to paint the car this color but I would rather not rattle can the whole thing.

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Here it is with the hose attatched

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And how I have it hooked up till I get the intercooler hooked up

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I started it and set the timing to 24*..

Then I took it out for a spin, holy crap what a difference! And that was on five cylinders? Cyl 1 fuel injector was plugged so I purchased a new one and replaced it. Wow even more power duh one more cyl... I cant believe how much low end I still have and the turbo hits hard at the power band great! I love the sound. Like a semi on the freeway.

 

Ive heard people running 13 psi no problem intercooled is this true? What deg adv recomended? Also what

About using a turbo afm with the turbo injectors, is it plug and play like the na? I run rich at wot under boost but also cruising for the most part I can get it idealish sometimes.

Edited by col10see
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Lol at Jpipe made of silicone. Nice DP, what kind of turbo are you using? Turbo AFM will not work with an NA ecu. I would not do anything more than 10psi without some kind way to really tune the car, or even the stock turbo stuff. 

 

Do you have pics of your car? interior and exterior, action shots etc.

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Lol at Jpipe made of silicone.

 

Do you have pics of your car? interior and exterior, action shots etc.

Lol, right so ghetto but it will do till I cut the hole to run the ic tubing on the other side

 

Good to know ill keep it at 10.

 

Action shots... I wish someone could have recorded it or I had the go pro when I spun off the road in january in frosty road conditions showing off for a kid who had never seen a 280zx started fine put it in second and gunned it. Next thing I knew I was sliding sidways looking the face of the kid...oh sh**! oh sh**! oh sh**!!! I let off the rear tires hooked up and I spun the other direction off the road, up a snow banked curb right in between two electrical poles... that would have been a solid action shot.. hope I painted a good enough picture.... im going to try to find the picture of when I got it, and some other shots.

Edited by col10see
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If you locked your dizzy advanced, is not enough, the ignition box has timing curve itself, your engine must will have detonation problems, i was in the same problem with my car, for me was a little bit easy, because with megasquirt i fix it with the ignition table.

 

The heat is the number one enemy of turbo engines, the best thing you can do, is buy an intercooler.

Edited by s30red240z
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Yea that what ive read. Im only at 5 now... well holding 5 psi now! Because when I clocked the turbo I didnt adjust the waistgate right.

But yea im workin on installing the intercooler.

Edited by col10see
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Got the intercooler in.

post-38288-0-85961400-1367195117_thumb.jpg

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I couldnt get a good picture of the other side it just does a 90 behind the radiator and goes to the bov and to the compressor outlet of the turbo...

 

Oh yea, thats right, more silicone fittings. Ha ha ha

 

Heres a picture as it is today. Been rust hunting so it looks a little beat not that you can tell with the light..And I removed the door bumpers too because I think it looks better.

post-38288-0-03202200-1367197156_thumb.jpg

Edited by col10see
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well that was quick, or have you been running the silicone jpipe for a few weeks? Also the BOV should be right before the TB not right off the compressor.

 

Could you get more pics of the hot pipe? I'm sorta getting how you ran it, but I want to know how you made it through the radiator support.

Edited by BluDestiny
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Yea ive had the tubo on for a little bit. But I just the intercooler in. Just getting caught up on putting it on the interwebs when I get a chance. Yea silly cone j pipe had been run about week with no issues until the tranny went berzerk on me.

 

Next to the radiator is kinof a messy hole I should have hole sawed it but thats hindsight.

 

As far as the bov not by the compressor, Just curious why?

I figured it would be better to blow off hot air instaed of cool air so I didnt heat soak the intercooler as much... but I dont know just went with my gut.

 

I will get some more pics of the piping

Edited by col10see
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Imagine a mass of compressed air travelling through the TB. Well when you let off the gas to shift, the TB closes and it needs to be redirected. the best case would have an exit right near the TB so it gets out quick. The way you have it set up is that all the air travels back through everything right up before the turbo. Generally the compressed air will cause the turbo to forcefully stop, which is harmful to life of the turbo.

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I saw this and found it interesting were borg warners efr turbos have their bov's....

http://www.full-race.com/articles/borgwarner-efr-turbos.html

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I will probably end up moving the some things around as I clean up the piping and sillicone and get a bigger intercooler.

 

Here is a shot of the of the rest of the piping.

 

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Also I added the voodo III manual boost controller and turned it up to 10 sounds normal on reg gas so, so far so good.

Edited by col10see
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Im an idiot I left my cooling fan control switch unbolted when I put in the ic tubing. And go figure it grounded out.. I fixed the problem that it caused. But just wanted to post this in case something like this happens to anyone else...

 

 

So the switch is direct to pos+ on the battery and when I unbolted it I though I had secured it well enough... not so, it ended up grounding out on the fenderwell and now the battery wasnt charging above 12v and the dash lights were staying on as if i hadnt started the car but would turn off after like 4min and the come back on at idle... probley not even charging wile driving maybe very little. Wtf! . I checked the fuse links all good there. So I looked up the price of a replacent voltage regulator(internal I know) 100+ BUCKS at the parts store. So I looked at the price of an alternator 49$ no brainer. So I installed the new alternater and problem solved.

 

Just felt I should document it in case anyone needs the help or ideas.

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I wrapped my dp with dei header wrap back to were the flange will go for the cat so I can remove it whenever and it will make it a little easier to do exhaust work come tim to put in a 3" exhaust.

This stuff works great. Im going to wrap the manifold when I switch out the pistons.

And I am waiting for my turbo blanket to get here as well ill ad pictures of that once I get it on.

post-38288-0-38663900-1367697114_thumb.jpg

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So I tightened the afm spring about 7 cogs.And noticed a pretty big drivability difference. Less hesitation after shifts and it doesn't smell like someone is chasing me with a can of gas. And I am also getting better readings from my a/f guage I did however turn up the fuel fressure to about 36psi idle and it hits about 50psi under full boost without dropping out of rich territory under wot.

 

I would like to redirect the bov after the afm to see if this will help fight false air flow readings and help the rest of the hesitation after shifts under lighter boost or no boost. At 3-10psi, it doesn't seem to matter as I think that the turbine is spinning high enoungh that the air coming into the compressor doesn't hit a "wall" of slowed air via the slower compressor blades because of more time in between shifts and longer time with the throttle body closed.

 

If anyone has pics of how they did it or links feel free to post up....the more info out there the more it helps others too not just me;)

 

 

Also having the blanket on the turbine housing helped a lot! When it comes to heating up the intake manifold and the turbo seems to be spooling up a little faster.

I may need to cut a little off to fit around the waist gate mechanism to better hug the housing.

Pictures to come

Edited by col10see
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I would like to redirect the bov after the afm to see if this will help fight false air flow readings and help the rest of the hesitation after shifts under lighter boost or no boost. At 3-10psi, it doesn't seem to matter as I think that the turbine is spinning high enoungh that the air coming in doesn't hit a "wall" of slowed air via the slower compressor blades because of more time in between shifts and longer time with the throttle body closed.

 

 

That's not how it works, the pressure is not at the inlet of the compressor. It's at the outlet. All the pressure built is between the outlet and the TB. That pressure needs to be vented asap after the TB slams shut, which is why the bov normally goes as close as possible to the TB.

 

The rest didn't make sense to me. When you say air coming in, where is it "coming in" to?

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