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280z 5.3 Turbo Build


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I don't know if you want any suggestions, but here is one.  I regret having put my line lock solenoid in a place that is difficult to get to.  I had to rebuild mine for a bad O-ring at 1 year of use.  You want to be able to get to all the fittings and that nut on the bottom in order to service it.  I really boxed mine into a corner behind the left cylinder head and the firewall.

 

I stopped by the drag strip this Saturday just to try to pick up a set of drag radials for my coming land-speed blunders.  There were Mustangs and Camaros running LOW 4s.  One car went 197 in the 1/8th, although most were in the 150 range.  On 275-series drag radials.  Crazy.  I just made an offer on another chassis-some time in the next 10 years I'm going to make a turbo car with a back-half.  I've never seen machines that fast.  Lots to learn.

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Its pretty serviceable actually. Thats why I'm going through the trouble of bulkheads, rather than just blowing a hole an using a grommet. Everything will be bolted down too, so it won't squirm when you put a wrench on it.

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Just been reading your build and want to know if you moved the engine closer to the firewall? Looking for

some extra room up front. If you could post a picture from above the completed, mocked-up engine bay it would be

much appreciated.

One thing I did notice...on your transmission cross member...the pass. side frame tabs looks very thin. You might

consider plating it top/bottom. Hard to tell from the pic. if there are plates on top. Hard launch/sticky tires

might just rip those tabs right off.

Good luck, warmer weather is even here in the northeast.

 

B&G

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Just been reading your build and want to know if you moved the engine closer to the firewall? Looking for

some extra room up front. If you could post a picture from above the completed, mocked-up engine bay it would be

much appreciated.

One thing I did notice...on your transmission cross member...the pass. side frame tabs looks very thin. You might

consider plating it top/bottom. Hard to tell from the pic. if there are plates on top. Hard launch/sticky tires

might just rip those tabs right off.

Good luck, warmer weather is even here in the northeast.

 

B&G

 

Engine is in the JCI location. It could go back another inch or so, but that would eliminate the possibility of taking the bellhousing off the engine, with the clutch on. Thinking of clutch change in the future, without pulling the engine.  

 

I'll post plenty of pictures once stuff starts going back in.

 

There isn't anything on the passengers side other than those two tabs.... yet at least.  I agree its thin (vertically), but I am keeping that area open for fuel line routing. I'll do something to beef up that area, I'm just not sure what yet.

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Put a couple supports in last night. Probably not the 100% best placement, but its about as far forward as I could carry them without a slight bend in the tube. Either way, it should be a good improvement.

 

IMG_20140408_195857_079_zpsqc9cc8ak.jpg

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I did the same on mine but didn't plate it. I thought about intersecting that bar with one coming down from the top inside corner of the A pillar to sort of make an upside down T, but I was getting tired of welding on all the while I'm at its and just moved on.

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Shouldn't that brace run the other way? Would be 10 times more effective that way.

 

I guess I'm not sure what you mean.  I'm only copying what I've seen done on others' cars.

 

Somebody is suffering from the "while I'm at its."

 

Sad but true

 

I did the same on mine but didn't plate it. I thought about intersecting that bar with one coming down from the top inside corner of the A pillar to sort of make an upside down T, but I was getting tired of welding on all the while I'm at its and just moved on.

 

I'm definitely tired of welding.

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Finished up the engine bay body work this weekend. Little bit of mud, lotta bit of sanding.

 

IMG_20140412_194629_344_zpsa2pdjsu1.jpg

 

First coat of paint is on.

 

IMG_20140412_211840_501_zpsy1dutnve.jpg

 

Also got the inner fenders prepped, cleaned, etched, and washed. Whew. Ready for POR 15 tonight. (figured I'd give it a day to fully dry)

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  • 2 weeks later...
Work has been really busy lately, and I was travelling last weekend for the holiday so progress has been slow.

 

I had a friend clean my heads in a parts washer at his work, then I started to clean them up some more.

 

You can see here how the casting was still pretty dirty after being washed.  I used a nylon cup brush on them (not the decks) and it really cleaned up nice.

 

IMG_20140422_190108_768_zpsnzkpffjs.jpg

 

Also cleaned the valves using a scotch brite pad.

 

Before / after

 

IMG_20140422_214654_873_zpsaggqazjy.jpg

 

They all cleaned up pretty nice.

 

I also POR-15'd my engine mounts, trans mount, lower intercooler mount, and crossmember.

 

Cam should show up today, completing the puzzle for the 5.3.  I'm hoping to get the cylinders honed and that baby together this weekend.

 

Fuel tank is at the welder getting sumped, and the IC pipes are getting welded.

 

I'm hoping to get the seat brackets built sometime this week, along with a new diff mount that's a little beefier than the last one.

 

Driveshaft should be here at the end of next week, and hoping to go to the cage builder sometime soon...... waiting on a phone call.

 

 

I'm 90% done with the engine bay, and ready to start installing things. Just a couple areas I need to seam seal and paint!!!

 

 

Should be able to make some good progress, and possibly even be making smoke by the end of the weekend.

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PHOTO DUMP

 

Test fit the new seats.  Corbeau FX-1 Pro's

 

The tranny tunnel has to be modified to make these fit, as there is (was) a large hump for the catalytic converters on the 280's.

 

IMG_20140415_231409_301_zps7m8vxsqh.jpg

 

Hump shown here with the incision made.

 

IMG_20140416_210005_275_zpsi7jfwsvw.jpg

 

Beating / forming

 

IMG_20140416_214915_286_zpsx817acvd.jpg

 

All welded back up. Didn't have to add any metal, it went back together pretty nice.

 

IMG_20140417_200806_817_zps5k26rneq.jpg

 

Modified my crossmember for a little more downpipe clearance. Don't have the completed pictures yet....

 

IMG_20140418_092515_292_zpsqdeq2lxo.jpg

 

Started building my new coil bracket for the pass. side. This should get the coils up high enough for me to snake plug wires through.

 

IMG_20140423_222803_767_zpsykqcmkwy.jpg

 

Drilled / tapped the hat on my wastegate for the Holley pressure transducer.

 

IMG_20140405_182842_537_zpsygcyx9ue.jpg

 

Drilled / tapped intake for several things. Here's the Hobbs switch that will be turning on secondary fuel pumps.

 

IMG_20140402_204540_384_zpsut0bbklb.jpg

 

Pic from the fabricator doing the fuel tank sump.

 

2014041995144107_zps8dpc9f2w.jpg

 

Thats all for now. Really looking forward to the weekend.

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That's a cool spot for a hobbs switch. Is your ride going to be finished for KC2K14?

 

Well I'd hoped to have it done by May 1. The guy building my cage has been unbelievably slow, and hasn't even given me a concrete date yet.

 

I'm just hoping to get it done soon, with the real goal being Drag Week in September. Sigh.

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Who is going to be doing the tuning on the car?  Joey @ Excessive Autosports here in Sioux Falls, SD, has a huge amount of experiance tuning E85/E99 LS engines had all my Subaru work done on his AWD dyno. 

 

This project looks like an extream amount of fun/headaches. Ill be down at KC2K14 hope to see it down there if you make it.

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