(another) l28et 280z

[Jesse OBrien]

UPDATE
This shouldn't be as exciting as it is, but I feel like this is the first time I've installed a part with the intention of keeping it there. For once, I'm done removing components and get to add stuff! Excuse the crappy cellphone pic (the sun was just about to set, and it started to rain, so I just wanted to snap some progress) and the lack of a throttle body (it's in the garage, ready for install).


The other intake manifolds that will either be sold or hacked into:


I'd like to start cleaning the interior; Does anyone have any experience with the small Harbor Freight shop vac? I've been putting off buying a shop vac for awhile, and now that I'm more-or-less ready to take the plunge, craigslist is failing me pretty hard. It'd be nice to know what's under all the sediment and grime and be able to actually paint my floors before they rot through.

[bfg]

Watch out for those razor blades    How did the manifold install go? 

[Jesse OBrien]

Getting to the bottom bolts was a huge pain, enough that it prompted me to leave fhe heat shield off. I found a few more of those rusty, crusty razor blades. Its kind of amusing and kind of terrifying.

[cgsheen]

Shoulda painted that engine bay...     (whadda ya expect from a paint-shop guy)  Oh well.  You know how to pull that thing out and put it back again...

[Jesse OBrien]

If I wanted to rust-proof the engine bay, I'd have to get it sandblasted, weld up the current rust holes, then por15 it. I have 3 weekends to prep for the first hillclimb event, and anything that doesn't help me to reach that goal is just getting in the way. I mean no offense when I say this, but paint couldn't possibly be lower on my priority list right now.

 

Update

I'm on "the list". Unfortunately, the only other person who's registered in my class at this point is Steve, who consistently puts down some of the fastest times on the hill. I don't stand any kind of chance of competing with him (and if I did, I'd get kicked off the hill for not having a roll cage). I'm coming up to crunch time to decide on coilovers or not. I just don't know if I'm going to have time to assemble them and deal with all the little fiddly bits that I KNOW I'm going to end up needing. 3 weekends isn't a lot of time, especially considering the fact that I have to move.

[Jesse OBrien]

Finally moved into the new apartment. A little cleaning goes a long, long way.

[Jesse OBrien]

Moving ate up too much time to finish the s30, but I wasn't going to miss the first hillclimb event ... but I wasn't looking forward to driving the Yaris in an event. I was left with a tough question of what to do? As we all know, the answer is always Miata, so I bought a humble little NA, threw a roll bar together, put some sticky tires on it, aligned it, and spent the weekend thrashing it. Now I think I have my replacement for the Yaris.

 

 

Now I need to get ready for the next event, which is in Okemo - a high-power hill. I'd LOVE to wrap up the Datsun for that, but may be funds-limited for it. We'll see which car gets up there, it may depend on selling the Yaris in a timely manner.

[DuoWing]

I came across this thread through some searches and there's some good motivation for my Megasquirt build in here! Anyway I had a quick question about your injectors and manifold, I see you bored the injector holes out for the EV1 injectors. I've been planning on using the 440cc Bosch Green injectors which from what I can tell look almost identical, just a different color. Anyway, are you still using the nylon spacer that sits between the O-ring and the end of the injector? A quick test fit seemed to show that the injectors would fit if I removed that spacer similar to what I had to do with the SVO injectors.

[Jesse OBrien]

I couldn't get these injectors to sit inside the nylon spacer, so I ditched them. I don't imagine they're absolutely necessary anyway.

[Jesse OBrien]

All is not lost. I recently pulled it in to the shop to thrash it together.

Ditching unnecessary weight.

Rough cut to make way for more interesting things.

 

Checking to ensure that I have space for those more interesting things.

 

Everything looks good so far, but I'm waiting 'till Monday for more parts.

[Jesse OBrien]

Things are still moving along nicely, but tonight i was tearing down a spare head i have, and a black widow crawled out of one of the coolant passages on my hand. It took some effort, but i didn't scream like a little girl and try to chop my hand off. That's where I draw the line, I'm calling it quits for the night.

 

BTW; Acetone kills them.

 

 

 

 

... then hammers kill them a lot more.

[Jesse OBrien]

I finally hitched the trailer to the miata and picked up the 'fun stuff' I've been meaning to put into the Datsun. I've always been a little unhappy with the u-joint axles, the diff mounting situation, and to a lesser extent, the rear suspension geometry of the s30. I wanted something a little more burly and tune-able, so I picked up the rear end from a 240sx (s13). It's better than the s30 in virtually every way (but is a bit heavier, admittedly).

 

I'm doing some light cleaning to it now, to make sure the rust isn't too bad. Once I weld some mounting studs into the s30, I'll measure the driveshaft difference, order a new driveshaft (or maybe get the stock one elongated), and start tearing this apart for new bushings and a fresh coat of por15.

 

Getting everything aligned initially is a daunting challenge. I need to make sure the diff is pretty damn close to perfectly inline with the transmission output shaft. I also need to make sure the hub centers are where they were originally (I believe the track width will be a little wider, which is perfectly acceptable).

 

After that's all done, I need to decide exactly what I want to do for springs and dampers. I have a few ideas in that regard, but am not completely sold on any one course of action or another yet.

 

More to come soon!

[bfg]

If you happen to need a spare drive shaft I have one you can have. With winter coming my weekends should be opening up so I can likely help out more often.

[Jesse OBrien]

I won't know if I need it until I start test fitting, but I'm fairly certain that I'll have to have this one modified/replaced. I'll be in the garage almost all weekend (I have a meeting with the other makerspace people on Saturday, but otherwise I'll be messing with this).

 

I'll also need to have it modified when I swap the l28et out for a new powertrain, so this is a temporary one-season solution while I sort out the rear suspension.

 

Exhaust routing is mostly laid out (I need to weld on a second vband, and I'll have to add a Ypipe to the existing exhaust), I just need to figure out how I'm going to mount the fuel cell, and how low I can get it without ruining the potential for a good diffuser. The way things look right now, I'm not even going to want a rear anti-roll bar.

[Jesse OBrien]

It's slow going since I got the car back home, but I managed to get the old subframe out.


I have several problems with the OEM subframe.

• u-joint axles, which bind easily with minor suspension geometry changes
• Long-nose r200 differential, which has difficulty accepting a modern LSD. I've had my fill of open diffs with the Miata.
• The differential is held in place with a rubber strap - little more than a bungee cord. Does not inspire confidence.
• It's not a dealbreaker, but I'm not a huge fan of macpherson rear suspension.
• The drum brakes that come on the s30 leave much to be desired, and these are nearing the end of their life. I don't like rebuilding drum brakes, and would prefer to just swap to disks while I'm in there.
• Working on that subframe is more difficult than it should be, removing it took almost 4 hours (with all the right tools).
• Outfitting basic coilovers requires a fair amount of fabrication and $500 per corner (good dampers/springs/bushings increase this significantly).

In its place, I'm working on fitting an s13 (240sx) rear subframe. This solves all of the problems I have with the s30 rear differential.


Despite solving all my problems with the s30 rear end, it introduces a few new problems.

• I need to fabricate mounting points (I'd like to tie these in to the roll cage structure, unless there's a reason not to).
• It'll require coarse suspension tuning to get the handling consistent and predictable.
• The oem driveshaft isn't long enough to reach this diff, and has a different bolt pattern. This would be a perfect time to throw a rotary in the engine bay, but I'm not sure I'm ready to commit to that much work all at once.

[Tony D]

How on EARTH did you manage to take 4hours dropping the rear suspension???

15 drop wheels jack up and on stands

15 exhaust drop

10 pull e-brake

5 Disconnect Hydraulics

15 14 bolts

Drop with the jack, pull it out from the back....

Air tools can make this incrementally faster.

 

Access everything else clear on the ground.

 

And they're properly referred to as "Chapman Struts" in the back. MacPherson's are different and reside up front.

[Jesse OBrien]

Rust and access. I'm in an 8ft wide workspace. It's more like 45 minutes to get it up on stands, and getting to those bolts was a challenge when it got dark and I was trying to feel which socket fit on the bolt-shaped lumps of rust.

 

I'll refer to them properly now as Chapman struts. You learn something new every day.

How on EARTH did you manage to take 4hours dropping the rear suspension???
15 drop wheels jack up and on stands
15 exhaust drop
10 pull e-brake
5 Disconnect Hydraulics
15 14 bolts
Drop with the jack, pull it out from the back....
Air tools can make this incrementally faster.

Access everything else clear on the ground.

And they're properly referred to as "Chapman Struts" in the back. MacPherson's are different and reside up front.

[Jesse OBrien]

After sitting for the majority of winter (the Maita and RX-7 received most of my time, and the Datsun was crammed into the garage bay with the motorcycles so there was nowhere to work on it), I've finally circled back. There was car in the way of the rear suspension, so that had to go. I'm effectively turning the 'rear storage bins' into 'access panels' and have no regrets on that score. When the plan is to straighten and cage a car, all bets are off. "Frame" doesn't count for anything any more.

 

[Jesse OBrien]

New update:

 

I have all the suspension pickup points roughly in place, and they ended up lining up perfectly as the roll bar main hoop bases, directly behind the seats. I couldn't have placed these better if I had designed the subframe myself.

I still need to figure out how to line the differential up perfectly. I think a laser is the best way to go about it, but I haven't seen it done in person, so I'm still fuzzy on the specifics required. I suppose a plate that mounts to the differential with a laser pointer perfectly perpendicular to it should end up with the dot in the center of the transmission output shaft ... if that makes any sense. Once I have that all lined up, I can send measurements out to a driveshaft shop and I think I'll have the car moving around under power at that point.

 

... then the megasquirted l28et comes out and gets sold, and gets replaced with the engine I REALLY want in my hillclimb daily.

 

The 240sx rear track width is quite a bit wider than the front, so I'll either need some massive overfenders or I'll need a different offset for my front vs rear wheels ... or both? I've been considering going with 'proper' race wheels/tires on the s30, like the Modifieds that hillclimb with us.

 

You didn't know circle track cars knew how to fly?

 

It was REALLY nice to roll this thing back outside, even if it isn't ready to drive around.

Edited June 16, 2015 by Jesse OBrien

[Jesse OBrien]

The plan was to build the car around a bridgeported 13b (rotary out of an rx7) but for simplicity and budgeting, I decided to cheap out and go with a small block ford. I picked up a pair of short blocks, a world-class t5, and a b303, comp, and stock cam for $250. I'm still in the process of tearing down and inspecting the short blocks, but so far it looks like I'm going to need a crankshaft unless the second one is in considerably better condition than the first. One disassembled, one to go.