My 1974 260z-rb . The neverending project.

[mtnickel]

Ok, so maybe it's not a "never ending project" but I figure it will last quite a while! Really depends on how perfect I want to make it.

 

Well I'm glad to be starting my first vintage car project! I have reasonable mechanical skills, but these datsuns and body work is pretty new to me, but I'm doing the best I can.

Anyways,
here it is as I picked it up some 3 years ago!


I bought it as a non-running project that "has a 260z but just needs a driveshaft and a 'few' pieces". Price $3000

I was a little over-eager and didn't do too much due diligence. The body did however look very clean I thought. Interior painted, etc. Seemed like the previous restoration some time ago was at least a decent one.
It had an rb25 more or less just sitting on 2x4 blocks and basically was no where near ready to be put in. Additionally the owner had cut the engine mount towers off a few inches which makes pre-bought mounts impossible.

Anyways, it was a daunting project and due to lack of space it sat for 3 years. Fast forward to this year and I'm in a townhouse with at least a small garage and have taken to getting her up and running.

Step 1) Frame Prep.
I knew but looking that the stock frame rails were pretty dented up and would like need some beefing up. I picked up the bad dog rails.
Here are a few pics of where some of my progress.

A little chizzling led me to this....


Passenger side didn't seem too bad...



So I ventured off starting the Driverside
Cut out the damage:




Dented old rail


Also, both sides like to rust out at the very back of the frame rails:



Time to template:




Tack it in:



Prep the bad-dog rails with zinc spray on the backside:


Rail in:


A couple more pieces made and tacked in (one is out of place...ran out of welding gas).


Front of bad dog rail:




I still have to weld the rest of that side up, but since i was out of gas I went on to preping some of the passenger side:

Stripped the bottom with a needle scaler and found the previous owners patch...this was my first sign that I could be in for some surprises if they weren't done right...this one happened to be ok.


A few more pieces cut out:



Those patches will be made soon.


Here's some more investigative work.
Driverside dogleg looked pretty solid. Looking inside the rail I could see there was some old rust in there but new metal must've been put in. There was piles of junk so I ground down the pinch seems to see if I could pry it open. Looks like the previous owner brazed it on to avoid any burn throughs.


Passenger side feels and sounds solid, but that bottom left corner with the rust through the paint is certainly distressing. not sure i want to dive into this:


Here's fender well side of it...looks Ok?



More investigative work:

Driver side front rail:

[mtnickel]

Battery box after some screwdriver persuasion:


Where firewall meets battery box in wheel well:


Upper wheel well...uh oh


Looks like that fender has to come off:
Underside of Cowl...that doesn't look promising:

Another:


Lift latch...(Anyone have any idea what to do with this!? The top side looks perfect)


Fender now off:


I hate to see what's under that poorly adhering underbody that the previous restorer Sprayed EVERYWHERE.

But here it is anyways:








Anyways, that's all the investigation I've done to date. I really am not quite sure the best way to fix this last area. If anyone has tips I'm all ears. It's just it's like a sealed box and i'm not sure whats to be done as far as drainage and protecting the inside, etc. Also, what do I do in the rockers? they were repaired, but who knows how well. I'm thinking maybe just eastwood internal frame rail protection.



Heres some of the RB prep being done:

If you get an RB25, prepare to extract some Exhaust studs. These are notorious for breaking. See those little stubs on the valve cover. I think I had 5 I had to remove.


went on to preping block with some black block paint:
Cleaned
and now painted:



Add on a greddy style intake manifold and some red wrinkle paint and here I am:


Also did the timing belt and oil pan, but don't have those pics handy. I did however put up a "redneck style oil pan" thread up a few weeks back.

This is all for now guys. Hope to have more in the coming weeks. And please if you have any rust protection tips and repair tips I could really use em.

[mtnickel]

Here are other parts accumulated that will go on:

 

- RB26 injectors and fuel rail, Honda 95-2000 V6 injector resistor pack and pigtail.

- Kinugawa TD05H - 18G turbo with billet wheel and T3 style exhaust housing. Think this cost around $800. At the time they didn't have the RB specific housings, but It shouldn't affect me too much. My only concern with the turbo is boost creep. I kept it to a td05 because I wanted the ultimate in response and would be just fine with low 300whp levels.

- Luk 06-902 clutch. I believe this is listed as a heavy duty D21 clutch. Rumor has it that it has a stronger pressure plate than the z32 NA clutch and should hold my goals. Will see.

- GTR intercooler (will have end tanks modified to come straight through rad support)

- AE86 aluminum rad. Fit's perfectly and is same side in/out. picked up a couple toyota cresida (I think) mounts that match up perfectly. only issue is the inlet hose diameter is too small. will likely slide over the proper diameter and have it welded up by AL welder.

- 16x7 konig rewinds in silver (love these for size and classic look and price).

- Nistune Z32-RB converted ECU

- Shocks and springs are undetermined right now

- Full Raammat application to interior (like dynomat)

- Custom mounts made by moi. (using Jeep style universal engine mount isolators and will mock up the mounts when I align the engine)

 

That's all I can think of for now. Will keep you guys updated.

[mtnickel]

Update:

 

This is just a small small portion of the crap that falls on my face all night long...


Top of battery tray was rusted/pitted so I couldn't see the spot welds that well. Just ground off the back side and was pretty easy. Probably better access anyways.


Before:


Out (nice little pine needle collector).



**EDIT** Figured out how to get the fusible link through. 1) take off the links. 2) IT BARELY fits...Jammed by thumb pretty bad on the edge doing so, but alas, wiring harness is out. Now just a few more things to remove before I can prep the engine bay.

Trying to get down to the bare metal. Looks like the previous owner at least converted this rust (black areas seen). It doesn't sand well either actually. Going to hit the whole area with some por-15 pretty soon.


Also cut out some more rot.
7

 

Is this the best forum for even the body-work stuff? I have it on Zcar too, but not sure which are the best forums to post this kind of stuff. Just looking for any comments or tips along the way. Seriously I'm very new at this stuff.

[mtnickel]

Update (Feb 2014).

AE86 rad installed. I updated my other thread on this as well but putting it in the build thread as well.

 

Finally got around to installing this. I'd say for the budget it's a pretty good option.

I this into it:

$110 - Rad

$7 - 1 3/8" pipe ends to be welded (or JB welded) over-top of the 1 1/4" outlets

$5 - Stock toyota rad top brackets. I forget the model but some late 80's or 90's toyota. Cresida maybe?.

- Lower rubber mount from random car with rubber donut and hole (with $5 above).

 

Here are the parts in question:

 

the one Rubber donut on the left was the proper toyota one, but all the toyota mounts were welded to the chassis so I couldn't pull them. The one on the right has a match that isn't seen here. The hole was too small to fit the bottom studs. To enlarge it I took a Pulley bolt that was the right diameter, heated it up red hot with a Oxy/Ace Torch and ran it into the hole. Worked like a charm. Otherwise it's difficult cutting rubber.

 

Dimensionally it fit like an absolute dream.

First I checked how much hood clearance I had using cardboard. Once I had the rad up though it was clear that there was over 1.5" of clearance so I took the cardboard off so it didn't get in the way.

 

The upper support is a tube so I couldn't weld a nut on the underside. I resorted instead to drilling all the way through and welding studs(bolts) to hold the upper brackets:

 

The rubber donuts are seen below. I actually mounted them second. I jacked up the radiator until it was nice and snug to the top brackets. Then I positioned the lower and tacked them to the lower rad support.

 

Here's how it came out:

 

 

[mtnickel]

Made the engine and trans mounts:

Leveled the engine according to the timing belt slit. Not sure exact slant, but i was happy with it:





1/4" plate on engine (and same plate was put on the generic Poly mounts. I believe they are for old jeeps).





Getting the tilt on the engine and having it not move:





The other front support was just 5/8" plywood between the oil pan and the steering rack. Also not the wood that counter's the strap. That positions the pulley bolt exactly between the two frame rails (or maybe 1/16" of the passenger side).



Mount done from cardboard template (I wrapped my tubing to make these so I can slide them over the tubing to transfer the angles).





Then the distance between the 2 pieces was measured. Then put back on the rail to be cut:



I erred on the long side in case I needed to tweak the angles which I did.


Here is the passenger side complete:





They were only tacked but will be taken to cousin welder to be TIG'd.



Here is the 2 of them:






They actually angle forward a little bit as I wanted the engine as far back as possible both for balance and to make room for fan and rad.







To my dismay the driver side tubing was 2.5mm and the passenger side was 3.0mm tubing (somehow the scraps I got from the metal place weren't the exact same and i didn't notice till after the mount was done). Hope 2.5mm tubing is strong enough. I may add a few angles for support.



There's about 1/2-5/8" between engine and firewall and about 1/4" between valve cover and hood support.





On to the transmission mount:

There are minimal pictures of the actual driveline setting, but it's more or less just using the angle gauge and raising or lowering the transmission tail until the angles match. I got them within .1 degrees. I also used a rigged up laser system to get the left and right correct. Here's my laser which is a combination of a socket (that fits the laser) and the magnetic end of snap on trouble light. (cap not shown unfortunately. it's just an aluminum cap with an imbeded magnet) slipped over the trans output shaft but i had to put a socket on the diff not to get a nice flat surface there).



Found Center:



I ended up actually measuring where the dot was in relation to the back of the shifter opening so I could reference it when moving the trans tail.



Reinforced trans wall with 2mm plate. Here is the wall preped. Note i also cut away the original mount support. It is necessary on the passenger side (for the speed sensor) but not really necessary on the driver side here.







I drilled the original 260z mount for 2 studs (stock had 1 in the center, rb mount has 2 spaced apart). Also cleaned up the stock ears. By cutting them as close to the body as possible they retained nearly the correct taper (as the tunnel gets smaller).





Then I cut the ends off the mount:







The put it all in the car:





You can see the 2mm plate here as well as the taper. They needed to be notched in a few spots to give better clearance for the transmission webbing. The driver side mount was positioned as high as possible to allow room for the exhaust.



From here it's just a matter of making sure the tail is exactly where you want and then bridging the 2 pieces together. Also of note, I repositioned the jack under the actual mount as when the transmission weight is applied it's rubber sags a decent amount. I also had the tail about 1/16"-1/8" higher than I wanted as I assumed the stock donuts would have a little give as well. It turned out to be right on so that my angle is maintained.

Alignment of shifter...It's shifted towards the rear about 1.5" which i actually like. puts it about in line with the steering wheel and I prefer having it a touch closer. (sorry the shaft isn't on but it's similarly placed to the lower hole.





Not too much clearance between the trans vent and the stock fuel lines. This was when the trans was at the higher angle. It's probably another 3/8" lower than this now.







This was after tacking in the placement pieces:





Then after it was filled in and reinstalled:





YESSS! Finally it sits on it's own footings!!!



Removed and then painted it up all nice. Will still have to weld the ears on a bit better as well





If you have any questions just ask!

Edited November 28, 2014 by mtnickel

[zspeed22]

Very cool.  A lot of body work to clean up but what 40 year old car wouldn't.

[mtnickel]

Well hello all,
It's been a little while since my last update, but the end of spring and summer have been busy: a few weddings here and there, time off, wife keeps planning weekend gatherings :S...no time for the Z.

But alas, I've made some headway and am excited to likely be able to fire it up within the next month or so.

Fuel System:
Fabricated a sump/baffle for the EFI pickup. Didnt' really want to go through all the hassle of a surge tank/lift pump, nor did I want to have anything sticking out the bottom. This was my next best idea. In hindsight, I would have made it shorter (minimize fuel heat soak through pump), and made the inlet more tappered and possibly on the side to allow for better fuel entry into it. It should work just fine however.





Next was to replace all the vent lines. Got pretty good rates just at rock auto. Go into the universal parts area and select fuel line. They even had 5/8's and 3/4" fuel rated stuff for less than $2.50/ft I believe. Sorry no pictures, but perhaps for next update...here they all are:


Now, I was getting rid of the Vapour/charcoal canister, so that leaves 1 line not connecting to anything on the vapour tank. It attached to this device. What is, is a 3 way valve. Found it on a 94-00 integra. The line going to the tank allows for vacuum to enter freely, but at the same time it is a check valve for gasses exiting. Now, it's called a 3 way because it has a built in low pressure spring to bleed off excess pressure in the tank. More than a few PSI can cause your tank to bloat and throw off fuel pressure, so if it expands, it bleeds off (this time to atmosphere, though you could vent it to the pre-turbo inlet area if you were an environmental nut (wouldn't help when not running however).


Here it is mounted with my external walbro 255 and pre-pump filter:

The filter there is a wix 33972. 5/16" in and out and had the biggest and coarsest filter element i could find (50 micron, and roughly 2" in diameter).

Also installed an inline fuel gauge near main filter in engine bay. Thanks about it for fuel.

Next I finally got the engine bay fully painted. I tried color matching the datsun grey in a single stage urethane, but it never came out right. Instead I used samples and picked a base clear that was pretty close. Turned out to be a lexus color which has a nice exteremly fine metallic (almost enamel flat like).

Here's just the base:

and the entire bay:


Once that was done I could start on the LARGE job of wiring:
Custom injector harness to pair up to injector resistor box (using low-impedance GTR 444cc injectors).


Stripped stock harness:


Figured out which wires to keep and remove. (a generic writeup at Hybridz)
Those not used:


Getting there:


Notice the retrofitted relay box and injector resistor. Also found a cool tercel battery terminal that has 3 built in fuses. Worked a treat and allowed me to bolt up the RB's stock connector ring (for starter and alt).


I then grew tired of taking wiring pictures. But know that It is also nicely tidyed up.
- Ran coolant fan wires (and took activation signal of z32 ecu)
- converted to relay driven headlight system (through that box above).
- replaced old ignition switch
- re-used 2 s30 circuits at fusebox to run RB gear (I believe interlock 1 and 2 fuses...one wasn't even connected to anything I think because I have canadian car).
- mounted battery tray with bolting system (so I can clean under there if need be in future.

Also ported my 18g turbo turbine:
Turbine is T3 GM style. there is a 2.5" 3 bolt to V-band adapter on it.



Up next, mount the turbo and oil lines, finish fabricating charge lines. Plumb bypass valve, plumb vacuum lines, run boost gauge line, install voltmeter, fabricate downpipe, finish ground wire harness, and then FIRE IT UP!

Dropping the driveshaft off today as well.

Edited November 28, 2014 by mtnickel

[mtnickel]

Another tiny update:

Put Shifter noise/dust/etc cover on. I used the entire RB25 cover and bracket. Had to form the bracket a little to fit tunnel profile. Also had to screw in a piece of sheet metal to cover remaining gap. I also put some RTV on the bottom of the rubber in areas where it may not have had ample tension from the bracket.


Got gauges all sorted out. 280z voltmeter (couldn't find a 76' to match the 74' font, but oh well). Autometer boost gauge.
A note on the 280z gauge. Awesomely enough, I didn't even have to swap plugs. The plug pattern and clip system is the same even though they look different. I deleted the shunt resistor and repurposed the white/red wire for the 'lamp' charge light. It's not that involved. But it will help to know that the 2 black wires in the 3-pin plug are for the voltage meter. One of them has a red band (which is positive).


While it may not be readily apparent from the shot above, I actually mounted the gauge in the same plane as the other gauges. I've seen others just slide it in, but it looks out of place when it's 1.5" further forward.

I also wanted to keep the angled stock plastic for a uniform look.
I used a the amp gauge as a donor. The black metal piece shown below has a built in angle to have the gauge sit further back, but also straight. It was carefully trimed until the lip on the gauge fit inside it:


Here's an angle where you can see the width of that black angled piece:


A few dabs of hot glue to secure the gauge to that ring. Then replace the plastic lens after a thorough cleaning, slide it all together and a few more blobs of hot glue to hold it together. then just cut out the back of rear case to fit over the gauge. It actually comes to a depth that almost keeps it pinched together. I simply wedged in a piece of hard foam to keep tension. The only other issue was then to mount this. Since the illumination light is in the middle, the stock strap couldn't be used. However, there are a few extra slots and I used one slightly offset to the driverside. Then it ended up pressing nicely against the gauges mounting posts.

Also, shifting the gauges over isn't too much of a chore, simply cut a few bands of the electrical tape on the harness and move the electrical connectors over one space.

Sorry for rambling about the gauge, but I'm thrilled with the result. It also comes with a green filter to go over the bulb. The illumination had a terrible hot spot at the top, so I used some black RTV strategically on the bulb to even it out as much as possible.


Shifter Mod:
In stock location, the shifter seemed much too far to the passenger side. I cut a wedge in the bottom of the shifter shaft, but it over about 1.5" and welded it back up. Though the shifter is now slightly angled, it's much preferable to being too far away.



Picked up custom driveshaft. I had a Z32 yoke as the RB one wasn't available. Upon chatting with the driveline shop, they said there is 1 replacement joint for the Z32, but typically it's a non-serviceable part. No Circlips to disassemble it, so it needs to be pressed. They said by the time they clean up the yoke and replace joints, and balance, would be about $200. $350 for a brand new shaft instead with new slip yoke and diff flange and high quality spicer joints. Plus 12% tax here in BC, but seemed like a great deal. Pats Driveline in Surrey.


Getting closer!

 

 

What's left:

-Mount ECU to firewall

- throttle cable install (picked up a mid 90's sentra cable...likely need to mod the pedal end a bit and epoxy some studs into the firewall.

-rewire Fuel pump. Had a HORRIBLE 2+V drop with stock wiring (12.2V at battery, 9.7 at pump = SLOW). I had anticipated a little bit of a drop and would appreciate it as a way to quiet the walbro 255 with my lower power requirements, but that was just too much.

- Have fan shroud made for taurus fan on ae86 rad.

- Finish up intercooler and intake pipes.

- diff install

- fab exhaust

- ground wire harness (need a big bloody crimp)
 

Edited November 28, 2014 by mtnickel

[mtnickel]

-Mount ECU to firewall

- throttle cable install (picked up a mid 90's sentra cable...likely need to mod the pedal end a bit and epoxy some studs into the firewall.

See Throttle cable thread: http://forums.hybridz.org/topic/83248-rb-throttle-cable-bracket/?p=1124235

 

-rewire Fuel pump. Had a HORRIBLE 2+V drop with stock wiring (12.2V at battery, 9.7 at pump = SLOW). I had anticipated a little bit of a drop and would appreciate it as a way to quiet the walbro 255 with my lower power requirements, but that was just too much.

Done. Had 1 extra circuit left on my nifty tercel terminal.

- Have fan shroud made for taurus fan on ae86 rad.

- Finish up intercooler and intake pipes. Done- see end of this post.

- diff install - Diff painted, LSD installed. cover on. ready to go.

- fab exhaust

- ground wire harness (need a big bloody crimp) - All Done. Engine bay electrical completely done.

 

Intercooler and Charge pipes:

Buddy of mine finished up with welding my custom end tanks on. They feed right through the stock bulkhead fairly nicely. The 90* wall inside isn't ideal, but it shouldn't be too much of a pressure drop at the HP level's i'll run.

Mount's welded on the bottom corner. Had to also weld a little corner piece into the body. IT's isolated with a bolt and rubber/silicone.

 

If you look close here, you can see the 3/4" inlet tube welded on the bottom. This is for the IACV.

 

BOV installed. Custom Reciric tube made from the stock one.

 

Note the fake Apexi filter. I'll likely swap it in for a real one when i have the money. Dont' buy these. The maf bolt holes don't line up and I had to fill, then drill/tap 2.

 

After some reading on maf turbulence, I read that it shouldn't really be this short. Most OEM cars with MAF will typically have 16"+ of intake tubing, plus they often have 2 moderate bends.

While it may not seem logical, the turbo blades can cause turbulence. I'm not sure the details, but I believe it's due to the speed at which the wheel can turn creating eddy's as well as small pressure backups when letting off the throttle. While the BOV should relieve pressure, it isn't a perfect system and having a buffer in between is ideal.

 

Regarding the BOV, or as it should be called recirculation bypass valve, it's good to have the return pointing directly back to the compressor at a gradual angle. I went with what DSM used to do and just had the tube inside the intake and close to the turbo inlet:

The bend of the internal pipe is smooth, but the hole was cut quite oblong in the 3" pipe to allow it to sit high.

That divider plate is actually there to reduce the turbulence from the turbo blades. Its also there to support the honeycomb grid which will do the same. This will go down in the pipe.

 

Don't worry, I have one of those going into the maf as well to create a laminar/steady flow into the maf.

I'm not too concerned about any restrictions as it still should have an effective diameter much bigger than the turbo inlet (49mm).

 

 

Coolant Overflow:

Instead of buying some fancy billet unit, I just hopped over to the pick'n'pull and grabed a 1997  1990-1993 honda accord resevoir. Came with a bracket as well that has just 2 10mm head bolts. Ran it through the dishwasher a few times and mounted up in a nice spot...

 

Fuel pressure guage visible below.

Ground wire all done:

 

Opted also to paint the from air dam area with rocker guard...sorta like truck bedliner:

 

Fender Seal:

As a cheap alternative to the oem, I used a piece of black vinyl commercial baseboard for the upper frame to fender splash seal.

 

Few weeks previous I had this little milestone:

Anti-climactic open turbo exhaust first start. Didn't run too long since trans didn't have any fluid.

 

Up next:

- Fab exhaust. Fab custom heat shields/header wrap.

- reinstall bumpers/fenders/spoiler/cowl/etc

- get wideband gauge mounted...not sure where yet. Either single A-pillar pod, or on the steering column

- custom fibreglass radiator shroud

- install diff and all shafts/etc.
 

Edited December 3, 2014 by mtnickel

[mtnickel]

Diff Pics:

Japanese Xebec Helical. While it's not usually mentioned, shimming is important to both make sure the carrier bearing preload is correct as well as make sure the backlash does not change. Perhaps why it's not mentioned however is that the diffs are usually built to fairly tight tolerances? It measured within .001 on backlash as stock. Preload was perhaps a bit tighter (tough to tell on my inch-pound torque wrench), but I attribute that likely to the new bearings which weren't set in yet. Also, I've read that these diffs could have stood for a touch more carrier preload anyways (stops the diff from rocking while under heavy loads).

 

Wirewheeled the whole lot:

Primed alum cover.

 

Engine enamel for case:

 

Silver paint, and then ultra-grey RTV and she's ready to go:

Edited November 28, 2014 by mtnickel

[Nisssmo510]

Isn't painting the aluminum covet counter productive? Aluminum dissipates heat and paint would hold it in right?

[mtnickel]

Isn't painting the aluminum covet counter productive? Aluminum dissipates heat and paint would hold it in right?

While the paint may have some insulating qualities, for my application it will hardly be a factor. I don't plan to track the car at all really. Perhaps an auto-x session here or there, but the heat buildup from a  60 second run would be pretty minimal.

Also, I was cautious not to put the coatings on too thick. It was pretty rough looking beforehand with corrosion and whatnot, but now looks quite nice.

 

And really the main factor will be the insulating properties of the paint. Yes, if it was a thick ceramic paint, then it might insulate exceptionally well and cause temperatures to skyrocket. But it was just a primer and thin light silver paint. If I painted a piece of sheet metal on one side and heated the metal side with a heat gun, yes, the metal side would be hotter than the painted side, but the painted side would still certainly get hot and radiate heat as well. Perhaps not as well, but I'd think it would act as just creating a temperature differential. Say of 20-30* or something. So it's not as if differential temperatures will skyrocket under abuse from the "insulator" but more than it will just reach a slightly higher temperature.

 

Maybe I'm wrong. If I am, on the upside I didn't use heat paint, so if it really does get quite hot, it'll just flake the paint off

 

Mark

[mtnickel]

A few issues:

 

1) Clutch Slave cylinder: I went with the 85 corolla/celica one listed on a few sites as a possible retro-fit. Was only like $12 on my rock-auto order, so I gave it a go. The modifications of drilling out the holes weren't too complicated, and it did leave quite a bit of meat on the forward face of the tabs (where the force is applied). It is however a 13/16" slave, not a 3/4" like is stock. It's actually the same size as the nismo rb25 slave, but know that you will get less pedal effort, but also less throw. As such, it didn't fully engage the clutch how I had the stock pedal setup. I needed to back off the pedal stock and adjust the free play to be quite small both putting the pedal height and freeplay way out of stock spec for the Z. This allowed the clutch to fully engage but with a high pedal position. Might be useful for those with other clutch systems where more force is needed, but less through (perhaps twin disk? I'm unsure if their finger system is different, but throwing it out there).

Alternatives are the 2005 maxima slave, but I don't like this solution as it puts the bleed screw not at the top of the slave which could leave air in the system.

 

90-97 accord slave is other option (cheap <$14). It requires holes to be drilled as well, but is the correct bore. Also heard it's rod is likely too short and may need a new one made, or extend the stock one.

 

I'll probably just get OEM though as they are now available for around $40 from a few vendors (compared to the $120+ I had seen when I was looking a while ago).

 

 

Engine starts and runs like a champ. Very smooth with no knocking, ticking, or anything. Quite pleased.

 

Exhaust Fab all done:

 

Downpipe:

 

It was sprayed with zinc weld-thru primer, mostly to protect the raw welds, but decided to do the whole pipe while i was at it. Since it is designed for the heat of welding, I'm hoping it'll deter some rust/corrosion from happening. Wideband bung put in as well as far away from the outlet as I could manage comfortably. Though it is not seen in the photo, on the backside is a welded bracket that attaches to the bell housing to reduce stress on turbo and exhaust manifold.

 

Next was a flex pipe for additional flex protection.

 

Free tip: Weld the v-band flanges either bolted tight together (with clamp and spare flange), or preferably clamped to a large piece of aluminum. I welded mine a little fast without alternating around the joint and with minimal cooling and I warped them a little bit. Luckily they have a male/female notch and still seal well with a small bead of high temp rtv. 

Pic was during mock-up stage. Tip #2. Tack more than you think you might need. while removing the pieces a joint may have tweaked just a bit and caused me to have to cut and re-weld at a spot to have it fit like I wanted.

 

Carrying back to resonator:

I utilized what I believe is a stock z32 trans mount which had hangers ready to be used.

 

That goes into a vibrant Ultra-quiet 3" resonator. Sits about 3/8" away from the driveshaft. I figure if anything, the system will sag and give more clearance.

 

 

Then to another v-band that allows muffler to be easily removed...then 2 90's to get to my 3" magnaflow (12229 - 14" body, center in, offset out,5x8 oval):

 

Here it sits in the stock opening. Muffler is mounted vertically:

 

All welded:

 

Edited December 19, 2014 by mtnickel

[Scrufffy]

Looks good! Hope to see some updates!

[mtnickel]

Thanks!

There are many updates, but I haven't got around to posting them up.

 

To come:

1) I fabricated a fibreglass rad shroud to use my taurus/volvo fan. Works awesome! 

2) I got all the fenders and body parts back together

3) I got the 3-wire tach working (info is in another thread)

4) I insured it for 2 days for a few test runs! Ran fairly well. Cabin is pretty noisy without any carpet/panels in. 

Issues to sort out:

The td05h-18g I used, while spools INCREDIBLY fast, is not gated enough. The GM style turbine housing I have is lacking in both wastegate diameter and flow path. As a result, I was getting rediculous boost creep. Even with the gate arm completely disconnected, it would build 20psi of boost. Guess that's what I get for going 3" exhaust, reasonably big billet 18g wheel, and an 8cm td05h turbine. I had thought since the subaru sti guys can run the same turbo on their 2.5L without bad creep issues, perhaps i'd be ok. Well I failed to factor in that they are often running 22-25psi of boost, and the more boost you run, the less wastegate you need. I even found some guys who did have creep issues too once i looked deeper.

Likely going to see if I can get a shop to weld me in an external wastegate into the exhaust manifold. It's been done before. I wanted instant torque, but in hindsight, I think the td06sl2 20g may have been a better option.

 

Ignition:

I also picked up some GM coils (specifically D514a). I know there has been a ton of hype on the d585, and they are good, but I have also read that they have overdwell protection and if your dwell is set wrong, they will fire early wreaking havoc on your timing. So if you use them, make sure your dwell is less the 4.5ms (not 5.5 like some mention).

I was having some spark blow out even at 8-10psi of boost. I think the cause was a cracked sparkplug when i checked, but I detest misfire. The stock coilpacks (sitting in a yard for years) are likely a ticking time bomb anyways.

 

Hopefully pictures and updates to come. Things are a little hairy around here though what with the wife being 7 months pregnant and all...with our first child. (ha, after writing that; if it's hairy now, I'm in for a big surprise in coming months ).

 

Later guys

[helghast7]

Thats interesting that you've read about issues with the 585's. I've only heard of people running into issues with ls1 coils. I've seen on NICO a few people running on factory specs running better than with stock coils with no issues on 585's.

[mtnickel]

Thats interesting that you've read about issues with the 585's. I've only heard of people running into issues with ls1 coils. I've seen on NICO a few people running on factory specs running better than with stock coils with no issues on 585's.

Reference:

http://www.msextra.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=131&t=48931

http://efi101.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=6653&start=20

 

There were a few other places I read it, but can't seem to recall where. Apparently, the D514a don't have any protection and are a newer/more efficient coil (though not as hot as the 585)

[mtnickel]

Also, yes, on factor spec dwell, they will be loads better than the stock coils. On factory nissan ecu's I believe dwell rarely reaches higher than 3.5ms, so they would obviously be just fine. It was more a disclaimer not to get them, set dwell (in aftermarket ecu) to the MAX of 5.5ms like some say is fine, and then blow your engine.

 

 

Thats interesting that you've read about issues with the 585's. I've only heard of people running into issues with ls1 coils. I've seen on NICO a few people running on factory specs running better than with stock coils with no issues on 585's.

[helghast7]

Although this is a known issue, being as how ,as both you and I have come to the conclusion that this isn't an issue that we would probably even encounter. The disclaimer should be more for people heavily tuning and for coils in general, the second thread you posted showed that one person encountered 4/8 of his 514's took a dump on him. Regardless of which ls2 coil you use, unless tuning to extremes, both coils are an upgrade to the stock junk.

 

That being said, having worked in the automotive industry for many years I've never seen either coil fail aside from some freak occurrence. I've had HD work trucks with well over 200k miles on factory 585's never skip a beat and worked vette's with 514's never have any issues either. If I had to guess, I'd say the hype is simply from the affordability/availability of the 585's over the 514's since theres a lot more yukon/silverado/sierra/suburban's in junkyards. Hell I got my coils for free when my boss put another motor in his yukon haha!