chipndip829 Posted December 16, 2015 Share Posted December 16, 2015 (edited) Hey everyone, My names Chris, I acquired a 1976 280z just over a year ago. The motor was in tired shape, it had a cam on it but all the valves were bent. I swapped the head for a stock cam and wired up a megasquirt system. It ran alright but it never made tons of power. I saw that a few people were putting RB's into z's and thought that would be a cool swap. Keeps it in the family. After building a whole new l28 to have the head gasket go, it was the final straw. I would start in swapping the RB despite the cost and time. I've created this thread to document progress. Here she is when I picked her up from the PO. As you can see it has the MSA bodykit on it. Update 1 - More pics!! So a bit of a background, I picked up a motor from JDM engine depot down in NJ. The motor I received failed a leakdown test. Initially diagnosed it as a head gasket but upon further tear down it had 5 leaking valves. They said the warranty was only intact if the head was on. To me it was worth a rebuild as you never know what the engine went through in its past life in Japan. Here are some pics from the machine shop The new engine will contain the following King main + rod bearings Cometic headgasket CP pistons Manley Rods ARP headstuds ARP mainstuds ARP rod bolts N1 oil pump HKS fine tune belt new tensioner + pulley new water pump I also ordered my oil pan from PAT1 and patiently waiting for it to come in. I've heard really good things about him. I went for the whole new oil pan option. I kinda cheaped out on my motor mounts and went with the CXracing kit. They aren't as bad as I expected. I'm unsure if I will run it for long after the install. While waiting for the engine to come back, I decided to mount the transmission. It fit really nice without any cutting needed. Next up was the fuel system. Although it is a 280z with fuel injection, I may want to run more power down the line. This is my rigged up system. It is an aem 380lph external with -06AN supply and return lines all the way. I used a aeromotive fuel pressure regulator you can see mounted on the firewall. I modified the original fuel pump mount. I cut and rewelded the end as to provide a little bit of protection for the lines. There is no 220v line in my garage so any welding past flux core can't be done. I am hoping to move into a shop in the near future. Edited December 17, 2015 by chipndip829 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NCchris Posted December 16, 2015 Share Posted December 16, 2015 Nice looking car. Hope the rest of it is as good as the outside looks! chris Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.