Triple Blowthrough Turbo

[Dat73z]

This morning I pulled the harness out of the car for looming. I'm going to depin a couple of unused connectors from the MSD harness and then I think it's good. 

 

It feels like a big day, a lot of work over a week to get to this point. 

 

Fortunately I have most of today off work but unfortunately my back is taking a beating from all this. Going to see how far I can get today. Losing patience, really want to just get it done but also done right since I'm already at the tail end. 

[Dat73z]

This morning I was able to finish looming the harness.

 

I really liked how the Tesa tape laid down. I had an oopsie on one section and the tape doesn't leave any residue but sticks to itself really well. 

 

Before I reassemble for the last time, I'm going to flush out the cooler lines just in case. I've read/heard a lot of horror stories over the years of finishing a build and some junk in the lines grenades the motor. 

[Dat73z]

Got the harness back in and verified all circuits work.

 

I ended up relooming the headlight harness with the Tesa tape as well. 

 

A couple more sub harnesses to loom in like the fans and the electrical is complete. 

 

I think I may go for a first start this weekend if time permits. Really since I took the entire car apart for this build I should put a wrench on everything one last time just to be sure, especially the driveline. 

[Dat73z]

Tonight I started buttoning up the dozen or so minor things around the car which needed to get done. 

 

One of which was the boost gauge illumination. 

[Dat73z]

This morning my wife postponed our day out to tomorrow so I went through the oil system one final time.

 

I flushed all the lines and checked torque for all fittings. This afternoon I'm going to prime the system to ensure oil is getting to the head and turbo. 

 

Lots of small details to cover before the first start. 

[Dat73z]

Out of time for today but I did manage to prime the oil system. Turbo and head are getting oil and pressure is building. I found it interesting Rebello did an internally oiled cam with spray bar. 

 

Little by little day by day...

[Dat73z]

Had an hour open up this PM so I got the surge tank off and flushed then tightened the rest of the lines. I already flushed the stainless hardlines with acetone after I pressure tested the fuel system. Last thing is to set timing. 

 

I think that's about it until my buddies can make it out in a week or two. 

 

The strategy will be to fire it up and sync the carbs, let it heatcycle/burp the coolant then fully cool down, recheck torque on all fasteners, fire it up to check everything over, surge tank on and we're boosting. 

 

There are some areas I want to make some heatshields for, like the brake distribution block on the firewall. Not sure if I want to get into that or focus on other areas around the car. Probably no more turbo updates until it's back on the road for shakedown. 

Edited June 26, 2022 by Dat73z

[rossman]

6 hours ago, Dat73z said:

found it interesting Rebello did an internally oiled cam with spray bar. 

Same setup on my Rebello built engine. He advised that I run a high volume oil pump. I also have an 8 qt oil pan. The oil temp has yet to get above ~200F.

Edited June 26, 2022 by rossman

[Dat73z]

Thanks @rossman and good info.Rebello put a pump on the engine so I assume it's good...we will see 😅

 

Counting the bottles I realized I put in 8 quarts with the big oil filter minus a small amount of oil from the turbo feed when I was testing. That gets me to the high mark of I think the 280zx dipstick...need to check the part # on that.

 

I am going to assume I'll need to dump in another quart or two for the volume of the oil cooler and lines once the oil thermo valve opens. Basically the same volume of oil as my Porsche at 10+ quarts...expensive oil changes. Now to figure out if I dump that in before or after the first start. 

[rossman]

Yah, last I checked the AMSOil I use was like $13 a quart, yikes!

 

You should run an oil temp gage if you're not already. From what I've read and my experience, an oil cooler isn't needed, especially if you're using a good ester based synthetic oil that can handle 300F without significant degradation.

[Dat73z]

Fortunately or unfortunately with the way gas prices are I'll probably only need a couple oil changes per year...

 

Yeah I'm running oil temp from the pan to a channel on my Stack integrated tach. 

 

Good info on oil temps. I don't recall why I went so far overboard on the oil system but I suspect I'm going to run into significant overcooling issues on the street. I was thinking the other day I'll probably have to go through $20 of gas just to get up to temp 😂

[Dat73z]

And after plugging in the remaining sensors for the turbo build last night it turns out the O2 sensor I ordered is incorrect. 

 

I placed an order for the correct O2 sensor and was promptly hit with the supply chain mfg backorder message ship date tbd 🤬. Hopefully I won't be waiting 6 months like I had for other pieces. 

 

I feel like this past couple of years has been a struggle to get parts but I'll take it as a sign to wrap up the things I've been putting off on other parts of the car. 

[Dat73z]

Waiting on parts and time so decided to finish up a few small projects. 

 

I forgot to post these pics earlier but I braced the rear exhaust section with an adapter bracket + hanger off the OE diff exhaust strap mount. My welds aren't the best because I had 15 minutes to do it and was rushing but oh well it's done. 

 

I also have some brackets fitup for the front bracing but I'm not sure if I want to weld it up as I'm undecided on the final driveline. I want to run a s15 6 speed with a PAR gearset 1-5 or the 1-4 in my s13 trans. Something to figure out later

[Zetsaz]

On 6/29/2022 at 6:48 AM, Dat73z said:

Waiting on parts and time so decided to finish up a few small projects. 

 

I forgot to post these pics earlier but I braced the rear exhaust section with an adapter bracket + hanger off the OE diff exhaust strap mount. My welds aren't the best because I had 15 minutes to do it and was rushing but oh well it's done. 

 

I also have some brackets fitup for the front bracing but I'm not sure if I want to weld it up as I'm undecided on the final driveline. I want to run a s15 6 speed with a PAR gearset 1-5 or the 1-4 in my s13 trans. Something to figure out later

I'd love to see some better pictures of how you have that braced. I have some rattling on mine in that area that's driving me nuts. So much so that I'm willing to get rid of the front diff crossmember altogether since I have a top mount.

With my resonator in the middle I just don't have great clearance if I drop it too far (and with the angles it has, dropping it too far leans the pipe towards the driver side of that little opening where it's already bumping.

[Dat73z]

I'll grab some more pics this weekend when I get back into it. I have the exhaust off currently to check the torque on all the rear end fasteners. 

 

With the way I have the diff and rear muffler hangers positioned, the exhaust can't move more than a couple mm in any direction even when I'm banging or pulling on it as the hangers use poly bushings. This probably also means I'll get more vibrations in the cabin

[Zetsaz]

17 hours ago, Dat73z said:

I'll grab some more pics this weekend when I get back into it. I have the exhaust off currently to check the torque on all the rear end fasteners. 

 

With the way I have the diff and rear muffler hangers positioned, the exhaust can't move more than a couple mm in any direction even when I'm banging or pulling on it as the hangers use poly bushings. This probably also means I'll get more vibrations in the cabin

 

Your "more vibrations" is probably still way less noise than the buzzing I'm hearing currently. I'm sure it'll be great!

[AydinZ71]

On 6/29/2022 at 6:48 AM, Dat73z said:

Waiting on parts and time so decided to finish up a few small projects. 

 

I forgot to post these pics earlier but I braced the rear exhaust section with an adapter bracket + hanger off the OE diff exhaust strap mount. My welds aren't the best because I had 15 minutes to do it and was rushing but oh well it's done. 

 

I also have some brackets fitup for the front bracing but I'm not sure if I want to weld it up as I'm undecided on the final driveline. I want to run a s15 6 speed with a PAR gearset 1-5 or the 1-4 in my s13 trans. Something to figure out later

Dude, it looks great! Common… don’t be so hard on yourself. The rest of us are janky amateur fabricators at best haha. Here is a pic of my chassis-side exhaust hanger near my trans mount. Typical MIG half-ass job. To be fair, I don’t have a lift 😂

[Dat73z]

It was a nice long weekend. Didn't get much done but I did button up the build a bit more since I'm waiting on some final parts which apparently are shipping from the UK because there is no stock in the US. 

 

@AydinZ71 thanks I was more disappointed because I almost cooked the part by rushing thereby ruining the SS properties which at this point I know better 😅. Your welds are looking really good, especially coming from the mig 👍

 

@Zetsaz Here's some pics of the diff section brace. On the 240z there is like a strap arrangement for the OE exhaust hanger in that area, not sure about the 280z. Basically as with most other things on this build i used some scrap 1/8 SS and cut some shapes which I welded into an L bracket. I then tacked a SS nut I had left over from the exhaust mani so I don't have to mess with that in the car. It's super solid when mounted due to the poly bushing. I also slotted the chassis side hole, so I can tighten it down last however the vbands like to settle in to seal. I can move the entire car from the exhaust with the pipes only moving a couple mm.

 

Note how I positioned the hangers, I offset them so regardless of which plane the exhaust wants to move it is constrained. It's something really simple but I've seen a lot of cars where that's not considered and the exhaust can freely swing in some direction. 

[Dat73z]

A couple of minor details I sorted over the weekend for the turbo build. 

 

I final loomed the fan harness and verified everything works as it should. I mounted the fan harness under the fan bracket so it looks tucked but still serviceable from below. Really happy with how the wiring came out, especially since I was sort of dragging my feet on it for a while. 

 

I then mounted the splash pan. Note this is another reason why I raised the radiator. I think some rads I've seen like the AZC hang way low and definitely the Wizard slightly low, probably for the later 260/280 configurations. I wanted to at least run the 240z splash pan and later the full 432r undertray so I took that into account on fitup.  

 

Finally I got a nice uniform brushed finish on all the charge piping. I was mostly bothered by all the gouges the pipes picked up over the years and from fabrication/mockup so I sanded those mostly all out. I saw some pipe polisher tools which you can buy for $200 or so with abrasives but I was hesitant to spend that kind of money on a tool I may only use once per year. So I did it all by hand and I hope to never do that again.

 

I have some Murray turbo clamps coming in this week so the pipes will be final mounted then. I didn't feel good about how the tbolt clamps were unevenly squeezing the couplers so a last minute change. 

[Zetsaz]

That's looking really good! I like the really simple tab you used for the hanger farthest back. On my old exhaust I had a hanger on the exact spot you're using for the center.

 

My vibration problems seem to be unrelated to the exhaust, however, so I'll have to check if a CV is going bad or something else is fouling. Deleted the front diff crossmember with the z car depot billet control arm clamps and the noise is identical. Can't get the thing to bump no matter how far I make it swing. 

 

Next upgrade really needs to be some electric fans like yours.