280zcar's 78 280z LS1/T56

[SleeperZ]

Is that a rocker stud that broke?

 

Your car looks very nice, I really like the silver. How did you do your grille? My bumperless '78 needs something like that in front. It looks ragged without anything.

[SleeperZ]

duplicate, sorry

Edited May 7, 2010 by SleeperZ

[Kevin.pk]

Yep, that's my rocker stud from cylinder 1 intake. I haven't delve into it much, but at first sight i'm not quite sure what went wrong. There was no damage to the actual rocker or the pushrod. I just pulled the valve cover and the rocker and broken stud were just lying there.

 

My grill is actually really simple. It's just two 280z grills welded together by a small connecting bracket on the backside. On the lower grill, I just cut off the ends of the top bar where they normally would have been up by the turn signals.

[Kevin.pk]

I got the Rocker stud situation remedied. I was kind of close on the pushrod measurement with ones I already had so I tried to get away with them... lesson learned. I didn't feel like buying news ones at the time. Oh well, correct pushrods installed now and also got longer rocker studs installed as well. The old ones gave me about 3/8" of thread engagement with the poly locks, and now I've got somewhere around 1/2"-9/16" of engagement. Driven the car a few hundred miles and no worries as of yet.

 

My next mini project, at some point this summer, is welding some v-band clamps in place of the standard 3-bolt flanges at the headers. The flanges on the downtubes(?) are bent up and I'm tired of exhaust leaks.

[lawsonmahoney]

So are you still thinking about putting in fog lights?

 

Great job on your car, it's beautiful.

[Kevin.pk]

So are you still thinking about putting in fog lights?

 

Great job on your car, it's beautiful.

 

No immediate plans for fog lights. I know I talked about it in the beginning. I think I am just going to get a 240z bumper to finish out the front end of the car.

[Kevin.pk]

Deconstruction of a "VERY poorly installed roll bar."

 

I came to the conclusion that my roll bar was most certainly not safe and probably did little stiffen the chassis with its current attachment points. Basically it was dead weight. When I welded it in, I was younger and dumber. I never even placed a seat in the car to see how it fit in relation to my head. I was more concerned about placing the hoop in line with the B-pillar . Well to put it simply, while in normal driving position,my head was resting on it. A shorter person may have been able to get away with it, but I'm 6'4" and need every inch of head room I can get..... so out comes the trusty Sawsall/plasma cutter/cut-off wheel/air chisel.... yes I used all of them at some point or another.

 

The goal was to preserve the main hoop so that I could weld it back in at later date(of which I'm not even sure if its safe to do so) Mind you this is one of those S&W roll bar set ups and when i first welded it in, I didn't actually cut off any of the hoop. I dropped it in the seat belt pockets/buckets and welded away and just put a plate around the bar and not under it. Did I mention I was young and dumb when I installed this thing?

 

 

 

Here is removal stage 1.... Using a plasma cutter in need of maintenance.

 

I managed to cut out the passenger side with the plasma cutter before it completely crapped out.

What I later realized, Is that I also welded the bottom of the hoop to the seat belt bucket..... fun.

 

 

 

Stage 2... Sawsall.

 

By far the easiest part of the whole ordeal.

 

The "harness" bar came out as well as the two tubes going to the hatch floor.

 

 

You might ask yourself why I quoted "harness" bar. For one, I had no harness attached to it. I guess I could have called it a cross bar just as easily... but... I welded 3 separate bars together to drop the "harness" bar back for seat room. So in reality the most accurate term would be "Cross bars" which seems awfully confusing given the circumstances. This use of the Cross bars made it possibly to full position my head into the roll bar.

 

here's a pic of it from way back when.... as well as some pretty disgusting welds.

 

 

 

Unfortunately I didn't take any pictures of the other side in the "deconstruction phase."

 

Everything that I attempted on the passenger side, I learned from, and quickly forgot everything I had attempted. The driver's side was 15 minutes with a cutoff wheel and 15 minutes with a air chisel and it was all removed with half the carnage and 1/4 of the swearing.

 

 

The current state looks like this... (This plate is temporary until I figure out exactly what I am going to do with this mess.)

 

 

 

In the mean time, I took the harness bar and chopped of the ends. The resulting bar was cut down to length and my new rear strut bar was born.

 

 

I actually feel like this single bar has made my chassis stiffer than the whole thing I had welded in previously.

 

END NOTE:

 

If you are going to do something do it right the first time. Either pay someone to do it correctly, research enough until you are capable of doing it, or don't do it all, because it absolutely sucks ripping something like this out.

Edited October 7, 2010 by 280zcar

[heavyweight280]

what type of front air dam is that? I have seen it on a couple cars, but don't know name or where to find one. I like it a lot though

[19762802+2]

what type of front air dam is that? I have seen it on a couple cars, but don't know name or where to find one. I like it a lot though

 

You could have searched Air dam and found your answer but Its a MSA or Motorsport Auto air dam, Check out their site and you will find it.

[Kevin.pk]

Taurus Fan Install

 

 

The parts:

 

 

• 
   
  
• 2 speed fan from 1995 3.8l Taurus
  DORMAN Part # 620101 From Rockauto $94.79
  
   
  
• BMW 80 / 88* C (176/190*F) dual temp switch Part # 61318361787 OR BMW 91 / 99* C (195/210*F) dual temp switch Part # 61311378073
   
  
   
   
   
   
   
  
• 94-97 850 Volvo 2spd Fan relay.
  part # 1398845
  
   
  
• JTR Water temp sending unit bushing/adapter
  http://www.jagsthatrun.com/Pages/Parts_BMW-WatTempSending.html
  14mm x 1.5 to 3/8 NPT
  
  

 

 

Wiring Schematic.

 

 

You can certainly grab these parts from a Pick-n-pull and lower the cost substantially more. You could also grab the connectors for the volvo relay and the fan switch too.

 

The fan switch connector can be bought new directly from BMW. http://www.bimmerfest.com/forums/showthread.php?t=43317

 

I ended up grabbing a Volvo Relay from a junk yard because I wanted to use the original connectors.

 

Here are the install pics. I am about 90% done at this point. Still need to get some wire loom, clean up the outside of the Volvo relay and waiting on the fan switch adapter from JTR before I call it done.

 

I had to do some minor trimming to the fan shroud to get around the Water inlet and outlet on the radiator.

 

I just Zip-tied the relay to where the coolant overflow was originally mounted. There are two small slots on the back of the relay that zip-ties fit through perfectly.

 

I tested it by just grounding out the two connectors at the fan switch and both speeds work great. Now I just eagerly await the fitting from JTR to road test it all. Initially the Fan switch will get its temperature reading from the intake manifold. The plan is to have a 3/8 NPT bung welded to the radiator end tank the next time I have the radiator out. That will help minimize the wiring and hopefully give a slightly cleaner look.

Edited January 7, 2011 by 280zcar

[Kevin.pk]

Finished Install pics. I got all the wires covered in wire loom soldered, connected, and tested.

 

Like I mentioned Earlier, I have the temp sensor mounted to the intake but it is at the back of the intake and the coolant dead heads at the sensor. I don't know if its a lack of flow around the sensor or just the time it takes for it to reach temp in general but the switch doesn't kick on until around 220 degrees. I may be moving the sensor to the radiator end tank sooner than I planned. IN the mean time I may just hook up a switch to ground out the sensor and turn on the fan if the temps creep too high in any kind of traffic.

 

Here is the sensors location at the back of the intake. It was just a convenient location since the port there was already 3/8 NPT. I'll probably move it to the cylinder head with a 1/2 to 3/8 npt bushing, to see if that has any effect on the indicated temp that the fan kicks on at.

 

 

Here is the Volvo relay with the wiring loomed up.

 

 

and the last section of wiring loomed up and zip-tied to the fan shroud.

 

 

Taurus fan impressions: THIS THING REALLY MOVES SOME AIR! My temps plummet the second it turns on. Works much, much better than the chrome junk I had previously.

 

 

 

Lastly, I installed a dome light in the interior.

It's actually out of a 1996 saturn. The saturn was my daily until a few weeks ago when the engine decided to die after 10 years of service. I sold off the remaining "carcass" but kept a part of it to live on in the Z.

 

I had to make a small slit in the dome panel and cut the "lip" where the original dome light inset slightly.

The dome panel is covered in headliner material.

 

 

 

 

Next project I have been working on is the install of power door locks and alarm system. I had them in my last Z and they were a simple enough install in a 76... this 1978 is proving to be considerably more difficult mounting the door lock actuators.

Edited February 2, 2011 by 280zcar

[Kevin.pk]

Well I finally grew a pair and cut up my Autometer tach and installed it in the stock gauge cup as well as added turn signal indicators LEDs.

 

I followed instructions from bjhines write up. http://forums.hybridz.org/index.php?/topic/63713-mounting-autometer-5-tachometer-like-stock/

 

Finished product.

 

 

And the LEDs lit up.

 

 

I've also been working on installing the Power door locks and keyless entry. I should have that project buttoned up here pretty soon. That project managed to snowball into removing excess wiring from the rear harness and covering the wiring with wire loom.

Edited February 16, 2011 by 280zcar

[RebekahsZ]

Sweeeeet freakin' car! Can you put some pics of your exhaust system on the forum and send me a pm with them? Are you happy with your current system? How loud is it? I'm putting a LS2 in my 240z and your plan sounds pretty good. How loud/quiet is it? I ran a straight thru 2.5" borla on my L24 and I loved the way it sounded, but I couldn't hear my radio very well. Will be running straight exhaust electric cut-outs on my z for the track, but in town it might be nice to hear the radio every once in a while...

[Kevin.pk]

Thanks for the kind words.

 

I've actually got the car all apart so I can take some decent pics tomorrow of the full exhaust for you. I think my biggest gripe about the current system I have is ground clearance. The muffler I have tucked under the drive shaft just hangs too low for how low I have the car. I'd probably get some smaller bullet style mufflers and a proper y-pipe in place of the single center muffler.

 

As far loudness/sound goes, several of my friends thought it sounded too quiet at idle but when you get on it it's plenty loud.

 

Here are a couple videos...

 

 

 

 

[Kevin.pk]

here are couple pics of the full exhaust as well. There are number of things I would have done differently now in hindsight. The center muffler hangs down too low, there should have been a flex joint added in, as well as a flanged section somewhere to make removal a little easier. The bends going into and out of the center muffler are really tight. Two separate bullet mufflers with a y pipe could have given a lot more flexibility in directing the piping for less bends. Part of the tight bend on the driver's side was caused by getting around the 700r4 transmission pan. Lastly, next time I'll definitely have it done up in mandrel bends....

 

 

 

 

 

 

This is what I mean about the center muffler and ground clearance issues..... The car was much higher up when I first had the exhaust done and it wasn't an issue at the time.

 

 

I also went ahead and weighed the full exhaust.... I realized it's fairly hefty at 47lbs.

Edited April 16, 2011 by 280zcar

[Kevin.pk]

So a few months ago the Z caught on fire.

 

It was a brief fire but it managed to pretty much destroy much of the wiring along the fire wall and any plastic and rubber in the same area. Limited damage, but enough for me to yank it all out and repaint.... gather my thoughts... and then dive into another engine swap... lol

 

Before fire:

 

 

 

After Fire:

 

 

 

 

 

I haven't had much motivation to work on the car in a while but here's what few things I have done.

 

Burn Victim removed:

 

 

 

The engine bay is going to be repainted. I'm still undecided on color. Thinking of going Black instead of body color this time around... there is a chance it could end up white or grey as well...

 

I've started to prep the firewall...

 

 

Driver's side of engine bay....

 

 

 

I've got the old engine torn out and The new block mocked up. Still need to finish up the mounts.

 

 

The passenger side mount is a rough draft of sorts.... it;s actually just a cut up stock L-series bracket with a piece of angle iron welded on to bolt it in place on the cross member. That single bolt won't be the only attachment point....rough draft.

 

 

The drivers mount is about 50% done. It needs the "pedestal" that attaches to the block. The lower half where it bolts to the cross member and the t/c box is already done. A boxed in section will go up to the bolt sticking out of the rubber mount on the block.

 

 

 

Things have already snowballed... "while I'm at it" has struck.....

 

I decided to scrape off the fenderwell's undercoating..... going surprisingly smoothly... so far

 

 

 

The car is a long way from returning to the road, but I'm really in no rush.

Edited July 2, 2011 by 280zcar

[Kevin.pk]

Not much progress but...

 

pics of undercoating removal from fender wells.

 

 

 

 

[emeraldlion]

That post burn pic is painful, Looks like decent progress though. Can't wait to see more.

[Kevin.pk]

I've got about 95% of the Undercoating scraped away from the wheels wells. Need to do some minor rust clean up on the driver's side and probably going to cut out the battery box and weld in some new sheet metal too. I haven't fully decided whether I might do some stitch welding while I've got everything torn apart and cleaned up. I know I certainly won't do it later if I don't do it now.... and the "while I'm at it" disease rears it's ugly ahead again... lol

 

Driver's side.

 

Passenger Side

 

 

I also managed to pick up a LS1 F-body oil pan. I've got clearance at the front crossmember so now I just need to finish up the driver's side engine mount which is already in progress.

 

[Kevin.pk]

oops... double post.

Edited July 28, 2011 by 280zcar