TR's 260z L28 Build Thread

[redcrazzy]

I just read your entire build. I really like the way the car came out. Try to keep updating more. I need some inspiration to get my z going. :thumbsup:

[TrumpetRhapsody]

Got some stuff done on the Z this weekend. Since Branson is coming up quick, I figured I'd better start knocking stuff out.

 

About a month ago my speedometer stopped working, so I did some troubleshooting and figured out that my drive pinion had seized in its housing. Luckily they were smart enough to make the pinion's plastic gear softer than the transmissions plastic drive gear, so after picking up a spare from a local Z buddy and I was back in business. Added bonus, this one actually matches my rear end gearing, so I have an accurate speedo now!

 

While I was down there I noticed that my passenger axle had popped out of the diff by about 1/2"

I guess that explains why it felt like the diff loosened back up after about a week of driving it. Popped it back in and it feels as tight as the day I installed the new washers. I'll have to keep an eye on it, and if it does it again check the circlip to see what's going on.

 

I also installed the new metal shifter bushing Flatblack and I ordered for our trannies. My $40 ebay short throw had loosened up over the period of a few months, and I assumed it was due to cheap tolerances. Apparently the stock nylon bushing had just worn loose then dropped off, so with this new one in there it's nice and firm again.

 

Aside from that, I fixed a stripped exhaust mount bolt that was causing the exhaust to rattle, and ghetto rigged the cheap ass stereo I have in there so the face-plate doesn't lose contact with the unit anymore. Was a really nice drive this morning with all that stuff fixed

 

 

 

Before Branson I need to fix my exhaust leak, hopefully in the next few weekends I'll be borrowing a welder so I can get my flares mounted and my wide wheels on, and while I was up with that Z friend he gave me a stock windshield wiper bottle... so depending on time I may throw my methanol injection kit on and bump up the boost

Edited May 7, 2012 by TrumpetRhapsody

[ModernS30]

Hopefully I've got my z at Branson this year but my engine isn't even in the car yet! eek! See you there!

[TrumpetRhapsody]

Guess I might as well take some time for an update. I skipped Branson this year. Had a lot going on, and just didn't feel like I'd done enough on the car to warrant shuffling everything going on to make the trip. Next year will be a good year though!

I figured it was time to get my boost under control, so I ordered a JGS wastegate and had the guys here at work help me get it welded together. It was a 3 or 4 fit-and-try affair with some re-dos, but after I got my boost controller re-plumbed properly so I wasn't hitting 20psi boost cut and blowing off couplers, it held a rock solid spring controlled 15 psi. It felt amazing! Once I tweak the EBC I'll shoot for holding around 18psi for now.

I also borrowed a really nice welder about a month ago and finally got to mounting my flares. The left rear was a bit of a hack job, but I got in the groove on the right side. Left front went well, though I had to dial my caster back A LOT, which sucks. Oh well, because not real race car lol. The right front everything fell apart, and the body damage really showed. I couldn't get the flares anywhere near symmetrical and not hit the FLARE with the wheel. So, I swapped back to my skinnies and drove the Z to a bodyshop. Going to get the front end fixed once and for all, and finally start getting the car looking more legit.

Edited August 20, 2012 by TrumpetRhapsody

[TrumpetRhapsody]

Well the Z is back from the bodyshop, and the result is... satisfactory. Some of the gaps are still a touch wonky, but at least the front end is straight now! I'll probably spend some more time, or have him do a little extra tweaking before the paint goes on in the next few months. BUT, all 4 wheels/tires and flares are on, and boy does this booger stick! Sadly I had to dial the caster back to 3.8 to get everything to clear properly, but oh well. I'll get some pictures taken when I get her cleaned up more.

 

So, on the tuning front I've made some progress. I finally realized why my idle VE numbers were so low, and my high KPA's so high compared to everyone elses. Multiply map! I've had mine set to "don't" or off this whole time, no wonder I've had such a terrible time getting the car to idle properly, and this is probably why I've been getting such mediocre gas mileage. With multiply map off, 1% VE change equates to about a 12% change in pulsewidth! Once you run the equation you can see how it gives me great tunability in the upper ranges, but honestly they're less sensitive to change anyway, so turning multiply map back on and retuning will give me a much smoother idle and cruise.

Edited September 5, 2012 by TrumpetRhapsody

[TrumpetRhapsody]

Forgot to mention a fix I did a month or so ago. Without going into the whole narrative of how it happened, found out that the fusible link to maxi fuse conversion can't handle the juice long term. Either that or I just got unlucky with a not-so-solid connection to one of the fuses. My fuse block melted, and I had to come up with something better. I took this opportuinty to do a much cleaner install. I went ahead and stripped the harness all the way back to the dash connectors, and stripped out the stuff I wasn't using anymore. Shaved probably 10lbs of crap out! I replaced the maxi-fuse block with a MIDI-fuse block. These guys bolt down, and light up when they're blown. A bit hard to find fuses locally, so I'll have to keep some extras around. I also took the opportunity to re-do the stock wiring a little, beefing up the battery to block and alternator to block wiring. I couldn't believe how wimpy and bizarre the stock setup was. The electrical system is MUCH improved now.

 

Before:

 

 

After:

Edited November 29, 2012 by TrumpetRhapsody

[TrumpetRhapsody]

During a cruise about a month ago my radiator fan stopped working. After doing some checking around I concluded my e-fan had given up the ghost. I'd always meant to upgrade, so I went ahead and ordered a lower amp-draw fan and a 3 row aluminum Koyorad. The Koyo's don't come with a drain plug for some reason, so I had the guys at work tig me on a bung to throw one in. Last weekend I swapped all of that in, finally wired the fan into megasquirt for automatic control, and after tracking down some leaks and such it works like a charm! I can't wait to see how this thing performs in the summer, but from the way the temps drop when the fan comes on I think it'll do a great job. Funny thing is, I found out it was a bad relay the whole time... whoops!

This weekend I took the warm weather opportunity and got some projects out of the way I had been sitting on. After some modifications I swapped on my Hawk HPS brake pads, to hopefully combat the bad brake fade i'd been getting. I also finally put on my rear stainless brake lines (already did the fronts awhile back) and flushed/bled the system with 200* Super Blue dot4 brake fluid. Hopefully this will improve my braking until I can afford to do a proper brake upgrade.

 

Aside from that, I did some minor aesthetic tweaks/adjustments and washed my engine bay and wheels. Yay productivity!

 

[TrumpetRhapsody]

Bringing this back from the dead! After my dyno session where you could see significant blow-by coming from the valve cover, the car progressively started producing blue smoke from the exhaust. I don't recall the exact timeline now, but around mid-2016 Flatblack helped me pull and disassemble the engine. We discovered two pistons with broken skirts, and one piston with broken ringlands. My head gasket was also hanging on by a thread, with very elongated bores. Since then other life priorities took precedence, and the car was basically untouched for 7 years.

 

Mid 2023 I finally took the car in for paint, and got it back in October. Meanwhile I had the block cleaned up, found some used pistons, performed the coolant bypass mod on my P90 head, did the 240z tail light conversation, and last month finished reassembling the longblock. Sometime between 2013 and 2016 Flatblack sold his 280z, so we traded flywheel and clutch setups so I'd have more torque headroom. At some point his flywheel dowels went missing, so I'm waiting on replacements to get the engine stabbed back in and broken in over the next few weeks.

 

Once I have everything complete, I'll post some reveal pictures of the new look! Short term I need to get a rollbar, some performance seats, and harnesses put in the car. I'll also need to get my MS2/Extra upgraded to the latest version, and apparently be a little more conservative with my tune. From there, I'll likely pursue installing the Snow Performance meth kit I've been sitting on for a decade, follow-through with the 280zx CV swap with the weld on adapters, upgrade injectors and swap to running E85, and look at swapping to a properly sized modern turbo to support my original 400whp goal.

Edited April 25 by TrumpetRhapsody

[TrumpetRhapsody]

Turns out this took a few months instead of a few weeks, but the engine is back in and I did the first run this past weekend! Between then and now I got the crank sensor mount modified for the new balancer, timing indicator made and marked, mounted and routed my new catch-can, flow tested my ancient 7M injectors, and verified the timing (good thing, I was 5* retarded!).

 

It didn't immediately grenade on the first run which is a relief, but it didn't exactly go smoothly either.

• I pinched a brand new injector o-ring, so I'll have to go back and swap the temporary cheap rubber one I put in there.
• I'd forgotten that my ignition cuts the switched +12 power (powering down the ECU) if I turn it too far into the start position, so we ended up bridging the starter temporarily until I chased that down with a multimeter a few days later. Seems like I'll have to replace the electrical portion of my key switch.
• The EDIS firing order and orientation always throws me off so I ended up with Coil A and C wires swapped. I have them labeled now so that doesn't keep biting me.

I'm hoping all the cranking and misfiring cylinders didn't adversely affect my rings seating, but we'll see after the break-in cruise this weekend.

 

For the last week I've been working on finishing up QOL stuff like gluing in weatherstripping, finishing the 240z tail light conversion, replacing my crappy ebay steering wheel with a proper Sparco, adding a turbo blanket and downpipe wrap, and various other little cosmetic items. Full reveal soon!

[TrumpetRhapsody]

So far so good! I have 80 miles on the rebuild, and nothing too concerning yet other than a bit of valvetrain noise I'm hoping is resolved by a hot adjustment when I hit 100 miles. Currently the car is at the tint/PPF shop, so I'll get some "complete" pictures in the next week or two after I pick it up.

 

It's been fun getting back into MS tuning after so long, and I'm finding a LOT of areas I needed to improve. So far I've:

• Upgraded from MS2/E 3.3.2 to 3.4.4.
• Swapped from don't include to include AFR (used a spreadsheet to convert VE).
• Swapped from the old to new baro mode (had to retune most of my VE).
• Dialed back and smoothed my timing, primarily in the idle and cruise areas.
• Increased my tps, rpm, and CLT/MAT lag factors. I must have had the scale backward in my head originally, as they were in the 90's and barely filtering.
• Leaned out my idle and cruise areas significantly.
• Started dialing in my MAT correction, based on Gollum's findings.

With all of these changes the car is running better than ever. I've always had issues with low rpm and cruise throttle transition jerkiness, no matter what I did with AE. I suspect I was way to aggressive with my timing, and had some drastic transitions causing the behavior.

Edited July 1 by TrumpetRhapsody

[TrumpetRhapsody]

At long last I can post a few reveal pics, now that the "look" is complete! Though, I do still need to drill the body to properly mount the front and back bumpers.
 

The paint is TH1 Midnight Blue Pearl from the R32, ceramic tint for heat rejection since I'm AC-less, and partial PPF on the buckets, hood, and behind the tires.

 

[TrumpetRhapsody]

Went on a 100mi twisty cruise last weekend, and discovered some new items to address.

• Tires are rubbing the front flares in turns
• Someone (me?) re-drilled a rear nutsert after breaking a bolt off in it, which has now failed
• One air dam bolt disappeared
• Getting some RPM spikes above 3k rpm
• Logging is dropping out, not sure if it's a loose serial cable or actual resets
• Bumpsteer is terrible

I've re-drilled the front flares to give more clearance, drilled out and replaced the failed nutsert, replaced the air dam bolt, reconfigured my reset bluetooth adapter to get wireless logging back, and bought RCAs and T3 bumpsteer adjustable tie rod ends. I also swapped out my faulty ignition switch that was giving me trouble for the initial start.

 

Edited August 9 by TrumpetRhapsody

[TrumpetRhapsody]

Got my RCAs and inner/outer tie rods installed, though unfortunately T3 neglected to include the bumpsteer spacers so I'll have to circle back and dial that in once those arrive.

 

Drilling out the steering knuckles was HORRIBLE. Due to the metal hardness it took me 30+ min of drilling per side, a broken $20 drill bit, and a considerable amount of strength/pressure. If anyone else installs these I highly recommend pulling them off the car and using a drill press rather than drilling by hand.

[TrumpetRhapsody]

Dove in deeper than I thought I'd need to while addressing the RPM spikes:

• Replaced my EDIS crank sensor, which was chewed into at the tip after contacting the old trigger wheel.
• Modified the mount to close the gap between the crank sensor and new trigger wheel.
• Discovered that I combined my ECU ground, ECU pin 7 sensor ground ref, sensor ground wires, and LC-1 grounds all to a chassis ground at the firewall with a ground strap to the battery. This goes against prevailing wisdom to keep sensor grounds separate and direct to ECU pin 7, and to keep the noisy LC-1 heater ground far away from the ECU ground.
• Realized the ECU box is mounted to metal (chassis ground). Potential ground loop, so likely not ideal.

Unfortunately, despite significantly reduced noise in my logs and no more resets, I'm still getting RPM spikes under load/boost. I'll have to dig deeper.

Edited August 21 by TrumpetRhapsody

[jhm]

On 8/12/2024 at 10:38 AM, TrumpetRhapsody said:

Drilling out the steering knuckles was HORRIBLE. Due to the metal hardness it took me 30+ min of drilling per side, a broken $20 drill bit, and a considerable amount of strength/pressure. If anyone else installs these I highly recommend pulling them off the car and using a drill press rather than drilling by hand.

 

Ditto that -- had the same experience destroying two drill bits when drilling out my original steering knuckles.  Became a moot point when I switched to quick-steering knuckles from Apex.  The car's looking GREAT; good luck with the latest issue!

[TrumpetRhapsody]

After much deliberation, I decided to go with FutoFab's HD wheel stubs, 930 CV axles, and diff stubs. It took me a few days during the week to install the wheel stubs and bearings, and I finished up the axle install today. It's nice to have a fully refreshed and strong rear end, though I'll need to dig back into my diff at some point. I'm getting some noise at speed and on decel, and despite the CVs being smoother I still have a slight on/off clunk.

 

[TrumpetRhapsody]

On 8/20/2024 at 8:17 PM, TrumpetRhapsody said:

Unfortunately, despite significantly reduced noise in my logs and no more resets, I'm still getting RPM spikes under load/boost. I'll have to dig deeper.

 

Found a few more issues:

• The EDIS module had an intermittent ground on pin 9, and working backward I found a cruddy solder joint where I was experimenting with a diode.
• My PIP/SAW shield was grounded at MS and combined with the VR shield at EDIS pin 7, creating a ground loop.
• My PIP/SAW shield was combined to another ground where I connected the MS harness to the EDIS harness, ground loop #4.

With all of that cleaned up I still had RPM spikes. I enabled Noise Filtering and that seems to have fixed it, but I'm not really happy with masking a noise issue. I'll try to scope the VR and PIP signals at some point, and see about adding a condenser to the coil + just in case.

[TrumpetRhapsody]

Looks like I missed some updates!

 

In September I showed my car in a local event, TougeCon. They had a nighttime parking garage meet that I installed underglow for, and a daytime "car show" at the town square. Was the first time really getting the car out, and it garnered a lot of attention!

 

I still haven't dug into diagnose whether I still have the noise issues (probably, I still see some spikes on CLT and AFR), but as mentioned in this thread I did finally resolve my jumpy tach. Turns out using a 12V zener was allowing noise through, and using the proper 18V zener cleaned up up. It's nice to finally have a solid tach.

 

I picked up a cheap Chinese touchscreen head unit that runs android, so I could load ShadowDash and connect Bluetooth to Megasquirt for logging and some extra gauges. It's pretty slick! I have it auto-uploading logs to Google Drive when I hit Wi-Fi, and can download and burn tunes.

 

In the last couple weeks I noticed a distinct whine after the engine got up to temp. It sounded like it was coming from the block area on the passenger side. Eventually I realized that back when I did the L28ET swap in 2009, I blocked off the inlet/outlet on the factory oil cooler since I didn't have a filter stud handy. It must have been bypassing oil the entire time I've run this engine. 🤦‍♂️ For now I got a stud from Nissan, and have an oil cooler coming from GRW.

 

After the tail light swap, I realized the late-style license plate light wouldn't fit the early panels. I took inspiration from Skillard, and fabbed up a simple blanking plate using LEDs.

 

I also pulled the trigger on a fuel system refurb. I'll be retrofitting an Aeromotive Stealth 340 into my factory tank, using a Radium stainless 10 micron filter, and upgrading to PTFE lines to eventually run E85. No more fuel slosh and starvation!

 

In the meantime, now that the engine is broken in I've been working on dialing in my tune under boost. I set up some knock ears using a knock sensor, portable audio amplifier, and some headphones, and it seems to work pretty well! Once I hit around 10psi in any gear, I can clearly hear some ping. I'm holding steady at < 12:1 afr, and have backed my timing out to 19*, but still haven't gotten it to go away completely. I'm going to drastically pull timing and richen things up to work from the other direction, but that's already less timing than I'd expect necessary.

Edited October 29 by TrumpetRhapsody

[Zetsaz]

Where did you get the android unit? I've been tempted to find something like that that doesn't cut up my console which is already not in the greatest condition

 

[TrumpetRhapsody]

21 hours ago, Zetsaz said:

Where did you get the android unit? I've been tempted to find something like that that doesn't cut up my console which is already not in the greatest condition

 

Here's the Amazon link: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CP3D46NH

There are various options in 1-din, but all from China. I think I still had to trim my console a bit to fit a 1-din cage.