lowrider Posted February 24, 2009 Share Posted February 24, 2009 (edited) Let me start off by thanking Hybridz, if it werent for this forum i would be unknowlegeable and bored.This is my second 260Z, the first fell victom to a tree during a moment of stupidity. Well i wrecked the first car january of 08, after which it sat behind the garage with a tarp over top of it.before the tree...And after the tree... Well, some time passed and i started my first year of college. One day my dad calls me up and says he found another 260Z in the paper, and that i should give the woman a call. I call the woman and ask the most important question, how much rust... she says there isnt any. Turns out she bought the car brand new in 73. She drove it till the 80's then only drove it on occasion. Then parked the car for good in 1990. I went up there the next day to look at the car. I couldnt believe my eyes its the most rust free "Z" i had ever seen. Payed a down payment and came back the next weekend to have it hauled home.The car when i found it in the garage...more to come.... Edited July 26, 2017 by lowrider Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lowrider Posted February 24, 2009 Author Share Posted February 24, 2009 (edited) The first thing i did when i got the new car home was swap the wheels and tires for the ones on the wrecked 260.Then i cleaned up the interior:beforeaftera night and day transformation! The interior was near perfect too!The next thing on the list was to get rid of the crazy Holley 4 barrel intake.I went ahead and gave a call to Rogger at the zbarn. Made a trip to Maryville, tn to pick up a set of round top SU carburators for the car.After i went through the carbs and rebuilt them, i put them back on the car. The car came right to life! I did all of the pittly stuff like changing the oil and checking over and bleeding the brakes.drove the car for the next couple days, oh and it drove good, for the exception of the dead struts. Edited July 26, 2017 by lowrider Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lowrider Posted February 25, 2009 Author Share Posted February 25, 2009 (edited) Some time inbetween, i buttoned up the carbs and engine bay, and was finaly ready to go after a radiator.The next thing to be changed was the front "lip". The lip that was on the car just screwed to the top of the stock valence. It just didnt flow very well. It just so happened i had a perfectly good Xenon airdam that was on the wrecked 260(see a pattern here?) that would look perfect.Mock up of the airdam (hense the silver lol) :I took it off and primed it black so it wouldnt stick out like a sore thumb.I drove the car with the new airdam for a week. Christmas had just passed so i had some money from that. So i ordered a set of eibach springs, some u-joints for my driveshaft and half shafts, some urathane bumpstops, bumpsteer spacers, and some urathane control arm bushings front and rear. Before i wrecked the other 260, i had just replaced the worn out shocks with some tokico HP's. I robbed them from the other car to save a little bank. lolthe new goodiesI dont have any pics of working on the front but i do have pics of the rear ripped out. lolwhats not right here? Edited July 26, 2017 by lowrider Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lowrider Posted February 25, 2009 Author Share Posted February 25, 2009 (edited) Got the car on the ground and boy did it sit good!!!!Then the maiden voyage. Took it to a local dam, called Norris dam. boy it looks GOOOD!!!lol, you can see dad in the car.Not much has changed since then. just working the bugs out. Found out that the 15" bumpsteer spacer didnt fit, so waiting for a 14".both my rides togethermore to come as the project developes... Edited July 26, 2017 by lowrider Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lowrider Posted March 4, 2009 Author Share Posted March 4, 2009 (edited) better interior shot:The next thing i did was adjust the valves. Found a not so pleasent supprise. The oil spray bar for valves 11&12 was bent... took it out and found some shoddy mechanic work. instead of straightening the piece out they decided to cut half of another gasket and silicone it together. I straightened the piece out. I mean really how hard can it be do do stuff the right way?As i said i had problems with the 15" bumpsteer spacer causeing my wheel to hit my tie rod end. I sent the 15" back in favor for the 14" version. Tried installing the 14" spacer to no avail, still hits the tie rod end. So off come the spacers... if you need LBNIB 14" bumpsteer spacers i have some for sale.So after alot of frustration i took the car to the allignment shop to get it alligned after the drop. After adjusting my toe the guy says "your camber is too much". Sigh surely someone can chime in and pm me, does lowering springs like the Tokico and Eibach springs lower the car enough that it will wear the tires badly? Im in college at the moment and can barely afford gas to get back and forth, i cant afford 4 new tires.more to come as money and time allows..... Edited July 26, 2017 by lowrider Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lowrider Posted March 4, 2009 Author Share Posted March 4, 2009 Bad news.... drove the car to school today(about 60 miles round trip). Ran good, strong, although it is running a little rich. Got home and parked the car in the driveway. Came back out and moved the car and there was a small puddle of oil underneath. I lifted the car up only to find that my real main seal has a leak... So the car is down for now, it just had to happen when the first warm days of the spring came... First idea was this is a perfect time to swap the slush box for a 5speed, but unfortunately i have no money to buy all the parts neccassary, Damn. When i tear the thing apart to replace the seal, ill take plenty of pics for all. lol Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lowrider Posted March 16, 2009 Author Share Posted March 16, 2009 (edited) If it isnt one thing its another.... I tried backing the car up the driveway last week, with a violent slipping metallic sound coming from the rear of the car that took me no where. So i figure the diff is dead. Tore the car appart to take the diff out. Removed the rear cover and everything looked mint. I guess the transmission is the culprit... while the diff was out it got a nice cleaning and paint job : After the garage gets cleaned out, the motor and tranny are coming out...stayed tuned Edited September 7, 2017 by lowrider Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lowrider Posted September 17, 2009 Author Share Posted September 17, 2009 (edited) well, i havent updated this in a while... sorry. Ive been living with the oil leak, and just keeping a couple of quarts of oil in the car at all times. Been driving the car all summer, the l26 runs like a champ. Im going to try some seal softener to try and dry up my oil leak a little bit. im trying prolong ripping it apart, so i can fix the leak and put in the 5 speed at the same time, no reason to do it twice. Hopefuly now that school has started back i can start working on the car again, and make a little progress. I took the pics below a while ago and forgot to add them to the thread, whoops. lol enjoy!! Im getting new tires tomorrow, the cheap off brand tires that are on it are getting bald in the rear after only 10000 miles too. Getting a set of Fuzion HRi hopefuly they are up to the challenge. Edited September 7, 2017 by lowrider Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lowrider Posted September 20, 2009 Author Share Posted September 20, 2009 Well, as i said last time i was in need of some tires. Went to the local tire shop and decided on a set of Fuzion HRi all season tires. I could'nt be more happy with them the feel and response of the car has changed dramaticly. Here are a few before and after pics. lol Bald rear tires!! The new Meat! Well, i knew i had a problem with my front lug nuts for a while. When i had the tires put on they brought it back to my attention. The old lugs would only enguage about 3/8in of the threads. I picked up a set of lugs that were drasticly longer only to find out that they were too long and bottomed out on the hub. Luckily a good friend of my dad's, and mine owns a lathe. He cut them down for me and now im back on the road again with alot more lug holding my wheel on. old V.S. new The old lug with the threads on their last leg. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lowrider Posted September 28, 2009 Author Share Posted September 28, 2009 Ive been making some progress on the EFI conversion onto the l26. I pulled the intake mainfold off of the l28 i have in the garage. Stripped it down and am in the process of cleaning it up so i can powder coat it. The project has kinda taken the back seat for the time being. The majority of my time this passed week has been spent working on a good friends mustang drag car. I helped him replace his torque converter to try and improve his 1/8 mile time. He took it to the track today and ran a 6.00 on nitrous, he is looking to hit 7.58 so we are going to pull the converter again in favor for on that locks earlier. During the process i got struck by boredom and took some shots of the cars that reside in the shop. Wes's mustang Daddy-o's nova Daddy-o's 31 model A The motor the intake came off of, Its a n42/n47. The intake conglomeration with the wiring harness Everything stripped off. I finished sandblasting the intake today. If all goes well, it will get powder coated machine gray tomorrow. I actually have a question. I plan on using a 280zx wiring harness and ecu to power everything. I was wondering what significance is the o2 sensor to the 280zx ecu? what does it control? does it have such a profound effect that it would hurt to not have it? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lowrider Posted October 12, 2009 Author Share Posted October 12, 2009 Well, I have once again changed the direction of the drivetrain for the car. I pulled the engine and transmission out of the zx parts car. I removed the head to find the cylinders in good shape. The head on the other hand needed a little work. With a simple leak test, my dad and i found out the valve seals for #1 were leaking pretty bad. So off to the machine shop the head went. Got the call the next day to come pick it up. Boy, i love fast turn around! Not much had to be done, just a valve job and a little trueing of the various surfaces. At the moment im currently waiting for the weekend to be over so i can call monday and have a head gasket kit and timing set ordered. On to the pics!!! A couple pics of said parts car The motor nested snugly in the engine bay Out!!! and headless The "Leak test" And after the spa day at the machine shop The cam was replaced in the motor and i have no idea who makes it. I have busted out the calipers and determined that it has less lift than a stock "A" cam. A pic of the markings on the end: Im sorry for the picture quality diffrence some were taken with my phone and the rest were from a crappy digital camera. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lowrider Posted October 29, 2009 Author Share Posted October 29, 2009 I have engine build pictures!!! Although it was more of a freshing up than a build. I decided not to mess with the bottom end because of the lack of funds. The cylinder walls looked good, and the rings proved suficient with a leak down test. So, as said before the head was sent off to get trued up and get a valve job. While away i painted the block: After i got finished painting i realized that i would have to remove the front cover to replace the timing chain. A big Doh on my part, oh well. Took the cover off and stripped the paint. Then gave it a nice polishing with a wire wheel. I broke out the calipers on the replacement cam that was originaly on the head and came to the conclusion it had less lift and duration than a stock "A" cam. So i swaped the cam from the spare motor i have. The spare motor that got its cam, rockers, and lashpads robbed. The painted timing cover. Head finally installed with the timing chain replaced. Whoo front cover on, and mostly put back together! I was getting excited, so i sat the valve cover on and loosely hung the intake. Everything hooked up and ready to go! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lowrider Posted November 13, 2009 Author Share Posted November 13, 2009 I guess ill update, not much has happened since i got the motor back together. My dad herniated one of his disks and ive been running around doing errands and keeping up the house hold for him. I have managed to clean up and paint the r200 that is going in the 260z. I managed to get all the parts for the r200 swap i just need to get a day to get everything in. I do leave you with this! I got bored the other night and though why not take a clip of how my exhaust sounds? Anyway, without further adoo the exhaust clip: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lowrider Posted November 16, 2009 Author Share Posted November 16, 2009 Update time! I rounded up all the parts for the R200 swap. A Rt mount, gm poly trans bushing, R200 mustashe bar, poly mustashe bar bushings, and some blood sweat and curse words. I figured that the swap would take no more than a couple hours to complete... WRONG! It took up the majority of the weekend to finish. The removal of the R180 went pretty smooth. Then i hit the first signs of resistance when i tried to fit the RT mount that i had made. It was truely my mistake because i fudged the dimensions a little with the top piece. After a little grinding, curseing, and using the BFH i got it in! next up was the mustashe bar, installed the bushings and found out that it wasnt going to fit with the bushings in, so i had to remove the cross bar that connects the rear of the control arm mounts. After that it fit like a glove. Got the rearend hoisted up and hanging by its mounts. Next came the task of shortening the driver's half shaft. I used Lazeum's method ( http://forums.hybridz.org/showthread.php?t=145643 ) for the exception of using a cutting disk to cut the 1/2in off of the shaft. I then drilled, and taped a hole so i could utilize a bolt and the star washer to retain the balls and spacers. I put a spot weld at the begining of the groves to hold the balls and spacers from coming out of the grooves when fully extended. After i reassembled the halfshaft I finished up tightening and installing all the goodies i had removed. Put some fresh gear oil in the differential and took her for a test drive. Its a night and day difference between the 3.54 and the 3.90. Its alot pepier and torquier in the bottom end. Overall not bad for a weekends work. Unfortuately i didnt take any pictures of the process, i figured there was more than enough info on here if anyone wanted to see how it was done. Well thats all for this time, i might try and put up a video of me running through the gears tomorrow or the next day, till next time keep your gown down and powder dry.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lowrider Posted November 23, 2009 Author Share Posted November 23, 2009 Well, i went head first into the biggest task yet. After accumalating parts for the last month, i finally had enough parts to do the L28/5 speed swap. Dropped the exhaust, drive shaft, and trans. The slush box on the floor... Whoo, no more automatic! Next on the list was to 8-6 the L26. Out with the old, In with the new. Its just a shell... Well i got the L28 in along with the 5speed, unfortunately i wasnt too worried about taking pictures as i wrestled them in, and buttoned everything up. lol I have some wiring left then put the driveshaft in and put in some fluids, and modify the exhaust and i should be on the road again! Swaping a motor in 12hrs by yourself isnt too bad is it? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lowrider Posted December 30, 2009 Author Share Posted December 30, 2009 Man, its been a long time since ive updated. Ive put some miles on the new motor and trans, its the best upgrade ive made to the car up untill this point! No more finnicky cold starts, the 5speed feels excelent! im extremely happy! Now the quest for more power begins! Ive decided to begin down the long slippery slope of turbocharging my L28. Ive already started to accumulate parts! I picked up a z31 T3 with the water cooled center, and im awaiting an exhaust manifold from flatblack280. When i have both of them at the same place im going to start mocking up my oil and water lines on my spare motor. Im so excited to turbo this beast! I hear it really wakes it up. I plan on using the na fuel injection for now. Im pretty sure ive made a list of all the big stuff i need to wrap the turbo swap up: 8:1 FMU T3 turbo Exhaust manifold Turbo oil pump 24x12x3 Ebay Intercooler 2.5" Stainless tubing Silicon couplers Clamps BOV Oil/Coolant lines Drill and tap oil return in pan Lock out mech advance on the distributor After all that and a few odds and ends i should be good to go! Im planing on running about 5-7 psi at first so i can get the hang of tuning it! Have i mentioned that im excited?!? lol till next time, see ya Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lowrider Posted January 20, 2010 Author Share Posted January 20, 2010 A few new pictures for everyone! The turbo is happily hanging from the mock up motor. I then made a wastegate bracket, and adjustable wastegate arm. I got an intercooler off of ebay, i made the mounts for it and am using it as a cold air intake till i has teh boost. Everything is moving along pretty smoothly, i have then oil lines and tee fitting. Still quite a bit left, but im making progress! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lowrider Posted February 1, 2010 Author Share Posted February 1, 2010 Well, the project has kinda slowed down for the time being. Driving 100 miles round trip to school everyday is kinda draining my wallet, especialy since i currently dont have a job. Besides all this negativity i have managed to get a little bit of stuff done! I mounted my fmu. I decided to mount it on the side of the head where the mechanical fuel pump goes. I also mocked up my intake on the spare motor so i could get a good idea of clearances. I modified the inlet for my turbo so i could attach my braided -4 line. I painted my hotside and down pipe, yet i dont have any pictures of this. anyways, here are some pictures for the time being: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lowrider Posted February 23, 2010 Author Share Posted February 23, 2010 I finally got the majority of the stuff for the swap. I just need a few gaskets and to fab some stuff and it should all come together! I got the remainder of my silicone couplers for my intercooler piping so i decided to start cutting piping to fit. Im going to have to wait to finish when i get the turbo in. I plan on running the piping under the oil pan like KTM. so far so good! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lowrider Posted March 22, 2010 Author Share Posted March 22, 2010 THE TURBO IS ON! I finished up the swap weekend before last, then finally got the exhaust last monday. I have to say im enjoying boost! I got to tearing into it friday night, and by saturday night the beast was running. Farewell NA exhaust manifold. I couldnt resist putting it on to see how it fit. everything mostly back together. intercooler piping ran. my set up consists of so far: NA F54 block P79 head zxt exhaust mannifold z31 watercooled T3 ebay intercooler ebay piping kit DSM blow off valve -4an oil feed line modified NA oil pan 12:1 vortech FMU 265cc ka24e injectors NA ECU mechanical advance locked NGK wideband 3" exhaust magnaflow muffler Thats just about it i guess... Im currently running 8 psi Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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