seattlejester's 1971 240Z

[Exposed]

what are you going to be running for your ems?

[seattlejester]

I've been running megasquirt. I plan on using the same injectors/coils/trigger wheel/throttle body so I'll still be using it on the 2jz.

[seattlejester]

Managed to get some work done this weekend. 

 

Jacked up the car and installed the clutch fork along with the slave and covers. Also installed the 5 additional bolts for the bell housing to the engine. 

 

Done under there for the time being. Once the car moves I'll have to go back to torque some of them as trying to torque under a car is always awkward.

 

Threw on the new front timing cover along with the water pump pulley. 

Kind of stopped myself from going further as I am tempted to count the teeth to make 100% sure I didn't skip a tooth. The belt is awfully tight, but I've been told these gates belts are kind of tough and not as compliant and additionally I added 2.4mm to the head so that makes sense.

 

Still haven't heard back from the guy I wanted to do my crank pulley. So  going ahead with some guidance from dexter72.

Used a 21/64 bit to drill out the two blank holes in the crank pulley. Then used red loctite to hold the coils in place. Had to cut off two coils off of the standard helicoil kit to make sure threads weren't protruding too much. Cut down my shaved studs I used for the 7m. Kind of interesting the 7m was still old school and used a 3 row crank pulley. The 2jz is modern and employs a serpentine tract so only is one row. I digress, then I loctited those in place as well. 

I drilled out my trigger wheel to either 7/8 or 1 inch (step drill is HF not all listed...) to clear the crank pulley bolt head as I didn't want to shave it down while wanting to keep the circle of metal to prevent it from just flopping.

As it sits the trigger wheel is in perfect alignment. Doesn't rotate or move radially. 

 

Dexter72 made a pedestal with some loctited nuts, I think I'm going to employ some large washers and some nyloc nuts.

 

Valve covers are going to be blasted and painted hopefully in the next week or two. The guy I had lined up to weld my intake manifold is injured so there may be a delay there, but once the crank pulley is mounted I get to mess around with fitting the crank trigger sensor and the rest of the front dress, then move onto fitting the exhaust components.

[seattlejester]

Pretty cool stuff happened.

 

Had a bit of back and forth trying to figure out my manifold. Got in touch with a more experienced welder who said he would just take it on. Called me the same day I dropped it off to tell me he was finished! Didn't want to show all the grotesque cuts until I was sure it could be finished.

 

First I cut off the throttle body flange. It fits an aftermarket mustang throttle body. Given I plan on running the same intercooler and piping having a 90mm throttle body opening seemed silly to reduce down to 2.5 inch. So I cut it off. That also would give me the much needed room to bolt the runners to the manifold body.

 

I made a new throttle body flange by tracing the 7mgte throttle body and transferring it over to a 1/2 inch aluminum plate. I found an appropriate holesaw and cut out the main hole then used a pilot drill for the throttle body bolts. Something you forget drilling into clean stock is you have to drill in level or you are going to angle the heck out of the bolts. I made sure to correct them with the bigger drill bits to make sure all the bolts would go in perpendicular to the flange.

 

Tapping holes in aluminum was a real exercise in patience having to come back out after almost every 1/2 turn to remove the chips. Hands were raw after doing 4 of those.

I had to shave the intake manifold body about 4 times to get the curvature I was looking for. This means I get to reuse my blow off valve and intake air temp charge pipe so that makes things really simple.

Here is the cause of all my misery. Ordered a piece of angle aluminum and cut it to fit.

And finally the finished product.

Looks like it will work fine. My only concern is with the gasket between the body and the runner. I used a factory style stamped steel gasket coated with copper spray. I have some reservations about it sealing all the way as I can see an airgap between the runners, but it is stamped steel so I'm hopeful it is just between the runners and not around the runners. Going to pickup some aluminum tape and attempt a pressure test this weekend. If it fails I'll run a bead of JB all the way around and plan on either making my own manifold or buying another type in the future.

 

Valve covers came back from the sand blaster. I got tired of scrubbing it after about 4 days I threw in the towel and sent it off. I really wish there was a perfect cleaning method. Still found quite a bit of crud after he finished, but infinitely better then it was. Probably one more washing session. Before I give it a good final clean and get it ready for paint. I'd love to powdercoat but that sticker shock from last time. Going to try paint this time around.

Also mocked up my crank trigger sensor mount. Will have to grab pictures of that monstrosity soon.

 

With the big pieces in hand I can start figuring out lengths I need for the oil drain and feed. Then I have to fabricate the exhaust to meet up with what I have and also a waste gate dump to meet up with that. I don't think I want to do a screamer pipe if I can help it. I think legitimately one more order to summit for those parts once I have some measurements and I can get the car running again.

[seattlejester]

Decided I had enough chips in my hand to get a bit of work done.

 

Happiest of days, it seems like everything fits!

The turbo clears the shock tower with about a 1/4 inch or so...

and the intake also clears with about a 1/2 inch of room to play with.

I think combined with the poly mounts I might be able to get away as is. Worse case scenario I'll have to hit my shock tower a bit just to make sure it doesn't bob up against it. Unfortunately a staged shot really. The intake manifold needs a once over and to be cleaned with the fittings installed. The turbo manifold has problems of its own listed below.

 

Picture of the chopped up mount for the trigger wheel. I eyeballed it and cut the ends off then welded it back together. Problem was that it was too tall given the 7m is a 3 groove pulley.

It is canted a bit down, I may have to slot both the holes a bit to get it to hit the wheel at a better angle, but I believe it shouldn't really matter. I'll have to run a tooth log once everything is buttoned up. It is pretty easy to get to so not too concerned. The holes in the block are threaded, so using some M10x1.25 75mm long I was able to bolt the adapter to the block.

 

Then there are the problems like always.

Exhaust manifold studs are too long for most of the holes. I think the ones on the end might get away, but the ones in the center are definitely going to have to be dealt with. Given that the head is aluminum I'm not too excited about my options. A regular bolt is going to be a nightmare especially trying to get a wrench in there since a socket is clearly out of the question. Probably looking at some allen head bolts, but given that the manifold just absolutely sucks for fitment and all the holes are drilled larger to barely get it on I'm going to have to run some weird offset washers most likely. I've sent them an e-mail to see what they suggest. Kinda miffed. They are as far as I know a reputable company, even a lot of ebay manifolds are notched and such just to avoid this, but the more I search the more it seems that fitment problems are the norm.

 

Additionally the turbo won't accommodate the ideal length bolt as the scroll gets in the way. That means I have to find some fairly short studs as well. 

 

Good news is I finally measured the lengths for the drain and feed so I can submit my order to summit and pickup some tubing for the exhaust and an o2 bung while I'm at it. Last order other then one for OEM valve cover gaskets. Pretty excited parts are finally going on the motor and off the floor.

Edited April 2, 2017 by seattlejester

[Greeko]

Very nice progress!

[seattlejester]

Thanks, that was a pretty big moment and lots of hurdles cleared.

 

More good news. Or kind of embarrassing news?

 

Because the fitment on the treadstone manifold is known to be so bad, at some point a previous owner drilled out all the holes to allow the manifold to slide on the studs.

 

As an unexpected bi-product this allows the manifold to tilt up and down on the studs. Tilting the manifold down allows me to slip the factory nuts onto the top studs and tilting the manifold up allows me to slip nuts onto the bottom studs. Then it is a matter of pushing the manifold on, threading all the nuts in a few turns, the repeating until seated. 

 

So if I shave the interfering torx bit and maybe the first couple threads I might be able to get away with slipping a 12 point down there and tightening a 1/12th turn at a time. 

 

Spent last night looking at catch cans and such and figuring out all the fittings I need to order. I'm going with a oil catch can to vacuum pre turbo. That means buying a coupler for the intake to the turbo I can put some fittings on and finding a catch can that has the desired design and fittings. Given nothing really exist that doesn't either break the bank like crazy or fit my very specific needs, I'm going to buy one maybe two and modify them for what I think they should be.

Edited April 11, 2017 by seattlejester

[seattlejester]

Manifold and wastegate bolted on. Wastegate needed some clearancing to fit without the bolts trying to cross thread. Interesting working with a stainless steel manifold you are acutely aware that f'ing up any thread or hole is going to be a nightmare to try and repair.

You can see the poor cast on the turbo manifold manifold. Once again I think it is a failure on treadstones part, the annoying thing is that these manifolds change color when they are run so this one is unused, as long as it seals I think I'll live.

 

On better news, exhaust is done

Still needs a cleanup, but that was quite a chore lining up all the parts. Definitely had an easier time making an exhaust from scratch then trying to mate up multiple pieces.

 

You can see the wrap imprint from when the oil dumped onto the wrap and it soaked into it. I have a bit more wrap left so I'll see if I can make do with what I have. 

 

This weekends quest is to start buttoning up the cooling systems both radiator and intercooler, as well as start installing things and torquing them to final spec, as well as reinstating the wiring.

 

Really not much left to do here.

Edited April 20, 2017 by seattlejester

[seattlejester]

Well that was a big load of bull.

 

There is plenty left to do...

To start off I went and retimed the motor as the TDC mark was off. Visually I had hit all the indicators, but seems like the belt hadn't picked up the right tooth. I am curious if it has to do with running the thicker head gasket, I imagine that affects the belt length. Regardless, I found this diagram online.

Counted the teeth and marked the indicators and re-aligned the belt.

 

Added the pressure reference ports with this snazzy turret fitting.

Then reassembled the baffles in the valve cover with RTV and loctite and painted them with some high temp engine enamel and clear. 

Found some holes in the dump so checked the rest of it and plugged up any holes, taped it off and threw on a coat of header paint.

Gapped the NGK BKR7E plugs to 0.028 and installed it into the head.

Bought some gasket paper and  made a new gasket for the throttle body.

\

I noticed the dump was running awfully close to the brake line. While with the poly mounts I doubted much movement, I feared the radiating heat might cause trouble. I conferred with a friend who said if I planned on doing any track driving even with a heat wrap I would be generating a lot of heat at the dump and suggested I move the brake line now.

You can imagine how close the brake line is to the dump.

Luckily when I routed my brake lines I went with CuNiFer which is very easy to bend. It was a matter of undoing the P-clamps and moving the line onto the frame rail.

More clearance for the exhaust and a much appreciated reprieve from heat for the line. Plan is to throw on a spark plug protector just for some added protection.

 

I picked up the lower radiator hose from an SC300 from the auto parts store, and I think I'll be able to cut up and reuse my upper radiator hose. My friend also dropped off our collective intercooler pipe box so I should be able to route my intercooler piping. Still need to do a bit of work with the turbo, I think I found a good orientation. Now I have to take the compressor housing off, drill out the pressure reference port, and clock the center section.

 

The list is long and I keep remembering things to add to it, but definitely getting closer and closer.

[seattlejester]

More progress.

 

Had a hickup when I ordered the wrong size intake setup. Turns out they also stepped down a size from 4 inch to 3.5 inch on the turbo inlet so spent a while sorting out the returns for that.

 

Tried out a new aluminum welder. Younger guy, definitely not as experienced, but he was local and cheap. Definitely do want to get a TIG in the future. 

Decided to do weld on bungs on the oil catch can as well. Not really worth the effort of the brass fittings as it would not really grab and the tap wasn't cutting quite deep enough.

 

Ended up cutting the sc300 radiator hose as it came in at an odd angle. Hope was to forgo the piece of metal tubing, but I had to incorporate it to bridge the gap. It ended up leaking so I had to play around with it more, but should be fine for the first start.

The top hose was fairly simple a straight shot from the radiator to the head with a slight twist. I was a bit overzealous with the cutting. Basically going to have to revisit this in the future at some point, maybe go with some flex hose or something of that nature.

Got the cover installed and the COPs and the injectors plugged in. 

 

I ordered a replacement plug for the coolant sensor, I was really annoyed to find that it was inverted of the sensor in the motor. Went to the parts store and found the replacement just doesn't use any indexing grooves so picked that up and installed the coolant temp setup.

 

Finished wiring all the little things as well as plumbed up the boost control solenoid and the wastegate plumbing.

Also smacked in the dipstick. The curvature makes it very awkward and it doesn't even come close to lining up with any of the mounting points, it was for a GTE motor so it was somewhat expected. I ended up just slipping some foam over it so it doesn't rattle against the intake.

Also installed the heater bypass hose. Had to weld up a random barb on the pipe.

Then the distributor blockoff plate. Ideally I would have had the machine shop just throw in a plug, but forgot to ask.

So I used a bandsaw and cut through the distributor base plate.

Found a freeze plug 555-011 IIRC that fit the hole and tapped it in. 

Then I decided to fill the radiator.

Got almost all the way to the top before I sprung a leak. Turns out there is a hose barb under the inlet, not sure what it routed to in stock format, but definitely there. Did the old bolt and hose trick to seal that up.

 

So far it is holding the coolant. Planning on replacing the gasket on the oil drain plug, then filling with oil. Hopefully the battery has enough of a charge to crank to prime the pump and simultaneously I'm going to try and grab the timing offset from the new crank sensor mount. I probably shouldn't be lazy and hookup the oil pressure sensor and disconnect the oil drain on the turbo to make sure it is getting sufficient pressure before trying to start the car.

 

Then just a matter of trying to start the car. I'm going to leave the intercooler coupler off so it should be NA while I get the settings all dialed in and check for leaks. Then it will be a matter of making sure the boost control is functioning correctly and tuning for the bigger turbo.

[seattlejester]

Wait...why do you have your hood on.

Why are you putting on your front spoiler...

 

 

 

Guys, it runs

Introducing the running and driving 2JZ NA-T swapped Datsun 240Z!

 

Went on a little drive today. Picked up some gas, and put a bit of air in the tires. Definitely immensely nervous. I'm so afraid of something going wrong, really so much has been changed without much proving miles (suspension, differential, axles, engine). Still it was really nice to get some seat time, I'm trying to be conscious and break in the clutch before I give it the full beans, I bought a clutch that is a full face which should hold about 450ft/lbs or so, but I've read that not breaking it in properly can make you loose as much as 100ft/lbs of holding torque. I have yet to go anywhere near full throttle I do definitely feel the boost ramping on much harder with a functioning map and boost controller. Pretty terrifying to be honest, hehehe.

 

Well it has been a while. Some bits just took a long time, and some life stuff happened. Still working on it though for sure. Learned some new things that I'm hoping to apply (look forward to the next post in a couple days), and potentially may be moving to a better work space.

 

So some thing to catch up on. Drain plug was a strange thing. I bought OEM toyota gaskets and was confused when they wouldn't fit. On investigation the plug had the word METRIC printed on it, which was odd. Measuring it found that it was oversized by 2mm. With that dealt with I could fill up the car with oil. 

 

Cranked the engine over until I got oil coming out of the turbo drain (real important to get it from the drain and not just unhook the feed as that deprives pressure to the block).

 

Then I had quite a bit of trouble with the timing as can be found in the ECU section. Not sure where it went wrong, it is down to either the tuning cable being sub par or the fact I am using a Macbook making the communication somewhat faulty. I did kind of get it down that if I reset a bunch of times and sent the files and tweaked some other parameter I could get it to write. It is confusing as it is reading the written value, but wouldn't apply it right away. I think I'll have to buy an old laptop just to run megasquirt on, I do have MSdroid which apparently has the capability to write to the controller so I'll have to see.

 

Had to shorten the throttle cable as well. The manifold sits close so it was a given. Also found out that there is some disconnect now as I can't get 100% throttle. Going to have to do some trigonometry to sort the problem there. Right now I get 0-80% which is enough, but I'm definitely leaving some stuff on the table.

 

Also found out that I had my settings wrong with my boost controller. It had no shot of ever working the way it was programmed. The signal was being sent too frequently for it to react, and I had a very progressive map for most likely a tiny turbocharger. That meant if the solenoid could react to the signal that was being sent way too frequently it would not be doing much anyway. So that was a big fix.

 

Some friends mentioned wanting to go on a drive. The way it is planned is about 400+miles in a day. I'm honestly not sure about that. For one I'm pretty sure I am still getting fumes in the car, and really just got it driving. I figure it will be motivation to kind of get the car better sorted.

With that spirit, I found a spot for my oil catch can. Definitely not ideal, but better then having it sit right above the exhaust. Still need to find a permanent mounting solution, but for now it should help to keep some oil fumes out from the intake.

Then I mounted my radiator overflow bottle. A couple U-brackets off of the shroud bolts made it pretty easy. I did panic when I noticed a pool of coolant while the car was running only to realize it was bleeding out of the top of the radiator. The overflow bottle has a long tube running nearly all the way to the top so it won't bleed onto the floor until it is at capacity.

 

Working on just cleaning things up and making it easier to use. Aesthetics definitely coming soon.

Edited July 17, 2017 by seattlejester

[Zetsaz]

Yeeeeeeesss

[Exposed]

good job on the Z.

 

What were you thinking aesthetics wise? have you decided on a colour?

[seattlejester]

Tubular front bumper, maybe a little bit of a front splitter and a block off for the front spoiler (local guy has made one that looks excellent), maybe a little bit of a subtle rear diffuser (get the air out from that area where the exhaust tends to pool). Possibly some new wheels. 

 

Color wise I still generally enjoy white. I've done blue on my daily which was fun, but I'm not ready for the flashier colors and the attention that brings (red, orange, yellow, green). I do plan on getting my feet wet in vinyl wrapping if that goes well the world will be my oyster.

[seattlejester]

Now for something a little different.

 

A friend recently got into 3D printing. I had been wanting to learn 3D design for a while, and figured it was finally time so I asked him to show me some basics. 

He gave me an over view and went through designing some parts. I went home and found once the basics were learned it wasn't all too bad to figure out.

After maybe 30mins of video and a 2 hour or so lesson, I got enough of a hang of it to make some parts for a little project.

To a real physical print

 

Like all gear heads, this then turned into using the acquired knowledge to improve my car.

 

I made up the next couple parts.

 

Designed this piece to join the two pieces of the plug insert.

Then designed the all important tablet holder.

Then all the pieces came to life.

My nexus 7 worked, but was frankly ancient in tablet terms, the GPS signal was touchy, and frankly it was just slow. So I went online and picked up a used samsung galaxy tablet with a decent GPS suite. Not the best option, I would have preferred the 8, but they for some reason jumped up in price to double what a 7 inch was.

 

Then my friend came up and printed these. I was really content with just simple friction fit plugs, but he said it could be better and a lock fit.

So he printed this chamfered outer ring

Then the conical inner insert

Confused?

 

Well in the past when I needed a tachometer I removed the stock one and went with a cheap 4.5 or 5 inch universal. Turns out it would fit right in the gauge hole with just a bit of friction. It stayed that way till I removed it nearly 4 years later. Needing a speedometer, tachometer, boost gauge, and a coolant gauge, and figuring I didn't want to buy all those separate when megasquirt would happily output all of those I decided to mount a tablet. The original plan was to just cut out the gauge pods and flat mount a tablet, but we talked about it and came up with this nice solution that doesn't require any modification of the factory dash.

 

So first these pod adapters go in

Then the joiner and the tablet holder and voila

One custom tablet holder. Tablet can be removed from the car by sliding it out of the tablet holder for security. Mount is fully removable. Needs a little bit of adjustment, but overall I think it is amazing what you can do.

[1969honda]

That's actually pretty cool, ultimate budget racepak dash!

[Exposed]

good job on the 3d design, not to many pick it up that quickly.

 

what system was that inventor? looks almost like the new f360 software autodesk is running. Any chance you know what type of 3d printer your buddy is using?

[seattlejester]

Good eye, it is fusion 360. Doesn't seem as intuitive as say solid works at least to me, but I'm really inexperienced so just might be my lack of comfortability with the software.

 

I don't quite recall what printer he is using. Looking around a prusa I3 looks similar. It came as a DIY kit. ~3-400 if that helps. 

[Exposed]

Depending on what you're creating either solid works or inventor may be better, imo. I personally prefer solid edge for anything to do with sheet metal/ tubes and inventor for everything else.

[seattlejester]

I don't disagree, but being neither a professional nor a pirate, can't really beat fusion 360 for price haha.