VKLR Posted January 28, 2012 Author Share Posted January 28, 2012 (edited) I got a box of pure crap in the mail today..... I'm converting all of the bulbs in the car to LED's. I was planning on doing all of the conversion myself until i saw Keepitclean had a kit to do the rear tail lights. I decided to order the kit from them to save some time and effort. That seems to have been the wrong choice. The kit looks to be badly misrepresented. On the website their picture shows 4 jumpers, there are only 2 in the kit, furthermore i think there should be 6. The amount of led's on their picture looks great, i don't think they gave me even half of what's pictured. There are NO instructions. Most any fool could figure out how to wire the stupid things, the problem is layout of the led's. No mounting hardware is included so i'm assuming they want me to glue this crap to my car?? If anyone is thinking about getting this so called kit......beware. http://www.keepitcleanwiring.com/catalog/details/LEDU337578/NISSAN-1975-1978-280Z-LED-TAILIGHT-CONVERSION-KIT Oh yea and another thing their return process looks to be a nightmare. Edited January 28, 2012 by VKLR Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VKLR Posted February 1, 2012 Author Share Posted February 1, 2012 (edited) I just bought the single most expensive part for my car, it's all down hill from here. Right now it's looking like the first of March for competition. Edited February 1, 2012 by VKLR Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VKLR Posted March 2, 2012 Author Share Posted March 2, 2012 Tonight was wild hair night. I removed the stock rear bumper and all associated parts. I'm not really certain when the "while i'm at it list" exceeded the original budget but that's long past. BTW the original budget was $3,500.00 for the SR s13 swap. What i didn't include in the original plan were: Nobody had a s13 red or black top when i was ready to pull the trigger so i had to get the s14 Kouki. SpeedHut Instrumentation Aluminum driveshaft Re-wiring the entire car, including weatherpack connectors, bulkhead connectors for the dash (so it still removes the same as OEM). 1k exhaust system, 3" ceramic coated. And a whole list of little nothings that add up. One thing that still stands out in my mind. When i took the marker lights apart to clean them, the metal sockets and reflectors look brand new, i mean brand new. I could package these up in plastic bags and sell them as new and everybody would be happy. It blows my mind that a 37 year old car's bulb sockets look friking new. I work on GM stuff everyday and would rate these as kicking their stupid butt's all over the place,, really. I see '04 models with rust and arching. Makes me really love the little car even more. I'm still chugging along and expect to fire it up in a few weeks.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VKLR Posted March 10, 2012 Author Share Posted March 10, 2012 (edited) Three cheers to JTR for the great coolant bleed-sight glass. Great product and i give them two thumbs up. Makes me want to deal with those guys a little more.... Edited March 10, 2012 by VKLR Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VKLR Posted March 15, 2012 Author Share Posted March 15, 2012 One thing leads to another.... new 3" exhaust = remove bumper = pull gas tank and clean = service rear diff and so on and so fourth. LOL The outside of the gas tank was dirty. Inside of the gas tank was clean. So on the wiring. I'm trying to make it more serviceable. One example is the rear tail light harness connector. Instead of being behind the rear quarter panel interior trim. I moved the location to the rear tail light bulb access panel. Improving grounds through the whole system. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VKLR Posted April 16, 2012 Author Share Posted April 16, 2012 (edited) OK so I have an engine,,,Instead of a boat anchor. The engine started up and ran great. I'm talking about "set the wine glass" smooth. I let it get to operating temperature and shut her down. Did a general check over,, everything looks good, no leaks to speak of. Try to re-start.. no luck. Now it wont run,, LOL too late and too many beers to even care. It will run and it dosen't smoke at all. Seems like a good engine. Edited April 16, 2012 by VKLR Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VKLR Posted April 18, 2012 Author Share Posted April 18, 2012 (edited) Stupid simple fix on the no start.... Now i need to finish up a few loose ends. Alignment Install console Finish wiper wiring Check electric fan operation Check- timing,MAF,TPS,verify-calibrate WB gauge. Calibrate fuel gauge install trim panels That's about it Edited April 18, 2012 by VKLR Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VKLR Posted April 19, 2012 Author Share Posted April 19, 2012 (edited) During my engine swap and while i'm at it list I've dealt with different vendors and suppliers. Most all have been good. One i'll never ever recommend or deal with, one is still out to lunch. Certainly there has been one person that has exceeded my expectations with a quality product delivered on time with truly exceptional service. That person would be Yury Lyalko of wiring Specialties. From what I've seen myself he has the best customer service in the automotive aftermarket segment. His product was spot on and if there ever was a problem he would be there. Special thanks to the following: Mckinney Motorsports Wiring Specialties SpeedHut Millers Powder coating JTR Auto-n-Audio Hybridz PLMS Edited April 19, 2012 by VKLR Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VKLR Posted April 19, 2012 Author Share Posted April 19, 2012 (edited) DP Edited April 19, 2012 by VKLR Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VKLR Posted May 8, 2012 Author Share Posted May 8, 2012 It runs and drives!! At this point i have only one complaint. The motor mounts are a little stiff, i'm getting just a little too much vibration from the engine. It's fine while driving but at idle i'm afraid the gauges are going to pop out of the dash. Good power and seems to be a little more nimble in the handling department. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VKLR Posted May 10, 2012 Author Share Posted May 10, 2012 Ok so the wipers WERE a pain in the rear to say the least. I should have taken some notes before i started this project. The FSM has all of the information except good identification of connector end views. It took me a couple of hours of racking my brain but i have full functions again. Interval, low, high and park are all functional. Searching this forum was useless as nobody could ever get full functions and or had to install a Honda wiper motor. One day soon i'll post the needed information to easily wire up the wipers from scratch. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Six_Shooter Posted May 13, 2012 Share Posted May 13, 2012 So what wiper motor are you using? I don't understand the confusion. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VKLR Posted May 13, 2012 Author Share Posted May 13, 2012 I'm using the stock wiper motor. One thing the FSM showed different connections at the relay. It also shows wire colors on one drawing and functions on another. It took a little brain power to figure out the correct way to wire everything up. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VKLR Posted May 27, 2012 Author Share Posted May 27, 2012 Just got back from my first extended road trip. One failure...While driving I notice the hood gap at the rear had increased. I knew I shut the hood well. Kept on traveling at 80mph. The further I went the larger the gap became? I finally pulled over, pulled the hood release and tried to close the hood fully. It still wouldnt close all the way. Opened it again and saw the striker had un-screwed. Threaded it back in and tightened, hit the road again...LOL Actually the car did better than expected. I can see a 6spd trans in the near future. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
503Alex Posted May 27, 2012 Share Posted May 27, 2012 I love your car, nicely done. I see you have the T3 TC Rods, I've got those too, they're pretty awesome. I think I'm going to have to copy your Megan muffler set-up, it's perfect, angle and all. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VKLR Posted June 22, 2012 Author Share Posted June 22, 2012 I've got 1,000 miles since the swap and everything is good. This car now actually gets better gas mileage than any car I've ever owned. Next up Z32 MAF Injectors New fuel system Modified Moroso oil pan Rocker arm stoppers Greddy remote oil filter and thermostat Oil cooler Move air intake in front of radiator Tune for 12psi Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VKLR Posted June 28, 2012 Author Share Posted June 28, 2012 So, I went to an informal car show last Thursday EVENING. I got a few ideas and now I'm headed down a different but well traveled (in a different hobby) path. Pictures and vids coming at some point. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yhlz Posted June 29, 2012 Share Posted June 29, 2012 Its nice to see a Muscle Car guy appreciating a 4-banger j-motor in his Z instead of an American V8. Nothing wrong with pure Americano grunt but I just personally like to keep it Japanese with Japanese. Great build!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VKLR Posted July 7, 2012 Author Share Posted July 7, 2012 With it so dang hot here right now it's more enjoyable to work on the car in my air condition garage than drive it. Getting the AC working again is a project for this coming winter. I'm very pleased with the swap overall, although there are a few things that still need to be refined. The SR engine is not really a smooth balanced engine. The straight six engines seem to me to be the best balanced engines. The SR while I do like it better than the L28 has some annoying harmonics. Acceleration the exhaust tone is good, deceleration it is in my opinion horrible. So adding another exhaust hanger and possibly going to add a flex pipe should tone things down in the interior of the car. What i'm going for on this build is as close as I can come to an OEM driving experience. That means everything works when it should AND runs and drives like a factory produced car with no excuses. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VKLR Posted August 14, 2012 Author Share Posted August 14, 2012 (edited) I just got a PM from a fellow member and thought i'd post my reply here. So others may benefit from the information. Plus it's the first time I started to figure what I've spent on the swap so far. My swap evolved from just a swap to doing it right. I've got about 1,500 miles on it and glad i did the swap. I could have just done the swap and get it running BUT i decided to do my best on it, my only limitation was my wallet. When planning I was going to use the stock gauges.Then I thought why try to get 30 plus year old stuff to work with a modern engine. The tachometer would have been the only hard one to get working. So i went with new gauges, no i couldnt settle for nothing but the best. Speedhut it was. Then i got thinking more, since the gauges would eliminate some wiring and the rest of the wiring in the car was 30 plus years old, why not rewire the whole car? If i rewire the car i might as well run LED lights, up grade the headlights with relays and H-4 housings. Since the old cross member was going to be out to be modified, might as well do some suspension up-grades. Techno Toy Tunning it was. You could do it on a budget but i think in the long run it's easier for me to do it once, or try anyway. Here are some costs S-14 Kouki SR20DET engine and 5spd trans $2,500 E-Bay inter cooler, pipe, couplers $300.00 there is no "kit" you'll have mix and match. seals, fluids, clamps, hoses etc $250.00 Drive shaft aluminum $400.00 or you could shorten the stock one $150.00 Mckinney mount kit $450.00 Get the rubber mounts for under 300hp and street use, trust me on this. Mckinney down pipe $320.00 Mckinney exhaust $550.00 Speed Hut gauges $1,200.00 Wiring,Fuse block, looms etc $400.00 Lighting $350.00 Arizona Z car radiator $350.00 Shroud $100.00 Fan $280.00 bad ass Derale 2 spd Fan controller $130.00 And there was the suspension, brakes, etc..... If you would, please ask questions in the thread so that others may benefit from the information. Willing to help all I can, Eric Edited August 14, 2012 by VKLR Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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