Luna: The cause of, and solution to, all of my problems

[OldAndyAndTheSea]

Finished my intake manifold. I deleted the only previous remaining bung, and tapped an additional 1/16 npt hole for another dedicated vacuum line for my blow off valve)

 

So basically I had to repaint the whole thing.

 

 

And I had just received my exhaust materials so I decided to pull my headers, and started to think, exhaust routing.

 

Here's a layout of how my exhaust will work out.

 

Stock T3 --> MSA Downpipe --> 2.5" - 3" Adapter (6" long) --> 3" Exhaust --> Dynomax Ultraflo muffler

 

I'll weld everything so it is one piece, except the muffler, because I want to keep that interchangeable. I added the flanges for ease. I was torn between using vband clamps, but I've had good luck with these flanges in the past, so I'm confident they will seal my exhaust plenty fine, especially with the gasket.

 

Here's a better representation.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And with my headers off the car I was free to do my first mock up. I still have to pull my motor and swap parts, but I'm stoked with how clean the new setup will look.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Everything fit!!!(one thing I forgot to mention is my relocation of the PCV valve on the N42 intake.)

 

Here's a picture

 

Edited November 20, 2012 by OldAndyAndTheSea

[OldAndyAndTheSea]

It's definitely getting colder. Ugh....heating season....Definitely jealous of you warm climate Z guys.

 

Anyways, I have been cutting, and mocking together my exhaust from the turbo back. I'll try to start welding the pieces together tomorrow, if I get the time.

 

Here are some initial pictures. Fitment is pretty good. Nothing that can't be tweaked.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

EDIT: NOV 29

 

Got my clutch today!

 

 

Now I can pull my motor and swap oil pump, pickup, and pan! Yahoo!

Edited November 29, 2012 by OldAndyAndTheSea

[OldAndyAndTheSea]

Finished up my exhaust, I'm going to clean up everything, prime it, and paint it all later.

 

For Christmas my car got some exhaust wrap, and a turbo wrap, so I've been playing with and modifying that.

 

Also, wrapped my exhaust manifold and the downpipe this morning. Ran out of zip ties too, so I had to finish it up for now with a couple doubled up plastic guys.

 

Here are some pictures. I'll edit it out later for the mock up pictures once they dry.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[OldAndyAndTheSea]

Pulled my motor out today. My friend Pat stopped by for a bit, and lent a helping hand.

 

Tomorrow I start the cleaning, and prep for freshening up the block, Then I can swap over my Turbo stuff. Updates to follow

 

 

 

[OldAndyAndTheSea]

Okay, so while the motor is out of the car, I touched up the block, and began the turbo conversion.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Okay, now with the block looking fancy again.

 

I swapped my turbo oil pickup and installed my turbo oil pan, with the MSA gasket.

 

Since apparently NO TWO people do this the same way, and it's some sort of Dark Magic that makes these things NOT leak oil; I took the entire day to install this thing.

 

Parts used:

 

Turbo 280zx Oil Pan with stock metal trim pieces

 

Turbo 280zx Oil pickup tube with gasket

 

MSA 'Competition' Oil pan gasket

 

UltraBlack Permatex RTV sealant

 

 

This is what I did. For the record. (mainly in case this leaks, so I know what NOT to do again.)

 

1. Removed the stock oil pan

 

 

 

2. Removed the old gasket and CLEANED the area. Took extra special care to clean the surface with solvent, multiple times.

 

 

3. Removed the stock oil pickup, once again cleaning the area underneath.

 

 

4. Now I spent the better part of two hours carefully inspecting and massaging anything I deemed a "dimple" in the turbo oil pan. Test fit the pan numerous times to insure uniform contact throughout. I believe it's straight, I HOPE its straight.

 

5. Installed new gasket and Turbo pickup tube (torqued to roughly 7-8 ft-lbs)

 

 

6. Cleaned and prepared both the surface of the block, and the pan once more.

 

7. Sparingly used the RTV to adhere the gasket to the oil pan. (roughly 1/8'' bead) No sealant is used between the block surface and the gasket surface.

 

8. Cleaned again.

 

9. Carefully set the pan on the block and began the put the bolts in place. Starting from opposite corners, and working my way evenly around the base of the motor. Used the 2 OEM trim pieces.

 

-Only finger tight for the first 12-24 hours. Will torque to 5-7 lbs once the RTV has been allowed to set.

 

 

 

That's where I am now. Giving the RTV sufficient time to cure, before torquing.

 

 

Let me know if you guys think I did something way wrong, as I'd love to avoid a mistake with the motor still out of the car.

 

Who knows, maybe the oil will stay on the INSIDE this time. Fingers crossed!

 

 

 

Next step: Installation and timing of the turbo oil pump and the distributor drive shaft.

Edited January 14, 2013 by OldAndyAndTheSea

[OldAndyAndTheSea]

Today I installed my Turbo Oil pump and distributor driveshaft. I filled the pump before installation.

 

Removed L28 oil pump and drive shaft

 

 

In with the turbo

 

 

checking the tang (11:25)

 

Motor is on 1 TDC (you can even see the damper in the last picture)

 

 

 

 

Also while I had the vavle cover off to confirm timing, I decided to clean it up and respray it.

 

Here's the result.

 

Obligatory valve cover removed shot

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I officially have a turbo motor

Edited January 18, 2013 by OldAndyAndTheSea

[OldAndyAndTheSea]

So I've been having some fun. Mocking everything up. Making sure it all fits. I will have to trim my wrap a little bit for decent clearances for manifold bolts, but other than that, all is indeed very well.

 

8 megapixel Engine pron..

 

 

 

 

 

and here are a couple what I would consider "accurate" pictures of the valve cover. Turned out nice.

 

 

 

 

and the finished (sans throttle body) N42 intake

 

 

 

 

Exciting!!!

 

Updates to come!

 

EDIT: Mocked

 

 

 

 

Edited January 22, 2013 by OldAndyAndTheSea

[OldAndyAndTheSea]

The engine bay prep/refinishing stage is well underway.

 

I've spent the passed 4 days removing anything I didn't need in the bay, and rerouted my fuel feed to behind the motor. Then, I welded up any unused holes and got to sanding.

 

Pictures do the paint NO justice. But here goes...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Also, I'm ordering an oil cooler this week, as that's one of the only remaining components I need in order to be able to put the motor back in the car.

 

 

 

 

EDIT: Untaped.

 

 

 

 

Hard to see, but I rewrapped my headlight/charging harness.

 

 

Edited January 30, 2013 by OldAndyAndTheSea

[OldAndyAndTheSea]

Nothing special.

 I've been slowly reassembling the engine bay. I'm going to paint the crossmember in the next couple days.

 

 

 

 

 

[OldAndyAndTheSea]

The cross member has been painted, and I pulled my transmission so I can clean and paint the tunnel. Plus I am looking to source out some sort of 5 speed to replace my whiny 4 speed.

 

Ideally I'm looking for a 1980 5 speed. But I'd really be up for anything, and I'm throwing around the idea of the 240sx trans, but until then I'm still finishing up my last odds and ends for the turbo build.

 

But if anyone knows of any decent 5 speed transmissions for sale, willing to ship, let me know. I'll be needing one.

 

 

 

 

 

[Co0ke]

Build is looking great! I'm glad you're ahead of mine, reading through this and some other turbo builds has definitely been a big help for a first timer.

 

Good luck on finding the 5 speed. Can't wait to see that engine in the car!

[OldAndyAndTheSea]

Build is looking great! I'm glad you're ahead of mine, reading through this and some other turbo builds has definitely been a big help for a first timer. Good luck on finding the 5 speed. Can't wait to see that engine in the car!

Hey thanks! The kind words mean a whole lot. And I am very happy that you are learning stuff from my experiences.

 

I'm definitely trying to be more concise and descriptive when explaining what I do to the motor, and how I did it, etc...Not only to help others, but also so I know my exact process in case I need to go back and figure out something that went wrong.

 

Megasquirt will be a long and arduous process, as I intend on writing how I do it step by step, with even more pictures than usual. I'm now spending lots of time researching and understanding the system, so when I go to make my purchase I am well informed. But until then, I am going to slowly work my way to the back of the undercarriage of the car, cleaning, painting, and replacing as need be.

 

 

Thanks again for the compliment! It certainly makes this whole process much more fun. Cheers!

 

 

 

Turbo parts still to buy before Megasquirt:

 

Oil cooler

Radiator + fan(s)

MSD-6AL

Greddy RZ BOV

 

Drivetrain parts still to buy:

 

5 speed

r200 (not sure if I can swing a LSD yet, but either way,)

280z Mustache bar

CV's

MM adapter

 

 

 

Then I think about suspension.....Ugh...money money money mon---ay..

[OldAndyAndTheSea]

ACT Clutch is installed. Motor is back in. Trans tunnel is painted.

 

 

240mm 2+2 Flywheel

 

 

 

 

 

 

In

 

 

 

 

 

 

Now I can assemble the motor for real! Hooray!

 

 

[OldAndyAndTheSea]

With a fresh manifold gasket, I mounted the exhaust manifold, the turbo, it's oil line, and the shaved n42 intake.

 

Also, I added yet another dedicated vacuum port for my MAP sensor for megasquirt (I completely spaced that out) for a total of 3x on the intake. (not including the stock fpr port)

 

Here it is all bolted up and tightened down.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This will push me to source out a 5 speed, I can't really hang the exhaust until I reinstall some sort of transmission. It's progressing.....More to come.

[OldAndyAndTheSea]

Intercooler piping work has begun. Getting fitment right, making sure for easy access, and I still need to weld a couple bungs to the section just before the intake. One for the blow off valve, the other for a GM IAT sensor.

Also, I'm planning on going with black couplers, I HATE the blue, and will eventually powder coat the piping crinkle black as well.

But for right now, until I get the car moving under its own power once more, they can clearly wait....

I need to shorten the piping between the intercooler and the radiator support, as well. The gap is way too big. However, I'm waiting for my radiator to arrive before I do the final fit.

Fun work!

 

 

 

[OldAndyAndTheSea]

Okay, so today I started playing with my fuel lines...

I began figuring out how I was going to get the fuel where it needs to go.

I changed the routing of my fuel feed line to now feed from behind my motor.

Since I changed my fuel rail, I also needed to find a new place for my fuel pressure regulator.

 

I decided to mount it to the front of the motor, I'm not 100% on if I will be satisfied with it here, but I thought it was a pretty clever, and almost OEM looking spot. Let me know if you think this will be a problem? The only issues I see is potentially vibration? Maybe I'm over thinking it. But anyway, I think it will work out pretty well.

 

Err...I'm hoping so at least.....

 

Oh, I made some hard lines too, I think they give it a really clean look.

 

 

 

(I intend on putting a fuel filter in line before the injectors, I just didn't have one handy for this mock up)

 

Here you can clearly see my fuel circuit.

 

Comes in from behind the motor, leading to injectors, then to the regulator, then to the return.

 

 

[billseph]

FPR location is kinda slick....you're gonna have to run a real long vacuum line to it now though. It's kinda nice to have it all more out of sight by putting it on the firewall somewhere.

Sweet build too. I've been taking plenty of mental notes on your process, and the quantity/quality of pics is very helpful...a much more patient man than myself for documenting this whole thing.

[OldAndyAndTheSea]

FPR location is kinda slick....you're gonna have to run a real long vacuum line to it now though. It's kinda nice to have it all more out of sight by putting it on the firewall somewhere.

Sweet build too. I've been taking plenty of mental notes on your process, and the quantity/quality of pics is very helpful...a much more patient man than myself for documenting this whole thing.

Thanks, Mate!

 

I thought it was a pretty neat spot for it. And yeah, one of my other concerns was the long vacuum line as well.

 

I did a quick measurement, and the distance from the stock FPR vacuum port on the intake to the current mounting position is roughly 22-23 inches.

Then I measured to from the FPR port to the firewall, and it ended up being around 20-22 inches; was also roughly the same to distance to the passenger side inner fender, the other spot I contemplated mounting the FPR.

 

I figure the +/- a couple of inches is probably negligible.

 

And aesthetically, I actually don't mind the look of the regulator in plain sight. I actually kind of dig how it looks, haha. I also figured this would be the easiest place to access the regulator for troubleshooting, service, and replacement.

 

I toyed with the idea of putting it on the firewall, but there just didn't seem to be a good spot with easy access for maintenance. Especially given the odd shape of the regulator. I'll just creatively run the vacuum hose, and I think I'll be in good shape.

Edited February 17, 2013 by OldAndyAndTheSea

[1 tuff z]

Looking good Andy-you planning on making the zccr show this year?

[OldAndyAndTheSea]

Thanks David!

 

And yep! I'll definitely be there. Whether or not the car is ready is always the question.... And as of now, that is my intention. But we all know what happens to the best intentions.

 

It all depends on if I can keep my pace working on the car. One of my biggest hang ups is trying to source a 5 speed. So if you know of anyone with anything resembling a 5 speed. Let me know, as I currently don't have a transmission for the car.

 

Then megasquirt begins, and I expect to have a few hang ups there as well, but there's nothing I want more than to show up at the show in the car.

 

either way, I'll be there!