78 280Z LS3 Project

[alainburon 3]

The dash is in, it still needs to be wired but we are getting one step closer.

[alainburon 3]

After 6 years it's alive. I could not upload the video but will try again later. 

IMG_0519.MOV

Edited September 30, 2017 by alainburon

[trackzpeed 8]

Congrats.  That's a long haul.  Jim 

[Fullauto 0]

Congrats!  gonna turn heads

cruisin around in that beauty

[Phantom 36]

Now you just need a Braille battery with a custom Skillard battery box.🙄

[alainburon 3]

On ‎1‎/‎28‎/‎2018 at 6:44 PM, Fullauto said:

Congrats!  gonna turn heads

cruisin around in that beauty

Thanks I will have it on the road this year. Had a set back and it's going back to the body shop in May to be repainted.

It bummed me out to the point that I have not touched the car in months. 

On ‎1‎/‎28‎/‎2018 at 7:01 PM, Phantom said:

Now you just need a Braille battery with a custom Skillard battery box.🙄

I decided to go with the Odyssey Battery 34-PC1500. It had good reviews and I can get it locally if anything goes wrong.  

Edited February 13, 2018 by alainburon

[alainburon 3]

I'm back working on the Z again. Was able to get the Headlight Harness completed and installed. That harness controls the headlights, horns, side markers, turn signals, electric fans and A/C trinary switch. It should all stay tucked under the fender liner for a clean look. 

 

I fitted all the body panels back on the car. Getting ready for a 4 wheel alignment and then to get the exhaust completed, I should be able to get that done this weekend if it the rains holds. It's a shame to do all this work and have to take back apart again when it goes back to the body shop. 

[alainburon 3]

Had the 4 alignment done and dropped the car off at a friend's house to get the exhaust redone. The exhaust was just too close to the inside of the rear tires for my taste so we decided to redo the entire thing since I still needed to have the section between the headers and X pipe done anyways. It felt good to drive it a few feet after all these years. 

[trackzpeed 8]

Such a beautiful car. Nice work and attention to detail. 

[alainburon 3]

7 minutes ago, trackzpeed said:

Such a beautiful car. Nice work and attention to detail. 

Thank You, I still want to have it repainted. There are some flaws that my anal self just can't live with but it looks good from 10 feet away....LOL

[alainburon 3]

I got the exhaust completed and the car back home. Now the next step is to get the gauges synchronized with the computer sensors and set up a time to have the car tuned. 

[Richard Oben 2]

WOW, just WOW.  Nice nice job.  

[Nelsonian 10]

Rolling art right there!

[alainburon 3]

Thanks guys, I appreciate the kind words.

[alainburon 3]

I was able to vacuum the A/C system this weekend to 30 inches of vacuum. Held vacuum overnight and charged it the next day. Not bad for idling in a 105 degree garage. I think it will do better on the highway.  Now to get the oil pressure and engine water temperature gauge synchronized to the ECU.

[EF Ian 11]

Love the tucked chassis harness, I am thinking of going this way also. Just curious how you routed yours past/round the headlight bucket area?

[LLave 18]

Wow! The car looks amazing. That exhaust came out great.

[alainburon 3]

On ‎8‎/‎21‎/‎2018 at 11:20 AM, LLave said:

Wow! The car looks amazing. That exhaust came out great.

Thank You,

I appreciate the kind words.

[alainburon 3]

I had to have the Hurst shifter modified since it was too tall and leaned to the left a bit too much. It is now centered with the console and the correct height when I install the knob. Once we get the high beam indicator light sorted then it's off to get the carpet done.

 

The high beam indicator light stays on all the time, it's a bit dim but it's on. It appears this is a known issue with the Dapper Lighting HID kits. Somehow the ballast bleeds back ground which turns on the high beam indicator light all the time. I have been working with Dapper Lighting and it appears the fix is to covert the system to a positive switch instead of a ground switch. They are sending me a diagram and hopefully that fixes the problem. The HID lights work as they should the only issue is the high beam indicator staying on all the time which just annoys the hell out of me.  

[LLave 18]

Looks great. Who's shift boot is that? Hurst? 

Regarding the high beam indicator light, I wonder if you could add a diode somewhere to prevent back feeding. 

[alainburon 3]

17 hours ago, LLave said:

Looks great. Who's shift boot is that? Hurst? 

Regarding the high beam indicator light, I wonder if you could add a diode somewhere to prevent back feeding. 

Yes sir, that's the Hurst shifter boot and the Datsun boot combined.

We tried the diode route and we could not do it since their kit has a diode already in place. We were able to get a resistor to work and turn the light off but it was getting hot as hell. We then tried a bigger resistor and then nothing would work. I'm hoping the diagram and harness they sent fixes it. If not we will just have to experiment with different size and brand resistors in order to find one that actually works and does not get supper hot. 

[alainburon 3]

After running my car at idle for over an hour or so I noticed an oil drip from the front and rear mean engine seals. I spoke with the engine manufacturer and they immediately pointed towards not enough crankcase ventilation. I have an LS3 catch can on my car which I was told would provide enough crankcase ventilation as well as remove contaminants from the crankcase. It was designed for a stock or mildly modified LS3. Good thing I did not have my car dyno tuned yet or I would have blown the seals clean out.
 

After reaching out to Elite Engineering's technical support it appears that the catch can I have does not provide enough crankcase ventilation for a stroker motor. It turns out I need a completely different set up. They recommended their Elite E2-X Ultra catch can with clean side oil separator. That kit is designed for high horsepower or boosted engines. I went ahead and ordered it, just waiting on them to manufacture it and send it out. I have attached pictures of what I had which is the chrome plated catch can from Elite Engineering and how it was connected as well as the new set up I ordered and the sketch of how it is supposed to be connected for this application (without the turbo of course). 

 

I suggest anyone running an LS motor specially a modified motor to take a close look at articles on the Corvette Forum about this topic. It's not just about venting the crankcase but trapping harmful contaminants produced during combustion. I have spent countless hours reading though all sorts of material on the topic and it appears a lot of people just vent the crankcase by putting a small filter on the oil filler cap or using a vented oil catch can. The proper and legal way to do it is a closed catch can system that provides proper crankcase ventilation or run a vacuum pup which is not feasible for street cars. I will post updates once I have it installed.  

Edited December 27, 2018 by alainburon

[NewZed 64]

3 hours ago, alainburon said:

After running my car at idle for over an hour or so I noticed an oil drip from the front and rear mean engine seals. I spoke with the engine manufacturer and they immediately pointed towards not enough crankcase ventilation. I have an LS3 catch can on my car which I was told would provide enough crankcase ventilation as well as remove contaminants from the crankcase. It was designed for a stock or mildly modified LS3. Good thing I did not have my car dyno tuned yet or I would have blown the seals clean out.
 

 

If the engine has a pressure buildup problem at idle you should be able to remove the dipstick and feel fumes ejecting from the tube.  The tube is a direct shot to the crankcase.  Just to verify and get a feel for how bad the problem is.

 

Not saying that there's not a problem but at idle you can do that.  Not so easy to do on the road or the dyno. 

[alainburon 3]

1 hour ago, NewZed said:

 

If the engine has a pressure buildup problem at idle you should be able to remove the dipstick and feel fumes ejecting from the tube.  The tube is a direct shot to the crankcase.  Just to verify and get a feel for how bad the problem is.

 

Not saying that there's not a problem but at idle you can do that.  Not so easy to do on the road or the dyno. 

Thank You,

 

I did that already and confirmed what the engine builder suspected. There were fumes coming from the dipstick tube. I also ran the motor with the oil fill cap off and the oil leak stopped.  I'm just glad I caught it now before driving it or some wide open throttle runs.