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78 280Z LS3 Project


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  • 2 weeks later...

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.

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  • 2 months later...

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.  

Shifter Modified.jpg

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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. 

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  • 1 month later...

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.  

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Edited by alainburon
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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. 

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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. 

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  • 3 months later...

Finally received the Oil Catch Can from the chrome plater and was able to get it installed on the car. It turned out to be a PITA but what else is new with this car. It seems nothing fits as it's supposed to but after some work I got it done. Now I will check next week and see if the pressure issues are gone. Cross fingers and toes. 

Oil Catch Can 3.jpg

Oil Catch Can 2.jpg

Oil Catch Can.JPG

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  • 3 months later...

Yeah - the guy I had do mine moaned and groaned = but then he did it and it turned out great.  I had him do my wife's Z32 convertible with a berber carpet and it turned out so well I selected a carpet made by Wavemaker called Chivas Regal and twisted his arm really hard.  I googled it and this is one of the images that "Bing" brought up.

https://www.bing.com/images/search?view=detailV2&id=5B222EF660A0AE13BF930BA281C5D2233C733B7F&thid=OIP.NNouDs-1YmQMX8fdcDbLLQEgDY&mediaurl=http%3A%2F%2Fforums.hybridz.org%2Fuploads%2Fmonthly_03_2014%2Fpost-263-0-17968700-1394340273.jpg&exph=768&expw=1024&q=wavemaker+carpet%2c+chivas+regal&selectedindex=68&qpvt=wavemaker+carpet%2c+chivas+regal&ajaxhist=0&vt=0

Considering that photo is 14 years old I'm pretty impressed.

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That looks good and I'm sure it will last longer than automotive carpet since it's designed for more traffic. Mine looks good but I don't like how the backing is paper thin. I know it will not be durable at all. Thank god my car will not be driven daily or I would have to replace it fairly soon. If I ever redo it I will go a different route for sure. 

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  • 4 weeks later...

Here are some pictures of the carpet as well as the shifter and hand brake boots I had made with the same stitching as the rest of the interior. I have not put some of the interior trim because the car is going back to the body shop to be repainted and all that would have to come off again. 

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