1 tuff z Posted August 19, 2019 Share Posted August 19, 2019 Looking good Alain, keep us updated and looking forward to seeing your Z hit the road! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EF Ian Posted August 19, 2019 Share Posted August 19, 2019 Carpet looks great. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alainburon Posted August 19, 2019 Author Share Posted August 19, 2019 Thanks guys, can't wait to get this car done. It has been way too long. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alainburon Posted September 27, 2019 Author Share Posted September 27, 2019 Finally took my car back to the body shop to get it repainted. I just got home from vacation and was surprised to see that my custom floor mats had arrived. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
trackzpeed Posted September 28, 2019 Share Posted September 28, 2019 Sweet. Can’t wait to see the finished product. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alainburon Posted December 15, 2019 Author Share Posted December 15, 2019 Since my car is in paint prison I decided to remove the exhaust and have it ceramic coated and re-polished the tips. This way I feel like I'm making progress. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alainburon Posted December 20, 2019 Author Share Posted December 20, 2019 (edited) I knew I had an issue with my fiberglass hood mounting flange (where it bolts to the hinge) hitting the cold air intake. The mounting flange is super thick in comparison to the stock hood and it hits the intake. Some say why not redo the cold air intake but I just like the way it came out so that's not an option for me. I have been trying to come up with solutions and still use the same hood since I like the scoop. The scoop is not massive plus I don't see this type of hood on a lot of S30's which is a big plus for me. Nothing worse than hearing, I know someone that has one just like it after you spend tons of money trying to make your car unique. So I decided to purchase an used stock steel hood and have it modified to look just like the fiberglass hood. This is the progress so far. Edited December 20, 2019 by alainburon Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alainburon Posted May 19, 2020 Author Share Posted May 19, 2020 After looking for months for Inner Fender Liners I was able to find a complete set. However they were cracked in multiple places and some of the mounting holes were 2 sizes too big due to damage. That seems to be the norm with these parts since they are old and brittle. Finding a complete set it's a task all on its own. Finding a perfect set it's just about impossible. I found a place that has a plastic welder and sent them the parts. They had a hard time welding the plastic but were able to get the job done and you can't see where they welded these parts. Now to finish to body work on this car and repaint it so I can get it on the road sometime this millennium. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EF Ian Posted May 19, 2020 Share Posted May 19, 2020 Nice job getting them fixed up. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alainburon Posted July 8, 2020 Author Share Posted July 8, 2020 Finally my car has paint again and this time the body work is done right. All that's left to do now is wetsand, buff the car and assembly. If you are in Texas DO NOT take your car to Richey Collision for any work. They were known to do great custom body work but after what they did to my car I would not spend a dime there. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
1 tuff z Posted July 8, 2020 Share Posted July 8, 2020 Gorgeous! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EF Ian Posted July 8, 2020 Share Posted July 8, 2020 Looks great. Looking forward to seeing more photos. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alainburon Posted September 15, 2020 Author Share Posted September 15, 2020 Hood is just about done, my car should be coming home in a week or so. Can't wait. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alainburon Posted November 17, 2020 Author Share Posted November 17, 2020 The car finally made it home a couple of week ago from a long trip at the body shop. Very happy with the work they did. Now the fun begins, sorting out all the issues. The car is getting a bit hot, gets to about 230 degrees. The transmission rear seal is leaking and the front tires are rubbing the fender. It never ends with this car. At least its home and I can work on it when I have time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DREW RBZ Posted November 17, 2020 Share Posted November 17, 2020 Beautiful! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mark Posted November 17, 2020 Share Posted November 17, 2020 WOW congrats beautiful Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alainburon Posted November 17, 2020 Author Share Posted November 17, 2020 Thanks for the compliments. Well I have learned a lot about thermostats in the last 2 weeks and I wanted to share it in case someone runs into this problem. I also learned how so many people know so little about them, even the so called experts. Most people think the lower the temperature rating on the thermostat the cooler your car will run and that’s not actually true. Then you have others that think taking out the thermostat will overheat the car or cause it to run too cool, not true either. I was finally able to talk to a GM Engineer who was involved in designing thermostats and he set it straight once and for all. The purpose of the thermostat is to set a minimum operating temperature for an engine. In other words no matter what you do the temperature of the motor will not be lower than the thermostat rated temperature. It also helps in getting the car up to that temperature faster. Your cooling system is what sets the temperature your engine will operate at not your thermostat unless of course the thermostat is not working properly. LS engines were not designed to operate at 160 degrees, therefore he told me for starters replace the thermostat with the GM unit set at 187 degrees. What happens next proves his point. I removed the thermostat to replace it with the one he suggested. The one in the left is the Ligenfelter thermostat I had in the car. It’s a 160 degree thermostat, the one of the right is the AC Delco GM unit for a 2002 Camaro SS. This is a 187 degree unit. You can see the difference is quality between the 2 thermostats. I replaced the Ligenfelter unit with the GM unit and my temperature went down from 230 to between 215 and 220. Still not perfect but a big improvement. So I put a higher rated thermostat and the operating temperature went down. Why? Design, you can see the clear differences between the 2 thermostats. The Ligenfelter creates more of a restriction that the GM unit so even though it opens at 160 degrees the flow is reduced therefore not allowing the cooling system to do its job. Also the rear part of the thermostat has holes on one and not on the other as well as the spring tension. Now to see if I can lower the temperature even more. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alainburon Posted December 22, 2020 Author Share Posted December 22, 2020 After researching countless hours and talking to everyone and their sister I decided to follow what LOJ Conversions suggested since it made a lot of sense to me. Not to mention some of the suggestions I was getting were just way out there. Like, remove the heads to check for blown head gasket etc.. According to LOJ the heater circuits on Chevy LS powered vehicles utilize a heater control valve that has an internal bypass. When the heat is off in a Chevy LS powered vehicle, coolant still flows through the heater hoses. You are not supposed to block the heater ports on your LS water pump, they must be looped to always allow flow. If flow is blocked in these ports, you will cause a pressure differential on your water pump impeller creating cavitation, resulting in aeration of your coolant and an overheating condition. The Datsun 280Z system works a lot different than an LS power vehicle, it has 2 heater control valves that block the flow of coolant into the heater core, it has no bypass valve. One valve is operated by the heat/cool level and the other is operated via vacuum. So when you turn the system to heat both valves open and allow coolant to flow through the heater core and back to the water pump. When the heat is off then the path is blocked and creating the exact same problem LOJ is describing. So I did a little test, I ran the car until it got to its operating temperature which was between 215 and 220. Then I turned on the heater at the lowest fan setting this way the fan does not aid much in the cooling process and to my surprise the temperature dropped 10 degrees to 205 to 210. So I decided to purchase their LS Swap Heater Bypass Block since I’m not driving my car with the heat on all the time specially in Texas. I removed the hose barbs it came with, drilled it and tapped it to ½” NPT and fitted AN10 fittings. I installed it on the car and sure enough overheating is now gone completely. Car runs at 195 to 200 steadily. By the way I’m running a factory heater and A/C on this car. The A/C was always super cold before the swap and the heater worked well so I left it stock. No point trying to fix something that works well already. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ironhead Posted December 23, 2020 Share Posted December 23, 2020 This is good information. I Installed a heater (well, defroster really) in my car and when it is turned off I would have this same problem....flow between the heater hose ports would be blocked. Would it accomplish the same thing to plumb an "H" with AN fittings between the water pump and heater core, or does the LOJ part have other design features I am missing? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alainburon Posted December 23, 2020 Author Share Posted December 23, 2020 Yes, an "H" with AN fittings is exactly what the LOJ unit is, well I added the AN fittings to it. I put it between the water pump and the heater core. The only feature the LOJ unit offers is a port on the side for a Nissan water temperature sending unit which I'm not using anyways, I blocked mine with the plug they provided. Here are some pictures of some others that are available as well. The metal one is a Vintage Air unit and the other looks like something home made but it worked. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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