TURBO?

[jtiet87]

I'm wondering if anyone ever built their L28E motor for turbo? If you did im wondering, how hard the procedures were, what problems you encountered, and the total cost? If there is a real con to building the L28 for turbo, what would it be?

Or would the total cost be way cheaper just to swap a L28et and build it from there?

Cause i was just planning to build my l28e for turbo and didn't want the motor just to sit around.

[nsrZ32]

Most likely more cost effective in the long run to just swap in the L28et.

[evildky]

actually all L28's are created equal more or less, it just depends on ehat your long term plans and abulities are, if you plan to run the stock L28ET electronic;s then you might as well just swap the whole engine an all, if you are familiar with turbo's then you can just turbo the stock L28, if you plan to run a stnad alone with big power (350whp and up) then you should plan on building the motor, all L28's are one of 2 castings, the 75-80 are N42 castings with dished pistons, tall 81-83 are f54 the n/a's came with flat top pistons, the turbo came with the dished pistons, all the pistons are cast and have a tendancy to melt at about 400 whp, the bottom end and rods are good to north of 600 whp, if using the stock L28ET enigne managment you have to run the turbo distributor and distributor drive shaft, the stock electronics are limiting and only good for about 300 whp, the headgasket is a weakpoint at about 300 whp as well, metal HG's are about $120 and combined with APR headstuds (about $150) will hold to well north of the 400whp range, most of the guys running in excess of 500 whp seemt o have to o-ring the blocks, your 76 I think has the N42 head, which has mechanical lifters which are perferred to high hp builds and lower internal volume which yields a favorable 8.5:1 cr with the dished block, on a flat top you'e be at about 9.5:1 which is a danger zone, if you have the n47 get rid of it and find either an n42 with a dished block or a p90 (preferably the mechanical one) which can be used with the dished or flat top block, and if you want to do a real hp build the forged pistons can be custom ordered form wiesco or ross to your spec's and capable of handling whatever you can throw at it, and they tend to cost less than many off the shelf forged pistons

for the best abng for the buck, find a wrecked 280ZXT for about $500, swap the engine turbo and all electronic's over, turn the boost up to about 9 psi, free flowing exnaust and intake and you should get abotu 230 whp, which is about 100 more than you likely get now, then sell off the bits from the donor you don't need to offset the cost further, I've parted 3 or these out and come out money ahead every time, if you can find a 5 speed donor turbo the trans alone is worth $250-300 by itself should you not need it, althought if you plan to put much power to it you'll want the t-5, and it's a much former shift than any of the other datsun nissan 5 speed swaps

[jtiet87]

thanks a lot again.

[jtiet87]

would the bolt on 5-spd transmission from a 77 - 78z be okay to run with my turbo l28?

[evildky]

the 77-78 5 speed si a bit delicate, they basically added the 5th gear to the 4 speed box, if you do a lot of drag race ing or hard shifting you will break the trans, if at all possible find an 82-83 T5, or at least a 79-83 n/a, and you can likely sell that early 5 speed for more than a T5, a lot of old school guys like the authentic 5 speed

[jtiet87]

What kind of maf/map sensor are you using for your turbo l28? because i dont think i'll be able to use my afm with my turbo right? unless i can use it somehow? I heard i had to usea maf/map sensor if im planning to run megasquirt, if that is true what kind of maf/map sensor can i use? I looked at the z store and i coudlnt' find one for the l28 motor, so i'm wondering what i would use to watch my air flow?

[evildky]

well if you plan on running stock turbo injectors and stock turbo ECU then you want the stock turbo AFM which si different fromt he n/a AFM, also the turbo electyronics require a different harness, distributor, and oil pump drive ear

if you run megasquirt most use an on board MAP sensor, I have one that runs a generic external map, and some like the GM external MAP, DIYautotune is a great resource and souce of megasquirt parts

[VMP]

evildky

[jtiet87]

http://www.diyautotune.com/cat....html , actually is this right evildky? or should i get a 4 map? I am planning to run megasquirt ive been reading up on it slowly, kinda confusing, but hopefully i'll be able to figure it out in the end.

[evildky]

that would be the gm style and should allow you to map up to 2 bar or 29.4 psi of boost, I doubt you plan on running that much, the standard 250kpa on board sensor will go to 22 psi, and you can run more boost thaan that you just can't tune ve tables higher than that