Z Project Starts

[thoroughbred3.0]

The paint looks awesome. Nice.

[jtiet87]

thanks a lot =D im getting my motor back thursday!

[Pharaohabq]

Niiiice! That color rocks! I hope you got your motor back today! Can't wait to see it. What all did you have them do to the motor besides a good cleaning and welding, et al.?

I haven't yet decided on what color to make my 78... I was thinking of maybe trying to replicate a Black Pearl, but I heard the decals are about impossible to find. I'm in the middle of amassing all the parts to change my interior from beige to black. I might go with a orangish red... duno yet. Phar.

[jtiet87]

Got my engine back! hopefully drop it in this sunday, probably not but oh well!

[Pharaohabq]

Niiiiiice! that looks sweet. looks like you're using some aftermarket oil return on your oilpan. I see your Block is an N42, What head do you have for it. Obviously you're putting a Turbo on it. I just wondering since I haven't yet decided which direction I'm going to go with my 280Z. Where're you getting your parts? boneyard?

Oh btw, your uncle did an awesome job repairing that rust crater, you can't even tell anything was ever gone. I can hardly wait to see more pictures.

thanks bunches for sharing it's looking amazing. Phar

[zman07]

looks really good keep up the great work cant wait to see it done

[DemonZ]

Wow, nice color choice, nice engine man, keep us updated!

[jtiet87]

So my engine is the the bay! woot. I got an HDG6 ACT Clutch Kit. And oh man it was a ***** to put the transmission onto the motor. I never want to relive that ever again, lol. Now its time for me to put everything together but Im hearing like 2 different stories for this motor. From one group of people i hear i can run my l28(turbo/reinforced/built internals) N/A and break the motor in and my motor will be just fine when i turbo it later in the future. From another group of people I hear I shouldn't run my L28(turbo/reinforced/built internals) without the turbo because I might run the motor. I dont know which way to go first and who to believe, cause the people that told me this haven't worked on a Z or anything to do with this motor. So i'm wondering what you Z Fanatics think i should do? Run N/A and break in my motor, or run turbo straight out? I'm stuck between the two

[evildky]

when nissan sold factory turbo cars they didn't break them in without the turbo fist, I see no reason why you should

[DemonZ]

So my engine is the the bay! woot. I got an HDG6 ACT Clutch Kit. And oh man it was a ***** to put the transmission onto the motor. I never want to relive that ever again, lol. Now its time for me to put everything together but Im hearing like 2 different stories for this motor. From one group of people i hear i can run my l28(turbo/reinforced/built internals) N/A and break the motor in and my motor will be just fine when i turbo it later in the future. From another group of people I hear I shouldn't run my L28(turbo/reinforced/built internals) without the turbo because I might run the motor. I dont know which way to go first and who to believe, cause the people that told me this haven't worked on a Z or anything to do with this motor. So i'm wondering what you Z Fanatics think i should do? Run N/A and break in my motor, or run turbo straight out? I'm stuck between the two

Run it with the turbo, just keep the boost relatively low, dont rev it up past 3500rpm if you dont have to for the first 3k miles.

^That's if you want to be extra safe.

theres no reason you should take your turbo off.

[jtiet87]

From one group of people i hear i can run my l28(turbo/reinforced/built internals) N/A and break the motor in and my motor will be just fine when i turbo it later in the future. From another group of people I hear I shouldn't run my L28(turbo/reinforced/built internals) without the turbo because I might ruin the motor.

I phrased it wrong sorry, what the first group of people meant was that i can run the motor without the turbo and the internals/motor itself wont get messed up. Is that true?

The reason im asking this question is cause since the economy is getting pretty weak, im short on cash, so i wouldn't be able to get the turbo parts probably not until the next two months. And i would like to run in N/A until i grab the turbo parts, cause tuning is MONEY MONEY =(.

[DemonZ]

I phrased it wrong sorry, what the first group of people meant was that i can run the motor without the turbo and the internals/motor itself wont get messed up. Is that true?

The reason im asking this question is cause since the economy is getting pretty weak, im short on cash, so i wouldn't be able to get the turbo parts probably not until the next two months. And i would like to run in N/A until i grab the turbo parts, cause tuning is MONEY MONEY =(.

So your talking about running the Turbo engine as an NA until you have the money to put the turbo on it?

Yeah, you could do that, but if you're running an F54 Block, dished pistons, and a P90 head, your compression may be just a tad low, which isnt really a problem.

The problem you may have is with the fuel, you'll probably be running a little rich if you have the turbo injectors/ecu. May cause a little bit of back firing, but otherwise I don't really see any problems.
Modified by DemonZ at 7:53 PM 6/28/2008

[jtiet87]

i have stock electronics from the 76 z. im running a n42 head / l28 block. i was planning to save up for a standalone engine management and use that. so i should be fine?

[Pharaohabq]

i have stock electronics from the 76 z. im running a n42 head / l28 block. i was planning to save up for a standalone engine management and use that. so i should be fine?

Yeah if you have the stock computer it will be fine to run your engine as a NA stock engine before you turbo it, it should behave just like normal, but take it real easy until it's well broken in, Change your OIL VERY often, like every 500 miles. That also means no romping on it just because it runs. you really just want to take it easy for a few thousand miles.

When you get ready to turbo, you'll need to change your ECU and add in the parts, but since you're not using turbo head/pistons/block, you'll want to keep your boost low, because you can screw up your engine since it isn't setup for Turbo in your build. I mean at least the block and head weren't built for the stresses. I don't know what pistons/rods you're using. don't forget the plug that oil return tube until you get the turbo intake. Can't wait to see installed picts

Phar

[evildky]

yup you can run a turbo engine with all the n/a goodies it'll just be a real dog with such low compression, build a megasquirt then you can tune either way

[jtiet87]

I remember looking up megasquirt, i think they're more then 1 version. Which is the one you recommend? I was suppose to run a different standalone but this guy sold it(that bastard) so now i'm going to run a megasquirt. I also heard megasquirt was hard to use?

[evildky]

I was running MS1 V2.2 with magnus MSnS code v3.0 on my turbo L28ET as well as my Z31T, now upgrading the Z31 to Extra code v 029y4, and upgrading the L28 to MS2 V3.57, not sure what code version yet thinking I'm going to run it with edis so that narrows it down and

[jtiet87]

ahaha wow. i'm lost already =D. By any chance would you know what code i would have to use if i'm running a small t04e(i think?) with 470cc injectors? lol

Oh and a question! I looked at a 240z in person, the rear lights and the body piece that holds it up looks smaller then the 280z body piece that holds up the 280z lights. I hope that made sense, but my question is it possible to do a 240z rear light conversion? lol sorry for the confusing intro...
Modified by jtiet87 at 12:04 AM 7/1/2008

[evildky]

yes it's possible to do a tail light conversion but it requires cutting and welding, they overall size is about the same it's the relocated backup lights and mounting that causes the issue

assuming you wanted to keep the n/a distributor and run a single coil I'd suggest the MS1 V3.0 mb with 029v4 firmware, there si a steep learnign curve, if you aren't comfortable taking your time and doing a lot of reading and trial and error then it's nto for you, I run a T3/O4E on my L28ET powered 71 240Z, with 440 cc dsm injectors, I however was running the stock turbo distributor and plan to swap to edis, I also started running the magnus code back before the v3.0 mb came out the the extra code became available, the magnus code I was running was way out of date and sort of a round about way of controlling ignition, with coil drivers on board and firmware to control them on the newer systems it's be silly to run anything less

[JDMZ32]

looks like a great project . i love that blue, btw.

[jtiet87]

Ah, guess i'm going to have to read up on megasquirt A LOT more. I hope its not so confusing, but i feel like my set up is different from most people because i chose the "expensive route." I read some of the threads that are posted up on hybrid z, and i didn't see any set up like mine so far. I only looked on one post though, so i still need to dig a little more. Im hopen i'll find someone that has the same set up as me, lol. But onward to reading more about it!

And my car is almost ready to start =D, lol, so far im spending 500+ on replacement parts. Ai ya! that water temp wire screw thing is a stupidly expensive, but all i have are just a couple of hoses left. Hopefully this upcomming tuesday i'll be able to start the beast!
Modified by jtiet87 at 3:31 AM 7/4/2008

[Pharaohabq]

PICTs! PICTS! I wanna see the engine sitting in that pretty engine compartment!

[evildky]

there are plenty of high dollar builds out there, and I doubt you'll be able to fond anything to so to an S30 that hasn't already been dne to an extreme, I first built my car on a budget, it has since recieeved far more cubic dollars than the car is worth, my custom forged pistons cost almost as much as the car, the engine build will end up about as much as an RB, I'm not pround, just broke

[jtiet87]

i'm in the broke crew as well =D, pictures will be up soon when the motors ready to start, just need to replace a bunch of old bolts and nuts and other nic nacs =(

[bigred240sx]

sounds like your doin quite good...i have a 76 im fixin up slowly but surely

[jtiet87]

THE BEAST HAS STARTED!!!!!!!!!! LOL finally after 6 months =D. Now all thats left is trouble shooting =( fuel hose had a hole in it just went out to buy the new hose today and i just replaced all 3 hoses and the fuel filter as well. Oh also we had trouble yesterday with the fuel pump. For some reason the fuel pump was getting no power, so we manually gave it power from the battery. Does anyone know why the fuel pump wasn't getting any power?

[evildky]

you running stock injection? the stock injected setup requires the AFM to send a signal to the ECU which sends a signal to the FP relay when turns the pump on, could be a disconnect somewhere, power to the AFM, the AFM itself, the ignition swithc, the FP relay, pin out at the ECU, etc

[jtiet87]

I fixed the fuel pump problem it was a loose wire, lol, but now im having idle problems. I can make it idle but at high rpm, but i want to make it idle smooth. I'm thinking it might be my high lift cam, but my motor was built for the high cams, so im not even sure if thats the problem. Does anyone have any clues what it might be? There are no leaks either.. ahhh

Modified by jtiet87 at 10:20 PM 7/10/2008
Modified by jtiet87 at 1:17 AM 7/11/2008

[evildky]

a race cam will have a lopey idle as the overlap doesn't make much vacume at idle, of course you didn't specify what kind of lift or duration your running so I wouldn't knwo if thats your problem, and the only thing you do to an engine for a lumpy cam is upgrade the springs, a bumpy cam just won't idle the way a smaller cam will

you are running stock n/a injection right? egr? ficv? pcv? any of which could be an issue

[jtiet87]

my lift and duration is 488/.488[valve lift], 262°/262°[duration]. The springs are upgraded, and everything in the motor are aftermarket performance parts. I'm running everything stock on the outside. Could it do anything with my stock 76 ecu?