1975 Datsun 280z - Turbo Never Ending Build

All right this is a carry over from another website so bare with me while I transfer stuff over. I am doing this because I am trying to make more useful posts that show how to take things apart and my experiences with them. This has been a very long build and there are many pictures to accompany it, the main thing to remember is this car is constantly changing and at the time I decided to start this build thread I am in the process of adding a lightened flywheel and a new front differential mount. I hope you all like pictures, they will be being added over the next few days.

Alright the car I have is a 1975 Datsun 280z that I picked up in 2002 when I was still in highschool. I have had the car for a long time. While I don't have a ton of pictures from the first 5 or 7 years I have been trying to do a good catalogue of the work I have been doing.

First post: From January 2012

I got this car when I was 17 it was butterscotch brown and in decent shape. I ran the car for about 6 months until I saved up enough money for paint. After that I drove her for a while then swapped in a 5 speed from a 1979 280zx parts car. Then trouble happened I decided to swap in a turbo . It has been a learning experience. I swapped it in and got her running, but not running well. I then decided I wanted MegaSquirt. This has been one of my favorite things I have ever done, that being said it definitely hasn't been all roses.

I got MS and all the parts over the span of about 3 years for gifts/ extra money when I had it. I finally put it all together and got her running (boy that's making a long story short), but she wouldn't run well for very long. It turns out a car left sitting for about 5 years without moving with gas in the tank might get some crap in the tank when the gas goes bad. So I got her running but the fuel pump would clog off and starve my engine for fuel. So I pulled the tank had it coated, left her sitting for another 6 months still has some crap in the tank (I put in a fuel filter and am hoping to run a few tanks through to see if this clears it up).

The Car: 1975 280z red w/ 2 black racing stripes

The Body: A little bit of rust here and there but nothing bad, a few dings and dents the paint job is now 9 years old. MSA front spoiler, Shaved rear bumper, 240z front bumper, Deleted lower side and rear emblems, All chrome trim was masked off and painted black I think it looks really good.

The Interior: 2001 Toyota Celica cloth seats: fabricated using a mixture of the datsun and celica mounting hardware, DOT Legal Schroth 4 Point Harnesses for both Driver and Passenger, MSA Dash Cap, Generic Boost gauge, The interior was actually in pretty good shape and I have tried to leave it alone mainly.

The Engine/Drivetrain: L28et from a 1983 280zx, Pallnet fuel rail, 60MM TB, Ported Intake, 2.5" MSA DP, full 2.5 inch mandrel bent exhaust, catalytic converter, and muffler it isn't the best exhaust but it does the job I need it to. MS1 V3.0 board running MSNS. Champion Aluminum radiator- the 280zx radiator that replaced the stock one wasn't up to snuff at the track, the original got ruined doing some fun stuff and the fan decided to destroy the radiator Dual 12inch electric fans controlled by Megasquirt, Oil Cooler (Compliments of the turbo auto car know I didn't have to just wanted to), CIA (I know so cool), 5 Speed transmission from a 1979 280zx, Regular turbo clutch,

Other Stuff: Swastika rims, SS brake lines.

potential this has

When I moved to Colorado I had the car shipped from Kansas. It had been sitting in a shed at my parents in Kansas since I went off to college. When I got here I cleaned her up and got some photos. These are from around 2011 if I remember right.

I have since relocated the relay board into the car I think it looks much better now.

Interior Shots

Exterior Shots Notice the Monster Truck stance that will be fixed in the next month or so hopefully just got in my suspension parts Two of my three kids with the Z

Originally Posted 27 Jan 2012

Some things I have done from summer 2010 to winter 2011

Replaced the weatherstripping with stripping out of a Kia Sportage. Replaced the intake tube going from the filter to the turbo connector While tuning my LC-1 gave up the ghost so I am in the process of ordering http://14point7.com/SLC-DIY.php to replace the LC-1 Order some vinyl decals from RTZ (Hybridz.org member) as well as some HybridZ stickers for the car. Ordered a battery tie down(Ended up not working). A couple months have gone by I built the SLC DIY and really liked but the version I have does not work as a AFR gauge as it bounces around to much. It doesn't bounce like that in TunerStudio.

I also have driven the car quite a bit and worked out some bugs I still need to replace window felt and some of the other stuff. Now that my wideband is back in it I am concentrating on tuning the car again!

I got my SLC DIY-1 back in February of 2011. I immediately opened it to make sure all the parts were there, they were. I then packaged it all back up and stored it until I could work on it. I ended up putting it together in March, but when I came back to it I found I ended up losing some of the molex pins when I contacted Alan he promptly sent me the replacement parts and at no charge which of course was not expected, but a very nice and definitely made me a more happy customer.

The board looked to be good quality and the components were separated out by values. It was easy enough to solder all the parts on to the boards and the sockets make installing the IC’s much better than say putting them on the board themselves. That being said there were several locations where I wish the solder pads were just a bit further away from each other that way there is less worry of solder bridges, that however is just a very small gripe. When first put together the board didn’t work 100% due to the fact one trace had lifted and separated from a pad coming from Molex pin 5 once found a dab of solder to reconnect and the system worked flawlessly.

The 4 Seven segment display is a great added feature and one of the main reasons I actually purchased the kit, I don’t have a dedicated AFR gauge and didn’t want to have to run with a netbook all the time in order to watch the value. That being said the display updates very fast so if you don’t have a very stable AFR you can tell. The display can be toggled to display things like oil pressure, RPM, AFR, Boost these are little things that can be added to make it a more feature rich unit.

The SLC DIY1 has now been replaced by the SLC DIY2. If the SLC DIY-1 is any indication of the quality and features of the DIY2 (which come pre-built and tested) then I would say that I think this is a great alternative to the LC1 or even the more expensive MTX-L, with the added benefit of being a small DIY type company. The extra gauges and information it displays can be used in conjunction with Megaview or in place of a small netbook. I really liked this product and hope more people using MS give it a try as it works very well with it.

All in all I think for all people wanting to have a more do it yourself wideband option this is the way to go, as well it will give you the option to have a gauge all you need to do is mount it where you can see it. Link to 14point7 as well as a vendor that offers good discounts here on the website. I try to not just sell products here, but I really do like this product and any one with Megasquirt or other things I would like to get the word out about these products.

Originally Posted 27 Jan 2012

Here is where I am now. I should have some more pictures for you guys shortly. I can't find the cord to hook my camera to my computer.

• Tokico HPs (I ordered them they arrived Thursday 26 Jan 2011)
• Eibach Springs (Came with the HPs)
• Poly Urethane Bushings. I already installed several of the front I am dreading the back ones.
• Exhaust is way to loud I am going to be doing some work on the exhaust.

I will take pictures before and after of my ride height. I will also try and take some before and after video of my exhaust. I am getting very excited I have been putting off suspension for a long time I am ready to start it. I uploaded the video of my exhaust before and after the catalytic converter install. It definitely smells better. It is still too loud, so I will be adding a rear muffler. The whole rear part of my exhaust needs to be reworked it just doesn't fit quite right so I will be fixing it in the next couple months.

My suspension parts came in I will probably start that project in the next few weeks as well.

Some Shots I came across from a car show in July 2011 the 300zx and skyline were owned by the same guy and he was pretty cool. These are some good pictures to see how the cars original tired suspension sat before switching over to the upgraded struts and springs

[IMG][IMG]http://i1225.photobucket.com/albums/ee390/aaronwarren/1975 Datsun 280Z/100_1108.jpg[/IMG]

Some history Originally Posted 28 Jan 2012 I have had this car since I was 2002 when I got it I drove her daily for the first 2 years I had her.

That even included a time when I broke the drivers window and drover her for over a month with no drivers window. In Kansas Z replacements are not a dime a dozen. I ordered a window from a guy and when it got to my house it was the passengers window. So I called the guy he said keep it (If you look through the photos you can see I have it still in the wall of the shop incase my passengers side ever breaks) and sent me the drivers window.

The thing about 1975 280Zs they have similarities to 260Zs as well as 280Zs but it is not 100% either. So windows are finicky they must be from only from like 74.5-76 in order to fit. I got the replacement and spent about 2 hours with my hand jammed in the door only to have the window shatter when I was tightening the last bolt. I am not going to lie I cried because it was cold I was tired and I didn't want to find another window. I did find another and that one went in much better I learned a few things to make my life easier the second time around. The whole ordeal was about 2 months long I think. At the time it was October/November and I worked at Blockbuster. I got off work every night after midnight. There were many very cold drives home, because I lived out in the boonies about a 20 minute drive from there mainly highway driving. The things teenagers do to drive their dream car right.

I went off to college in 2005 and didn't get to drive the car again regularly until 2010. So she sat for 5 years I would drive her maybe once a year and only a few miles. The gas in the tank went sour (Have you ever smelled 5 year old gas it is terrible) and that caused me to have to re-coat the fuel tank before I could get her running again because there was so much rust in the tank. Here are a couple pictures of her sitting at least I was able to make sure she wasn't getting destroyed.

So Datsun story time. You know what I think would make an S30 like 3 times cooler T-tops. I remember reading an article about a business that made T-Tops for the S30 but burnt down I will see if I can find a link ( http://zhome.com/History/240Accessory.htm ). When I purchased my 280zx parts car I drove 4 hours to pick her up, and then drove her back 4 hours you know the thing I liked the most about that car was the turbo, you know what I liked the second most? The T-tops. Just cruising with the T-Tops off is so fun. So on the trip back I drove the ZX on I-35 in Kansas I only had 1 problem the muffler gave up the ghost and I started sounding like a early 90's Honda it was awesome!

When I got the car home as I prepared for the swap I let several of my friends drive the 280zx before I pulled the engine. The funnest time I remember was my friend Jorim was driving and I grew up on a dirt road He was drifting around a corner and the accelerator stuck. So we ended up spinning and in the ditch the thing that annoyed me the most I had the T-tops in the back and they bounced and cracked each other I was so pissed. I wish I had a picture of the rear wheel when we came back in, it bent something in the rear suspension and gave it wicked awesome negative camber. It even popped the bead on the tire. Here is a picture of me with the car, before MegaSquirt and the 240Z front bumper, right after I had won best teenage car at the small car show that I was at.

I like your Y plate its the first one I've seen out side japan, for any one who is interested the big Y on his front Japanese license plate the car is registered to a foreigner who is living in japan

Thank you for the complement on the plate my brother is in the Navy and sent it to le because be knows how much I like Japanese cars. It will definitely stay with me, and he told me it wasn't easy to ship over here either they don't usually let those things through.In reply to Caleb:

Quick update my brights haven't been working for a few years so I decided to take all of the switches off of the steering column. I greased everything as well as clean the electrical contacts. I also found an electrical break in my main 12V line going into all the switches in the column. I have to get a new bullet connector for that but after I cleaned and reassembled my brights work now! My wipers might even work a bit better. I took quite a few pictures of the process. I also found that the little springy tab that connects my horn the plastic piece it connects to is broken so I fixed it with JB weld just need to let it set up and then drill a hole in it so I can mount it, so I can have a working horn as well!

This was my exhaust before I but out the extra piece that I had to because I added in the catalytic converter it helped with the smell, but not with the sound.

Here are the pictures I took when I took apart the switches on my column it is very scary to do just remember to work slow take pictures from all angles BEFORE you take pieces off.

This piece is what wasn't working properly and that is why my High-Beams weren't working. I sprayed in a bunch of WD-40 and worked it around in the switch until it was clicking much better. The top of the switch for the brights Turn signal return parts this was very gunked up with old dried up grease and nasty crap.

The piece that was broken with the horn I repaired with JB weld I will snap a picture when I put it back on.

Inside of the wiper/light control on the 280Z

Wiper Control Stuff

My 12V feed that was broken

Here is a slideshow of above that outlines all the parts in the pictures above.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8y3ZoefvL5E

Originally Posted 8 Feb 2012 Holy Cow the suspension is not fun it is hard. I will have to say I do feel very accomplished though.

A buddy of mine came over to help. Let me tell you now if you are changing the suspension on a 35 year old car it is always good to have a friend to help. We started and we got as far as the tie rod end (Read not far at all), and we were unable to get it off (that is an understatement. I sprayed that thing down with a TON of PB Blaster and was still unable to get the part off). It wasn't in the best of shape to begin with but after we got done with it it was pretty bad. We still couldn't get it even after heating and tapping because I forgot to by a tie rod separator rod so we made a run to harbor freight. We got back with that and it came right off with a few good whacks. The other side was a different story I sprayed it then started with the tie rod separator. It promptly split the separator. We then sprayed it with PB and let it sit for a while. Then heated it and beat it with the 3lb sledge until it finally gave. This took us a couple hours of the time. I won't lie it should not have taken us that long but that is what happens when you don't plan ahead or quality tools.

Then we got to the control arm bushing. It was also a nightmare Atlantic Z suggests getting the bushing pressed out but being stubborn I carefully cut out a strip with a hack saw this was also no fun and took a very long time. I 100% agree with the going to a shop with both control arms and having the bushings pressed out. This was honestly the hardest part for both sides it was just so time consuming and the parts just didn't want to come off. Proper tools I am sure would help with this.

The Springs and struts were a piece of cake. The harbor freight spring compressor worked like a charm and I was pleasantly surprised to see that at sometime in my cars past someone installed Tokico HPs but kept the stock springs. The struts were however getting old and you could tell were on their way out. The best part is now I have extra gland nuts. So I installed the new struts as well as the new springs. The Eibachs are quite a bit shorter for the front. The don't even need the spring compressor to get them on the strut. SO I repacked the bearing with grease and changed struts and springs out very easily.

Putting the parts back on was not hard at all. The control arms went in with relative ease. I put the brass sleeve in the freezer then pressed it into the bushing with my vise and had no trouble getting it into its slot under the car. The strut housing/springs went in great too. That is one of the main parts that having someone to help really pays off. If you read this thank you man it helped so much. I haven't rolled the car around but it is already sitting about 0.75" lower, and feels much stiffer in the front.

I have the tie rods on order. I also picked up some new steering rack boots today and will be putting them on in the next couple days when I get the tie rod ends in.

I am very excited to finish this and get it out of the garage and drive. My goal this year is at least 2 track days.

Some Pictures

Rear Before height below Front before height below

Old and new strut for passengers front Yes that bench vise is on the floor I just got it yesterday and haven't mounted it yet

Originally Posted 12 Feb 2012 Alright so I got my tie rods I went the cheap route and got them from Autozone we will see how long they last I will make sure to keep an eye on them. My thought process is if something goes wrong I can call the shop down the street and have them in free shipping within a couple days. The crazy thing is one is clearly a Moog tie rod end while the other is the crappy Duralast. The Moog came pre-greased with a nice boot attached. The Duralast did not come pre-greased, and they had a crappy boot with it. One they had to order in from out of state the other was in a local warehouse. So you might get lucky and get the nicer one if they have to order them in. I took comparison photos you can see that the quality difference easy enough. I also picked up some steering rack boots. I also got them from Autozone. They usually have them on hand if you go in with a part number they will gladly get them for you. This means that besides checking alignment when I get this all finished and bleeding the brakes, which I will also do after I get the rear done I am done with the front.

I didn't get a picture but I dropped 1.8" in the front. It might settle a bit more as all I did was pulled it out of the garage turn it around and back it back in. Either way almost 2 inches I am very happy with that. I didn't want the car slammed just a bit lower and better handling. Enough talking here are some pictures.

Below you can see the difference

Originally Posted 25 Feb 2012

At this point in the time in the project I had stalled in the rear suspension work because I was unable to get the rear spindle pin out. I had tried several things. I had the help of some great car guys but it was just not budging. I started tinkering with other things. I would eventually have to just replace the whole rear arm to fix the problem!

I got the dome light working the other day. I need to get the door buttons working now.

I cleaned off some of the built up crud off of my diff as well as put the one side that has the spindle pin out back together and put it back on the car. I did it mainly so I could work on the exhaust it was way to loud for my liking. It is nice to see her just waiting really on the spindle pin removal once that is done an afternoon of putting everything back together and bleeding the brakes and I will be back on the road.

I got the new exhaust built. I still need to add the hangers, and an exhaust tip to make it look nicer. You know what I have noticed there are not a ton of great spots to add hangers to these exhausts. The resonator sounds really good just a bit quieter. Nice deep tone. I might try and work out something with the hangers tomorrow. I should have some pictures of all of the work I have been doing lately pretty soon I might take a few tonight.

OK I snapped a few pictures real quick. The Crud I cleaned off of the diff. The evil Spindle that won't budge!

Originally Posted 8 March 2012. Still no spindle pin out, so I moved on to the rear wheel bearings.

Well I decided to strip everything I would need for the new hub. That means I needed the axle as well as the spacer in the middle. So I rented the slide hammer and this whole little project it actually went better than I thought it would for once. I started by cutting the peen ring (If that is what it is called) off of the old nut. I then tried to break it loose with a breaker with no dice. So I went at it with my harbor freight air wrench still nothing. I heated the nut with my little torch for a couple minutes and hit it again with my harbor freight impact wrench and it came loose like there was no real problem in the first place. Needless to say I was very happy.

I then attached the slide hammer and put the housing in my vice facing down so I could use gravity and these guns I call arms to break the axle loose. No go I tried for a couple minutes and decided if heat worked for the nut, and since Blues Tech Tips mentioned heating that back flange, I would try. I heated for about 5 minutes and went to town with the slide hammer it took around 25 hits to finish it. Seeing that axle move that first centimeter is a great feeling. Now it is all apart.

I have already ordered everything I have the bearings already, just need the "new" housing to get here and the axle nuts. So question to everyone do I have to press the bearing onto the shaft before pressing it into the housing? Or can I have them both pressed into the housing then use the axle bolt to pull the axle into the outer bearing? I see blues shows it going onto the shaft first, but I don't see why one way matters over the other. Well I hope you enjoy the photos. Also do you think it is possible to get them all pressed in with minimal tools or am I better off going to a shop and have them do it?

This is where I heated the flange I rotated it around a couple times.

Originally posted 10 March 2012 This was when I started trying to make a more cohesive build thread with steps used to help people or myself in the future

I took plenty of pictures I think I got the car put back together today. I went ahead and changed both sides rear wheel bearings. Everything went really well today. If any one is wanting to replace the rear wheel bearings on their Z here is what I suggest you do. First you should go to atlanticz.ca and use Blues Tech tips I did however find some things I liked that I did differently than Blue. 1. Take the housings out of the car (Springs, struts, the control arm all of it). 2. Cut the old peen ring off. 3a. Use an air wrench and take it off (I found heating the nut worked on one side, not the other). 3b. (If 3a doesn't work because you have a crappy harbor freight air wrench like I do.) Take it to the closest tire store and have them remove the nut. 4. Put housing in vice with lugs facing down. 5. Attach the slide hammer going down 6. Using a little torch and heat the back part that attaches to the half shafts (I showed a picture in my post above) 7. Smack the crud out of it with the slide hammer. On the first housing it took about 25 hits on the second it only took about 7 or 8. I heated the part for a bit longer on the second one. 8. Use some device to knock the bearings out of the housing. 9. If the bearing is stuck on the hub axle like my second one was and you can't press it off (Because like me you don't have a press). I used a dremel and cut off wheel to cut the outer metal, then took out the actual ball bearings then very carefully cut the inner metal almost through on 2 different spots, then drove a screw driver into the channel I cut and split the ring once the ring splits just a little twisting pressure from the screw driver in the channel and it will slide right off. 10. I did not freeze or heat anything like blue it might have gone better if I did. I did anti-seize everything. Using my vise set just wide enough to let the shaft pass through I hammered on the middle of the outside of the hub using a impact socket to sit in between those fins. Make sure your vice is set just wide enough to let the shaft go through, but still have the inner part of the bearing resting on the metal surface. Every few hits I turn the shaft to make sure I wasn't just beating on one place. 11. Once that is on pack the bearings (that one on the shaft and the other just by itself) and the other as well as grease the shaft and the spacer that goes inside the housing. 12. Drive the new bearing into the back of the housing I found the old bearings good at this, you might want to set them in a baggy or something to make sure it doesn't contaminate your new bearing. 13. Put the new seal it I greased the inside liberally (I greased everything liberally) 14. Put the axle back in and bolt it all together I used the old nut to draw them together (since it wasn't a lock nut) then took that off and replaced it with the lock nut and tightened it back down to the 186 to 220 ftlbs. I did this by using my vice to lock the housing and using a long 2x4 between the lugs I propped it up against me and pulled with the torque wrench to tell me how tight it was. 15. Put it all back in and enjoy.

I was getting so frustrated by all the little things I had to do to finish this. I am glad it went so smoothly today. I took it around the block and it needs the brakes bled again they have to be pumped in order to work properly and the parking brake seems like it needs adjusted now because it isn't really working. She seems so much firmer and I still need to tuck the exhaust up a little higher in one spot, but she is back on the ground. I didn't take any rear ride height measurements tonight I will try and update with pictures sometime later this week. The exhaust sounds so much better it is a lot quieter and still sound pretty mean. No video tonight just wanted to come in shower and write this. Edited for photo dump

I know that some of the things were explained in other posts but sometimes it is nice to see the pictures with text as well so there is some duplicate information.

The first few pictures are the grade 8 spindle pin with nylock nut replacing the spindle pin. I got all that hardware from Fastenal cost about 28 dollars total.

ZX Lock nut rather than the older peen style I used the old nut to bring the whole housing together then tightened up the ZX nut to finish tightening it the rest of the way.

Pressing on the new bearing to the shaft I used Blues (A datsun Website) advice and added antiseize it was mostly cleaned up when I got the pictures. DONE! http://i1225.photobucket.com/albums/ee390/aaronwarren/1975%20Datsun%20280Z/100_1279.jpg[/IMG]

How I removed the axle after liberal heating of the rear flange. Apart! I ended up having to carefully cut this bearing off because I could not press it off myself. Just drive that old bearing out. Make sure and take off the rear flange and seal first. The spacer that does in the middle. I have read that these need to be matched to the housing both the housing and this part were stamped with B so I think I am ok. I cleaned and regreased it before putting it back in. Rear Flange no axle!

On the side that was already done I added the ZX nut then tightened by using a 6ft long 2x4 and a torque wrench.

Originally Posted 11 March 2012 Alright went back out and bled the brakes today MUCH better. There was some air in there I thought I caught the reservoir right at empty, clearly I did not. I lost the exhaust coming back into my driveway after taking her around the block I must have only lightly tightened the exhaust clamp. Luckily I didn't run it over I only went about 3 feet when it fell off because I was going so slow. So I tightened that back up. I then decided it was time to fix my starter I don't know how many people have ignition switch problems in these Z's you should just wire in a relay to run off the key and it should fix it. I started it today with the key for the first time in years (I have been using a push button).

Originally Posted 12 March 2012 I took the car to work today and parked by a co-workers 370Z. Yes I crowded him on purpose. Also I believe that is my neighbors vette in the background, I didn't realize that when I was taking the picture. Nothing fell of today. I remembered when I got home several bolts I forgot to tighten up so I tightened them up, I have a very short commute to work so nothing loosened itself up. I still have to repair the dome light switch and put the column cover back on but other than that she is looking good. Also she could really use a bath.

Tonight I took off a rear wheel and looked at the drum brakes again trying to see if I could figure out why the emergency brake wasn't really working. Here is a pro-tip. Don't have your wife press the brake pedal with the car running to see what the rear wheel cylinder does without the drum on, and definitely don't have her press it twice because then you end up with a brake cylinder pushed out of its housing. Good news I got to clean all the 30 year old rust from it then pressed it back into place. We will see how she does tomorrow. The wife and I are supposed to take it on our fancy date on Wednesday and I want to work out all the bugs first.

Originally Posted 14 March 2012 Took her out for the first time since last summer more than 3 miles from my house tonight. The Mrs. and I went to the theater . We saw Beauty and the Beast. The car handled amazingly, and I even got several thumbs up and compliments. Here are some pictures remember this is my wife so no crazy comments or I will have to come through this internet and make you apologize.

Originally Posted 15 March 2012 Guess what I found today I will give you a hint, there is a picture below :D.

That is correct I found a competition hood scoop pretty stoked! Note I have had the scoop worked on but I have still done nothing with that scoop as of 11/11/2013! I think since I have the crappy hood on hand I will go ahead and shoot it black and see what it looks like before I cut into my hood. The old hood was not cut, it is now :D.I will get a photo of the scoop sitting on my car, it will sit up a little high though since the mounting studs are inlayed into the hood scoop.

Originally Posted 31 March 2012 (I decided to pull the dash from my car!)

Well instead of enjoying the car for the next few months like I was going to I started cleaning up some wiring. Tonight started with me just wanting to get the little switches on the door to cause the dome light to turn on, then I looked at the dash and thought hey why don't I just take that out I have always wanted to any way. Well I went out to the garage at around 11:00pm and it is now 4:40am and the dash is out. My lights worked should I leave them alone? Or should I upgrade to the 4Watt bulbs that MSA sells? Link http://www.thezstore.com/page/TZS/PROD/45-4330 . I am tired but I think I will watch the sun rise then go to sleep. This is what happens when the wife and kids are out of town I can't sleep so I work on my car. I probably shouldn't have pulled the dash, but you know what they say about curiosity.

I haven't had an AC since I did the turbo swap just been carrying around dead weight I will be removing the rest of the AC parts. I have no idea what these are this whole thing somewhat started when I saw those and was pretty sure I didn't need them. Heater Core vent stuff I think I am going to try and find a good replacement for that foam all along the outside of the housing Just some empty space When my car sat for 5 years in a shed at my family's farm mice got into it this is some of the junk I got out Some Shots of the back of the dash I will post some pictures of the cracks in the dash that the cap covers in a few days.

Originally Posted 31 March No real pictures today, I cleaned up the wiring on the passengers side if you look at the first page the interior shots under the dash is a big rats nest of wires once I got the dash out I worked on getting that all back clean and not 5,000 wires hanging everywhere. It was a successful day. I set the dash back in place, I have not bolted it in though. I will try and get that done tomorrow. I am not pulling an all night work on the car-athon tonight.

I am hoping that since I took out some wiring it wasn't feeding something that it wasn't originally as I went by the FSM and took out things I didn't need like the AC relays and things like that. I found out why my heater and other parts never worked I took out some stuff years ago in my high school days that I thought were emissions type stuff it was my vacuum parts I need to switch from vents to heater and such. I still have them stored in my parts cars back on the parents farm I am going back in May I will try and pick them up then.

If all goes well the car will hopefully be fired back up again tomorrow and I won't have screwed anything up.

1 April 2012 Well the car has a dash again. I also fixed most of the rats nest under the dash. I don't have everything hooked back up and found out it is pointless to hook back up the vent and heater controls since I took out the other parts long ago, so they are just sitting there. I will be fixing this in the future. My hazards aren't working they haven't since I owned the car I do believe it is because of the flasher being bad. I will be picking up a new one and seeing whether that fixes the problem. I didn't do everything I wanted to under the dash, but I now know I can take it out and put it back in and that is what I really wanted to find out.

Here is the reason I started on Friday I was just going to clean this that way the dome light would work with the doors. They are working now, again something that hasn't worked in the whole 10 years I have owned the car. It is crazy all the things left to do on this car. I love it!

Some spaghetti.

The back of the fuse box I eliminated 2 things that had fuses. That means I have 2 free spots on my fuse box for things later.

Started to button it back up.

All finished on the passengers side

Around the megasquirt unit is cleaned up.

Originally Posted 1 July 2012 (Still not happy with my fuel pump routing but it quieted the car down a bunch and has worked for over a year now)

So my fuel pump is driving me crazy it is so loud. So I went searching and found it might be caused by the fact I had it mounted vertically so I hacked up the existing mounts to allow for a horizontal mounting. I am also going to try and run 5/8's line until right before and then step down to 3/8s like the intake is.

I am also finally going to take her on the track on July 7th for the first time. I am excited to see what she can do, I also have new tires coming in this week before the track day. All in all it should be a great 4th of July week. Some pictures

The mount originally was solid all down the side, so I cut a big hole in it to mount the pump horizontal. I don't love the 90 degree elbow, but it used to be a 90 degree elbow straight up at least this is all mostly parallel. Now the fuel line will run beside the pump then loop back to it, I am planning on putting a different fuel filter there hopefully with a bigger inlet and outlet.

I took off my inspection lid in prep for the track. The turbo engine makes a lot of heat and I have no vents. I figure while this isn't the best vent, it is much better than nothing.

Originally Posted 7 July 2012

The re positioning of the fuel pump was a HUGE success.

I finally broke down and bought performance tires for the Z. So the clutch slave cylinder bit the dust today, better today then on the track, so I went and got a new one, I then decided I wanted to change the front brakes tonight rather than tomorrow, so I changed those. HOLY COW they were worn, I apologize car and all others on the road that I drove by in the past while. Pictures below.

Ride Height Before the new tires, I was on 205/60 r15s moved to 205/50 r15s. Front

Rear

Old Tires compared to front wheel wells

New Ride Height after I got the new tires. Front

Rears

MMMM meaty!!

Rear end just because I cleaned her up a little for the first time in several months.

Clutch slave cylinder out with the old, in with the new.

Front brakes out with the old in with the new.

Originally Posted 7 July 2012 Well I went to the track it was AWESOME. Except my radiator cap was not up to par. So I spewed quite a bit of coolant today I am supposed to run a 13psi and mine was only holding a 7psi. I bought a new cap on my way home, and will be setting up an overflow system for next time. Here are the only real 2 photos I got today, sorry I meant to take more, but I just enjoyed the conversations and drove a lot. The car handled amazing, I am using tockico blues and eibach springs. The tires (dunlop direzza star specs 205/50r15) had loads and loads of grip I cannot get over how great the overall car felt. I will be pulling the tires to check the brakes, but they didn't fade to badly, and did a great job for just some OK brakes. I cannot tell you all how happy I am to have driven her out there, flogged her, and driven her home. All in all one of the best Saturdays in a long time.

Right before I went out on the first run.

On the back straight I hit a speed over 100 I just don't exactly know what. Thanks to my friend Blake for snapping the picture he called it "White knuckled" I agree. The car felt really stable though.

12 July Well the radiator started leaking really bad out of the bottom again so I decided to bite the bullet and order a new radiator I am going to chance it and use a Champion 3 row from Ebay. I am going to get a shroud of some sort and revise my cooling system. I am also getting tired of the crappy wiring inside my engine bay I might re-wire my megasquirt in the next few months. I enjoy just jumping in and driving it though so I don't know if I plan on taking it out of commission for very long until the winter. I want to get out to the track one more time if I can before the year is over, it was the funnest experience I have ever had in that car.

Posted 22 July 2012 - 12:35 PM I have the new radiator it looks nice, I also got a new set of seat belts. These are the DOT approved 4 point Shroth harnesses. I was more then happy to get rid of the the old 5 point that was mounted incorrectly. I was going to switch back to 3 point retractables, but after my visit to the track I am more happy with the added holding power of a 4 point. So I went ahead and picked them up and will be mounting them to the stock position. The problem is the rear mounting strap is to long, and the harnesses are to short to mount to the ceiling so I am going to have to order in some metal seat belt extenders just to get an extra 6" and have them mount correctly.

I have yet to decide what I am going to do about the cooling system. I think my coolant temperature sender unit was bad, but I couldn't pull it out, and now I have buggered up the Thermostat housing so badly that I have to get a new one. I have a 2 bolt thermo housing that I am going to attempt to use it should hopefully clean up that area a little bit any way. I also picked up a thermostat, I know my old one worked but I figured for 10 bucks might as well pick up a new one. I have a temperature sender on the way.

My fuse box cover got stepped on while I was driving around which means my nice 35 year old cover is now gone :(.

Posted 28 July 2012 - 12:05 AM Sorry for yet again another picture-less update I got the radiator in, the fan mounted, the front plate relocated, The temperature gauge working again, the 4 Points installed using the original mounting points, and megasquirt to hook up to my phone via Bluetooth, my netbook is being stupid and not working with the bluetooth dongle I have so I still have to plug in to change settings in Tunerstudio.

I ended up using a different thermostat housing I pulled off a head I sold a while back, the problem is the housing had one of the top cover threads stripped about halfway out which meant I had to use a longer bolt and go down farther, the problem is there isn't very much thread there, I will be keeping my eye out for a replacement in the near future. I am hoping to go to the mountains tomorrow, don't know if I am, but if I do I will try and get some pictures.

28 July The new radiator and thermostat worked great the car didn't get over 190 the whole time. I didn't set any land speed records but I had a great time. I am now setting up a mount that allows me to have my phone on the dash so I can see the megasquirt gauges with my phone. It also has an opening so I can get video while driving. I didn't make any stops today so I just snapped a few pictures along the way. The worst part about making the drives up there is while you are driving you don't get to look at stuff. The weather was perfect this morning and the car ran great, it was a nice little hundred mile drive with some beautiful views, the car did well and I really want to get back up there, but next time with the wife and maybe a picnic basket.

Heading back from the mountains Back to civilization Almost Home

29 July When I got home yesterday I washed her before putting her in the garage. I bought a phone mount to use as a gauge pod for my phone and Megasquirt. It also doubles as a video camera holder aka my phone. I will take some video next time I go up into the mountains. I did do something I have wanted to do for quite a while I weighed my car today. Just gave her a bath, I moved the tag to try and allow for more air to enter the front opening. The new radiator and thermostat have been awesome with keeping up the past couple days.

Yup 2560 lb's this thing weighed 2800lb from factory, and I swapped in a 280zx turbo engine and a 5 speed tranny, This was also with no driver, a 3/4ths tank of fuel, spare tire, jack, and everything in there including my netbook and charger, what I am saying I didn't prep the car for weighing just took her there. I am pretty happy with a 2500lb car.

8 August 2012 The wife already gave me the go ahead to go back out to the track September 8th, that is the next Z day. SO I figure I should get a few more things done to make her ready. I am changing the rear mustache bushings right now, blue tech tips suggest burning them out, but I live in a culde-sac on a military base and if I start burning stuff in front of my house I could get in trouble. SO I am trying a slower approach just letting Lacquer thinner loosen it and get them out I will report back whether it worked. I had a heck of a time getting it back in that was because I had the wrong washer put on the bolt like an idiot.

29 August 2012

I have the car up on jack stands I have a bit of an exhaust leak somewhere that smells bad, but still super fun to drive. I have the mustache bar back in and just need to re-install the heat shield under the car. I also took apart my rear wheel cylinders and cleaned them up and re-bled the brake system. I am looking at some Riken mesh wheels they are 15x7, if they are lighter than my swastikas I will try and convince the wife to let me get them, anyone know what type of lug nuts they require? Or have a legitimate weight on then, because I can't find actual weights on them. I have tech inspection on Saturday and another track day on the 8th of September I am pretty stoked!

Another picture and thread update from my build thread over at Ratsun.net.   POSTED 5 December 2012_________________________ Holy Cow it has been a while. I haven't been completely inactive on the Z. I unfortunately didn't get to take the Z to the track that day as my wife needed me to watch one of the kiddos while she took the other two. So we went on a spirited drive through the mountains where I ruined one of my rims since I forgot to tighten one of my wheels lug-nuts all the way and didn't realize what was happening until way to far in. I ruined the lug holes in the rim. I am getting a knocking from one of the rear struts I don't know whether it is blown (they were bought slightly used) or I just need to take it apart and have a look. I also think next year might be time to invest in a better exhaust.

So since then here is what I have done. I got another set of Swastika rims moved my tire to a new one. Replaced the front lug nuts (They were all sorts of beat up). Replaced the front wheel bearings. I also got a slight bit of while I am at it and replaced the front brakes with the 4 piston calipers from the 4x4 toyota (Non-vented rotor). I haven't been driving it much, I have been working a LOT and really just haven't had time to enjoy her like I like too. Here are a few pictures sorry I forgot to get pictures of the new calipers. I moved the datsun Sticker to above the plate I saw someone else had it there and really liked it. Out with the old grease and bearings. New Lugs new races Old rotors (they were in spec, and those those are my shoes! Cleaned up old frozen calipers Hardware all cleaned up, well most of it

Posted 12 July 2013 - Yes another 6 months of sitting. Well I would love to say I have been out driving, and that is why I haven't updated, but that is not the case. I replaced the wheels and brakes, and all that stuff and she has pretty much been sitting except for a few run arounds the past couple months. I have also moved houses as well as got a promotion and switch positions in my work 2 times since last time I posted. Life is busy.

No pictures today, but I finally bought a vaccum pump so I can bleed brakes by myself. I bled the brakes and clutch today, so that was fun. I also completely started from scratch with my Spark and VE tables in Megasquirt. I did this after reading several hours of posts and theory over at Hybridz.org. My car is already starting better and reacting to throttle better. It has been raining and storming constantly and with my shift work I do I haven't been able to get out to drive her often. I am gonna try and take some trips in the car over the next few days. I wish I had more pictures to show off, but I can't seem to find the pictures of me finishing up the work above it has been sitting done for months. I hope to get some more updates soon. 

Getting ready for the track day Sept 14th 2013 I did some more stuff. The main thing is I fixed the windshield wipers (which have never worked) and got a great day at the track, and a drive through the rain out of it. Originally Posted 11 Sept 2013 I have been working on her again, no real cool pictures sorry, I took off the cowl today, I fixed the windshield wipers, I now have fully functioning windshield wipers which means I can drive her in the rain! I have checked all the fluid levels they are good. If nothing bad comes up I will take her to the track on Saturday, there should be some pictures after that event. 

I did some tuning in the past few days she is accelerating much quicker, and isn't hesitating as badly as she used to. If all goes well at the track, I will be adding a boost controller, and an intercooler this winter. This will allow me to use more than just the bottom half of my VE table in Megasquirt. 

14 September Accelerating is much better now, but she still hesitates a smidge the track was AMAZING today! My camera died with only like 10 pictures taken sorry. I will upload a video to Youtube of one of my runs, be gentle with me. It was an awesome day I know what the car needs now and so the new checklist begins.     Ron Tyler Differential Mount Better brakes Maybe it just needs better pads Better Brake Fluid   The car is definitely quick enough, now it just needs to stop and not clunk every time I get on the accelerator.        This M3 was very very fast!   They are porsches who can say no?      The lotus driver was Super cool, along with the Porsche that park behind him (I didn't get a picture of it it was a carrera, and I got to ride in it)   Alpha anyone?   I also got to ride in Jeff Winters car it is very cool, loud and fast, the most amazing part is watching him drive it, and how well it handles. [IMG]ttp://i1225.photobucket.com/albums/ee390/aaronwarren/100_1130.jpg[/IMG]

Originally Posted 17 September 2013 So I tried taking my car to work today, but it kept dying. I traced it down to the wiring harness going into the relay board was getting jostled and not seating well. I am tired of the relay board sitting in the engine bay like it is. My goal is to take the relay board out of the engine bay (farther away from the turbo) and clean up the wiring, because lets be honest here, my wiring was pretty ugly. So before shots are below I hope to remove that disgusting wiring mess. And wish me luck.  

Originally Posted 19 September 2013 Progress is slow, because I am being very methodical.   I am going to replace my battery terminal clamps as well. I am making progress. I am running a good chunk of the wiring along the intake, along the fuel rail. I found a long chunk of very nice wiring loom with like 10 wires bundled together that I will be using as best I can to keep everything tidy. I will not be sealing all the solders up until after I see the car start (learned that lesson the hard way.) I also added terminals to the power and ground for the relay board so I no longer have to de-solder when I need to remove it. Picture dump below.     The relay board cleaned up     Megasquirt itself     The new location for the relay board

Originally Posted 21 September More progress over the past couple days. I made a mounting plate for the relay board to make sure it stays in its place. After I did that I kept running wires. I am about to be on my weekend (I work a weird schedule) and should hopefully get it running again in the next few days. I ordered the Ron Tyler Differential mount, but Paypal pre-filled my permanent address, and I forgot to check, so it ended up at my parents. So I was going to do that in the next few weeks, but that will have to wait until I pick it up when I see my parents in October. I think the engine bay is going to look much nicer here in a few days! It has been going well I haven't had to much trouble, but I am trying to be very methodical and label everything! Here are some photos of the progress, I forgot to get a picture of the finished wiring in the wheel wells I will try and get that tomorrow. Added some spade connectors to my relay board for easy removal             Two out of three of my little helpers!