1975 Datsun 280z - Turbo Never Ending Build

Fitted and tested the new transistor as well as figured out that a resistor lead had broken.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=56v5RzOvWfU

The car has been good to me lately we went on a drive today this was the route, and here is a video there are more, but they are pretty boring honestly. Lots of stops along the way. I gave the engine a nice rev in one of the tunnels.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U_PhR0Q29bg

I hope this isn't a double post but I think we met once out at high plains raceway. must have been September 2011 I think. I remember your car and that we were the only megasquirted Zs out there that day. good to see this car still running, driving and being built. heres a pic from that day to help the memory. lol

I remember, though there was another MS car out there, it is silver. That car is a beast. One of my favorite parts about these Datsuns is because of the age and finances of the owners there is almost ZERO that are nearly identical. I always love seeing other peoples cars. Is yours still running? I have many plans for mine, but will be moving in a couple months so I am not starting any projects right now.

I am currently working on a yellow 210 that I am trying to make into a daily driver.

Sorry it is a bit loud but can anyone tell me if they have heard this noise before? It is a bit loud beware. It sounds like a whirring/whooping like air or something in a line whistling by an opening. Anyone else ever seen or heard this? I am thinking it is the FP regulator.

youtube video of FP regulator

So I figured out the sound I was getting low on fuel when I took the video a top off fixed that sound almost immediately. So it seems that when it gets low on fuel it gets a bit of air or something in the lines and makes that racket.

Also I figured out my hesitation on acceleration was caused by a mis-tuned acceleration enrichment in MegaSquirt. I have been fiddling a lot with my VE tables and the car is becoming so much more of a pleasure to drive.

I had almost forgotten how much I loved this car. I have driven it daily since the beginning of August to include all the rain and even a tiny bit of hail and have been loving it. I still haven't figured out why my fuel gauge fuse keeps blowing and taking my Tachometer with it. To be fair though I haven't opened up the FSM either so it is really mainly based on my laziness. I really want to get some video's with my camera tucked under the car somewhere maybe like rear suspension so I can see what it looks like when I drive her around, any suggestions?

Umm looking at a 2003ish Passat Wagon 1.8t as the new daily driver. I think this might be a bad idea anyone want to chime in?

I bought the Passat Wagon! I also tracked down my fuse issue my rationale is below.

Update: Alright I wanted to give all people an idea of how I made the determination of my short in the electrical system.   Situation: The Fuel Gauge fuse kept blowing, and it was intermittent (which is the worst type of problem)   Possible Cause 1: Alternator going bad and over charging the system overloading that fuse causing it to blow. Testing Cause - I have the ability to datalog so I left the fuse blown and did several datalogs to and from work then would check max voltage later. This turned out to look just fine on the datalog, so I moved on to a more frustrating, though albeit cheaper testing method.   Possible Cause 2: a short in the wiring somewhere. Testing Cause - I started at the fuse, working my way up the wiring harness I isolated the rear section of the car from the front it still blew the fuse. I then separated the tach from the circuit, the fuse still blew. It was at this point that I moved inboard from the extremes of the wiring harness and started stripping the loom and tracing the wires and all of the splices in it (from factory mind you). This was done visually as well as with a continuity tester on the voltmeter. I then separated at the wiring junctions under the dash and found that it was leading to the engine bay. I then inspected the engine bay and found the culprit. It was a filter capacitor that fatigued at the factory crimp and fell off and shorted against the fender.    If I were making a suggestion I would suggest doing a visual inspection first as this could have saved me a ton of time, as the break was very noticeable.    I am an Electrical Engineering Technician by schooling and I still get frustrated by electrical gremlins, but tackled this very easily by going step by step and being very methodical.    Pictures: The fuse box

The offending circuit   Found it!   Then I fixed it! THe car is ready for the track!   Bonus the wife and I celebrated the 67th anniversary of the U.S. Air Force at a Ball the night before. We looked fancy and I don't normally just post pictures of myself so I figured I would change it up a bit.

Alright here is one session.

So I got one of the sessions complete using racerender. Here is one session nothing that cool happened sorry.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qs-xP3Pyx3s

Another session. This was the 3rd session for D group. I am getting better at race render, but I am not skilled enough at Youtube editing to get rid of the half second water mark at the end of each 3 minute clip. I changed the track to show my fast and slowest spots.

The car ran great, and I got black flagged because I passed when I shouldn't. It was still a fun run!

http://youtu.be/YEKzziW-W98

Another session finished rendering. I got my personal best speed of the day 112.4MPH! Great day for racing. I have one more session after this one.

http://youtu.be/fjlvUYBFN1E

Last one from this day. The GPS went way off on this run. I had just put in more fuel and kept smelling gasoline so I brought it in. I found out it just leaked a little on the car around the funnel causing the smell.

http://youtu.be/SnUYoq3NFfM

I have not in the slightest abandoned this project. I keep it up over at Ratsun.net and HybridZ.org 3 websites is just 1 too many. I will be doing some brake work here soon but for the most part I am just enjoying driving her. The project is at a very steady point. It is almost sad.

thats a good thing (for you, sorry internet)!

That's great! And yes mine is still running on literally the exact same setup I had all those years ago. I haven't been out to highplains since that day but it gets plenty of track time. Need to bring it back over the hill and come race with you guys again

Another year has gone by and all that I have done is change the front brake discs and pads. I also installed some HID projector headlights that really help visibility at night. I took it out to High Plains Raceway and shaved about 2 seconds off my fastest time out there so far from 2:29 to 2:27. I got that while hitting a lower top speed by a few MPH. I really have gotten more comfortable with the car and it is definitely nice to learn the limits of the car. I pushed myself much harder than I ever have in the past, and I took some video, but really it is pretty boring to watch. I am sure I will do a bit of editing, but the app I was using no longer allows me to export the data for free it only lets me do 2 minutes which is no good.

EDIT I cannot be the only people who absolutely HATE this forum board, it is SO hard to make bulleted lists with indents I have tried and tried on the preview it shows up, when I post it does not.

I am back! Holy Cow! Guess what? It has been 568 days since I have really posted about this car. If you don't include my not really helpful post in 2015, it was really September of 2014, which was 936 days ago. I still have the car, and I pulled it out of "moth balls", while I have work I am going to do on the car, I am not going crazy, I am working to make it even more reliable then the plan is to start slowly turning up the power until something breaks. Here is what I have been up to the past 568/936 days.

Non-Datsun Related:

• Completed one of the most grueling schools my career field has to offer (6 months away from my family, 18 hour days Mon-Fri, and 12 hour days Saturday and Sunday).
• Built a Boba Fett Costume (not done with that either)
• Owned a 2003 VW Passat Wagon 1.8T, sold it, it was a great car for 2 years
• Own a 1996 Buick Roadmaster Wagon daily driver
• Built a couple go-karts (one for my kids, one for me)
• Re-did my main level in my house with Pergo, removing the old carpet
• Celebrated my 30th B-day
• Learned a TON about stuff and Junk

Datsun Stuff:

• Replaced the Brake Master Cylinder (replaced with larger 15/16" unit)
• Replaced fluid resevoirs with larger 280zx units as well
• Fiddled with the tuning a bit
• Drove the car daily for 2 weeks in Oct 2016, racked up ~1k miles and realized I need to work on the car a bit (ok a lot)

What I am planning on doing. I have found you need to have a vision for the car in order to keep requirements creep out of your build. The goal is a fun car that is very reliable. I want to participate in 2 track days a year, and late this year I want to try 1 autocross, one 1k mile or longer road trip a year.

• Replace Rear Wheel Cylinders
• I have never replaced these, the brakes have seemed a bit squishy always
• I have been having a heck of a time getting the rear brakes bled
• Source: RockAuto.com $42.79 per side / $85.59 total
• Replace Front Ball Joints
• Never replaced by me
• Source: RockAuto.com $28.99 per side / $57.98 Total
• Take apart brake booster
• Check reaction disc
• The brakes feel spongy, they are definitely not confidence inspiring
• Figure out why my remote locks stopped working last week

Somethings that I would like to do, but are not needed.

• Shave the intake manifold
• Relocate battery behind seat
• Minor engine bay tuck

Long Term:

• Tires are several years old and have been fantastic, but I am looking for bigger wheels and tires for a crazy good price (unlikely)
• Need to be at least 8" wide
• 16" (Future proof against Wilwood brake kit)
• Gnose Kit
• Rebuild Exhaust: It scrapes
• Adjustable coilover suspension (leaning towards BC racing currently)

I value feedback. Thanks for reading. Also shameless plug I plan on chronicling my car build on Youtube as well. Over the past year with the Boba Fett Costume I got better at making videos, and plan on continuing that.

Welcome back. Your bullets show up just fine. Looking forward to seeing your progress with the build.

Welcome back! I cannot wait to see what's in store!!!

glad to have you back, and you may actually be the only person to hate the software. The collective has found assimilation to be agreeable. You will be assimilated. Resistance is futile.

I have been eyeballing Datsun 510s again, this time around it will be a 4 door or a 2 door, no wagon. I went and looked at a shell, but the guy wanted trashed out not running money for it, but it didn't have a motor, transmission, front brakes, front fenders, door locks, the back panel was trash (bondo and just garbage), the tire well had been cut out replaced by a sheet of metal. The floor boards were at least OK. I am not crazy right, I shouldn't be paying over $1k for a car in that state right? Anywho I have a long weekend off work so I am going to get some things done on my car, and my daily hopefully.

I have done a few things over the past couple months. The remote locks weren't working because the fuse had given up the ghost (in one of those spots where you can't see it, but the end of the fuse just pulls off (I hate that). Cleaned up the interior, gave her a good wash. I am going to go and see how much it will cost to get my tires rotated, after these are nearly dead I will probably start looking for a set of 16x8 Panasports.

The work is happening! I have replaced my front ball joints, and rear wheel cylinders today. I am taking time lapses as normal it is going pretty well. The car stops SO much better now. Looking at the rear brakes they have been barely engaging, the passengers side rear was not working at all. I think that could have been one of my issues that I was having with the brakes. I am excited to have brakes that work well!

Stay tuned for pictures AND video!

So more months go by and what do I do. Well I got all the work done on the Z and it is running fantastically. I took it out to the track again, as well as a gorgeous trip through the mountains of Colorado. This car is just fantastic and in a great spot. I realized I never posted (or created) my timelapses. My work sent me away for a month, which really put a damper in my ability to work on my stuff. So I went and did the only logical thing. I bought a Datsun 510 that I am working to convert to a daily driver. I will be starting a build thread soon for it. I am actually taking copious amounts of notes. I actually got a log book for it day one where I am writing down all the information of the actions I am taking on the car as well as the thoughts and scribblings. I am also going to attempt to turn that into a word document that will stay with the car.

Here are some of my videos from the track. I finally had my first off, I took a corner at about 20 MPH faster than I had been taking it. 

The car isn't perfect I lost the air filter on my first outing at the track, and I need to invest in new tires soon. The car will likely start being pushed at the track a bit more over the next few years, also with an older daily driver I will be leaning more heavily on the Z to get me too and from work when one is down for repairs (I am just being honest)

I'm in for more updates, especially since Photobucket has screwed up the entire internet and broken everything that linked to them.

In reply to drivendaily :

I have thought about going to rebuild the picture links, but man is that going to be a bear. I have been watching your YouTube channel man, keep it up you are doing good work. Lately I have been working on a 4door 510 I picked up, my build thread is on here, though my updates are about a month outdated. I have been working ludicrous hours at my work. Thank you for the kind words.

This car is still around and awesome. I drive her daily currently. This summer I have installed a new rubber shift boot, and replaced a brake light. I also got new wheels and tires for her last month as the tires that were on it were getting pretty bald.