My 280zx Project

[Dave-ve]

Updates:

Wiring has been neatly tucked away and the alternator has been resurrected yet again.
Dashboard and interior has been reinstalled



All hoses from the fuel tank have been changed. Pump is now a lot quieter. The float in the carb was stuck when I tried to start it for the first time in a few months. It was easy to clean by just removing the window.

Starter has some issues- it doesn't engage everytime its cranked. The coil was changed but the new one had to be altered so that the battery cable would not be next to the block. The spring inside doesn't seat properly to provide tension so the starter just sits there and spins when cranking.

Had some issues with cooling while the engine was idling. The fan controller would kick in but would not cycle on and off and water temp remained constant. Only water was in the rad at the time.
Had to put a shroud on the fan but had limited space due to the crank pulley. The 16" fan was shifted to the left and a 9" fan added to the right and a shroud was made from sheet metal. The fans are now cycling on and off and the gauge shows the temp rising and falling as well.



Got a reconditioned set of SU's on ebay. I decided to forget the EFI stuff for now and just enjoy the car with the carbs.

Focusing on the suspension now. The bushings on the rear are being changed and I finally got hold of a pair of Diff insulator bushings.


The rear cradle bushings being changed.

Have a set of S13 coilovers to be modified for the car. Hopefully it can be corner balanced when all the work is done.

The SU's will be installed along with a set of pacesetter headers and a cherry bomb barrel when the suspension work is done.

[Dave-ve]

Suspension work is done. New stainless brake lines were installed. The old Rubber lines were plugged.Bled the entire braking system and finally took the car off the jack stands. The 2" drop from the coilovers have totally changed the appearance and attitude that the car projects.

Haven't taken any pics of the car on the ground as yet but here's a few of the suspension.


Roll center adjuster










made @ Trinidad Hose.



Trying to get everything done for the BYCC on the 24th February.

Still to do:
Replace windscreen.
Get Insurance.
Bed in Breaks and Clutch.
Alignment. (Caster needs to be set properly)
Exhaust
Swap Carb.

[MG Man]

awesome!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
_________________

I know it's so, for I told me so

[Dave-ve]

Test drove it on Sunday. Engine is leaning out past 3k rpm. Started installing the SU's today. The fuel bowl on the front carb started overflowing when testing the plumbing. Found the pin for the float was partially out and can easily slip out if turned to the side. I put some thread locker to hold it in place. Considering replacing the pin with a cotter pin. Will continue installation tomorrow.

[MG Man]

good stuff man
Those SU check valves can be a pain
I ended up buying a rebuild kit for the ones on the MG.came with new check valves, gaskets etc. I also bought richer jets as well
_________________

I know it's so, for I told me so

[Dave-ve]

Some updates:

Installed the SU's and drove the car on the BYCC in Feburary. The suspension handled great and I was able to throttle steer around some of the turns but had problems with the engine.

The engine would run fine when cruising but would lean out on acceleration.Turned out that I had plumbed it wrong. I had run the fuel lines with a return to the tank and there was not enough pressure to full the bowls properly.

The fuel return was removed a few days later and another problem was discovered. The float valve on the front carb was worn and I couldn't set the fuel level. The level is supposed to be 23mm from the top of the bowl but the level would change each time the bowl was drained and the pump turned back on.

Spent a couple of days trying to set it properly before deciding to change the valves.

[Dave-ve]

Ordered a pair of Gross Jets on ebay to finally solve the fuel issue.

Meanwhile an exhaust leak had developed on the no.1 cylinder. Pulled the manifolds to change the gasket and discovered that the exhaust flange was pitted and not sealing properly.

I had a pacesetter header and was planning to take it to a muffler shop to be installed along with a complete exhaust system. Since I had a couple of weeks before the gross jets would arrive I decided to chop off the exhaust system and install the headers.

The headers bolted on without any problems but the intake manifolds were touching the exhaust runners from # 3 & 4 cylinders and couldn't seat properly.

The bottom of the intake manifold had piping and a chamber for coolant to heat the fuel from the carbs. These were ground away until there was enough clearance for the manifold to be bolted on without touching the exhaust.




Gross jets vs stock valve

[Dave-ve]

Final install:



The level in the fuel bowls were set in less than 5 minutes with the new valves and the carbs were mounted.

The engine had no rev limiter and I had over revved a few times when testing.

A few months back I was researching the best option for a rev limiter and settled on the MSD Digital 6 Plus. With this I would be able to get a rev limiter, hotter spark and launch control. It was wired in before taking the car to the muffler shop to put on the exhaust.

Drove the car to Imraj Brothers early Saturday morning with the open headers making an insane amount of noise.
A Cherry Bomb Vortex muffler was installed along with 2.5" piping. The difference in sound was unbelievable. The exhaust was almost totally quiet but it was still free flowing. I have this same muffler on my Primera and it makes a lot more noise.

[Dave-ve]

Ran the car at Autocross 2 last Sunday. Haven't fully adjusted to RWD yet. Engine ran well but was overheating while idling. The tach stopped working when the MSD was installed and the Idle was set too high. Didn't want to make any adjustments without a tach.

The gearbox started acting up after the second run. Couldn't shift properly into 2nd or 3rd. Narend suggested that I shift slower and rev match. Shifts were better when doing this.

Overall the car ran well. The lack of power steering was tricky in the S turns but it was a lot of fun to drive. Launch control worked great as well.

Next up is to swap in a gearbox from an RB20 and then do some fine tuning on the engine.


Pic taken from facebook:

[Dave-ve]

Update:

The synchros on second gear became worse after driving at autocross and a replacement box had to be sourced. The dog leg box that was installed was taken apart and every bearing inside was badly worn.



The best option at this point was to find an RB or SR box and swap the bellhousing with that from the L28 box. The RB gearbox is difficult and expensive to obtain so I settled for an S13 box.

My first attempt at swapping the bellhousing reveled that the dogleg bellhousing was diffrent from the normal 5 speed one as the spacing between the input shaft and counter shaft was different.


Dogleg bellhousing

After a few weeks of serching an L28 bellhousing was found at a garage in Curepe. The bellhousing was attached to a RB20 gearbox that was broken and I got a good deal on it.

The people who did the swap onto the RB box used a very thick gasket between the mating surfaces so that the gear on the countershaft wouldn't touch the raised casting in the bellhousing.

I opted to grind down the casting and use silicone to seal the mating surfaces. A stone bit was attached to a drill and about 5mm was ground out of the casting.


Grinding down the casting.

[Dave-ve]

After grinding down the casting the next step was removing the S13 countershaft bearing and replacing it with the L28 countershaft bearing. A Google serch showed the bearing number to be SKF 6305 C3. The specs of this bearing matched the shaft and bore where it was to be fitted.


New bearing already fitted.

Time to assemble all the pieces





the finished product:



The SR box is two inches longer than the L28/RB box and the drive shaft had to be shortened. The position of the shifter is also about 2 inches from where it would normally be.

[Dave-ve]

The box was installed and had to be removed twice again due to problems.

The first time I drove the car with the new box the clutch was burnt while trying to come out of the driveway. The driveway where the car is parked has a weird angle and with the stiffer suspension and no LSD one wheel has to fight for traction.

The clutch slave cylinder was not properly adjusted so the clutch was always partially disengages which caused it to burn.

Box came back out, clutch replaced and slave cylinder adjusted. The second attempt to drive the car was also unsuccessful. The gears would go in with the engine running. Fiddled with the adjustments on the slave cylinder and even replaced it but no change. The box had to be removed again. This time the engine and box was removed together so I could see what was going on.


The culprit:


Replacement clutch on the left, burnt one on the right.

The replacement disc has an additional set of rivets that was touching the flywheel bolts. This could have only been seen with the engine out of the car. The rivets were between the flywheel bolts and when the clutch was disengaged they caused the disc to continue turning preventing the gears from being selected.

The correct disc was installed and everything put back into the car.

The clutch was broken in over a weekend by driving for an hour and letting it cool for another hour.
The following weekend I took the car out to tru out the new box but when driving the acceleration from first gear was poor and fourth gear would not engage.

A few days later I was trying to figure out what was wrong with fourth. With the engine off 4th would engage so I tried it with the engine running and the car stationary. To my surprise, the reverse lights came on. I had installed a LED on the dash for reverse when the dogleg box was first installed.

Took apart the shifter and checked for binding but there was none. The shifter cover was removed and the linkage for the forks was checked. It was traveling to the left only up to the 3rd & 4th selector and there was a lot of free play on the right.

Turned out that the two check plungers were incorrectly installed. The plunger that is supposed to be on the left is longer than the right. Swapped them and problem solved. The car is finally driving as it should.







I was impressed with the torque from the straight six to drive in 3rd gear from a dead stop.

Car is running well and launch control working nicely. Just need more seat time to adjust to the new box.

[MG Man]

wicked!
U running dex this weekend?
_________________

I know it's so, for I told me so