DJ's 280ZX

Restores, Revamps and Repairs
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djz
Posts: 849
Location: Christchurch

Post by djz » Tue Feb 27, 2018 6:30 pm

Pulled the top windscreen chrome piece off last night to seal up the water leaks, not sure why I put it off for so long, it only took 5 minutes to get it off. The chrome was glued on in a couple of spots so popped off pretty easily. I can't see anything obvious that would make it leak but if I blow air from the inside out I can feel it in a couple of spots so I'll put some more goo on it and hope for the best.

There is some rust there which I was expecting, it's like they put a thin layer of bog on the vertical part and that's separated. I put some rust killer on it and will give it a quick spray before I put the chrome back on.

I briefly thought about taking the windscreen out but decided against that pretty quickly, when I get it repainted I'll worry about that.

Also recalibrated the wideband so that should be all good for next time I drive it. Looking at the logs from last time it thought it was running 15% rich across the board so it'll be interesting to see if that's correct or not. The only things I can think of that might cause it were I didn't have an air filter on it on the dyno and it only had a short exhaust but 15% seems like a lot.
Nissan 280ZX 2 seater RB26 powered.

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djz
Posts: 849
Location: Christchurch

Post by djz » Wed Feb 28, 2018 5:13 pm

Bought some 2nd hand but near new Nismo GTR engine mounts, the ones on the car I think are from the Z31 RB20DET engine that I bought, they've only done 63ks but feel quite loose, the Nismo ones are very stiff but still some sort of rubber. Hopefully they fit!
Nissan 280ZX 2 seater RB26 powered.

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djz
Posts: 849
Location: Christchurch

Post by djz » Sun Mar 04, 2018 2:16 pm

Took one of the original engine mounts off to see what the GTR ones were like, the thickness is the same but the locating dowel is in a slightly different place, I didn't have time to sort it out at the moment as I was trying to take it to the Rakaia cruise so I ended up putting the original back on.

Didn't end up taking it to the cruise as the adhesive I thought I had for putting the chrome back on had gone off and I couldn't get any more until this morning. I wanted to buy the proper Sikaflex stuff but I only needed about 10cm worth and it was $40 odd bucks for a caulking gun tube and would have just gone off so I got another brand which was $19, and will probably still go off, I couldn't see any smaller quantities of it.

I'm driving myself to work for the next couple of weeks as my car pool buddy is away so I'm planning on taking the Z out as much as I can, until I run out of money for gas. Should be able to get some really good logging and tidy up the tune quite a bit.
Nissan 280ZX 2 seater RB26 powered.

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djz
Posts: 849
Location: Christchurch

Post by djz » Mon Mar 05, 2018 7:56 pm

Drove the car out to work again today, it went pretty well. Windscreen chrome hasn't fallen off yet.

I took 15% fuel out on the way to work and also put the fan temp up by 2 degrees, it ran fine the whole way there. I did a little bit of playing with the fuel map during my breaks and also adjusted the suspension damping too. Took it for a couple of laps around the track and it was going pretty good, I still need to get the log off the computer for the drive home and have a look over that.

I really need to do a few things to make it more comfortable, the fan barely does anything and it gets really hot in the interior, also need to sort out the drivers seat, the padding isn't very good and it's not very nice to sit in for such long drives.
Nissan 280ZX 2 seater RB26 powered.

martysauce
Posts: 166
Location: christchurch

Post by martysauce » Fri Mar 09, 2018 1:02 pm

hi djz loving the build cant wait for more photos and videos. do you have much to do with the carbon fiber side were you work? iv made a few flat panel things and a splitter with a foam center i have to redo. thinking about trying to make z32 door skins is it possible to use the door as a mould then cut the skin off and replace it for the carbon one? cheers mate

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djz
Posts: 849
Location: Christchurch

Post by djz » Fri Mar 09, 2018 7:12 pm

martysauce wrote:hi djz loving the build cant wait for more photos and videos. do you have much to do with the carbon fiber side were you work? iv made a few flat panel things and a splitter with a foam center i have to redo. thinking about trying to make z32 door skins is it possible to use the door as a mould then cut the skin off and replace it for the carbon one? cheers mate
I haven't had a lot to do with the carbon side of things yet (apart from cutting and grinding some), to be honest it looks like a pain in the ass. From what I've picked up from the guys you would usually make a mold off the part either in carbon or fibreglass then make the part of that. For something like that I think our guys would usually make the mold out of carbon so when it gets cooked in the autoclave it expands at the same rate. We have been 3D printing some molds too.
Nissan 280ZX 2 seater RB26 powered.

martysauce
Posts: 166
Location: christchurch

Post by martysauce » Sat Mar 10, 2018 8:26 am

I haven't had a lot to do with the carbon side of things yet (apart from cutting and grinding some), to be honest it looks like a pain in the ass. From what I've picked up from the guys you would usually make a mold off the part either in carbon or fibreglass then make the part of that. For something like that I think our guys would usually make the mold out of carbon so when it gets cooked in the autoclave it expands at the same rate. We have been 3D printing some molds too.[/quote]

far out a bit more tehcnical then i was thinking. might leave it being a heavy boat for abit longer haha . cheers tho

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djz
Posts: 849
Location: Christchurch

Post by djz » Thu May 17, 2018 8:37 pm

Might be a bit too flashy for the Z, the ring definitely is. I'll go to Pick a part this weekend and see if I can find a plug for it and maybe a chrome ring. If anybody wants to buy the Nismo ring send me a PM.

I'll have to put a relay on the starter but that's pretty easy.

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Nissan 280ZX 2 seater RB26 powered.

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djz
Posts: 849
Location: Christchurch

Post by djz » Sun May 27, 2018 3:41 pm

Yeah, looks a little bit silly.

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Figured out the wiring for the dash lights, I was going to get one of the 3 pin plugs and just make a loop wire but there's no clip as it was on the dimmer switch unit so I'll have to cut the plug off and splice the two wires together instead.

In other news I bought another Z, it's a bone stock '82 Australian import t top 2+2. Will be picking it up next weekend. Once I get it sorted we'll actually be able to attend cruises as a family in a suitable car.
Nissan 280ZX 2 seater RB26 powered.

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djz
Posts: 849
Location: Christchurch

Post by djz » Sun Jul 29, 2018 6:10 pm

Made up a little carbon plate to block up where I removed the dash light dimmer etc, it's probably only temporary but it looks okay. Started putting the other bits of the dash back together too, I saved a bunch of screws from the Laurel interior when I scrapped that so I'm using some of those to make things match better.

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Borrowed some stuff called Spabond from work to glue on a hood prop catch thing, it hasn't had one since I put the fibreglass bonnet on. Also put some on the corner of the front kit where it meets up with the flange on the guard, it broke through a little bit and the bolt was floating in air.

I'm trying to tidy up some little bits and pieces to make it nicer to drive, I took it out to work on Friday, it goes well but definitely needs some work to stop rattles etc.
Nissan 280ZX 2 seater RB26 powered.

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djz
Posts: 849
Location: Christchurch

Post by djz » Fri Aug 31, 2018 7:38 pm

The doors on this have always rattled when they're closed and I couldn't figure out why everything looked okay, the doors on the white car close way nicer. Turns out under the plastic in the door strikers is supposed to be some other kind of bush and mine must have perished. Wish I'd bought new screws to go with them but too late now.

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Finished fixing the front kit, for now at least. When I put the Fairlady Z bumper on the front I'll need to pull it off again and fix it properly, I used the holes that somebody had already drilled in it to put it together but half of them have pulled/broken through as they were too close to the edges.

Removed the mirror switches as I've sold them, I've been looking for a non electric mirror center console but they're really hard to find, there's one on Yahoo but it's brown.

Have fitted the hood prop rod finally too and the new drivers door striker.

3D printed some new door escutcheons, they aren't quite 100% right, will muck around with them on the weekend.

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Bought a box of mirrors, going to get rid of the terrible ones that are on the car and fit a pair of OEM manual door mirrors.

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Also decided to make some ball joint adaptors like what I made for Asher's car so that I can go back to Z control arms instead of the R30 ones I'm running, will need to muck around with the radius rods as well, this is an R31 ball joint.

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Nissan 280ZX 2 seater RB26 powered.

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djz
Posts: 849
Location: Christchurch

Post by djz » Sat Oct 06, 2018 9:37 pm

Big day for the Z today, went on the dyno at Specialised Auto Services for the NZ Datsun dyno day. I've been mucking around with a tune a bit over the last two weeks, got the timing map better after being told by the internet expects that my current map was "aids".

Was having trouble getting more boost into it, no matter what I did I couldn't get it to make more than about 17psi, then at work on Friday it was going well but started making a weird noise like it was leaking boost. Turned out the silicon directly off the turbo outlet had a big split in it.

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Luckily I spare a spare silicon the same but blue so I swapped it last night and tidied up the hosing for the boost solenoid. I fixed an oil leak from the oil inlet flange on the turbo as well. Didn't get a chance to really test it last night as it was raining a little bit and just kept spinning.

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I asked the guys there if I could play with the boost a little bit while they were running it, it hit the map limit on the first run now that the leak was fixed, I wound it back a bit and they did a few more runs, took a little bit of timing out of it at the top and put some boost back in and ended up making 505rwhp on about 19psi. It still has more in it, the map sensor in the Link is only good for 21psi so I need to change that before doing much more, but it was still making power at 8000rpm.
Nissan 280ZX 2 seater RB26 powered.

User avatar
djz
Posts: 849
Location: Christchurch

Post by djz » Tue Nov 20, 2018 8:30 pm

Got some new mirror glass cut out by North Canterbury Glass, he gave me half a left over tube of the proper stuff for sticking them in so hopefully no more fall out.

Haven't done much else, drove it out to work for the track day and James helped me bleed the brakes which improved them but they aren't 100% where I want them, may need to look at changing the master cylinder size.

Basically I've just been looking at what else I can tidy up and small stuff I can do to it. Will be making a catch can (finally) over the Christmas break.
Nissan 280ZX 2 seater RB26 powered.

User avatar
djz
Posts: 849
Location: Christchurch

Post by djz » Sat Dec 08, 2018 10:25 pm

The key to more power has arrived, Delphi 3 bar map sensor, now I can run up to ~30psi of boost.

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The clutch pedal has been squeaking a bit recently, I had a look at it the other day and it's worn the pin and the clevis and probably the pedal, I think I'm going to replace the clevis with a rod end, I've got a plan on how to do it so over Christmas I'll give it a go.
Nissan 280ZX 2 seater RB26 powered.

User avatar
djz
Posts: 849
Location: Christchurch

Post by djz » Wed Dec 19, 2018 1:23 pm

Made up a mount for the new map sensor, I could really find a good place to put it so this might only be temporary. It's recommended that it gets mounted with the hose barb pointing downwards so any condensation drains out of it which makes it a pain to mount.

Have to finish up the wiring and set it up in the Link.

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Nissan 280ZX 2 seater RB26 powered.

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