DJ's 280ZX

Restores, Revamps and Repairs
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Baker93
Z Club Member
Posts: 331
Location: Auckland

Post by Baker93 » Sat Jan 06, 2018 10:40 am

Hey thats looking really good, nice workmanship you can be proud of that.
Its always the little bits that take all the time, but make difference to a job well done. That thing should drive really well. good numbers, should make a bunch of torque.

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djz
Posts: 849
Location: Christchurch

Post by djz » Tue Jan 09, 2018 8:45 pm

Ordered the bits to redo the power steering high pressure line, I got proper Speedflow stuff, was pretty spendy but probably about the same as getting a new rubber line crimped. Should be here tomorrow.

I've been trying to think of a good place to mount the air fuel ratio gauge and haven't really come up with anywhere decent. There is room if I move the radio over but I'd have to make a cup kind of arrangement to put it on an angle where I could actually see it, will think about it.
Nissan 280ZX 2 seater RB26 powered.

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djz
Posts: 849
Location: Christchurch

Post by djz » Sat Jan 13, 2018 2:36 pm

Made the power steering line the other day, was a bit of a pain but I got there in the end. Accidentally left the power steering pump adjuster and belt at work so I haven't tested that it actually works, but I'll do that later on today.

Just have to sort out the brake booster line which I'll try and do this weekend then it should be all good to go for a warrant.
Nissan 280ZX 2 seater RB26 powered.

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djz
Posts: 849
Location: Christchurch

Post by djz » Wed Jan 17, 2018 8:49 pm

Sorted out the brake booster hosing on the weekend, it's a bit ugly but it works, I'll tidy it up when I put the idle control on. Took it out for a test drive and to put some petrol on it, the power steering works well and the brakes work fine.

The only problem was that I lost one of the bonnet catches somewhere down Lineside Road, I bought two sets so I had spares. Decided to take it out to work yesterday and managed to lose two more catches on the way there, ended up having to bolt it down to get home. I'm pretty sure it was an installation error as I removed the stoppers to put the pins in, so there was nothing to stop the bonnet going down (the catches weren't attached to the bonnet yet). I didn't think they'd be able to pop off but turns out they can.

Tonight I removed one of the guard bolts and put the stoppers there, I've only got one latch at the moment but it seems to work heaps better. The bonnet seems to move around a lot which is a little strange.

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Took it for a couple more laps around what we call stages 2 and 3 at work, the shocks are a bit soft I think, will wind them up next time. It gets a little bit loose around some corners.

I definitely need to put some heat shielding on the bonnet, it's starting to change colour underneath right above the turbo. I'm thinking about some of the gold stuff but it might look a bit tacky.

One of the guys at work had a good idea about mounting my air fuel ratio gauge using one of the spare Vbox camera mounts, it's only temporary as I don't really want to mount it in there permanently.

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Nissan 280ZX 2 seater RB26 powered.

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reliablejunkie
Z Club Member
Posts: 188
Location: Riccarton, Christchurch

Post by reliablejunkie » Fri Jan 19, 2018 6:17 pm

I removed the clock and put a mechanical boost gauge in there which I quite like. I have a temporary set up for my A/F ratio gauge too which I will put in where the volt gauge is. Would you consider doing the same?
Someone had to make up for all the pollutants these hybrid cars are saving these days, so i cranked up the fuel pressure and let the engine roar.

1983 280ZX L20ET engine with an N42 head running on megasquirt ECU

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djz
Posts: 849
Location: Christchurch

Post by djz » Fri Jan 19, 2018 9:37 pm

reliablejunkie wrote:I removed the clock and put a mechanical boost gauge in there which I quite like. I have a temporary set up for my A/F ratio gauge too which I will put in where the volt gauge is. Would you consider doing the same?
Nah, I swapped my clock for an analogue one which I like, the oil pressure gauge is one without the temp gauge, it's not connected at the moment but I'll hook it up one day. Personally I don't really feel like a permanent boost gauge is much use and the air fuel ratio gauge is only being used for it's output to the ECU but once it's fully tuned it doesn't really need to be there either.
Nissan 280ZX 2 seater RB26 powered.

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djz
Posts: 849
Location: Christchurch

Post by djz » Mon Jan 22, 2018 8:46 pm

After driving this around a few times it seems to be making a bit of a noise from the right rear that stops when you apply the brakes even just a little, I was hoping it was going to be something easy to find but I jacked it up on Sunday and ran it with the wheels off the ground and no noise. The brake caliper was still moving a little bit like it was when I changed the stub axle, I had a feeling the rotor was warped when that happened so I took it off and took it to work and gave it a skim. Hopefully I didn't cock it up.

Other than that the car seems to be going okay, still a few little bits and pieces to tidy up. I want to take the windscreen trim off so I can have a look at the water leaks but I'm worried about breaking the clips as they aren't available new anymore from what I can see. I'm considering 3D printing some at work but I need one decent one to model off.

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Nissan 280ZX 2 seater RB26 powered.

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djz
Posts: 849
Location: Christchurch

Post by djz » Tue Jan 30, 2018 8:02 pm

Got the new bonnet latches yesterday so I can properly sort that out now.

I was to replace the air inlet pipe to the turbo - I put a hole in it for the PCV system but now it needs to be on the other side, welding up the ali pipe is just going to be ugly so I've thought about either replacing it with another ali pipe or I see there are carbon ones for sale on Trademe now which look pretty cool. Would still have to bond on an AN fitting but I think that shouldn't be too hard.

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Nissan 280ZX 2 seater RB26 powered.

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djz
Posts: 849
Location: Christchurch

Post by djz » Thu Feb 08, 2018 9:02 pm

Haven't done too much on this over the last week or two, I bought a new windscreen washer pump from Aliexpress for the new tank once I actually get around to making it, might just warrant it with the old tank for now.

Also bought some DEI Reflectagold heat shielding for under the bonnet, I wasn't too set on the gold but then I thought it would actually match the wheels. Most of the other stuff was actually quite thick where this is really thin. Got a -4AN cap for the tee on the turbo oil pressure line as well so I can remove the pressure sensor but have the ability to put it back on easily if I need it.
Nissan 280ZX 2 seater RB26 powered.

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djz
Posts: 849
Location: Christchurch

Post by djz » Sun Feb 11, 2018 7:06 pm

Took the bonnet back off today, ground around the hinges a bit more, it wasn't sitting flat on the left hand hinge, it seems a bit better now.

Borrowed a mouse sander thing from one of the guys at work and sanded down where I wanted to put the heat shielding, not really sure if it was necessary or not but I did it anyway. Seems to be a lot of holes (air bubbles?) under the top layer of fibreglass. I put a bit of paint on it too, only had a little bit left so just did under and around where the heat shielding went. It looks better than I thought it would, once the rest of the bonnet is painted it'll look better.

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Also I don't think I posted up a picture of the bay once it was all back together.

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Nissan 280ZX 2 seater RB26 powered.

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djz
Posts: 849
Location: Christchurch

Post by djz » Mon Feb 12, 2018 10:04 pm

Had an idea that it might be the other bonnet spring that's making the bonnet do odd things so I popped it off tonight and now the bonnet sits flat.

Only problem is now there's nothing to hold the bonnet up, there's no provisions for the factory bonnet stay mount, I'll talk to the composites guys at work tomorrow and see what they think, I don't think gluing the mount onto the bonnet will last so I might have to bond a bit of ali with threads in it into the bonnet and glass over it, or come up with something else like some pneumatic bonnet stays.

Also connected the windscreen washer bottle back up and did some more wiring for the air fuel ratio gauge. I've booked it in for a warrant on Friday so fingers crossed it passes.
Nissan 280ZX 2 seater RB26 powered.

martysauce
Posts: 166
Location: christchurch

Post by martysauce » Thu Feb 22, 2018 7:18 pm

hi. im just wondering if thoes bonnet latches worked very well for you. im atempting a tube front on my z32 and wanting to put small bonnet latches like the ones you have on, the thing is they will be on the strut towers so i guess there will be quite abit of leverage for the wind at the front of the bonnet to the towers. do you recon they would be solid enuff to hold the bonnet down at high speeds or go for the other style with the locking pin. cheers djz :D

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djz
Posts: 849
Location: Christchurch

Post by djz » Thu Feb 22, 2018 8:18 pm

martysauce wrote:hi. im just wondering if thoes bonnet latches worked very well for you. im atempting a tube front on my z32 and wanting to put small bonnet latches like the ones you have on, the thing is they will be on the strut towers so i guess there will be quite abit of leverage for the wind at the front of the bonnet to the towers. do you recon they would be solid enuff to hold the bonnet down at high speeds or go for the other style with the locking pin. cheers djz :D
They've worked well so far, my bonnet opens forwards rather backwards so there isn't much force on it upwards other than the air from the engine bay trying to get out. They do make different sizes, I used the smallest ones but there are two bigger sizes which might be better?
Nissan 280ZX 2 seater RB26 powered.

martysauce
Posts: 166
Location: christchurch

Post by martysauce » Thu Feb 22, 2018 9:59 pm

djz wrote:
martysauce wrote:hi. im just wondering if thoes bonnet latches worked very well for you. im atempting a tube front on my z32 and wanting to put small bonnet latches like the ones you have on, the thing is they will be on the strut towers so i guess there will be quite abit of leverage for the wind at the front of the bonnet to the towers. do you recon they would be solid enuff to hold the bonnet down at high speeds or go for the other style with the locking pin. cheers djz :D
They've worked well so far, my bonnet opens forwards rather backwards so there isn't much force on it upwards other than the air from the engine bay trying to get out. They do make different sizes, I used the smallest ones but there are two bigger sizes which might be better?
thanks i might go with the bigger ones and have a strap that will catch the bonnet if the latches let go for abit

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djz
Posts: 849
Location: Christchurch

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

Got a warrant for this the other day thanks to Damon at Rocky Auto, tail lights were doing some weird things which I need to look at, other than that and Damon noticing an oil leak from the turbo oil drain it's all good.

It's running pretty hot and actually stopped on the way home, the ECU has some protection stuff in there for water temp and air temp which retards the timing heaps, I ended up having to hard wire the fans to run all the time while sitting on the side of Cranford Street.

For some reason the fan on temp was set at 92 in the computer, I might have either forgotten to adjust it or I thought it was an 88 degree thermostat which it's not, I've lowered it to 85 and went for a big cruise with James to go look at a Z31 parts car and it sat pretty much on half way on the gauge the whole time, the fans were running most of the time I think, might tweak it up just a little bit. James has lent me an inverter that goes into the cigarette lighter so I can run the laptop on long drives for logging.

Heat wrapping the down pipe is going to be a pain as it's one piece basically to the diff now, I've ordered a v band and will put that in front of the flexi.

Had a look at making an air box and asked for some opinions from the 280ZX drivers Facebook page, most of them were recommending to put the filter out through the inner guard to behind the front kit, I think for the moment I'm still just going to run an airbox and if that doesn't work better I'll get more drastic. I'm going to have to cut holes in the inner guard to let some air through as where the factory pipe went to the stock airbox is totally filled with intercooler piping. I might make a 4.5" hole in the guard and then make up a piece to go in it with smaller holes, that way if I decide to actually put the filter out through the guard it'll be easier.
Nissan 280ZX 2 seater RB26 powered.

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