s30 l28et engine update

Posted on February 12, 2010 by in In the Garage

l28et Feb 11

I’m a little frustrated that with all the progress I’ve made I haven’t really finished anything on my to-do list for the s30.  I had it running, but was short one injector and didn’t have a turbo bolted up, so it ran … terribly.  I also had no shifter, and the seats weren’t bolted in so I was pretty surprised when I found out it was in reverse.  Oh right, and the clutch pedal was not connected.

Note to self:  avoid that kind of excitement in the future.

There has been other progress in the meantime, mostly in the engine bay.

Intake

I bolted up the new intake manifold (from an n47 engine) that’s slightly bulkier than the black (n42) manifold I had, but is complete and a running car with a few extra pounds is better than a non-running car with a few less pounds.  I finished up the installation of the injectors now that I had enough threads to bolt them all in, and hooked up all the wiring.

Fuel

The 280zx-t fuel pump bolted right in to the rear frame like it was made to go there.  I still need to put the stock fuel tank back in (I removed it to clean out a bunch of sediment) and hook up all the lines to it.  Once that’s done, the mechanical portion of my fuel system is complete.  I’m planning to install Megasquirt (the mileage gains pay for the cost of a complete Megasquirt kit in around 4,000 miles) and tune that to replace the stock Nissan l28et ECU, which is notoriously inefficient and unreliable.

Exhaust/Turbo

Turbo

I’ve finally assembled the turbocharger setup, with the wastegate spacer/flange and 35mm wastegate.  I have a spare wastegate and turbo that I’ll sell off, since I finally decided to use the t3/t04e Turbonetics hybrid turbo.  It should fit this engine perfectly, but I’d still like to get the compressor map for it to confirm.

My intake ductwork is on its way, I’ve decided on slightly oversized 2.5″ piping to the intercooler, then to the throttle body.  I only ordered the piping, since I need to figure out how I’m going to fit it and order an intercooler that’s the right size for the space I have.  Expect an update on that as soon as the intercooler ductwork is in.

The exhaust will happen after the car has been driveable for a bit and I trust everything else.  Exhaust fabrication is relatively quick and straightforward work, so I’m not too worried about it.  I’m much more concerned with the intake ductwork.

Tags: , , , ,

2 Responses to “s30 l28et engine update”

  1. Enoe 22 February 2010 at 9:16 am #

    I wouldn't trip off the fact that your list is unchecked. Owning these older cars means alot of extra small & big unplanned work. On a diif note you mentined adding a banner before, by controlling my css?

  2. Jesse 24 February 2010 at 9:41 pm #

    I need to move out of California, and at some point I have to say enough is enough, so the unchecked options mean that this is the point where I call it a day and cut my losses. Shoot me an email about the css: jobrien@drivendaily.orgLet me know what you're interested in changing, and I'll see what I can whip up.


Leave a Reply

Please fill the required box or you can’t comment at all. Please use kind words. Your e-mail address will not be published.

Gravatar is supported.

You can use these HTML tags and attributes: <a href="" title=""> <abbr title=""> <acronym title=""> <b> <blockquote cite=""> <cite> <code> <del datetime=""> <em> <i> <q cite=""> <strike> <strong>