Everyone loves a vintage Z car.

As the owner of a 1975 280z, I can say that half the fun of these cars is that they’re a blank canvas of speed. They’re well balanced cars as long as they’re kept in good working order and they have loads of performance potential. That’s a double-edged sword, though. They’re very easy to make absurdly quick, but they need to be able to stop quickly as well.

Luckily, we’ve got a special treat for s30 owners. Toyota trucks happened to have incredible brakes, and shared the same caliper bolt pattern as Nissan cars. If you own a S30 (240Z-280Z car) then there’s a good chance you’re on a budget, and it doesn’t get more “budget” than these options. Toyota’s brakes were significant improvements over the s30′s right from the start, but kept improving as the trucks matured. This means there are several options available. We’ll organize them by the casting codes embossed on the side of each caliper, to make it easy to identify which we’re talking about

S12+8  Calipers (’79-’85 4×4 + ’86-’88 4×4)

This caliper comes in two varieties, a solid disc and a vented disc version. Both are based on the same basic casting, but there are key differences to note between the earlier (solid-style) and later (vented-style) calipers.

Toyota 4x4 s12 caliper compared to stock Datsun s30 caliper

Solid-disc calipers were made on the earlier Toyota 4×4′s, from 1979 to 1985. Without machining, they will only fit solid, non-vented discs, since the slot is not wide enough to accommodate wider vented discs. Although these are the least performance-oriented calipers of the Toyota lineup, they’re a noteworthy upgrade from the stock s30 calipers.

The later vented-style caliper (1986-1988) is machined with a thicker gap for the wide vented rotors. The vented-style caliper will fit on solid discs without issue, but the solid-style caliper needs to be machined to fit around vented discs.

S12W Calipers (’89-’91 4 Runner) + (’89-’95 4×4)

This is the big daddy of the Toyota caliper swaps. This caliper has larger pads than either the S12 or S12+8 as well as larger diameter pistons. These only came in a vented-disc width.

Decisions, Decisions

The biggest decision that will greatly affect your brake swap is whether to use solid or vented rotors? Vented rotors not only have more mass to hold more heat, but they’ll dissipate heat more quickly as well. Performance is increased across the board. Although opting for a vented setup adds extra complexity, the additional performance will prove worthwhile to most owners who need better-than-stock stopping power.

The second important aspect of this swap is what master cylinder you want to use. A larger brake master cylinder (MC) is recommended for all caliper upgrades, otherwise you may plant the brake pedal on the floor without getting 100% of your braking potential. You can use either the 15/16ths MC from the 79-81 Nissan 280ZX or the Willwood 1″ MC (part #260-8794). The only reason not to go with the Willwood is that you’ll need to convert the threaded outputs the metric ones to match your Z car, then elongate the mount spacing so it mounts to your booster. You can find the right outputs here, or use the outputs from your Z car MC.

Here’s a shot of the Wilwood master cylinder:

In comparison, here’s what the Nissan 15/16″ master cylinder looks like:

You may also be able to get away with using a Toyota master cylinder as well, with a shared dual-reservoir (which makes maintenance easier). It will cost roughly $80 plus shipping, making this the best price point for your upgrade:

The third (and least important) consideration is the brake dust shield. You may either trim it so it doesn’t interfere with the larger caliper, or remove it entirely. Many race classes actually require removal of the dust shield for full safety compliance, but if you do remove it keep in mind that many recommend more frequent inspection to make sure you haven’t gotten any debris in your caliper/pad area. Here’s what your dust shield should look like, if you decide to trim it down:

Quick Recap

Better than Stock/Light track duty – S12+8 Solid-style Calipers: Stock Disc, trim/remove shiled. Larger MC

Heavy track duty – S12+8 Vented-style Calipers: 4 lug 300ZX Rotor (84-86 non-turbo), spacer between hub and rotor, trim/remove shield. Larger MC

Just below FastBrakes/Wilwood – S12W (big daddy) Calipers: 4 lug 300ZX Rotor (84-86 non-turbo), spacer between hub and rotor, trim/remove shield. Larger MC

I forgot to mention this back when I owned an s30 (240z, 260z, or 280z), but Datsun wheel lugs are threaded exactly the same as tie rods.  That means that in a pinch, you can use a lug nut to hold a tie rod on.

I wouldn’t recommend keeping them installed for long periods, as the factory castle nut has a cotter pin securing it.  I never ran into a problem with them, but I checked and re-torqued mine regularly.

Small tricks like this could save you a lot of time and effort if you ever break a component on the side of the road and need a way to limp home.

I spent a lot of time researching options to control fuel delivery in my l28et for the Sinister s30 project.  Xenon’s website is a great resource overall, and answered the majority of my questions, but I had trouble finding a concise explanation as to what common fuel management choices were available.

Fuel Storage

First off, if you’re putting an l28et into your own s30, you’ll need to decide if you’re going to keep the stock fuel tank or not.  The stock tank is un-baffled, so fuel sloshes around when cornering, accelerating, or braking.  If the tank isn’t full, the fuel pickup will sometimes run dry and won’t deliver fuel to the engine.

If you don’t mind replacing the stock tank, make sure you get a baffled tank.  These essentially have doors that keep a small amount of fuel at the pickup so the fuel pump never runs dry.  Many s30 owners install baffled fuel cells, which are the ideal solution but are time-consuming and require a welder to install.

If you’re keeping the stock tank without modifying it, you’ll need two fuel pumps and a surge tank.  The surge tank is a small container (less than a gallon) that holds fuel.  The first fuel pump feeds the surge tank, and the second pump pulls fuel from the bottom of the fuel tank into the engine.  This is a simple, economical option if your stock tank is in serviceable condition.  I’ll be using an old  1.5liter fire extinguisher as my surge tank, and I’ll post up a diagram of exactly how it works later.  For now, you just get a picture of the extinguisher.

The third, more uncommon option is to fill your stock tank with a sponge-like foam.  The foam holds fuel and keeps it from sloshing.  It reduces lateral weight transfer and is relatively inexpensive, but render conventional fuel gauges useless.

The final option is to keep the stock tank but add baffles.  I can’t come up with a compelling reason to do it unless you’re really into keeping the car looking completely stock.  You’ve gotta be pretty OCD to care what the fuel tank looks like, though.

ECU

280zx-t ecu is pretty much a paperweight that uses electricity.  For most cars, it’s better to unplug the o2 sensor, which feeds information that would be absolutely critical to any other car.  The z31 ECU is pretty much plug-and-play and will improve mileage somewhat.  There are aftermarket ECUs available, such as the Wolf, which come highly recommended, but are expensive ($1000+ USD).

I came to the conclusion that the ideal solution is to install MegaSquirt, but it’s a time-consuming ordeal.  First, you’d have to decide which version of MegaSquirt to purchase.  There’s MS1, MS2, and MS3, and there are various versions of software that can be run on each.  Without getting into too many details, my recommendation is a pre-assembled MS2v3.  It’s worthwhile to purchase a relay board, a cable to connect the two, and another cable to run to the engine itself.  You’ll still have to connect all the wires to the correct sensors and inputs, but it’s a straightforward affair.  You can get away with building the whole thing for around $400 if you don’t value your time very highly and have a moderate amount of experience with soldering, but I highly recommend the pre-assembled kits.

Sensors

The most crucial sensor on for fuel delivery is the air measurement sensor.  The stock AFM (air flow meter, uses a flapper to measure air being sucked/pushed into the engine) is inferior to a MAF (Mass Air Flow sensor, measures air density/velocity), which isn’t quite as good as a MAP (Manifold Absolute Pressure, measures how much pressure is in the intake manifold).  MS2v3 comes with a MAP sensor built-in, and can accurately read up to 15psi of boost.

The second sensor that’s important to note is the o2 sensor.  It measures the amount of unburned oxygen that leaves the engine, and the ECU adjusts the fuel map based on what information the o2 sensor offers.  I’ve heard from several people that the stock 280zx-t ecu goes a little crazy with an o2 sensor plugged in and they recommend removing it for better performance and mileage.  It’s strange and contrary to normal logic, but it’s become common knowledge at this point.  That’s just one more reason for me to dislike the stock ECU even more.

If you’re installing megasquirt or making a major change to your engine configuration, you’ll want to borrow or buy a wideband o2 sensor.  A wideband displays just how rich or lean your fuel/air mixture is.  It’s much more useful than a traditional o2 sensor that essentially only tells you if you’re rich or lean.

The more accurate the information you’re feeding into the ECU, and the more information you’re feeding it, the more accurate it can be.  The faster and smarter the ECU, the more precise the end result will be.  There’s a big difference between accuracy and precision, but you want both, not one or the other.

Conclusion

Fuel management is where you’ll gain almost all the mileage gains on an older efi car.  There can be significant performance increases as well if you end up fine-tuning your setup and spending a respectable amount of time getting it right.

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

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.

After an arduous battle to fit my Datsun truck transmission into the 240z’s tunnel, I finally bolted it up… and was sorely disappointed that I had to remove it once again.

My throwout bearing (pictured) was pressed directly against the clutch, and the clutch fork wouldn’t budge.  Since driving a manual car is impossible without a clutch, I had to reinstall the throwout bearing.  A phone call later, I had ordered some friends.  Another phone call later, I had pizza en route so those friends I had ordered would stick around and work on fitting the transmission back in with me.

Everything went relatively well, and I found out that the 280zx-t (s130) driveshaft fits beautifully in place of the stock 240z driveshaft.  That’s a bonus because it’s a lighter and stronger unit, decreasing my rotational mass, which increases drivetrain efficiency (throttle response, overall power, mileage).

If you’re swapping transmissions any time soon, it’s a good idea to install the transmission onto the engine outside of the car, and make sure you attach the driveshaft to the transmission before the transmission is in place.  It can be a real pain to detach the transmission from the driveshaft, since there are 4 bolts holding the two together and they can get pretty dirty over time.

Finally, there’s a 5speed transmission that’s correctly installed.  Cross one more thing off the to-do list, and tackle the next.

If anyone can help me identify the transmission I finally ended up using, that’s be great.  I believe it’s a FS5R30A because it came out of a pickup.  If that’s true, I’m a very happy camper because it means I have a 1:0.751 or 1:0.711 ratio 5th gear, meaning 70mph will run at very low rpm).  That should put me in the general vicinity of 2500rpm @ 70mph

for reference:

tire diameter calculator

(205*.50*2)+355 = 560mm = ~22 inch overall diameter tires

gear ratio calculator

rpm = (70mph * (.751 * 3.3 ) * 336) / 22 = 2649.5rpm @ 70mph

I still need to calculate exactly when the turbo will begin to spool up and when max boost is reached, but that rev range should be perfect for cruising and daily driving.  The lower gears on truck transmissions are generally very close-ratio, which works great with the wide rear differential to keep my revs down for long drives.

DISCLAIMER:

All images are exactly to 1:1 scale, there is no deviation in any of these parts from their real-life counterparts.  I spent months drawing these extremely accurate models, so please point out anything that might be considered even slightly different from factory specifications.  Also, I’m colorblind.  The color scheme is pretty much just so you can tell the different parts from each other.

Since I got so many questions about my l28ett design, I decided I’d write up the basics of how this will work.  Bear in mind, this is different from a standard twin turbo setup, or a sequential turbo setup.  I started writing it up, then quickly decided that words just aren’t adequate to describe this and broke out a pencil and some paper.  I drew up how it would all work, then realized that was just as confusing as words, so I sat down in front of my drawing tablet and I’m gonna walk you through it now.

Base design concerns

Here’s an l28et block and head.  It has 6 cylinders inline with each other (instead of assembled in a v with 3 on each side), and 12 valves (meaning 12 ports).  The 6 holes on top of the head are intake ports, the 6 on the bottom are exhaust.  I was a little creative with the valve cover, and it’s decidedly not to scale, but I don’t really care.  I’m explaining something here, not re-engineering an engine.  This engine is a little abnormal because the status quo of engines is known as ‘crossflow’ meaning that air goes in one side and out the other.  Crossflow designs make turbochargers a little more complex to route, but that’s a solved problem and we aren’t going to worry about comparing the two.  Just understand that the intake and exhaust are on one side of the engine, and the spark plugs are on the other.

Exhaust

Tube steel is the best choice for exhaust routing, since it can withstand heat, is relatively easy to work with (the term is called welding) and doesn’t cost a whole lot.  A mild steel manifold will most likely cost around $100-$150 in supplies for a hobbyist like myself, and makes the front end of the car significantly lighter and also allows exhaust to be routed in an efficient way.  I’m basically taking the front three exhaust ports and collecting them into one, which feeds one turbocharger, and collecting the rear three ports to feed the other turbocharger.  The collectors also have a tube that runs between them, with my wastegate in the middle of that tube.  Let’s explore the wastegate idea a little more, it’s the most important part of any turbocharging setup and often gets ignored.

Wastegate

A wastegate is simply a pneumatic valve that opens to let exhaust gases through.  It’s engaged by air pressure, which is available as soon as the turbochargers start to spin.  When the turbochargers have enough air in the compression turbine side, the wastegate opens allowing exhaust to bypass the turbochargers, and they are no longer powered (exhaust gas is what spins turbochargers).  Without a wastegate, turbochargers would spin out of control and some part(s) of your engine would just explode under the air pressure.

When my wastegate opens, exhaust gas from both halves of the exhaust will be allowed to escape, rather than having to push the turbocharger around before going out the back of the engine.  This allows me to control the air pressure going into my engine, and the cross-pipe keeps both turbos relatively in sync.

Turbos

Normally, both turbochargers would pull air from the front of the engine.  My engine bay is long enough that I can pull air from the rear with the rear turbo, and from the front with the front turbo, and the exhausts of each can merge efficiently and seamlessly between each other.

This is also where the non-crossflow design comes into play.  Instead of having lots of bends and ductwork to get my compressed air to go into the intake manifold, my compressed air points straight up.  If only an intake manifold existed that could take advantage of that…

Intake manifold

I’ll just have to make an intake manifold.  All I need to do is make a plenum, then 6 runners that point toward the ports of the engine, and cut two holes in the bottom of the plenum.  50mm and 60mm throttle bodies are readily available, so I can use two: one for each turbocharger outlet.

This provides instant throttle response.  Turbo lag is slightly present, but pressing on the gas pedal will give a jolt like no other turbocharged vehicle is capable of.

Fuel delivery

Delivering fuel to this is as easy as drilling the correct holes for an injector at each intake port of the engine, then installing a fuel injector there.  I have a great set of injectors from osidetiger, and pallnet has excellent fuel rails available, so this would be a simple process.  However, the stock Nissan electronic control unit would be completely confused by this setup (don’t tell anyone, but it’s confused by pretty much any setup, including the stock setup from the factory).  Megasquirt is a great alternative for controlling fuel electronics and newer versions can control boost levels, so I’d go with that.

Design problems

There are some notable issues that I can see, just looking at this design.  The one that really matters is heat.  A turbocharger generates quite a bit of heat, and throws out compressed, heated air.  Two turbos do … double that.  Normally, a turbocharger is routed into an intercooler (like a radiator, but for cooling air instead of radiator fluid).  This design has no room for an intercooler, so it throws a lot of hot air into the engine (that’s bad).

The proximity of exhaust and intake is always an issue, and that’s compounded even more when there are two turbochargers stuffed directly under the intake manifold.  There isn’t a whole lot that can be done about this.

The main problem with all this heat is called “detonation“.  Detonation occurs when your air and fuel mixture is hot enough that it explodes too early.  If this happens a few times, it’s nothing to worry about, but if it happens as a regular part of driving, you won’t be driving very regularly at all.  To combat detonation, you can add extra fuel to the intake mixture, which is called ‘enrichening the circuit’.  It’s not very efficient, but helps cool down the inside of the engine.

Another option is to run coolant through the intake manifold.  This is a significant amount of work, so I’d suggest settling for the next best thing: running coolant through the throttle body.  The 240sx has a 60mm throttle body that’s perfect for this application, and has coolant lines installed on it from the factory.  Both these techniques will go a long way toward preventing detonation, but let’s take it a step further.

Higher octane fuels are resistant to detonation.  That’s their only advantage.  They don’t make your car faster or burn cleaner or make the car gods love you any more than they already do.  It’s not a bad idea to run higher octane fuels on any high-compression or turbocharged engine.  It costs a bit extra, but if you’re reading about making an exhaust manifold and intake manifold for your two turbochargers… you’d be willing to spend a little extra here and there.

Adding water or a form of alcohol (nitrous oxide or methanol are two popular examples) before the fuel is mixed in will enrich the circuit and drastically reduce detonation.  If you end up going this route, add another injector or two between the throttle bodies and set up megasquirt so they fire alcohol into the compressed air whenever a ‘knock sensor’ is triggered.  You can also add a heat sensor into the intake manifold for this.

One more way to reduce detonation caused by excess heat is to reduce boost.  Opening the wastegate will immediately drop pressure and power in the engine, and will stop the increase in temperatures, but won’t do anything to cool down the engine if it’s already in a dangerous state.  This is best used as a preventative measure, so reduce boost BEFORE your combustion temperatures are excessively high.

The final, and most important thing you can do to prevent detonation is to minimize ‘heat soak’.  The hot air in your exhaust and turbos generates a lot of heat, and that heat wafts up to your intake manifold, making the gases inside even hotter.  An aluminum plate with a fire blanket or another type of insulation as a barrier between the intake and exhaust is a must.

Conclusion

I don’t see the twin turbo setup as being worth the work.  While cool, I won’t really benefit from this design.  I can push as much air into my engine as it can safely burn off with a single t3/t04e turbocharger, and it’s easier to use an intercooler with it as well.  I won’t have the instantaneous throttle response the dual-turbo setup would offer, but I think I’ll be perfectly fine driving across the country with just one turbo.  My goals are only 300hp or so, and that’s very easily attainable with a good turbocharger and an accurate fuel delivery tune.

I’ve been back and forth about the final state of my engine bay for awhile now, and need to make a decision.  I’m looking for your input on which setup you think is the best.

L28et design ideals

The l28et engine is a strange combination of old and new technology, and is the force that will drive the wheels of my Sinister s30 project.  The strange code of the engine breaks down like this:

L – inline (not v-shaped) cylinder configuration

28 – 2.8liters of displacement

E – electronically fuel injected (instead of carburetted)

T – turbocharged from the factory

It’s a well-designed engine that was excellent for its time, but has a few glaring problems that need to be addressed.  Once I’ve finished fixing those, I’ll write up an article, but for today I’m faced with a conundrum: how many turbos should I install on this?

In essence, a turbocharger is an air pump that forces air into the engine, which allows more fuel to be mixed and burned, and therefore more power to be produced.  It has some efficiency gains over a naturally aspirated engine (imagine climbing a mountain with a lightweight oxygen tank that ensures you never get winded, then climbing the same mountain without the oxygen tank) but is generally seen as a power adder.  This particular engine is considered low compression, meaning it compresses air and fuel inside the engine at about a 7.3:1 ratio (as a base of comparison, several Honda Civic engines compress at a ratio of 11:1).  Because that ratio is so low, a turbocharger is necessary to get the most efficiency out of this motor.

So there it is, I’m required to have a turbocharger.  The question becomes, which one(s)?

Stock configuration, upgraded turbo

There are two viable options for a single turbocharger: t3 or t3/t04e hybrid. You can see both sizes here in my collection.  The smallest turbine in the image to the right is the stock t3 that I removed from this engine.  It’s a reasonably sized turbo that provides a fair amount of air into the engine.  Because the l28et is a low-compression engine, larger turbocharger is a good idea in all aspects.  That’s where the t3/t04e comes in, and provides roughly double the air that the stock t3 does.  The t3/t04e is a hybrid between two turbos, using a small t3 turbine to collect exhaust gases, which push a much larger turbine from a t04e and compresses much more air equally fast.

To sum things up: the t3/t04e squishes air more quickly and has the capacity to squeeze more air into my engine.  That means it makes more power more quickly and efficiently, but is extra work to install over the stock configuration of a smaller t3.

Upside:  Inexpensive

Downside:  This is the same setup the l28et came with, and requires the same amount of work as the other options for less power.

Twin t3/t04e Turbochargers

My other option is to install two t3/t04e hybrid turbos, which is cool as ice, but is more work.  I’d need to fabricate an exhaust manifold, similar to a few that I came across on HybridZ.

To effectively install two of these turbochargers, I would want to fabricate an intake manifold.  My design is a little abnormal, with dual throttle bodies facing up from the turbochargers into a plenum, but would work well for everything but cooling.

The hot compressed air would shoot directly up into the engine, rather than flowing through an intercooler.  It’s dangerous to allow hot air into the engine for extended periods of time, but means that the engine responds much more quickly to the throttle pedal.  The car would feel much more powerful, but I’d have to tune the ecu to carefully monitor temperatures and exhaust gases and decrease the amount of boost when it gets too warm.

Upside: Very fast throttle response, lots of power while it’s cool

Downside: Overheats quickly, which decreases power and efficiency on hot days or when driving hard for long periods (such as track days), the most work of all my options

Single turbocharger, external wastegate

In between these two options is a custom manifold for a single t3/t04e hybrid turbo, using an external wastegate.  The external wastegate affords more precise tuning of how much pressure the turbocharger creates before letting exhaust gases skip it.  It’s a big upgrade, and a single well-designed turbo can be just as powerful and efficient as two.

Upside:  Simple, proven setup that’s straightforward to tune, the most amount of power possible while being a ‘safe’ setup

Downside:  Requires fabrication and doesn’t add to the ‘cool factor’

Miscellaneous stuff

Normally there are other considerations to take into account, like how much fuel is available to be delivered, how hot it’s going to get, how quickly your ecu can respond to changes in pressure, and how much pressure your engine can actually withstand before pieces start popping off from the inside, but I’ve taken these things into account (for the most part) and am looking for advice on which configuration sounds the most interesting.  They all make sense, and I have the important supplies to be able to do either.  At this point it’s just a matter of deciding what to go with and putting in the time to finish it.  So what are your thoughts?

Before anyone else mentions it, a twin turbo carburetted engine is a bad idea, for many reasons.  Just because it was on Wangan Midnight doesn’t mean it’s cool or relevant.  Fuel injection is much more efficient and worlds easier to maintain.

Brake drum

Beating my drum

My s30 didn’t get much closer to being my daily driver this week.  Our landlord thought it would be nice to surprise us with a new roof, and ours was torn off and strewn across our yard (and flowed seamlessly into my garage) so I couldn’t spend too much time working.  I put forth a massive effort to remove my rear drum brakes though, and they seem to be completely seized to the wheel hubs, and stubbornly refuse to budge.  It looks like I’ll have to cut them off, and I’m not really looking forward to it.  That means replacing them.

If you’ve upgraded your rear drums to a disk setup and don’t mind parting with them, please let me know.  I’m still shooting for this car to be driving on public roads by the end of the month.

I finally have all of my front suspension bolted up in a ready-to-drive setup.  The s30 is growing closer and closer to being streetworthy every day. I have the front brakes and brake lines completely connected (they still need to be bled, though) and I finished installing the springs on both sides.  This was way more work than I had initially anticipated because of all the rusty, frozen bolts, and because one of the strut tower bolts spun freely.  I went through a few cans of PB Blaster and ended up cutting the troublesome strut tower bolt and nut in half vertically so it would break free.

Now that my car is the only car in my garage (the 1982 280zx-t donor car and 1963 Ford Falcon have gone back to their respective owners), I put the car up on jack stands and started rooting around in the front suspension’s guts.

Wheel studs

I started from the outside, and worked my way in.  The original studs were falling apart and the threads were all fouled, so a new set was ordered and installed on the fronts.  They were an inexpensive part that gives me way more confidence in the vehicle over-all.

Springs

The springs I installed are about 3″ shorter than the stock springs, but I don’t know where the ride height will settle down to.  For now, the front end isn’t any lower than stock (these springs are shorter but stiffer, so they compress less under the weight of the car.  Hopefully it’ll end up slightly lower than before, so the wheels fill the wheelwells a bit more.

Brakes

The brake upgrade improves performance as well as ease of maintenance, since I can see how much material is left on the pad without removing the calipers.  It may not seem like a big difference, but inconveniences add up pretty quickly and can provide great excuses to skip scheduled maintenance.  Simpler and easier to access parts are universally better.  The braided stainless steel lines provide better road feedback and brake response, and since this car is being built for driveability that’s a huge bonus.

To-Do List

I still need to have my new tires mounted on my wheels, and would like to replace the worn old rubber bushings before I take it on the street.  The plan for next week is to revamp the rear suspension and start prepping my floors for replacement and seat rails.  There’s still a lot of work to be done, but as long as I attack each problem separately it’ll be finished and on the road in no time.

Has anyone removed sticky rear drums before?  I’m having a very difficult time of removing my drums and getting to the suspension’s guts back there.  Any tips would be greatly appreciated.

By now I hope you’ve read the feature on Yuta Akashi’s 240z over at MotorMavens.  If not, go ahead.  I’ll wait here.

It’s been kicking around the ‘net quite a bit lately, and has received overwhelmingly positive reviews.  It is my least favorite car I have ever liked.  I need to qualify exactly what that means.  I love the rawness of Yuta’s work.  He has a purpose, and does everything he can to get there.  Nothing will stop him, and most of all he doesn’t get hung up on details.

On the Street

As a daily driver, this is a terrible car.  Yuta stretched and slammed it, which immediately takes it down a few notches as a streetable machine.  It’s nearly on the ground, and he can’t even leave the front bumper on when driving through unfamiliar territory.  It does still have the ever-simple l24 engine with round-top SU carburettors as a redeeming point.  Because of that, it’ll never run perfectly but you can pretty much guarantee that it’ll always run no matter what.

On the Track

As a track car, the same things hold it back.  The engine does not perform well under hard turning, suffering from oil and fuel delivery problems.

On paper

Cosmetically, it’s about perfect.  It’s a gorgeous visualization of Yuta’s priorities.  He wanted it low, wide, and straight and it’s beautiful.  I’m not a fan of form before function, but when someone really nails the form with no holds barred I can’t help but respect it for that.

I hate wiring.

Maybe that isn’t exactly what I mean.  Allow me to explain.  If I could be 100% sure that electricity would behave as intended, I’d love wiring.  Unfortunately, cold solders don’t give any indication that they’re causing a problem until you put power through them.  Incorrectly grounded circuits mysteriously fail, only giving feedback when you dig the multimeter out of the bottom of your toolbox, find a new battery (because the old one died since I last used it), and start poking around for the problem.

A better way to rephrase my initial statement is:

I hate trying to diagnose electrical issues that I didn’t cause even more than those that I caused by my own hand.

The main circuit powers my switch panel, and nothing more.  Each power switch controls the power to a circuit.  Each control switch operates the controls for that circuit.  After every switch is an LED indicator light (so I don’t have to go around with a test light after something fails, and because lights are pretty).  From there, a fused relay will be triggered and the circuit component will receive power.

The most difficult part of rewiring was figuring out what actually needed to be re-engineered and what could stay as-is.

My power circuits are:

1. Master (switch panel)
2. Fuel pump
3. Ignition coil
4. Starter
5. Radiator fan
6. Accessories (alternator trigger, running lights, gauges, etc)

My control circuits are:

1. night-time lights (high/low)
2. directionals (l/r)
3. horn
4. wipers (high/low)

The relays will be constant-hot, but the switches are shut off when the master switch is flipped.  The relays I purchased were a kit of 10 for $25 and are standard Bosch-style, and I’m using the 87/86/85/30 setup for these.  In my configuration, they will be wired as:

• 87 — component to receive power
• 86 — ground
• 85 — signal
• 30 — power input

Bosch relays are amazing in the number of ways they can be wired up.  Here’s a great writeup on how they work, and how you can make them work for you: http://www.bcae1.com/relays.htm

Today is Mr. Yutaka Katayama’s 100th birthday (actually, it’s over by Japan’s timezone).  He is a legend of a man, having brought the Datsun brand to the United States.  Without him, the s30 would be another lustful Japanese car that only rich people with funds to import could afford.  After a brutal World War 2, he helped establish a new place for Japan’s economy and offered hope for automotive enthusiasts.  He put drivers first in regards to car design and marketing, and was known for being focused on the act of driving.

My hat goes off to him.

You can read more about this legend of a man on the Datsun Heritage Museum.

Theory you can live by

A proper-sized 6-sided closed wrench, a can of penetrating lubricant, and a healthy dose of soak-time can solve most ‘old car’ problems.  Having the right tools and spending time to prepare will always save time in the long run.  Nearly any bolt that’s stuck can be wrenched free and replaced, no matter how bad the corrosion has become.  I expected all the bolts that hold the front suspension to be stuck, seized, or otherwise problematic.  I let all the nuts on top of the strut towers soak in penetrating lubricant overnight, and came back in the morning.

The problem

My car presented me with a completely new problem.  All the nuts spun freely, but only some of them came off.  The top of the bolt sticks up through the strut tower with a nut on top, but the bottom is implanted inside a rubber cushion on top of the suspension’s coil spring.  Without removing those nuts, there is no way to remove the spring.  A few minutes later, the tired old Sears compressor was firing on all… cylinder, filling its tank.  On the end of its air hose, the die grinder spun up to life, and chewed away a chunk of the bolt and nut.  At this point, I was still hoping to separate the bolt and nut.

Standard method of removing a bolt

Most mechanics know that to remove a seized nut from a stud, you simply secure the stud while the nut is twisted free.  Because of the rubber stop, I couldn’t get at the other end of the stud to hold it in place, so I cut a slot in the rubber to wedge a screwdriver into the stud and hold it in place while turning the nut with a wrench.  What felt like the next few hours of toil turned out to be less than 10 minutes, and I was left with a pair of broken screwdrivers and frustration boiling up inside me.

However, there’s no way I’ll let a simple nut prove to be more persistent than I am.

Modified method of removing a (modified) bolt

The compressor and die grinder went back into full service, and I split the nut down the middle.  I didn’t have to cut into the stud, though. Picture, if you will, the following: A rubber band is wrapped around a roll of paper, and is securing the paper.  If you cut that rubber band, it no longer has enough force to stay in place and all the paper unrolls, free to go where physics asks it to.  If I cut the nut, I’d be able to simply take its two halves off the stud, and may even be able to re-use the stud.

Small gains are big rewards by themselves

Although this doesn’t seem like a lot of work, it did take an hour just to remove that one bolt, and I haven’t even removed the suspension yet.  Old cars can have hundreds of small issues like this, causing restoration and modernization efforts to take weeks longer than they were meant to.  The only way to get through it is dedication and making sure that every moment spent leads to a result.  Every step I take, and every turn of the wrench has a point and I know that in the not-too-distant future I’ll get to drive this car.  I’m one step closer to that end goal, with my new springs installed on the front and replaced shock bumpers on top of them (with new nuts on the tops of the shock towers).

That’s what continues to drive me every day.

Calipers

Stopping response and power is a huge factor in a daily driver.  It improves the feel of the car as well as the ability to avoid accidents, providing a more comforting and safe drive wherever you go.

I snagged a great deal on a set of Toyota brakes.  They’re casting code s12+8, and they’re uniquely interesting because they bolt directly into the s30 chassis.  You only need to cut back or remove the dust shields attached to the steering knuckles (I cut them vertically from the innermost mount point, and didn’t have any fitment issues)The advantage to these calipers is that they’re four-piston instead of two-piston, which increases their consistency and response. These calipers came with a set of rotors and a fresh set of pads as well, and combined with the stainless steel brake lines I have, should be a good modernized replacement for the tired old calipers.

There are other upgrades I could have gone with for similar prices, such as the s13 casting code calipers, which have larger secondary pistons and use vented rotors, but require a special spacer and are more work to install.  If I upgrade again, I plan to purchase a Wilwood kit as a lightweight, extremely efficient setup.  The extra cost and energy associated with the other brake upgrades wasn’t worth it at the time.  I really just want to refresh this car, and s12+8 calipers in good working order are more common and inexpensive than stock 240z calipers.

Brake Calipers

There seems to be a lot of controversy over which Toyota calipers will fit on the s30, and hopefully this helps clear up one small portion of that.

I’ll post an update on the brakes once I have the car on the road (there’s still a lot to do to get to that point), and it’s very likely that I’ll need a different master cylinder to adjust the brake bias slightly.  These calipers can hold more brake fluid, and it’s recommended to match your master cylinder’s capacity and output to the brake systems you’re using.

It doesn’t feel like I’ve accomplished much these past few weeks, but apparently I got quite a lot done.  More in-depth posts are scheduled for this month on the changes I’ve made.

Engine

The new injectors are installed (except the one that has a broken bolt-hole on the intake manifold) and the wiring connectors are all soldered in and ready to be hooked up.  I’ve decided that I’m going to put the ECU in the driver’s footwell, along the left-hand side.  Other than that, the engine hasn’t seen much work.  I have yet to install the turbo and intercooler and ductwork to connect them, then attach all the wiring and cross my fingers while I start it.

Transmission

I installed the 5speed transmission I finally sourced (that wasn’t easy), but I have to pull it off the engine and reinstall it.  I apparently installed the clutch throwout bearing (the part your clutch pedal actually moves to engage/disengage the clutch) incorrectly, and I’m going to have to reinstall it.  I may have even used an incorrect throwout bearing, since I had a few lying around when I installed the transmission.  For now I’m happy to have the transmission mounted because it holds the engine upright and makes pushing the car around much easier.

Suspension

I found a good deal on some springs at our last meet and started installing them.  However, one of the nuts on the front-driver’s strut is stuck to the stud and still spins freely.  It seems that the rubber bump stop that the studs are connected to is falling apart enough that this one has nothing to grab.  I’ll have to just cut the nut off entirely.

I also picked up some new front brake calipers.  The main advantage of these calipers is going to be consistency and response.  They use two small piston to squeeze the rotor instead of just one large piston.  They were a snap to mount up, using the stock rotors and brake lines.  I did take the opportunity to replace the brake lines with the stainless lines I ordered awhile back, though.  Stainless lines offer increased brake response as well, so the car should theoretically feel pretty snappy when the brake pedal is depressed.  I have not taken the rear brakes off yet, since I’m quite sure that’ll be an adventure all on its own, and I don’t need to open that can of worms just yet.

The front wheel lugs that I installed don’t fit the lug nuts I have lying around, and apparently no local auto parts stores stock the correct 12×1.25 threads.  I’ll order a new set this weekend, and should be able to wheel the car around again after that.

Body

I finally broke down and started fixing some of the body work on the s30.  The plan is to give it a proper paint job when it’s back on the road.  If anybody’s interested, I could write up how to perform paint prep correctly, but there’s already a lot of documentation that covers it all over the internet.  No reason for me to reinvent the wheel, unless I can do it better.  I’m not putting down any money saying that I can.

I picked up some new doors so I’ll be able to open them from both the inside and outside, I picked up a set of floors, and I got ahold of a hatch tray that was completely rotted.  Once I weld those in, the only remaining rust spots will be the stock battery tray and the passenger’s dogleg.  Neither of those are structurally problematic so I’ll most likely leave them as-is until they get under my skin enough to force me to change them.

Ideally, I’d like to finish my roll cage by the time I have this on the road.  I have a lot of work left to do for that, so it’s unlikely but I’m setting my sights high and I’ll do my best to get there.

Late last night I finished rewiring the injectors I bought from odistiger, replacing the cracked old connectors with fresh new ones, soldering them in, and heat-shrinking the connections.  I also took a closer look at the wiring harness, and have to wonder what the hell Nissan was thinking.  There are butt-connected wires for the + side of all the injectors, and it’s just a messy hack-job that’s a sorry excuse for wiring under the factory heatshrink.  I’m going to have to clean it up a bit, but there’s really only so much that I can actually fix in there.  The wiring harness is simple and straightforward though, so I may just rewire it from scratch using the stock end connectors.

I excitedly started attaching my injectors to the intake manifold, hopeful that I’d get to hear the engine turn on its own power.  Each injector has a mounting adapter and two screws that hold it onto the intake manifold, and ensure a tight connection.  You can clearly see properly mounted fuel injectors on my intake manifold in the picture to the right.  On my intake manifold, one of the screws had been torn out of the intake manifold at some point, ripping the threads out with it.  I filled the hole with jbweld and will re-tap it as soon as I get my hands on a tap kit.  Until then, I only have 5 injectors and can’t hear the engine fire.

I’ll be sure to get some more pictures of the final setup once the jbweld hardens.

Pete Paraska helped establish the v8-powered Datsun s30 movement, and is one of my personal inspirations for my car.  His build website is http://alteredz.com/

• Q:  How did you come into the possession of your Z?
  • I bought it from the second owner in 1981.  The guy had some cheap body work done to it, had it repainted the original color (110 red-orange), and fixed the A/C.  The car had the 72 SUs on it and ran pretty good.  It was my first experience driving a sports car, and it was a deal-maker — great looking car that was fun to drive!  I missed the power of my 70 Camaro (built 327), but loved the styling and handling.  $3100 way back in 81 was a fair price.
• Q:  What does your vehicle ownership timeline look like? (what did you own/modify leading up to this?)
  • My first car was a 1970–1/2 Camaro.  Standard trim, gold metallic and black vinyl top.  350 2bbl with TH350 automatic, 3.08:1 open rear.  I bought it in the summer of 1978, when I got my license.  The next summer I rebuilt a 327/300hp engine (double-hump heads, 10.5:1), and added a 327/350 cam — along with a TH400 trans — the car ran like a 6cylinder until about 30mph and then set you back in the seat.  It was quick enough to get a 1/2 car lead against my buddy’s 1968 GT500 Shelby Mustang, from a roll, until we hit about 90 when he pulled away.
  • The Camaro got wrecked (Girlfriend was driving, we hit a telephone pole), but the 327 survived.  I bought a 68 Nova (6cyl) and drove it about 6 months before swapping the 327 into it — what a death trap — 6cylinder suspension and brakes, but a lot more power.
  • Next I go the 240Z.   It took me over 20 years to obtain the dream of having a running V8 240Z.
  • Since buying the 240Z, I’ve had or had use of a 76 Cutlass, 73 Dodge Dart (slant 6), 81 Toyota Corona, 85 Maxima 5spd (loved it!), 89 Integra, 92 Eclipse GSX, 91 Mitsubishi Galant VR-4.  My current daily driver is a 2000 BMW M5.  I LOVE this thing!
  • My V8 Datsun 240Z could not be a daily driver, it’s too desirable to just park anywhere.  When I drive it, people are always commenting on it when I park or pull in somewhere, heck just stop at a light.  If I’m driving down the highway it gets  a thumbs up.  I attribute that to the body style.  To me and others, it’s one of the most beautiful shapes put on the road.  All I did was take away things I thought looked bad.  I modified the bumpers to not “stick out”, trim is matte-black, and the air dam and rear spoiler update it a bit.  The combination of the color (95–97 Audi Europa Blue Mica) and the WRD 5-spoke wheels with polished rim are what really catches the eye in my opinion.  But it would never catch a glance from people if the styling department at Nissan back in the mid 60′s hadn’t gotten it basically “right”.
• Q:  You did a massive amount of fabrication on your car.  Have you considered offering your services professionally?
  • Maybe in retirement — which is 20 years away!   I’m way to slow of a car builder to make a living at it!
• Q: You’ve done a few projects in the same chassis.  How many different driveable versions has your Z seen?
  • I had two different, basically stock L24s in the car, and the 327 had about 10k miles on it when a rod bearing went.  This was from me thrashing it at 7000rpm for extended amounts of time while tuning the upper end of the rpm/load map with the Megasquirt.  Driver error!
  • I had a 407 cu.in. Chevy V8 in the car right after that.  10.3:1 compression, Canfield 215cc heads, Victor Jr. and a Holley 830 HP carb.  Cam Motion Low lash roller cam (243/249 deg dur @.050″, 274/280 deg dur @.020″,.567/.570″ lift w/ 1.5:1 rockers, 112 deg lobe separation angle).  Very torquey!!!   However, the engine didn’t last long as I ran it at WOT too lean and the sleeve in hole #6 warped and lost compression there.  In other words, I was stupid and went WOT for an extended time at the top of the rpm range before I had checked to make sure it wasn’t running too lean.  Driver error!
  • The 327 got rebuilt after that and I had it in the car while it was being worked on at the bodyshop to fix damage from being rear-ended.  I drove the car for maybe 6 months with that version of the 327 before putting the 407 back in the car, this time built on a Dart Sportsman cylinder block.  I sold the 327 at that point as I needed the money to rebuild the 407.
  • The 2nd build of the 407 went south, due to an overheat situation that galled a piston.  In July of 2008,  the 407 went back together with new pistons (CP — 16cc D-dish), rings, intake (Professional Products Crosswind),  830HP Holley carb, and MSD E-curve distributor.  I went to a different cam spec this time, and had David Vizard recommend the basic specs — 251/251 deg @0.050″ lift, 281/281 deg dur @.020″ lift,.577/.577″ lift with 1.5:1 rockers, and 105 deg lobe separation angle.  I broke in the engine at Virginia International Raceway (VIR) days later during a 2-day driver’s school and it is doing great.  The car is quick enough to accelerate from a roll (out of oak-tree turn at VIR) right with my buddy’s 2006 Ford GT (not the Mustang, but the GT).  It feels quick, but I’m sure more will be desired before long!
• Q:   If you had to guess, how much of an investment (time and money) have you put into it?
  • I worked on the car for 11 years off and on doing the restification and engine swap, suspension, brake, and chassis modifications and getting the body and paint work farmed out.   It’s been one and off the road since 2003 for about 2/3 of the time.   The monetary investment is not something I want to talk about in public:).
• Q:  What are your plans for the future for your V8 Z?
  • I’d love to go back to fuel injection.  I had it on the 327 and the first 400 build using a Holley 4bbl TBI and a Megasquirt ECU.  I have an old Hilborn mechanical injection manifold that I want to convert to EFI, and possibly use something different for an ECU.
  • I want to put different rear brake calipers on — Mustang parts with an integral parking brake.
  • Finish the interior (new carpet) and put in a sound system.
  • If the 407cu.in. engine ever needs to be replaced, I’m pretty sure an LSx GM V8 will take it’s place.
• Q:  Do you see the 350z as a reincarnation of the older s30 style?
  • Not at all.  They both were made by Nissan, have a Z in their name, have 4 wheels, 2 seats, RWD and 6 cylinder engines.  The 240Z is a classic beauty, and to my eye, the 350Z is a squashed toad.  So you can’t really related the 2, in my opinion.  The 370Z is better looking, and reminds me more of the S30.
• Q:  What would you consider to be the most important modification a new Z owner could perform?
  • Speaking of the 240Z-280Z, get the suspension back in stock shape, or add urethane bushings, stiff rack mounts, and a tighter joint in the steering shaft.   Good strut cartridges, and get rid of any bumpsteer.  And of course, wider wheels and sticky tires. You may notice I didn’t go for engine or brake mods first — the stock 240Z in reconditioned form is still a great car — but a few suspension upgrades make it a bunch more fun to drive.
  • If you are talking about the 350Z — I’d be looking to add power.  I had a ride in a 350Z at VIR, and could not believe how low on power that car was!  I hope they aren’t all that underpowered from the factory!
• Q:  What driving habits or modifications make you cringe when you see them?
  • Left lane bandits that cruise the left lane and won’t move over, not paying attention to driving (cell phone, etc.), timidness, and not planning ahead (waiting to look for traffic only once you’ve entered a merge, round-about, etc.
  • New driving peeves:  Driving slow (50–55mph) on the highway thinking you are saving fuel or (OMG!) lowering your carbon footprint (most cars get better mileage running 65–70mph), and accelerating slowly away from lights, on entrance ramps, believing the old, outdated thinking that quick acceleration wastes fuel.  Few people realize that you should accelerate near your torque peak, then shift up asap in order to use the engine in it’s two most efficient rpm/use ranges — high-efficiency acceleration and low rpm cruise.
  • Modification peeves:  Wings and body kits on cars that can’t go fast enough to get a benefit.  Large Diameter chrome wheels with sub-35 series tires.   The loudest blow-off valve possible.  Fart-pipe exhausts.  I could go on, but I won’t!  LoL

Myron is the perfect example of a Driven Daily’er.  He’s a strict-budget driver who’s a skilled fabricator and really knows how to nail down his goals.  Although this particular s30 has become less of a daily driver and more of a track car, it’s still one of my favorite builds even if only for its purity.  Luckily, I had a chance to email Myron, and he was nice enough to let me feature his build on my site.

DD:  What made you decide to buy an s30?

Myron: When I was looking for a car I wanted something that was pre-smog (A big plus here in CA), RWD, and plenty of room to grow as far as performance goes. It didn’t take me very long to decide after knowing that the 240Z had rich racing history, but in all actuality the timeless styling alone had me sold the moment I saw one.

DD:  What does your vehicle ownership timeline look like? (what did you own/modify leading up to this project?)

Myron: My first car was an ’89 240SX coupe. Even before the whole drift hype and band wagon 240sx’ers I had a fairly modified street car equipped with suspension mods, 300ZX TT brakes, aggressive wheels/tires and the infamous SR20DET. After getting busted for an illegal motor swap I picked up my 240Z. It didn’t take very long for me to start restoring/ modifying the suspension and to swap out the automatic L24 setup for a 4-Speed SU-carbed L28. At that time the car was driven more than 60 miles a day, and still pounding some track days on the weekend. Never satisfied, I swapped the L28 and 4-speed for a RB25DE and 5-speed. I got tired of driving the Z everyday so I picked up a 240SX fastback to take it’s place. Knowing that the Z no longer had to endure the constraints of everyday driving I went crazy trying to reinforce the chassis without installing a full roll cage. Additionally, I stripped all the interior and got rid of everything I didn’t need, and tried to make my suspension parts more adjustable. Lastly, I swapped the RB25DE for a VQ35DE with the 6-speed which is what I’m currently running.

DD:  How did you get started with fabrication?

Myron: My tight budgets and my curiosity with how things work had always forced me to  do my own work. I took very little baby steps to get where I am now. I used to be a bolt on only type of guy before I started my own fab. I think what really gave me the confidence to start my own fabrication projects were the several college welding courses I took. If you have those kind of things available in your area I highly recommend taking a few courses. Even If you don’t plan to do your own fab in the future I think it’s really important for car people to know a few basic welding procedures.

DD:  You did a massive amount of fabrication on your car.  Have you considered offering your services professionally?

Myron: Thought about it, but never seriously considered it. Although it may not seem like it I’m currently trying to keep my focus on school in which I hope to attain my ME degree. Maybe after…?

DD:   If you had to guess, how much of an investment (time and money) have you put into it?

Myron: Don’t know. Don’t care.

DD:  What are your plans for the future for your Z?

Myron: A trailer, slicks, and more seat time. Lots more.

DD:  What would you consider the ’ultimate’ chassis, and why?

Myron: If were talking any chassis…. Formula one. F1 is the pinnacle of all motorsports.

DD:  What is your highest priority for your vehicles, (suspension, powerplant, drivetrain, etc)?

Myron: I believe that a car that has all parts that work very well in unity has far more potential  than one with one or two strong points and a few weaknesses. That said, all of them should be on the same level of priority. Balance is always key.

DD:  What driving habits or modifications make you cringe when you see them?

Myron: People that don’t let you pass with fast cars on the straights and slow in the turns.

You can read more about Myron’s fabrication and modification on these threads (but they are by no means exhaustive):

ProjectVQ

Brake Bias Tuning

Home Made Control Arms

Fuel Cell Installation

Aluminum Dash Fabrication

Brake Lines and Brakes

Chassis Stiffening

Quite a bit has happened since my last post on the s30.  There’s a new engine in there, a seat rail, the suspension is all attached, the paint is cleaned up, and some miscellaneous other parts have been added as well.  My plan involves getting the car worthy to drive cross-country by the end of September, which may end up becoming a tall order with the amount of work remaining.

You have my apologies for not updating the project in awhile, I wanted to wait until I had it running, and that kept getting put off more and more (feature creep).  This is a big mother of an update and I’m sorry for the length, but expect shorter, more regular posts in the next few weeks.

Engine

The turbocharged 6 cylinder has made its way from the 280zx into the engine bay of my 240z, and is awaiting some wires and fuel lines to be hooked up.  Since I’m converting the fuel system from carburetted to fuel injected, I need to install a stronger fuel pump to keep the fuel properly pressurized.  I’ve taken the fuel pump off the 280zx that the l28et engine came out of to install in my fuel line running from the gas tank to the engine.

I have two sets new, larger fuel injectors headed this way.  They’re from a Mitsubishi Eclipse, which is a 4cylinder, so I had to order two sets and will have two left over.  They’re rated at 450cc/min @ 43psi, which means that as long as they’re in working order, they can fill a 450cc container in one minute if the fuel pressure leading to them is 43psi.  A fuel pressure regulator offers primitive tuning for that part of the system, since I can adjust the pressure and therefore the amount of fuel they spit into the engine.

I also received a Turbonetics .68ar t3/t4 hybrid turbocharger.  I won’t go into all the nitty gritt details, but that basically means it can compress air more efficiently than the stock turbo, and squeezes more air into the engine (which requires more fuel to be supplied so it doesn’t run rich or lean).  Since it has a t3 ‘hot side’ (turbine that mates to the exhaust) and a t4 ‘cold side’ (turbine powered by the ’hot side’), it spools up quickly and doesn’t waste any time generating power.  Unfortunately, the hot side doesn’t mate up to my stock downpipe flange (the exhaust piece that connects the turbocharger to the pipes that lead out the back of the car) so I may have to have a new one made or modify the flange that the stock turbocharger used.  The ’cold side’ is also large enough that it actually bumps against the exhaust manifold, which means I’ll need to make a spacer to put it a little farther out.  Otherwise, it’s in great working order with no shaft play.

A blowoff valve is a turbocharger accessory that protects the cold side of the turbo from itself.  When the driver lets up on the throttle, the butterfly valve in the throttle body closes.  The turbocharger doesn’t know to stop spinning yet, and continues to squeeze air into the ductwork that connects the turbocharger to the intake manifold.  That puts extra strain on the turbocharger, and builds up excess air pressure in the ductwork.  Once the throttle is opened again, all that air rushes into the engine, but extra fuel is not injected for it to mix with.  This creates a temporary ‘lean’ condition and can overheat the engine pretty quickly.  A blowoff valve allows that extra air to recirculate into the turbocharger again or vent to the atmosphere.  There are heated discussions as to which method is ‘best’ but I plan to put in a little extra work and route my blowoff valve into the turbocharger inlet.

Since this turbocharger did not come with a built-in wastegate, I ordered a 60mm wastegate to control how much power is assigned to spinning the turbine.  A wastegate is essentially an air valve that is activated when enough pressure is generated to compress a spring inside it.  This particular spring allows the wastegate to open at 4 pounds of boost, which is low even by stock standards (the l28et allows 7 pounds of boost from the factory, still considered conservative).

To work with the wastegate, I ordered a simple manual boost controller.  A boost controller allows fine control of the wastegate, and therefore the amount of air is compressed.  Once the wastegate opens, it allows exhaust gases to bypass the turbine, capping off how much your air is compressed.  The boost controller simply allows you to procrastinate the activation of the wastegate until more air is compressed.

Also, I now have an intake manifold with a slightly larger throttle body (60mm).  On l-series engines, the intake manifold is often the biggest limiting factor for performance but having a larger inlet to the plenum is a good idea.  This particular manifold is beautifully simple, with no EGR controls or excess vacuum plugs attached to it, and it leaves me with a spare to mess up when I machine it for the new fuel injectors.

Since the s30 is not equipped with power steering, I needed to find a way to block off the power steering pump mounting space.  It’s entirely exposed to the engine and would spew my oil all over the fender well if I didn’t work something out.  After purchasing a pile of tools (most of which didn’t even get used), I made a small steel plate and fitted it with a rubber gasket.  Rubber isn’t the best material for sealing something like this, so I may end up making a new gasket from RTV sealant and some non-corrugated cardboard (the stuff cereal boxes are made of).  We’ll see how this holds up first, though.

Transmission

After looking around for quite a bit, I finally found a 5speed transmission.  It came out of a Datsun truck, which means that it’s a very short transmission, designed for hauling rather than speeding and cruising.  The big difference between the 4speed transmissions I have and the 5speed I purchased is that all manual 4speeds have no overdrive (cog that is less than a 1:1 ratio).  The 5speed will have overdrive, but it will most likely be a short overdrive.  To offset that, I’m keeping my stock r180 rear differential, which is a 3.364:1 ratio.  Using the Transmission Calculator (that site is no longer there, so I’ve removed it) and assuming the 5th gear in this is somewhere near the factory 5speed (0.864), I can determine that my cruising rpm will be somewhere near 3300rpm @ 80mph.  If this has a higher 5th gear (such as 0.9, which is very rare to see), I may be closer to 3500 but cannot be higher than 3700rpm @ 80mph (since that is what 4th gear is, and 4th gear is 1.0:1).

This is all theoretical, and we’ll see how the transmission actually fits in a car it’s not designed for.  I’ll put some time into mounting it tonight, but that will definitely depend on the time I have available to me since I’m on call at work this week.

The three 4speed transmissions are going up for sale, and will be available on a first-come, first-serve basis.  If you’re interested in one or all three, leave a comment!

Cosmetic

A front air dam and front bumper, along with some paint in the interior and engine bay have cleaned up the look of the car a fair amount.  The seat rail I ordered for a 260z apparently has a different bolt pattern than for a 240z, so I’m going to have to fabricate something new to get my seats mounted up.

To activate the electronic fuel pump and electric fan, I made a switch panel out of some sheet metal I had lying around.  It’s just a simple square design with holes in 4 corners to screw it in where the stock radio was.  I haven’t decided what switch to put in the right-most hole, but for now I think I’ll just add a dummy switch so it doesn’t look like there’s just a hole there.

Coming Soon!

Finally, it’s starting to come together and look like a car.  I shouldn’t need to order too many more parts, but I expect to replace the bushings and brake pads (possibly rotors) before leaving for the cross-country trip.

By the end of the weekend, I plan to have the transmission and seats installed, and hope to be able to fire the engine up.  Once the 280zx is out of my garage, I can lift the car, overhaul the brakes, and see what the suspension looks like.  Until next time!

When I purchased my Datsun 240z, it didn’t come with any keys.  The ignition had been hacked and was stuck in the ”on” position, meaning that the only way to start the car was to hot-wire the starter, and the only way to turn it off was to unplug the keyed ignition switch.  Since that’s not exactly ideal for a daily driven car, I picked up a ’new’ ignition off a 280zx.  Unfortunately for my plan of simply swapping them out, the 280zx has a narrower steering column and the key switch didn’t bolt into the stock location.

Step 1: Shopping

I got a little creative, and went shopping for a new solution. Since I hate screwdrivers and consider allen heads to be a much better solution in pretty much every situation, I picked up some allen bolts that were the right pitch for the SIDES of the ignition key switch.  The bolts I purchased are a little bit too long, so I added a nut as a spacer/washer so I could get a nice tight fit to whatever I decided to attach it to.

For tools, all I needed was the allen key that went with that bolt, a wrench to tighten down the nut, a Ryobi 18v Impact driver (love that thing!), and a carbide stepper bit.

Step 2: Decisionmaking

Next, I had to figure out where this key would go.  That was definitely the difficult part.  Since the plan is to make this my daily driver, the key hole had to be hidden but accessible.  I’d rather not have thieves be able to just punch a screwdriver in there and fire up the car, but I also need to be able to jump in and drive without much messing around.

I finally decided to install it under the dash on the left-hand side somewhere, and was ready to fabricate a new bracket when I realized that I didn’t need the hood latch.  I use hood pins for simplicity, and don’t have the stock hood latch assembly attached.  This was a perfect way to repurpose it.

Step 3:  Modifications

I used the stepper bit in my drill to hog out one of the bolt-holes for the hood latch lever.  It’s a pretty simple process that only takes a few minutes, but make sure you keep re-checking the hole size to your bolt size.  There’s nothing worse than hogging out a hole too big so it’s unusable!

After drilling the hole, I held the ignition switch up against it and threaded the allen bolt into the side of the switch.  This was by far the most difficult part of the whole process, and took about 10 minutes, including a test-fit.  I did eventually get it threaded and tightened down, though.  Just stay persistent.

Step 4: Final Assembly and hookup

Mounting the key and hooking up the wires was a pretty simple affair.  Both ignition switches use the same wires in the same place, so it was pretty much just a matter of cutting back a little bit of the wiring cover so everything fit nicely.

I did need to rewire my horn wiring, since it simply won’t reach.  The stalk controls haven’t been tested yet, but I believe the ignition and stalk use a different positive lead and ground, so there shouldn’t be any troubles other than the horn issue.