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Olivia - 69 2 door 510 sedan - fully built CA18DET


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That was kind of my impression too, was that running the manifold and turbo with a short pipe would not be the same as running a head with no manifolds.

 

Tendril: Thanks! It helps keep me motivated when people enjoy reading about the build!

 

Rusty12ver: Yeah, if you can find that, it would be awesome to read!

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Removed the dash and have been putting all the wiring in a better location (under driver side part of dash) as there is a better hole for running wires that already exists.

 

I also picked this up yesterday, and plan on installing it tonight along with the brake line for the rear brakes. It's a 16 gallon fuel tank. Its not a lot bigger than the current gas tank but has the proper sized holes. I've heard its pretty dangerous to try and weld a gas tank. I'm also not excited about the prospect of dealing with potential leaks and such.

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Purchased a speedo cable... its coming from Sweden though, so it will be 3-4 weeks.

 

Anybody know a good place to look for 280zx speedo drive assembly? From what I've been reading, they can bolt into the trans and run a 510 speedo cable. I want to keep the dash stock if possible... also, anyone know if you can throw a dash pad (the vacuum formed ones) on top of your dash or do you need to have the existing pad? I ask because mine is missing but I would like to put one in so it looks nicer.

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The no exhaust blowing your engine up, is an old wives tale, probably spread by some engine builder that didn`t want to warranty their work back in the olden days...and it stuck.

 

...But ,, to make the engine run at it`s peak you will need a good thought out exhaust..

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I read this book called the "scientific design of exhaust" or something like that a few years ago, it's good stuff, but I can't remember the name or a ton of info from it.

 

I do plan on running an exhaust but don't want to tow it to the shop to get one made if I don't have to. It's only a couple miles away.

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Sweet! Finished all my brake lines and moving the brake proportioning valve so the wastegate doesn't rest on it. Need to bleed the brakes when I get home. Relocated the fuse box under the driver's side of dash, and started wiring up the headlight/brake switches and gauge cluster yesterday. Cleanly routed all the wiring in the engine bay so it's not a rat's nest of shit.

 

Hoping to finish all that this week.

 

My 550cc injectors are nowhere to be found. USPS strikes again :/

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Purchased an electric fan, so I can actually start wiring that up too.

 

My injectors were returned (again). I really hate USPS. Lazy bastards can't walk over to my suite, they just see that the main office is not my suite and return to sender (twice). Anyway, paid shipping (again) and they are being shipped to my home address so I should have them in a few days.

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Ran the wiring completely differently so it's nice and clean (you can see it along the firewall in this pic)

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Look how little room this 16 gallon fuel cell takes up! I picked up some fittings to take the -8 down to 5/16 as I already have EFI hose run for the car.

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Making a relay box with lights so I can easily see if anything is going wrong

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Finished product. I think I have pictures way back of what the wiring looked like before... this is WAY cleaner and fits completely under the dash. Everything is soldered/heat shrink wrapped.

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Out with the old, in with the new... Decided while I was changing my oil that I should replace the oil pan gasket as it was leaking.

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Little did I know that to remove the oil pan I would have to disconnect the trans, engine mounts, engine crossmember and hoist the engine up.

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I also bled the front brakes and dumped the car all the way down in the front. I don't have pics yet but I will when I get home. I had to put blocks under the tires to be able to get the jack out... he he he... i like being low... Going to install the fittings and run some fuel through the car tonight to see if it runs again (it should).

 

Last but not least... I got my injectors. I'm a little worried about quality. I bought them from TLF performance. I was under the impression they were relatively cheap because they were used injectors but I guess he bores stock injectors out and tries to get them to flow the same... I'm worried because while waiting for them i did a bunch of research and lots of people have had issues. I think before I put them on I'm going to get them independently flowed/tested (it's only like $15 an injector after all) and that will give me some piece of mind.

 

Hmmm... what else... Oh yeah! If car runs ok, I'm going to tune all the cells under 2k rpm so I can roll it back and forth... that means... ITS TIME TO ROLL THE FENDERS! Expect pics of that awesome shit some time this week as well as reinstalling the dash.

 

I'm going to try and get it on the dyno for tuning this week but that may be hard.

 

Edit: I won some free fab time with Japan Auto Engineering and Fabrication. Pretty happy about that. Erik came by and spent about 2 hours talking to me about the shop and our respective projects. He's a pretty cool guy. It sounds like he'll be working out the kinks with the exhaust and possibly seam welding and some other stuff. Can't wait to get this beast rolling!

 

Thanks!

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Well, took Olivia for her first drive today. That was fun. the small t3 starts spooling almost instantly because of the .48 AR. I did notice the leak I thought I had fixed came back so I'm going to order a complete gasket set and put all that on. As soon as that's done and some cooling plumbing is simplified (there are tons of extra hoses I don't use... just keeping the heater ones) then it'll be off to JAEF for an exhaust!

 

Yayyyyy!!!!!!!!!

 

What a good feeling that was. I know it's not perfect but it runs enough to drive around the block and that makes me extremely happy

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Dropped the car off at JAEF on Friday (late). Erich is making a full 3" stainless exhaust from the turbo all the way back out of the buddy club spec II. I saw some of the welds he did on the downpipe and it looks great. There are no videos on the internet of anyone with a CA18DET and a buddy club so I'm curious to see what it sounds like. Should be pretty good.

 

When I get it back I have a few leaks to fix, installation of 18psi wastegate spring, general tech checkup and installing the dash... After that, it's off my buddy Steve Shadows for tuning!

 

I'm hoping to break 300hp. I'll have more pictures of the exhaust as soon as I get the car back and a video of the sound.

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Since I'm dropping my car off for dyno tuning in a week or two, I figured it was a good time to pick up some necessities.....

 

Wastegate springs (13lb & 5lb - I plan on running 18psi) and an ACT 6 puck sprung clutch to hold all those delicious gobs of power I want to put to the ground. Hoping to light em up in 3rd on the freeway when I hit full boost... i don't think that's unreasonable.

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Here are some updates on the exhaust. Erich is doing an awesome job. I've seen the welds in person and they look fantastic. Down the line I'm definitely going to have him do some additional work on the car (radiator support, cage, intercooler piping).

 

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