Boosted Old Rice

[fiveNdime]

So I finally got the car to run again.  I left it alone and put it on the trailer to haul down to ETS.  Once there this morning we figured out there was an issue with timing and so we fixed that.  Idle was way off so we figured there was a vacuum leak.  Took the intake pipe off and pressurized the engine to about 24psi or so and it definitely had some leaks.  We fixed those and kept on tuning.  the engine started to run hot and then upon my mistake the radiator cap was only half on so it puked water out.  That snowballed into air trapped in the engine so I fought that for a couple hours trying to get the system back to square one.  My radiator sits lower then the rest of the upper cooling system so that is why its hard to bleed air out.  Once we got the air out I drove it around for 15 minutes and it stayed at 180 degrees and not a degree more.  We are still working on it.  Its hit and miss to get the help to tune since I stopped by without a schedule, but I had a whole day to kill.  I will update the status of its driving later when we do a driving tune.

[hobospyder]

maybe put a shrayder (i don't know if that's the right word but it sounds right) valve at the highest point in the cooling system to help with bleeding it?

[uberkevin]

Sicccck! This is what I like to see.

Had a little down time while the engine block and head were in the machine shop.  Started with some more time blasting parts in the blast cabinet.  Primed and painted with a black wrinkle finish. Got the block back late Thursday afternoon.  In time to get it painted before I started the build this weekend.

 

 

Took the ugly starter and cleaned it up a bunch.  Blasted the outer body and contacts, then sprayed with high temp semi gloss.  Sorry for the fuzzy photo.

 

 

Got some more parts.  ARP main studs, ARP head studs, Eagle H-Beam rods, CP pistons, and Commetic head gasket, and ARP rod cap bolts.  Head was decked and polished.  Block was decked and honed.

 

 

Then I proceeded with the engine build.  Started by cleaning the threads with a tap, and compressed air to make sure they were super clean.  Brake cleaned all the mating surfaces and cylinder bores to remove all honing particles as best as possible.  I also cleaned all ARP parts and used correct ARP assembly lube.

 

 

Then I dry fitted the main cradle and ARP studs to make sure there was no binding.  All looked and felt good so I clamped it all together dry with some Plastigauge to see what my clearances were.  .002" clearances on all 5 mains is pretty tight but in the margin.

 

 

I then put assembly lube on the main caps and crank surfaces.  Made sure the ARP studs were hand tight and put it all together.  I went with 4 torque sequences instead of 3, and finished with 60 ft. lbs.

 

Next was to check the ring gaps.  This is where I am parked at the moment.  So I took the pistons and rods to the machine shop to have them hung and weighed so all 4 were the same balance.  The bore was then matched to the spec. sheet that came with my pistons.  After checking ring gap I noticed that they are quite a few thousandths off.  I will have to wait and call on Monday to find out if they are either the wrong rings or if the bore was bored out to far.  I don't have the option to check the bore since I don't have that tool.  After that I went ahead and dry fitted a piston.  Checked the bearing clearance and that was in range as well, its kind of hard to see but you can see the lines for width.

[fiveNdime]

We finally got it.  I spent a while using a straw and water.  I know it sounds random, but it worked perfectly.  I think I may pull the radiator and build a box for the cap to sit up just above the rest of the cooling system.  At this point though I have a few more issues I need to address as they rose they’re ugly heads today while tuning. 

 

First issue.  After shut down I noticed a small puddle of oil under the front of the engine.  I was hoping it was the return line for the turbo but not the case.  The new front main seal is not sealing.  I will pull the balancer and take it to a machine shop for them to turn and polish the surface smooth again.  There was a small grove from the original seal and thought it would be okay,  but not to my luck. 

 

Second issue.  I have 1 rather small electric cooling fan on the aluminum radiator.  It works good till you sit for extended periods of time or if your in the throttle a lot.  Should be able to remedy this with 2 fans to cover more radiator surface. 

 

Third issue.  Injectors are way to small, but I knew that since I have the factory ones installed right now.  That just screws me royal for power right now.  I can only pull 9lbs of boost and it revs to about 4k.  I should be pulling hard till about 7k with at least 12lbs.  I think I will toss the injectors in when we dyno tune since it will screw the current setting up. 

 

Fourth issue.  Brakes!  They suck something terrible.  I am going to need to source out something that will work on the 280zx struts, but still clear a 15" wheel which I will probably be going to later.  I may end up saying forget it and going with 17" wheels like I have now.

 

I am also going to be pondering the idea of running a different aftermarket intake manifold.  We will see, got more important things to throw time and money at right now. Im just super stoked its running well.  Big thanks to ETS for top notch help and workmanship!

[Josh K.]

There's a bolt on the top of the manifold where the hose that connects to the radiator comes out. If you back that (open it) out it should help bleed the system?

[fiveNdime]

Yeah, that’s the bolt I took out to add water.  It needed quite a bit of water to top it off.  I had a funnel with a small hose I used before and it worked great.  I was able to put it on the lift and see exactly where the oil was coming from.  It is from the front main seal and I think my problem is that I drove the seal in a little to far.  I have it all pulled out and tomorrow I will toss it back in.  I am going to polish up the crank surface though first with a dremel tool to try and smooth it up a bit.  I'm anxious to get it out and drive it!

 

Here it is before I took it to the shop.

 

Just parked like I own it lol.

[Lockleaf]

You can park the car on a steep incline or on some ramps in order to set the radiator cap as the highest point in the cooling system. I've had a couple of cars where that helped things work better.

 

Nice car.

[jesusno2]

Hey man! it was good to meet ya at canby nice build thread

[flatcat19]

^ I'm with him.

 

It was good meeting you and your dad.

I've been wanting to get those keys to you guys for too long.

 

 

Car looks great. Keep at it.

[fiveNdime]

Good to meet you guys and get a chance to chat.  I don’t get to the Datsun stuff as much as I used to.  I'm just glad to be back in the scene.  I will have more stuff to do on the car now that I have it running.  Going to do the Intake, injectors, clutch next and then tune for as close to 500 hp as possible for kicks.  I would like to keep it at 300whp though.  I'm also going to be doing a 300mm disk brake swap up front to stop the thing.  Drum will still reside out back for now but may do the disk swap.  Also have to figure out a new rear end, I don't think the R160 will work well.  My trans is also making tons of noise so I think a re-build is in its near future.  Just never ends.  I look forward to seeing you guys and others at Blue Lake show!

[DISLEXICDIME]

You get this running again?

[fiveNdime]

Been some time now.  The car has sat quite a bit with me driving it less then 10 times a year.  I got the bug to get back to work on it.

 

Since the last time I was on here posting about it, it has been street tuned running 10psi.  Its scary to drive at times.  It made the first trip to Canby a couple years ago.  Then to Blue Lake.  Its running good but needs more work.  

 

Ive put it on the lift for a bunch of new work on my list.  First oder of business is to clean up and close up the wiring harness.  Build a relay bracket and bracket for the AEM computer. 

 

After that will be suspension parts. 

1.  New front sway bar from Quickor Garage

2.  T3 front lower control arms

3.  T3 tie rods

4.  T3 idler arm bushing kit

5.  T3 280zx big brake kit

 

Then its time to pull the trans so it can get a once over and freshening up.  New ACT XRT6 clutch that was on backorder but hasnt been put in yet. Its amazing the OE replacement Excedy clutch is holding as good as it is. 

 

After all this im going to tighten up  loose ends inside the car like shifter cover, stereo, and other misc interior parts.  Maybe ill search for new wheels some day but all this stuff comes first so here it goes.

 

 

[fiveNdime]

Got time to put the car on the lift.  Time to get some things done that have been on the back burner for a while.  I'll start with the rear sway bar.  Pulled it, painted it and put some new end links on.  Not sure why but one broke so now I have to address that.  I think I will re-design that link design.  I picked up a sway bar from Quickor Suspensions that said it fits a SR or KA swap.  Well its close but not bolt in.  I'm working with the tight tolerances which means removing coils and cycling the suspension.  With that came the need to cut and move the crossmember more.  So I welded it into a jig and cut it up.  Welded some 3/16" plate over the ends.  Then a 1-7/8" x 1/8" wall tube between the ends to tie it together.  Its mocked up and looking good so far.  The brakes, tie rods, idler arm, master cylinder and a few other issues will be tackled as well.  Last but not least is I took the driveline in for service.  A ballance and 2 new u-joints.  The joints werent bad but they were getting close.  I'll try to get some pics up.