Betty White: The new 280Z racecar. Ugly Betty's autocross replacement.

[datzenmike]

 Rose is coming over to help....

[HRH]

No, not that!  :)  Actually had quite a good day.  Rose assisted with tools and helping clean the car and the tools/garage, and then we separated Mike's asian tranny and I told her how he liked those kinds.  There will be some pictures up shortly. ;)

[HRH]

 

These are some of the fragments left over from the exploded engine.  Found them on the framerail when I was fixing the fuel lines.

 

 

This is Rose.  She drives a rotary. ;)  (No dirty comments!)

 

 

This is the line that caused all my grief.  Finally got it rearranged today and it looks nice and clean like it's supposed to.  Had to cut one line a little more than I wanted.  May end up doing a short section of metal and two little snips of rubber line, or I'll add a small section onto the end.  The short line had a kink in it slightly and when I straightened it out, it made some micro-tears it seems.  So I opted to shorten it past those.

 

 

 

 

[HRH]

 

Menagerie of dogs in the kitchen!

 

 

 

 

Sorry Mike, you're getting sloppy seconds.  I had my way with the asian tranny!!  :D

 

 

After I got the torque converter off, I noticed this.  See anything out of the ordinary?

 

 

I've never seen an L motor spit a rear main like this.  What's even weirder was it was leaking, but not a ton.  Dumb luck I guess.

 

 

Motor is awaiting oil-leak repair tomorrow.

 

 

Back in the garage!  And clean!  Still need to clean out the engine bay, lots of leftover engine bits on the framerail.  But the car is ready to accept a motor now.

 

 

Mike's 3 speed non-OD asian tranny he for some reason wants.  Even saved the lines for you!  

[datzenmike]

Thanks for saving that Matt. Nice to meet Rose. Mmmm there's something about girls with glasses. 

[HRH]

Yeah, she's pretty cool.  I'll probably tape off that trans and pressure wash it before Canby this year.  Did you ever see an L spit out the rear main like that Mike?

[HRH]

So I talked to the Datsun guru this morning, he said excess crankcase pressure is the only way that would have happened.  So I'm thinking when the car was sputtering and spitting trying to figure out the cold start issue, I'll bet that's what did it.  All the vents are recirculated for turbo control on that motor, so makes sense if it couldn't find an outlet, it would pressurize the crankcase.  Anyway, I'll start going through everything today and see if I can figure out what was causing that.  Maybe a stuck vacuum can or something.

[HRH]

 

 

This is the filter base I'm planning on using, however, I realized something else.  The oil cooler currently on the car may well be contaminated since the block grenaded.  I could back flush it to see how much crap is in there, but the other idea is to use the original oil cooler (which means making more custom mounts, etc.) and just retrofit the JIC fittings and make some custom lines.  Haven't figured which way yet, we'll see when I examine the remote oil filter housing and filter for particulates.

 

 

 

 

I should have cleaned this off, but I didn't. Thus didn't realize the inlet for the forward oil line is also a screw that attaches the filter base to the block.  I ended up removing the locating bolt then tapping the housing with a hammer and block of wood, which of course worked, but I also had to remove the two sensors to spin it off.  Could have just pulled it straight off had I realized.  Oh well.  End result is the same, so no worries.

 

 

Check out the multiple strengtheners along the oil pan!

 

 

Pan with turbo oil feed.

 

 

 

Inside of the block looks pretty good.

[Skib]

lookin good

[HRH]

Yeah, now I'm just debating carbed turbo vs. stock system vs. Megasquirt or similar.  Carbed turbo gets rid of so much crap in the way.  Once you get the tuning right, works just fine, especially for racing.  Plus I can omit a giant mess of wiring.

 

Just ordered "Maximum Boost" by Corky Bell.  I've heard that title enough times, never read the book.  Now is about the time, just like the Datsun Bible I think.

[datzenmike]

Matt, maybe you can tell me if the automatic spline is a regular 24? that most Datsuns have or is it larger? I have a feeling the zx auto was larger. Can you check?

[HRH]

Input shaft or output shaft?

[Jester]

Just ordered "Maximum Boost" by Corky Bell.  

 

GREAT READ!!!  I finished that one and started "How to make your car handle" by Fred Puhn.

 

 

 

Input shaft or output shaft?

 

I would think input sinse its typically a 24 tooth shaft.

[Skib]

Yeah, now I'm just debating carbed turbo vs. stock system vs. Megasquirt or similar.  Carbed turbo gets rid of so much crap in the way.  Once you get the tuning right, works just fine, especially for racing.  Plus I can omit a giant mess of wiring.

 

Just ordered "Maximum Boost" by Corky Bell.  I've heard that title enough times, never read the book.  Now is about the time, just like the Datsun Bible I think.

 

Very good book, Iv owned a copy for quite a few years.

 

IMO carb turbos are fun for nostalgia cool but if your racing and

a particular rule set dosent restrict you to carbs its not practical.

 

The EFI, even the stock stuff will be more on the ball and reliable.

The wiring can be cleaned up and theres plenty of stuff on the stock L28et that dosent need to be there for racing.

[HRH]

Yeah, I just worry about the idle stuff since the computer is self learning for that.  Not to mention it was still running crappy when cold, couldn't figure that out entirely.  I'll do some book learning and see what I think.  I know of many people back in the day who did carb turbos and had great results.  But, that will also dictate what manifold I use and what kind of setup I need to make.  So, I'll come to a conclusion after I read the book.

[datzenmike]

Input shaft or output shaft?

 

Crap I guess I didn't say.

 

Output shaft for the driveshaft. I suspect it's larger than the usual Datsun 24 spline. Can you check it Matt? I'm pretty sure the VG30 transmissions are.

[HRH]

Yeah, give me a bit, I'll find out.

[HRH]

So this is the 280zx.  It appears to be 24 spline by my count.

Oddly, I had a 720 driveshaft laying around, I think from a '80 one year truck with a L20B in it.  It only has 22 splines.  Odd, no?  I thought they had 24 too?  Maybe I'm just mis-remembering.

GET SOME!!!  :D  I work out.

[petercscherer]

 

GET SOME!!!  :D  I work out.

Funny, I always envisioned you to look like your profile picture... So it's a surprise to see someone so.... normal?

 

~Peter

[datzenmike]

 

If you count a spline in the two gaps you get 26. All my driveshafts are 24 (counting the two missing ones) as shown.

 

Do you have the Auto driveshaft? Can I have it or the front spline part? Hoping the U joints are the same and I can just swap the spline part. I was afraid of this.

[HRH]

Lol, normal Peter? I don't know about that, but I can fake it!

 

Mike, yeah you can have the drive shaft too, that one is what came out of the zx. I don't think the rear is any different, should bolt up. Worst case you'd have to drill the rear flange.

[HRH]

And now I see, I counted one spline in the gaps, there are two. That makes more sense.

[datzenmike]

I'm hoping the larger spline will fit the old driveshaft by swapping it on at the U joint.

 

Can you see if there are C clips holding the U joint on???

[Draker]

i spy a dirty bowflex?

[HRH]

Yep, that should be going away this weekend.  It's a great idea, but I hate it.  When I want to workout, the last thing I want to do is hook cables to different things, etc. etc.  I like basic things, like doing pull ups while holding free weights, etc.  One of my other NAPA guys is getting it.  That will make room for an additional treadmill for the girlfriend. ;)

 

Mike, I'll check when I get a chance for the clips.