Z31 turbo on to L28

[Utah Hawkeye]

I just finished replacing the blown turbo on my 280ZX with a turbo off of an '86 Z31. I searched several forums for info to help with this swap and found only limited info. So I decided to post up on this and hopefully some one will benefit.

The first thing I realized was the difference in the exhaust side where the waste gate is located.

Z31 turbo

L28 turbo

You can take the wastegate/ downpipe outlet off the L28 turbo and put it on the Z31. But, the studs will have to be swapped in to replace where bolts were used on the Z31. Just make sure they're long enough to reach through and have enough room to bolt on the downpipe.

This is what it looks like with the new studs and bolted together.

As you can see I initially tried to use the wastegate actuator of the L28 turbo. This became a problem I'll get into later.

In order for the turbo outlet to clear the intake manifold, the turbo side needs to rotated away from the engine. This is easy to do. Just loosen all the bolts that hold the turbo housing to the center section and slide it. I had to modify (grind down) the oil outlet on the bottom in order for it to clear the new bolt postition. This pic shows the stock position of both turbos. Also, on this note, I ended up using the oil outlet that was on the Z31 turbo and a longer piece of hose to connect to the oil sump. The 280zx tail was in direct line with the steering shaft.

The only other problem I had was getting the waste actuator right. I initially tried using the 280zx actuator 'cuz it fit better after changing the position of the turbo housing. But, I wasn't getting the needed response. This may be due to the fact they are set up for different amounts of pressure to move them. Anyway I ended up lenghtening the actuator rod on the Z31 actuator by cutting the threaded area in half and threading a piece of steel tubing to lengthen the rod. That did the trick.

The rest was a matter of plumbing in the coolant lines. I taped into the thermastat housing and teed off of the inlet on the other side. The I used the tubing from the Z31 plenum to go around the rear of the engine just to give it some stability.

It's a pretty simple, straight forward swap and you get the added benefit of water cooling.

[chaztg]

did you have to bend or shorten the hard lines coming out of the Z31 turbo unit to make them fit properly?

[Utah Hawkeye]

Which lines? The oil lines were no prob. I did bend the coolant lines. I actually removed the bracket that was on them and split them. One to the front and one to the rear. I should mention too that I'm running Megasquirt so there's a lot of stuff that's NOT in the engine bay.