1976 280 Z from Ohio to Dubai

[BAS_DXB]

2 minutes ago, Captain Obvious said:

So in the pic, there are rubber bellows and bump stops, but in the completed pic, neither of those were used.

Why not? Didn't fit well? Just didn't like the look?

That's correct, they did not fit inside the new Springs and would have required some cutting for the bump stops.

[wheee!]

My friend had a car built by a repair shop here in Alberta and paid about $150,000 USD after labour for the same job as you had done. About $20,000 of that was for a built motor though, the rest mostly labour costs. My build contains no labour costs as I did it myself. It would be another $100,000 minimum for the work to have been done here. It seems it would be cheaper to ship cars to Dubai and have them restored then shipped back!

[BAS_DXB]

4 minutes ago, wheee! said:

My friend had a car built by a repair shop here in Alberta and paid about $150,000 USD after labour for the same job as you had done. About $20,000 of that was for a built motor though, the rest mostly labour costs. My build contains no labour costs as I did it myself. It would be another $100,000 minimum for the work to have been done here. It seems it would be cheaper to ship cars to Dubai and have them restored then shipped back!

The labor cost comes from you, you are the one generating the value 😎

Please send any S30s by all mean, I ship them back within 6 months =P

[wheee!]

Way better than my 7 years... !!!

[BAS_DXB]

Good morning everyone, Zinta was finally painted over the weekend (mostly on Thursday) and... She is stunning !

Last wet sanding before entering the booth for cleaning and prep.

Below picture is before the clear coat, I hesitated to ask them for the mat/frozen look with a specific clear coat, but I still wanted to have the same original DAT307 from when she left the factory in 1976, so I went with the regular shiny clear coat (pictures soon as there is a surprise coming with it).

Air Dam before clear coat and bumpers with primer only (all the holes from the bumpers were welded and the brackets adjusted to reduce the gap, so they sit closer to the body):

Hood, Trunk, inspection hatches and tail light/license bracket after clear coat:

I finally receive my head bolt for the engine today (ordered 3 weeks back from Zcardepot, through eBay), so the engine rebuilt can start !

In the meantime, been working on the individual coils support and the ITBs air filter support, will only do an intake ports matching but no polishing.

The 81 280ZX 5 speed gearbox also got cleaned and made ready for the final assembly !

 

Edited March 15, 2021 by BAS_DXB

[BAS_DXB]

Hi guys,

Hope you are well and safe from COVID.

Been a while since my last activity on this thread, been busy on the car wiring/ECU setup and obviously bumping in some issues 😁   not a surprise as my curriculum is mechanical engineering... 

Stupid question 1:

From the MS3pro manual below, VR sensors should be wired to the 4 wires CMP+/CMP- (camshaft) and CKP+/CKP- (crankshaft) from the MS3Pro (4 shielded wires from the white connectors) and don't need power or ground wire as they generate themself the power. This is what I have done so far... but I still don't have RPM sync in tunerstudio...

Also, the onesixindustries CAS (4 pins connector) is considered as a single VR sensor (as per onesixindustries info), on the Crankshaft? (because crank angle sensor...?). So should I remove the CMP+/- (camshaft) and put power/ground instead ? or remove CMP- and CKP- and put power/ground instead ? I found a wiring diagram for L28 that shows this latest option, but I don't know if thats correct and would rather not burn the CAS.

The wiring diagram below shows a CAS with CMP+, CKP+, 12V power and Ground... Should I follow that ?

 

Stupid question 2:

I have a set of DG508 coils on plugs with 2 pins connectors (not like the LS2 above setup above with 4 wires), so the wiring should be 1 power source from the fuel pump relay (as mentioned in the MS3 manual) and 1 signal source the MS3 ignition signal (A-1,E-2,C-3, F-4,B-5,D-6), I don,t need anything else correct ? The 12V power comes from the fuel pump relay all the time, and is only "released" when the signal from the MS3Pro is sent to each particular coil, then the coil itself generates the huge voltage for the spark ?! Or am I wrong here as well ?

Respecting this setup, when running my coil test (on the connector only, disconnected from the coil, and using a small light and wires) I have power all the time (light is ON), independently from the coil output to test (obviously Fuel pump is On), meaning if I test coilA in tunerstudio, connector to coil A gives light, and if I change for test coilE, connectors to coil A still gives light... Am I wrong on the wiring ? or on the software part... I was told by AMPEFI to setup as below:

 

On the bright side my injectors tested correctly, my IAC valve seems to be responding too, the TPS is calibrated and the IAT (I don't have MAT with the ITBs) is a GM type from Protunerz, so all is good and clear.

Also, having an IAC valve (came with the ITBs kit from Jenvey - link), a built in MAP sensor in the Ms3Pro, and running itbs naturally aspirated, I don't need a MAF correct ?

I have a weird temperature reading on the CLT oscillating between -20 C and +80 C (its a VDO sensor that was on the car, cannot find any info for its calibration), I will probably have to do the old school way with water, even-though i found these online:

Please help me, because its a real frustration to be looking at this without having the sound...

 

[wheee!]

If you were running Haltech I could answer your questions with some confidence. I know that in the end, I only needed one pin in e CAS from onesix in order to have full sequential spark and injection timing. The ground signal was sensor ground from the Haltech.
The COPs you are describing are not self ignited, and need an ignitor in either the megasquirt or a standalone unit (as I understand), that’s why I choose the Honda Acura COPs with self igniters and ground reference firing signal. Full power all the time and a ground signal to fire.

[BAS_DXB]

13 hours ago, wheee! said:

If you were running Haltech I could answer your questions with some confidence. I know that in the end, I only needed one pin in e CAS from onesix in order to have full sequential spark and injection timing. The ground signal was sensor ground from the Haltech.
The COPs you are describing are not self ignited, and need an ignitor in either the megasquirt or a standalone unit (as I understand), that’s why I choose the Honda Acura COPs with self igniters and ground reference firing signal. Full power all the time and a ground signal to fire.

@wheee! Could you please share your CAS wiring with the Haltech wires ?

Thanks a lot for your help on this, will try to get UF400 coils and connectors locally, quite disappointed in myself following the DG508 lead, thinking they had self ignitor... Will try to avoid them burning =D

On 9/15/2020 at 8:06 PM, wheee! said:

Well after another remote tuning sesion, I am not much further ahead. The CAS seemed to be syncing but was still not providing a consistent signal for the Haltech. We tried a few different settings including batch fire injection and wasted spark. That's where things got interesting... the COPs melted in seconds of loading the tune, even before starting the engine. ☹️ Basically as soon as we rebooted the ECU (as you have to after every ECU software change).

I don't think it was the tune as much as a glitch in the Haltech that caused the COPs to latch power. Only three melted. I believe it was cylinders 2, 4 & 6, but I might be wrong. I should have written that down before pulling them.

I am waiting for the arrival of some new COP's to reset the software and try again. I also moved the Home signal from one reluctor to the other (B pin to C pin) on the OneSix CAS to see if that helps signal fidelity. Tim (from OneSix) apparently recommends that we use Signal Ground from the Haltech versus Home and Trigger ground in the wiring, so that was done as well.

I opened the valve cover and inspected the cam to see if any of the keepers/lash pads had slid off, causing valve issues but alas, they were fine. So no easy "aha!" moment to be found there. I ordered a NOID light test kit as well, so I will confirm the injectors are firing as they are supposed to. I confirmed all the injectors a re working properly with a 9v battery test. Clicking away happily. The Individual spark was confirmed prior to the meltdown.

Hoping to have some good results soon with the new COPs. If not, I think I will have to consider trashing this CAS and rebuilding the engine setup to run a crank trigger. Not what I wanted to do....

[wheee!]

Your megasquirt may have igniters internally. I had heard that somewhere. Haltech doesn’t include them in the ECU because they are difficult to replace if they burn out, versus popping a new COP on the plug.

[wheee!]

All I use is pin D for crank +
 

That connects to the Haltech crank + wire. Then I use a sensor ground from the Haltech loom to the Haltech Crank ground.  All done. 

[BAS_DXB]

1 hour ago, wheee! said:

Your megasquirt may have igniters internally. I had heard that somewhere. Haltech doesn’t include them in the ECU because they are difficult to replace if they burn out, versus popping a new COP on the plug.

Thanks @wheee!

The MS3Pro does not have internal igniters, so I went on the hunt today and found Honda Civic COPs (a little shorter than yours I believe) and a second hand engine harness with plenty of connectors including the 3 pins needed.

For whoever is interested in getting a set of 6x DG508 (+2 spares) + pigtails connectors + bracket to install on valve covers 😂

[BAS_DXB]

1 hour ago, wheee! said:

All I use is pin D for crank +
 

That connects to the Haltech crank + wire. Then I use a sensor ground from the Haltech loom to the Haltech Crank ground.  All done.

Again, thanks for your valuable inputs.

Had a chat with Matt from AMP EFI and he suggested to wire the CKP+ to pin D and CKP- to pin A, with pins B and C left unused, if not getting my RPM sync then I will try your setup with CKP+ on pin D.

He also mentioned I would need to change the setting from crank wheel to cam wheel in tunerstudio.