Ben's Z

I'm not dead, but this is all taking much longer than I thought. I fixed my throwout collar issue by buying a 280zxt bearing collar. With the help of ZCurves we had the trans in and out and the problem solved in about 1 hour. Wrestling the trans on the garage floor is much easier with two dudes. I sourced a 0 mile stock rebuilt T3 Garrett and an MSA S30 swap downpipe unused out of a guy in New Hampshire at hybridz. I got the turbo bolted on but then my oil return tube wouldn't bolt to the turbo and have enough clearance between the return tube on the turbo oil pan. I think my tube may have been bent, during removal from the parts car, either way I got it on there with some Sanford and Son work. I am also using a N42 intake and low and behold the damn PCV valve interferes with the pressurized side of the outlet on the turbo. Well off the intake came AGAIN. I used a brass NPT elbow that gave me more clearance now the PCV rides horizontally off the bottom of the intake. I ordered a FMIC and IC piping kit off of ebay today. Still need a wideband (thinking AEM) manual boost controller, and BOV. I have a 6 week year old baby girl, thank god my mother in law has been here helping out, otherwise this thing would have been put on hold until about 2016. I also found a MSA fiberglass 240z bumper on craigslist that I bought in Austin. Here are some pictures before the motor and trans was installed as a unit about 1 month ago. And some of the other heartache. I also attached a picture of my VHT hightemp exhaust manifold paint. Ok, for starters this will wizz off your wife who gets about 4 hours sleep every night because of your newborn. The aroma in the house is not be confused with anything made by "Toll House" or "Nestle".

Maybe I will go talk to body shop this car is at and see what the guy wants to do. I didn't look at the other side to see their condition. What would these be worth?

These wheels are off of a 260Z that is basically a clapped out shell I saw today. This car will probably go to the scrapyard. These wheels looked vintage and I didn't want them to go to waste. Are these wheels special at all?

Getting my bake on! Been using the oven a lot of the last few weeks. I really recommend VHT high temp paint. I used it on my timing cover, and 280zx AC compressor mount in an aluminum color. I now have my exhaust manifold baking at 400 and then again at 600 in "Cast Iron" color. Should be interesting to see how this holds up with a turbo mounted to it.

I have a 2+2/Turbo throwout bearing collar on the way. Pulling the trans with ZCurves this weekend and reinstalling.

I'm getting ready to bolt up my manifolds on the turbo motor soon. All of my washers are old and I wasn't wanting to know if they are supposed to be concave where the nut is applied, or are they bent from use?

Ok I leveraged my 18" prybar against the fork and got the slave cylinder installed. Fork is now about half way between front and back as you can see. Pedal is stiffer but this is a stage 1 clutch. "Feels" like clutch is "right there", not sure if I need to adjust or I was able to force that slave cylinder on with the prybar so the clutch is technically engaged? Thoughts?

Which collar would I use?

Yes this is the same transmission from my 77. The donor car (1983 280zx turbo) was an automatic. The bearing seems fully seated against the pressure plate fingers, but not compressing them. I was able to put the new bearing on the collar easily. The old collar came off with some light taps with a hammer and socket the same diameter as the collar inside the bearing. No new collar came with the kit. Bearing looked the same in my old set up as it did with the exedy kit.

Got the motor and trans installed as a unit. Ordered a turbo rebuild kit from goop turbo shop, but I found cracks in my turbo housing, so I need another turbo and that needs to go back. I stated in a new thread that I cannot get the clutch fork to move enough to get the slave cylinder to reattach to the bell housing. I hate the thought of having to remove the engine again, this time by itself, to fix the clutch fork and whatever is holding it up. I'm not sure how hard a clutch fork is supposed to be to push on manually.

I am using my stock 77 trans 5 speed with a exedy stage 1 clutch kit for my 1983 turbo block. Using a 240mm turbo flywheel too.

It moves fine I can compress by hand.

After installing my engine and trans as a single unit I cannot compress the slave cylinder enough to bolt it back up. The clutch fork won't move worth a ****, even if I put leverage on it with a wrench. I'd rather pull the motor than the transmission at this point. I hate this car.