Serban

Don't know how interesting this is, but I got my 280Z back in 2013, car had 337k miles on it, the story was the original owner was an air force pilot who drove the car constantly from California to Florida. 1975 280Z California model. Currently has 352k on the clock.

Thanks for checking in, all good in my area!

I have a few items left if anyone needs anything. Fan only (no more relay harness) - $30 280Z engine harness - $50 280Z fuel pressure regulator - $25 Prices do not include shipping.

This fan came on a 240Z parts car. I used it on my 280Z for a while, then switched back to the stock clutch fan. I'm looking to get $60 + shipping

For me, it's not even that, even when the boost kicks in, it still doesn't feel like there's any, maybe if I stretch it to redline, something impressive might happen, but I only got a couple times to try it. Might just pull it all apart to check it before trying again.

I expected spool up to be a little quicker. I started off with a 5psi spring in the wastegate and will put a boost controller to go up little by little, but keeping it at a safe level. Initially it didn't even feel like it was even making boost. I took out an L28 with a mild cam, header, and triple webers. Wasn't the fastest thing on the planet, but I expected a turbo L24 to be a little quicker. I'll check everything over again before I totally give up on it. I'm too determined to give up!

I do plan on getting a heat shield fabbed up for the brake master cylinder. I do have a wideband and took it out for a ride last night. Just on wastegate pressure, it was quite possibly the worst turbo setup I've ever driven. The engine is smooth and afr was in the 11-12:1 range, but the turbo wouldn't start making boost until after 4k rpm, and it would hit 5psi right around 5500rpm, either something isn't right, or this old turbo is terribly inefficient. I'll pull things apart and make sure there's no boost leaks, and track down that noise that I swear is an exhaust leak, even though I don't feel it when putting my hand around all the exhaust flanges.

You can hear the exhaust leak in the video.

The L24 is in, and ready to go! I only get to work on the car a couple hours a night, so it took me about 3 nights from start to finish. Initially the L24 had low compression on a few cylinders (between 30-40psi). I put some Marvel Mystery oil in each cylinder, and after about 4 hours I tried again, and got about 150 across the board, seems promising! It starts and runs, and holds idle great! I have yet to drive it, I think there's a huge exhaust leak somewhere. I can't pin point it yet, but when you rev up the engine, exhaust smoke is coming from the manifold to turbo up pipe. So I'll probably have to pull it all apart and see how the welds are, or if there's a crack. But so far so good. Here's a few pictures from the swap! 20170726_171616 by Serban Gavrilescu, on Flickr 20170726_171623 by Serban Gavrilescu, on Flickr 20170726_171633 by Serban Gavrilescu, on Flickr 20170726_171645 by Serban Gavrilescu, on Flickr 20170726_171657 by Serban Gavrilescu, on Flickr 20170726_171713 by Serban Gavrilescu, on Flickr 20170726_171722 by Serban Gavrilescu, on Flickr 20170726_172011 by Serban Gavrilescu, on Flickr 20170726_215604 by Serban Gavrilescu, on Flickr 20170726_215818 by Serban Gavrilescu, on Flickr 20170727_005921 by Serban Gavrilescu, on Flickr 20170728_174955 by Serban Gavrilescu, on Flickr 20170729_220208 by Serban Gavrilescu, on Flickr 20170729_121122 by Serban Gavrilescu, on Flickr 20170729_220216 by Serban Gavrilescu, on Flickr 20170729_220434 by Serban Gavrilescu, on Flickr

Making some progress! This is the turbo kit on my L28. I'll be pulling this engine out, and putting the L24 that this kit came on in the car. This was for mockup. 20170724_220048 by Serban Gavrilescu, on Flickr Wastegate added. I believe it's a 5psi spring, so that's a good start 20170724_220129 by Serban Gavrilescu, on Flickr

I think the compressor was painted, but there may be some oil in there to help lubricate the outer housing

That looks like the under dash stuff mostly, but maybe it's not all pictured, but let me know, I've got a working compressor I pulled off last year.

Do you still need a compressor and bracket? I've got the dealer option one available. The one that sits on the top passenger side of the engine.

You need to hurry up and get the car back on the road! My turbo wasn't locked up, the car sat for a long time, but the guy did his best to protect the engine, hoses were capped off, carb inlet was covered. Totally sent me some pictures, I'd love to see another one of these setups and how they're run.

Thanks for the heads up, I use a cabinet to clean these parts, I know how nasty the glass beads can be if you breathe them in.

I use the term "sand blasting" loosely, I actually use an 80 grit glass bead media, it does the job without the damage. The turbo cleaned up real well, the bearing was very clean and I don't feel it needed to be replaced, just needed a good cleaning and some new gaskets. Not sure if the manifold adapter looks good in Satin black, might clean it off again and just clear coat the raw finish.

That sounds interesting too. I have a crazy vision of doing a draw through twin turbo T28 setup, an SU carb on the front of each turbo, may not work, but it would be cool to try.

I've started disassembly on the turbo and intake, time to sand blast these parts.

Could be, I didn't really inspect the cam. This car sat for 15-20 years, but the oil in the engine is fairly clean. The previous owner told me he would crank it every so often so it doesn't seize. On a side note, the valves appear to be stock size. 42mm and 33mm. Still trying to figure out how this was a $9000 engine...

Don't really want to build up an engine, but if I did, I'd probably do the L28 that's in my car now. I'm more curious than anything to see how this runs. I'll get some new gaskets, redo the oil feed and return lines to something more modern, and have that turbo checked out. Not trying to do a big budget engine, just refresh it, drop it in, and see what it does. If anything, I'll leave that engine in there just for the unique factor

Hey everyone, it's been a while since I posted on this thread, but I finally got around to pulling the head off. Pistons look fine. This is an E31 block, and E31 head. It's got dished pistons which I'm told is not the stock piston on the E31, and the bore is 83mm. I haven't measured the valves yet to see if they're oversized. But what is everyone's thought on this? The head looks pretty clean. I guess next step will be to drain the oil and pull the oil pan off and investigate a little more.

Perfect, this way you'll be able to keep up with the meet dates. BTW, I gave up on the EFI setup in my Z and went with an SU setup, and shortly after with a 40DCOE setup. Throttle response is pretty awesome on the Webers, but it's probably still not properly synced.

@FlyingScot, I see you're down in South FL too, every few months, me and some of the local Datsun guys meet up on a Sunday for a few hours. If you have Facebook, look up the page called "South Florida Datsuns". Our next meet will be June 18th, still ironing out all the details.

Thanks!