DJZ's 280ZX

[broke]

Exciting stuff - will there be a video of the dyno run on the big day?

[DJZ]

Exciting stuff - will there be a video of the dyno run on the big day?

Yeap, definitely.

Got it started tonight after a bit of dicking around, I wired the TPS backwards but it also looks like the new Aliexpress plug that I got isn't making a good connection so I'll have to fix that. Started fine with a bit of throttle and cleared up after a few seconds, looks to be running pretty rich but I didn't bring the vacuum manifold and with big cams the MAP sensor reading is probably way off.

[DJZ]

Have mucked around with this a bit, cut up the throttle cable out of the parts Laurel and connected it up to the dyno throttle control thing, then ran it for about half an hour the other night and warmed it up fully. Have put an oil pressure sensor in line with the turbo oil feed, just have to wire it up.

Put the wide band on it as well, looks to be running at about 0.80 lambda at idle, so quite rich. Also started on the new vacuum chamber as well, made the ends 4mm thick so I can tap them rather than having to weld on tubes like I did with the last one.

[2 doors]

love your work djz

[DJZ]

Wired up the oil pressure sensor last night and ran it again, it's still running pretty rich so it fouled a plug while I was trying to start it. It looks like it's running about 50psi of oil pressure at the inlet to the turbo at idle which is still a bit higher than Garrett recommends for the ball bearing turbos, once we start to rev it I'll keep an eye on it and see if it increases much, if it does I might have to make another restrictor.

Changed the TPS plugs to DTM connectors while I had the crimping stuff out.

Noticed on Monday that the bosses new McLaren has the same kind of small push button bonnet catches on it's "hood", if they're good enough for them they're good enough for me so I'll fit those over the next couple of weekends.

[DJZ]

Cleaned up the driveway enough to get the car out of the garage which I'll do later today so I can give it a bit of a clean and line up the bonnet properly.

Haven't done too much more to the engine, welded up a new vacuum chamber after work one night, haven't fitted it the engine yet as I'm not sure where my brass fittings have gone. I made it pretty simple with 1/4" NPT threads in either end and that's it for the moment, it's really just to see if it helps with the MAP signal.

The boss is away again from Thursday so fingers crossed next weekend I'll get it tuned.

[2 doors]

nice work man

[2 doors]

nice work man

[DJZ]

Fitted the vacuum chamber today after a bit of mucking around, had to cut and thread a brass ARO fitting as I couldn't find a 1/4" to 1/8" adaptor. We set the base timing which was about 10 degrees out and ran it up again, it fouled a couple of plugs so we pulled them all out and cleaned them up and it sounded much better after that, so it's idling pretty well (as well as it could with the cams), will do some more tuning tomorrow.

[DJZ]

Plumbed up the intercooler, totally legit setup. Also redid the exhaust/wastegate piping.




Zac doing some tuning.




Managed to turn this stainless steel tubing blue/purple.




Killed my O2 sensor somehow, possibly from heat, luckily Zac had a spare one in his car so I whipped up this copper heat shield.




Things were getting very hot.




We got the engine tuned up to 4500rpm before calling it quits, Zac did all the work but this was the first time the dyno had been used in anger and we were discovering some issues, the whole exhaust system was getting extremely hot and we were worried about setting the wall on fire, also with being so close to the engine it was very difficult to hear any knock.

We may do some ramp runs next week but at the redline at 45000rpm on wastegate pressure (around 8psi) it was making 200hp - I don't know if the dyno has been calibrated and I didn't have any weights to do it so that figure may be way off. When tuned at NZEFI it was making around 160rwhp at 4500rpm so it's probably pretty close.