280z turbo swap and upgrade

i pulled the engine harness out of that (holly simple ecu wiring lol)
now i gotta pull the rest of the wiring for the turbo 83 i got
also was going to rering and beaering it but instead imk going a step farther
undersized bearings(aka ground crank and rod journals)
oversized pistons (cant find only rings and hell theres quite a bit of a ridghe from the ring travel already)
and polished heads with under cut valve stems
also for the bolt on realm thats where my new turbo kit will go(by kit i mean all big stuff lol more lag but more power)
also im gonna go witht the flat black (no rattle can but itll do lol)
actually believe it or not there isnt only 1 or 2 in the area and they are rattle can and you can tell
i cant decide though grey or black.....
also the dash is all cracked and the windsheild needs to come out and be resealled so whil thats out its gonna be custom fiberglass dash.....
ill just covwer over the origanal after knocking down the high spots and then coating it with a nice layer smothing and polishing painting etc basicly looks stock shape only gonna be smooth and gloss(probably another primer ediditoin for the summer )
also its a 2+2 so ittl be pretty cool 2+2 turbo
also anybody know where to get a good piston and ring set at a decent price????
but any way the turbo setup and lightweight car with a straight 6 in her built over stock aught to be a snappy little bitch
hopefully it at least c\ompares to the 300 (actually hopefully itr toasts it.......

ok called my local machine shop
i got them on the prowell for pistons and rings.....
alot cheaper to bore than i thought only 100
i already ported and polished the heads(minor port and polish more of a cleaning......)
and the undercut valve stems (with a polished face)
he said the pistons will be 38$ a peice witht the rings included
so looks like i made out there 105 for the cranck to get ground and approx 130 for all the bearings
so i guess ill list all the mods in one place for reference and if any changes happen ill comment on them later

1. 1979 280z 2+2
2. 1983 280zx turbo ecu and wiring harness
3. 1979 l28e bored over
4. undersized crank bearings
5. undercut valve stems with polished face and seats
6. 60-1 turbo
7. large fmic polished end tanks bar and plate design 3" inlet outlet (24x12x3 core)
8. hks ssqv blow off valve and 3" adapter
9. 30lb injectors
10. custom manderal bent 3" exhaust
11. denso iridium plugs
12. accell superstock 8mm wires
13. msd blaster 2 coil
14. custom intake out of the same 1/16" alluminum tubing as intercooler
15. stainless steel cone filter
16. oil cooler
17. weight reduced (striped and eliminate anything uneeded ie ac pwr steering mechanicle fan etc)
18. electric fan
19. 1983 turbo 5 speed transmission
20. turbosmart wastegate
21. 1983 turbo alluminum rims
22. modified combustion chambers (rounded and knocked down the high spots around the valve pockets)
23. extra ground wires (3 on the head and 2 on the block)
24. manual boost controller
25. highback racing bucket seats (front only)
26. 1983 280zx turbo tail lights


things soon to come (prior to being driven)
1. strut tower braces front and rear
2. ball joints and tie rods (no performance but hey)
3. bushing kit (hyperflex graphite imbeded polyurethane)
4. custom fiberglass dash
5. flat black paint

things to hopefully be in the buget before its on the road
1. msd ignition
2. performance clutch kit
3. exhaust dump out for that extra show sound
4. some sort of traction bars
5. thick wheel spacers to fill the wheel wells better
6. electronic boost controller
7. nismo steering wheel and quick release hub

and thats about it for this list for now.
ill think of 10 more after posting it though
also i gotta swap in the pedals for the manual but i think that goes hand and hand with the trans swap
so what doi you guys think .......
the first list is already in my grasp(already getting that stuff done)
the 2nd list will be done prior to this summer
and the 3rd list i will hopefully sell my 89 5 speed v8 immaculant conditioned camaro rs ttops for about 1200 to 1500 so i can dump that into it too...


any helps hints or suggestions on anything about the 280 drivetran and things would be appreciated

ok heres some more i tolds you i click it and there they are lol
1. the pistons will be 1983 turbo pistons
2. fuel pump from 1986 300 (same pump as in the turbos)
3. riasing rate fuel pressure regulator
4. multi layer steel head gasket if i can find one


ok thats all i can list for now i gotta go back to work

Grats on getting your l28et swap underway, I plan on doing the same thing with my '75 sometime in the near future. Seeing you list everything out helps me get an idea for all the stuff ill need to complete the swap. Good luck to you! I hope the final result surpasses your expectations.

thanks there wolfwood....
are you a carb or fuel injection????
also are you converting to turbo or simply a fuel injected setup????
i have all wiring sensors and the intake and injectors for the non turbo fuelinjection...

also before you get crazy and start riping wires you only havbe to pull the wires directly connected to the ecu not all wiring....
as i said the wiring was simple there was only the wires connecting the engine then the fuse box a single relay and some wires i believe going to gauges i will swap the wires and the gauges ubless they go to the basics (oil pressure h2o temp volt meter and the likes they will be reoplaced with the aftermarkets i have (yes i will keep the stockers(not wired to gauges i will eliminate the gauges and keep sensors and add tees to accomidate for the use of mechanicle (i feel they are more reliable) gauges
also the stock turbo is a t3 i believe and you will also need the use of the exhaust manifold although ive heard of modifying the nonturbo exhasut manifold to accomidate by using a u bend pipe (looks ugly and i doubt its as effective)
also iv thought of a few more mods to add....
1. blocked off the stock popoff (they leak)'
2. replacing stock throttle body in favor of 300zx (any one got a 240tb for cheap) (the 300 is also the same as the v6 maxima (except the side inlet style that has the diverse chambers blah blah blah but its bolt on so)
3. almost forgot lol eliminate egr and catylitic converter by the way the block is out of a 73 though right wink wink...
4. also eliminate the pcv in favor of the pretty filter ....... i forget what are emissions
dont they have to escape the enginme to be emissions.....
also not that its a real modification but all fluids in car will be synthetic... (do they make synthetic antifreeze lol just jokin that can stay as regular prestone....)
any way its off to my garage to go and tinker

slipped my mind one of the most imprtant of all is the p90a head (one of the 2 turbo heads offered for the 280)
almost a necessity when turbo charging the 280 the other 44 head cracks easily when high boost is exposed (6 psi) with an intercooler you can run a slighly higher setting (approx 8-9.5) and with a much more efficient than stock turbo and an intercooler you can run as high as 12 with 93 and cool days (as long as the motor is up to snuf that is....)
sorry for failling to coment on that allthough thwere are p90's available the plentiful supply is getting fewer and fewer get them while there hot....

well i took my first components to the machine shop im having him pull the pistons from the rods to have them size checked and to get that taken care of
im also going to street prep the rods which is another thing that i had forgotten to mention
ill be picking up my rods tommorrow
at the same time ill probably be dropping off my block and cranck to him
and im polishing the combustion chambers im not sure if i said thast or not....
well thats all we have time for today so until next time

thanks there wolfwood....
are you a carb or fuel injection????
also are you converting to turbo or simply a fuel injected setup????

My car is a '75 so it is already fuel injected, but a non-turbo. I would like to keep it FI when i switch to the l28et, although i dont plan on doing the swap till the current l28 gives up the ghost. Its at about 180,000mi right now, and still runs pretty well, but its starting to seem a little tired. I copy and pasted all the stuff you said about the swap into a word document so i can go back and review it when the time comes to undertake the swap myself. Keep us updated on how it goes.

well thanks i appreciate it
also i took the block and crank to the machine shop
he still hasnt even miced out my rods or milled my head.......
discouragement , he was supposed to have the rods done today at lunch and then he said hed have that and the head done today after woirk still nothing he says hes busy `
but as a vote of confidence when i commented on multiple bearing and head gasket replacements he chuckled and said well you wont have to wory about that this youll only have to do once and then youll be done with it.....
he must not know my tendencys to over rev and boost for periods of time to allow the intake charge to heat extensivly

also another thing that my car has (had when i got it ) is relatively new looking adjustrible struts at all 4 corners

and ill be sure to keep everyone posted on my adventures of the 280 conversion

also i forgot to mention my machine shop guy used vasiline until i got there then he stuck it to me std bore over 105 i get there and he says it HAS to be hot tanked ...... ok theres another 60..... 2 weeks ago he told me that it was 5$ a cylinder for milling the head i get there and he says it 10 per cylinder....... but hey itll be done someday.....lol..... hopefully its a good process... also since itll be tanked im gonna paint it to make subsiquant rebuyild a breeze....
and also this winter im gonna rering it and do the race prep to the block and crank and rods (street prep for now....)

ok newly revised list
also 3 angle valve job, street preped rods (at the machine shop instead of myself), new valve spring seats just for the sake of being new ones, arp head bolts (75 the set), and come monday or tuesday well know the grand total of what i owe him

so heres a complete list of the machine shop services that are being done and approx pricing

60 hot tanked
90 bore and hone
228 pistons rings and piston pins (38 x 6)
105 ground and polished crank
60 street prepped rods (10 x 6)
60 head gasket surface clean up (was quite rough removed 9 thousanths)
40 removed and replace pistons and checked ends fdor round
50 3 angle valve job (would have been 150 but i strippd the head)
15 check oil pump specs


thats all that i can currently think of so i guess i should be making better klists though ayyy
all though he will also be aquiring my head bolts and my engine bearings i dont think thery should go in hthe machine shop section
bearings for the sealed power ones should be less then 90 for the undersized rod and mains and the head bolts are as i said approx 75

boy i just got screwed
my buddy was supposed to bid on the hks 1mm head gasket for me
he didnt want to bidwhile i was there because there was still 3 hours and he didnt want to get sniped
he said hed do it before he went tobed

guess what i was willing to pay as much as 102 and the s&h guess what it went for 80..........
not to my freinds name either ..........

Thats weak! I hope you find a good deal on another one. I've had that happen to me a bunch of times... but usually its my own fault cause i forget to go back and bid later. I work at a video store and everytime someone has like an astronomical late fee on their account the story is always the same: "well, my friend said he/she would return it for me since i was busy or out of town" Yeah, it seems if something absolutely needs to get done you've got to do it yourself. At least that way when i forget, i an only blame myself :banghead: