s30 l28et engine update

I’m a little frustrated that with all the progress I’ve made I haven’t really finished anything on my to-do list for the s30.  I had it running, but was short one injector and didn’t have a turbo bolted up, so it ran … terribly.  I also had no shifter, and the seats weren’t bolted in so I was pretty surprised when I found out it was in reverse.  Oh right, and no clutch installed.

Note to self:  avoid that kind of excitement in the future.

There has been other progress in the meantime, mostly in the engine bay.

Intake

I bolted up the new intake manifold (from an n47 engine) that’s slightly bulkier than the black (n42) manifold I had, but is complete and a running car with a few extra pounds is better than a non-running car with a few less pounds.  I finished up the installation of the injectors now that I had enough threads to bolt them all in, and hooked up all the wiring.

Fuel

The 280zx-t fuel pump bolted right in to the rear frame like it was made to go there.  I still need to put the stock fuel tank back in (I removed it to clean out a bunch of sediment) and hook up all the lines to it.  Once that’s done, the mechanical portion of my fuel system is complete.  I’m planning to install Megasquirt (the mileage gains pay for the cost of a complete Megasquirt kit in around 4,000 miles) and tune that to replace the stock Nissan l28et ECU, which is notoriously inefficient and unreliable.

Exhaust/Turbo

I’ve finally assembled the turbocharger setup, with the wastegate spacer/flange and 35mm wastegate.  I have a spare wastegate and turbo that I’ll sell off, since I finally decided to use the t3/t04e Turbonetics hybrid turbo.  It should fit this engine perfectly, but I’d still like to get the compressor map for it to confirm.

My intake ductwork is on its way, I’ve decided on slightly oversized 2.5″ piping to the intercooler, then to the throttle body.  I only ordered the piping, since I need to figure out how I’m going to fit it and order an intercooler that’s the right size for the space I have.  Expect an update on that as soon as the intercooler ductwork is in.

The exhaust will happen after the car has been driveable for a bit and I trust everything else.  Exhaust fabrication is relatively quick and straightforward work, so I’m not too worried about it.  I’m much more concerned with the intake ductwork.