hady260z Posted October 12, 2011 Posted October 12, 2011 owsome work jamo's .. lot of info i got here from you.. Quote
jamo240 Posted October 15, 2011 Author Posted October 15, 2011 Thanks Hady260Z....glad you're getting something out of the post...that's the idea! Well, the RB25 is almost finished...just waiting on the sump (subject of a separate post) to come back from the platers...I will post a few pics so you can get the idea. The car is configured to take the engine now, so it's a fairly straight forward job to install it now. I then have to finish off the exhaust system and get on to the wiring. I have decided to give the speedo to Ringwood Speedo service and see if they can graft the electronic bits into the speedo housing so I can run the R33 skyline speed sensor/ECU setup while retaining the original look of the 240Z cluster....will let you know how that goes. That's about the only confuzzling thing I've got left to sort out...the rest I'm pretty comfy with now. I figure I've got about 2 working weeks left in the build...but it will take me a couple of months to find those two weeks! Cheers Jamo Quote
Sirpent Posted October 16, 2011 Posted October 16, 2011 Must admit I havnt looked at your thread in a few weeks, but what a treat it was to do so. What can be said in words that isnt all summed up by Cheers John Quote
jamo240 Posted October 16, 2011 Author Posted October 16, 2011 Righto race fans. We're getting down to the sharp end now, so I thought I'd post a few pics of the engine going together. Quote
jamo240 Posted October 16, 2011 Author Posted October 16, 2011 And here are some of the heat shielding around the turbo...nothing gives me the irrits more than a turbo engine burning the daylights out of everything that's within cooee of the turbine and exhaust. Cheers Jamo Quote
jamo240 Posted October 31, 2011 Author Posted October 31, 2011 Ok one and all. The hits just keep coming with my two-fitty Zed. Here is the final shot you'll see of the engine bay before the RB goes in. This one shows all the power steering bits in place. I made the steel pipe for the fluid reservoir - pump feed as that way I don't have to worry about heat-ageing of rubber hose near the exhaust. If you're looking for a plater in the Melbourne area, I can strongly recommend Warners Metro in Bayswater. Their work has been really superb, and very reasonable prices. Next stop is the reinstallation of the engine after I put a couple of 90 degree bends in the heater pipes...that's all that's left...yippee! Cheers Quote
jamo240 Posted October 31, 2011 Author Posted October 31, 2011 OK...I lied....HERE are the last pics of the engine bay. Stab bar is now back in with re-plated bush brackets and I've put the splash guard back on. This took a stack of time to panel beat all the dents out and then get powder coated. I thought I'd better take a pic now before it starts getting scratched! New bolts round it out nicely to look like factory original. Even with the power steering installation, I'm happy it look factory. Oh, BTW, all the plating I got done including the sump which some of you may have seen in my other post cost under $100. It's money well spent to make your resto look better. Cheers lads Jamo Quote
Sirpent Posted October 31, 2011 Posted October 31, 2011 Jamo ! Looking very Shmick ! Like your work Quote
jamo240 Posted October 31, 2011 Author Posted October 31, 2011 Thanks Sirpent. It's coming along pretty quick now, so it's fun to be doing all the finishing work that makes the car start to look complete. You're obviously having a whale of a time with adaptors and CAD drawing and all that. I will be interested to see how the whole thing turns out when it's done...should have beautiful throttle response with a large blown engine. Cheers Jamo Quote
jamo240 Posted November 9, 2011 Author Posted November 9, 2011 Well Gang, the engine is now complete and will be back in the car by the time you read this! I have a couple of turbo ducts to finalise prior to plating, but otherwise it's all done. The exhaust dump and turbo heat shield will go on for good with the engine back in the car. Then it's over to wiring and fire it up. Interestingly, the VL Commodore turbo speedo drive fits straight into the R33 skyline gearbox in place of the electronic unit. The standard 240Z speedo drive cable then screws straight onto the VL drive. So getting the speedo to work is that easy (although the VL turbo has a diff ratio of 3.45:1, so the calibration will be out a bit with a 3.7:1). BUT...that means the Apexi FC ECU will not get a speed input. I'm not sure what that is going to do, so we'll see what happens, and if there are problems, I can get a remote signal generator made by CAE in Castlemaine. It's an adaptation of the VL turbo setup apparently, which uses the cable drive I have just mentioned, with the signal to the ECU being generated by electronics mounted in the speedo cluster (along with the speedo dial that the driver looks at). I'm not too sure why Holden did this, as the VL had a 90 degree angle drive hanging off the speedo drive, which was a bulkier thing than if they'd just used an electronic sender like what is in the R33 skyline...am sure they had their reasons! Exhaust wise, all the bits arrive today, and I found some neat 3.5" (pipe dia) V-band clamps made by Kustom bits in Croydon. These are easily the best choice for an easily serviced joint which also allows a bit of radial movement to ease fitting the exhaust up. I have decided to run 3.5" up to the rear suspension, then come down to 3" from there and through the muffler. That should give better noise reduction during cruise. I'm not worried about how loud it is at full noise, it's when I'm cruising at 100km/h that I don't want it droning away! If it knocks the power output around, or forces me to pull spark out I'll make a 3.5" option for the odd occasions when I need the extra performance. Once all that's sorted out, I'll get a reconfigured radiator made up with the outlets in the right place. I am thinking of going a copper/brass radiator with 45mm core (3 tubes thick) and 12-13 fins per inch (FPI - the taller 0.450" high fins, not the 0.310" low fins) in a split flow configuration. By running an extra tube core (2 instead of 3), the water flow rate through the core can slow down too much, while the extra core thickness can slow down air flow through the radiator if the fins are too tight. That causes the radiator to perform badly. Hence opening the air-side of the core up by going to high fins both improves air flow while reducing tube count. The smaller tube count then increases coolant flow rate/turbulence through the core. Turbulent rather than laminar flow is essential to the performance of radiators. It'll be painted black to look factory. Oh, the pic of the engine in the car shows the inlet manifold upper removed...I took it off because it gets in the way of my engine lifting rig...it's back on now!! While it would have been easier to use one of those Greddy GTR style manifolds, I like long inlet runners for good low end and mid-range torque. It intrigues me that so many road going RB engines are converted from having long inlet runners and short exhaust runners into having short inlet runners and long exhaust runners (via header manifolds)!! It's exactly the opposite of what is required for road cars! Although I have always believed any performance reduction can be overcome by a couple of Holley-equipped stickers on the quarter windows. Cheers Jamo Quote
luvemfast Posted November 9, 2011 Posted November 9, 2011 Looking good Grant. Are you on track to drive it to the Xmas BBQ? Quote
jamo240 Posted November 10, 2011 Author Posted November 10, 2011 Hey Simon I am going to struggle to get it to the Xmas party...I have a bit or work stuff on over the next few weeks which is going to slow down my progress, and I can't see me having it all done in time. It's a shame, as I wanted to get there, but think I'll have to pick up on the next event to put it to the tribe for a vote! You'll be pleased to know your ring and pinion is now happily mounted in the car and ready to smoke em up! Cheers Jamo Quote
luvemfast Posted November 10, 2011 Posted November 10, 2011 You're going to mount my ring and smoke afterwards? Shame it won't be ready mate, looking forwards to see her Quote
jamo240 Posted November 15, 2011 Author Posted November 15, 2011 Hellooo!!! Luvemfast....there won't be any ring mounting...especially of a 280ZX driver!! I do wish I could get it to the Xmas party, and it's so close it's driving me nuts. Just doing the last 127 5 minute jobs, and I don't want to put it out there until it's done and dusted. Looking forward to meeting a few more Z owners there though. Cheers Jamo Quote
MaygZ Posted November 15, 2011 Posted November 15, 2011 Ring mounting ??? Nut driving ???? This is a family forum!! Jamo, you could finish your list of things to do in 10 hours and 35 minutes (127 x 5)! Plenty of time. I bet I'm now towards the bottom of the list of Z owners you want to meet ... now Quote
jamo240 Posted November 17, 2011 Author Posted November 17, 2011 Geez MaygZ...when you put it like that it's a pushover! I will put a highlighter through your name as someone to meet at the xmas party, that's for sure!!! Jamo Quote
jamo240 Posted December 3, 2011 Author Posted December 3, 2011 Hey guys Here's a photo expozay of my exhaust...it's back in the car now. I made it 3.5" back to the rear suspension, and then it necks down to 3" up to the rear muffler. The hanger you can see near the flex coupler hangs off the gearbox, and I also added an extra mount at the rear muffler...this stops them pulling the spot welds out of the frame rail on standard single mount. The spring hangers are how we used to mount exhausts on the Grp A Skylines. Quote
MaygZ Posted December 4, 2011 Posted December 4, 2011 They look like valve springs?? Very neat and functional looking set up. Good job. MaygZ Quote
jamo240 Posted December 4, 2011 Author Posted December 4, 2011 MaygZ you are amazing....how can one man know so much!!!!? They are indeed the inner valve spring off an L series. I'm not sure if it was an E30 or E88, but the exhaust doesn't seem to mind, as long as I don't over-rev it. If you want the fully sick look, you can use the outer instead. Cheers Jamo Quote
KatoKid Posted December 4, 2011 Posted December 4, 2011 Sweet Jamo! Stainless all the way? Where did you by your bends from? Im also intending to use V band clamps but havent experienced them before. Are they 100% leak free and strong enough for a road car? David. Quote
jamo240 Posted December 4, 2011 Author Posted December 4, 2011 Thanks Dave! Sorry I missed the xmas party too...for some reason I thought it was on Sunday....oh well, next time! I got the 3.5" stainless bends from Nizpro...I am not sure he sells them ordinarily, but he's got them, and we went to trade school together, so he looks after me. That said, I got the 3" bends, muffler and cone from Best Mufflers in Sydney. I think the guy's name is Chris (don't quote me), but he is super helpful, and they have a great on-line store. I ordered and it turned up a couple of days later....I can strongly recommend them. For the V-band clamps, I used Kustom Bits in Croydon. He is also a really helpful guy, and the parts are really well made. I am very confident they will be in the car many years from now. They come together perfectly, and provided you weld them carefully so as not to deform them, they will pull up nicely once all finished...I tacked them in 4-5 places before welding all the way around with the TIG. You may also note I left a bit of pipe sticking through to help pilot one into the other....that is the only thing with the V-band joint...you need a tame centipede to hold everything in place while you get the V-Band on. For the final installation, I gave it a wipe of silicon sealant. The guy at Kustom Bits also said a few rally car guys have used them because flange joints weren't holding up in competition applications, resulting in leaks, and then fines when they went past the noise nazi testing stations. They have not have failed joints since using them. They also give you the benefit or a little radial compliance when putting the whole lot together to get things sitting just right. I got the flex joint through RP Wallis in Oakleigh. Bevin is the guy to talk to down there, and they have just about every kind of pipe and silicon hose and clamping system you can get. They have some guy in Sydney or Brisbane who custom makes the flex couplers to the diameter and length you want. Mine is 3.5" in and out, and larger through the flex part. It cost about $120. I have gone to a lot of trouble to isolate noise out of the rear end this time around. Given your head is more-or-less on top of the rear axle in a 240, I wanted to minimise structure and air-borne noise spoiling the ride. Hence everything that rotates or is connected to things that rotate is bushed and isolated to stop the noise getting to the sheet metal in the first place. Let me know if you need any other info! CHeers Jamo Quote
Riceburner Posted December 4, 2011 Posted December 4, 2011 Wow, looks awesome Jamo. I hope you'll have a mirror underneath at the next show, thats artwork Quote
KatoKid Posted December 4, 2011 Posted December 4, 2011 Thanks Jamo. I recently had to replace cracked exh manifolds on the Pajero ($400 each from Mits) and instead ended up buying headers from Best Mufflers ($530). Found them good to deal with and thought they would be good for SS bends etc. Thanks also for all the other tips. Sounds like V bands are the go. I don't have a TIG so I'm going to tack with the MIG and then find someone to finish in TIG....hint , hint! Cheers Quote
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.