The rebuild of my Z.

Yep pretty much. All the wires check out, the only thing left is that the fuel injectors went bad. All 6 of them. At the same time. Crazy. But I know of a couple other Z people that have had it happen to them. Gonna test the injectors directly tomorrow to see if I can get them to click open.

Got the injectors clicking and put it all back together. When I started it, it cranked for a couple seconds then there was a single loud BANG under the car and it continued cranking. Still cranks and doesn't fire. I'm going to have to give up, there is literally nothing left to check or fix, this shouldn't be possible.

OK here is the post I have been wanting to do for a long time. I went through and quadruple-checked everything. Turns out 2 of my 3 ECUs have issues. Finally found which one is good.


The car runs. And the sound it makes is incredible with the open y-pipe and cams. Could only run it for a minute since its so late, and it that time, holding at 2k rpm like the nissan manual says to do, I didn't get any oil pressure on the aftermarket gauge, which has me a little worried. It didn't make any bad noises, though. Not even a lifter tick. May have knocked one of the pressure gauge wires out or something. Will check again in the morning.

WOOT!

Almost there! Driveable today [You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]

Yup, gotta put the rest of the exhaust on, s'about it.

Took it out and down the street a block. I don't know if its sputtery because of cams or some other reason but it smooths out over 2500rpm. Smokes, but thats only the headers burning off the crap I got on them. Everything pretty much works except the oil pressure sensor. Gonna have to order a new one I guess, and its gonna be a bitch to get on with the headers. Spaced the hood to fit the intake but it still won't close. Putting the rest of the exhaust on now.

You're running, that's 99% of the battle.

Congrats!

Oh god I wish I had a video camera so people could hear this thing. Had to hammer a dent into the hood to get it to close. Couple bulbs burned out on the tail but thats no biggie. The voice still works and is still annoying. Power windows, mirrors, safety lights on the doors, etc all still working. Now that theres oil all in it, I gotta get out the timing light and do that.

Its misfiring like crazy. I used my fuel pump which has been wired to always be on with the key turned, and pumped the fuel out into a gas can before I tried to start it a while back. And I put like 3 gallons of good gas into it. But I don't think I got all of the old gas out, and right now the misfires are completely patchy and random like something is in the fuel. It will hold idle fine, then start to flutter, then go back to idling fine, then randomly die. Bright side is no smoke at all now and the temp holds beautifully.

Just a quick show of what the hood mod looks like. This is the most common way to make the pathfinder manifold fit. I think it would look fine with some rubber skirts around it. Had to hammer a dent into the hood also because even spaced like that, it still wouldn't fit. Oh and I was driving it in the rain. Hoping it would wash off the cat prints a bit so I'd have an easier time on the prep to clean and paint.






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glad to hear its running...

Thanks but theres still a lot to do considering it misfires like crazy at idle and lower rpms. And its definitely the spark signal because I can't get even a consistent spark to run my timing light. Just fluttery patches. Of course, this timing light is probably older than the vehicle. And a couple ECUs tested faulty also, leaving me with a beat up one from the wrong year that uses different voltages for the O2 sensor and possibly the wrong resistance for the injectors which could burn out prematurely if thats the case. So for now, I'll switch CAS sensors since I have 3 and right now I'm running an un-tested one from the junkyard. (only way to test them is to use them and see if they work) I have 2 more and I have a feeling that will clear up the misfiring problem, and it will hold an idle. Then to track down the correct ECU so that it doesn't run too rich/lean and to replace the broken narrowband sensor and the oil pressure sending unit. THEN it will be time for the body work. And eventually, the seats/harnesses and other little trinkets. I may be able to get a video soon just so people can see how crappy it runs at low RPM and how stunning it sounds at high RPM. I know it has some torque, because revving from 3000-4500 rocks the car a good bit, and I can barely do that by pushing on it full force with its suspension mods. We'll see.

/rant

Actually managed to get a video thanks to my sis before she took off on a trip to Cambodia. Like I said, it isn't running quite right yet but I didn't have time to iron it all out and find another ECU yet. I wasn't getting on it hard because residential neighborhood.

sounded pretty good man... keep us posted on the updates man!

Definitely sounds a bit angry. I like that.

Thanks, thats about what I was hoping for on the sound. Its pretty much what all the other ones I see on videos with the same mods sound like, so I'm pretty satisfied.

I want to hear the lopey idle.

As would I, it only works for a couple seconds before the crank sensor sputters its feedback and the car dies, though. So this weekend hopefully another sensor won't be bad. Won't have another video camera for a long time, though.

Welp one step forward and 2 steps back. Got it running great, holding idle, very smooth. Going to start it up one last time to set the timing and the starter fried. Granted its probably 20 years old or more and I've been very demanding of it trying to get the car started a lot but just

Gotta save up for a few months probably to get that fixed so we will see.

Welp after the starter cooled and I trickle charged up the battery, it fired right up. Good and smooth, no misfires, no smoke. LOTS of valvetrain noise. Did the break-in to fill the lifters with oil. Guess its just a part of aftermarket cams, and it may iron itself out in a while. Some people were reporting break ins for the cams at 300-600 miles and I've done maybe 2 with it so far. Got the timing set and the idle sensors and speed all set up. Need a couple more trinkets like a new oil pressure sending unit and a correct ECU. And I think I can officially call the engine part finished.

In the video I linked earlier, I discovered the issues were linked with instructions being wrong on the actual Nissan manual and the distributor was a tooth off, as well as the sensor in it being spotty. So what you were watch there, if you saw it, was it actually running with the timing somewhere around 50-60 degrees advanced where it should be 20. Now it has gobs of power. Its no muscle car, but it does well enough to be fun. From the butt meter, I'd say its around 190-200+ hp at the crank, possibly a little more. Have to get it checked sometime. Its enough to hold me back in my seat a good bit. Feels a little quicker than the Buick Riviera Supercharged my mother just got a week ago. So, happy with it.

Got nothing to do now but save up to get the rest of the things. So I temporarily covered all the primer parts with black rattlecan (will get a full sand down and flat-black hopefully anyway so right now I'd just prefer it to all be one color). Took the side markers and got em blacked out. Nightshades is awesome stuff. Took the hood off and hammered it out a bit to fit better. Going to re-position the vents to be inverted so that they sink down into the hood instead of stick up. Then after I get the last little powertrain trinkets, it will go full force into getting sanded down and flat-blacked.

Got it street legal and repossessed the sub and amp that the Xterra was borrowing. Can tool around in it now. Still got some valve noise on a couple cylinders but no biggie. I think I can safely say its faster than the Xterra in a straight line also. Which is still not really at the level of modern sports car quick. I can't spin tires, but I never could and those tires are sticky as all hell and 3 sizes larger than stock. It just kinda drops the ass end, gets a ton of traction, and takes off like a bullet. So nothing to post for a while until I get body work done. Thanks for checking out the engine build if you are reading this :)

Painted flat black. Extras thrown back on. Now to finish patching up the interior.

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Just a couple notes:

Mesh wheels are hard as @#&* to clean.

The Z is getting ~36mpg right now. This is with the ECU that is incompatible with the O2 sensor, so that sensor is unplugged for now. I guess thats one of the perks of removing a lot of weight and making the engine more efficient.

OK, its been a while. Time to call it done officially. Its been 600 miles since I finished on the engine, without a drop of fluid lost or a puff of smoke. Got a couple pics of it OUTSIDE the garage, and a little higher res since I used my father's Android phone instead of the wife's 1st gen iPhone:

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looks good man, great job