Joey J

Ooof, last update was in 2015.... Yikes! After my last post I lost motivation for a few months and ended up biting the bullet to pay a shop to do a full RB25DET swap. I found a reputable shop that has had experience in doing this exact swap. They had done it several times. So I'm feeling good about the whole thing, i cant wait to get the car back. A few weeks later, the car arrives at my home. Trying to get the car off the trailer.. It wouldn't start.... FML This was like in 2016 so im a bit foggy on the details. Battery needed a charge lots of cranking later it eventually started. 1 trip around the block it stalls out. I try and figure it out, i realize this is much more then I should have taken on. I send it back to the shop. They pay to get it sent back. Its a 4 hour trip from my home by the way. They take a few weeks working on it. Not sure what the problem was, i know he mentioned he had to replace the intake manifold gasket but that's all i can remember. Car comes back. Same problems... Basically the car would shut off once it got to operating temperature or there about. A few hours later it would crank back on I give up. I'm out of funds I cant send it back up to find out there will be additional expenses I just leave it in the garage and try not to think about it. Finally I decide I need to do something with this the z. It's at my parents place and my dad bought a electric car so my car has been sitting outside exposed to the elements for a few years. It's covered so its not getting wet at least. This past weekend I finally went to go work on it. Dropped in a new battery, new gas, new oil and new plugs. It cranks but no start.... I spent a good 8 hours troubleshooting and researching. I have a few things I plan to test this weekend hopefully I can get it at least to turn on. We'll see. On the bright side the Airrex air suspension is still fully functional surprisingly. Gave it some power and it all started right up. Bags filled up and held the air till the following day. I really did not expect that since the car has sat for so long being exposed to the elements. If I cant figure it out I'll have to send it to a shop which I really want to avoid. My experiences haven't been so good to say the least.

Yea the airride is done and working. I'm not sure when Airrex is making the announcement of the kits going for sale.

Made it to SEMA... I flights and hotel had been booked months before... We talk there... he still says he will get it done. I decided to give him a few weeks. I'm texting and calling almost daily at this point. Weeks go by and he says its almost ready. We set a date for pickup. He is no where to be found. After a 4 hour drive and hours of sitting outside of his shop. He tells me its ready and painted but he had an emergency and is out of town. LUCKILY, i peak through his window and see my car... Surprise, surprise... its still blue. I'm furious at this point. I call him threatening him with the cops. He comes the next day give me my car back and gives me all these stories as to why he couldn't get it done. It looked like he was going out of business. His electricity was cut off. At that point i started thinking back i never saw cars coming in to get work done. I never saw any employee of his... He created this illusion as to how well he was doing, but it was all a lie. So this is what i got back. Just like it was right before SEMA. 28 weeks the car was at his shop. 3 YES, that hole on the left side he just painted over. I cut it out for him to weld a plate but he ignored it. Took some pics while refueling I'm trying to look at the bright side, at least the rear is shaved. Then i check his work.... Sigh... So top pic is what i was supposed to be picking up. Bottom is what i actually got... I used this to blast him on social media. At that point i have zero motivation to get the car done and a few months go by which brings us to the present. I cleaned up the engine bay the other day to figure out what I'm going to do. Oh i forgot about the l28ET. The block was damaged so i decided to scrap that idea. Yesterday I stripped the motor so i could try and recoup some of the money from that. It had a P90 head and forged pistons so i should be okay. The plan now is dropping a RB25DET into it :devil: The task at hand is to do as much research as possible to so i can attempt to do this on my own. I got some pretty hefty quotes doing this at a shop. $8500 from one shop to do everything even get the motor. Another shop $2800 for labor and wiring fuel and ECU, this came out to about $7200 after buying all the needed parts. Cant afford that lol. I'll do my best to keep this thread updated. Most likely i'll be working on the car every weekend. I'm motivated to get this car back on the street again. I miss taking her to shows.

Okay, before continuing I want to give a bit of back story as to why i chose this shop 4 hours away from my home. The car was supposed to be a 2014 SEMA build going under Airrex USA. This guy had worked with them once before and he offered to do the job for just the cost of paint and materials which i couldn't refuse. BASF ended up sponsoring the Z and i got all the primer, paint, clear, hardener... EVERYTHING. I help up my end of the deal and paid our agreed amount anyway. The following picture are from the countless times i drove up to Soloelement on the weekend. Oh, did i mention its a 4 hour drive?! :sneaky: Next trip up there, nothing was done so i had to pull out my toolbox and get to work. The following trip up there I started with the welding... Yes i did... Never used a welder but i had to learn.. This was 4 weeks into the build because there was absolutely ZERO progress. There were a few more trips in between this but after all that I'm thinking there is not much else i can do. He needs to sand and do this thing. I focus on the motor because i need to have the swap ready for when i get the car back. I'm here rushing to get everything done because i don't want to be holding up the line. Fast forward. SEMA is only a couple of months away and the car has not been touched since i last did. I took the car in Late April... SEMA is in Early November. Suspension is in from Airrex so i get to work on that. Little did i know the car would sit in this same spot until weeks before SEMA. Pulled the old suspension and took this pic to show the evolution this car will be going through. Lukily i was able to find a local to swap suspensions with me since i needed a clean slate to work on. Ready for sale... Suspension is ready to accept the new Airrex bags. While i was down there i decided to do a few more things At this point i know the car is not going to make it but Soloelement keeps reassuring me that it will be ready. He's a man of his word so he will have it done. So i push on... Engine bay cleaned and scuffed up to the best that i could...I was so un-motivated at this point... Thinking did he really plan to just paint over this... Paint from BASF is in! Remember that spot the car was jacked up on... That's where he painted the engine bay... Yay! :confused: Oh, this is a week before car needs to Ship to Vegas. Were in Florida. He still tells me it will be done....

About to start working on the front suspension a bit before starting to pull the engine. Out with the old... In with the new... Removing those 30+ year old bushings, they're pretty comfy in there. Ooo la la... New tension control rod B) All bolted back up. What do we have here... Donor car??? We'll come back to that. This was the last time i drove her... It's been just about a year. Picture was taken April of 2014 Pulled the motor at a buddy's house as he has more space. Stripped the bay as much as i could Pulled off as much as i could that day... 4 hour drive to the shop that's was supposed to do my paint and body work. Thinking about that shop just makes me angry. Okay so... Next day... made it to the shop. The owner goes by Soloelement. NEVER DO BUSINESS WITH THIS GUY!

WOW, my last update was over a year ago. I gotta upload some pics and i'll post a proper update.

Would you mind elaborating on this? I don't understand if the 2nd number is for a p90 head and why your including it.

Unfortunately I don't have the block. A machine shop has it and it's tough for me to get to it. I'll try and find out asap. I beleive there was a sensor by the oil filter.

I beleive turbo and non turbo both use F54 blocks but I was hoping to confirm that between the years there are no changes.

Hey everyone, I'm in the process of doing an l28et swap into my 280z but the block is damaged and I'm in need of a new one. From my understanding I need a F54 block. Are there differences between the years or between turbo and non? Any help is appreciated!

Wow, i can't believe its been almost a year since my last update. Hopefully i can upload all my pics and post something up this weekend. Thanks buddy! Yep, an update is definately over due. Haha, go for it! Thanks! It wont be that color for much longer B) That was actually just a render. The car should be ready to go in a 2-3 weeks. Thanks buddy, appreciate it! I believe they have 5 inch lips.

Thanks for the tip! Gotta get that done ASAP. I just PM'd you I need some info on those lower sleeves.

Haven't done much to the z but just wanted to give an update. Changed the fuel filter I put right after the tank before the main filter. This was only a few months old and was so dirty Right before a long trip to a car show a u joint goes out making a loud squeak while driving. It was the biggest mission to pull off the half shaft. Those bolts were rusted on!! I had to buy a legit set of wrenches. Finally was able to get it out with a lot of pb blaster. I got the new joints in. It looks purdy :) That weekend I went to a preety far car meet. The car made it back and forth like a champ. Some random pics :)

The T3 kit is good but wasn't suited for my needs. The mckinney kit allows for height adjustment without affecting the shock travel and allowed me to go as low as possible. The T3 set allows for height adjustment by adjusting by compressing the shock. To get to where i wanted to i would have blow the shocks within days if not less.

Nice Z! I like how you document all your work with so many pics :thumbup: