Homerandabe69's 93 z28 Build Thread

**Madman337** · 03-31-2013, 05:29 PM

Loved the ship engine pics and the fact that your 93 looks like my 93, looking forward to seeing more on this build.

**Homerandabe69** · 03-31-2013, 05:35 PM

Originally Posted by Chris

Holy cow that engine is big. How often do you have to change the air filter lol.

Very nice build you have going on. I dont think I have ever heard of a machine shop getting a block turned around on time once.

We change the air filters about every 2 weeks usually. They have what is called a "turbo wrap" which is this ~15 foot long by ~2 feet wide filter material that we wrap around the intake side of each turbo.

Originally Posted by FormulaJoe

I'm liking your build! Nice choice of parts. Looking forward to checking out the rest of your progress.

Like popo said, it really is hard to fathom the immensity of those slow speed marine diesel engines. Really cool stuff though, I'm glad you gave us some info on that along with pictures.

TPIS had my block done in 2 weeks and 1 day in the spring when most shops get pretty busy... They quoted me "about 2 weeks" so I was pretty dang happy..

It definitely is pretty incredible to be in the engine room while these things are running. Just the size of the parts is a little insane.

So I am waiting on some 1000 grit wet/dry sandpaper to come in now from amazon since none of the stores here have it in stock. looks like this build will be continuing on tuesday now. I think I will start on switching out the interior from my donor car since that needs to get done sometime soon. More updates as they happen.

**Homerandabe69** · 03-31-2013, 05:37 PM

Originally Posted by Chris

Holy cow that engine is big. How often do you have to change the air filter lol.

Very nice build you have going on. I dont think I have ever heard of a machine shop getting a block turned around on time once.

Originally Posted by FormulaJoe

I'm liking your build! Nice choice of parts. Looking forward to checking out the rest of your progress.

Like popo said, it really is hard to fathom the immensity of those slow speed marine diesel engines. Really cool stuff though, I'm glad you gave us some info on that along with pictures.

TPIS had my block done in 2 weeks and 1 day in the spring when most shops get pretty busy... They quoted me "about 2 weeks" so I was pretty dang happy..

Originally Posted by Madman337

Loved the ship engine pics and the fact that your 93 looks like my 93, looking forward to seeing more on this build.

Thanks! definitely nice to get some encouragement on my first build thread. Ill see if I have some other interesting engine room pictures to show everyone.

**Madman337** · 03-31-2013, 07:35 PM

Just a suggestion but from my time working in a machine shop I would take the 1k sandpaper and "wear it out" first before using it on your cam bearings and also use very light pressure while sanding it, I used to polish cranks with a belt style machine and the paper belt that was on it felt smooth but polished it up very well.

**Homerandabe69** · 03-31-2013, 08:07 PM

That sounds like a good idea. Thanks for the suggestion.

Since I can't work on my engine until I get this cam bearing problem figured out, I decided to start on the interior again. I had already started on a few months ago when I got the car but was only about 1/3 done.

Notice the shitty interior on this car. Soon it will all be gone and looking awesome:

Incredibly dirty and disgusting inside

This is what it looked like earlier when I opened the door

Lots of little spiders have made my car their home

This is how my car looks right now. 6 months of dust collected from living right next to a highway.

Pretty soon there will be a third petal here

And there will be a much different shifter here

I still need to pull the driver side seat before I can continue. I am wondering if I can wire a car battery directly to the seat wires since I have no power in the car. The seat needs to be moved forward and back to access the bolts to remove it.

Once I get that figured out I can tear out all of the carpet and get it ready for the swap. I should probably start working on pulling the interior out of my donor car also.

**Paulster2** · 03-31-2013, 08:19 PM

Great write up! I see you are going to do a x24 conversion ... if not for that, I would have suggested you take the wiring harness and computer out of the donor and upgrade to that. The 93's computer is a bugger to upgrade/update/tune. The only thing it has going for it is the speed density if you are going radical enough to utilize it (though you can tune 94-97 computers for SD as well). Other than that, they are just a PITB. Tuning software for the 94-97 cars is easy to come by as well. As far as hooking the battery directly to the seat, I think if you just installed a battery into the car, making sure you don't have any live wires inappropriately grounded, you'd probably get power to the seat, but that is just a guess.

Those engines in the ships are mind blowing. If you try to look at them like you do the engines in our cars, your head will get all twisted around at the numbers. I mean, one of those pistons are as big as our cars, while one of the turbo chargers is bigger than an engine. 122 rpm? That is slow in comparison! Absolutely amazing!

Keep us up to date ... right now I have to live vicariously through write-ups like these!

EDIT: Another thought I had which I did with a donor car I had. I cut the metal for the trap door mod (fuel pump) out of the donor car about an inch bigger all the way around than what the trap door calls for, then used it to cover the hole in my driver. I drilled several holes for sheet metal screws, put some sticky back foam tape on there, and it sealed up without issue. The great thing is, since it is exactly the same shaped metal, it fits right in there without any modification and seals nicely. Since it's under the carpet, nobody ever sees that it's a different color. Oh, and I put POR15 on all the edges to ensure no rust. Just a thought

**Madman337** · 03-31-2013, 10:29 PM

Yeah I am going to do the T56 swap to mine as well and I was lucky enough to snag a donor 97 TA that is a running driving car with only 125K on it (mine is sitting at 256K+) right now and hasnt been opened up except for a set of lifters but I drive it every day. Your car looks just like mine but I dumped the seats for leather and I was lucky enough that the previous owner had a cover over the dash like yours so my dash is still perfect.

**Homerandabe69** · 03-31-2013, 11:13 PM

I started pulling the dash apart because I decided that I might as well just replace the whole thing. The dash pad up top, while looking perfect, completely shattered as soon as I touched it. I hope the other car's dash pad isn't in such brittle condition or this is going to suck.

***popo8*** · 04-01-2013, 03:24 AM

Originally Posted by Homerandabe69

I started pulling the dash apart because I decided that I might as well just replace the whole thing. The dash pad up top, while looking perfect, completely shattered as soon as I touched it. I hope the other car's dash pad isn't in such brittle condition or this is going to suck.

they usually are if they are original...

Larry (Popo8) Co-owner
LTXtech.com

***meissen*** · 04-01-2013, 06:15 AM

Awesome writeup! Love the pics of the freighter's engine. I work along the Detroit River in downtown Detroit and we have 1,000 foot freighters that go by during the warmer months and it's truly an amazing sight to see.

Like Larry said, unfortunately those dash pads are always brittle - especially being in the sun all the time.