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First oil change today. 523 miles. I pulled the drain plug and the oil came out BLACK as expected. I had a buildup on the end of the plug, which I also expected being a fresh engine. Topped her off again, with the Risilone ZDDP and went from 10W30 to some thicker 20W50 cheap oil "O'Reilley's 20W50" (hey its got the ratings....) to see if it raises the oil pressure up a tad. So, this will stay in for 1,000 miles, then I will switch to a synthetic and a new filter of course. The rear main seal weeps a tiny bit on the ground, but very acceptable. Perhaps this thicker oil will stop that. Overall, the engine has performed as expected. So, for those that have been following along, this is a pretty good way to go for a Z car engine. Pics to follow. Cheers!

The Factory manual states 18 degrees at idle. I did 20. It runs GREAT! 91 octane fuel up here, which is 93 everywhere else, 11.5 to 1 compression...no pinging, pulls like a frieght train. When all else fails, follow the manual I guess. Everyone told me the "A" cam was too weak.....my exhaust manifold won't work......well, it WORKS. Its a quick Z car.

I manufactured a bunch of them out of aluminum if anyone is looking for one: https://importbible.com/shop/spare-parts/sun-visor-clip-mount

36-38 max at 100 KPA ? If so I would back that off to about 34 . No problem to be at 40 at light cruise

Sounds good, thanks Steve. For now I will build a conservative timing table with max 36-38 degrees. I've been messing with my GM IAC I got from Protunerz. Managed to catapult the pintle into oblivion a few times. I didn't realize there is no stop. My max homing/closed/moving is at 160 steps. The IAC properly extends and stops at whatever CLT temperature is at. If I set the IAC at always on/hold current, it is making high pitched annoying noise. I will leave it at 'Moving' for now. I attached a fused 12V supply to it without my car running. What I _couldn't do_ is to use the 'Idle Warmup Duty' and put the max 160 steps in the 60-80F range to make the IAC completely close. Not sure, if this is because the car is not operational?

Be conservative with the timing under load . Yes the engine can run at 45 degrees at light cruise with low Kpas . I would agree that 34 at full load is more realistic . Make yourself some detonation headsets and listen to your engine . Make adjustments accordingly

In other news. The bummer of hearing my brake option wasn't available made me want to see the other parts that showed up this summer the day after I left, so I asked my dad to open up the boxes and send some pics. Got new spindles and hubs from T3 in a scratch and dent sale. Literally days before I saw the Facebook post I had already messaged them about potentially needing parts while I was still stranded in Eastern Oregon when the bearing failure tore up the hub. Dad said they looked damn near perfect, so either T3 is super generous about their discounted products, or the guys picking the parts were the ones emailing me and took pity and grabbed the best examples for me knowing the story already. Alvin from Z Car Garage posted a reply to my Facebook post on dpan stating they're working with the same engineer from the previous brake kit for the next option, so I guess I'll just keep waiting in the meantime.

Great, thanks!

This part of the Megamanual might help. https://www.megamanual.com/begintuning.htm#spark https://www.megamanual.com/ms2/tune.htm

You have to look at your MAP tables. At high vacuum (low pressure) you can run more advance for a cleaner burn and better efficiency and better throttle response. At higher RPM under open throttle most people have found that about 34 degrees is where you get the most power. You can read a bunch in the L6 FAQ sub-forum about having timing set "all-in" at about 2500 RPM or various numbers around that. Meaning that it stops advancing and just hold at that advance number from there to the high limit. If I was starting with an MS tune I might first just mimic a stock engine's timing curves. Nissan provides them in the Engine Electrical chapters. You have to do some translation. And the charts are in distributor speed so that's where you have to do the doubling. From back in the days when they had distributor tuning machines. The early FSMs have an actual graph. Later ones have just a table and let you imagine the lines. Here is 72 and 78. 78 would be like your engine probably if it's a stock 290Z engine. They have different options for different markets and different transmissions. Generally, lower advance is for emissions states, like CA. Reduced timing is cleaner. notice that they give the starting point, zero degrees at XX RPM. So the first entry shows vacuum advance starting at 200 mm Hg, and increasing to 15 engine RPM at 350 mmHg. Centrifugal starts at at 1200 RPM and rises to 17 degress at 2500 RPM. It's like a mini general physics course. It can be confusing, especially since centrifugal is tied to crankshaft rotation but vacuum is just tied to air pressure in the manifold. Sometimes I still wonder if I'm thinking about it right. It's easier to grasp if you have a stock distributor on a running engine with a timing light to learn on. Good luck. 1978 EE chapter. 1972 EE chapter.

Thanks, NewZed. Appreciate your input. I did arrive at the same conclusion about the cam timing finally - two different things. Appreciate confirming it. I was way overthinking it lol. I think I finally nailed the initial timing config using 0 commanded degrees in the Fixed Timing section of the TunerStudio. I set 60 degrees in the 36:1 section, tooth #1 Angle (deg BTDC), which confirms Chickenman's statement about counting the gaps times 10 degrees for 36 trigger wheels (I have 6 gaps, 60 degrees). If I count teeth, my hall sensor is pointed at the 7th tooth. Question: I checked some of the guys' tunes on this board (cyrgnus and madcaw's) being curious about their total timing on their engines, and most of them have 41-43 degrees by 3000 rpms. I have a stock n/a engine with a N47 head, should i go with a more conservative number like 36-38 degrees?

Not sure exactly where you're going or what the current problem is, but I think that the first comment above is incorrect, and the second one is correct. Also, you were talking about cam timing and ignition timing together at one point (the 4 degrees thing). They are completely separate as far as spark goes. You could move cam timng all over the place by switching holes on the sprocket and it would not affect when the spark occurs, relative to crankshaft position. Timing sensors are all measuring where the crankshaft is in its rotation. Cam timing is also relative to crankshaft position but adjusted separately from ignition timing. Just some hopefully helpful commentary.

Found some posts suggesting to use 0 degree fixed timing, this way I am avoiding any issues with timing light/wasted spark results. I don't have any timing marks (-10 to 10) besides the timing pointer I got with the trigger wheel. Tested with 0 degrees fixed advance and 0 degrees cranking advanced using 2 timing lights (old school with a variable knob on the back and the modern electronic one set at 0), both showed the TDC. My 36:1 Tooth #1 Angle (deg BTDC) was set at 60 degrees.

THANKS FOR THE KIND WORKS BEN. OUTSIDE PIC WITH DOORS AND CARBON ROOF ON.

I was able to run the car with 70 degrees trigger crank wheel, 10 fixed. With advance timing light set at 0 degrees, I was seeing synced timing marks. Now, back to the previous post about doubling the timing light to 20 degrees to check my timing? Is it needed or I am good to go? I turned off the fixed timing, the car ran very rich, stumbling. I realized my MAP sensor (intake mounted unit from a used LS1 vehicle) was not working, it was stuck on 100 kpa. I am going to get a GM wall mounted unit. Saga continues. Thanks! 2024-10-18-auto-timing.mlg

For what engine? For the L28ET It's a standard T3 flange. I think some of the 4 cylinder engines used a T25 flange.

I re-read Chickenman's post here: and set my 36:1 to 70 degrees, fixed timing at 10, the advance timing light at 0 degrees, and I have the timing pointer properly synced with my balancer's timing mark. I am still looking for those 'missing' 4 degrees Found another thread on setting up initial timing here "Please note this is nothing to do with cam timing or mechanical advance etc. you can set these independent of the bottom end using a vernier pulley." I guess I was confusing 2 different things here. Per that poster's write-up, the advance (variable) timing light needs to be set at double degree setting due to the wasted spark mode. So if I am commanding 10 fixed, the light should be at 20 degrees.

Circling back, I ended up getting it to work. The wiring is not stock, so I did not have to hijack the brake feed wire. The 5 wires which have continuity into the hazard switch, I wired to the 4way hazard line and to each of the blinkers. There are 4 other wires which have continuity with each pair i.e. 1 and 2 have continuity and 3 and 4 have continuity. I just one of those pairs to hijack the signal turn feed so when the hazards are on, the signal lights do not get the signal flasher feed. I hope that all makes sense. Disclaimer: not a mechanic.

Now I am overthinking the initial timing configuration. My hall sensor is pointed at the 7th tooth. I found some posts advising to count the gaps and official doc saying I have to count teeth. If I set my Tooth #1 Angle (deg BTDC) at 70*, and command 10* at fixed, my advance timing light is at 10* - I get sync between the pointer and my harmonic balancer mark. I am confused about my timing chain/cam sproket 4* advance that I did years ago. Can someone please tell me if I need to add these 4 degrees to the 70* to have a "real" 10 degrees since the ECU is not aware of the mechanical cam advancement? If I use 74 degress for 36:1, 10 degrees fixed, my advance timing light at 10 degrees, I am off my pointer/balancer mark. Appreciate your input. Thanks.

Morning, I ended up getting a 3" exhaust pipe tip and welding it to my stock air cleaner box: The relay board is installed, I left some fuses out while setting up the initial timing, the board will be covered with a stock ECU plastic cover: I installed the Microsquirt ECU on the passenger side to separate wires carrying 12V for inj/ign/WB etc from the relay board on the driver's side. This is a fabbed bracket: and in the installed position: Reflashed the stock ECU firmware with the msextra code, all sensors are calibrated (with the exception of the Spartan3 WB). The GM IAC will be worked on later while I am setting up idle. The coils passed the test from the TS. The LS2 truck coils are set at 3.5ms dwell per the manual.

That long?? Always surprises me when I see their recent posts with people getting brakes installed. Must have been waiting forever.

If I haven’t mentioned yet - build yourself some detonation headsets and listen for knock . It’s surprisingly easy to hear and cheap to build . Still need a knock sensor mounted someway on the block . It’s easier than trying to wire in a module on the MS . We can look at your tune but would be guessing whether it’s too aggressive . Search on you tube . Besides the knock sensor I have 40$ in the set up . I was detonating on a NA motor but wasn’t hearing it and it was destroying #6 piston . I ended up pulling quite a bit of timing around 4kish .

Car sold about a month ago to a real enthusiastic local guy here in NH. I wish him the best of luck, and hope he enjoys it as much as I have over the years. Thanks to everyone who followed along on this long journey. Purchased 2007, sold 2024.

Ugh, I've been over a year and a half now. Stoptech as a whole is not looking good. As an alternative you might lookup ZSM Custom on IG. I believe they were working on a kit with AP Racing calipers.

You're a crazy man - in a good way.