zgeezer

I gave away a perfectly good early 280Z tank last week because it simply did not fit into my 240 as well as the original tank. Unless you are racing or want the small additional capacity of the 280Z, I would suggest you search for the threads on "surge tank", ATL black box ring, and 240sx fuel pump. There are as many takes on "surge tanks", as there are seeds in a Florida watermelon. The ATL black box is slick and clean, but requires a machined ring that can be purchased from one of this site's members. I've purchased a 240sx tank and will cut out the pump ring and mount the 24sz pump and gauge sensor in my 240. They all work. They all provide you with a quick and easier plumbing upgrade g

This is a common issue and there are several posts on this forum that address it; just do a search. Other than leaking at the corners of the windshield, here are some others. If you have air conditioning, check to make sure the water that condenses on the evaporator coils is directed outside the car. Early Z's with aftermarket A/C will often leak water onto the footwells. Finally, pull the louvered plate that covers the windshield wiper motor and mechanism. Note that on each end of that cavity drains into a small hole and then down a rubber drain onto the ground behind the fender. If these drains are plugged with debris... usually tree leafs- water will back up and rust out the seam. Water, then will enter the footwells through the seam. Hope this helps. g

The easiest swap is to use the complete early bolt on Maxima brackets complete with their calipers and rotor. The brackets are swapped so they mount in front of the rear struts. The only problem is to reroute your parking brake cable. A major advantage to the complete Maxima disk brake swap is your existing stock alloy 14 inch wheels, such as 6 point stars will bolt on without interference. There must be about 500 postings on the different variations of disk brakes. Do a search and enjoy an hour's read. g

I used POR 15 10 years ago, when I sandblasted my 240Z. It goes on easily dries to a glass like finish. Will change color when exposed to sun. Requires care when prepping for paint. If you are sloppy or don't follow instructions, you can expect paint applied over the top of POR 15, to delaminate. If you simply spray rattle can paint over the top, without preparation, as I have.... you can expect paint to delamination from the POR in about a year. g

I have my 5.3 with AT and Sanderson shorty headers installed. I need practical advice relating to quiet exhaust with little or no rpm related "drone". My design goal is to have a quiet vehicle with no drone in the cabin at cruise speeds. I'm looking at 2000 rpm -2300 rpm. Right now I'm considering the following two designs and variations. Design 1 is 2.25 pipes into one X pipe continuing into a muffler with two 2.25 inlets and one 3.0 exhaust. Tip would extend out even with or slightly short of the bumper. Design 2 would be 2.25 inch pipes into one y pipe with 2.25 inlets and one 3.0 exit into a single muffle with 3 inch inlet and exit. Same tip location as Design 1. Design 3 A variation of design 1 would be to use a 2.5 inch pipe, with inserts, to an X pipe with 2.5 inch inlets with 2.25 inch exhaust and then out to the same rear muffler (2 x 2.25 in and 1 x 3.00 inch out). I understand that the exhaust system is only one part of the complete "quiet" system; the other being lots of sound proofing and dampening material in the cabin. This is well into the works. Does anyone have any practical experience relating to the effect exhaust tube size, X pipes or straight cross over pipes, or multiple "in line" muffles might have on "quiet". "Quiet", I define as stock late model GT Mustangs or Camaros before they are fitted with aftermarket pipes. I like to carry on conversations with my passenger at cruise without shouting and to enter any cafe after 6 hours in the car and understand that soft spoken waitress without lip reading. Any suggestions? g

I'll second all of this. Great place, some of my family have retired at lake arenal. I suggest you take a night time tour around the back side of Volcan Arenal... ignore all the signs telling you that the tour is at your own risk, don't read the signs informing you of the pyroplastic flow that wiped out several small villages. Go to see the glowing rocks being thrown up out of the crater and rolling down the side of the Volcan.... they are noisy and you can hear them rolling down hill. Considering that some are the size of cars or small houses, this can be a real treat. Close off the night at Volcan Arena by visiting some of the hot spring spas and restuarants on the lake side of Volcan Arena.

I agree. 3M Schutz uses a special gun.... a very simple inexpensive gun, but it goes on quickly and will last a looooong time. Mine is going on 5 years with no separation.... I painted over the Schutz and some of that has separated. g

I have installed a 5.3 truck engine with a/t. I used the Street & Performance full smog engine harness and the GM engine module. I would like to install cruise control. I have the cruise control module and cable from a 2000 1500 5.3 Chevy truck. I do not have the loom. Does the cruise control module operate separately from the engine control module? Has any one installed a stock GM electric cruise into an s30? Any help, any information relating to wiring schematics, would be a great help. g

Thanks, that's one I won't worry about. g

My Lm7 5.3 truck engine has three sensors mounted in the block directly behind the intake manifold. One lays flat of the block and "opens" toward the firewall (this is the cam sensor); the other is on an extension and is the knock sensor. The third is mounted vertically off the block and appears to have only one pin on the inside. I have no idea what the function of this sensor might be. Does anyone Know? Thanks, G

Take a gander at this site: http://www.grannysspeedshop.com/ This site is for those who think MAZDA Rx7s would benefit from ANY kind of v8/v6 transplants. I saw an early Rx7 with a SBC swap running long tube headers sold by these guys. They are designed to fit w/i the small confines of all versions of the Rx7 and really tuck up close to the engine. My thought was that those long tube headers just might also clear the body/firewall of the Z. There might be something here for us. They have a motor mount kit that converts the Nissan VG30 engines to chevy specs. If you have any chassis set up to accept a CSB, they say you can drop in the VG30. Might make something simple for our brothers that are swapping VG30 engines into their Zs. Also on the site are AC relocation brackets for Lt1 engines. Again, might be usable for the LT1 swaps. Just a thought. But the site is a great read; particularly the section describing how they built a 4 rotor rotary by combining two 13Bs. I bet that was one loud engine. g

Those of us who are using Gen III truck engines have a number of mounting issues with both the A/C compressor and the alternator. Here's a fairly priced bracket to remount both the AC and the alternator. http://www.kwikperf.com Happy New Year G

Ok, here's the story. I'm in the Reno NV area for xmas. Did some shopping in local Pull Apart junk yards. I've located two finds: 1. 1982 Maxima with the bolt on rear disc brakes, complete and in excellent shape. The rear rotor that I could see was unmarked, good pads, and a very light coat of surface rust. The "worst case" quotation is $78.00 per side and might be less. These are almost direct bolt on to your S30. With this set you can run all your Datsun/aftermarket 14" wheels w/o interference. This is the easiest way I know to get rear disc brakes. All Nissan parts, so replacements are no problem. I mounted a set of these on my S30 in 4 hours, including beating my AL drums off. There are "how to" threads on this forum. I only had to fabricate a end link to match the parking brake cable ends to the calipers. 2. Not a Datsun, but a 1975 Triumph TR7 with a Ford small block swap, Ford AT, and nicely located Ford 8.8 or 9 inch rear end. The installation is neat with bolt in motor mounts . I don't know how TR7s mounted their rearends, but this looks factory, with coil springs and "ladder bars". Nothing looks aftermarket. This could be a "Mothers" kit, but John of John's Cars did offer a complete v8 kit for the TR7. This is clearly a project car, but it is complete, pretty clean and looks rust free. If you are in the Reno, Carson City, Sacramento area and would like to take a short pleasure drive on the day after xmas. Post a PM and I'll give you the location and directions by PM. Just one person. I won't send 10 out looking for the same part. There is no finder's fee or any of that stuff. I've just located two rare items that I believe might be of value to some one on this board. Merry Xmas and yes, it is worth the drive. You do want rear discs on your S30 by New Years, right? g

I've searched this forum for more specific information for mounting a Taurus fan on the JTR radiator. How, specifically, is it done? An old post speaks of photos showing the actual mounting of the Taurus fan; but that link is dead. I'm using the JTR kit with the smaller chevrolet radiator. The top radiator mount is from a Camaro. Small metal and attached by sheet metal screws to the Z's radiator frame. How have you all attached the fan? g

As a rule of junkyard wisdom: hold one wheel solid [not a problem when it's mired in the mud] Scratch a line on the carrier housing to mark the location of one ujoint bolt head or nut. Rotate the free tire one complete rotation, while counting the turns of the driveshaft. Multiply the driveshaft turns by 2. In your case you would get "4" which would be either a 3.90 or 4.11. If it is just shy of two turns it is a 3.90 if it completes two turns it is a 4.11. This is an approximate reading and you must know what ratios are available. Estimate the fractions. If all else fails, pull the cover and do the long division from the pinion/ring gear tooth count engraved on the edge of the crown gear. g

Actually, it can be done and is not all THAT difficult. Too much work for little gain in my opinion. See: http://www.thirdgen.org/techboard/tpi/178262-completed-lt1-heads-gen1-2.html One of the Chevy magazines did a step by step explanation sometime around 1994. As I remember, it required drilling water passages into the LT1 head to match the block. Nothing really difficult. g

Or, maybe, the Spitfire or Mosquito, two wooden machines that some believe won the Battle of Britain. Spitfire has the sex appeal, but Goring was more concerned about the twin engine light bomber that could and did reach Berlin for daylight raids "on the deck". Put together by piano makers. g

Actually it was Banks top end pickup with a cold water reservoir in the bed. Used marine water cooled ICs to make this diesel fly. Here's a paragraph out of Bank's home site: Intercooling also provides other benefits. For supercharged or turbocharged gasoline engines, reducing the intake air temperature suppresses detonation, just as it does for normally-aspirated gasoline engines. For diesel engines, intercooling not only increases charge density, it also results in lower exhaust gas temperature. Excessive exhaust gas temperature, above 1300º cannot be sustained in a diesel without eventual engine and/or turbocharger failure. Lowering intake temperature results in an almost equal reduction in exhaust temperature. For example, the air exiting the turbocharger on the Banks Sidewinder pickup was approximately 500º F. under full power. Dual air-to-water marine intercoolers, connected to a reservoir of ice water, were then used to reduce the air temperature to 100º F. before it entered the engine. With the intercooling, exhaust temperatures remained manageable for the duration of the Bonneville World Speed Record runs. Without intercooling, the exhaust temps would have been in the 1800º-1900º F. range.

Actually, I think something very similar to this has been done for lakes/bonneville top end cars. The IC unit is isolated in a tank filled with ice. At the end of the run, the now melted/hot water is drained and the tank is repacked with ice for the next run. It is a h20 cooled IC. Any top enders out there that have more information? g

The JTR manual is pretty explicit, they require the tunnel to be clearanced with a BFH . I installed a SBC 350 with the JTR and late 700R4. I used the JCI kit to mount my LM7 with 4l60E. The JCI kit's trans cross member is located EXACTLY where the JTR member was mounted. The JCI seems to mount engine and transmission higher into the tunnel than the JTR. I had to massage the tunnel a bit to gain additional clearance and I had to massage the floor pan to allow the passenger side rear corner of the AT pan to clear. It appears by tape measure that my JTR driveline can be used with the JCI kit. I'll know in a week or so when I hoist it into the car for a trial fit. The tape measure seems to think it'll fit. g

That looks a lot like a 7.5 inch Mazda/Ford Ranger diesel rear end. Gear ratio should be 3.308. About 1982 or thereabouts. I bought one and tried to fit it into my MazdaSpeed M5. Didn't work. Early Mazda Rx7 axles will fit and think they were 4 holers. That is my guess. g g

Yes, it will hang lower: The tank on the right is a 71 240z sitting on two 2x4s. It will hang a bit below the valance: It also holds a bit more gasoline. The 280 is also a bit wider and the distance between 240 straps is narrower than a z. g

I think your problem is that you are centering the tank on the driver's side strap. There are differences between the 240 and 280 tanks: one is that the space between the two straps is narrow on the 240 and wider on the 280. By using the driver's side you have moved the entire 240 tank to the left and away from the filler neck. Try it again, but hang it first from the passenger's side. I'll bet the filler neck will pretty much line up. Here you can see the difference of length between the two tanks. G

If you are talking about removing the sound deadener inside the car, cold is the way to go. I've used dry ice in a thick sock: lay the ice on the "tar" for about 30 seconds and tap it with a hammer or drive a steel putty knife between it and the steel floor. Using dry ice is quick. I removed all the tar in the interior of my Z in a little over an hour, even counting time for a beer. Bottled nitrogen would be even faster. Cold tar is brittle and will shatter when hit with a hammer. The cheapest if you can see Northern Lights is to park it outside for a night or two, then go to work on it before the sun rises. g

Here's my set up for rust removal: cost less than $10.00 excepting the battery charger. Here is a comparison of a very rusted 300z brake rotor. The dark spots are very shallow pits. This rotor could be run without turning it. This is the worst spot. The rest of the rotor cleaned up quite well. Here's another view of the out side: I used powder dishwasher detergent. g