Whittie

Bang on the money there Kiwi, AUS (and one would assume, NZ) uses RON and the US use MON and RON By definition: The octane number is the resistance of a fuel to pinging compared to iso-octane (100 octane). RON: Research Octane Number - Test Engine at full throttle and low engine speed (i.e, low speed driving around town) MON: Motor Octane Number - Test engine at high RPM (ie, racing) In AUS the spec is on RON alone. In the US the quoted 'octane' number is (MON + RON)/2 so it is the average of the two values. Typically MON is significantly lower than RON (from memory 5-10 points). Therefore, a 93 Octane american fuel is equivalent to a 98 octane australian fuel, or very close.

Cheers Richard, I'ts on hold at the moment. Have "Round the Houses" next weekend and then i have a few weeks off uni so i'll have a good look in to it then

lol, Kanzen I think that's a great plate!! Personally, I was about 1/2 a second away from taking 1DAT.666 instead... Well it's been a while but i got the car back from the mechanic after the gearbox failure last week: :D

Ok well, it's been a few days and while I’ve been looking on the net for some 'c' boxes the box has also come out of the car and been taken to the transmission guy. He pulled it out in front of my dad and it turns out 5th gear welded itself onto the shaft (??) welded some gears together anyways, causing the transmission to be effectivly locked in direct drive. The tranny guy (Z specialist btw) said that his diagnosis is that the mechanic who works on the car (not the tranny guy) has used a too thin oil in the transmission and it hasn't lubricated the gears sufficiently. Therefore, good news is the box is repaired and now has all 'new' GOOD CONDITION components in it so it shouldn't be a problem. Did some research and it turns out that over the years transmission gear oil has become less and less viscous. My best guess is for increased efficiency, however, the older Z gearbox, built at the time of older oils, probably does not have sufficient lubricating properties to be able to effectively use the lighter oils. I have informed the mechanic and he is going to put thicker oil in from now on. I also have some SUPER slippery oil additive to put in there as well. I'm still going to go ahead and get another 'c' gearbox as they are about 1/5 the price of an original Z tranny here and put on together anyways. If it's no good then I’ll use what I have, if it is good then I keep the switch. JSM - Yes the Z guy did race his car. Drags mostly. But anyways, last year at an event they had a "masters" session where some really old coots came for a ride in your car with you during the practice session. Whilst on the lap they studied what you did and gave feedback after. The only thing he said to me (my dad as well too, interestingly enough) is that I was being too fierce with the up shifts and that I could be a bit smoother and gentler on the car. My thoughts at the time were "yeah, whatever, what does this guy know, it's only a frikin up shift!!". Well, been thinking back to that a bit after this incident and I gotta say, it might not have been correct, but it certainly couldn't hurt!! So, yes, probably was being too quick on the shifts and the clutch releases and need to pull it back a little. Not to granny speed, but to the point where it is smooth, the revs matched, and everything is not jolted when the power is applied again. z-ya - That is what I was thinking as well. 180whp is not massive, it's a lot more than stock, but not to the point it should be breaking gearboxes. My only line of thought further on this problem is that perhaps the components in the box were old. Certainly when i blew third gear, on later inspection it turned out that the hardening on the gear had worn through and the gears were stress cracked, so it was only a matter of time. Hence, I am still thinking it might be better to start looking at some newer 'c' boxes. Low km varients from an s14 can be had here for 1/2 the cost of an old Z box. The older ones, also low k's for even less.

Like i said, just make sure that the whole pad is on the disc on the proper contact area. Contact areas of rotors are bigger than the pad usually so you should be able to get the entire pad on a slightly smaller disc without a problem. The disc can cut the pad, leaving some pad thicker than the rest, or the pad can even wear down the rotor at the lip if the pad isnt positioned properly

I can't see why it would be a problem. So long as the caliper and pad fully encompass the disc without fouling or having parts of the pad not touching the contact area of the disc it shouldn't be an issue. I know for instance that on my car i have had to mount the calipers closer to the hub so that the caliper doesn't foul against the wheel. This has not caused a single issue yet (couple years now) and the only thing that i can imagine would be a downside is that the length from the centre of the hub to the centre of the contact patch is shorter and so the caliper will have to apply more force than original design to slow the car at the same speed. That means to lock the wheels now requires more pressure from the caliper onto the rotor. I'm pretty sure that things like calipers are sufficiently over designed so as to not be an issue. i.e. the caliper oil seals shouldn't leak, the brake system should be able to hand a little more pressure and the rotors are unlikely to collapse. 0.7" is not much and I doubt it would be an issue. Anyone else out there with more experience than me, or maybe a mech eng, could help a little more?

Ok i want to put in a FS5W71C but i have a couple of questions: of all of the differant ratios and engines they came on (sr20, ca18, ca20, rb20), is there any difference on being able to fit them to the L-series bellhousing? The price of the gearbox depending on the engine it was attached to alters by a MASSIVE amount so i want the cheapest i can get if they are all the same. Are the gears all the same siz?. i.e. are they all the same width and as strong as each other. Finally, is there any difference in the strength of the A/B/C boxes. i read about the different synchros on the C version but is that it?

These were $13 TOM.260 blue plates with black letters were $130 Custom plates 300-700 depending on size, colour, shape and material of construction Euro plates 600-1300 depending on text So yeah, worth waiting for I rekon

Didn't really know where to put this, and a little too excited to let it past. Here are a couple of pictures of my new number plates: The Western Australian state series is number|letter|letter|letter . number|number|number. Once i realised that i could get this sequence i have been hanging out for it to come around. About 2 years and 30 odd phone calls to the licensing centre later and i found out they were released to a small town about 500k's from home Icalled them yesterday to say 'can you hold them i will drive up tomorrow' and got a reply 'don't be silly, we can send them to your local centre!!' So, here they are, and for 1/50 the cost of custom plates

yeah ive done some looking but i cant find gearbox numbers from the s13 and s14 that you find here. RB trans is an option but dont know yet, not enough research.

Well i've got a 260z and I've just finished fiddling with the engine on it and it's putting out 180hp, 240Nm of torque. As a bit of background - before the re-build i've not had ANY problems with gearboxes. Just after the re-build, after about 100km of racing its starting to get hard to get into second gear. I take the box to the local Z expert (he is actually really quite good) and he puts r33 synchros in the box. After about 100km the box starts falling out of first gear under acceleration. Take it back to him and he re-does it. 100km later second gear starts falling out. The car is about to be shipped across the country for 3 race events and time is tight so he puts the gearbox from his car in it (same r33 syncros). After about 100km of racing in the three events third gear is getting notchy. Back to him it goes. About 2/3 months later and third gear catastrophically fails at about 7000rpm on the track. No big deal, these things happen. So it goes back to the guy who did the synchros and he replaces the shaft with third gear on it. Fast forward a month or so and the car has done 1 event. About 60 laps or approx 100km of racing. Driving the car to an event, accelerating at about 30km/h in second gear and suddenly the rear wheels lock up. I get my foot on the clutch, pull over, and realise the engine is still running. I tried to put it in gear but it didn't want to know about any gear other than reverse. I take my foot off the clutch and the engine stalls without the car moving. So, here I am. The car is sitting on a median strip in the middle of the road about a half hour walk from home (I timed it ) and whilst I wait for traffic to die down so I can safely collect it I've been doing some research into what i need to do about it. Obvisouly the 'ole 260z boxes just wont cut the mustard anymore and i need something stronger. I've done some searching on the forum and found info on the Z32 swap, however the idea of purchasing a $1500 gearbox and then having to purchase a $1500 install kit from America (im in AUS) does not sound appealing. Therefore, I am wanting to know what else is available that is a fairly standard straight swap. I'm going to get the 260 box repaired (and i aint paying for it, thats for sure!!) to get the car atleast moving again, but i need to do something about a new box ASAP. Any info that anyone is willing to share about differant boxes and their ability to hold moderate power is most appreciated.

Well I picked up a crappy bonnet today and some interesting findings.... The bonnet I got has 280z vents added in the stock location. First port of call then was to get the bonnet on and go for a drive with some wool on the bonnet.... At 80kph the wool tabs were sticking up just like on the pic I posted from the wind tunnel. This occurred the whole way along the vent. This concludes that the stock vents DO vent air at speed. The bonnet was also substantially cooler along the front-rear axis around the vent, whilst the centre of the bonnet, where the engine is closest but where there is not a vent, was SIGNIFICANTLY hotter. Hopefully on Sunday I’ll be able to cut a few more holes in the bonnet and see the airflow from them. I still am convinced that you need to have the vents closer to the radiator. I'm thinking some diamond shaped cutouts with a mesh grill. Then have some sort of facility for covering them from underneath. Only need them whilst racing and don't want water dropping on the distributor!

Here is an interesting pic. Look at the wool tabs on the far vent. They clearly show air flow up and out of the vent. These tests were done at 120mph allegedly. Pic stolen from the wind tunnel test data thread in this forum

capt_furious, that is EXACTLY where i was thinking of putting them!! Although I was going to push the metal down in to the bonnet (space permitting) so nothing sticks up. Should cause the same effect. Essentially i was thinking 4 or 5 indented vents on either side. Here is a drawing of sort of what I was thinking. The top vents look the best. Placement will be pretty much exactly where they are on the red car. I am going to get a crappy rusty bonnet tomorrow and start cutting away and see what sort of results i get. Please excuse the bad drawing

There's another thread going here: http://forums.hybridz.org/showthread.php?p=990042 probably easier to keep all the chatter in one spot

I taped some wool to the bonnet and did a few runs with a camera man. The videos can be seen here: http://www.youtube.com/view_play_list?p=027CE8EBC30ABA73 Doesn't show a whole lot except that the air cowling inlet to the cabin is a high pressure, at about the same pressure as the engine bay (the wool flicks in and out, indicating no real flow). The fan was OFF, btw, but the vents were open, so this is actual air pressure, not induced pressure from the fan pulling air in. Also shows that the inspection lids flow air around the window, so they might also be a good spot to put venting to promote air flow past the air filters I think the next step for me is to get a crappy rusted bonnet for almost nothing, cut some holes where i think they should go (couple inches behind the radiator, vents either side of the power bulge) and see what sort of air flow you get through the vents. Otherwise if anyone has a manometer then doing some testing with that would be far more beneficial than anything i can do any time soon.

260DET, From what i have read around these forums about the Z bonnets is that the low pressure on the middle of the bonnet and the high pressure air under the bonnet is what causes it. Sort of like an aero plane wing with the pressure on both sides interacting to lift the wing without transport of medium between the bottom and top of the wing. Also from what I've read is that the high pressure at the windscreen acts to STOP air flowing out of the rear of the bonnet. The heater inlet ducts are placed at the base of the windscreen so air is pushed into them, reducing the power required by the pump to suck air in. I'm going to go for a drive today so I'll also put some tape just rearward of the bonnet and try leaving it popped (on the secondary stop) and see if there is any wind flow out of or into the engine bay by doing that.

Thanks Guys. I think I'm going to go for a spin today with some string on the bonnet and see what happens. I'll try and find a navigator to take some photos as we go. Helix, i use MPH for the same reason i put "Hood" in the thread title, cause most Americans don't know proper maths or english....

Please!! I found that article, and i've done a lot of reading and everything i've read says that the optimum spot is about 1/3 of the way down the bonnet from the front. This would be JUST behind the radiator on a zed though, so i'm not too sure. If you look at cars like the new evo and similar, a LOT of them have vents about 1/3 of the way from the front... I think i'm going to go for a drive tomorrow with some string sticky tapped to the car and see what's what. I've got a 260, but they are faily similar to the s130. I also have another thread in the body and paint section of the forum

Illegal. Bonnet has to have two safety mechanisms and be locked to be allowed on the track. You would get black flagged pretty quick for an open bonnet. From what i have read i get mixed stories but more people seem to think that where the heater inlet ducts are located (end of the bonnet) is at a high pressure area. This high pressure would prevent the air under the bonnet from flowing out. What i really want to know is what type of vent/scoope to install, where best to put them and if they will do anything

Heat coming out at idle is one thing, what i really need is for the hot air to be pushed/pulled out of the engine bay at high speeds (+60mph when its a problem with the temp guage not going down whilst racing) From memory they had one vent on either side of the bonnet near the back right? From what i have read, that seams to be a high pressure point at speed, effectivly stalling any air flow that was being encountered at idle... I think i need to do some aero-testing with string tied to the bonnet of my car to see what the results are

Hey guys, I’ve had a persistent high engine bay temperature problem at the track and after a few other mods it's not going away. I've coated the extractors inside and out with a ceramic coating and flushed the cooling system with 'cooling system cleaner' and whilst this helped it has not removed the problem. The big issue is that the Triple Weber’s draw air straight from under the bonnet and so I need to get this hot air out of the engine bay. I've been giving it some thought and what I think what I need is more airflow through the radiator and cooler air to the air filters. What I was thinking then is to put some bonnet vents in place to get air into/out of the engine compartment. The issue I have now is that I have read quite a few write-ups and can't decide what is the best course of action: A) put 2 bonnet scoops in to feed cool air to the filters and then test again to see what the result is. Or, put air vents in at the front of the bonnet (approx 1/3 from the front, one on each side) in the low air pressure point on the bonnet to draw hot air out of the engine bay, promoting airflow and cooling the engine compartment. The one thing I can't get an accurate answer for is the best type and placement of vents. Should I put vents in 1/3 of the way from the front of the car, or some scoops directly above the air filter to direct airflow in? Also, what should I cover in the front to direct air to the radiator. Obviously, sealing the radiator and the air dam so air can't travel around gaps close to it, but what about those circular wholes where the air con vents come in from the front of the car. My z doesn’t have the vents, just the holes in the front structure, should I close those off? Any and all help is appreciated. Tom.

My 260/280 (bits from both cars, it was a 77 so a kind of 'cross over' model if you like) ran a 14.2 weight is 1250kg with me in it (2755 pounds) just had it dynoed at 180hp at the wheels and 230 Nm of torque

BAHAHA that is a pic of the guy who won the movember contest at my work Crazy how these things get around the net.

I know I pour more money into my zed than is good for my health, however I find even though I do, I’m not solely a car man and I also have interests in other, equally expensive, hobbies. One enjoyment of mine for years has been decent sounding HiFi music. I’m not a huge fan of surround sound and still love a good HiFi system for enjoyment of movies and music over any other system. Still living at home has its constraints and after my last stereo got ‘stolen’ to be rigged up to the big TV and I found myself getting sick of my crappy computer speakers I decided it was time to upgrade. I did plenty of shopping around on the net for good deals and reviews, but as is always the case with these things, once I got to the store I was severely disappointed by what I desperately wanted to buy. I was looking at the Cambridge Audio 340 series stuff but after having a listen to many systems and changing my mind several times, ended up walking out with: AMC 3100a 2ch Integrated Amplifier Energy Reference Connoisseur RC10 bookshelf speakers Pro.DAC MkII USB DAC (in the post) These together join my recently purchased Audio Technica AD700 Headphones to complete whet is a superb set-up. Far better than the room i have them in, but thats the point - they are supposed to last far longer than I will at my parents place. So does anyone else here have a passion for good sounding music? If so, this is the place to discuss what you enjoy, what you have in your home, what started you onto good music, and everything in-between.