mom'sZ

Pop... are ya kidding?

The reason for placing some restriction in the system instead of simply eliminating the thermostat entirely is to slow the flow of coolant through the radiator. The coolant will actually pass through the radiator to fast to get cooled off. So the guy at autozone, his idea has a certain amount of validity, but I believe as do many others, that a street driven vehicle is much better off with a thermostat. It helps to quicken warm up and maintains a stable temp. Sounds like you need a bigger electric fan or a mechanical one that doesn't hit anything. oh, and fix that muffler.

It sure does cygnusx1.. hours... sometimes momma gets a little tired of holding the tape. But as often as this thing ends up apart, I'd be at the alignment shop every other week. Heck, it needs to come back apart now!

Yeah it sure doesn't does it. Figured that out real quick setting the toe. At first I told myself it didn't bug me, but this last time I put it back together, it came out really close to centered and I really liked it.

Well I feel really dumb asking this but, I do my own alignments and can get everything really close. How do you center the steering wheel on our cars? (77 280Z) After it's aligned do you thread one side in and the other side out an equal amount until it centers the wheel?

Well... back in the day I had a late sixties muscle car, small block, automatic, very light, not much heavier then a z. It didn't really want to spin up the tires either, but man would it pin you into the seat. People would tell me the front wheels looked like they were almost coming off the ground. Never really got beat, raced some bad a$$ stuff to... What kind of tranny? rear? final drive ratio? (you didn't say in the original post)

went out and snapped a pic, here ya go album.hybridz.org/showphoto.php?photo=11107&size=big&cat=712 well it's to d@mn big to post so clicky the link

This is not a 'typical' application. So all comparision to typical zcar behavior is moot. It is assumed that all the common stuff has been checked. Apparently the blown motor produces a lot of extra heat. Although the SBC fits neatly in the engine compartment, it's still a lot of motor in a little car. The 1st gen Zcar had cooling issues, hence the addition of vents in the later years. This application may require extra measures to keep it cool running. Yet the electric fan not cooling at highway speed seems counterintuitive. The restrictor plates... never used em... never owned a chevy. Same thing with the water pump impeller. But I know the restrictor is fairly common practice. I think the restrictor plate kind of makes the impeller mod unnessasary. I know they make several different sizes of hole to adjust the water flow. The chin pan is another good idea. I have one but not on the car right now. I think you can still get them. I tried to find a picture. It attaches (bolts) to the frame rails and (I think) across the rad support. It's aluminum. It runs back to the front of the stock L-6 oil pan. It's roughly flat but bends up 90 degrees on either side to come up to the bottom of the frame rails. (hangs down from the frame rails. I'll try to find a picture.

Maybe the muffler / cat is plugged?

why would you need a fan at speed? seriously, I'm not trying to be a smart a$$

That's not unheard of, if you operate at high RPMs a lot, it's worse. Perhaps that's the issue, try slowing down the flow, perhaps a restrictor plate in place of the thermostat. (summit sells them) Just something to try in an extreme case (as this seems to be). Or you could cut every other vane off the water pump impeller. Your thermostat leaking past internally sounds like another issue. Is the housing itself in good shape? Perhaps erroided?

I'm not suggesting you do or don't do this, it's just an old trick. fill the cavity behind / inside the pilot bushing with grease, then using your clutch alignment tool (or a broom handle turned down to the right diameter) to 'hydraulic' the bushing out. In other words, push the tool in and the grease will push the bushing out.

otherwise all stock ZX injection? maybe water temp sensor? does it smoke blue? timing jumped? distributor slipped?

Right on cygnusx1... I just pulled my motor to change out some difficult to reach freeze plugs, rent an engine crane, car on jack stands (no lift) it's no small task, not a huge task but not a trivial thing either. And mine is not a turbo and only has one radiator. Family comes first... congrats on being a new dad!

HS30-H... very cool pictures, I've always felt the wheel houses were a pretty good mounting area for the main hoop, all things considered (available space, structurally ect)for a Zcar. People laugh about the (aforementioned) autopower cage bolting to the wheel houses, but as a former unibody repair tech I knew it was one of the strongest parts of the structure. (so long as rust hasn't compromised them) These pictures gave me some new ideas for the mount plates. I like how they run up the inner quarters.

I concur with Gavin, check those cables. Check the battery with load tester or specific gavity tester. Might show good voltage then drop out under load. 1 bad cell, switch to know to be good battery. Manually cross the terminals with a screwdriver (be cafeful) and see if it turns then. motor locked?

is it the stock gauge? the stock sending units are notorious for being bad.

I have a 5 speed that I purchased in pieces, it's all there. I have the FSM and think I might could swing it myself. If someone knows a shop in the SE (I'm in florida) that is very good with them, I'd pay a pro to do it. I also have a friend, who I trust, who is a tranny guy, he said 'no problem'. I'd like to find a shop that 'specializes' in zcar trannies and can do the roll pins in the shift forks and basically blueprint the tranny. I would need more then one done ah.. also. Question two: an online (or otherwise) source for a rebuild kit. nissan? I've searched the forum, found a thread where Jon said he got one at his work. I want bearings as well as syncros, seals gasket. I know how to get the roll pins for the shifter forks. If I let my guy do it, I want to bring him everything he needs.

I agree, I think the early first gen (240z) where different then later (280z) first gen. Don't know about the ZX. I have a pedal assembly from a 240? and the distance between the brake master mount and the clutch master mount isn't wide enough to accomidate the booster. Maybe the difference is power / manual brake related too... The 260 probably swings on if it's early 260 or late 260

sounds like a few different issues might be at work here so you need to work through them one at a time. I'd look at the cooling issue first. Thermostat sounds like a good guess, does it hold water? Not revving past 25K could be throttle position sensor. If you are not driving the car under load, it will not build boost.

check out this thread http://forums.hybridz.org/showthread.php?t=96707&highlight=truck+shifter

since this is the L-6 forum I'll assume we are talking about an L-6. The stock oil pressure sender is notoriously do do. and a new one i$ not cheap. I just got aftermarket mechanical ones for oil and water temp.

Sounds like the gland nut might be loose

nismofiend: here's another clue... when you took the lines off and the accumulator, was there a bunch of black dust in the lines ect.? Somewhere in the system is a filter, often where the line goes into the evaporator. I don't know where it is on the zcar. But if this filter is clogged or there is a lot of black dust in the system, this is the compressor seal material, and that is an indication that the compressor is in rough shape. I just noticed you're in florida... it gets hot, you sure you won't miss the air?