2003z

I ran victoracers and hoosiers on my 350z, and like both of them. I'm thinking for the 240, my next set will be Michelin Sport Cups, if I ever get it running again.

those autometers look great! I was going to ask how you got the glowing ring around the stock gauges

its very simple. The hardest part is either taking the dash out to get the gauges out, or taking the gauges out of the dash while its installed. Once you have the gauges, these just slip over the needles and plug into their own harness. That harness is connected with 2 wires.

I haven't replaced them on a Z, but on other cars, bang them out with a hammer and then put the new one on from behind. Get about a 1/2" stack of washers and put it on the stud, then put the lugnut on and tighten. Impact wrench is best, but you can do it by hand too. tighten down and draw the stud into place. The only issue would be once you popped it out, is there enough room behind the hub to remove the old one and put the new one in the hole.

You are correct. I am planning on pulling the dash back out and painting the needles with a glow in the dark paint for mine.

congrats, I think you will enjoy it!

no, thats the speedhut gage faces in the daytime. I chose the setup that would look most like stock, reverse el-glo, block letters/numbers and no added logos. Plain and Simple!

Wish I could make the meet, but I will be in Milan on the 5th.

my 2000 saab 9-3 had one also

sorry about the job loss, but I think you can make a full time job of the powdercoating fairly easily...I'm bidding a reserve schedule at my airline so I can be home more to work. I'm working 40-50 hours a week on the PC now and took in over 40k last year. I know you are more into motorcycle work. Find the largest motorcycle forum and pay to advertise on it. You should have plenty of work in no time.

the red ones are Taurus lights. I think he was in the now defunct Z magazine that was before the last defunct version.

sat night at 6. I'm sure help would be welcomed.

no, the lighting is built into the new gauge overlays. I disconnected all of the old lightbulbs and wired the controller into the old lighting circuit.

They are Nissan Motorsports Euro "Flat Top" pistons. The ring is a slight dome to raise compression. Funny thing is, they were actually about $3-4 less per piston than US Flat tops. I've got a new piston and intake valve on order (Nissan has 4 left in the US), but there are no exhaust valves available. As for a complete rebuild of the head, I don't think it probably needs it, but I'm taking it to Eddie Radatz at Radatz Motorsports and letting him check the whole thing over and fix it. I'll fix the bottom end.

Ga Z club has a tent. And catered BBQ at 6pm. workload permitting, I will be there, but without Z

I lost the exhaust valve in the #6. It cracked in half, and I'm pretty sure it was my fault. When I was first putting it together, I misjudged TDC on the cam and was slightly off. (I didn't understand how that alignment mark worked up by the cam sprocket) I put in 2 center head bolts to do the timing chain and heard something pop. I took it off and inspected everything, but didn't see any damage, so I just thought it was the head settling on one of the two centering rings, but I think I cracked the valve stem, and it gave out when I tried to crank it. So, it looks like I'll be ordering a new piston and an intake and exhaust valve for that cylinder. At least its not too major, other than the head rebuild again.

I guess there was a reason for that, oh well.

thanks!

just looked at it again, and the valve definitely has to be bent. I can see it right next to the spark plug hole, and it should be on the other side of the engine. After I assembled it, I turned the whole thing a few revolutions via a wrench on the crankshaft, so there shouldn't have been interference.

The guy was in Macon, GA, but I can't find his post anymore.

it did fall over, but it landed on the other side, and I see no way that could bend a valve or spark plug. Will try to pull it tomorrow if I have time.

I think it was valve to spark plug, as the plug is pretty mangled, and then part of the plug probably wedged between the piston and cylinder. Next step is pull and disassemble, and look for a cheap, running engine here in Atlanta to get my by for Zdayz next month, while I redo this one again.

sorry, aviation term for Foreign Object Damage. Any piece of trash laying around on the ramp that can get ingested into an engine and break it.

pulled the starter, the plugs and the valve cover. The cam isn't frozen, as I can move it slightly, but the #6 cylinder had some FOD in it. Looks like one of the valves (forward one, not sure if intake or exhaust) hit the tip of the spark plug, as that appears to be what was broken off looking at the plug. Definitely need to pull it and tear it apart. Maybe the shop that assembled my head didn't attach a valve properly? Its an N42/P90 with a 1mm head gasket, but I should still think a valve shouldnt hit the spark plug at any time.