Z-Gad

You guys KRACK me up

My 77 280 had a cat on the original exhaust (long since removed)

Just do a search on the net for shipping companies and get a few quotes. I shipped a car from Orlando, Fl to Helsinki, Finland and it was ~$850. That was 4 years ago..Funny that it would cost more to ship across the US than across the Atlantic

In addition, although your current problems may lie in the head, replacing the head with a newly rebuilt head may find you new problems with the bottom end. Strong new top end + old bottom end = new bottom end soon

Great info here DAW and others... Anyway, I haven't seen any of the Maxima heads with a P79 casting. I have only seen them with the N47. I understood the N47 to be the Maxima head of choice. Anyway, If I had your choices Bang, I'd probably hunt for the Maxima head. It appears to be the best "Bang" for the buck It is more likely to be in better condition than the typical JY Z head. As we know, we tend to be a little harder on our motors than the typical Maxima driver

Aaahhh those 30 year old electrical gauges... Hey Tony, might be a good idea to hook up cheap mechanical oil pressure and water temp gauges. I have a cheap Pep Boys pair in both of my Z's and they'll give a more accurate reading of what is going on. I think you can get the pair for < $30. No sense forking out the big bucks since this your JY motor Mike

Ok, take off the distributor cap, disconnect the hose, not from the vacuum module though, from the other end. OK, here comes the nasty part...using your mouth, apply vacuum to the end of the hose and see if the advance inside moves. You should see some movement of the arm coming from the back side of the vacuum module. If not, try using a screwdriver or something to move the plate the arm attaches to. It is spring loaded, so it should return to the place you moved it from. If that is working properly, apply vacuum to the hose again and put your tongue or finger over the end of the hose to see whether or not the diaphram in the vacuum module is leaking. If the vacuum leaks out, then there probably is a tear in the diaphram. I had a problem similar to yours w/ my carbed 240 and that was where the problem was. regards, mike

Check out your vacuum advance on your distributor. If it is sticking or the diaphram is broken, switching to a carb set-up won't help you out. Just thought I'd throw that out there just in case

Very Kewl Scott!! When I ran my Z in the end of January, it made similar times. I too was running 10-11 psi and am atleast 2800 lbs, so I think we're par for the course R/T ... 1.379 60' ... 2.070 330 ... 5.663 1/8 ... 8.643 mph ... 83.67 1000 .. 11.198 1/4 ... 13.358 mph ... 104.54 That was before I cracked a couple of ring lands in the cheap pistons I used. The engine is back together (with forged pistons) and I will post track times in a couple of weeks. You know you have a 12 second car at 11 psi, you just have to get the 60' down another .25, or you could always turn the boost up a couple of more lbs and be waaayyyy into the 12's!!! Gotta love them turbos!

No flack here... I've met the guys who built the car and seen the car as well. It is a nice looking ride "If you want what someone else has, do what they did to get it"

When I upgraded to the hybrid turbo, I had to have the stock .63 turbine housing honed out for it to fit. The turbine wheel was too large for the stock T3 housing. I also had the stock flute inside the housing opened up a little as well for better flow. I also had to have another bracket made for the wastegate since I had to move it and give it a different angle to the (flapper) for lack of the proper term. For the money I paid for all of the extra work I had to have done, I coulda just sent mine out to have it rebuilt instead of buying a "bargain" $500 turbo. I wish you better luck than I had. I also wanted to keep that nice 2.5" SS downpipe

I'm not sure you would have to shim the towers...but if you do, well, it shouldn't be too tough to do since the head is not on the engine yet. Where in Fla are you located? mike

I like it much better than the pink (if I remember right)!! It looks awesome and the little bowtie above the bumper is a nice touch as well.

The A/C will still work w/o the pusher fan won't it?? You could always have a pusher fan in front of your intercooler if you really NEED to have a fan up there.

You know...I've been thinking about performance shops arouind here as well. I think an ideal thing would be to have an area of land where you would be able to have the shop and also have a 1/8 or 1/4 mile strip too. (I imagine land is getting a bit pricey in your area though). Another thing is the appearance and reputation of the shop being important, but ideally the customer service aspect is extremely important to me. I've gone into half a dozen shops down here in Orlando and rarely do I leave with a warm fuzzy feeling. I'd just once like to walk into a performance shop and hear "Hi how are you doing? If you need anything, just let me know and I'll try to help you out." Just my $.02

that is awesome. You are making great progress!! Keep us updated. We all love to see project pictures as they come along It gives us incentive to work on our project(s)!!

Alsi sounds like the ront/rear springs may have been put in backwards... I've seen it happen a couple of times. The taller springs go on the rear. If the person who installed the springs didn't pay attention, the springs could have been put up front (thinking that the longer springs support more weight). Just my $.02 ~mike

Well, as far as adjusting the cam gear position, turn the engine until the piston is at TDC. Then check the cam mark (small V on the indide of the cam) with the cam mark ojn the head (small dash) and see where they line up. If they are off, then move the cam to position #2 or #3 to adjust for timing chain stretch. Welcome to the wonderful world of Z's ~mike

Check out Energy suspension http://www.suspension.com/nissancars.htm

I agree, they are very comfortable. The ones I have I picked up in the bone yard for $75 for the pair. They are black leather and are in great condition. I mounted them by fabbing little brackets that go from the seat mounts to the stock holes. It isn't pretty, but is effective Those look great dan ~mike

Besides, they guarantee them for 6 months. If they need rebuilt, just send them back

I was skeptical until they arrived as well. After re-reading my post, I didn't specify whether they were new, rebuilt, etc. Anyway, they weren't rebuilt. They came off of a recently wrecked 88 4runner. There are no cracks in the rubber boots and the pistons are nice and shiny. Although I haven't taken them apart yet, they appear to have been replaced shortly before the vehicle's demise. Still, for $85 delivered...that's good for just the core charge (I've seen $100 each on the cores).

For any of you considering the 300zx rotor, spacer, and 4runner calipers on your z, I've located an excellent source for calipers (in my opinion). After searching the yards and parts stores in the area and being kinda bummed at the prices...I came back to the old internet and did a search... I ended up finding this site: http://www.taprecycling.com/ I ordered a pair of 88 4runner calipers. They arrived today. They came with a 6 month warranty, fully loaded with like new pads and delivered from California to Orlando, for $85!! Anyone else looking for these may want to drop them a line.

James, if you are gonna be down in gainesville in a few weeks, I'll be there!! mike

Ver nice James!! How did you get so smart!!?? ROTFL!!