DAW

First, check the inside of your glovebox door and make sure there isn't a sticker with a number written in pen on it. If there is and it's still legible, you can take that number to a locksmith and they can cut you a key that will fit as good as new. DAW

With enough determination you can make almost anything work but you've got to ask yourself what makes the most sense. I've got a couple of 510s and I've got an L28ET but I wouldn't try to put the two together. There are other swaps that make more sense for the time & $ spent. There are kits available for VG30 and SR20 swaps, and why not look into other 4cyl turbo (Misub?) swaps or other V6 (Buick GN?) swaps that are relatively compact and might avoid reconstructing the firewall. I don't want to discourage ambition, but look at the hood of a 240Z/280ZX and that of a PL510...why try to put an inline 6 in there? BTW I think I've heard of a 510 with a Toyota DOHC I6 but it doesn't drop in there without a lot of reworking of the engine bay. DAW

Most likely the fan/alternator belt. Besides the annoying noise you'll liable to have battery charge and /or overheating problems soon too. You don't want it too tight either, be able to deflect the belt about 3/4" or so after you've tightenned it. There is a belt dressing sold at auto stores you could try is the tension is OK and the belt is in OK condition. DAW

Oops. When the valves/springs are in their original heads they don't need any special shimming (other than whatever it takes to put them at spec installed ht with valve grinding); but when you put the longer valve into the short valve head, naturally it'll have to be shimmed by the difference in length of the valve (and then whatever shimming adjustments need to be done from any valve work). I should have gotten some sleep instead of writing that drivel. DAW

I don't think that's the case with the valve springs. The installed ht is the same. The length difference is due to changes below the surface of the valve spring seat, i.e., the roof of the chamber is different. The configuration up top is the same. DAW

I dunno. I'm not talking about using manifold pressure though, just a signal from the outlet of the intercooler, closer to the throttle plate, rather than before all the intercooler plumbing and hardware (including BOV). It seems like all that compressable/expandable volume of air goes unmonitored and could result in boost spikes/holes. It's run this way stock on my Starion and works well; but it's right off the compressor on the L28ET and it's good too, but neither has a huge intercooler. DAW

I dunno. I'm not talking about using manifold pressure though, just a signal from the outlet of the intercooler, closer to the throttle plate, rather than before all the intercooler plumbing and hardware (including BOV). It seems like all that compressable/expandable volume of air goes unmonitored and could result in boost spikes/holes. It's run this way stock on my Starion and works well; but it's right off the compressor on the L28ET and it's good too, but neither has a huge intercooler. DAW

I've got another instument cluster (has a tach and no glow-plug indicator) so I guess I'll just swap that and eliminate the gauge variable. I guess the density variable was wishful thinking to not have to deal with the sending unit. I can either continue to use the trip odometer between fill-ups or fix it. DAW

Maybe you could emulate what the carmakers/engineers do when designing these things and afix little streamers across the rear surfaces of the car and have someone videotape your car at highway speed to see what your changes do to the backdrafts/airflow, etc. It's surprising to see some streamers just lying in dead air at 70mph. DAW

Lockjaw, I might be telling you something you already know, but re bigger lash pads, if you milled the P79 and shimmed the towers, one way to avoid buying thicker lash pads is to install the valves from an N42/N47 head as they are a bit longer than the P79/P90 valves, so you can take up the slack with the longer valve stem instead of a thicker lash pad and accomplish the same thing. I think this trick could work on a reground replacement cam also with its smaller base circle. DAW

So I converted an LD28 (diesel) engine to run on gasoline by adapting an L28E aluminum head/fuel injection/ECU, etc. It's strong, reliable, and has many features that a stroker L28 conversion lacks (like 140mm rods, large floating wrist pins, etc). However, the gas gauge doesn't work in the car (it's pinned on "full"). I've assumed that the gauge was inoperative in the car before I got it (diesel Maxima) but it just occured to me the other day that the problem may be related to a calibration difference between the difference in density of diesel fuel vs the gasoline which I now run in the tank. I'm wondering if I could add or remove resistance into the circuit for the tank sender unit to compensate. I searched for chemical and physical properties of petrochemicals on the web but got a bunch of advertisements for textbooks. I can head for the library, but do any engineering types know if I'm barking up the right tree? DAW

640 ohm is supposed to tell the ECU it's 145 degrees. I've read that you have to be careful on later generation ECUs because if the coolant/cyl head temp signal is way off vs the intake air temp signal, then the ECU goes into a default mode that won't yield the performance result you're seeking. So maybe you could start with less added resistance, say about 480, added to both the air temp sensor and the engine temp sensors and go from there. An A/F meter would be useful here. DAW

I'm totally guessing here, but it seems like taking the wastegate signal from up close to the throttle plate might minimize the variances in pressure that may be inherent in such a large volume system, i.e., modulate wastegate by what pressures the engine actually "sees" vs what's going on right at the compressor. DAW

The N42 works fine except it does tend to ping more than a P79/P90/Maxima N47 type chamber. N42 is a quick route to higher compression/performance but be prepared to use octane boosters and deal with more critical, less forgiving tuning parameters (timing, mixture). If you have a flat-top L28 and a P90 and access to a turbo setup, you could build a low-pressure turbo engine that would be a killer autocross car because the relatively high static c.r. (8.6:1) would give off-boost responsiveness and the turbo would provide a huge increase (intercool it) in power over a na engine of the same c.r. You might need to limit boost to 6lbs or so to start with such an engine. Putting a factory L28ET turbo setup into an early Z isn't really very difficult, just keep all the donor harnesses intact. DAW

Sounds like it was test run for awhile when the question arose...Oil?...you put it in didn't you?...I thought you put it in ...uh oh... Lockjaw, you're right about the N42 intakes into the Maxima head. You do need to exchange seats, and the intake cam profile and intake valve spring are economy-oriented on the Maxima (so use the N42's); exhausts are fine as-is. You don't need to mill the Maxima head any though, it's like an E31 in volume and a P79 in configuration. DAW

Corky Bell is very knowledgeable about carb/turbo setups. Check out his book: "Maximum Boost". As to the original post re Zcar carb/turbo, you might be referring to the car featured in Aug '02 Grassroots Motorsports? DAW

Hotshift 13, I'm not pissed off I'm just trying to help but I don't want to misguide you. There's enough displacement difference between the cylinders of the L26 and L28 that the cyl head recommendations would not be the same for both blocks. I didn't know that the engine in the garage was diassembled rather than an intact shortblock. Why is the shortblock with the rodknock better than the garage one? I'd be apprehensive that if a rebuilt engine has a rod knock that it wasn't done properly and there may be other problems (like, do the pistons match the bore? do the rings match the piston dia., etc). Do you want to use the bareblock F54 from the car because it was freshly honed? The Nissan engine factory puts these together with finely matched individual piston to bore clearances and the cyl walls are very durable. You might consider putting the garage engine back together, using the new rings and bearings from the car engine (make sure they are std. size) and put the pistons back into the cyls they came out of. Congratulations in advance for your baby! In the interest of expediting the car repair, just focus on getting an F54 in there and use the P79 head. Good luck and let us know if you run into a problem. DAW

Lockjaw, I think you should check out the Maxima N47, but maybe for a future project, I wouldn't abandon a P79 you've already milled. BTW you can't swap P79 valves into the N47 Maxima head because they're too short. That is basically the crux of it though, the P79 valves are shorter because the chamber roof has been raised by that amount, decreasing c.r. The Maxima N47 is basically a P79 with the roof dropped down, something that big milling of a P79 duplicates but from the other direction. DAW

You're making my head spin! What the **** are you trying to accomplish? Why not use the F54 short block you have in the garage? Don't sweat a little surface rust on cyl walls from sitting...take some Kroil penetrating oil, a super fine drywall sanding screen, and freshen up the walls using a horizontally circular motion, followed by wiping with a clean cotton towel. "Rebuilt" is not a good thing; run away! If you do use the F54 shortblock then forget about the Maxima N47 and use the P79 (or an N42/47 from an L28). DAW

You're making my head spin! What the **** are you trying to accomplish? Why not use the F54 short block you have in the garage? Don't sweat a little surface rust on cyl walls from sitting...take some Kroil penetrating oil, a super fine drywall sanding screen, and freshen up the walls using a horizontally circular motion, followed by wiping with a clean cotton towel. "Rebuilt" is not a good thing; run away! If you do use the F54 shortblock then forget about the Maxima N47 and use the P79 (or an N42/47 from an L28). DAW

I'd look at the 3SGTE. You want to keep it all light and compact. Its not an IRS car and I wouldn't go adding a bunch of wt to it (like a SBC) or you won't be able to toss it around and it will lose its fun factor. You might be surprised with the performance of a 2000 Roadster as-is. I had a 1600 and it needed more power. I bought a 2000 crank and rods to stroke it to 2000 specs (same bore), even though it would be OHV rather than OHC. The 1600 heads do warp. See if chassis components are beefier (springs, sway bars, brakes, etc) for the 2000 vs the 1600 cars. DAW

Try as hard as you can to let it remain "as the factory built it". that is, keep the harness intact, use the turbo relays, fuel pump, ECU, etc. Don't worry about the differential right now. You've got an R200 and the ratio is not likely too high for a M/T L28ET. Sort that out later. Figure you're going to have to have a driveshaft fabricated, but that's one of the last elements to deal with; and you might come up with some unlikely bolt-in at the last minute. I wouldn't go to extremes over the turbo M/T, if it becomes easier to fit the conventional Nissan M/T then just do it (Nike 1987). If the ratios aren't optimal then fix it later; it's a simple change-out, get it roadworthy first. DAW

You'd only need to replace the diaphram. You can test it to see if the diaphram is ruptured by sucking on a hose connected to the vacuum port (labeled "dist."); if it holds vacuum it's OK, if you can't create a vacuum, it's bad. There's a kit (diaphram, spring, & retainer) if it's bad. DAW

For what it's worth, the '81 L28ET used a crank angle sensor mounted on the timing cover, reading off the crank pulley. It's probably a bolt-on, retro-fit if it would provide a more practical signal than the distributor-source signal. DAW

Which N47 head? It makes a huge difference in c.r. (and performance) and the only way I know to tell is to remove the head and check the chamber (or check cranking pressure). DAW