Doug71zt

Yup - N/A VE so I can work it through to a lb/min number. It is for a 3.0 stroker with a ported P90, healthy turbo cam and 8.5 compression. Would desktop dyno be able to model this engine? I've never used it - but am curious. Thanks - Doug

Hi - I'm wondering if anyone has a known accurate VE# or Graph with VE vs. RPM for an L28ET or any L series, for that matter. I am looking at compressor sizing for a new turbo and would like to start with accurate numbers on airflow. I know that it's quite variable with different engine combos, but I can make a good estimation if I have some data to work with - IE what the comp ratio, head work, valve size, intake style, etc the engine had. Right now I'm using 80 to 85%, dependant on RPM. Thanks - Doug

I have a 10 lb water extinguisher near the welding bench, it's nice because there isn't a mess, and its refillable right away. Having used a dry chemical extinguisher on a car, I know what you mean by mess. But, I've got the mother of all CO2 units in there also - A 200lb aircraft ramp extinguisher. My shop is a loooong way from the fire dept. Good that your experience didn't result in injury. Doug

Ever seen a YJ with a 426 dual-quad Hemi? There was one running around Ottawa, Canada. 2WD, lowered, 9 inch, tubbed. Sideways most of the time I saw it run(leaving cruise night). I'm sure that it rated up there with the Cobra for evil handling. Some people in this world have some weird ideas. We also have a 440 Wedge 240Z around up here. Runs 9's.

I've done a couple sets now, and I sectioned the tube in the old perch weld area, right where the new perch will be welded on. Then welded the tube, slipped the perch on and ran around the perch/tube joint, big bead on bottom. It was my thought that the perch would lend some reinforcement to the welded area and I wouldn't have to grind down the weld to slip the coilover sleeve down the strut. Welding them in the middle also makes it a little easier to jig them straight. I clamp them in a big chunk of angle iron to weld, with 2 C-clamps on each piece. Just my $0.02 Doug

You can try Dow Corning DC4 Silicone Grease - That's what I use on helicopter cannon (electrical) connectors. The machines that I work on go offshore, which is the worst enviroment you can expose a helicopter to (well - apart from flying around Iraq). It does a good job of sealing the connection from everything, but don't get it on any surface that you'd ever want to paint. You can also get a fine stainless steel brush to clean out the connectors with contact cleaner. I second Aarons recommendation on LPS contact cleaner - CFC free or No Flash are the only ones we use. Brake cleaner can be very hard on plastic parts - makes them very brittle. I don't think that you will get away with using that for long. I have been replacing AFM, CHT, Injector, and TPS connectors on Z31 harnesses for a while now. It seems that Nissan cheaped out on the material in the connector. The Snap-On guy got me sheets of the crimp on connectors that replace the OEM ones - I tin the wire with solder, crimp the connector on and then heat it a bit to flow the solder onto the connector. This takes care of the connector/wire corrosion problem down the road. Clean the connector after soldering with contact cleaner and a brush to get rid of the flux (corrosive) and then brush a coat of DC4 onto it. Just don't glob the solder on with a 75watt iron as it will wick up the wire and make it very brittle. Some wires I've found in Z31 AFM harnesses have corrosion about 6 inches up inside the wire. Sorry - A little long-winded today Doug

Not mine - don't know anything about it - but it's cheap and will flow enough for an L28. http://www.zcar.com/classifieds/index.php?method=showdetails&list=advertisement&rollid=15021&fromfromlist=classifiedscategory&fromfrommethod=showhtmllist&fromfromid=34& Thought that someone on this board would appreciate this. Doug

You can use the front case and front cover from your 4 spd to repair the 5spd - It's the same parts. I think that you may find that the main countershaft brg in the bearing plate (on the split line of the cases) has lost its cage and some balls. I would re-bearing the countershaft, measure and order the correct shim from Nissan, and carry on. Doug

The 280Z uses a 71B tranny - single cone syncros, L series bellhousing, different shifter, etc. Doug

I built my own flange from 3/8" stainless, but you can do it from mild steel also. Just get a piece of 3/8" thick plate steel roughly the size of the inlet pattern of your stock downpipe from the scrap bin of a machine or welding shop Take your stock downpipe, make a pattern of the flange with heavy cardstock paper, and trace it out on the steel with a scribe. I used a bandsaw for mine (stainless), but given enough patience and persistance, all you need is a vice, hacksaw, drill(press) and an aggressive halfround file (or diegrinder with a carbide cutter). This is oldschool fabrication at its best. Cut out the exterior pattern (it doesn't need to be exact, drill the mounting hole pattern. Drill a pattern of holes around inside the traced pattern so you can cut a round circle with the hacksaw. Drill a big enough hole that you can take the blade out of the hacksaw, slip it through the hole, and clamp it back to the saw. Now you can cut the round hole in the center. File (or diegrind) the hole out to the edge of the scribe mark. Voila! Downpipe flange for maybe $10 and a lot of sweat. OR - Get ahold of Jeff P and see if he has any flanges left over that he will sell you. Quality mandrel bent pipes are available from Magnaflow exhaust - they are pretty cheap - I usually have a couple boxes full on hand for custom exhaust stuff. You can use 2- 45 deg bends if you are going 2.5" dia. Fit it up, mark it or tack weld it and then take it off and MIG weld it . Search will probably turn up a picture or two of Scottie's design of downpipe - It seems to be universally liked among turboz guys. Do you have shop facilities at the school you're at? You may be able to do this as a project and impress the sh*t out of your instructors because you have the ability to fabricate something. It is somewhat of a lost skill in todays world. You will never regret learning to hand-build things. Fabricating and fitting are the most important because you can always find a shop to weld the stuff together for you. Welding isn't usually the time-consuming part of hand building a one-off part. Happy building - Doug PS - I think that you need some way to retard the timing under boost - or there is going to be some pinging and piston destruction going on -- maybe the ECU, AFM and dizzy from the turbo car would be better than the stock 77 electrics or a MSD-6 with the boost retard sensing built into it. http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=46101&item=7907839039&rd=1 Get it fast - 33 minutes left.

Sorry Mike - I thought that you were looking for comments on your shopping list. It looks like you have everything you need to get it up and running. If the IC and tubing was already in a Z, that simplifies things quite a bit. I would spend the $100 on wideband dyno tuning for the rising rate regulator. No - you don't need to buy any other fuel pressure reg. Best bang for the buck now would be a mandrel downpipe off of the turbo. You can pick up a couple PSI and better spool-up easily and quickly. Good luck - Doug

Rick - To go a little off-topic here - I saw that you are running Ferrea stainless valves in your new engine. Are they the correct length for the P-90 head, and use standard locks and retainers? Are they a recent production piece for Ferrea? Did you go oversize on your intakes or exhaust? I am reworking a P-90 right now with a more aggressive ISKY cam and have been looking around for Stainless valves. Rebello Racing said that there were no high quality valves available for the P-90 except for custom pieces - but that was a couple months ago. This is great news for me.. Any pricing info? Doug

Mike - Why don't you go with a Z31 turbo ECU, 83 turbo dizzy, Hot-wire AFM? This set-up is affordable, proven and somewhat more tunable in the future. You can rewire your current harness to work with the Z31 stuff. If you are looking for 240 hp cheap - get the turbo fuel pump out of the donor car, run a J-pipe initially, leave the P-90 alone (actually, leave the whole engine alone for right now). Don't buy a BOV right now - wait till you can afford to do the blingbling stuff. I ran 13.2's with stock pump and injectors with a crappy Supra IC at 12 psi - no BOV. I have ARP head studs with a stock head gasket. Head gasket failure typically only happens with tuning issues at low power levels (less than 350 hp). If you are blowing L series head gaskets, your engine is telling you there is something not right. I did a buddies car with a Z31 system, advanced the timing about 3-4 deg, with no IC and 10 psi, he runs 13.8's all day. Reliable and quick. I used a Z31 efi harness, because it was a 240 with no EFI system wiring present. Stock head gasket, turbo head bolts, N/A bottom end with flat tops, P90 head, engine driven fan. If you really want to do it on the cheap, separate out what you want from what you really need to get it up and running. I'm not saying go ghetto on it - that's no way to do anything - use stock parts from other applications where possible, buy used stuff, simplify your plan. You can do the other stuff later when you have the means. Good luck, whichever way you go. Doug

Just to shed a little light on the Z31/Z32 thing - Z32 was an 89 model in other markets while N America got the lame-duck 89 Z31. I think the production numbers for the 89 Z31 were around 5-6 thousand units. Doug

Jason - I still have boost creep problems - but they are manageable now. It will hold 15psi till about 5.5K and then it starts to climb. 17-18 psi at 6.5K. I usually shift there as there is lots of TQ down lower. 15 psi will feel a lot different with a bigger compressor. I don't believe that you will get away with that high of boost without a lot more fuel. The air density will be a lot higher with a more efficient compressor at work. I would rather have the airflow through the turbine section than through the WG hole - that is why I'm going to try the .82 housing. I would like move the boost threshold up to around 3K on my engine, also. Kenny - I honestly have no idea - sorry - never had it on a dyno. Its a freshened stock bottom end with a P90A. Mild home port/polish/unshroud. 60mmTB,550 cc injectors. I would suspect that it runs mid 300's average from 4-6K. That's what I get from the HP calcs. It runs consistant 12.7 @ 113-115 on 225/45/17 street rubber, right off of the street. It ran 12.2 @116 on Hoosier QTP's on pump gas - but with no D/S hoop, the track gives me grief when I run slicks. I have run 250+ passes with the car - from 13.7@102 after the turbo conversion to 12.2@116 now. I gave up on the stock turbo at 12.9. I hot-lapped 25 passes one night, on the stock turbo - it is still alive in another Z!

Hi Jason - Yes you are correct, the exhaust housing will need to be reworked to fit the stage 3 wheel. If you are going to a 57 or 60 trim wheel with a TO4E cover, I would caution you about going with the Stg 3 turbine. I have a TO4E60/T3 stage 3 .63 exhaust and I have boost creep problems. I ported the WG housing (ford style) to 1.25" with a 1.5" flapper - that is the biggest that will go in there - now the boost creep is managable but I think that I'm limiting my topend power with the exhaust side. I have a .82 stage 3 housing on order, just to see if it helps out. It isn't a major expense ($140). I would recommend going to a stg 5 wheel right off the bat. If I was getting another big hybrid turbo, I would go that way or to a T4 turbine (P trim). Just my $0.02 Doug

Sounds like you have an adjustment problem with the pedal/clutch master cylinder, or the slave/clutch fork. Does it have an adjustable pushrod on the slave/clutch fork down on the tranny? If so, you need to loosen it up so the clutch fork has a little bit of free play. Sounds like you are running around with the clutch half-engaged. Get a service manual and make sure that all the set-up is correct before going through all the work of pulling the tranny. FWI - With a hoist, it takes me less than an hour to get the clutch out of my car, in the driveway - plan for a nice Sat. full. Good luck

Jason - Get an '87-'89 turbo tranny and stop worrying. They will take pretty much anything you can throw at them. Drax - I've got a Z31 T5 driveshaft on the shelf here - but it is the goofy non-replaceable ujoint yokes. I have bored up and machined the yokes to accept a bigger Ujoint with good results. I haven't broke anything in my turbo 240 with 9.5" Hoosier slicks - but I've only run maybe 25 passes. They keep giving me grief at the strip about slicks and no D/S loop - so I keep running my 225/45/17's at test-n-tune. Good to see your car featured on the SDS website! Cheers - Doug

Dave - Good to see you posting here - You may possibly remember me as a young kid from Canada who bought a primered 240Z in Tempe and them loaded it up with parts from your shop before driving it back to Canada. This would be 13-14 years ago. I changed a clutch out in front of your shop in the parking lot. Well - the car is still with me - better than ever. I'm glad that you have stuck with the Z parts business. Cheers - Doug

JT - What's the specs on the shiny new turbo? - Or is that top secret for right now? I'm going for a GT35R or a GT3040R on my new engine - that one looks kind of similar. I'm interested in the specs that you went with. Doug

Joe - Anything that fits a small block chevy should fit the L6. Both take the same oil filter - PH8A Fram. That should make the adapter pretty reasonable. Doug

Drax - Have you got a link or a part number for your cooler - it may be what I need for a customer's application. 1963 Dodge Valient w/ twin turbo 457" big block, currently under construction. Thanks - Doug

Drax - The local Nissan parts guy (z-car club member) got a buyout on NISMO headers (not sure what size primaries) $525 CDN. That is probably the lowest price that you will find on them new. If your customer is interested, email him quick - not sure how long the stock will last. We have a bunch of hard-core 6 cyl. guys in the club in Ontario, chances are they will sell out fast. His name is Rick Scott, email parts@brantfordnissan.ca - Tell him that Doug sent you.

Hi Joe - I'm using the stock 280zxt automatic oil cooler on my 240zt and I'm pretty happy with it. Cheap Cheap. I got rid of the banjo fittings and ran AN -10 lines to and from the adapter on the engine. It is a compact, efficient little unit, but a little thick if you need to stick it between the IC and the rad. A similar unit is on the Z31 turbo (auto only). I'm running a 19" x 24" Griffin rad, seems to keep the car cool. Never goes over 200 F when under boost. It sticks down below the crossmember on a 240 chassis though, Bad if you are prone to off-track excursions, curb-hopping, etc. . Speaking of Z06 - I had one night out at the dragstrip this year so far, jockeyed in the staging lanes to line up against a Z06. He ran a 13.0@113 to my 12.7@112. I can't wait to get the stroker motor done with a GT35R. A quick off-topic for you - I bought the same Ross pistons as you - do you know the size of rod bushings that you used to convert over to floating pins in your engine? Thanks - Doug

Internally they are the same - externally there are a few differences, Nissan redesigned the front case for the TT application. Starter mounts differently on the TT. They are not interchangable, but if you need to rebuild one, you can get guts from either and slip them into your case. Hope that this helps. Doug