Zmanco

I've been carrying a small general purpose fire extinguisher under the driver's seat for a while, but am thinking it would be a lot faster to get to it if it was somewhere more in the open. But at the same time, I'd like to mount it somewhere that's not in the way of the driver and passenger either. I really don't want the passenger to have to put their feet over/around it, etc. I'm also concerned with it becoming a missile in the event of an accident. Where have others mounted them in street-driven cars? And what type of mount did you use? (The plastic ones supplied for home use don't look like they'd keep it attached in an accident.) Pictures would be great! Note: I am not trying resurrect the debate IF an extinguisher should be carried in a street car, nor what type is best. I found a few really good threads on those topics while searching for mounting ideas.

FWIW, when I found a better pad for the rear so I could start to use the prop valve to get the brakes balanced, I noticed a much larger improvement in braking than I had expected. I had previously assumed that the fronts do most of the braking, and I'm sure that's true, but I was pleasantly surprised how much difference I felt when I had the rears helping too. As a point of reference, on our last club track day, a friend with an early Z like mine and a similar brake set up, but without an adjustable prop valve and using unknown pads in the rear, was braking much earlier than I at the end of a long straight leading into a sharp (>90 degree) right hander. I was seeing just over 100 mph before braking to about 35 and I'd guess I was braking at least 50 feet later than he was. Plus I was carrying more speed as my engine is stronger. We have similar tires and suspension components, and I'd rate him a slightly better driver than me, so I'll chock the difference up mostly to the pads. Glad to hear you're considering the rear pads/valve. I think you'll be glad you did on your next track day with them installed.

Sorry to read that - it doesn't sound good. Was it full of metal shavings?

280Z Turbo, I hope I'm not out of line with what I'm going to say next, but I can't help but challenge you on the approach you're taking with your brakes. You obviously set out to improve the braking performance of your car, and by the picture in your signature, I can see you like to autocross, and perhaps track it. You've obviously invested some significant $$$ to do the caliper and rotor swaps, and you're looking at high quality front brake pads. Yet you want to continue to use a proportioning valve that was never intended to be used with any of the components you now have on the car. You're also looking to save a relatively small amount of money by using "stock" pads (which means you probably know nothing about their performance at elevated temps). If you look at the coefficient of friction vs. temp for brake pads you'll see that the premium pads have a much more linear coefficient over temp, and maintain it at higher temps, than "stock". This will matter on the track, especially with your turbo which will allow you to build speed faster than those of us with n/a engines. You want your brakes to behave the same across the broadest range of temps possible. My point to you is that I think you should finish your brake project properly and put an adjustable prop valve in, and use a quality brake pad on both ends, not just the rear. I will grant you that you have "erred" in the direction that is almost certain to result in your front brakes locking first (safer), but nonethess, you have also left some significant braking performance on the table, and have added another element of unpredictability into your rear brakes as temps rise. Again, I hope you don't take these comments personally, I just think that you've gone most of the way to building a safe and high performance brake system, and you should really take the last remaining steps that will give you another level of performance AND predictability on the track. Ok, I'm finished

The PWM settings are used to limit the average current once the injector is fully open. If PWM Current Limit % is set to 20, then that means the driver is effectively off 80% of the time and only on for 20%. This results in the average current being limited which protects the drivers from over heating. If you are saying that you aren't using the PWM settings, then perhaps you have high impedance injectors? Their resistance is higher and hence the PWM function isn't needed (can be left at 100%) without using resistors.

I'm no A/C expert, and here in CO we don't have the same levels of humidity as you do in Florida, so with that disclaimer, here's what I did: I started with my 73's dealer installed A/C system. It's pretty marginal on a good day. I replaced the original compressor with one from an 80+ ZX along with the better bracket and had the system refilled with R12. It worked pretty well, especially at freeway speeds. But the R12 leaked out several times (always when I was working on another project and somehow must have "bothered" some of the old hoses) and I got tired of paying my local A/C guy to refill it. This last summer I switched to Freeze12 which is basically a mix of R12 and R134. I found it on ebay and it was way cheaper than R12. The kit came with lubricant and stop leak which I added, and then refilled the system. I did that last June and so far all continues to work well. The cooling is not as good as with R12, but it's good enough for me, and also much cheaper. I am not saying this is the best approach for a long term reliable a/c system, it's just what I did to keep it running since it's not that big of deal for me to have it.

BTW, with regard to the clunk, you should also make sure you have the springs properly seated in the top perch when you set the car back down. Like you, I had one gland nut work loose. But after I tightened it I still had a clunk. Turns out one of the rear springs wasn't seated right. Took me way too long to figure that one out

Thanks Pete, this isn't rocket science, but I always feel better when someone else comes to the same conclusion I have an old scope I picked up the other day, and when the probes (voltage only) arrive, I'll measure across the resistor to determine the opening time. In the mean time, any suggestions for where to start with the setting in MS?

I believe the oil is primarily there to transfer the heat generated by the up/down motion of the strut to the strut housing more efficiently so it can be dissipated. On my 73 I used Marvel Mystery oil mainly because I had it in the garage when I needed it. I imagine any oil that's reasonably thin will do. As for your question if it's needed on an 83, I don't see why not, but I'll leave that to someone who owns a ZX.

I can't get the editor to stop removing spaces, so please see the attached file wiring.txt. Electrically it's the same as the one you drew, it's just easier to wire up as I have the injectors wired in two parallel banks of 3. Those two wires route under the passenger seat where all the rest of the MS installation resides. wiring.txt

I can imagine it's hard to determine exactly where the sound is originating. Assuming you have the car up on jack stands so you can safely get under it while it's idling in gear, try taking a piece of hose (fuel hose will do) several feet long and with one end in your ear, move the other end around the things that you think might be making the noise. You'll know when you've found it. PS. Watch out you don't bump your arm against the exhaust - it will be hot

Here's a little spread sheet I made that helps convert between total toe-in in inches and degrees. The conversion is dependent on the diameter of the tire so you can't just use a single value. Thumper, I guessed your front tires are 245/50-18 and if you want a total of 1/16" total toe-in, then the total in degrees would be 0.26 degrees. But enter the actual size to get the actual value. Toe-in conversion tool.zip

2 ohms in series with a set of three injectors is equivalent to 6 ohms for each injector if wired individually as long as I triple the power rating, which I've done.

Astral Ace, what are your objectives for the car with these tires? Is it a daily driver in all weather? Maybe snow too? Or at the other extreme, a track car? Those N2000 tires LOOK to be very optimized for rain, but it's really impossible to tell until someone puts them on a car and tests them. I've never heard of Nexen before so can't offer any firsthand feedback. I'm a little surprised they don't list the treadwear rating. While it's not an absolute indicator of how hard the rubber is, anything less than 200 is clearly a soft short-lived tire, and anything over 400 is the opposite. Tirerack has the best variety of tires tested I've seen so far, although I wouldn't call them anywhere near close to perfect. Still, you can learn something about the relative performance of the different tires they test at the same time. The reader feedback is mostly useless as most people want to believe that the tires they just spent $$$ on are better than the worn out ones they just removed.

I have the injectors wired into 2 groups of 3, so I'll put 2 ohms into each group. I ordered 3 x 6.2 ohms to wire in parallel for each which will result in 2 ohms. I went with 25W ceramics which are overkill, but better to err on that side than the reverse.

Ha! Every day I try to learn something new. Looks like I'm done for today

What's a narp?

I ordered some resistors from Mouser tonight - hopefully they'll be here by the weekend so I can put them in and experiment. I've got a board under the passenger seat with the rest of the MS on it, so shouldn't be too hard to add them.

There aren't all that many choices left in 14" tires any more. Why not go with the same size front and rear? 215/60-14 should fit without any rubbing - I had them on my 73 with no issues. They are still a little smaller than stock in overall diameter though. A better fit is 195/70-14. I'll guess that you're concerned that you'll give up performance going narrower, but if you can find a better quality tire, you may be surprised that you don't give up anything at all. The size of the tire is only one aspect that affects its performance, although it seems most people focus on it almost exclusively. FYI, I did have mild rubbing in the rear over big bumps when I went up to 225-50-16.

Here's how another forum handled it for north America: http://www.my350z.com/forum/forumdisplay.php?f=87

The vacuum advance hose will come off the side of the distributor just below the plastic cap and should go to the intake manifold. You may find there is no hose and that the nipple has a plug over it. It's common for the diaphragm in the distributor's advance mechanism to begin to leak and so people sometimes just disconnect it. The vacuum advance helps by giving you more advance at part throttle with high vacuum, such as when you're at freeway speeds. This helps provide a little better fuel economy.

Actually, the timing is advanced as the engine rpm increases. But to answer your question, all of the advance should be in by 3k. If you see any further change at a higher rpm, then adjust it there. You want to set the maximum advance. There's nothing special about the 3k number.

With your setup you want about 35 degrees of total advance. If you still have the vacuum advance connected, plug it at the manifold, then with an adjustable timing light, measure the advance at ~3k rpm. IIRC, that should result in about 15-18 degrees at idle.

Autozone sells a felpro headgasket for 16.99. The b/a is $26.99 by itself. The eBay guy adds $9 for shipping, so not sure if that package price is such a good deal, although probably not a bad deal if you need the other gaskets. OTH, 98% isn't such a good score on ebay. I'd buy what I needed from the local parts store.

Have you tested the opening time be for a stock turbo injector with a resistor (say something around 6 ohms)? I'm tempted to try adding the resistors, although with no track days planned until the spring it will be difficult to verify the problem is solved.