Zmanco

When I first installed the springs/struts, I did not have the bump steer spacers. But driving on the street around bumpy turns wasn't fun, so I added them. I never had a chance to take it to the track without them, so don't know how much difference it might have made. BTW, my rear has almost no negative camber (I think it was a few tenths last time I had it on the alignment rack). Thanks for the suggestions everyone. This is a mostly street-driven car so I know I'm going to have to make comprimises at the track. I think loosening the end links up front is a cheap and easy experiment to try.

I've read many of threads on this site that discuss adding adjustability to camber, but don't want to cut up this particular car as it's pretty clean. Some day perhaps I will do a track car and not worry about it.

Both front and rear end links are quite tight, so I'll try loosening the fronts. I'm a bit confused by your suggestions for changing the tire pressures. It was my understanding that with street tires a little more pressure usually INCREASED grip, at least up to a point. I had read that track tires might behave differently. My own experience, which is only with street tires, has been more pressure increases grip. For this day, I started at 26/24 F/R but soon increased it to 30/24 to help with the push. I had pretty even tire wear across the tread (~100 miles on track) with only a very little feathering on the outside edges of the tread, so figured I wasn't too far off from the optimal pressure. I suspect going even lower in the front would make the push worse. Did I misunderstand your suggestion?

FWIW, keep your eyes out for a sale at the local Checker/Shucks/kragen. They often have the same thing as the HF unit for $25 on sale. Might be worth considering if you don't need it right away.

Here's the current setup on my 73: - Tokico red springs - Tokico Illumina struts - 1" bump steer spacers in front - stock rubber bushings all around - MSA anti roll bars (1" front, 7/8" rear) - 16 x 7 panasports with 225/50-16 Yoko ES100 - BruteForce LSD At my last 2 track days I've found I have more push (understeer) on 3rd gear sweepers than I would like, especially when I'm on the throttle. Before I installed the LSD I was closer to neutral. There were only 2 second gear turns and the car was very neutral in them with no noticeable push. I had enough torque coming off the turn to begin to get the rear to rotate on its own (with the help of the LSD I'm sure). Also, initial turn-in was while I was off throttle under braking which helped I'm sure. They were a lot of fun I've staggered my tire pressures as much as 6 psi higher in the front which helped a little, but not enough. My Illumina's are set to the softest setting (1) in the front, and 3 in the rear (on a 5 scale). Most of my driving is on the steet, so I don't think I want to go down the camber plate route. I was thinking that I might try changing the front antiroll bar to 7/8" to soften the front to get better grip. Beyond that, I'm pretty much out of ideas. What do you think of the changing the front bar? Should I consider a 3/4" front bar, or is that likely to go too far? I don't want to create a tail-happy devil on the street. Other ideas?

N/A - sorry, thought I had written that. Thanks Tony, that's just the advice I was looking for! There's a Pep Boys close by - I'll see what they have.

Thanks Tony. However, I'm also going with the 60mm (~2.4") 240SX throtle body, and that's what has me worried. In fact, another question is what's the best source for the flexible "boot" to go between the TB and the cold air tube? Unfortunately I haven't found a 240SX in a JY yet. Can anyone recommend a sources for flexible tubing? This is the closest I've found so far: http://store.summitracing.com/egnsearch.asp?Ntt=hose&N=700+4294925239+115+4294813803&NeXID=5&Ntk=KeywordSearch

Does that mean you enlarged the hole, or lived with its restriction, or perhaps brought cold air in some other way? I'm looking for help with the details of this aspect. Pictures would be great!

As I'm planning my switch to FI on my 73, I've noticed that the hole just to the left of the radiator where I'd like to run my air intake is smaller on my 73 than the later cars that came with FI from the factory. The hole is only about 2.5" diameter. My car is pretty clean and I don't want to hack up the hole to make it larger. How have others who have done the FI swap, (also turbo I suppose) dealt with this?

All 5 arrived today and they look great! Thanks RoostMonkey!

Thanks Ryan, I didn't realize there were other sources of firmware as well. Wow, lots to get on top of! So MS1 might be the way to go after all. Any thoughts on whether the V3 board is really that much better than the V2.2? It appears to be a more robust design (4 layers, thicker copper), but if the 2.2 is adequate, that's another $50 to spend elsewhere.

http://msefi.com/viewtopic.php?p=163140&highlight=cooling+fan#163140 Just found the answer to my question about the cooling fan.

I'm getting ready to choose an MS version for my NA L28. A few things about my plans: - I do not plan to go turbo - please don't hold that against me - I already have an MSD 6AL so don't need a rev limiter - I would like to be able to make tuning adjustments via a Palm (even small laptops don't fit in the glove box) From what I can tell from the MS site, I think I want to go with the V3 board as it's the most robust and tolerant of wiring errors. The question is if I go with MS-I or MS-II. MS-I Pros: - has tuning s/w for a Palm - cheaper MS-II Pros: - 12x12 VE table (vs. 8x8 for MS-I) Does this really matter for a NA application? - Autotune support What other significant differences are there? Lastly, does either support control of an electric cooling fan? I can't find it mentioned on the site, but it seems like it would be trivial to add hysteresis for the relay.

Thanks Paul, you confirmed what I suspected, that it's about how it looks

I can see that the early FI intake manifolds without EGR are much cleaner looking than the later ones. As I have an '80 intake, I'm wondering if the 75-78 have any performance benefits as well, or if it's all just apperance. If I switch to FI, I'll be puting a 60 mm TB on it, so I'm just trying to isolate the difference in performance from the intake.

FWIW, I'm running triple 40s with an electric in the rear alone. It's a "generic" rotary so not too loud. I've had no issues with it keeping the carbs fed, even at sustained high revs (6500+) rpm.

I saw in another post that the stock FI fuel pressure regulator needs a vacuum connection to the intake manifold so it can adjust the pressure when the intake pressure (vacuum) changes to keep the relative pressure in the injectors constant. As I'm planning for a conversion from carbs to FI (via megasquirt) I'm wondering if I need to use the stock regulator or if I can use an aftermarket? I ask because I haven't seen any aftermarkets with the attachment for the intake manifold. How big of an issue is this? Does it affect driveability? Thanks in advance - I'm learning tons about FI here.

I've been running triple webers but am beginning to think about switching to megasquirt. I've already got a stock '80 intake with the original injectors. They don't look to be in good condition at all. I'm running an L28 with flat top pistons, N42 head, bigger cam, headers, etc. I'm concerned that the stock injectors will be close to maxing out and figure that if I'm buying new, I should go with something a little bigger. As I've read here, the stock injectors are rated 19 lb/hr. From some of the "HP to flow" charts I've seen, I figure that 22 lb would be the right size for me. My questions are: 1) should I go with a slightly larger than stock injector? Is 22 lb the right size? (I do not plan to go turbo later). 2) which "larger" injectors will fit the stock manifold without machining? Also, without destroying my budget? I read the sticky, but it appears to be mostly focused on turbo applications. Also, has anyone found a decent source for a fuel surge tank besides the ones from Australia? Please don't suggest a Bronco II - not too many of them in the JYs here in Colorado.

I just sent you a check for 5 units - there are several of us here in CO who really appreciate you building these up! Many thanks!

I'm a bit late to this thread, but live not far from Jason and have experienced the same thing he has. I think the real issue is the gravel left on the road after the snow melts. Jason, with a stiff suspension and big front calipers, there isn't much you're going to be able to do about it. For me, my Z is a weekend car, but I know yours is a daily driver. I feel for you, but you can't have it both ways. BTW, with all the snow we have had (and still have on the ground) I won't have the Z back out for at least a few weeks. Quite a difference from last winter. I still think you should get a winter beater car/truck.

Pull the little white "plug" out from the MSD box and you'll remove the rev limiter entirely. Perhaps someone will have a spare plug for 7k? That's what I'm running and it works well.

I don't think a weak spark is going to cause blue smoke.

If you only have 2 miles on it, I would not be letting it sit idling. From what I understand, the first few miles are crucial to getting the rings to seat properly, and that won't happen at idle. Since you say there are no abnormal noises and there is no coolant in the oil and vice versa, I'd go out and drive it to break it in. I mean, get 50 miles of acceleration/deceleration on it. Then see what's happening. However, if there is a problem with the rings, then I wonder if you might be better to tear it down now. I hate to say that, but with so little miles on it, perhaps you could avoid having to hone it again and could just put new rings in. I'm out of experience in this area so will step back and let others who have more experience chime in which path is the best to take.

Wow, that's a lot of smoke! On my monitor it does look blue. However, the way it rose up makes me think there is a lot of steam in it. It reminded me of the way my exhaust rises when the engine is cold. Was it cold when you shot the video? The bluish color makes me think a lot of oil is getting burned. I've only rebuilt a few engines, but I've never seen that much blue smoke before. Are you sure you installed the rings correctly? Perhaps you didn't get the oil scavenger rings (bottom set) installed properly? I've read that if the spacer overlaps itself too much, which is easy to do, they will not remove the oil properly and you'll burn a lot.

Black plugs could easily be due to a too rich fuel mixture, which is quite likely with SM needles. That by itself would not indicate anything is wrong with the engine - just that you're running too rich. Roninjiro, you sound like you're convinced that it can't be a coolant leak, but white smoke is most likely just that. If you're burning oil, it would have a blue tint. If you are much too rich, the "smoke" would be brown due to incomplete combustion. Perhaps you or your wife can look more closely at the color when you take it out again?