Zmanco

Do you know a source for the plastic end pieces that are threaded? One end of this piece looks like it is molded onto the rod.

I'm looking for a longer version of the throttle linkage piece in this picture. The one I currently have is 6" and I'd prefer 7 or 8". Anyone know where to find one? I've tried my weber sources but with no luck.

It sounds like since the swap you are not getting any vacuum assist for your brakes. I have a similar cam to you in my N42 head, along with triple webers, and have no issues with enough vacuum for my brakes. I'd start looking at the hose that connects the brake booster to the intake manifold. Do you have any leaks? (If you did, I think you'd notice other issues with idle speed and driveability.) What about if you downshift so you're above say 2500 rpm while approaching a stop? Does that give you some brake assist? If so, then perhaps the check valve in the hose has failed. I'd start there before I swapped the MC.

So what was the drawback on Team Zleep's idea above? The only one I picked up was that there might be some noise transmitted, not as bad as a solid mount, but not as quiet as the stock one. Did I miss something else? Assuming I didn't, this seems like the simplest for those of us without metal fabrication equipment and skills.

A few weeks ago I installed a PowerBrute LSD (I think it's the same as Precision Gear) in my 4.11 diff from a 720 4x4. At first I was not happy at all as it was locking all the time. With a lot of driving, especially some figure 8s in parking lots, it has settled down A LOT. So far all my experience with it is on the street, but we have one more track day this weekend so soon I'll know more. Pros: the rear end is much more stable now. I can apply the throttle sooner when cornering. Also, when the rear end does break loose, it is so much more gentle and easy to control. Before about all I could do is lift. Now I can add some opposite lock and bring it back in. (Keep in mind I have a N/A L28, no massive torque like some of the V8 guys here.) Plus it's fun to see 2 black stripes out the rear view mirror if I dump the clutch. Cons: even at mild street speeds (say 35 mph), when going around a bend, I can feel the front end does not want to turn in as well as it used to. If I let up on the throttle, the rear end "unlocks" and the front suddenly turns better. It's not enough to make the car unstable at all. The steering responds better to bigger inputs now, before it was more finesse. I'm exagerating this to make the point: I suspect if someone who didn't know my car well drove it, they might not notice it if I didn't point it out. I am getting used to it. Also, now and then at slow speeds making sharp turns, like in a parking lot, there is a clunk as the diff locks or unlocks. Not a big deal. I'd say that for my style of driving which is mostly street, and without the torque of a V8, I may have gone overkill on this. A less agressive unit would probably have given me most of the goodness of the LSD without as much of the comprimise. Any of you more experienced with LSDs, please chime in and let me know what you think of my experience with it so far.

Clifton, you didn't address this point I made in an earlier post. If you're theory is correct that there is no side/side torque on the diff, what is providing the opposing force in this example? I'm sure you agree that with the parking brake on securely, if you let the clutch all the way out the engine is going to stall. Something had to provide a force opposite to the direction of rotation of the drive shaft to stop the engine from turning. What was it if it wasn't the diff?

Let's try a mental experiment: take a diff with half shafts attached and place it on the floor. Have 2 guys, one on each side, hold the outer ends of the half shafts. Let's assume they can hold them perfectly still so they can't rotate at all. They are only holding the flange so the u-joints (or CV) are free to move in all axis. Now have a third person turn the input flange in the same direction the transmission would. The nose is going to lift. Now hold the nose down to prevent it from going up any further, and the case will now try to twist as well. In fact, the nose will not go straight up, but will try to rotate in an arc. This is because there is torque acting on the diff in 2 axis (fore/aft and side/side). Here's another mental experiment: consider the force exerted by the torque from the drive shaft (driven of course by the engine) when you start to let the clutch out in 1st gear with the parking brake set. In order for everything to stay in one piece, there has to be an equal and opposite force to counter act it (otherwise things would move to the point they broke). Besides the diff, what else in the rear end could possibly exert the opposite force? There is nothing.

Thanks Mike, I think that's the better way to go; the only extra expense is the spacers and you get much more thermal capacity. I would have done that myself, but at the time my wheels wouldn't clear the wider calipers for vented rotors. Once I had bigger wheels, I waited until my rotors were worn to undersize (didn't take long ) and then did the vented upgrade.

Here are my experiences with several stages of brake modifications to my 73: Baseline: My stock braking system was in good order, but with unknown pads and shoes. For street driving it was adequate, but I was not impressed with stopping distances. On club track days, I had very noticeable brake fade before the end of a 20 minutes session, enough that I had to significantly change my brake points and had a few agricultural expeditions. Stage 1: I added toyota S12-8 calipers and Axxis metal master pads and SS brake lines all around. I kept the stock MC and solid rotors and made no changes to the rear. For street driving there was no noticeable change in stopping distance, but I noticed it was easier to modulate the brakes to prevent the fronts from locking up in a hard stop from high speed. Considering the low cost of this change, I was very happy with it. On club track days, I found that I was experiencing some fade towards the end of a 20 minute session, but it was small enough that I didn't have to change my braking points very much. The metal masters seemed to do well at elevated temps, but my rotors picked up a blueish color after the sessions. As the rear shoes wore, the brake pedal would go down further for each session and I found myself pumping the brakes before the braking point to be sure I was going to have brakes (which I always did). Pulling up on the parking brake many times in between sessions did not help adjust the shoes, but regular use and driving over the next few hundred miles would eventually get them properly adjusted. A few times I manually adjusted them back at home to speed things up. Stage 2: I installed MSA carbon metalic shoes on the rear. I did not notice any difference in street driving, nor at the track. Stage 3: I changed my fronts to toyota S12-W calipers, vented discs from 84 300ZX (Raybestos PG) with modern motorsports spacers, and Axxis metal master pads from a 92 300ZX (small amount of grinding requried to fit). This was a significant upgrade from the previous set up even for the street. In street driving I have not been able to notice any fade at all, even after several hard stops from 70+ mph. The brake pedal did go down farther, and I was unhappy with it. I did not have a chance to try this setup on the track. Stage 4: I swapped the MC to a 280ZX 15/16" and the brake pedal movement was closer to stock, although there is still a bit more movement than with the original system. Stage 5: I replaced the drums with 240SX calipers, rotors from 84 300ZX (Raybestos PG), Axxis metal master pads, and adjustable proportioning valve. For street use the rear discs are overkill and I would not recommend it (although it sure looks nice to see the discs behind my panasports on all 4 wheels now!). I have the prop valve opened up fully and the fronts still lock first, which is not what I expected. The other night I was alone on the highway as far as I could see and ran it up to 110 and then braked hard down to 40. I did this twice in a row and did not feel any fade, and the pedal was firm and easy to control. I did not brake as hard as I would on the track, but with the stock system as well as phase 1, I would have felt fade even before the second stop was finished. I have not yet had this setup on the track, although we have a day at Pueblo scheduled for this weekend. I'll update this afterwards. A few more thoughts: - I know some people are really critical of the metal master pads because they are hard on the rotors. That doesn't bother me as the rotors I used aren't much more expensive than the pads, and it's not that big of a deal to change rotors. For a pad to be used on the street as well as track at a reasonable price, I've been quite happy with them. They have a long life and low dust as well. I'm not trying to sell anyone on them, just stating my experience with them. - I have used Valvoline synthetic DOT 3/4 brake fluid and have been very happy with it. I bleed before each track event and have not experienced boiling fluid. It is very reasonably priced at ~$7 per quart at my local Autozone. - I used 300ZX pads with the vented rotors up front to get a slightly larger pad. The pad covers the entire available surface of the rotor. It was easy to trim with a cutoff wheel and bench grinder. - The rear pads only cover the outer 3/4 of the available surface of the rotors. I don't think this really matters since it's the rear, but it looks a little strange if I look closely at it. - I have been making steady improvements to my engine (L28) along the way. Through stage 2 I don't think I was that much stronger than stock. I now have a new cam (284 / .480") and my triple webers pretty much dialed in. Haven't been to the dyno yet so don't know the power but it's much stronger than stock. - Before each stage I read everything I could find about the experiences of others, and in some cases my own experience did not match theirs (ex. many claim that the S12-8 calipers on stock rotors will not improve fade resistance; my own experience suggests that for a 15-20 minute session I did get more laps in before the brakes started to fade.) I think you should take my experiences for what they are: 1 set of data points with a bunch of other variables that I couldn't control. (ex. Our track events are above 5k feet altitude so we lose ~20% of our HP.) - We lost our favorite track (2nd Creek Raceway) at the end of 2005, so had limited track events this summer. This next track day at Pueblo will be very interesting because I have changed so much since my last time out, along with the fact that I have not been there before. I hear it is tough on brakes, so am looking forward to putting this setup to the test. Lastly, if you haven't read the sticky on brake options for the S30, go there immediately. I have not found a better source of information for brake upgrades for the early Zs.

I understand what you're saying, and agree it will eventually happen, but I've got about 8 or 9 "bleeds" on my fronts and haven't had any sign of the problem yet.

It won't. Not sure what Tippja meant with his comment.

With the speed bleeders, just put the hose on the nipple, crack the bleeder about 1/4 turn, and then pump the brake pedal a few times. I usually use my hand on the pedal from outside the car so I can watch the fluid come out. Just be careful to refill the resevoir before you run out and have to start over It's that easy. BTW, if you don't have access to surgical tubing, get it from speed bleeders. It seals a lot better than the harder clear PVC I had been using from the hardware store.

Try a set of speed bleeders. http://www.speedbleeder.com/ Totally changes the level of effort to bleed the brakes.

Last summer I put Tokico springs and illumina struts in my 73. Before I did the swap I searched a lot here and a few other places and understood the issue of bump steer and that I was going to experience it without adding the spacers. Being cheap, and curious if I really needed them, I decided to not put them in. All in all I was pretty happy with the outcome, but noticed that: a) she didn't track in a straight line as solidly as before when cornering hard on a bumpy turn, the steering wheel was moving around more in my hands - it was a lot harder to carve a smooth line without a lot of corrections. Last night I put a set of bump steer spacers in and things are much better. Both issues are back to the way they were before, perhaps better since the rest of the suspension is much more stable and predictable now. I will say that it was a real pain to put the spacers in with the steering knuckle still attached to the tie rods. It looked like it shouldn't be that hard to get things to line up to get the bolts started in the holes, but it was. (I didn't have the tie rod separator I had rented so had to leave them on.) Anyway, thought I'd post this for those who are considering lowering springs and wondering if they should include the bump steer spacers. I now highly recommend them, and suggest you do it all at one time

If I am seeing this picture correctly, it looks like you bolted the weights directly to the cross memeber and did not use the bolts that attach the diff, is that correct? Interesting, using a weight as a damper I guess reduces the vibration. I give you very high marks for creativity! What made you think to add the weight? Also, how is the noise compared to the original diff mount? I ask because I could imagine that the bolts might come in contact with the side of the holes in the diff and transmit some vibration and hence noise. But I like this approach a lot - very simple and elegant, and easy to adjust the drive shaft angle too.

I spent a lot of time trying to get specific instructions beforehand. But in the end, without tools and a trained eye, it's quite possible, maybe even probable, that the first time I tried this I made errors. That's exactly my point to you: unless you have experience, or someone looking over your shoulder who has done this before, you could land up with the same outcome as me. While I'm all for learning by doing, for this part of engine building, if you don't get it right, the consequences are expensive and time consuming. All that said, I know a guy locally who did his own ring job, and read others who said they did too. So I'm sure it's possible. If you're interested in just getting another 20 or 30k miles out of a tired motor, then go for it. If you're looking to build a performance engine, think twice. As for price, I had my shop hot tank it, paint the block, and bore .030" over and hone. They also checked the deck for straightness, ground my crank journals 1 size under, and pressed my new pistons onto the rods. I think the total was about $250. You should call a machine shop to check what the going rate is in your area.

You're probably not going to want to hear this, but I think you should rethink using the ball hone. Why not have a machine shop do a proper hone? I went down the ball hone path to save some $$$ when I switched to flat top pistons and the next summer landed up doing a proper rebuild. By then I was burning a quart of oil every few hundred miles, even more when I drove it hard. The rings clearly didn't seat right. Whatever money you are going to save is all going to be given back when you have to buy another set of seals/gaskets/ etc. Never mind the time spent doing it all again. [/lecture]

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Disclaimer: I am NOT an expert, or even close, on small claims court. I think you are correct if he does not have any assets. However, assuming he does have some assets, I'd be surprised if there was no way to collect on a judgement from small claims court. You might want to find your local county's court system website. If yours is like mine, there is pretty detailed explanation of the entire process including a discussion of how you can collect the judgement.

No, with an electric water pump the coolant continues to circulate through the engine and carry heat to the radiator to be cooled by the fan. Without the electric pump, there is very little coolant flow (just a little due to convection) and so you don't get as much benefit.

Small claims court doesn't cost a lot, and from what I've seen, a lot of small claims cases don't have much or any documentation, so you shouldn't let that stop you. The main thing would be to be able to provide a clear and reasonable account of what you and he agreed he would do. Your description above was a good start. The money you are spending to "fix" his work becomes your damages, any documentation from your "new" mechanic is your proof, and that is what you sue him for.

Keep in mind that if you use a controller with the sensor that installs in the radiator (whether in the coolant or in between the fins), wiring it to run the fan after turning the engine off will only keep the fan running until the radiator goes below the turn-off temp. It will have very little impact on cooling the rest of the engine. I don't think you will harm anything with this approach, but I don't think it will make much of a difference either. If the sensor is mounted somewhere on the heads, then I think there is much more benefit, but without an electric coolant pump to keep the coolant circulating, the flow due to convection could take a long time to get things cooled down so the fan shuts off. I'm not saying this will always happen, but on a hot day after driving in stop/go traffic, I could see this taking 15+ minutes. If your battery is in good shape, probably no harm. If it's marginal, might not be a good idea.

You sound like Tim Allen on Tooltime

I went with a Hayden adjustable controller from Checker. The first one had issues but the replacement has been great. I installed the temp sensor in the fitting where the coolant would normally flow to preheat the SU carbs. Just had to find a brass bushing to adapt it. I think you may find that if you still have the L6 that there isn't much room in front of the water pump for a thick fan. I had hoped to use the Taurus fan but it's too thick. I am using a 4 core MSA radiator which takes up some clearance. I also have the AC condenser up front which doesn't help airflow. In the end I went with 2 x 10" fans side by side. It's just got enough capacity to idle in traffic on 85 degree days. I may swap to 2 x 12" this summer. Nice thing is that the fans are only 2 1/2" deep. Side note 1: I was pleasantly surprised how much quieter things were without the mechanical fan. I know my clutch was disengaging properly as I could stick a rolled up newspaper in the blades and stop it at idle. But once it was off the car, it was much quieter. Not a reason to do the swap, but a nice benefit. Side note 2: I still have the Taurus fan in case anyone needs one.

I've had a 6 HP RIGID unit from Home Depot for at least 5 years now. A few plastic pieces have broken and I've just called their 800 number and they sent new ones with no questions asked. On the pecking order of shop vacs, I'm not sure where RIGID falls, but it's met our needs, including my wife using it to vacuum the scum from the bottom of the pond once a year when we clean it. How's that for abuse?