Zmanco

I used the Tokico springs and Ilumina struts. Pretty firm for the street, even on the softest setting, but for a toy car it's just right. It would get a bit old if it was a daily driver for me. I just got back from a Z club meeting, and we were discussing the pros and cons of urethane bushings. 3 people had tried them and had 3 different opinions. One put them on an early Z and thought it was perfect, not too rough or loud. Another also on an early Z said they were too much except for the track. The third put them on his ZX and didn't know what the big deal was all about - he didn't notice that much of an increase in harshness, but also didn't think the performance improvement was all that great either. I stayed with stock rubber since I want to still drive mine around on Saturday afternoons, and traffic is a fact of life. Everyone seems to have a different idea of what's right for them with the trade offs.

I have panasport 16x7 on my '73 with the toyota vented 4 piston calipers and have no clearance issues. I'm about ready to install modern motorsports brackets and 240sx calipers on the rear, and having eyeballed it, I doubt there will be any clearance issues. I upgraded from 14" because I couldn't find many performance rubber in that size and since 16" is not a big deal on passenger cars anymore, I figured it's only a matter of time before the same thing happens with 15". I've been very happy with the 16". Note: these pictures were taken when I still had the non-vented calipers and stock suspension. Looks better now that that it's 1" lower.

I'm getting the parts together to do the rear disc brake swap on my 73 and am looking for the larger rear reservoir for the master cylinder. I've already upgraded to the 7/8" MC, but it didn't come with any reservoirs so I moved the stock ones over. If I'm really careful to keep the reservoir topped up, is there any reason why I couldn't just leave the drum reservoir on it? I dont' drive it that much and I bleed the brakes before every track event anyway. It's unlikely the level would drop too much without me noticing it. Or does anyone know a source to get the rear reservoir at a reasonable price?

Update: replaced the module and the new one works as it should. Just my luck to get a bad one... But if I was to do it again, I'd take Jon's approach with the sensor in the lower rad hose. This controller has about 10 degrees of hysterisis, and given it's measuring the temp at the thermostat, the engine temp is going through the 10 degree swing, rather than just the radiator. I suspect that if it was measuring off the rad output, the engine's temp swing would be less. And it would have been cheaper too

It does sound more like a valve being way out of adjustment, but that alone would not explain gas in the oil. I suppose a failed injector that was dumping too much fuel might result in gas running by the rings into the crank case, but the ticking sound is much louder than an injector I think. I agree with veritech-z that you should take the valve cover off. Also, I would not run the engine until I had this figured out. Not only is gas in the oil bad for its lubricating properties, if it's washing down the cylinder walls you can land up "un seating" the rings on that cylinder. (There's probably a better term for this, but it escapes right now.) Not sure if there would be any fix for that except a rebuild.

http://www.damperdoctor.com Here's a site I remember reading others speak highly about. I have not used them.

I should get the replacement controller tonight, but if my problem persists, I'd really appreciate you picking up one for me. I'll PM you if I need one. Thanks for the offer!

Just watched your video. Holy S**T Batman! I don't think the mount I just bought would stay on WITHOUT a camera.

Thanks all for the suggestions. I did a bit more googling (can't even remember what it was like before google:) ) and found this: http://froogle.google.com/froogle?q=panavise+809&oe=UTF-8&client=firefox-a&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&lmode=online&scoring=p Ordered one for $30 delivered. Should be good enough for an occasional track day.

I was hoping to find a mount with suction cups, but couldn't find any that could mount updside down off the rear hatch glass. I really like the view I've seen on other's vides where it appears the camera is mounted between and behind the seats. Has anyone found a reasonably priced way to do that for those of us without a roll cage? It has to be safe enough to pass tech at a track day, too.

When I put my L28 in I noticed that the diameter of the pulley was larger than on my L24. I figured that would help with keepiing the lights from dimming at idle, and it did. I think if you went with a smaller pulley you would reduce your water flow, so maybe you meant "larger"?

Just spoke with a tech at Hayden. He says the controller should have 10 degrees of hysterisis and figures mine is bad. Checker has a new one on order. We'll see...

Jon, I had seen you mention this earlier, and like this idea a lot. I'm guessing that with the probe on the output of the radiator, you get a reasonable amount of hystersis. My problem is a lack of 240SX in the junk yards. There wasn't even 1 last time I went to the pick n pull. I was rumaging through my collection of parts last night and found the thermostat housing from my L28 (from an '80ZX). I'm using the L24 unit but noticed that the L28's has what looks like a thermo switch. I tried it out last night and it looks like it turns on around 185 degrees. But the resistance was about 60 ohms which is a bit high to switch a 30 amp relay. Has anyone tried using this? At least I have the parts:)

I just installed electric fans on my '73 and used an adjustable kit from Hayden (part #3651). When the engine first warms up, it works as it should and turns on after the engine gets up to temp, and then shuts off. But if I let it idle for a while and get into a steady state, the fan controller starts to continuously turn on and off so much so that the fans don't run at full speed. Eventually it may go to full speed, or it may shut off. The engine never overheats, but I'm suspicious that the relay and fans will have a short life being constantly turned on and off like that. Plus the ammeter is jumping around as well which will only put more stress on the regulator. I had expected this kit, which was $60 (not including fans) to have some hysterisis designed in so that it would turn on and not turn off until the temp had dropped some significant amount, like maybe 5 degrees, so that it would either be on, or off, but not in this fluttering state. I'm wondering if this is a design flaw, or if this unit is just defective. Are any of you using this model from Hayden? (It's the one with a 2 wire sensor that screws into the thermostat housing, not the type that has a sensor that is inserted into the radiator fins). Or are you using another brand/model? BTW, I tried searching but could only come up a suggestion to use a fixed thermo switch from a Cavalier tied to a relay. I had considered that, but liked the idea of an adjustable unit.

It lets the viewer know the racing position of the car. 3 lights on = 1st in class 2 lights on = 2nd in class 1 light on = 3rd in class At least that's what Speed Channel said earlier in the season. Don't know what the significance of the color is.

Perhaps a picture will help. Look at the top of the frame. You can see the banjo fitting of the SS line on the left where it attaches to the caliper, and the female fitting on the right where it connects to the existing hard line. The only thing between them is the SS line itself. Sorry it's not framed better, I was guessing holding the camera under the car.

For my '73, I bought a set of SS lines from MSA fitted for the Z, and they bolted to the Toyota 4x4 calipers just fine. The other end connected to the existing hard line with no issues.

Thanks, that's the best chart I've seen since they show multiple examples of each. My O2 setup is just what you suggested, and it was invaluable to get rid of the flat spot transitioning to the mains. I've gone ahead and ordred smaller mains, and larger air correctors as well. I'm hoping/expecting that some combination will get them much closer to neutral.

Keep in mind that the width number refers to the MAXIMUM width of the tire, which is usually NOT the tread. My old 215/60-14s had a wider tread than my new 225/50-16 ES-100s. For fender rubbing, the tread width typically matters most. For rubbing against the suspension, the max width typically matters most. I have found that if you dig deep enough on the Tirerack.com site, you can find the spec for the tread width. For example, check out the ES100 page. http://www.tirerack.com/tires/Spec.jsp?make=Yokohama&model=AVS+ES100&tirePageLocQty= Scroll down to the 225/50WR16 and you'll see the Section Width (max width) is 8.9" and the tread width is 8.3". And keep in mind that it will vary from manufacturer to manufacturer, and even between models within a brand.

First question: is your engine stock, or have you made any mods to it? In my case I have an 80 distributor on my L28 in my '73. Since I'm running with webers, there isn't enough vacuum to take advantage of the vacuum advance. So I have tuned it for a total of 35 degrees of advance which is about as far as I can go before I hear detonation. This works out to be about 15 degrees of advance at idle, much more than with the stock dizzy which is about 8. This matters because more advance gives me a better idle, and smoother low speed running. The other day I thought I had a problem with it so I put the old one back in and set it for 8 degrees advance at idle. My low speed drivability and idle were horrible. When my engine was stock I didn't have these issues so I think that it's mostly due to the webers, bigger cam, headers, etc. So my point is if your engine is stock, you can probably just keep using your stock dizzy as long as it's in good condition. BTW, if you do the swap, you can't run points as the later distributors were all electronic and points wont' fit. I don't know if the 260 still used points, but if it did, then you'd have to convert, which is a good thing to do anyway. The details of connecting it up have been written up here many times before.

Let me say up front that I have not done this - my hoses are in good condition and I don't have fuel vapors in the cabin. But .... here is a web page I saved that discusses removing everything. I no longer have the link so I can't give proper credit to whoever created it. But I do think you're going to have a problem if you completely seal off ALL the vents. Air has to get in to the tank to replace the fuel as it is consumed, otherwise the tank will collapse. I've read of that happening, although have never seen it myself. I imagine the reverse may be an issue as well. Gas as pumped out from the underground tanks is usually much cooler than the ambient air temp in the summer, and it will expand significantly as it warms up. (Gasoline is MUCH more expansive than water for example.) So if you follow this, please do so at your own risk. And good luck! fueltanklines.zip

I've already got the 4x4 calipers up front and am getting ready to switch to the 240SX calipers in the rear. On my '73, what do you recommend to put in place of the proportioning valve? Are there any unions (don't know what else to call it) with several female threaded holes that I could put in place of it? I'm hoping I don't have to put in new lines. Also, would there be any issue with running the rears off of one side of the fronts as is done with the stock system on the '73? There would be an adjustable proportioning valve inbetween. I know the pressure SHOULD be the same throughout the front brake circuit, but theory and reality don't always line up

I noticed that my mileage dropped 2-3 mpg when I switched to the webers. While I didn't expect it to improve, I was surprised that it dropped that much. I had just assumed it was because I was always heavy into the throttle to hear them sing Just thinking about this further, I wonder if I should be going up in size on the air correctors due to my altitude? I'm currently at 200. Anyone with Webers at altitude have any thoughts?

I forgot to mention that I have a narrow band O2 sensor on it, which so far has been very helpful in making the carbs very drivable. Of course, I don't know how rich I am, as the plugs show I know I can't go any leaner on the idle jets as I've already tried that, so maybe I'll just try one size down on the mains. Thank goodness there's a guy on ebay with reasonably priced jets. Question: can either of your widebands be installed temporarily? How would that be done?

I have triple weber 40's on my L28 w/flat top pistons, 6:1 header, and 284/284 .480" lift cam. I've finally got my jetting to the point where it drives great, almost perfect. There are few minor nits but given it's completely livable now, I figured I'd check my plugs to see what they look like: The coloring in the pictures isn't as accurate as I would like, but you can see that there's a lot of soot making me think I'm too rich. However, I just went up to the 50F9 idle jets since the smaller ones were too lean below 3k. My mains are 130 and I'm wondering if I should try going to down to 125? That seems kind of small, but that's all I can think of. Any other suggestions? Edit: Forgot to mention I live at 6000 feet.