260DET

The S130 was an improvement dynamically over the S30 according to Nissan's own testing and their published data, it was designed to be a better car. A friend of mine who is a handy driver drove stock S30's and S130's around a race track back in the day, he presently owns a S30 but says the S130 was a faster car and better to drive near the limit, no doubt. The problem is the S130 suspension does not age well, with clapped out suspension a S30 will perform better in every day use than a similar S130 will.

The use of a semi trailing arm suspension should be kept in its historical context, at the time it was state of the art for a volume production car. Just look the suspension systems other comparable cars were using at the time. As for being cheap, solid leaf sprung rear axles were cheap, where is the evidence to say it cost less to build a semi trailing arm suspension than the McPherson strut type? If there is any more knocking of semi trailing arm suspension I'll link that BMW tarmac rally video, again

The 280ZX and Z31 are basically dead in AU, they are usually robbed of their good bits by S30 owners. Main reason is that Nissan only sold the 2+2 here, people see my 2+0 280ZX and want one though.

Thats the way mine is set up, its a road car so there are limits as to what can be done. All I can say is that by 150KPH I have no understeer even with a rear wing. Much under that and there can be understeer, perhaps the wing starts to work before the front does.

The head bloke is not impressed with Mr Nissan's heads, be a few months before he is able to tackle them. Oh well this is a long term project.

VG engine is finally revving out, lacks a bit of corner exit grunt but not too bad for the first (rusty) run of the year, a PB time that day. Anyway, hope you enjoy PS pick the corner where I stuff the gear change and have to do some fancy footwork to keep on track, oh the unseen drama

Look closely at those two pics of mine before deciding on any machining. With the DE/TT crank there is a space between the pump drive part of the crank and the main bearing part. In other words, with the DE/TT the pump drive part of the crank is not flush against the main bearing part of the crank, like the single cam's drive is. There are also those undercuts machined in where the diameters step down.

There are some really good dual purpose track day tyres around now ie tyres that are reasonably OK for everyday use but which will perform well on a race track without getting shredded. Providing the pressure is upped to ~40psi. There is a Dunlop Direzza of some sort, Kumho KU36, Federal 595RSR to name a few. Fairly sure Tirerack list the first two.

Pics of the fronts of a VG30DETT crank and a VG330E crank, they were lined up together so that they can be visually compared. In the first pic the DETT crank is on the left, note the spacing between the actual oil pump drive and the main bearing. In this second pic the DETT crank is on the right. See how the two wodruff key slots are located almost in the same places. So it looks like it would not be a good proposition to machine back the oil pump drive part of the DETT crank 7mm to use a single cam engine's oil pump. Anyway its up to others to decide what they want to do, the pics tell the story.

Will compare the two cranks side by side tomorrow, from memory its the A to B measurement only which is different when comparing the Z32 crank with the VG33 item. For my application I prefer to use either of the bigger and wider Z32 pumps but yeh, the Z32 crank could be machined to remove that additional 7mm if you didn't want to go that way. The entire snout/nose length of the two cranks is the same.

Yeh the ECU off the JDM '80 model is lying around home somewhere, not worth anything, but USPS from the US is a shocker, always more than US$50.

In my experience its pointless to generally compare brands, you have to get down to specific models. Which involves defining what you want from a tyre and what it will be used for. For everyday sporty use not involving ice or snow I like the BFG G force Sport tyres on my 280ZX. But they were available at a good price, if they had been expensive I would have bought something else. It is not necessary to pay a lot of money to get good tyres, some are definately overpriced for what they are.

As a result of fitting a VG30DE/TT crank there will be accessory alignment issues. I have not got there yet but am thinking of using Z32 brackets, pulleys, etc. Not sure about the coolant pump. The other 'issue' is that a DE or TT flywheel will be required, to match the eight bolt crank. There are plenty of light aftermarket ones around at present and suitable clutches, then you can use a Z32 gearbox, which are still available new at a reasonable price. So there are advantages that way as you can end up with a strong transmission able to handle your big power

Yeh well I was thinking JDM, they don't have that safety stuff, my 80 model doesn't anyway. But basically you are right, its mostly safety requirements which have increased car weights since the S30. Plus engineers have realised that stiffer chassis = less NVH. And PPK, you can't convert your PS to the rack type?

Yeh I was going to say the bonnet vents were a bit too far forward but if your temp is not going above 90 on a hot day thats OK, mine runs around that. Oil temp is just as important. Yeh I've heard that CAMS are carrying on a bit, typical, I only do AASA events at present.

Need a general sticky on what may be involved when swapping in a different motor and transmission. The same sorts of questions keep coming up, a good sticky should be a great help for those looking at any swap. For example, once you get into engines with ECU's if you don't use the engine's original loom and ECU then an aftermarket ECU is an alternative, can get expensive just for the hardware. Lot more so if you can't DIY.

The S130 is a great car to do engine conversions with, they have a better chassis than the S30 and heaps of engine bay space. Its only the extra comfort junk and targa tops which can make them heavier than the S30, targa tops should not be seen on a performance car anyway. Maybe any engine kits for the S30 could be adapted for the S130?

A couple more pics, with the cylinder head one note the outline the head gasket has made on the head face. Its clear that the bore size is larger than the combustion chamber was originally designed for.

The Pixies, great American 80's band with a cool chick on bass http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gGXdXcpNsv4 And being patriotic for once, more from the rockin 80's, Party Boys http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kbovKqsJPc4

Machinist mate sees no problem converting the stock cam sprockets to adjustable and making the offset 7mm more, the extra load resulting from the additional offset should not be a problem either, the camshaft is very well supported. The tensioner pulley would have to be spaced forward 7mm as well, once again this does not seem to be a problem. Both to do and to bear the load. Note that the pulley stud is M10, the same diameter as the top center cam belt idler pulley on the Z32 motor, which would carry more load I think. An alternative to The Extra Seven Millimeter Solution above is to machine the forged crank to suit a Z31 oil pump. That should be doable but its not a serious option for me at present.

Watched that all the way through, fulee sik bro

The bloke whose arm I'm going to twist to do my heads will recommend a specific cam grind, based on the final flow figures. All I have to do then is find someone who can follow the instructions, easier said than done.

The new thread was started to answer a very specific and limited question, something from all the reading I have done no one had specifically addressed before. That opening post of mine was very carefully composed so as to leave no doubt, if it is read carefully. This general 33 thread is good too because it can cover everything of general application to the 33 engine. Including oil pumps I must say,not referring to anyone here, that reading supposed tech stuff on the intrawebs can often get very frustrating due to the poor use of language. Is that a mini rant, too bad

BRAAP needs an invite? On cam sprocket alignment, see para three of the opening post where I talk about making adjustable cam sprockets. Alternatively the center could be cut out of the stock sprockets and a stepped new center brazed on. I'm sure my machinist friend will sort it.

There is some VG33 related discussion going on in other threads here http://forums.hybridz.org/showthread.php?t=159497 and here http://forums.hybridz.org/showthread.php?t=159648 To keep on topic this thread will be restricted to whatever is actually done to my motor.