strotter

Well, I meant to upload a bunch of images into my personal gallery. Like a 'tard, though, I uploaded them to the Public gallery. How do I delete them?

Good God, I didn't even know they *do* inspections here in California, other than smog. (and just as an aside, as an Old Guy Whose Seen Em All, I just have to say - the songs are all about "California Girls", not "Texas Herfords" (the cows, the COWS!).)

Lately I've been learning a lot about refrigeration systems... To me, I don't really care if the system is R12-based or R134-based. I'm thinking I've got this big-assed compressor from a Pontiac, driven by a big-assed motor, and a pretty-big condenser (with air sucked through it by a big-assed fan though); the only thing I have that's little is my evaporator (no snickering here, please). But I do have a big-assed fan sucking air through it (thanks for the tip Owen!). I'm thinking that the small cockpit of the Z won't need a whole lot of BTU's to keep cool. Yes, it gets warm around here, too (weeks at a time over 100 deg, 105-110 not unusual). The only thing that has me concerned is the "TXV" valve Dan (Magazine Cover Guy) mentioned earlier. He has kindly offered to help me get this thing functioning, but I don't want to show up at his place with a big stupid grin and a pile of crap; I want to have everything ready to go, get in, get out, mission completed. I've been hunting for a new TXV valve, so far without success. Also: digging through the Helms manual for my donor car (a Firebird), and comparing it to the manual for a 260z, I've noticed that the systems are set up differently: for the GM, the cycle goes ("SV" is "service valve"): Pump->Condenser->SV->SV->Expansion Valve->Evaporator->Dryer->Pump For the Datsun, it goes like Pump->Condenser->Dryer->Expansion Valve->SV->Evaporator->SV->Pump Am I reading something wrong here? Also, the Datsun has service valves on either side of the evaporator. The GM seens to have a pair of them in the "liquid line" (the line from the condenser to the expansion valve). A/C is hard.

I understand these things are *the bomb* for finding dead cylinders, fouled plugs, that kind of thing.

From the rear? Odd. All that comes to mind could be something in the differential (dry? bad bearing? bad seal?), or something rubbing on a tire, the driveshaft, or one of the halfshafts. Something trapped under the car? (I picked up a piece of tarp one time that got hung just in front of the differential, made a hissing noise I thought was from the intake). Exhaust pipe shifted over, maybe a broken mount, rubbing on a tire? Is the sound *the same* turning right and left? Does it vary with the rate of turn? I'm thinking you're just going to end up jacking it as high as practical and crawling around...

All of your guys arguing doesn't matter one way or another. It's just a matter of time until they're all gone - if you think otherwise, you're not paying attention. I guarantee you, anybody a little bit younger than me will see all those animals go extinct in their lifetime. The predator cats, the rhinos (which are already almost there) and the other "mega herbavores" (elephants, giraffs, so on), the great apes. Much like what happened in North America. If people don't raise it, it won't make it. There is no way that the economies of those African countries will ever improve to the point that just animals can compete with people growing crops. More people = more farming = less animals. No one really *needs* wild animals, do they?

I'm looking at the weather forecasts, thinking about August, and I figure it's time to get the A/C system functional. I've got: > a condenser out of a 280 (direct bolt-in, in place) > a GM-style Harrison 635 compressor (out of an '89 Firebird, in place) > a GM accumulator (also out of the Firebird, in place) > its' pressure cycling switch (in place). The Helms manual says the GM system is a "CCOT (cycling clutch orifice tube system", which uses a orifice tube (and resulting pressure drop) to expand the refrigerant, and it cycles its compressor to keep the evaporator just above freezing. So I also need a expansion tube immediately in front of the evaporator. Understood. What I need help is with the evaporator itself. I found an A/C system last year in a 240 at Pick'n'Pull, and snagged the evaporator housing and evaporator. Below is a picture of it: You're looking at the downwind side. This thing fits into a housing that wraps around the fan housing in the cockpit and feeds air into the heater intake. When the A/C system is on, it feeds cold air. OK, now my question is about the brass, mushroom-shaped deal on the intake (?). I believe it's a temperature-sensitive valve. There's no mention of any such valve in the Helms manual. I think I need to remove it to make this thing compatible with the rest of the system. Am I correct?

On the way to pick up your RB26, stop by the post office and register to vote. It's even cooler than the porn thing. Then, study up on the issues, the candidates, and any state or local propositions coming up. Come November, vote. It's what grown-ups do.

People are always ragnosticating about "ruining" cars with swaps of various kinds (I've even heard it myself), but they forget that some of the greatest cars ever built were hybrids, initially thrown together by some guy in a garage - the Allard J2X (British car, Cadillac engine), the Detomaso Pantera (Italian car, Ford engine), and of course the most lusted-after car in the United States, the Shelby Cobra (English car, Ford engine). All of them were considered "bastardizations" by someone at the time (especially the Pantera; I remember reading years ago about an Italian car magazine that referred to it as a "bellowing mule". Perhaps that's a compliment in Italy?). There are plenty of others.

What I was thinking of checking/adjusting was the toe-in. Sorry guys, I didn't get any specifications from the shop after the adjustment - to tell you the truth, I didn't know shops supplied details of the job. I must be going to the wrong places (but that may be the problem, huh?). I've been doing a little bit of research on the matter. I hadn't noticed before, but the Haynes manual gives a toe-in specification of 0.080" to 0.20" (2.0mm to 5.0mm). They define toe-in as "the amount by which the distance between the front inside edges of the road wheels (measured at hub height) is less then the diametrically opposite distance measured between the rear inside edges of the front road wheels", and goes into some detail about making the adjustment. They suggest making a simple tool to make the appropriate measurement, which I think I'll throw together this weekend, just to check. I'm thinking several lengths of 1/2" pipe, some elbows, and some bolts might make something useful. I'll let you know how it goes.

I'm running a pretty strong injected 327 w/ a Holley throttle-body and got 20.3 mpg at my last fill-up (driving as if I deserved a license). This was from one town to another, half-a-dozen stops, a few miles of town, 10 miles of country. I would imagine straight highway mileage to be in the mid 20's or so, though I haven't kept track yet. I have found that tuning the computer made a significant difference; it started in the 12-15 range, making less power and less driveability. I still haven't invoked the "highway mode" in the prom, I'm hoping it will improve the mileage even more.

My '72 tends to "dart" a great deal on uneven or just rough-textured road surfaces. It's got full poly bushings, 205/55-15's all around, and has recently been aligned; but I'm paranoid and suspect the shop that did the alignment got it wrong. Is there any way to accurately check the alignment at home? For that matter, can I *set* the alignment myself? I've got some tools and frankly don't enjoy depending on someone else to do what I can possibly take care of myself.

OOh!!! We know somebody Famous! We don't have to call you "Sir" or anything now, do we? Now that you're famous, can we all borrow some money? =)

I just wish we could get back to fighting *terrorists*, not just bad guys...

I met these once - a student of mine, an Asian kid with lots of car-macho, drove this wide-bodied Acura to school every day. Pretty car, a powder-blue, expensive-looking wheels, right down low on the ground, tinted everything, video stuff on the dash, the whole schmearola. I was thinking it must have some cool stuff under the hood, the amount of money he's spent on the *visible* stuff was staggering. I'd shown him and his buddies my Z a couple of weeks before, and though he wasn't rude or anything, he clearly wasn't impressed by pushrod-driven drivetrains. So one afternoon when school let out I was finally in the parking lot the same time as this kid. I intercepted him at the car, made some small talk and asked him if I could see under the hood. He was standing in the open driver's side door, I was up at the front. He says "sure" and I, thinking I'll save him a few steps, reach over and give the pin a solid tug, 'cause I know they can be tight sometimes and - the whole thing comes off the hood in my hand, leaving the sticky part of two-sided tape on the hood. Oops. I was stunned for a moment, all I could say was "What the hell is this? What is this thing? How do you open the hood? Uh?" This other kids standing around were laughing tears, partly at the poser aspect of the pins, and I'm sure partly at the look of total shock on my face. Just then the hood popped up as he pulled the release in the cockpit. At that point I started to giggle, too, the pin still hanging on my finger. The poor kid, I felt sorry for his embarrassment, but I just couldn't help it. And of course, you guessed it already, the motor was totally stock, right down to the air filter.

I had a similar stumble (felt like it was ready to backfire) on tip-in and whenever I went to WOT quickly. Turned out it was a fuel-pressure problem. I did some rough calculations (given injector size & displacement) that turned out to be *way* too high. Remember that this is for a TBI system, but the calcs said I should be at about 32 psi (very high for a TBI) but eventually I ran it down to 18, less than 2/3 of the calculated value. The hint was that I had run the delta TPS and delta MAP numbers almost to 25% of their factory values (watching the 02 sensor) , which killed my high-RPM transition but made the low-RPM (tip-in) behave properly. The VE tables (and Base Pulse Width, or the equivalent on your system) have such a wide degree of tolerance that it masks some problems under most circumstances, but can't compensate under others - such as at tip in. Do you have a wide-band O2 sensor available? If you do, watch the behavior at low vs. high RPM deltas. Or, just lower your pressure and see what happens - it'll affect your entire tune, though, so you may be starting from scratch. Hope this helps.

"Poop!"

You can just honk on the thing, it'll go even with the big spring.

I was talking to a friend of mine who's a cop about this thread. He had some excellent stories about retards - er - pedestrians, though most of them ended badly. The point he made to me, relating to this thread, was that pedestrians have the right-of-way everywhere, all the time, mostly as a safety thing. A car moving at normal speed is dangerous, a person moving at normal speeds is not. Therefore, the burden is on the driver to exercise greater care in its normal operation. Greater care in this case means to yield. With a jaywalker, just because someone is breaking the law doesn't mean that someone else is allowed to commit a greater crime upon them as a result. So, if Nick had chosen to hit the pedestrians, and told the investigating officer "I chose to kill the pedestrians because they were breaking the law and the people in the other cars didn't do anything wrong," he would have likely been arrested on the spot and charged with "vehicular manslaughter", which basically means murder by car. Much more serious than "Involuntary vehicular manslaughter". He did the right thing. If he had had to run into another car, he would have been right in doing that, too. The pedestrians would have (theoretically) been charged with jaywalking, and possibly "contributory negligence" (which means "dangerously stupid" in cop-talk), which would have mostly been about getting some liability on them. In practice, if the worst happens the cops and the D.A. look to see if the driver behaved in a "reasonable" manner. A person is expected to not kill or injure if it's at all possible. "I didn't want to bend my car" is not a considered reasonable, because a car is considered expendable compared to a person's life.

No, thanks J, there's a bunch of 280s at the local Pick'nPull (not a 240 in sight, but plenty of 280s!). I need an excuse to go down there anyway. Thanks!

I've got some experience with GM TBI's. Like anything else, there are plusses and minuses. On the minus side, you'll be pushing it to get 300-325 hp with the factory unit. It flows about 450 cfm at 3" hg. (3" hg is the standard vacuum with 2 bbl's.) If you compare that to the 1.5" hg on a 4 bbl, you're looking at about 400 cfm (it's not linear). If you think of your motor as an air pump (which really it is), a 350 turning 6000 rpm will need about 650 cfm (@1.5" hg). That means that you can generate plenty of torque, but it'll run out of air at higher RPM's. Holley makes a much larger TBI (supposed to be around 650 cfm) for the price of a carburator: http://www.holley.com/HiOctn/ProdLine/Products/FMS/FMSFI/502-6.html Also, once you make any significant modifications to the motor, you'll need to "chip" it, modify the fuel map in the ECU to compensate for the changes you've made. It's the digital version of tuning a carburator. That is, you can get away with adding an exhaust system or improved intake, but as soon as you change the cam, compression, heads or manifold, you need to adjust it. I'm not saying it won't run, it just won't run well. You can order one of the mod chips from Hypertech or someone else, but they won't be able to nail your tune. For that, you'll need to learn something about chip programming and buy a little bit of hardware to burn the chips. There's an excellent introduction to EFI tuning at ThirdGen.org: http://www.thirdgen.org/newdesign/tech/promintro.shtml On the plus side, an EFI system, even a TBI (which is generally an underrated system) is a great deal more "forgiving" in everyday driving: it starts when it's cold outside, it starts when it's hot, it gets the best performance out of a motor, it gets the best economy out of a motor. Your mileage may vary, but an EFI system will take more work to get running right, but runs more right when it runs (if you get my drift).

No, it's a 240... I'm looking at the "How to restore your Datsun" book by Humble, it has some excellent exploded views in the back ... I know they're similar to mine, but I don't see an "isolator" anywhere, however, I *do* see "Insulator, strut mounting" (the piece the strut bolts into, and which in turn has the three bolts that fasten to the body). Is that what you're talking about? Tell me, does the 280 use taller isolators/insulators all around? I'm thinking go the other way, install taller isolators from a 280 in the rear, raising it 3/4" or so? Certainly more professional than just a spacer, and I may be able to make up the full 3/4" there. Will the strut-tops fit? ..

OK, I have a problem with "stance". I've done a V8 conversion, and the rear of my car is sitting lower than it should. It's only really noticeable directly from the side, but it's bugging me. I'm thinking it's because of the CG has been moved back (I've done the rear-mounted battery, aluminum intake, all that). In any event, I need to raise the rear, lower the front, or both. What's the best method? It has slightly lower-than-stock springs (about 1") but not coilovers (obviously). Here's my thought: raise the rear 3/8" by installing a spacer between the strut mounting and the perch; then cut 1/2 turn out of the front springs (or enough to shorten by 3/8" when loaded). Thoughts?

I picked up a Weir bellhousing adapter to mate a T56 to my 327 a couple of months ago, and it's finally back in the car. The hydraulic throwout bearing is wonderful, as it has a bleeder built right in. Joy! Everything else went smoothly until it came to reinstalling the exhaust. Turns out that, even though the new bellhousing is no larger in diameter than the original in the *front*, it's quite a bit larger on the rear where it mates to the tranny. To be fair, the T56 is quite a bit larger than the T-5 at that point as well. This wouldn't be a problem if you're starting an exhaust from scratch, but I already had a system assembled for the previous T-5 that fit quite snugly. When hung underneath, the exhaust clunked firmly into the adapter on the driver's side, as did the crossover pipe into the back of the tranny mount, which had been moved back about 1.5" or so. I took care of the latter with a hammer and some pent-up rage, but the driver's side pipe needed some rethinking. I ended up rerouting it outward, toward the wheel and back again, by cutting a series of wedges out of the pipe leaving just a bit to hold it together, then welding it back together. Ended up with a 1" gap by the crossover, which I filled with a sleeve from Pep Boys. Yeah, it's ugly, but it's airtight. One downside is that the whole thing is a good 3/4" lower than before - it looks like I'll be more careful over speed bumps in the future.

Personally, I believe in Darwinian evolution - the stupid ones should be culled out of the herd so as to improve the species as a whole.... That said, I had a similar experience in my Z last year, before the tranny died, involving a kid on a bike. He was with two of his friends on foot, and was kind of "orbiting" around them. As I got to them, he shot *entirely* into my lane, maybe 20 feet in front of me - and I was going about 40. I managed to dodge into the left lane, but I swear the first thought in my mind wasn't "OHMYGOD I'm gonna hit a kid!", it was "OHMYGOD I just finished painting this thing!"