whyfeel

-frank, I'm putting the cam in after I pass smog. Not worth trying to pass smog with a performance cam. So, it's long past due for an update. I promised battery tray rust. Here it is after some light wire brushing. I wire brushed and sanded, then cut out the battery tray and did some more of it. I am not the best fabricator in the world and I hacked the tray back together. Not bad for teaching yourself how to weld, IMHO. The exposed metal was sprayed with several coats of rust stop and finally with some underbody spray to prevent future rust. The rust really was not deep and I was glad to get to it now and get it out of the way so I don't have to worry about it 5-15 yrs down the road. Taped off and painted a little bit. I welded tabs under the tray still sitting in the car and then welded the removed tray to the tabs. I wanted an easy fix, and who cares about aesthetics when a battery sits on top of it. There we have the tray welded in w/o paint on the fresh welds. Close up on some welds. I had the welder on the lowest setting and it was all I could to to not burn through. The protective rust-stop spray paint was a little too blue. Not too big of a deal, but kinda funny. Done with rust. More fun stuff. Pulling the engine out of my old car. I pulled apart the clutch/flywheel to put it all on the engine stand. The flywheel looked a little toasted in the sun. I took it to a mechanic to have it resurfaced and he said he didn't want to take my money because the factory surfacing marks were still in it. I used the setup very hard for a couple years. Centerforce 2 clutch and MSA aluminum flywheel, 13.5 pounds. I'm very good with a clutch but abused this on purpose. This has seen full throttle clutch dumps 3 or 4 times and hard road course use. Engine on the stand. N42 block, N47 head. I just cleaned up the head and did the valve lashings. I had a valve cover bolt sheer off a while ago and never fixed it. I got it to seal w/o that bolt before. Figured I would take care of it with the engine out. Ground it with the dremel, made a center mark with a punch and drilled out the sucker with a 1/8th inch left hand turn drill bit that my uncle was kind enough to let me use. Got lucky getting it out w/the first drill bit I tried. So, I got sidetracked. Found my little sister's old bunny. I also found the acetylene/oxygen torch. Anyway, /derail of thread. Intake manifold off the '82 stripped down. Fuel injectors I bought new for my '79 a couple years ago. These injectors were put onto the '82 intake manifold, cleaned and new hoses and put onto my rebuilt motor. So, enough engine stand pictures. The engine in the car: Still working out kinks. It runs, need to adjust idle mixture and some stuff.

I am also 6'5". I can fit in the S30's for about 2 hours of driving before my back starts hurting because I have to slouch for head space. This is the deciding reason I got another s130 instead of an S30. That being said I have a decent amount of driving time in s30's (dad has one) and the handling feel between that and my last '79 280zx w/o AC, with manual rack and pinion is noticeable. The s30 has superior "flickability," or quicker weight transition due to slightly lower weight. The s130 can also be thrown through corners pretty easily as well. The better suspension geometry gives more in-corner stability. The aerodynamic differences make a big difference though. A stock S30 feels damn scary around 100mph with front end lift. The s130 feels much better at those speeds and has more high-speed stability. Some other Hybridz member found this and I copied his post. Stupidly I forgot his handle.

I need to adjust my idle. It sits at 400-500 and I need it ~750. I've had a '79 FI throttle body on my last car and the idle adjustment was a screw directly on top of the throttle body at an angle. The Haynes manual states that this screw on top is how you adjust the idle. In my '82 I'm working on with stock FI components the throttle body does not have that screw on it. Pic 6968 is the throttle body from the side. Pic 6974 shows another adjustment screw on the side of the intake manifold that I don't know what does. If anyone knows, let me know please. 6970 shows a screw on the bottom of the throttle body that I think might be the one. Let me know what you think.

Near Clear Lake, in Northern Ca. There are some amazing roads through the hills around here. Nothing like a Datsun Z to fly through them.

I've had two EFI '79 S130's and they both did not have O2 sensors. I have an '82 with stock EFI and it HAS an O2 sensor. Go figure. I had a bitch of a time getting one of those '79s smogged even after I had it rebuilt. Hopefully the O2 sensor on this '82 will help smog go way easier.

I also have a cam with a .460 lift and 270 duration or so I was thinking of putting in. That with some new lash pads and performance valve springs I think would help things along. How well would a midrange cam like that work with the stock fuel system? I am thinking about a rising rate Fuel Pressure regulator to go with it. I have stock fuel injectors in good shape and am not planning on any major power upgrades soon beyond this and an exhaust. I don't want to worry about detonation but I don't think it's much of a problem with the stock 8.3 CR or so. I would worry about running lean in the higher RPM range. What are the stock fuel maps good for?

No, just multiple pieces of MDF.

In high school I bought my first '79 280zx for $600. Master cylinder went out and my inexperienced ass went into a blackberry bush. $250 dollars later I have another '79. My grandpa also found a '81 2x2 that I cannibalized for spare parts. I built the brown $250 dollar car the best I could, went to college and drove the hell out of it. Words cannot express how many times this unfinished project pulled me through situations I should have never put myself in. And then last weekend (June 6th) I bought another one. $500 dollars, a steal in Sacramento, CA. Good all around car, poor interior, good project. That's the engine from it in front of my old car, I had it out yesterday. Some minor dings, small crack in the windshield and crushed fraimrails, but the good body, intact t-tops and working electrical sold me. 180,000 miles. The new. Sitting in the driveway I bought it from. Was owned by the same family since new. The kid in these pics is my little brother. You can barely see his new 240z on the trailer in the background. http://forums.hybridz.org/showthread.php?t=149454 The old car has an N42 block and N47 head and was rebuilt for me five years ago. It is mostly stock but has some fun stuff like an Aluminum flywheel, centerforce 2 clutch, high-cap oil pump and such. This engine is going into the blue s130. The workplace. The place that you put engines... As you might be able to see there is some minor rust on/around the battery try leaking down to the frame rail on the passenger side. I have already started dealing with this and will post pics on my method in a few days when I finish that bit up. I have a good amount of parts and I am going to put on the new car from the old. I have a manual rack and pinion set, 1 1/8th front 7/8th inch swaybars, tokico springs and tokico blue struts, all around poly bushing set, offset drilled front control arm bushings for camber correction, crossdrilled/slotted brake rotors all around, steel braided brake and clutch lines, and some other minor stuff. It's a good start though. There is a lot left to do. I need to take the N42/N47 combo out of the brown s130 and get it ready to go into the blue one. I am using the intake manifold from the blue Z and rebuilding it with the injectors from my brown z because I bought them new. Then put the whole mess down into the blue Z. I will update the thread as the build goes along. Hopefully all this juicy content will help when I run up against a wall and need some advice.