BlueStag

Look. Whatever you do, DON'T buy a 280 turbo! Not for love or money! That will leave one more on the market for me. And when I get mine installed, then I'll sell you my perfectly nice SUs. $800?

An electric pump, but I have a pressure regulator set to 3lbs. My floats operate gross jets, not conical needles, so I don't think they are sticking. Damned float level. I am so sick of thinking about it. I am going to get a 280zx turbo, damnit. I have no return lines on any fuel rail of any sort.

You know what I wonder? I wonder how quickly the SUs consume the oil in the dashpots?

Ray, thanks. Yes, I do need to have a Philips head in the car at all times. And yes, I like the idea of just slam it to the kerb and shut it down and check it out. Nice that I don't need to pull the air cleaner off........ As I wrote, I have done the test for the "slide piston", where one takes out the damper that the oil must push past, and check for flawless movement up and down, and have found no issues. I do appreciate your insight that this might be ONE carb without fuel. That makes perfect sense, a straight six trying to move on three cylinders.... I would so like to see a float bowl made of Pyrex glass. I am sick of trying to set my floats. I find the whole business just mystifying. I'm gonna go get a 280zx turbo and hang 300zx turbo gear on it.....

For those who do not know my car: 1973 Triumph Stag with 260z engine, ZX distro, SUs built by Z Therapy about 12 years ago, just recently down off stands from 9 years storage, do not ever buy a house. So in our previous episode, the SUs would suddenly not produce power (or the engine would not). One moment buzzing along at about 125 or so horses, next gimping like a lawnmower engine that has just sucked in a lot of water. The first time this happened previously, I first tore the carbs down as far as you can without pulling them off the manifolds (which is pretty far) and when reassembled, hey presto, power again. The second time I pulled the bell off the front carb and put it back, I took out the dampers and lifted the pistons to assure that there were no restrictions in their movement. A nice satisfying clunk as they dropped down. And it ran again. Today. Warm day, ran down the freeway about five miles to see some people. Parked for an hour. Ran back up the freeway, and just as I am two blocks from home, the dreaded power loss. I let it rest for about an hour, the engine had cooled enough that I choose to use the choke, it was a bit punk for a moment, then ran. Release the choke as the engine got hot? Power lost. Apply choke without pulling enrichment, power back. Park at grocery store, shop. Start car, no choke, power as it should be. What in the hell is the issue? I wonder if I have some transient vacuum leak? But I cannot imagine a TRANSIENT vacuum leak.

Ah, well. That makes things difficult. Obviously not the supercharged engines! Which one is shortest? And how short is that? I just cannot abide bulges in hoods.

I have come across solid dimensions for the VG30E, which would apply pretty solidly to the VG33E, except one: How tall is the VG33E over the cross member? Not from the bottom of the sump to the top of the engine, but how far from the top of the cross member to the top of the engine.

One dimension is a bit incomplete: "From the oil pan to the top of the intake manifold (z31turbo) =26-27" That looks to be the entire height of the engine. I'd very much like to know the dimension of the engine over the cross member. In other words, the height of the engine from the high part of the oil pan to the top of the engine.

Put in a 3.0 vg turbo. That will get some motion going! And it will fit very nicely. Probably weighs the same, as well.

You are and remain the best. Did I see your ride recently, on line?

Hey guys: For those that do not know my car, it may be the most hybrid of Zs, as it is a 1973 Triumph Stag with a 260L6. ZX Distributor and SUs. The SUs were re-built years ago by Scott before he sold Z Therapy to the present management. The front carb may have a slight vacuum leak at the throttle shaft toward the center. Which could explain my imperfect idle. But I write do to intermittent flat out. It comes without warning. Car starts and idles very badly, revs freely, but when on the road, no power, imagine me pushing air over my tongue with my mouth closed. Thhhhhhhhhppppppp. I had this issue twice now, and both times it seems the solution was to take the bells off the tops of the carbs and lift out the pistons and then reassemble it all. Yes, I know.... Actually, the first time I cleaned everything out and drained the oil and fiddled with the floats. Just now all I have done is take off the air filters, remove the damper, lift the piston to assure free motion, and I did take the bell off the front carb and look at the piston. Arg. I am ready for fuel injection. Does anyone have a 3.0zx turbo that is in excellent condition with all the bits and a good ecu that they want to sell for $200? Set up for an automatic would be a plus.

Cold? I live in Burbank, CA.

Thanks, Tony. Yes, I will tune the 2.6, set the ignition advance aggressively, see how it likes it. Meanwhile I need to be oportunistic about a swap. There is an offer on a 2.8 turbo, complete car, for $800. I don't see that sort of offer on any 3.3s, but then I have not made a trip to a pick-a-part yard in ten years. As soon as the weather cools I'll head over to one just to see what is what. The sohc's in pathfinders make about 200 lbs torque at about 2800 rpm, which ought to match well with an automatic trans. It should get me down the road pretty well.

The Stag weighs about 2800lbs, and was built with a 3.0 V8 producing about 130hp. It has semi trailing rear suspension that looks very like that of the ZX. I am sticking to the 2.6 for a good while. It is a solid engine and a known quantity. I think I have the oil pump in one tooth too far clockwise, as I just today did the investigations: The mark on the balancer is at zero, the lobes on the came are both up and splayed out at about the same amount (10 and 2?) and I pulled the distro out. The tang seems to me to be three or five degrees clockwise past where it should be. A small screwdriver set over the tang does NOT abutt the holes as per instructions. So tomorrow the damned pump comes out just to go back in. It is all OK, I am waiting on brake parts anyway. I'm pretty sure I have been running it about 5 degrees bdc, so apparently I have been squandering hp. I am going to set it to 15 and hope to hear any pinging...... As for future engines, I like the idea of a 3.3 out of a pathfinder, plenty of torque for an automatic. And I am happy to have FI, engine controls and even a cat or two, as I expect to be driving quite a bit, and I would rather not be dumping so much un burnt fuel into LA's atmosphere. ON a weekend car I would not be so fussy, but as I say, this will be a daily driver.

Solid, the Stag engine was not. They were lucky to make it 25k miles. A painfully underdeveloped engine. Never applied to any other car, although a production line mate to the slant four applied to TR7s and Saab 99's.

Huh. Well, that is certainly easy enough. Obviously need to watch for detonation, and be ready to run premium, I suppose. I gotta get out the damned book and find out what the timing is supposed to be. Would you say to start out with ten degrees and see how it likes it? The SUs are excellent, they were rebuilt by Z therapy.

What I was proposing: up the compression ratio from 8.3 toward 9.3, polish the ports. Yes, a header would be a plus. So my question should have been: what sort of power increase can one expect for that? At this point I have no interest in even discussing the day that I might swap in either a 2.8t or a 3.0 v6 turbo, it is so very far off. I obviously need to do the research on the cost of getting the head milled, but it is not excessive. So, anyone? What sort of power boost might I expect?

Hey guys, I'm running a 2.6 with proper SU's, a later distributor, and with a Maxima 4sp auto behind it. I am not currently looking for bags of power, especially as the bank is empty. I'm looking to produce power where the slushbox will find it. The 2.6 is very solid, having been rebuilt about 20k miles ago. So I am not eager to just drop it. In fact, I'd like at some point to get a 2.8turbo and squeeze it to about 200hp. But for now I'd like to just get the 2.6 to give me a little more love. Ten more hp would be appreciated. 20 more would be a party. I should mention that this is in my Triumph Stag..... This is not a sports car, the way a Z is. It is very much like a zx in its suspension..... I'm looking for a gentleman's cruiser that can hold up in Los Angeles rush hour traffic. I'm thinking the compression ratio is tragically low. Shave the head and take it up to the low 9s? And then I need to shim the cam towers? Advance the timing? Or go looking for a P79? That is going to force me to ease the cylinder bores for the valves? I understand that any l6 can be made to produce gobs more power than the factory sent it out with, assuming one has gobs of money to achieve it. Which currently I do not.

Yeah, seems to me that if the previous and now present filter had not threaded correctly, it would not have seated and not have sealed. I am sure that I had the correct Fram filters, two of them. And I had always understood that the nipple that filters thread onto were standardized, even if the base circle may vary, so that one could pretty much fit any filter to any nipple.

Hey guys, So I am making good headway in getting my Datsun Z engined Triumph Stag ready for the road again. It has been on stands for 9 years. Fired right up. Went to change the oil today. Had a hellish time getting a filter on it. Wrecked two Frams. I have changed oil dozens of times. I have always had the filter just spin on until it seated, then give it 3/4 turn to finish it, and Bob's your unkle. But here the filters jammed after about three turns. Absolutely wedged before anything like closing on the block. I ended up putting the old filter back on. It resisted a little bit, but did run up to the block and seal. Any ideas?

Just nuts! (I lived in Vacaville for a year when I was a kid.) I gotta be opportunistic, I suppose. Actually, I cannot decide just now which to go with, a 280T or a 3.0T. I know that either way, I want some power. I am running a 2.6 with SUs in my '73 Triumph Stag, and it looks good in there......With a Maxima four speed auto behind it. Either turbo drive train would be readily installed, I'm thinking, but the 280t seems to be pretty cheap on the market.

What's that? The ECU and harness of a 3.0 turbo can be laid on a 2.8 turbo? To advantage? I gotta go search for that......

Ah, here we go. A little basic research...... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jatco_4N71_transmission What I have is the light duty unit from a Maxima, which of course has a suitable bell housing. A slightly tougher unit was matched to a 300zx. I'm going to guess that I can use that trans with the bell housing that I have, and not be up against much of a swap. And I also expect the 300zx trans should not be too difficult to source. All of which could wait for the current trans to fail under the stress of a 280 turbo, assuming that it did. Autos don't tend to just blow up, yes? They start to act funky first. And pulling out the trans while leaving the engine is is doable on my chassis.

So it is a classic hydraulic trans as used with carb'd cars since the dawn of time? Which only makes sense, as this car does not currently have a ECU. I'd be looking for an electronic shifting trans, IF I could find one with OD. I certainly am not giving up OD (especially with a 1:3.7 diff on the car). The auto ZX Turbos seem to have been fitted with a different 3sp trans. I also want a swap that minimizes any changes I need to make to what I built a decade ago. I assume it will run with a FI engine, as the Maxima it was matched to was FI.....

Of course, I could be asking, assuming that one needs to start from scratch, and one wants a reasonably clean burning engine (fuel injection, basic emissions controls) which is the most budgetary way to get to about 200hp? It seems to me that a ZX Turbo gets up there with little cost or effort. Possibly just porting of a good head? A pinch more boost? A 280zx has a much longer way to go? A substantial upgrade in the head, hotter cam, pushing pinging? I have always had an aversion to turbos just out of complexity. That and the lag, but with an automatic at least the turbo will not spin down as the tranny shifts up.... Always love to chat.