Drax240z

How about a shot in the ear, eye or crotch? Is $1000 worth losing hearing, sight or... ahem? Paintballs fly, and they do some damage. There is a reason protective equipment is worn while you play paintball, though I think that we all may benefit if these people can't reproduce.

Any recommendations for those of us that want to get more than 5k miles out of their tires? How is the life on the 712's, RA1's, etc?

You can spend big $$$ on silicone hose in the right sizes... or if you want to do it 'budget' do what I did and use some semi-truck radiator hose in the right size. 2, 2.25, 2.5, 3" is all common on those trucks. Its about 1/5 the cost of the silicone stuff. (though that stuff looks AWESOME don't get me wrong)

I'm not really sure... but maybe you can list your car, engine and any mods and that will spark an idea. What did you do exactly with the fuel tank?

Well isn't that ridiculous? Drop a bomb on the whole place and rid us all of the stupidity of everyone involved.

Try to find some books on other cylinder heads, and check out some older issues of grassroots motorsports. They might not be datsun specific, but the principles are the same. I can't remember offhand if "How to modify your datsun/nissan OHC engine" had any info... anyone recall? If not, the book is good and well worth the money, so you might check it out anyway.

First: If it says 44 posts and you only see 29, that is because there are multiple posts on each thread. This is normal and the way it was intended to be. I find that I have to completely close the browser window I've used to look at hybridz for the # of visits since last here function to update. If I start up a new window every time I return, then this function works fine for me. If I have the same window open and I go back to hybridz, it doesn't update.

CHeck to see if the injectors are clogged... seems to be a common problem these days! There are 2 posts by me in this forum recently on how to do it.

SU's all the way. 650cfm is wayyy too much carb. The SU side draughts work very well if in good shape. (I've had them on a daily driver for 2+ years) They don't take much fiddling once you get them set, and they just don't have issues. Reliable, easy, inexpensive, and you can definately get some power out of them. (ask norm and his 12.88 1/4 miles!) The 4 barrel design has some inherent problems, greater initial cost, and is way too big for the engine.

Hitting the knuckle or the ball joint will get you NOWHERE on a rusty old connection. The only way to do it when its really bad is with a ball joint fork, and you'll still have to beat the crap out of the fork to wedge it in enough. Remove castle nut and cotter pin, soak the tapered ball joint/knuckle in oil, heat up knuckle with propane torch (not to red, just get it nice and toasty) and then use the fork to wedge them apart. Like I said, pounding on one piece or the other with a hammer won't get them apart very often, you need the fork. You don't need to do anything special as far as turning the knuckle does. BTW, have you invested in a Haynes manual yet? They are quite adequate.

Switching to a metal fan won't gain you much. I suspect you wouldn't notice any difference at all. If you want something quiet, then take a look at fans with blades that are curved as opposed to straight. This is done to quiet the fans down, but they move less air than a straight-bladed model of the same specs. Most OEM fans have some curve to the blades now, but compensate for the lost flow rate by spinning faster, and using a very efficient shroud.

+ 12 screws holding injectors to manifolds.

Hey Jon, where are you from? Your name sounds familiar. Anyway, here is a thought. Is your thermostat opening? Sounds to me like you aren't getting much flow through your radiator... could be just a fluke that the application of your header wrap coincided with a thermostate failure. Just thought it would be worth checking, I'm not sure that is the problem... I agree that a 5 degree reduction in temperature is too little through a radiator, though I've never measured a Z one before. Typically in our FSAE car we were seeing ~40F temp change across the rad if I remember correctly. (but it is a little fuzzy)

Pyrometers are pretty straightforward, just point and shoot. Come in hot, and try to get the pyrometer on the tires asap. Record all values. Measure outer, center, and inner edge of tires. High temps in center, mean too much pressure. Low temps in center, mean too little pressure. If you have a hot inner edge, too much negative camber, hot outer edge, too little negative camber. Thats about the extent of my tire temp knowledge but I am sure a guy like John Coffey could fill in some more details. (Hint hint!)

You won't break lug nuts, there are many weaker links than that. Don't waste your money on a 5 bolt conversion. THe R200 in the later (75-83) Z's is plenty strong for most applications. The weak link is the U-joints, and its not too hard or costly to convert to CV's. With an R200 running CV's you're likely good to 600ft-lbs... Unless you are running a grippy clutch and some grippy tires and lauching like a maniac. Way more than you need from your description.

Ha, perfect back to back real testing data to confirm this. Thank you! A turbo uses load in order to spool. With the 3.90 you have less load. As you say, you had a better 60' time due to mechanical advantage, but the rest of the track you were losing out. Chances are you weren't seeing close to full boost in 1st and 2nd gear with the 3.90, right? Going through them too fast? Load up that turbo, put in the 3.54's and work on getting your 60' time down with those gears installed... BTW, what was your best 60' time with the 3.54 installed?

Having one done right will greatly add to the cooling efficiency of the fan, by allowing (or forcing) it to draw air through the radiator. Without a shroud, much of the air the fan sucks through comes from the engine side of the radiator: ie: not through the radiator. Add a shroud and make sure it is sealed well to the radiator, and you will see substantial cooling improvements.

Hey Scottie, don't fade away!! We need input from people like you, your last post just cleared a lot up for me. Looks like I should reset my RPM fuel values to in the 101-145 range, and nix my map fuel values. Point well taken on tuning the map fuel values for boost and the rpm fuel for no load situations. So likely my RPM fuel values should be up to max at around 2750 as this engine is supposed to have its torque peak at 2800rpm. I suppose it should just level off after that as well. I assume this is a typo and when you say "map value" you mean RPM Fuel? Highest RPM fuel value at your torque peak? A good point on the vacuum hoses... mine are all new and ziptied as I remember reading a few posts a couple years ago about people have problems with them. Actually, once you remove all the stock electronics and add the SDS, there are a lot less hoses to worry about too. PCV I went through a year ago, and got 2 replacements, neither of which would seal. I ended up going back to my used stock PCV valve, which was sealing much better than the new aftermarket ones. I should order a new one from nissan however. Thanks for the input... hopefully a few other more experienced SDS guys get in on this as well.

OK, you probably got this part. Coefficient of drag. Its used in a lot of fluid mechanics calculations. It is equal to: (Drag force)/((1/2)*fluid density*velocity^2*size scale^2) Frontal area of the car in square meters. Basically if you took a silhouette of the car and measured the area of the shaded part... The next one is in square feet instead of square meters. Pretty self expanitory... Coeficient of drag times frontal area. Next one is in square feet for you non-metric types. I didn't realize the 280zx was so much better than the early Z aerodynamically... (the early Z has a Cd of ~0.45)

Rebel those aren't the same at all. Those are a quality Hella conversion kit away from sealed beams. That would give you a lot more lighting power with a relay wired in as well, and is much more worth the money IMHO. As for europe, I agree in Germany there were a few HID cars, but in my time in Italy, France, England and to some extent Denmark they were quite rare! I am just commenting on the buzz phrases "european design" "euro look" etc, which seem to get thrown around a lot as if they mean something special.

Ok, its on its way. Using that formula I end up with an injector value of 126, which would correspond with Nigel's question on how the heck my car is running on such low RPM Fuel values. This would lead to a chart starting at 101 at idle, and moving to 145 at redline. Quite different than what I have. WTF? Any ideas welcome...

No too fond of the transmission mount mods... but otherwise a really sweet car! Headers are tight!

Ahem. Someone needs to learn some basic electrical theory. This guy has never installed headlights in an early Z before. Last few times I was in europe, I don't recall seeing any HID beams... I barely remember seeing any BMW or Mercedes at all. OK, just had to pick the auction apart. The headlights are sorta ricey if you ask me, with the "halo glow" option, and seem rather cheap for what they claim. Regardless, make sure you use a relay or two when wiring these up! You wouldn't want the 85/80W of current to melt your wires.

Uh-oh, Pete is planning the next one allready! Most people would be happy with one killer-awsome-cool car. 8) Love the GTO 250z! RB power on its way? Any of you guys ever though of BMW V12 power for your GTO kit? Just food for thought.

Well I believe J Taylor is running around with 360+rwhp on stock internals, with the stock EFI system!