Calgary280ZT

Make the highest quality uncompressed AVI file you can. Use that as the source file for the WMV encoder. Then experiment with the audio and video codec settings, e.g. mono instead of stereo, two pass encoding, etc. You should be able to make a WMV file that plays great on youtube with no or minimal motion artifacts. Remember, if you have lots of action and motion, you need more fps and less compression.

What about Windows Media Files? MPEG and MPEG2 are generally too large for streaming. We cut back to 10 or 15 fps depending on the amount of movement, and degrade the audio as much as possible. We get pretty good quality at 1mb/per finished minute at 320x240. That should stream just fine on YouTube.

Depends on your suspension. I have stock springs and new KYB shocks. With 215-60-15s I had no problems. Recently switched to 225-60-15s and now I occasionally rub the tires on a dip in the road, especially if there's two people in the car.

Tony, as usual you lost me after "Hello"....LOL Save those thoughts for Chez Calgary at MSA and if I feed you a case of Moosehead or Schooner maybe your answers will make sense to Ole Mr. Ten Thumbs. Bo, good info, makes sense to me. With the stock EFI I'd say I'm running rich, judging by the smell. Not too bad, but some. BTW, looks like it's Megasquirt instead of SDS...turned out to be an economic decision as much as anything. Shift, I already get high 20s with stock EFI running 70-75. Anything over that and MPG drops to low 20s. With all the head/intake mani work I've done/plan to do, I hope to get low 30s (based on posts on this forum). That's the story my wife bought to justify the cost of the mods, so I'm sticking with that number....LOL So, the lesson I'm taking away from this discussion is that a properly tuned engine will get me to where I want to go and a cat won't really add much?

Wow, 2% increase in hp for every 10 degree drop in temp (I assume he's talking F, not C)...let's assume for sake of argument that 510six is correct and the coated intake mani is 40 degrees cooler. Theoretically, that could mean 8% more hp, maybe an extra 25+ hp on my car. That's a big hp gain for a small investment. The prces look pretty reasonable. Sounds fairly easy to apply. What do you guys think?

Here are some quotes from the Techline coatings link 510six quote above: Typically, a normally asperated engine will see a 1% improvement in power for every 10 degree drop in carb air inlet temperature. A Turbo charged engine will see a 2% increase. Keeping the manifold cooler than normal allows an engine to generate more horse power. You can also coat the inside of the runners in an intake manifold. You can use 1 or 2 coatings. A single coating that we recommend would be our dry film ( DFL-1, TLML or CERMA LUBE ). These are known as 'fluid retaining coatings' and the fuel/air mix as it passes through an intake manifold on a carburated engine is treated like a 'fluid in motion'. The coating will have a tendency to create a small amount of boundry layer turbulance which will reduce fuel drop-out. You may also apply a thermal barrier to the inside of a runner first, then the dry film over it. If you're doing this, we recommend using our TLLB with TLML over the top of it. You not only create the boundry layer turbulance, you further reduce the amount of heat that does enter the fuel/air mix.

Monzter, nice looking job. Actually, I have been looking for someone in Calgary to weld aluminum, so far no luck. May have to go to a shop...which is really pricey here. Oil patch has welding and machine shops hopping, so if you want one off custom stuff like this they hose you through the nose. I was thinking of cutting the runners off, but slicing open the plenum like you did would - I think - be easier to weld back up. Food for thought....

510six, how much did it cost for the ceramic coating? Do you think the increase in flow/decrease in friction is worth it? If Lonewolf can make 270 cfm per runner for $350 worth of porting, that's probably as much $$ as I'd invest in the intake manifold. God knows there's no shortage of $$ to be spent other places...LOL

Sorry to hear it Bo. What would make the lifter back out? Defect in lifter? Improper assembly?

I think of myself as a reasonbly green kind of guy, but I'm also building my car for lots of giddy up and go. I searched and didn't find much on this topic, thought I would ask. I'm installing MS this spring. I have a 3" exhaust. If I run a lean tune for day to day driving and install a high flow cat, what will my emissions like be? Would I pass a California-style test? I currently live in Alberta, where everyone drives a big pickup or SUV and there are no emissions requirements...in fact, burning more hydrocarbons is considering to be "supporting your idustry." LOL So I have never smogged a car and know little or nothing about meeting emissions standards. Anyone from one of the strict states (e.g. California) have any information or observations?

Well, they same timing is everything...James from Lonewolf just sent this email: The basic porting is $150. Option 2, which is obviously much more involved, would cost $350. I t would also have a slightly longer turn around time. We don't do our welding in house and so when it's porrted it will be dropped off with our welding shop and usually takes a few days there. $350 for the full port job sounds pretty reasonable to me if the manifold gets the flow #s he claimed in his email. Looks like I've found the answer to my question...but certainly learned a lot in the process. Thanks for the input guys. Hope to see some of you at MSA...

I emailed Lonewolf for flow data on their Nissan heads and this is the reply I got: We offer to levels of porting on the nissan intakes. The first one invloves porting of the runners and TB opening and getting as far into the runners as possible. The second option invloves cutting the plenum off and porting the manifold from both sides of the runner to do a much more thorough job. We've been able to pick up over 90cfm on each runner when flowed individually. The bottle neck lies in the TB opening. You can only make it so big due to limitations to the neck of the manfold. We flowed a stock intake, a option one ported intake and then a cut apart and ported intake but we recently moved and I'm not able to find the flow data. I do remember that we picked very significant flow when the intake was cut apart and ported. It was around 270cfm per runner after porting. If I'm able to find my records, I'll let you know and e-mail them to you. Mark: What he didn't say is if the option 2 (cut the runners off) was the $350 option quoted on the web. I'm going to guess not, for that price. If it is, I think I'll jump on that option. Much cheaper than their custom intake at $700...or maybe I'll choose DYI we'll see about $$ and time.

Thanks guys, great advice! Tony, hearkening back to your commnts on zcar about making the engine breathe better being a first priority, my plan or this stage of my mods is to limit my boost to 10 psi and do as much as I can to increase flow and see how much power I can make. Once I've achieved that goal, I need to upgrade suspension, brakes, etc. to handle more power. Then I'll go back to the engine and install EDIS, meth injection, fuel pump(s), etc so that I've got pretty good control of spark and detonation. THEN I'll start to turn the boost up and see what it can make for power. Getting back to the intake: Tony and primer&rust, I'm thinking of just smoothing out the runner rather than trying to enlarge them. That will probably meet my short-term goals for low $$. Then when I finish my other mods and I'm ready to make serious hp, I could spring for a custom intake. On the other hand, Monzter, I may have a guy who can weld aluminum. And JimCanuck has a spare manifold I can play with. So depending on time (in awfully short supply this spring/summer) I may take a crack at cutting off the runners and going to town on the porting. The worst I can do is a crappy job on the spare mani and have to go back to my stock one or buy Lonewolf's ported Nissan mani...and more on that in next post.

Out of curiousity, why would you install a rear strut bar? You're making 134 rwhp, are you still worried about chassis flex? Or am I missing something? Wouldn't be the first time....LOL

Primer&Rust, how long did it take you to do the port job? Were you able to get the entire runner or just the part your tool could reach? Were you able to test it on a flow bench? Thanks for posting the pic. Mark

I'd be interested in a group buy. Funny, I just spoke to Smoothline and got the same message. But what about different parts? For instance, I'm interested in a driver's fender and a spoiler, maybe rockers.

Jon, thanks for the great info on Extrude Hone, clearly not an option...I try to avoid the "inferior results for premium cost" kind of modifications!! LOL If I hear from Lone Wolf I will post their flow numbers. You're right, $350 is pretty cheap given the difficulty of the job....but I want to see some numbers before I pony up the bucks. Careless, sounds like any DYI porting should be on the exhaust side...which I now need to research, since I know absolutely the square root of squat on the subject.

Mario, just curious, why do you think you can't get much out of the stock manifold? Not much gain to be had? Need specialized tools? I emailed Lonewolf today and asked for the flow #s on their honed stock manifold and custom manifold. Will post if I get the info.

Dan, thanks for the link, looks like they charge around $700 for the intake and $625 for the exhaust. A little too much for this year's budget, I'm afraid. Lone Wolf looks to be around $325 for the intake. I'd still like to tackle this one myself...time for more research!!

2126, funny you should mention that, I almost picked up the phone this morning. But I felt funny picking the guy's brain about a service that he offers himself. And from what I've seen on this site, there are a number of guys who are pretty knowledgeable about porting intake manifolds. However, if Mario is correct and there isn't enough meat on the runners to do a good port job, then maybe I'll just have to look at a custom intake. The only reason I thought about doing it myself in the first place was I saw Lonewolf offered ported Nissan manifolds. I thought, if they can do it, maybe I can do it too. Probably not as good, but good enough until I can afford something better. But from the posts I read it seems that porting is not that easy, there's some theory involved and a bad port may be worse than no port. That's why I posted here. Wanted some advice from guys who have done it, maybe I would be biting off more than I can chew.

Mario...DOH!! Yes, head is already ported, I meant the intake manifold. Interesting commment on not enough meat left in the runners...I see Lonewolf offers a ported manifold, wouldn't they have run into the same problem? I agree a custom manifold would be best. I've already overspent this year's budget on head, turbo etc., so that will be tough. Thought I could save a few bucks by porting the mani myself. Your idea of fabbing my own mani is interesting. Would have to learn how to weld again...last time was in shop class...and that was decades ago (don't ask how many!!).

I searched and read many posts about porting the intake manifold. I'm not a very technical guy, so a lot of it is over my head. What I want to know is, should I take a crack at porting my manifold or leave it to the experts? Have a brand new P90 Rebello head, which flows as follows: 1) intake at 25 psi, 209; 2) exhaust at 25 psi, 150. Head has larger SS valves and mild turbo cam. I have a new T3/T4 turbo. Will be installing Megasquirt. Hope to make 350 rwhp. From the posts I read, there is power to be had by porting the intake manifold. I can pick up a spare P90 head to work on, in case I bugger up something at least I'd have a spare. If it's relatively simple, I'd like to at least try doing the porting myself. But if this car has taught me anything it's to recognize my limitations. Opinions appreciated. Do it myself or leave it to the experts? Mark

That look isn't my cup of tea, but whatever floats your boat. Tell the truth, I've seen pics of lots of custom rear ends and they never strike me as much better than the stock look. The only thing that makes much of a difference is some big ole meaty tires and, in some cases, tasteful flares. Oh yeah, and a nice spoiler. And let's not forget those LED lights a member sells. And...and...and...now it looks like your Lambo..haha.

You got that car with an L28et for $1k? That is a GREAT deal!! S30s are rare up here in Canada, so I paid $1k to pull my 77 out of a freaking barn where it had sat for 15 years. It was bone stock, all the panels were rusted (rest of chassis was fine, thank god), etc. And I thought I did ok...haha. Nice buy and have fun, these cars are a blast with a turbo engine.

Hey Tony. Yeah, I'm very excited to get this on the car. Cam is an Iskey "mild turbo grind," unfortunately I don't know the numbers. The car and JimCanuck and I will be at MSA next month, looking forward to sharing a beer or two with you and Frank.