Daeron

And alot of car magazine editors and writers have ever lifted a wrench in their lives. In fact, most of the ones I have read know more aboutworking on cars than anyone I know. *sarcasm*off* EFI is great, but only as great as the programming that goes into it. It is alos MUCH more finicky than any well built SUs, requiring clear grounds, good wiring, and far far far more components. I am on the EFI side of the fence here, guys, but I am simply saying that Skinners' Union carburetors are masterstroke of automotive engineering: maximum intake velocity and torque response right off idle, but maximum bore sizing and air flow at full throttle. Consistent and complete fuel atomization guaranteed at any RPM or throttle positioning, and only three moving parts per carburetor. (Throttle plate, needle assembly, float.) EFI has many electronic components that can fail, mechanical wire connections that can corrode.. and if you are talking non-stock EFI, the programming instantly becomes a question mark. Fully Tuned, the EFI machine will win hands down (and as I said, it is the choice I would call my "preferred" induction myself) but the SUs are top-notch machines. What magazine was that in? I need to avoid it in the future. SUs are right up there with NACA ducts and an electric starter motor on my list.

Hey, everyone gets a mulligan on the L20A versus L20B. Besides, I am the king of Foot-In-Mouth here are hybridZ, and despite that I STILL regurgitate much much useful information. Modesty to admit when one might not be right, and humility to say "Duh, I was Wrong!" are the important parts. Noone is right all the time and at least you were trying to help.

I love the way the torque curve just keep climbing, and climbing, and climbing.........

wow, what a thread!! Bookmarked!

Firing order should be the same on every L6 engine, even the diesel (joke. The part about the diesel; every gasser L6 oughta have the same timing. that part was serious.) Pull the spark plugs, make sure you're on the compression stroke (it is ALWAYS good to go all the way back to basics, especially if you have never seen this engine run) and get the rotor to point at a terminal on the dizzy cap. Use that terminal as cylinder 1 and go from there. There IS a chance that it is set up with a front cover or dizzy piece from a USDM L6 and that somehow, timing marks were changed, and something is odd with the timing when you set it with a light. Pieces are different, and L6 motors have had timing issues before because of odd hardware mixups like this. If you try this and it doesn't work, at least you have ruled out the possibility. And incidentally, I want that crankshaft. Not cash-in-hand "want", at the moment, but I want it. If you're in Mobile, then you are closer to me than any other L20A crank I know of.

Those silly looking SUs are two of the best little machines ever designed for feeding fuel into an engine. They open up to 2" in diameter, and that is twin 50mm throttles. To make them flow enough fuel at the right mix for the bigger engine, all it needs is a replacement of the needles and you are good to go. for an interim solution, the SUs are certainly not off the table. If you know four barrels, then stick with what you know, but there is far more know how regarding the SUs on a Z engine as there is four barrel on a Z engine. I am no SU tuning guru; for specifics, you will have to turn elsewhere.. but I had to step up in defense of my favorite toilet bowl apparatus

I use it when the engine is hot as can be. Good hard run, park, seafoam the intake, cut, ten minutes, fire it up, good GOOD hard run. No Mosquitoes Tonight!!!!! Awesome stuff. I'm not convinced it really makes a difference every time but I use it regularly as fuel treatment and intake fogger on all my vehicles. After a while you can tell what smoke is Seafoam smoke (white, with one particular smell) and what smoke is carbon smoke (black, smells like a Datsun) Put it in a spray bottle and hose it on in while the engine is running. BEST POST IN THREAD. I LOVE Seafoam, I SWEAR by it. (They make a penetrating lube called Deep Creep that makes PB Blaster look like WD-40. Pricey but WORTH IT.) But even still, I use and recommend Sea Foam (especially added to motor oil) only with caution. I would NOT pour it into the crankcase of a motor with less than 100K on it, I would not bother using it on an engine I know the history of. I wouldn't use it in the oil of your car unless you have a very specific aim or problem you want to deal with. If you blew a head gasket and want to run it through, great. Ticking lifter on a used car purchased with over 150K on the odometer? I left the Sea Foam in my old Subaru for almost 1000 miles once (yes one thousand) and it was OK. Cleared the lifter up (mostly) and no real problems down the line. BUT, I still don't recommend the product without a word of caution. Using it for a fuel additive, or fogging the intake, are essentially harmless operations. The only risk in fogging the intake is that of overdosing the engine with the liquid and hydrolocking somehow, which seems really unlikely. But adding chemicals and solvents to your motor oil is a risk, regardless what the label says on the product. The people trying to sell you that are trying to sell you that, not take care of your engine. Thats the good people at Mobil and Shell and all those other awful petrol-pumping pinheads.

This sounds like an awkward situation. Being unfamiliar with the laws in your country regarding vehicle importation, most of us are at a severe disadvantage. On top of that, alot of us are Americans, so some of us kind of ignore the fact that other countries exist. Sorry about that!!! The modifications that you mentioned are in no way stock or factory, and although they may have been somewhat contemporary I doubt it would count as "original." In other words, unless "period-correct modification" is allowed I would say the suspension and brake mods count against "originality." Coil-overs are basically just macpherson struts with adjustable height, though, and brake upgrades (especially something as simple as adapting Wilwoods to the car) have been around as long as we have had race cars... so I may be wrong. There are a few European members here (one i believe is frank280ZX but that may be frankS280ZX or some other variant.) You might want to try to send a PM to one of the moderators requesting a title change for your thread indicating that you are in Europe and have questions regarding importing a vehicle. Or start a new thread with a different title.

Good stuff, thanks a bunch!! That is what this thread is all about right there!!!!

I really like the way this looks!! Too bad the bumpers are still such hefty brutes..

If you are made the right size for a Z (picture your typical adult Japanese) you oughta be able to leave the window open and just slide in in a garage..... Datsuns are small cars. It took about 20 minutes of convincing, but I finally convinced my uncle to try sticking two Roadsters side-by-side in one of the bays of his shop, and he has been thanking me ever since....

Ain't freakin FAIR. Nice pics, man. Incidental images of a car in such great shape are some of my favorites.. Seeing every little corner and cranny, but its all so clean.... Ain't freakin FAIR!!!!!

16x6.2 pounds per gallon = 99.2 pounds. Your stocker with a full tank weighs the same as your "lightened" car on empty.

First off, if you are only getting 17-18 mpg in any stock S30, you need to tune up your car and quit running so rich. That is NOT what your Datsun should be giving you unless you've built some musckles into her. 17-18 oughta have some pretty significant musckles, at that. Secondly, I believe the quote on mpg reduction through bumper removal was not intended to mean a gain through decrease of drag; rather of decrease in mass. Both bumpers and all four brackets certainly weigh well over 100 pounds, and even if it comes in at 120 pounds out of 2500, that is still almost five percent reduction in weight. 2-3 mpg is possibly an exaggeration... but I suppose it depends on how grandma-like you drive. I could certainly see somebody hypermiling a vehicle with similar weight and aerodynamic features and achieving a 3 mpg improvement below, say, 55mph through a 5-10 percent weight reduction. Of course, saying you gained 3 mpg in your Z by dropping the bumpers is, realistically, almost ALWAYS going to be an exaggeration, but it was one of mass not drag.

But, all 260Zs had "280-style" dashboards and taillights. All 260 and 280 dashboards (the raw core, wire harnesses changed every year, the gauges got switched around a bit and the typeface changed, but the dash itself) and taillights are interchangeable from whenever 260Zs started production through the end of the S30 after model year '78.

I just had to say that set me to a rather vigorous chuckle that still hasnt abated...

Awesome, this means that Somebody else, Somewhere else, WILL wind up with something like this!! Just, awesome! What sort of price would you put on just a set of six injector holddowns??

Those pictures.... are super-wow. As usual I am at SUCH a loss for words that Wow is all I got. Just, Wow, on every comprehensible level, simultaneously, in three-part harmony. Heck, make it four-part harmony (always did like it better when they had Neil Young in on it.) I must admit, though, that I am still waiting for the complete front bodywork reassembly before this job is "done" to me. Every stage had been Epic, and I wouldn't have done this any other way.. I am enjoying the suspense and like the way you've left it all off until the package is buttoned up.. I'm just expressing anxiety and excitement.. This project was SO intense that the real, really-real, LAST update pictures are all that will really scratch this itch. I gotta say Thanks again for sharing this with so many people.. But in all ways, I keep repeating myself.

What are the odds that this catch-can bracket here: Might, over time, encounter undue vibrations leading to a crack?? Might there be a way to insulate it with a rubber mounting somehow? Or am I chasing an issue that I perceive in a photo, that really probably isn't a big deal? These questions come alongside the already stated "OHHMYGOD" that I simply can't find another way to say every single time I see more pictures and the obligatory request: VIDEO!!!

Not to bash on you, beebee, but this illustrates a point that cannot be emphasized enough. Fuel filters, at least OE filters on old fuel injected cars with high pressure systems, CANNOT be judged by a simple visual inspection. Unless you are backflushing it with some clear gasoline with some additives, you will frequently see BAD filters flow through pretty clean. I have seen filters that made me think "Well, that can't really be problematic, can it?" and re-installed, only to replace later because they sure were no good. The fact that the filter has been filtering large amounts of particulate matter out for XX hours is one good reason to replace it, and Joe's point brings up another good reason. Chances are a presssure gauge placed inline between pump output and filter inlet would show good pressure, and your nice looking newish fuel filter is the obstruction point. Change the filter; its got crap in it and you want to finish this job and say "I know all that stuff is clean and clear." Fuel system gremlins aren't the ones to ignore...

Twin 50mm/2 inch pipes there would give you just a hair less cross sectional area of a single 3 inch/75 mm TB. Maybe more like 70mm. Anyhow, the rough equivalent of the 60mm TB everyone likes to use would be twin 1.75 inch pipes there. (incidentally, thats a pair of 44mm pipes. Perspective!) Twin 1.5s is still more than the stock TB!

The round barrel thingy on the outside of the door is supposed to rotate into place in the "G-shaped" catch in the doorjamb. You need to rotate the barrel with a screwdriver while liberally applying your favorite penetrating lube/cleaner, and then OIL the mechanism thoroughly. You should also make sure the door is lined up at least OK with the other body panels, and try your best to eyeball the alignment of the barrel/catch plate. There are two positions to the barrel; there is a good chance your barrel is stuck on only the first. I would recommend taking the door panel off so you can get a good visual on all of the mechanism and see if there are any loose tolerances you could tighten up. If nothing else, it would help you get a grasp on how it all goes together. But I want to go back and add emphasis to using oil as a lubricant here: I put a door from a 72 or 73 240 onto the passenger side of my 75 280Z and drove it for two years, always having to show people exactly how to finesse the door ALL the way shut. I just pushed downwards a little in the right place while I shut with moderate force and it worked 98% of the time. All this time, I was under the impression I *had* used actual motor oil (or similar) on the thing. One day, on a lark, I had a tube of oil and decided to hit the latch. This was after the car was sidelined. To this day (4-5 years later) that door closes and sounds like brand new. It LEAPS into position at the lightest finger-force slam, and I haven't touched it since. Cha-KUNK!!!

Torch is Always Excellent.... but never underestimate the power of the Deep Creep. I've only seen this stuff on the market for a bit more than a year now, so it hasn't had a chance to gain a reputation. I HATE hawking a product unless I swear by it. Six point box wrenches are of paramount importance, and Beware Easy-Outs!!!!!! The six pointers are less likely to round off a fastener head than a twelve point. Flare nut wrenches are also a must. Just going over a couple points to make sure you've heard them at least once. Some advice merits being passed on even if it is redundant conversation.

Sea Foam Deep Creep Makes PB B'Laster Look like watered down Tab Its about $8 US a can, but it is WORTH EVERY PENNY (or whatever Queenly copper coins you canooks use ) and it lasts longer than PB or WD-40 because you use very little of it at a time. Keep it up, man!!! It can't rain all the time, right??

WOW did that ever come out nice!!! Good work!!