Daeron

The AC control unit is one, large unit that weighs, oh, around 20-25 pounds or so? The core in the heater box is about 10 pounds or so (plus water weight.) The dashboard, complete, is probably something along the lines of another 35 pounds or so?? I *may* be lowballing (if anything) and your equipment on a '77 *may* be a tad heavier than what I have held in my hands (semi-stripped late 260 dash, but I've handled numerous dashboards and they all seem about the same) If you REALLY want to shed weight, the window glass and crank mechanisms are one more place to look. My two brothers pulled the window glass, regulators, and cut the interior door skin out, as well as removing the heater core from the box, and "some small wiring stuff" to the tune of 50 pounds. If I have time and remember, tomorrow I will try to get some rough weights on 240 dashboards and the semi stripped 260 dash, as well as a clearer definition of "semi-stripped." Unfortunately, the only complete, 280 dashboards that the family has are installed in my 75, and my dads 78. BUT.. these ARE good questions, and I DO have a complete AC control unit that I need to pull out of my passenger seat to get the car off the trailer tomorrow.. we also have a couple complete 240 dashes, that semi-stripped 260 one, and a scale all already handy there at the shop, and one day fairly soon the complete dash will be pulled from my 75..... so I really need to make a mental note to collect all this data.

Wow. I read and understood the function of the BCDD about five or six years ago, when I first read through the EFI bible.. but it never *really* clicked in my mind because that was before my 3 year long affair with my Subaru, The Car That Taught Me Fuel Injection And Auto Mechanics. Now I know all about the practical upshoots of things like drop-throttle fuel cut, because I have been running the ECU's algorithm in tandem in my own mind the whole time I've been driving. (Pizza guy.. 500 miles or more a week?) This thread just tied up the mental loose end there. Keep in mind that I haven't rotated a single wheel in an FI Z since my fire on 04, and everything has really been learned in practice in the intervening time.. But my question is this. Why are we feeding fuel to our engines on decel at such a high RPM?? Is there a lower threshold where we can set it? What determines the lowest threshold you can run no fuel, no throttle while coasting in gear?? As a pizza driver, these issues burn in my mind and soul often. The more thorough and detailed an explanation you can point me towards, the better; I understand most of it, its just that 2800/3200 seems AWFUL high, and I want to know why they set it where they set it, and what needs to change in order to change that.

le sigh... mine worked, until I tried to remove the bubbly tint from the glass.. Those were the days, I had just met the Z, we were young and in love (well I was 19, she was already pushin 30) and we had a clear view of were we had been, regardless of relative atmospheric conditions within and without the cabin........

I am going to guess maybe higher than that, but under 3000. I wouldn't bet any lower than 2800, but I am clueless on the weight of the motor/axle train (not a domestic guy) But I have to ask, what do you mean by all aluminum flooring in the rear??? Also, any more thorough pics of the roll cage/T top setup (including the window seal at the top; IS there a pair of tops that go in there or is this a dry weather vehicle?)

For some reason, as I was waiting for the thread to load just now, I started hearing a voice call, "Ricola" style..... "Tuuuuuube Fraaaaaaame....."

detonaton hurts every motor when it happens. IMHO, my family's Z-cars have run into this issue in the past (I am diagnosing wayyyy after the fact, hence the "opinion") and we have never been anywhere near 300 horsepower, and the only turbo'd car we have owned was a bone stock 83ZXT. FWIW I don't think the turbo car ever had the issue, and I think a good deal of our issues cropped up as a side effect of inefficient cooling due to aero concerns. (The whole airdam/ductwork/seal the radiator off thing) The way I see it, this modification is an insurance policy in any L-6 that gets driven hard.

I was also thinking of suggesting this, but couldn't find a way to word it.

Anyone catch an image of the headlights, lit up, in the dark??? it DOES look like a modernized "sugar scoop" headlight... I can't pass judgment on this car until I see one in person. Too much to grok completely through photographs.

Hear, hear!! I would still second the idea of selling rough castings, Buyer Beware. It is just so much effort for you to put into the pieces.. I mean, if you want to make either option available (rough or finished) that keeps all doors open. It is good to be abundantly loud when emphasizing the amount of finish work involved though.

any time I hear about a starting issue that goes away in ten minutes, I think thermotime sensor first. Have you read the EFI bible? it contains all your answers... http://forums.hybridz.org/showthread.php?t=135748&highlight=efi+bible

Hey, I'm "snowed in" when it dips below 45 degrees Fahrenheit man...

Hey, bridesmaid was always good enough for me!!!!

ech, tuning carbs, NOT got a whole lot of experience there.. but I would inspect the vacuum advance diaphragm and make sure its working right, and basically make sure you aren't somehow getting a spark variation that is resulting in your wandering idle. From there I can't really help you much more.

Words fail!

never been there, never done that. honest.

Just take an oilpan and weld it to the bottom of your tank, and weld a couple bungs onto it. It's just a sump.

Well, then, if you REALLY want to put the V8 in..... god I don;t believe I'm gonna say this, because I REALLY WANT to see the GigantorZ32.. Set it up for the smallblock. You WILL build the flat plane motor eventually. You Will. And then its just a pick and a plant away from going into the Fair Lady. put da chebbie in.

in all seriousness, bolting on to a mock-up head was all I expected.. I just wanted to clarify and differentiate my "command to you" from the rest.. hence, screw working on it, bolt it onto something! This has GOT to be one of the all-time coolest Z-projects I have ever seen.

HELL yeah!!! Your valves are a trifle noisy, but that could be as simple as your camera being a leeeeetle bit sensitive to the normal valve noise. Just make sure you check warm clearances after a bit, especially if she seems quirky as far as needing to warm up excessively, or anything like that. Sounds great man.. Once you get these carburetors close the fine-tuning is largely a matter of economy points; not really awful to just live with until you get it figured out. When a car doesn't run right its important to have tuning tools to rule out carburetion as a problem, but if you can get them that close, from that far off... you are pretty much set. have fun barking second, don't forget to torque your lugnuts for good luck

I KNEW it... what I would do if I were in your shoes, is get a stock thickness headgasket, and get pistons that be thick enough to allow you to machine a relief in the top that mirrors that combustion chamber, and still relieve enough compression to get you down to manageable range (whatever THAT should be, by your judgment/needs/fueling ability/etc). The "mixing" you are speaking of I am fairly sure is "swirl" within the combustion chamber, and if I am not mistaken that is one of the parameters of the flame front expansion during the combustion event. You want nice, even expansion of the edge of the flame when the "kernel" pops, so to speak. This is also effected by your piston/cylinder head clearance (you need it to be VERY close to contacting those quench pads, I don't know the number off the top of my head) so spacing your head further away from the piston is problematic. Let me interrupt this explanation to clarify that these comments pertain to CLOSED CHAMBER CYLINDER HEADS ONLY, such as the P90/79, the E31, and this shaved "N42" or whatever it is. Closed chamber means, it has those flush flat spots there, around the combustion chamber which is NOT a round opening the size of the cylinder bore, as you see in later E88s, and most american stock N-series heads (the MN47 being the major american-market exception to this) Now, you want to leave a flat piston coming REALLY CLOSE to your flat quench pads, so you don't want to do TWO things: 1. Don't want a 3 inch tall head gasket to decrease compression and 2. Don't want to have a piston DISH that misses quenching against this pad on the cylinder head either. You want flat top pistons, AT LEAST in the region where the quench pads are in the cylinder head. (I know, the turbo engines came with pistons that had a round dish in them, stock, despite the chamber shape.. "Why did Nissan do it wrong??" you want to ask. I don't know, probably money.) So, draw an outline of your combustion chamber on the top of your flat-top piston, and start carving a relief that mimics the "relief" in the firing deck of the head that IS the combustion chamber. It can be somewhat smaller in overall "circumference" and a bit shallower; make it the volume that you need to to reduce the compression of the engine to your desired level. You are shooting for a face that is symmetrical with the face of the cylinder head. This achieves your goal without losing the "high-quench" benefit that is typically assumed to be the performance key to building and tuning a high-comp engine with a closed chamber Z head. MUCH has been said, correct and incorrect, as part of an explanation or as part of an argument, about this subject; and *I* am by NO means a sagacious engine builder of much expertise.. but I HAVE grown up around these cars, and around men who knew these cars, and have been extremely critical and curious of all that I have seen or read, in person, in a book, or via the internet. If anything I said was vaguely mis-stated, please correct me, but I am *pretty* sure I've hit this one.. am I right guys?? Edit: Sorry to crow like a cock there at the beginning, but I was sorta proud that I was right, so don't read it as arrogance, read it as happiness.

You sound torn, then.. do you want something to get into the car and get it to DD status with rapidity and ease, or do you want to build the car?? If you want to build the car, I see no reason not to go ahead and start shoehorning the VH into it. (Or, if you MUST go domestic, whichever V8. ) If you want a good, quick way to get the car driving smoothly that is LESS complex than the VG30DETT, I would be willing to bet that you could set up a boosted (or non?) VG30E quickly and simply enough. It seems, to ME, that just about any other hyrbridZ32 is a chore, and essentially negate the possibility of remotely resembling "quick" or "easy" when it comes to the conversion. MAYBE the VQ would be along the same lines, but I would tend to think it would be MORE complex.. hence my suggestion to take a brief, short lived step backwards in time. Besides, it'll be good to have photos out there for posterity's sake. OMG SOHC 300ZX, WTF...

Oh. Okay, then! my mistake

bandwagon?? it is probably the single most widely available nissan engine in the US right now. At the very least, it is a valid question. The VG30DETT is a nasty complex beast to work on, and if he could pull 250+ out of a KA under the hood then by all means, it WOULD be less stressful to work on. Its like upgrading to rear disc brakes on a mild S30 street car simply for ease of changing your brake pads. Sure, I can fight the bloody drums, but I could also spend some time installing equally antiquated rear discs on there, not bothering about the proportioning valve or the big 4 piston front brakes, and simply flinging my overpriced wheel cylinders into a ditch. Advantageous? not necessarily. Desired/desirable? everyone has different thoughts on that. One of the rules here is that we LIKE the idea of fitting crap where it doesn't belong. I guess the idea of an L28 in an S13 240sx is bandwagoning, too?

have you given any thought whatsoever to a VG30 No D????? The earliest IMSA cars were running strong with boosted SOHC VGs, and it is a *tad* simpler to work on. It is almost a dumb suggestion, but something about those cylinder heads appeals to me......... and besides, the "almost dumb" suggestions are sometimes the simplest ones you never thought of. If its your daily driver, a lightly boosted VG30 SOHC would suffice until you get the V8 in at least... Edit You SICK MAN!!! Flat-tops, in a Z32.... *shakes*head*

The answer is that it could. No one can tell you if it would, but with the right details filling in the gaps you are on the right pathway. In other words, the total receipts will have far more itemized bits than you have on your list, and there are no guarantees.