Daeron

I would say to look into shaving a P90 head, rather than using an N42, because my understanding was that to run well at higher CR the N42 chamber needed some reshaping, and thats the expensive part of head work.. If you were to take a P90 head and do the "shave and shim and use N series valves" mod then you could get up into the low 10:1 compression ratio.. throw a set of triples on it, and select an appropriate camshaft and valvetrain, and you ought to easily be in the 200-220 ballpark without much more intense work.. if you build it right, you might get there with much less. Better spark and fuel accommodation can add alot to an engine's potential.

EAST side. SOUTH-East at that. Word. noisy valvetrain, or hydraulic lifters?

So then, no one has seen the rusted hulk Z32 in the junkyard yet? Call it morbid, but that was the root of it all... Sooner or later, its bound to happen. Iron rusts.

I'm 27 years old. I have been in and out of Z-cars quite literally, my entire life. I can not remember a time when a rusted out 240Z was anything fundamentally shocking or unexpected.... BUT I remember seeing 280ZXs, Z31s and on in the light of "those new Z cars" and being surprised when, in turn, I began seeing them with bad looking paint jobs, minimal rust issues, and major rust issues. My dad had an 86 in 1998 that had a large rust hole in the passenger doorjamb area, and some of the Z31s I have seen in the JY have definitely been kissed by the Salt Queen. But despite the fact that they are now 11-16 years old, I have YET to see hardly ANY rust on a Z32. Plenty of peeling paintjobs at this point (although the first time I saw that it nearly broke my heart... "That's a 300ZX!! Paint it, idiot!") but no SERIOUS, "z-car style!" rust.... Has anyone else? I am FINALLY starting to see a few of these cars in the JY from time to time, but still no rust. Also, am I the only one who seems to think that each progressive generation of Z car got less and less rust prone? I don't want to suggest any level of imperviousness, but has it gotten less bad, or am I just noticing things differently as I age? I realize that this isn't the most technical of topics, so if this thread gets moved, so be it.. I just figured I would ask the question, because it has been bugging me since seeing two Z32s in the JY last week.

I watched this while Green Jello's Three Little Pigs was playing in the background, and the video coincided with the second cycle of the chorus.. it was creepy watching that thing waffle listening to he big bad wolf huffing and puffing.....

got a pic of the finished pickup baffle??

*holds hands up to head* MY BRAIN Hurts, but it's in a good way... Thanks for the very educational thread, everyone!

my chest is still thumping from that eight or so seconds of music!!!!

what kinda torque on that captain insane-o run? Bravo!

make a belt buckle, or a paperweight, or a keychain out of the VIN tags Don't throw them away! I might even try to get the title in my name, just to have it

carl: thanks! Trivial it may be, but its always good to learn.

honestly, I had figured that this thread moved WAY PAST the actual incident that sparked the thread, and had become a discussion purely about the ethics of doing business, both as a customer and as a seller/businessman/engine builder, in this case. I think that it might behoove us all to take any and all "personal" voice out of the comments made in the last fifteen posts or so.. and consider it all to be a discussion about abstract concepts rather than the literal transaction (or lack thereof) that took place... in other words, I don't think it is so personal anymore In the end, a man whose business comes in chunks of $5-15K, does NOT have to pander to everyone the same way *I* get to smile and deal with every jerk I bring a pizza to. That is a fact. badjuju, you also, do NOT have to deal with someone who treated you gruffly; your opinion is your own and your damn right to stand by it... BUT, people vary on how they react to situations like this. Some of us are big tough alpha dogs, some of us are quiet, recessive little geeks, and theres a random handful of us Gammas out there who just wanna hug trees and make everyone happy. Can't we all just... get along????????????????? MUAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA im a hippy.

Thanks! you don't have any other pictures of the head before it was used, do you? possibly some shots into the intake and exhaust ports? if not, its no big deal.. the shot of the worked combustion chamber was the big one; I can take pictures of all the heads I have once I get a decent camera.

me, my family, our old neighbors.. and a few random people I have met like yourself. off to work now, PM me and we can talk more.

A Z...... That is annoyingly... Loud?????? DOES NOT EXIST:twak:

How long have you been driving?? it took me all of a month of daily driving my fivespeed Z to get more consistent than a governor and vacuum modulator can be. My two cents: The only thing an automatic transmission is good for in a Z, is to lower the purchase price. "Come on, man, the thing doesn't even have a fivespeed in it! It's not worth THAT much!"

there are still 280ZXs in the JYs up here in west palm, and its only sixty miles.. U-pull and pay off of southern blvd (SR80) right near the turnpike charges 120 or 150 for a complete engine. I cannot recall if they actually have one in the yard right now or not, and their internet inventory is sketchy (i see cars stay on the inventory much longer than they are actually in the yard) but check them out. http://westpalm.upullandpay.com/PriceGuide.aspx There HAVE to be more junkyards between WPB and miami though... there are PLENTY of Z-car people down here, you just have to know how to "scale off the rust" so to speak, and find us I will have to check with my family and see if we have any motors we can sell hanging about. It wouldn't be a fresh rebuild, but if you need a spare motor so you can have yours built, or even if you just want a core to have rebuilt, we might have you taken care of.

what kind of head is that built head you swapped on?? the second one pictured, with the "new" and "used" pics? I am trying to build a hoard of cylinder head photos for a detailed pictorial post (hopefully for sticky) and I noticed the unshrouding work done in the CC around the valves, thought it was an interesting shot. I want the casting # so I know it for reference.. Thanks in advance!

really... what you want is some triple webers. A four barrel and manifold would be adequate, but inappropriate in this reporters opinion. BARRING THAT, if you wanna stick with an NA beast, you have to bear one thing in mind: the biggest limitation on the Stock EFI system, regarding airflow, is the intake manifold runners. There are tweaks and mods that you can do, like adjusting the AFM, or installing a potentiometer into your coolant temp sensor circuit to artificially "enrich" the mixture, but without getting more air in there you are stuck. Also, almost all of these things are ideas that were conceived back in the 80's when most of us do-it-yourself gearheads knew next to nothing about fuel injection, and they are really hacks, not proper mods. If you could get a camshaft and triple webers, you would be looking at an extra 50 horses easily. Personally, I would just gut your cat and leave the exhaust on it, and do your best to get triples on the cheap. That, and 80 bucks for some suspension bushings, and maybe some new strut cartridges or if you can still afford it, springs too, ought to do you. Can you REMOVE stuff from the car? the 280ZX ought to have a good 200 pounds of crap you can pull to make it lighter, if you can get at it all. The bad news is, that 200 pounds is in about 200 different parts and pieces, so it is ALL a question of nickel and dime work to lower the weight.. but my current understanding is that, if you want to talk about FULL RACE STRIPPED CHASSIS comparison, 280ZX is NOT much heavier than 280Z if at all.. so any weight difference can be recovered. It certainly wont compare to a 1970 240Z, but its something to think about.

*I* had not, and while the thread linked to didn't really tell me much that I didn't already know, there was another thread linked to at the bottom of that page regarding bump-steer, that taught me ENORMOUS amounts of crap I haven't quite been able to grok before. Thanks!!!

carbs arent hard, and with an SBC you are talking millions of people who can help you, all the way down to the parts counter guy, if he is worth half of anything. Good luck, and keep us posted.

anything after the "s30" part of the VIN is the car's serial number. They went from zero, in order, from 1970 to 1978.. in 79 it became the S130. If your VIN plate actually says 303 and not 20303 or 15303 or something else like that, then its not a 1972 VIN plate. unless I am sadly mis-shapen???

Good catch, I just asked the seller how long he had owned it

Wow......

That engine bay is pure sex.