2eighTZ4me

"I got tired of re-tuning the Webers every two weeks (because it's my daily driver). I had an L28 bored and stroked to 3.2, running 280 degree cam .460 lift, with Triple 45DCOE Webers (I HATE tuning them, but they scream)." Wow - you must live in an area with major altitude or pressure changes. I DD my 3.2L with an even larger cam (.500 / 294) on a race ported head with Mikuni 44's for the past 9 months and haven't touched a thing. Fire up and go to work. I guess the difference must be Weber vs. Mikuni. Usually, once these things are set (and you don't go thousands of feet in elevation changes) - you can pretty much forget 'em. Something isn't/wasn't right if you were having to muck with them every 2 weeks.

I plan to ceramic coat after obtaining a set of forged pistons. I'm buying insurance with this motor.

Piece of cake. Definitely do it while you're in there if it's leaking. Now - you say "traces of oil on the backside of the motor" - can you physically see it dripping down from the rear main? You could have a bad input shaft seal on the tranny causing "what looks like" a motor oil leak. Inspect both, and heck - for cheap insurance - replace both. Get a seal puller from AutoZone etc. and just wedge the hook part under the lip of the seal and pull it out. Clean the seal area well with brake parts cleaner. On going back with the seal, I slather the inner lip of the seal with white lithium grease, and then put a little of it on the outside of the seal so it goes in a little easier. Biggest thing you DON'T want to do is have the seal go in cockeyed. Hang the seal by the lip around the back of the crank and push in evenly as far as you can by hand. I use the backside of a large® socket and gently tap the socket with a hammer, moving the socket all the way around the circumference (evenly) of the seal until the seal is flush with the back of the block. Feel around the seal with your fingers for any high spots and correct with hammer/socket. Done deal.

As the title says - just looking for a reasonable source for forged pistons. Motor will be used mostly on the track, under high(er) boost. Goal is a workable 400rwhp. I plan on having the car tuned at Balanced Performance on the dyno, so the tune will be good. I have a "mule" motor in the car now for tuning. There are those that say a stock motor is capable of the 400 figure with a spot-on tune. Well - I'm going to test that theory! The mule (F54/P79 dished pistons) only cost me $150, and I won't cry if I shred it in the tuning process. Once tuned though - it's going straight to Road Atlanta for a NASA event with the mule in it (should it survive the dyno tuning). I will eventually need a backup motor, which is why I want to get started now. Slugs are the first thing on the list to procure, as I know it will take some time. Ross has the flattops at MSA - that's too much compression for the amount of boost I'll be running. I need dished. I've tried Wiseco, and they won't call back. Nearly a month, and no reply. There's JE, and that's really about all the forged piston manufacturers that I'm aware of. Can anyone make any recommendations? I really just want a forged replacement for a stock dished piston. The car will be limited to 7500rpm, but will probably see a boatload of boost to attain the goal. I will have ARP hardware throughout, and stock rods. Anything over 400rwhp will probably be unusable by the driver (me), so there's really no point in going above that figure for a track car. I do, however, want to have the ability to bump that figure in the future (safely), should my needs/driving skills change. So what say ye good people???

I'm trying to find what the "stock" seat pressure is vs. say a Schneider spring or a Comp Cams spring. FSM lists free and pressured length, and it even recommends checking spring pressure with a measuring device, but nowhere do I find what that pressure (range) is supposed to be. Searched this site for a while to no avail as well. My Racer Brown cam got ate up on several lobes. Suspect too high spring pressure. Got the cam and valvetrain components off an EBay deal. The cam's only been in the car about 5k mi. but 5 of the lobes are worn really bad. I run Mobil 1 synthetic and ZDDP additive, so it's not that. Need to pull the springs in it and have them measured and need to know what a "competition" spring's values should be in the range of. Wanting to buy some new springs that A) will support a high lift cam (> .550 lift), and won't bind, and that might have a little less pressure and still not float at 7000rpm. I'm thinking it's an oxymoron, less pressure and no float - but I'm just trying to collect data now to plan my next move. Also - any recommendations about aftermarket springs would be great too. I'm having the Racer Brown repaired, and probably reground a bit differently. It only had .500 lift, but I'm fairly certiain, the port work done by Mr. Ruschman will support a larger cam - the Comp Cams unit that's in the car now just doesn't have the grunt that the Racer Brown unit did. So - seat pressures..... anyone?

Any respectable radiator shop should be able to vat the tank out for you. I would highly recommend having them seal the tank too once it's cleaned. This will prevent further rust from forming and breaking off and clogging things up. It's a little pricey ($200??) but WELL worth it. There is the POR15 tank seal, but I've seen a tank after a radiator shop has done it, and after a POR15 treatment - I'd just trust what the rad. shop did over a DIY POR15 job. My $0.02 worth. They're pros and not "reading instructions for the first time" - you get what you pay for. Well - knowing that the tank is full of crap - better pull those fuel pumps apart and get that screen out and clean clean clean!! Glad to hear you found the issue.

Unless you do port work on the head to take advantage of the cam - along with an aftermarket EFI Management system - TOTAL waste of money. A stock EFI system is not happy with larger cams. I would recommend your shop perform a leakdown test first (maybe they already have to determine for sure where the problem is??) Once the problem is pinpointed, you can go from there. Oil is cheap in the words of TonyD - so what if it smokes? It still starts, runs, and drives. You're not really hurting anything - so drive the piss out of it. Especially if you know you're going to do rebuilding in the future. Nothing is going to "blow" other than oil out the tailpipe - so just keep an eye on your oil level and run with it. Spend your money on suspension (bushings, springs, struts etc.) and brakes first. Get the car mechanically sound, and bite off jobs that won't leave you Z-less for more than a day or so. Since you're new to this - this will give you a chance to drive the car, find it's quirks and flaws (and fix them) and get a better idea of what you really want to do with the car. Kind of gives you time to step back and look at the big picture.

I assume the car is at the shop? If not -- check where the head meets the block - right underneath the #1 and #2 spark plug, there should be a 3 character designation. If you have the original head, it should say N42. If not - then it's been swapped with something off another year car. A good 3 angle valve job with a light decking (to ensure flatness) shouldn't run over $250 from a competent machine shop. If you have to start replacing guides (replace them ALL if ANY of them are bad) - then you're looking at a little more $$$. If you're contemplating buying a reman head and taking it off and putting it on yourself - there's no reason you can't take the head off yourself - take it to the machine shop, and then put it back on when their piece is done. The $1000 heads you see probably have substantial port/polish work done to them along with an aftermarket cam. No way should anyone pay over $400 for a "stock" reman head.

As a good friend once told me - "unless the video is on YouTube - it never happened......so here ya go.....

How many miles on the motor/head? Usually bad valve stem seals will smoke more when it's cold than when it's hot. The seals heat up and expand and the rubber becomes more pliable. Valve guides - could be, but that still means the oil is seeping past the valve stem seals. Unfortunately, you can't check the guides unless the head is off the car. You CAN replace valve stem seals with the head on the car though. It's about a 2 hour (4 beer) job. You'd need an overhead valve spring compressor, and a fitting that goes from an air compressor to the spark plug hole(s). I would say that if you're a DIY guy, replace the seals first and go from there. Since you say you're not - no sense paying a shop to do it and then finding out that they weren't the issue. If it was 2 hours out of "your" time - that'd be one thing. 2 hours at $80+/hr. labor - that's another story. Seals are cheap - +/- $15/set. If you/they do yank the head, spend the money and have a 3 angle valve job done. They'll (machine shop) check the guides and replace as needed as part of the process. Not much else you can really do with just the head off. Hoses and injector seals are all on the manifold and easily reachable while it's in the car and all together. There is an "outside" chance your rings could be going bad - as the motor heats up, tolerances change - but without seeing it, or doing a leakdown test to validate, there's no way to tell for certain.

The leading edge of the blades should be pointing toward the front left (drivers side) of the car. Worst case, take your old fan off and bolt it to the new clutch. It's only 4 bolts. With respect to thermostats. Quit buying junk. Any thermostat that is not factory Nissan is JUNK. Period. I've gone round and round with this subject many times. The Nissan factory t'stat is the only one to use. Grab one of those and then look at them side by side next to a Stant or other model, and you will immediately see the quality difference. What's that old saying??? Quality is remembered long after price is forgotten?

Throwing ideas out here. I'm assuming the "known working" pump was used also. Did you pull both of them apart and check the screen in the fuel pump? Those things clog and could lower pressure. Also - your fuel pump is triggered by your AFM on a 76 model. You won't get the pump to kick on until you crank it, as the AFM flap has to move off its' resting position to trigger the pump. What happens when you pull the vacuum hose off the top of the FPR when the motor is running? Any change in pressure?

Thank God the "mule" only cost me $150 - AND I put about 20K on it in my 280DD - so I got my money's worth out of it already. It will be a slow process getting up to 400, and I doubt I'll even have the nutz to try anything like that until I get the general parameters down. A little bit at a time, and I'll work my way up. Probably start tuning at 10-12psi. and work my way up from there. It's going to be a lot of datalogging and tweaking, but it will be worth it in the end to blast past a Z06 after getting a wave-by. Will report tomorrow and see if I can get it leaned out enough to run on its' own so I can get videos.

I "really" need to update the website that has the build of this car from the ground up. I got a boatload of pics, but the ones I posted are mainly the highlights. I'll try to get the website updated and I'll send a link to pics.

Haven't posted in a while about this one - mainly been too busy on it. 8 months (and loads of cash) later, I got fire out of her last night. Not happy with the stroker that was in it. I was killing the Vettes in the corners, but they were eating me on the straights. NO MAS!!! Pulled the stroker (and put it in my 280 DD), and put the "mule" motor from the 280 into the racecar. Yes - that's snow on the ground in Georgia...we're hardcore down here ya know! Here's the mule with most of the pieces mocked up. Here's what it looked like right before I was about to get it fired up. Unfortunately, a laptop (Id10T error) issue rendered me unable to talk to the ECU. That was squared away rather quickly. And finally the front So, now it's delving into the depths of MegaTune and/or Tuner Studio and getting it "close" with the LC-1 wideband. The goal is to take it to the Walter Mitty at Road Atl. this year. I've got about 25 days....which will include a trip to the exhaust shop for a 3" mandrel bent system. Will put the final touches on the tune at the dyno prior to the June NASA race at Road Atl. Will probably go easy on the "mule" as she's got 125K on her already - but have a forged motor on the stand for when I blow this one up (which I know I will at some point pushing boost to the limits). Tuning for right at 400rwhp. Should be able to put that to the ground with 315's on the rear and 275's up front. All that in a car that weighs 2630lbs. soaking wet with me in it......Z06's beware..... Tuning updates to follow as I dig in the rest of this week and weekend. For those of you that remember the thread "Rebirth of a Road Racer" - this is the same car.....with a new attitude.

Problem solved. I was using the wrong .ini file. I can tell this is going to be a long uphill struggle to get this thing where it needs to be! Thanks for your help sir!

Thanks Moby. I bought the serial cable from DIY Autotune when I bought the rest of the stuff. I'm feel certain it is the correct cable. I'm sure this is all so confusing because I haven't gotten my feet wet with this yet. Been reading like a fool - but I'm a hands-on person and need to see things for myself. Words only say so much. I will also add that I bought the whole thing pre-assembled from DIY - as I'm a wiring idiot - so I'm glad I don't have to pull out the processor!!!

I ran the HyperTerm test with the serial cable, - jumpered pins 2 and 3, and on COM1, I do receive output on the HyperTerm window. That checks out. The next step is rather confusing. It says; "Jumper from pin 12 to pin 13 on the 40-pin processor socket [near R44], using a snipped-off component lead (i.e. the loose end from a resistor or capacitor, smaller is better to avoid damaging the socket). Be careful to count correctly to jumper the correct pins." The 40pin processor socket (I'm assuming) is where you plug in the harness or stim board? I can't get any characters across the screen in HyperTerm when these two pins are jumpered. The manual then states to plug in the stim board. Kind of hard to do with a jumper across pins 12 and 13 - so I'm thinking I did something wrong here. Also, when I plug in the stim board with a battery attached, the PMP light flashes on and off. Flashing stops when I pull it out of the ECU. I would imagine the documentation is great if you're familiar with the product, but I'm not and it's rather confusing for a first timer. To make matters worse, all the pictures of the board in the manual looks nothing like the board I have. i don't see the jumper for the bootloader either. It is a genuine B&G that I bought pre-assembled from DIY - maybe the manual has pics of the earlier board. Arrgh!! This is so confusing!!

I can not get MegaTune to connect with my laptop. I ran the port checker, and it says I have COM1 and COM3 available. I've tried both those COM ports at every speed rate possible and still get a "No response" message when I click to test connectivity between the ECU and the laptop from within the MetaTune application. COM1 is the only port that shows up in Device Manager. It is in a good status and not in conflict with anything else. Do I need to get the serial to USB adapter cable for this to work?. I've got the v3.0 version of the MS board. Any tips on getting this to work with the serial cable would be great too.

If you're going to build your own hose - do yourself a favor and buy the hose cutter from Summit Racing. It makes matters a WORLD easier. I plumbed my first car using a die grinder and cutoff wheel. What a royal pain. Punctured fingertips and all. The hose cutter lops the whole hose off in one fell swoop AND crushes it in a bit so it's easier to get the collar on around the hose. BEST $35 I've ever spent.

Actually, I'm just trying to find out if a damper is necessary. A pump will flow a certain rate at certain voltages - I can test that. The factory EFI system uses a damper to prevent surges in pressure due to voltage fluctuations in the pump. Wondering if an aftermarket pump requires the damper, just as the factory pump has one. I've since gotten an Aeromotive A1000 pump. No doubt that it's good up to 600+ hp. I'm only going to be making 400. I'm guessing I don't need one, as these pumps are not necessarily rated with a damper inline, nor are there any "suggestions" on Summit's website stating that you need a damper and to "buy this one". Being that it's a true bypass setup, the FPR is going to regulate dips and surges in pressure simply by bypassing the fuel back to the tank - so if that theory holds, I should be fine. I'm just going to run "as is" and see how things go. If nothing else, I'll tune around it!

The racecar is actually the white one in my sig. The entire buildup (until about a month before I got it going) can be found at: http://www.hangoverture.com/73240.htm I really need to update the site with all the rest of the pics and commentary. Course, now it's almost a "start over" with the turbo and MegaSquirt....

That's stock linkage from the firewall up to the connection on the Mikuni's. It's at a little bit of an angle, but still works fine.

WOW!! That was easy!!! A BIG THANK YOU to Paul (BRAAP)!! for pointing out that the fuel pump switch in the 78 is controlled by the oil pressure gauge, and NOT in the AFM like the earlier EFI cars. Another thanks to TonyD for helping me to visualize the FPR setup. You guys both ROCK!!! Just about the entire setup came out of the racecar, sans fuel delivery. I used the stock 78 pump and the FPR out of the racecar - Aeromotive 13204. Plumbed it in as Tony D suggested as a true bypass (regulator is the last item in the chain before the return to the tank) and voila - 3.5psi of pressure from the get-go. The carbs were already dialed in exactly on the racecar motor, so it was as simple as a motor swap with a couple hose end fittings and a little re-routing of fuel lines. I was worried that I'd have to monkey around with figuring out how to bypass the fuel pump switch in the AFM (I rode the short bus to Electronics 101) but there was no such problem. So - this is just going out there as "informational" to anyone wanting to do a carb swap on a 78 while using the stock EFI pump. The Aeromotive regulator will get you where you need to be, and the EFI hard lines are already setup as a true bypass return setup, so nothing had to be modified at all. Stock pump works like a champ. The turbo motor setup going in the racecar is probably not going to be as forgiving!!

Do I need to retain the stock damper when using a MSD2225 fuel pump?