2eighTZ4me

Hmmm - well - everywhere I've read, the stock fan/shroud FAR outperforms any electric fan you could possibly put on. This was also reaffirmed when I spoke with Bill Williamson at Ron Davis Radiators. I can also attest to that fact, as I had a stock fan on my racecar and it cooled great. I put on the biggest SPAL electric fan they sell, and it does ok - but not like the stock unit. Also - doing some digging on Blue's tech site yesterday, I found out that advanced timing (not retarded) promotes better cooling. I am going to fart around with that tonight and see if I can get it a little cooler.

Put your finger over one of the barbs where the fuel hose hooks up and actuate the pump lever. See if it sucks or blows your finger. Usually, the rubber diaphragm inside the pump goes bad. If it's bad, it won't suck or blow.

I forgot to mention that I did that when I had it out of the car last month for the motor swap... hit it good with the air compressor. Hmm - maybe it's the AC condenser sitting in front of the rad causing this. I did NOT clean that out at the time of the swap...... Seems to be doing "better" now - although I haven't had to use the AC for the past couple days. I double checked my timing last night and I have 14 degrees initial timing and 34 degrees total timing at 3K RPM's. That's well within acceptable range..?? Another one of life's little mysteries......

I was going to be there to assist when he came down - I know all the "usual suspect" areas, so that wouldn't have been a problem. No title is no big deal if you want to keep the car in Ga. I just went through this. You can NOT get a title for any vehicle from 1963-1985 in the state of Ga. Since Ga. is one of the few (if not THE only) states that only requires a bill of sale to register. $400 or not - they won't give you a title. The only way you're going to get a title is if you have a clean bill of sale, and you either sell the car out of state, or take the car with you out of state and register it in the new state. We'll have to take a good look at it when you come down and make the determination from there. But since you're in NY, and I'm not sure if you have your original bill of sale or not - it may be "parting time" based on your answer. Then again - there are also ways around that too..... I'm not sayin' - I'm just sayin'..........Ga. is LAX when it comes to registering vehicles. You could make up a bill of sale and have Porky Pig sign it, and they'd give you a registration without even second glancing it. But a title.....no sir.

FPR is not the culprit - unless I got a bad one. Got a gauge on it. Reading 38psi on the hose leading in to the fuel rail. No reading (meaning 0 psi) on the return line. Got the same reading with the old FPR. I DO have a pressure gauge on my DD, and it reads about 22psi while running. Not sure where I should have been taking readings from though. Please advise! Popped the cover off the AFM and was able to hold the flap "lean" and got the car to stumble/run for about 5 seconds. I forgot my spark plug socket, so I couldn't look at the plugs. I'm suspecting the injectors. They were replaced by Meineke - not exactly the first place I'd take a ZX to have injectors replaced. I can't find a part # on the injectors themselves. They "look" to be factory fit, but they could be a different flow rating altogether I guess. The injector hoses say "Germany" on them - leading me to believe they are Sorensen injectors, but they could be the wrong rate. I pulled the plug to the aux air valve and to the cold start valve with the same effect. The car wants to run, but just can't get up over the hump. I checked the AFM boots - they're hard as a rock, but don't appear to have any cracks in them. The valve cover breather hose has a small crack in it, but probably only enough to cause a very small vacuum leak at best - hardly enough to keep the car from running. Where would YOU guys look next?

Bone stock 280Z. - Radiator in good shape, never rusted, clear/green distilled h20/antifrieeze - Brand new (2000mi) FACTORY Nissan 180 degree thermostat - Fan clutch in good shape. Spins maybe 3-4 blades when spun by hand then stops - Radiator shroud in place - Timing set to 33 degrees total advance - Radiator full of water, no leaks or water loss whatsoever - Brand new water pump - Stock 81ZX motor w/115K mi. just installed When I drive extended periods ( 15+ miles) with the A/C on, the temp gauge in the car creeps up between the M and the P on teMP. I got a Mr. Gasket 15psi radiator cap with the temp gauge on it. With the gauge in the car reading b/t the M and the P, Mr. Gasket says 210 degrees. Ambient air temp approx. 97 here in ATL yesterday. I cut off the A/C and it drops, but not a whole lot (200ish). I had this problem with the old motor (but not as bad), and have searched ad nauseum on this site - picking up tidbits here and there. I read somewhere that ignition timing can be a cause of overheating, hence, I listed my setting above. I did not check initial timing, only timing at 3K rpm's. I've replaced / checked everything having to do with the cooling system, and am completely stumped as to why it does this. It is far more prevalent on my ride home from work (95+ degrees) than it is in the morning (~75 degrees). (That's a given) - but far worse with the A/C on. This problem has slowly been manifesting itself over the past 2 years, to the point where I need to address it before it kills my mule motor. The internal gauge never got as hot as it did yesterday on a 100 mile trip. The radiator has always been flushed and filled and has never had any rust in it. It is, however, about 12 years old. I'm down to 2 options. Replace the radiator, or muck with ignition timing. I can't think of any other factors that I haven't addressed. What do you guys think? Also - (stupid question) do you check ignition timing with the vaccum source connected or disconnected?

When are you coming down this way? Haven't been able to get by to see the car. I could meet you at the shop, and we can go over the car with a fine toothed comb. Bring a pen and paper - the list could get quite long.

That was Dave's reply. I guess I'll give it a shot. Hope there's enough flex in the boots to allow it over that far. Not going for pretty - going for cool and efficient. Thanks man!

Gang - I got around to finally "attempting" to install my Arizona Z Car radiator in my 78 a couple weeks ago. The top tank sits square in the path of my AFM. It appears as though it would take a complete relocation of the AFM - or going with a standalone fuel management system to alleviate this issue. Anybody installed one of these on a car with stock EFI that has the AFM mounted in the factory position? Would love to see pics, or any tips as to a workaround.

That's funny - that is the FIRST thing I checked. They were indeed hooked up correctly. I got a Sorenson on order from AutoZone - $42 - almost can't go wrong for that price. Thanks for the offer bro!

I'm 99% positive it has to do with fuel pressure, based on the tests I ran and the results. Also, based on the fact that the FPR has a tendency to go bad. Don't have a gauge, but guess it might be time to hit Harbor Freight....

82 ZX. The guy had the injectors replaced due to leaky seals/hose. Car won't start now. Got good spark and fuel. When I pull the fuel line to relieve pressure on the system, and then reattach, the car will kick off and run for about a second and then die. Repeated the process several times. My thoughts are that it's the FPR on the top of the intake. The damper on the rear by the pump only dampens the fuel pulsations from the pump. Yes? What do you guys think?

LCA's are the same, strut housings are NOT. 77 is longer and has larger diameter tubes.

Another testament! Hear hear! Please step up to the docket and confess your sins O' ye abusers of the L!! I love these "war" stories! Keep 'em coming.

No no no - the motor I got from you is humming away nicely. No complaints whatsoever. The one I'm talking about is the one I took out to replace with yours. It had seen its' better days apparently - but yeah - I was shocked that all 6 top compression rings were shattered. Some broken in two, some were broken in about 10 places, and pieces of ring came raining down into the catch pan. NEVER had seen that before, and I've torn down a LOT of these motors before when I worked for ZCar Atlanta. Hoping someone out here can give me some insight as to what happened!

No pieces in the oil pan - they'd have to pass the second compression ring AND the oil ring to get down there. Nope - they were all just flopping about inside the top ring land. Isn't that funky? I took pics last night but left my camera at home today! Arrrgh!

Good luck finding a stock gasket from anywhere but Nissan. Most parts suppliers (WorldPac - Beck Arnley etc.) have all superseded their intake gaskets to the "generic" P90 style hex port gasket because they will work on all applications. I have tried many many places for my 78 gasket, and no matter what year you order for (70-83) you get the hex port gasket. You didn't blow out your gasket because you drilled holes in it for the intake - you more than likely have a warped header. You mentioned the flange was thin - well there ya go. Situations like that, I'd recommend using 2 gaskets. Drill them for the intake bolts, and then slather them together with anti-seize. The anti-seize will bond them together, and is heat resistant. Then you have 2 gaskets' worth of thickness to "squeeze into" to accomodate for any warpage in the header. There's absolutely nothing wrong with the Fel-Pro gasket. You don't have to use a "header gasket" - in fact - a header gasket is a bit weaker because it doesn't have the metal inside. Most of them are just thick paper. I've heard of some folks soaking them in water for a while to make them swell before installing/torquing - but if you have to do that, you have problems elsewhere. (i.e. warped header flange)

If your head has had (aggregate) more than .015" taken off of it, then yes, you need shims under the cam towers. MSA sells them in .015" increments (how convenient!). You don't need to do anything to the head gasket side. Some folks shave the head down a lot (.080") to boost compression ratio, and build up the cam towers with multiple shims. Keeps the timing chain taut and keeps cam timing far more stable due to less chain slop.

It is indeed 3". It expands out at the collector a bit. I can take a pic of the downpipe held up next to my 3" exhaust. Seems bassackwards - but it is what it is!

After having a bad smoking issue from the #5 cylinder (fouled a plug and found it was #5 ), I found a mule motor out of an 81ZX to get me by for my DD. Mule motor is in. Finally tore down the "smoking gun". Every single top compression ring was broken. All 6 cylinders. Mind you, I don't know if it occurred during the disassembly when sliding the pistons out of the bore, or whether they were broken when the motor was running, but nonetheless, they were all broken. Some broke in 2 pieces, a couple broke into many pieces. All middle compression rings were intact. I'm guessing the #5 cooling issue was the culprit, as the #5 piston's ring lands between the top and middle compression ring were melted. Fused a portion of the ring to it and all. Chipped a piece out of both sides of the piston at the upper ring land. It was fugly..... So, I had been running this motor in excess of 5,000 miles with the smoking problem. Put 350 miles a week on the car (and gallons upon gallons of oil!) - not knowing what the issue was. Even when I tore the head off, the bores were smooth as a baby's behind with no galling or anything. (bottom end had over 120K miles on it) It wasn't until I pulled the pistons that I discovered the cause. Oh - and my block also had 6 HeliCoil's in it for the head bolts. I used the ARP studs that put most of the thread tension on the top of the stud instead of in the block. Put over 30K miles on the block with 6 HeliCoils holding in the studs with no problems whatsoever. Anybody care to take a wag at why ALL my top rings broke, and why my #5 cylinder only was the one that suffered the ring land failure? I know detonation can do things like this, but I ran very moderate timing (34 degrees at 3k RPM) so, I'm curious how that much damage could have been done without boost, correct timing, and without the car ever overheating.

OK - so got one of those lug remover tools. Got one lug out and now I can't get the lug out of the tool! I have tried locking it in the bench vise and hitting it with the impact gun, vice grips - just about everything I can think of to get the lug out. I'm out of ideas. Anyone got something for me to try?

Why would you need to drop the pan? The oil pump mounts on the bottom of the front timing cover. 4 bolts and it's off in your hand ( and spewing oil everywhere). Get the motor to TDC, drop the pump, and then when reinstalling, just ensure that your spindle shaft is pointing in the 11:25 position looking down in the distributor hole and you're done.....No need to drop the pan. That's overkill.....thanks Chilton's!

Shoot me the address of the shop again, I can probably get by there in the next week or so and take a good looksee.......

Yeah - I'll have to get a pic tonight and post it later. Like a dumba$$ - I was trying to help out a fellow HybridZ'er and take some pics of clearance of my Rota's on a "stock" suspension on my 78. Damn if I didn't put the key somewhere after torquing the Enkei back on and........jeez - old age is catching up to me quick!!

I lost my key for my locking lug nuts. Unfortunately, I have Enkei wheels such that the locking lug sits about flush with the face of the wheel. Not much room to get down in between the wheel and the nut to get a hold of it with anything. I've exhausted my possibilities as far as finding the key. I've heard of folks welding a nut to the lug to get it off. I've also read about folks beating a socket onto the lug and getting it off that way. I just don't want to damage the wheel in any capacity though...... Suggestions?