Modern Motorsports Ltd

So what specific sensor/year/model is it and brand preferred? If I can find some I'd rather get some of the affordable units for myself (and perhaps others if available) as I don't want my costs for that feature to go any higher! Thanks!

I hope all of your and yours had a fine New Years! I'm working to pass my required emissions testing so I can renew my insurance.......your input is most welcome!! OK, it's now time for me to pass our local 'sniffer' emissions tests……based solely on tailpipe emissions: at idle (~30 second test) and at cruise (~30 seconds at 40 km/h (24 mph)). It's my first time running thru with my new Edelbrock Proflo EFI (all notes relative to my typical 'base' program that my car runs fine with). Here's what I reprogrammed prior to my first test today: -retarded overall (global) timing 10 degrees (in the past this gave me far cleaner burn with crap power/but good burn for the test) -reduced fuel at 12 and 18" of vacuum from 1000-3000rpm by 6% (should cover off cruise test range) -reduced idle fuel to -6 or -8% (don't recall which) -left idle target speed at 725rpm (my error, I forgot to raise it for cleaner burn) I then tested and aced the cruise test and miserably failed the idle test. The car was lumpy on idle and rpm was fluctuating +/- 100 or so of target. I then kept most of the above settings but revised idle fuel and rpm upward (thinking this would help as HC was high and CO relatively low), to -2% (above was -6-8%) and rpm to 1000 (but it would only rise to 800 with present physical setting). I then tested again and cruise was same, idle results now in ~1/2 but I still need more and CO is rising….the proflo is harder to set for a very smooth and leaner idle IMO (I could be out on some other setting/idle air control for ie.) and it’s running hot as it goes thru with the proflo sensor locations reading 200degrees for coolant and 120 for air (false positive on air as I know, due to sensor location). For background info, it’s a chevy 350 bottom bottom end/roller top end with ZZ4 camshaft that I’ve passed via carbeuratur tweaking previously. At present I have many header leaks at the header/head interface which should be in my favour……all sniffers are based on ppm or %......so the more ‘non-emissions’ gases I can introduce without triggering their alarms the lower my % of emissions gases they’re sniffing (ie. a per cent balance, not a mass balance). Only HC and CO are monitored for a pass or fail on the idle test. Here’s a summary of my test results: (I’ll include cruise for others reference in their experiences post and future). Driving Pass (1st and 2nd test similar) HC (ppm) ave. passing reading 63 Vehicle reading 13 Maximum allowable 217 CO (%) ave. passing reading 0.48 Vehicle reading 0.36 max. allowable 217 IDLE Fail, test1, and test 2 HC (ppm) ave. passing reading n/a Vehicle reading 1264(test1) 673 (test2) Maximum allowable 342, 342 CO ave. passing reading n/a Vehicle reading 1.73 3.52 max. allowable 3.90 3.90 CO2 and O2 are monitored and results given, but not part of pass or fail (I’ve heard they will fail you if O2 is too high as it’s likely an illegal leak if all else is well) CO2 7.7 to 8.9% during idle test 1 8.5 to 9.7% during idle test 2 O2 7.2 to 8.4% during idle test 1 4.5 to 5.3% during idle test 2 During the 2nd run I wrote down these parameters from my proflo sensors: idle rpm was 790-860, and fuel input (milliseconds injectors are open) was 4.7-5.4), and vacuum was 16.0-18.0 varying with 10 degrees timing. (in the past I've passed with about 0 degrees to -2 timing at idle….yes -2, seems to give a cleaner burn. With the proflo my base timing is locked in at 10 (ie. I can’t drop it below 10 BTDC without physically moving the dizzy, I can only raise it above 10 which suits all other uses…..it's typically at 25 BTDC with my 'normal' idle with this setup) and I'd rather not physically alter that if I can avoid it. OK, so what’s suggested here?? Between 1st and 2nd run I did increase the idle fuel mixture and that seemed to reduce HC but CO has now increased near my upper pass limit. I don't 'think' I altered timing b/t run 1 and 2, but don’t recall as I was running short on gas and it was running quite hot with the settings but A/F wasn't reading 'lean' (but exhaust leaks are obviously affecting O2 sensor). I have to say it's nice to play with buttons rather than screwdrivers/timing gun etc. Items I have done in the past but didn't get to doing today prior to testing are: -oil change (filters HC's correct?) -fill up with high octane Mohawk with additives (has less fuel, therefore less emissions to generate per given shot of gas) -add some methyl hydrate to my tank (not great for the motor, thought I’d see if I can avoid using it now that I have the EFI ALL inputs welcome……..I’m looking fwd to having a combo now nailed down for future testing! (I can save up to 3 different programs in my ECU in addition to the edelbrock base program). I'd like to go thru again this afternoon or tomorrow morning so quick input is most welcome. I'm sure physically raising the rpm will help (screwdriver setting on throttle body to get you in the ballpark and then you use the ECU control to fine tune) to 1000rpm (I believe 1200 rpm is their maximum limit). Thanks! And hail to those who can aid in this repeating situation Hopefully the data reads OK on your screen, I previewed it hear and it seems legible...... ___________________ small update, in my 2nd idle test (and first) rpm was only ~800, and I just found out they now have no limit on idle rpm for their tests......so maybe I'll target 1000 or 1050 for my next shot, and perhaps add some 'CRC Guaranteed to Pass' additive?

As noted above, finned cover can't be used without mods. I know many, including myself and other customers running the LSD's without finned covers and they've had fine life out of them. I don't recall which synthetic brand I run but whichever you choose, please drive your car slowly in tight figure 8's after install (this gently gets the oil in between the plates....otherwise you can burn them dry if they're not lubed b/t as they should be)....if it chatters at all then add some GM Posi Additive (even quicklubs often carry this additive) progressively until your chatter is gone (ie. I haven't found it to require a full bottle). Enjoy

You note for racers etc.....racers don't typically use 10 lb parts unless they have to. I can relate to wanting to use 'surplus' parts but this is your brakes you're working on.....we don't use partially spent tires or pushrods/oil etc......and for what are in the grand scheme are very cheap calipers....buck up a little bit to keep the shiny side up and have a fine brake system Just my .02c

Too bad, a friends niece is flying back to Oz today and I have a set of 240 Illumina's on the shelf..oh well!

Here's some diagrams for wiring up a relay for headlights or most any other use: (note, it's the incoming power source on '30' that I would wire a fuse inline) EE lingo on SPDT relay Layman's great DIY page "INSTALLATION Terminal 30: 12v positve. Come off of a distribution block or straight from battery. Terminal 85: Ground, stay within 3 feet. Terminal 86: Trigger source. This could be a wire that goes "live" when you start the ignition or your radio, etc. Terminal 87: To device(s) to be turned on. How does the relay knows when to turn on you ask? Terminal 86 sense current, and it allows the power to flow to terminal 87 which is connected to your device(s). And by the basics of relays, the relay is getting it's power from terminal 30. Why do we need to ground with terminal 85? Because we are grounding the incoming trigger source. NOTE: ALWAYS use correct size fuse each device is called for. If you "upsize" a fuse (i.e. putting a 30amp where a 15amp is called for), you run the risk of fire and some pretty nasty electrical damage. endquote"

By now, it's quite likely the various electrical connections between your battery and headlights (easily 6 or more) are somewhat corroded and your headlights, which like 12-14V's may only see 10V or even less...when playing with electrical upgrades (your intended 90/100's, and if wired right could be quite annoying to others on low setting..55/100's are far less distracting or dangerous on low/do make sure your lights are well aimed) it's a great step to install a fused relay up front and take the MAIN juice direct from a main power source (ie. NOT thru your dash) and then just use your dash/headlight typical OEM wiring as the relay (ie. low amp/low draw) wire. This removes drawing the higher amperage thru your dash which is a positive thing.......drawing higher amps thru a dash with old wiring of unknown condition can create hot spots at the points of resistance and noone wants sparkies in their Z! Right now if you have a multimeter or know anyone with one, measure the voltage your headlamp plugs up front are seeing.......if much less than 11.x V without engine running you have noticable losses...taking it practically straight from alternator(fused and relayed) removes the corrosion points and keeps your voltage up with minimal losses...use dielectric grease and heatshrink on connections to seal them and keep them in great condition for years to come! I have H4 Bosch conversion kits with which I include a heavy duty 40A relay unit, I'll add them to my web shortly here. I'll also have some LED setups shortly to reduce your typical marker/tailight bulb consumption of 2.5-2.7Amps to 90 milliamps Count up your lights that are on at night and this adds up quick to a greatly reduced load on your entire electrical system (ie. 10 bulbs alone is ~25Amps saved and Z alternators are only ~60Amps total.....so could save otherwise required alt. upgrades for many of us). Just some options.

Both weight and caster play their part. I dropped ~130 lbs off of my front end when I moved my battery and installed aluminum heads.......that made a very noticeable difference in reducing steering effort. (caster before and after ~4 degrees). Now I bumped up to 9-10 (don't have alignment sheet handy) degrees caster and it's too much effort for my liking both parking and low speed corners....I now have some longer centre links to install/swap on my TC rods so I can dial back to ~6-7 degrees caster where I think I'll find my happy balance......BTW, on my 280ZX, the present 9-10 setting has my tires rubbing front spoiler/headlight bucket flange when turning at low speed and it's compressed at all (ie. slight bump to tire/curb/driveway etc). But minimal rub...just leaves a nice light blue/silver line on the outside of the tire Cheaper than those custom coloured tires some others run

Congrats Dave "...I'm Back in the Saddle Again.." always comes to mind for me at times like this .......I'm always reassured the car is in perfect tune after it sets off a few car alarms on slow driveby's Wicked that you have your neighbours on board...not quite the same following on my block...yet! Rock on and enjoy your mods bud!

I looked at that link, they look like 3 piece adaptors?!?! I'm just not a fan of adding extra parts and additional fasteners, in particular in areas not easily or normally checked. But I've had a 4 to 5 bolt one piece adaptor design shelved for some time. It's a more detailed install and not one I'm overly comfortable offering up to the masses. And for only a very few would it be the correct thickness as is.......so if other 'offset' correcting methods were required that would be an additional piece and if rear has to go 5lug.......just seems the prepped stub axles and 5lug hubs are a relatively easy step as those swapping seem to typically be doing brakes as well. I'd rather set someone up with a single one piece adaptor that nails their total requirements in one piece. You guys agree or strongly disagree...it's your input that's always of great use and has shaped most of the new products I now have. Feel free to cc your notes here to me via personal email sales@modern-motorsports.com as I'm not in here as regularly as I'd like.

Well, you can almost guarantee the stocked wheels have offsets of at leats +20 and more likely +35 and higher.......or else Z owners would have found them. Their just hasn't been a 4x4.5 near zero offset car in many years now. FWIW, you can find MANY late model honda and nissan wheels used (naturally they're available new, but great deals to be had used)and often with great tires for fine deals/ebay/loca buysell rags etc.....combined with spacers your cost could still stay below your target. Another great feature of running more common wheels is it can be very easy to trade them off and step to new ones at most any time......get into one set cheap and then you've got all the time you need to find your next great deal on your favourite types whether they're lightweight enkei RP styles or Trophy TSW's or......you name it. Good luck in your quest and keep the shiny side up!

Nope, this 280ZX will be street thumping as well down the asphalt and streetlights as a wknd cruiser and 1/4 miler;) .....sending the imports (and others!) whimpering home Quite a project 'street legals' completing and very well done!

Drop me a personal email rossc@shaw.ca and I'll send the wedge pics to you. The headers (present/old ones) fit OEM round port 882 (400) style heads fine. They are cheap headers that got me going and have lasted some 6 or 7 years, they're in fine shape but I did have the main flange sliced b/t 1-3 and 5-7 and then 3-5 welded together at the tubes as well, shortly after I got them to minimize flange distortion and aid gasket sealing so they're no show winner. They were ceramic coated years back and no real rust on them anywhere, just dull grey basically from a lean spell 4 years back. I can send pics of them as well/ahh, here's two pics, I wouldn't ask much at all for them, just be nice to see them help someone out. The Y pipe has heavy duty flanges on it and just needs one sharp bend smoothed out to be a MUCH better piece (one 90 degree T junction!).

They're 25% larger pads than early 280ZX calipers, it's the nicely sized 11.4" rotors that make the calipers look small. They are lots of braking....if you want custom vented let me know....or any AEM as I've got their line, just don't typically stock it How fast did want to go/brake/spend The rotors used in the kit aren't 240SX (they're Z31 rears, the larger ones) so a rear 240SX upgrade intended for a 240SX would not necessarily be a bolt on with my brackets. Merry Christmas to All! Time to turn this computer off!

Hmm, I do have a full set of 240Z (presumed,came from a 240Z customers car) 'light blue' springs/used. He never ran it with the springs, they're uncut and perhaps Tokico's? I've also got a set of black (MSA?) springs, I have the fronts and customer still has the rears but he can get them to me no worries. The blues are available now to anyone wanting a 'get by' set (they might be fine/I'm just not a fan of them.......their's a reason my customers keep turning them in). Drop me a line if interested.

350DreamN, you'll want to decide and commit to your power goals and driving style (ie. hp/tq and manual or power steering) now if you haven't already. Header choices (manifold type/header type/size/fitment) go a long ways to defining your power limits if you're looking quite lofty for power. Mild to mid motors it's not such a big deal......just noting it as I'm about to go to my 3rd exhaust setup (only 2nd set of headers though ) and would have preferred to have had only the one setup..........rack'n'pinion opens up more typical header options I believe.....I'm not sure how restrictive a power R&P setup is for header fitments as it's been some time since I've seen one. It can be a lot easier to change steering up front to get the ideal exhaust rather than leave steering and jump thru hoops on exhaust (you'll likely be jumping hoops either way but some hoops aren't on fire ). I've got some pics of some wedges I sent Guy that I made to rotate my header/collector flange towards my inner fender off of the steering arm (for a manual R&P setup/not box style recirc). It's great to see more and more 280ZX's being modified lately! Seems to be a nice swing in their revival.

OK, I just wrote a long detailed reply and something netwise puked it out! Summary: what are the exact specs on the axles your using Stony?compressed length and outboard bolt pattern? When you and I last talked a couple months ago I was working on a Z31 CV adaptor.....it's now done I used NA Z31 CV shafts in my design and some are shipping this week to customers so install feedback/verification should be in within 2-3 wks. I'm confident in the geometry of this new design of mine and if yours aren't fitting I'm thinking that either your axles are longer (their are various axles 84-89, the differences I'm not clear on, I just now the NA axles I used are beefier than 280ZXT units and geometry just works with the new adaptor design I came up with), or your companion flange's are thicker than the 280Z and adaptor assembly I know have. I'm not clear on what your final setup is at present (ie. companion flanges/axles etc) but let me know what you're running......my new adaptors bolt onto 70-78's using OEM companion flanges and then Z31 NA CV shafts. And they're a lot cheaper than $400+just for the axles you've checked out. You've got axles already and could likely just swap them for those of the correct length if your set is longer than the NA's or what will work for you. I'll be curious to hear what you've got to see what the differences are, and hope we can see you to an effective AND affordable solution shortly

I don't have much of a comparison on the 'heaviness' of my steering at present. It's certainly lighter since I relocated my batter mid-car (toolwell behind pass. seat) and stepped to the aluminum heads. Previously I had problems with parking downtown (albeit I was only a few weeks out from a bone marrow transplant and a fly could've kicked my ass!). I'm intending to use a Hooker common 1-5/8's header with some wedges at the head/header interface to rotate the collector outside the steering flange. My present 'cheapie' headers we custom bent years back to clear and they no longer match my heads nor suit my most recent V8build.

Yes, exactly what I'm suggesting as an option. Have the companion flange 'parted' in a manner that you can either reuse the front face with the bolt pattern and recess to match the shafts....or in a way that a new front face can be perfectly centered and mated to the parted OEM splined piece. If known ahead then parts should be prepped/made/parted with matching surfaces to make assembly easier and higher degree of balance. Have your machinist on board from the start and in agreement on the outcome/sucess of your intentions. Nissan often uses some very high grade cast iron that does weld quite well, I'm not informed enough to rec'd or insure that the above option would work perfectly but with a skilled machinist/welder I'd be quite confident. Measure 3x's, and cut once as you know

Hey bud, it's not easier to have the companion flanges sectioned and welded to only be 0.5" thick at the outer face from hub side? It would/or could be 2 flat plates with correct bolt pattern that are then welded to your sectioned stub axles. I'm sure your method would work, I'd just rather see axles as the easily replaced item, sectioning the comp. flange would reduce your angularity if that's of any concern. Just thoughts....let us know what you do and how it works out. I'd still love to hear your shaft length/bolt pattern details..........NA shafts alone might be short enough to come a lot closer to fitting?

If you do the swap I highly rec'd KVR carbon fiber pads......can't lose: greater friction/far friendly on the rotors, and less fade! Just a quick .02c! I've got it all on the shelf.Just an option.

As well you could make a spacer block for the rear upper strut mount to increase it's overall length. But that may just help mask less than ideal springs. If they compress easily you'll still have excess camber on acceleration (squat) which provides less than ideal traction and tire wear. I've got MSA's and now tokico's shelved/used from customers that switched to coilovers. If yours are barely used you'd stand your best chance of recouping your best value out of them shortly......if you find somone they may be suitable for (what ride type that is I'm not sure).

ShelbyZ, thanks for the compliment. It often comes down to individual clearances for the wheels of interest. I'd put a flat edge across your front hub and measure out the clearance you require for both the caliper front face and outside diameter of caliper/rotor assembly. With good measurements you'll know with absolute certainty if they'll clear or not. You can even send them to your intended wheel supplier to verify their clearance if they don't have wheel specs/templates to supply you. Then you can make it their responsibility to ensure they'll clear assuming your measurements are good and you allowed for appropriate clearances (0.100" is fine). Measure twice/thrice....and order once I'd suspect most wheels you'll look at would likely clear, and if it's a small 'facing' clearance, a slight spacer could allow you to run those brakes and your favourite wheels! Good luck!

Jetdriver, is the head out at present for you to have the cam dialed? Locally a shop is setup to dial in cams for ~$30, you get a readout of each lobe/average value and variance. I did it with my last cam just to be positive the GMPP cam was what I wanted. Poor cams are odd but I NEVER want to have to troubleshoot one...small insurance IMO. Mike Kelly very politely hit the nail on the head with Marc Sayer IMO. I was even part of a collection call/long successful drive to the famed guy at one point (6mos. patience was enough in our opinion). Knowledgeable and friendly he is. I'd previously dealt with him with various small $ sales/buys but the larger stuff went sour for many I've heard from and that the lawyer had previously represented successfully. I don't typically comment on other vendors but he went so far from centerline and I don't want to see anyone else get taken in the that manner as I saw others get taken.

Their is NO final verdict with coilovers , setups are easily changed once setup with coilovers if ever required.......I typically use hyperco springs (Imsa/Winston/Formula... etc good enough for them/good enough for us ) and eibach's at request only.