Dragonfly

Yes. Like everything else there is always a compromise and the biggest compromise with this is how fast you can shift... the faster you shift the less RPM's you drop and most of the time the less RPM's you drop the more power you have available to you. Dragonfly

Looks to me like he is doing it correctly, what IMHO he is not infasizing enough though is that you NEED to know what your torque values are at the rear wheels. I think he is using the formula from the "Automotive Math Hand Book" to make his calculations. I have an excel spreadsheet that was written by a guy for the BMW M5 but was modified by me for my Z which allows you to input transmission ratio, diff ratio, tire size, weight of car, drive line effiency % and your rear wheel torque values at certain RPM's and it will calculate your acceleration in G force assuming 100% traction, the spreadsheet also gives you the thrust at the rear wheels. This is a great program if you know all the information and it makes it real easy to determine the optimum shift points for acceleration. One other very cool feature of this spreadsheet is that it allows you to put in a second rear diff with a different ratio and do a direct comparison between them. Any one who would like a copy of my modified version of this spreadsheet drom me a PM with your email in it and I will email it to you. I do not have the unmodified version anymore and I don't remember exactly where I found it, but the orriginal author said anyone who wants to use it is weclome to use it. Dragonfly

Just remember to take plenty of pictures... Dragonfly

Of course I did not have my camera with me (plus I was in a parking lot and the Z was going down the road)... Any way the first thought was that it might be someone on here. So I have to ask on Sunday 12-2-07 at around 2:30pm to 3:00pm was anyone driving a flat black 240Z with a roll cage and chrome fender vents down College Ave. headed towards I8? I would have been the guy on the motorcycle (in the 7-11 parking lot) doing a double take and giving you a thumbs up. Dragonfly

Here is a picture of the front of mine just after I finished the fender. This is a picture of the back where I "frenched" in the back marker light. This picture was taken prior to finishing and painting. I would not suggest that you try "frenching" the marker light unless you really enjoy frustration, it is a PIA. From the looks of the video's that I saw of your car I personaly think you would be better off to remove the lights and weld up the holes. Dragonfly

I've only met Jeff once and I do feel that he has the most impressive L powered Z on the planet, but again we both know that Jeff has enough money in that car to buy a house in the midwest (he just won't admit it out loud anymore). The other thing about Jeffs car is he has done virtualy everything that I suggested in my first post on this thread - he designed, engineered and built that engine in his head and on paper before he started turning wrenches. Yea Tony your right but I was just trying to make a point to Matadem that if he doesn't do the planing and the studying first about how everything in the engine will work together he will have an extremely slim chance of having a legitamit 400 RWHP car and even slimmer chance that it will be streetable enough to use as a daily driver (daily driver part is a guess because he never said what he wants to use the car for). Dragonfly

Not trying to give you a hard time at all, I am just trying to let you know in my own way that you will get more answers and better input if the question(s) you ask are more thought out (or researched) such as: I would like to get 400rwhp out of my L28ET, I have been researching turbos and compretion ratios but I am not sure what cr to run since I will be using pump gas, does anyone have any suggestions of what cr I should have my forged pistons made to? With the question like that you will probably be asked what type of turbo you are going to use what the a/r is and what octane fuel is available to you. Any way as I think about this I may be off base with what I am telling you but I have never been much for limited information questions as they always lead to limited information answers which almost always cost you more money and time. BTW your goals are very realistic but at the same time all the people I know personaly who run 400 or more RWHP with L series engines have trouble with their "streetability" and end up using them on a very limited basis. One last thing from me... the lower the cr you run the higher the boost you can run and boost = HP, but as mentioned above you loose off boost performance with a lower cr. Dragonfly

Non turbo guy here but IMO if you want to get 400hp out of this engine and know that it will not fall apart the first time you drive it, here is what I suggest: Layout your goals, your money and your time to completion. Print out an engine blueprint check sheet, a series of turbo data sheets for any turbos that are in the power rating you want and cam specs for any cam that is advertised in the range of your goals. Start crunching numbers... You should build the entire thing on paper before you ever buy the first part you do not already have. If you do this it will save you time, money and lots of questions that people will tell you to research prior to asking. There is a ton of info on this site and it is a great place to start your research but you should have true/realistic/atainable goals before you start asking to many questions. Dragonfly

Yes there is a pin that you remove to disassemble it the problem is that the pin is under the metal cover around the key hole. You have to either have a special tool to remove the cover or you destroy it taking it off, if cygnusx1 replaces the orriginal one he can destroy the old one to find the source of the problem. If the problem is inside the key mechanism the rest of us can take ours to our local locksmith to have the cover removed without damage. Dragonfly

First of all I'm glad your allright... when you pull the switch appart you will see an oval hole in the steering column where the locking shaft passes through to lock the wheel. I would check the hole in the steering shaft (look through the hole in the column) to see if there is any indication what so ever that it may have been deformed from pulling the heck out of it while locked. If you find that it was the steering wheel lock I would highly recomend that you replace the entire key/lock assembly with a new one, then pull a little CSI on the old one to see what caused the problem. Last but not least let the rest of us know what you found so we can check ours to make sure know one else goes through the same thing. Dragonfly

And it looks great as well... Dragonfly

Your right mine are not welded mine are bolted then glassed and blended which is how I took care of the different curvature. It is a bit of work to get them to blend and look "factory", but it is worth it in my opinion. Dragonfly

I've been looking all over for my list of color to ratio for the gears and as of yet have not found it, but I did find a partial list that indicates you are correct. I looked at the Type B 5 speed I have in the back and the transmission shown in the above pictures is not the same, there are to many differances in the tail portion. My 260 FSM shows a picture of a 4 speed that resembles the pictures posted above but they are all sketch pictures and I can not say for sure if it is the same. Here is one of the places my information came from. http://www.zhome.com/ZCMnL/tech/GearRatios.html Contributed By: the Members of the IZCC Produced by: Carl Beck IZCC #260 Special Thanks to: Steve Golik-IZCC #356, Tom Bell-IZCC #2802 & Ross Corrigan-IZCC # 255 The Purpose of this page is to give you a quick reference listing of the gear ratios used in the various models of the Z Car. We will try to include both transmission and rear end gear ratios FYI. As of 12 Mar. 2000 -cjb -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Standard Differentials & Rear Gear Ratio's This is the list that we came up with, after discussion on the Z Car List, and review by the subscribers there. Standard Rear End's as Delivered From The Factory 1969-1989 : 240Z 70-73 MT (3.364) (R180) 240Z 70-73 MT 5spd. (3.900) (R180) - non US 240Z 71-73 Auto (3.545) (R180) 260Z 74 MT (3.364) (R180) 260Z 74 Auto (3.545) (R180) 280Z 75-76 (3.545) (R200) 280Z 77-78 MT (3.545) (R200) 280Z 77-78 Auto (3.545) (R180) 280ZX 79 MT,4 Spd,2 Seater (3.364) (R180) 280ZX 79 MT,5 Spd,2 Seater (3.364) (R180) 280ZX 79 All With Automatic(3.545) (R180) 280ZX 79 MT,4 Spd,4 Seater (3.364) (R200) 280ZX 79 MT,5 Spd,4 Seater (3.7) (R200) 280ZX-GL 79 (3.7) (R200) 280ZX 80 MT,2 Seater (3.545) (R180) 280ZX 80 Automatic 2/4Seat (3.545) (R180) 280ZX 80 MT,4 Seater (3.9) (R200) 280ZX-GL 80 (3.9) (R200) 280ZX 81-83 Automatic all (3.545) (R180) 280ZX 81-83 Turbo - all (3.545) (R200) 280ZX 81-83 MT (3.9) (R200) - - - - 300ZX's - - - - - -- - 300ZX 84-86 MT and A/T (3.7) (R200) 300ZX 84-86 Turbo MT and A/T (3.54) (R200) 300ZX 87-89 MT and A/T (3.9 ) (R200) 300ZX 87-89 MT and A/T (3.9 ) (R200) 300ZX 87-89 Turbo MT and A/T (3.7 ) (R200) Note Turbos: #1) after 4/87 only-(3.7 Clutch Type LSD) 2) 88 All White SS used a 3.7 Viscous Coupling LSD) 3) LSD Unites Came With Finned Rear Covers Additional Comments: a) Viscous Coupling LSD requires special splined half shafts - 84-87 R200's can be used in earlier cars, but require modifications they are not direct bolt in swapable to 240/260/280Z/280ZX's c) 84-89 R200's used a 12mm bolt in the ring gear - earlier R200 used a 10mm bolt in the ring gear, so you can not swap Gear Sets with the older R200's Dragonfly

Oh well... where ever it was I found that pic they had it labled as a 280ZX and the thing is so modified I wasn't going to argue. Now I have to go and change the title of the pic on my computer... Dragonfly

With all this talk about 280ZX land speed record... I decided this would be a great spot to post this picture that has been sitting on my computer for a few years. I don't remember any more where the picture came from (how I got it) but I know that it was a 280ZX built for the land speed record a long time ago. Dragonfly

Wow I like the way you think. That car is bad ass. Dragonfly

I agree with what Jon says but what you have to consider with this you are looking at peak HP rather than broad HP which makes the car much more enjoyable to drive. If you want a nice flat torque curve and HP curve with 200 or more WHP you are going to have to spend some money and time (probably alot of both). That makes the one for sale at $5000 much more reasonable (for an L series engine), but beware that what people tell you and what is really there (inside the engine) can be two different things. If "I" were going to pay that much for that engine I would have to see the blue print sheet (or build sheet), dyno sheet, machine shop reciepts, and manufacturer data for things such as forged pistons etc. that may have been installed into the engine. Personaly I would not trust someone on their word alone because if they have that into it they will have some documentation to back it up. Dragonfly

The nuts are welded... the bolts are on the back side where you can not see them. When you pull the wiring out be sure to tie a piece of string or wire onto the defrost wires so when you pull them out you pull the string into place that way you have a way to put the wires back in later (tie them to the string and pull them back into place). Dragonfly

naviathan is right, on mine I just put a filter since I no longer had an attachment to a filter housing. Dragonfly

Racelegal is held at Qualcomm stadium in San Diego. Information can be found at http://www.racelegal.com. For those of you who are real fast they do have a limit of 6 seconds, anyone who breaks into the 5's gets one warning then they are kicked out. There are several cars there capable of running less than 6 seconds but they always back out of it at the end. Most cars that race here run anywhere from 8 to 11 seconds, so just about anyone can fit in. Dragonfly

I frenched mine and it was not free and it takes like countless hours... Mostly done in this shot. Done in this shot just a bit further away, but they look good. By the way thats a good idea and waaaaayyyyy easier than frenching them in. Dragonfly

The color of the cog indicates what the rear diff gear ratio was, there are several different colors and each color is for a different ratio. If I remember correctly the yellow is for a 3.7:1 diff which was common in the 2+2 280ZX's, so that increases your chances of it being from that car, which in turn increases your chances that it is a Type B. I may have in the back on old (very dead) Type B transmission, I will take a look tommorow afternoon and give you a better answer then if no one else jumps in here before then and gives you an absolute answer.

I have only seen one Type A (1979-1980) in person but have owned several Type B (1981-1983) transmissions. From looking at the pictures you have posted the tail portion of the transmission looks less like the Type B's that I have owned and more like the Type A that I had seen. I do not know off the top of my head what the numbers are or where they are located, I have been running a T5 for a number of years now and have not paid much attention to the "normal" Nissan transmissions for a long time. Dragonfly

Looks to me like a very typical (what I call it anyway) 280ZX Type A transmission, which is a 5 speed. A lot of people prefer the Type B because of the gearing but it is still going to be a step up from the 4 speed that it replaces. Dragonfly

Well I took the car to racelegal and did about 15 runs (1/8 mile). I definately had to get the feel for the 4.63:1 gearing as it was very different from what I was used to. I have come to the conclusion that this is not the right gearing for me, at least not in the 1/8 mile races as the cam runs out of breath at the top of 3rd just before the finish and there is not enough room left to shift to 4th. My best run of the night was against a WRX (non STI), I had a 1.901 60', 9.004 ET, and 75.88 mph trap speed (I beat the WRX). My highest trap speed for the night was 76.66 mph which is 3.xxx mph slower than my highest trap speed with a 3.9:1 diff which netted me 79.xxx mph. Here is a vid of me racing an Integra... The vid is not very good but the others were not any better. I am going to try using my other diff with a 4.37:1 ratio at the next racelegal races which will be 12/14/2007. Hopefuly those gears will work better for me. Dragonfly