Derek

April 1, 2008

If only I could remember!!

I think they were Bosch but i'm not sure. I'm not even sure if Bosch made shocks for the Z. I got them from one of my customers who had a Z car specialty shop in Fort Lauderdale. I was going to go with KYBs but he talked me out of them. At this point I think I'm going to have to tear it apart and see what I have.

I have access to a press and a 400 lb digital scale so I can measure the rates. At that point I'll figure what I'm going to do.

Thanks

Derek

Shocks contribute more to ride harshness then springs. What shocks are you running?

March 31, 2008

The first two shots are "lost foam casting". In the head picture you can see the different EPS foam pieces assembled. The picture of the block has already been dipped in slurry and ready to be backed up with dry sand.

I do a fair amount of lost foam casting. It's really a very cool technique.

Derek

I just watched a training video "Metal Casting Die Casting", very interesting stuff, here are some images,

March 31, 2008

Yes I'm hoping I don't need to run it all night. It says it has a thermostat for over heat protection.

the company that makes this also make standard block heaters for just about everything imaginable. They offer a 35MM heater but it's only 400 watts. If this actually works I'll buy a couple of the core plug style and loose the tank. The tank was the quickest way to find out if it's worth the bother.

I'm running a 192 degree thermostat now but I don't think that makes it heat up that much faster

derek

Derek, so are you going to turn this thing on a couple hours before you leave or what? That would seem to make most sense since you don't need it on all the time.

Thats a monster heater! I wish I had room for something like that in my 240sx. There just isn't enough space. -15 ambient temps are brutal.

Evan

March 30, 2008

Alright. Here's what I plan to do.

I ordered this heater from JC Whitney ZX540691A

http://www.jcwhitney.com/autoparts/Search?catalogId=10101&storeId=10101&sku=ZX540691A&searchbtn.x=0&searchbtn.y=0

It's a tank type 1000 watt heater with 5/8'" nipples. According to the Zerostart literature it will cost 6 cents an hour to run. I can afford this.

I'll post some test data as soon as I get the heater installed.

An early Z with carbs is not going to work well with a remote start system. For me this is the best solution. At least for now that is.

Derek

March 28, 2008

Derek..... your such a NERD!!!! lol

I really think too much sometimes.

But it's fun

Derek

March 28, 2008

Agreed, I'm thinking since its local for you anyway you may want to take a drive down "New idea St."

Or perhaps Great idea avenue.

Here's what I want.

I want to have my car at operating temp when I get in it. I don't happen to think this is a bad idea.

Here's what I know.

When the temp is around 30f and I don't plug in my truck the temp gauge never moves by the time I get to the shop and you can forget about heat.

When I plug the truck in over night The truck starts better and the heat is noticeable. The temp gauge doesn't make it up to operating temp but does move pretty far.

Ok here's what I've found out so far from a single source on the web. This means I'm right and your wrong. (do iI really need a smiley face here?)

this is from a forum on dodge trucks http://www.dieseltruckresource.com/dev/showthread.php?t=193010

They were experiencing engine temps of 130 to 140 or so on tucks that most certainly have more mass than my Z.

Tomorrow I'm going to plug in my truck and measure the amp draw and do a cost calculation.I'll also measure the temperature rise.

Then we'll see who's laughing then!!!

Derek

March 27, 2008

Take longer routes.

But seriously a block heater wont bring your engine up to operating temp. Its just meant to keep the water from freezing and cracking the block.

Yes but multiples might make the difference.

Derek

March 27, 2008

Yes but the car runs much better at 190 than it does at 80. So my theory is if I can maintain the coolant as close to operating temp as possible, every time I jump in the car for a short trip it would be warmed up.

I live in theoryville

In the winters even though it rarely gets below freezing I use the block heater in my Diesel for the same reason.

Derek

I don't really understand what your trying to accomplish with a block heater. You live in FL right?

Evan

March 27, 2008

So Here's the deal.

I live 5 minutes from my shop. It's 5 minutes to the hardware store. 5 minutes to everywhere I seem to go. The car only reaches operating temp by the time I finish my trip. Here's my thought. I'll install a block heater or two and leave the car plugged in when I'm not driving it. At least it should be better than it being stone cold.

Any thoughts or suggestions on this?

Thanks

Derek

March 27, 2008

Ok Here's the story.

I purchased a set of front and rear coil springs out the Nissan competition catalog in probably 1990 or so. I put them on the car and drove it for a short amount of time then the car was parked since then. I just got the car back on the street and I'm not happy at all with the harshness of the ride. It handles like a dream but I'm making this my daily driver so I need something a little more forgiving. Does anyone have any direct experience with these springs and can maybe help me establish a benchmark as to how stiff they really are.

I want to buy a new set of springs but I don't want to end up with the same ride as I have now.

Thanks

Derek

March 23, 2008

Yes I'm just an old "normally aspirated' kind of guy!

Well I was going to call you today and get the lowdown on what my options are. I have an extra drive shaft and 4 speed transmission so I could have all of the machine work prepped beforehand. I can fit the drive shaft in the big lathe but I'll probably sub it out to a local shop.

I really just want to drive it a little bit before I go swapping out a tranny.

Derek

thats a good way to go but honestly its over kill for derek. he is staying NA. i do think i should walk you through the 240sx swap. its a piece of cake for someone like you. start looking for a good quality 240sx transmission. if you have an extra bellhousing laying around we can do the swap in an afternoon. well i guess you will need to have another drive shaft ready that has been shortened ready also. but we can do it real easy like. lol hit me up sometime if your interested

March 23, 2008

Thanks for the words of encouragement but that cylindrical shape in the foreground turned out to be a needle bearing. It was also a quart and a half low on gear lube. I threw in some new gear lube and I'll drive it for a while like it is. I don't plan on rebuilding it so I'm not worried about doing any damage to the tranny. Now I have to figure out what direction to go for a transmission replacement.

Derek

March 22, 2008

I'm changing the lube in my manual trans and this is what I found

Is my transmission angry? This can't be normal can it?

It's got a noisy bearing so I think I see an upgrade in my future.

Any thoughts

Derek

March 14, 2008

I too hate participating in dreams but I'm trying to get my post count up so I'll just jump in.!

The head idea is in my opinion a much better idea. I would think that casting more of a blank as far as the combustion chamber is concerned and plan on having it machined on a 5 axis CNC mill would be a better way to go. Trying to get people to agree on a standard size and design might be problematic. I also agree that basing it on existing manifold designs would make things easier as well. If it had the stock port spacing but was a cross flow design then theoretically after market headers and intakes would bolt up to the head. Now the problem is the tilt of the engine reduces the room you have for intake system on the passengers side of the car. On the drivers side you have 15" from the head to the shock tower. on the passengers side you only have 10". For a NA motor this may be tight.

This kind of stuff costs big money and for what you would have to plunk down to make this work you could install a RB motor and still have some left over.

Just my opinion!

Derek

First off, I want to say that part of me hates stepping into bench0building discussions like this.. because I do freely admit that most of it is largely over my head.. but I know how far over my head it is, so I feel somewhat comfortable talking about it, and this is too tempting to resist

I could not possibly disagree more. if it only took a grand to put an RB head onto an L6 with external oiling and cooling, then it would have been done seventeen million times already..

To me, the two possibilities involving casting new pieces, and the L-6 engine series, would be to

A: Cast new aluminum blocks

B: Cast new crossflow, DOHC aluminum heads

Now, the difficulties of, and advantages in either possibility have been discussed at length. To me, the reality of setting up molds for a complete, internally cooled new engine block, is a manifest show-stopper. However, if KA series heads were already modified and sandwiched into a head, then why can we not find KA heads to section up in order to prepare a mold, sculpt an "ideal" combustion chamber (or even weld up and fill in a combustion chamber for complete customization after casting) and find a way to make the camshaft question work? Proven valvetrain components exist, the bores line up.. I hate to sit here and blatantly suggest we all copy what was just pioneered, but.. the realities of casting a head seem to me to be more surmountable than those of casting a complete block, and that aluminum block would still have to breathe through an L-series head, OR you would have to pioneer installing an RB head onto what is still an L block.

To me, when thoughts of CHANGING either the block, (to accommodate the RB head) OR the 240SX head design, (any changes needed? intake port alteration like I mentioned above?) are concerned.. then the entire ballgame is changed, and you are departing rapidly from reproducing and beginning to engineer your own animal. Therein lies even more potential for difficulty and time to snowball on this kind of project.

Whatever we may all agree or disagree on, my point remains.. without a captain, this ship is most likely going nowhere fast.

March 13, 2008

Keep us posted on that if you can. I have the same idea but I'm probably a few months away from doing it.

thanks

derek

the all chrome car looks so tacky. i've been thinking about using this on my fiberglass bumpers on my '72 because its sooo hard to find chrome bumpers for a decent price.

March 13, 2008

Just to give you guy's an idea of costs I would charge at least 15,000 for a set of patterns of this complexity. I get $1000.00 for a fairly simple double sided pattern that fits in a 13" x 18" box so if you do a little math the price could get astronomical for such a limited run. I just looked at the site again and saw that he had 1500 hours in the patterns and I'm not surprised. Making a pattern that looks like a block on the outside is relatively simple. Making one that actually works is a whole nuther ball game.

I'm not trying to throw a bucket of cold water here but just trying to give you guy's something to think about.

Look at how long it's taken me to get my manifold to the point of a single raw casting.

Derek

March 11, 2008

Has anyone tried the halogen 1156 replacement bulbs as a backup light?

Thanks

Derek

March 10, 2008

Any progress?

Lot's of progress on the car but nothing on the manifold. Plus I just got slammed with a bunch of pattern work. I'm so close to getting my car back on the road after a 12 year or so hiatus that I'm going to be sticking on that. As soon as I get the car drivable I'm sure I'll be itching to get rid of the SU's so things will progress rather quickly from there.

Thanks for the interest

Derek

March 8, 2008

Found this on culture garage.

http://tanetane92.web.infoseek.co.jp/gallery.html

Very cool stuff

Derek

March 8, 2008

I used SEM 39853 Texture paint on my dash and plan on using it on my console mods.

Derek

March 2, 2008

I went this route

http://www.classiczcars.com/forums/showthread.php?t=23919

I followed Bruces instructions to the "T" and couldn't believe how nice it came out. I did my repair with the dash still in the car but with the windshield out. Not the best but it was workable.

Here's a couple things I found during my repair.

I drilled tiny holes at the ends of the cracks to check the crack from spreading.

Make sure you remove enough of the black dash material next to the crack. Mine was warped upward. I didn't cut it far enough back and when I started to feather out the filler I broke through immediately.

Make sure you have a thick enough layer of bumper repair over the crack. I sanded it too thin and when I pulled the car out in the sun it cracked again. I would try and leave at least 1/32" thickness over the crack and feather it out 2" or more on either side.

I'm still amazed at how good the dash looks and how easy it was to do. I keep looking at the dash and just can't believe how good it looks.

Derek

February 27, 2008

I did my repair as per this post

http://www.classiczcars.com/forums/showthread.php?t=23919

It went exactly as advertised but I made a couple of mistakes.

Make sure you remove enough of the black dash material next to the crack. Mine was warped upward. I didn't cut it far enough back and when I started to feather out the filler I broke through immediately.

Make sure you have a thick enough layer of bumper repair over the crack. I sanded it too thin and when I pulled the car out in the sun it cracked again. I would try and leave at least 1/32" thickness over the crack and feather it out 2" or more on either side.

The SEM texture spray and trim black paint paint work great.

One of my cracks came back and it's because i sanded too much of the bumper repair off. AGAIN!!! The other crack that I did with a thicker coat is holding up great.

I live in Florida so come August I'll have a better idea of longevity.

Derek

February 21, 2008

This just goes to show you your company is only as good as the person answering the phone. I bought a power window kit and central locking system from Spal. I was totally blown away by the quality. I had some questions about the hook up and the tech emailed me schematics and walked me through the whole process. I had to call him back for some more info and he was as nice as could be.

I can never understand why employers put up with tech people with bad attitudes. I'm so sick of people who are being paid to help me treating me like it's a bother so now I'm starting to call them on it.

Our country is now based on it's service industry and we're rapidly flushing that down the toilet.

Derek

February 20, 2008

Started out in Optimist Prams when I was 9, went to Flying Juniors for a few years, moved into big boat offshore racing at 14. Graduated to fore deck - bow man and raced pretty much continuously until I was 25 or so. I raced on everything from a John Alden wooden ketch to a Farr 30. I took up windsurfing for a while and raced a bit but nothing serious. I was then talked out of retirement to do bow work on a Farr designed 42. This thing was very exotic and was the most serious boat I ever raced on. We did very well racing on Biscayne Bay and SORC off shore racing. I was on that boat until just before hurricane Andrew. My knees just couldn't take the punishment anymore. Fore deck is a young mans sport!

Now I'm land locked in the middle of the state!

Derek

February 14, 2008

So you see it's true!

Sorry no more progress photos. I'm too close to getting the car on the read right now so the manifold is going to stall for a while.

Derek

Too Cool!!

(and stephen colbert welcomed all of his writers back onto the show tonight (writer's strike is over) with a big she-bang, had them each come out one at a time, greeted them by name, had them walk to the side stage for a "Team Photo." Mr. Met was the last "writer" to come out, but the other shoe what you KNEW was gonna drop came out a face or two before Mr. Met.. and guess who??? Kevin Bacon! Ka-POW!)

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