Pop N Wood
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Posts posted by Pop N Wood
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Higher octane gas will almost certainly cure the problem. Exspensive solution though.
Also buy a can of starter fuild and check the SU throttle shaft bushings for air leaks. Spray the starter fluid around the throttle shafts and various manifold gaskets while the engine is idling. If you see a change in idle speed, you have a vacuum leak that is contributing to your problem. I had this very problem in my 70 240. Once the seals are gone, you have to enrichen you idle mixture to compensate. This will contribute to dieseling.
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Blue smoke from bad valve seals has always looked awfully white to me.
Pull the plugs and check for oil fouling/residue. Especially the plugs in the back cylinders (since they are downhill from the front).
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If something dissolved the rubber in your brake reservoir you have to ask why.
A friend of mine once put the wrong type of brake fluid in is Chevy V8 Jaguar. Caused all of the rubber in his braking system to dissolve.
If I were you I would unbolt the brake reservoir to drain and clean it. That way you minimize the amount of crap you get in the rest of your system. I would then closely inspect all the brake lines and caliper/wheel cylinder seals. Replacing those as needed, I would then cycle a can or two of clean brake fluid through each wheel. Don’t take chances on your brakes!!
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I think a used, 2 row copper radiator might be marginal. Do the obvious stuff first and if that fails drop the $$ on a griffin. Or even recore a stock Z radiator to a 3 row. There are guys on this board who have no cooling problems with that set up. The big issue with a 3 row copper rad is weight.
Normally I go I tirades about electric fans (I am personnaly convinced they don't cool as well as mechanical). But in your case I don't think the fan is the issue since you are overheating at speed and not in stop and go traffic.
I think you are right. Too low of gearing will definitely add to your heat load. The exhaust I am not as sure about. But either way, you aren't doing anything so out of norm that your cooling system shouldn't be able to handle it.
Somewhat unrelated but you might search though the old postings for an article someone posted about Z car aerodynamics. To paraphrase, this article said the Z grill opening was too large thus letting too much air build up in the engine compartment. They were talking mainly about this causing the excessive front end lift. But the intersting thing is they maintained the Z would have better cooling efficiency with a smaller grill opening. Something like a G nose.
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The Bowie shooting was about 8 miles from my house.
Sacry times. Don't have any idea what to do about it. Encourage the wife to stay home and take a quick scan of the parking lot before standing outside.
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I would suspect inadequate air flow. Usually sustained highway driving (I assume at near legal speeds?) is the last place people have cooling problems.
A couple of previous post cautioned that the lower radiator hose can "collapse" with engine speed severely restricting coolant flow.
If not that, then (my guess) you aren't getting enough air flow THROUGH the radiator. Make sure the radiator is tight against the body work so air cannot flow around the radiator instead of through it. A belly pan (I think it is called a chin pan) mounted between the frame rails beneath the radiator also cuts down on turbulence underneath the car. This help smooth the flow of air through the radiator and is a known cure for overheating in the early Z's. Available from MSA.
Besides that, check the obvious stuff. Radiator full? Radiator cap in good condition? No fluid loss (which means you could have a leak that prevents the radiator from being presurrized)? When was the last time you flushed the cooling system. Water pump making noise? Thermostat in good shape (put it in a pan of hot water to see what temp it fully opens)? Ignition timing set properly?
Seems like guys are quick to put in bigger radiators but sometimes that is just masking a more basic problem.
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Yeah, I thought one of the biggest worries of nitros is the potential lean condition caused if something goes wrong with the fuel system.
A buddy of mine kept telling me to put nitros on my stock 240 motor. Said he'd been running it for over a year on his Mustang and the only problems he had was keeping tires on it. Then one day he told me the fuel solenoid on is nitros system burned up so only nitros (and no extra gas) went into his engine. This burned a hole in a piston.
My question is if something like this happens, then will forged pistons really make much of a difference?
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I bought this el-cheapo adjustable auto darkening helmet from Harbor Freight
http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/Displayitem.taf?itemnumber=46092
I was a little concerned when I first got it. It seemed really cheesy because it is so light weight and flimsy. But after using it awile I have to say it is well worth it. The light weight makes it super comfortable to use and the electronics, at least for the short time I have had it, work flawlessly.
My only real complaint is the head band is not very sturdy so I can see it failing at some time in the future.
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I guess the only place I use it is for spark plugs, especially with aluminum heads. I have also used dielectric lube when mounting electronics.
Repair manuals are usually pretty good about telling you when you need to use what.
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Have to agree with Jeromio on this one. I have a close relative who is currently running from his 6th DUI arrest. I don't know how that is even possible. What good does it do to stiffen fines for first offense DUI when someone can get to a 6th offense without serious jail time?
BUT, aside from the fines, the jail time, loss of license and hideous insurance, think of what you stand to lose before driving after drinking ANYTHING. What if some one hits you? What are your chances of convincing a judge/jury/insurance company it is wasn't your fault if you blow higher than 0.0?
Just not worth it.
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shuyun
Excellent post. I have seen that aircraft up close at the NASM's Garber facility here in Maryland. I didn't realize it was so rare.
But don't read too much into what was written. The water methonal injection by itself does nothing. But kicking in the WM injection allows you to increase boost/timing/etc for max HP.
Also I am not sure what adding methonal to the water does for HP. On a high altitude interceptor it would be essential as an antifreeze.
I would like to know how they adjusted boost on those engines. Maybe they had some type of adjustable waste gate? Note that the article said those engines had multi speed superchargers. But I know on the Spitfires they switched supercharger "gears" (speeds) as they went up and down in altitude to compensate for different air densities. In fact, the Spitfires actually had different models that had engines optimized for combat at different altitudes. One variant had supercharger shift points dialed in for high altitude interception of bombers, whereas different variants worked best at meduim to low altitude.
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Once again showing my age, but water injection did gain some popularity back in the 70's to help high compression muscle cars cope with the lower octane gas. When the octane went away, most people backed off on the timing to avoid the detonation. Water injection allowed you to regain the correct ignition timing.
WWII airplanes used water-methonol injection, but once again, only under War Emergency Power. Those airplanes had all kinds of manual controls (like boost pressure, carb air/fuel ratio and even supercharger drive speed). The pilots could lean out the mixture and reduce the boost to maximize cruising range. Then when going into combat, go to full boost, turn on the water injection and engage the nitrous!
It is my understanding that water injection cools the intake air to prevent detonation (just like an intercooler or dry ice pack). I don't think the water itself does anything to inhibit combustion.
I would think water injection would work extremely well with a modern, knock sensor equipped car. If the water injection is on, the computer could advance the timing for max power. With no water injection, the knock sensor should automatically retard the timing (just like bad gas will).
I don't see anything wrong with water injection. But to get andvantage out of it you would have to retune your engine. Look at what Scotty does with his GNZ (if I am interpreting his posts correctly). Brew up some race gas and crank up the boost!
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I have the MSA one. I think it is solid plastic. Probably one of the best mods I did to the suspension. Took all of the slop out of the front end and made turning lock to lock in a parking lot MUCH easier. The difference in turning effort was really quite remarkable.
Didn't notice anything in the way of vibration. Certainly anyone with stiffer springs, bigger sway bars or coil overs would think nothing of this. The only real difference is hitting a pot hole definitely tugs on the steering wheel much harder. But the positive control is preferrable to me.
The plastic ones are completely solid. Makes a lot of sense to just remove it altogether. For the same reason I don't see what difference the bolt hole size would make. At least on mine nothing moves anyway.
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Sodium filled valves were common fare back in the 70's to help cars cope with unleaded gas.
Maybe it cools the intake air. But I think it is more to keep the valve from burning up since they no longer have the lead to help lubricate them.
BTW, few things conduct heat more readily then sodium. That is why some nuclear reactors were cooled with pure liquid sodium.
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Made the bike ride along the strand in Manhattan Beach many a time. I have several, very vivid images etched into my mind that I am sure will not fail me when I am a drooling old codger sucking down jello in a nursing home.
Ahh, I don't care if they are liberals or Rush Limbaugh's illegitimate love child. Visions of spandex hugging the female form transcends all political boundaries..
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I bought a used shaft from MSA (http://www.zcarparts.com) some years ago.
I know you said you don't want used but the one MSA sent me was in very good shape. I am sure they will not sell you one that is ready for the scrap heap.
One option I had thought of was cutting the bottom part off the u joint to get the piece that bolts onto the steering rack pinion (correct word?), welding on a short piece of a straight shaft then connecting that to a U joint out of anything I could find in the junk yard. I don't think small U joints are that hard to find. It is just difficult to find shafts that bolt to the stock Datsun rack.
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I have the MSA smog legal headers and complete turbo muffler set up. Sounds great (sorry, I am not as clever as the others).
Did have a muffler shop replace everything from the header flange back a few years ago. They told me the MSA pipes really were not compatible with each other. Still have a $9 Track Auto turbo muffler and still love the 6 cylnder bellow.
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Quite a reversal to go from 4 valves per cylinder to a twin turbo 305!
Or did you mean 350?
Huge difference.
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This company sells subframe connectors that quite a few members on this site have expressed interest in
http://www.zparts.com/ads/zspider/zspider_index1.html
So far no one has posted anything saying they have bought them or how well they work.
They look really interesting to me. If you check into them be sure and post what you find out.
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My 1970 Z has never stunk of exhaust fumes.
Wait, I take that back. It did one time. But that was because I had a bicycle in the back with the hatch propped open.
When I bought my car used 13 years ago, the guy who restored it had replace all of the rubber seals. Thus that is my guess. Replace all of the rubber, adjust the hatch so there is a solid seal all the way around, check the taillight gaskets and make sure there is no rust or exhaust leaks.
I have always wondered why some cars (like Volvo's) run the exhaust pipe all the way to the rear, then at the back of the car make 2 90 degree bends to have the exhaust dump outside of the rear corners.
Last idea. Ever drive an old station wagon with the rear roll down window? Those use to be exhaust fume death machines also. But most of them had a curved spoiler at the top of the back hatch that blew air down from the roof past the hatch. Don't know if that would work with a Z but it did with the old wagons.
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Plus excessive turbo lag can make cars harder to drive through the curves. A good, trained drive can make up for this, but there is something to be said for throttle response.
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Engine A has significantly more horsepower than B.
And if you have ever read any of Grumpyvette's posting you know you need to build for max HP so you can put more torque to the rear wheels through the appropriate GEARING.
Engine A equals engine B's peak HP at something like 7000 RPM. Thus engine A will be producing more HP from 7000 to 9000 RPM than engine B is capable of at any RPM. I would think you could gear a transmission to let you run the entire race in this 2-3 thousand RPM band.
So I vote Engine A the hands down winner.
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You also need to tell us what type of tires and wheels you are using. Running 50 or 40 series, low profile tires will have a huge impact on ride.
A good suggestion might be to take the car to a good alignment shop and have them inspect the suspension components. They will be quick to tell you what needs to be done. If everything is truely "shot", then there are plenty of people here who will walk you through what needs to be done. You may find the previous owner added stiffer spring, struts and large sway bars.
You may want to think about what type of ride you want. If you want a smooth daily driver with good performance, then pick the suspension component carefully! You can get very good performance out of a Z without totally sacrificing ride quality. But lowering the car and adding coil overs, stiff springs, Koni struts, large sway bars and wide, low profile tires will definitely produce a car that your wife will not want to ride in.
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Want to second what Greimann said about voltage drop across undersized wires. Would also like to add that the problem is a little more severe than stated since current draw through an electric motor goes up non-linearly with a drop in voltage. In other words, cutting the voltage in half more than doubles the current draw.
Undersized wires that are too long will cause a voltage drop across the wires. But even more importantly, even slightly dirty or loose connectors will cause an even bigger drop. That is why Lone was seeing the wire melt near the connector. Cleaning up the relay contacts with an ignition file will help keep the excess heat down.
It is kind of a viscous circle. The more voltage drop across the wires and connectors, the lower the voltage at the motor and thus more current is needed. More current increases the voltage drop and thus more current. Higher current also increases arcing across relay contacts pitting them and increasing their resistance.
I like to put a little solder on crimp connectors that pass significant amounts current. The solder greatly improves the connection, ensures the connection never gets pulled loose and most importantly seals everything up to prevent corrosion.
Of course, all of this could be avoided with a mechanical fan...
Definition of Irony in the world
in Non Tech Board
Posted
Ever notice how green olives always come in glass jars but the black olives are sealed up in cans?
Wassup with that?