Lockjaw

Sounds like I need to spend some time playing around with a degree wheel next time. HEHE. SOunds like you got ahold of some fly by night cam grinders Tim. We were using billet cams in our messing around, with the exception of one car, which ran the electromotive L9 grind. It was a sweet cam.

Oh I forgot to ask, you did your compression check with the throttle wide open right? That could have an effect on your reading.

Are you sure the guy is reputable would be the first question I would ask. There is a lot you can do, but as Yo2001 said, you are limited by the diameter od the head gasket. Seems to me I recall there being a 91 mm one rather than the 89 stock, but I would need some help there. Basically you want to make sure there are no sharp edges in the combustion chamber. You can port match the intake and intake ports to the gasket, but I would leave the actual port work to someone with flow bench. If your man doesn't have a flow bench, move on. You can also blend in the area under the valve seat and make sure it is smooth. I would be really concerned about keeping my flow the same on all cylinders, which is why the flow bench is so important. Good luck.

I don't see where cam timing would have that huge a difference anyway. It is only going to be as precise as the tolerances on all the components involved, so theoretically, it would be next to impossible to duplicate one head to another since there are so many variables. All degreeing is going to do is tell you where it is, and if the cam is ground as the manufacturer claims. Seriously, we did not go to great lengths to make sure the timing was exact. Some of us (me) were more precise than others. I at least went to the trouble of shimming my cam towers, and measuring the differences in base circle, and matching up a lash pad. I always lined everything up per the spec's, but never went as far as to find true TDC or anything like that. On a turbo engine, or a race engine I could see going to that level, but on a street engine that never saw a dyno, don't think it was worth the effort. That sort of thing is just not my area. I mean its not that I don't think that there is power to be made doing something like that, I am sure there is. I don't have the equipment, and even if I did, I don't have the engineering back ground to take advantage of the information. Maybe my info is a little oversimplified, but we literally took the cam, springs, retainers, lashpads, rocker arms ect, and transferred them from one head to the other. Retained the same sprocket. If the head had shims, of course we adjusted lash pad thickness to accomodate. Even if it wasnt the most scientific test, the fact that 4 engines ran better with a P79 than they ran with "other" heads when almost all of the components were transferred from head to head kind of tend to indicate the P79 might be a little better choice, IMHO. Anyway, don't think I am trying to say what you are talking about doesn't have merit. I think it does.

I think the Nissan one is the best. Some people like Felpro's. Whatever kind, I like the thing to have that gray tacky coating on it. They seal up really well.

And don't forget that brake fluid eats paint. You should see where I got some and forgot about it.

Oh boy have I got a story for you. If you have the early Z 5 speed that is. I had one, and it became very difficult to shift. Ended up the rod in the tail shaft of the trans was broken. Replaced the tail section and it was all better. Of course you have to make sure all the forks line up. I would not ever resort to using a bolt thru there. You should also be very wary of doing anything that adjusts the hieght of the shifter. Same as putting a Z shifter in a ZX transmission, or vice versa. You will end up with a jumping out of 5th gear tranny, which sucks. If you know what kind of trans you have, I think replaceing the tail shaft part will be fine. You will have to find someone willing to sell you one though. I can help in that regard, but would have to know exactly what kind of trans you have.

My compression is 150 psi, but not stock. You can check for boost leaks by removing all the plumbing from the compressor to the throttle body. Check the hoses for holes/cracks. If you have an intercooler, you should fill it up with water and see if it leaks, and then let it dry after pouring the water out. A good sign you have a boost leak is black smoke from the tail pipe when you first hit boost and some stumbling. What kind of turbo are you running?

I liked my friends 300ZXTT with JWT Sport 550's, and all sorts of upgrades, and it was sweet. As far as a stock Z32, man they sure are slow....

Actually the P90 turbo head is a really nice flowing head, and Nissan did alot of development work on it. Yes it is no DOHc 4 valve per cylinder crossflow head, but it works really well.

Hey TimZ, don't forget about head saver shims. I used them in my application. Also, you can "adjust" the cam timing via the timing gear to make up for the retardation. One of the heads was uncut on a 3 liter with rolled domes, and it was the only head we tried on that engine that made it run right. My friends engine though with 110 cut did not use shims, and I don't know what he did to it, but it was strong. He took slack out of the chain by adjusting the guide rails.

OK I need more info on that titanium sleeve deal too. Plus turning to 9k, woooweeee! I had actually thought of sleeving an L6 block with some of those ductile iron sleeves they are using for the honda engines to see if I could bore the thing out to 90 or 91 mm. 200hp na to the wheels is pretty stout. Clark at JWT has a 300hp na engine in his 240. There is some guy selling 2 inch su's on ebay right now. 800 bucks.

T3. A T25 is to small for your application.

Go here http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=1853694062 I would like to see where JeffP fits on the compressor map of this one.

Yeah you can reclock the turbo, just make sure you keep the oil inlet and drain oriented properly. Man I wanted to do that swap when I had a V6 nissan truck. Have you tried looking at the 300ZX motor mounts to see if you can swap out some stuff and make it work? Someone has done that swap, but I am not sure who. Sorry, and good luck.

Why call somebody out? Why not simply ask for more details. I do that when someone puts a post out there like the one asking about what to do with all the hoses when removing FI and going to SU's. Breaking someone's post down into parts and responding to each section you have issue with is not going to make friends out of the people you are doing that to. I in no way consider myself to be an expert. All I know about sunbelt is they are in Atlanta, they can build Datsun engines, they take a long time to get your stuff back, and they are expensive. Good work takes time and it is expensive. I couldn't tell you where Robello is, or that Potter guy, and don't really care. I am not ever going to run into them, and on the off chance I run across one of their engines in the street, what do I have to loose? I mean if you pay 5k for an NA engine from one of those guys, and can't thoroughly thrash my junkyard motor, you are going to feel kind of small. At least I would. If I am going to spend big money on an engine, you better believe I am going to spend it on my turbo engine. Here is another tidbit I learned. When I lived in Auburn, there was a guy there who spent some big money getting someone (not sure who, but I am sure they were well known) to build him a 3.0 liter engine. This was back when 3 liters were like OMG you have a 3 liter. Anyway, it was all balanced, forged venolia's, not sure what head, header, Electramotive cam, and 44 mm solex carbs. It wouldn't fall out of a tree. A good running 240 with a cam and a header would have just spanked this thing all over the road. Moral of the story, just because you spend good money on something tried and proven doesn't mean someone else hasn't figured out something better. My friend and I just laughed our heads off at the guy who introduced us to a P79 head. He told us all the reasons why it was better, but we knew from all our reading, research and talking to people in the know that this guy was a few bricks shy of a load. When the car ran, and we rode in it, we believed. No one will ever convice me the P series heads are not the best. ( You won't convince my friend who is a mechanic either) All the pictures I have ever seen of the E31 heads that were modified by Gerolomy in CA were welded up and the chambers looked so much like the P series chambers, you would likely have to look at the casting numbers to tell the difference. The reason I so firmly believe in the P series is I have experienced the difference on 4 different motors. All four picked up dramatically when we switched from whatever head to the P79. We didn't do anything to them but cut em and swap over the same cam and go. You know, I can handle that people may think I am crazy. I have friends in town here that think I am nuts, which is one of the reasons I am actually building a P79 engine. Around here if it is a datsun and fast, it has a chevy motor in it. Mind you no one in my club has run faster than me except turbo6 guys. They bench race their 400hp motors, I got paper on my 307 rwhp motor, et's in my sig. I bet they freak when I give one of them a ride. Heck I might even get the thing done in time to take it MMP for the southeast Z party next month. Kind of doubt it, but I will have times posted one of these days. Also, bear in mind, I am an accountant by trade not a mechanic. I don't have any formal training with engines, all I know I have learned thru expereince, research, or watching someone else. I may not know the theory behind the physics of something, and I may not be able to give a canned answer about what something is, but I can hold my own. I make mistakes sometimes just like everybody else, and when I do, I can admit them. Anyway, you guys have fun. I will have my engine up and running before to long, but since I am taking a CPA review course this fall, all four sections, don't hold you breath waiting for results. I have to get my turbo car running too, and I am getting a turbo for it next week. Since the turbo car is fast, it will likely get placed ahead of the NA engine.

A couple of things. First, you do need a fuel pressure guage to see what is happening, or an air fuel ratio monitor. I would check the little filter on the inlet to the fuel pump. That could be clogged. The other thing I would do is disconnect the factory ground wire on the pump, make your own wire, find a spot to connect it, and make sure you scuff up the metal there so it gets a good contact. I cannot rememeber if the ZX's control fuel flow thru ground or positve, i think it is ground. A Zx with a clean tank should have no problem running around with low fuel in the tank. I can't remember if you said you replaced your fuel filter up by the engine, but I would replace it if you haven't. I have heard of people having vapor lock problems with ZX's, but I have not ever personally experienced any with my ZXT, although I do have a much stouter pump than stock. with a stock fuel rail. Also, how about checking your fan clutch to make sure it is in good shape. When the car is cold, and you start it, it should couple up and pull alot of air, and then back off. As the car warms up, you should hear the fan couple back up and pull more air.Helps if you manipulate the throttle with the hood up. You can feel the fan air flow pick up and drop off. That is a long shot, but your fan clutch could be going bad. Good luck and check back to tell us what is up.

Well I would clean all my connections at the ecu and AFM with break clean and reconnect. Does this happen when the car is cold or warm? If it happens when warm only, what it could be is a module on the side of the distributor. There is also a filter in the inlet of the factory fuel pump, and it could be clogged. You need some sort of little hooked type little deal to pull it out. I would also make sure the engine is properly tuned. A spark plug wire could be grounding, which is a good culprit too. You could have a cracked distributor cap, although I have not seen one yet. Try that and see what you come up with. Also run some STP gas treatment thru it ( the red bottle) just to rule out water in the gas.

Here is the long term issue, and it really has nothing to do with the pipe. The wire that is in the airstream breaks. What Nissan has it do is spike hot when you shut the car to clean it off, and over time just like a light bulb, it breaks. Sucks, that is why JWT wanted to get the cobra MAF going. They cost 200 bucks new, and flow better, the nissan one is around 400. Could you shoot a picture of it and put it online, I would like to see it.

It also helps to get at the bolt from underneath too. That is how I tightened mine up. I would be scared to do the head deal. But thats me. And do use the threadlocker. A loose front pulley causes that keyway deal to hog out the slot in the crank, and that is not good. I had one welded up and redone, but it just did not work as good as good old Nissan forged crank material. You should also notice some stumbling when the thing is loose. My car always misbehaved when my pulley was loose.

OK but just remember, rumor has it that to run a spray bar and an internally oiled cam is supposed to be a no no. I never found that to be the case, but I have read that somewhere. Maybe it was the person who said you can't swap cam towers. HEHE

To the guy with webers, get those babies on a head which gives your engine some compression and throw a cam in there and go. You will likely never hear a sound finer than sidedraft webers and a L series 6 with compression and a cam running thru the gears. I loved the sound of my webers when I ran them, and they were very responsive. If you need tuning help, let me know, I can get get you in the ballpark almost immediately, and it should only be a matter of some minor main jet/air corrector to make it spot on. Again, webers are not as bad as everybody thinks. If I could figure them out, anybody can.

A hybrid is a straight bolt on if you use the T04B compressor housing. Depending on what T04E housing you use, you may have to get a spacer to give you clearance between the compressor housing and the exhaust manifold. I am pretty sure the 50 AR T04E fits without modification. You need to decide on whether the thing is going to be internally wastegated or externally. For simplicity' sake, I would go internal. I would run the .63 AR turbine housing with a stage III turbine wheel, and choose the compressor based upon HP requirements. With the E, I think the 50 trim is a good wheel, or run the 60 trim. I don't think there is much difference between the one's in between those two. If you are going to use a B housing, the V trim is a very good wheel, or the 60-1, or the H3. The E housings and wheels are a little more efficient than the B, so I would try to run an E. You will have to send in your turbo if you want to use your downpipe, or you can get one out right and build you own 3 inch set-up. You need to run a 3 inch set-up for exhaust, and it should be mandrel bent. There is a post out there about boost controllers, so I would recommend you check there for boost control info. Good luck.

OK, first, you are going to have o get a fuel pressure regulator to regulate the pressure to about 3.5 psi for the carbs. Since your car was FI, it has way to much fuel pressure. If you can find a stock fuel rail for a 240, that would help. You can enlarge the hole out of the small line and run a return line back to the pump, which is what I did, although I have some sort of haneously loud holley red pump. You already have a return line. I think it is obvious where the fuel inlet lines are on the carbs. There is a vent on top of each fuel bowl, and you should leave that unplugged. On the front carb there should be a small nipple for the Vacuum advance. I would not worry about connecting water lines to the carbs/intake manifold, and would just cap off the ones you have. As for your other vacuum lines, I am sure you are going to have a bunch there, and I can't really help you with that without having the car with me. As for tuning the carbs. That is tough. I would recommend the Z therapy video, that makes things clearer. Essentially, underneath the carbs, there is a knob that turns in and out. Turn it all the way in, and then turn it 2.5 turns out. You should be able to start the car there. Once the car has completely warmed up, you need to make sure the carbs are in sync. You can do this with a length of rubber hose and listen to each carb throat, and make the necessary adjustments to the idle speed screwes. Once you have the carbs sync'd up, then adjust the knobs on the bottom of the carbs slowly, one carb at a time until you hear the highest idle speed and stop and go to the next one. That is the quick and dirty method. Get the video and you can do the thorough method.