Lockjaw

While you are changing stuff, I would swap out that intake manifold for one one that looks like a turbo intake manifold. I had a manifold just like your on my turbo engine, and when I got rid of it and put on a turbo one, I picked up boost. Something about that taper in the back. I think the older style 280 valves are 2 mm longer, which is .080 longer. Could be wrong. The P79 head is the way to go if you don't have the P90. I do not recommend running two head gaskets, buy the HKS one or the one from Nissan motorsports that is 2 mm thick. You can always mill the P79, change the retainers and run a thicker lash pad. All you have to do is get a lash pad with the additional thickness you shimmed the cam towers added to it. In other words, if you have stock lash pads and you shim the cam towers up 80 thousandths, then you need a .210 lash pad, approx. ( .133 stock plus .080 ) See? Double check me on the stock lash pad thickness. That is a cheaper way to go than getting 12 new valves and having a valve job done. Besides, you should be getting a 3 angle job done, it is worth HP over a regular valve job on a Datsun L series engine. You could also just swap out the head gasket for a thicker one. I think the HKS one is reusable.

My 2000 Silverado has a stock converter, and when fully warmed up it idles at 500 +or- 50 rpms in drive. When it is cold, you have to hold the brake pretty tight to keep it from creeping at idle, with a higer idle speed. It is supposed to stall to 1600, but that is major power brake action to get. A looser converter would be the way to go. Just get a mild one, about 2400 rpm stall. Then it won't be to loose to get you going, but it should be loose enough to keep you from creeping. I am going to get a diff converter for my truck one of these days. Maybe one of those 3000 rpm Yanks.

Hey man, My second gear crunches too, but only at full throttle, HAHA. Actually most Datsun transmissions I have ever heard usually crunch second gear, they take the most abuse since people really jam them. I can hook you up on tranny stuff too. I would check the fluid, and replace it with some new fluid and some of that Lucas Oil Stabilizer. I like that stuff. Have you tried to double clutch it and see if that helps? Be thankful it is not popping out of gear. That really sucks.

http://www.cartech.net/exhaustparts.html Here is a link to their page. I believe the picture has one for a Z in it. Appears to be a T04 flange, although I am sure they can come up with whatever you want. Price is 700 bucks. Make sure you have fuel before throwing down that kind of money, or you will be one pissed off MOFO when that thing warps. I have an old BAE one that is warped to hell and back that was on a regular ZX that Hesco built for a doctor here in Bham. According to Hurley, the car would run in the 11's, with stock ZX fuel injection set-up. I think he was talking about the 1/8th mile. Good luck.

The one I saw was similar to the standard turbo exhaust manifold, although the outlet flange could have been different. I will see what I can find.

Why not throw the coffee at the S2ooo? That would probably keep him from tailgating you. HAHA Way to lay the smackdown on his punk ass.

I had the same problem in my ZX last fall, and it was the alternator. SO I did some checking and decided I wanted a 90 amp maxima alternator in it, found the proper pulley and then put it in the car. Runs great. Had the same problem you described again the other day sitting in line at the drag strip for test and tune, and the cars rpms started dropping and then it loaded up and started backfiring. Turns out my coil wire was grounding on my intercooler line, and making the coil and my twin power overheat, and shut down. I have also had a similar situation happen when I replaced my cap and rotor and did not get the screw tightened down in the rotor fully. It backed out, and the car started the same old symptoms, and would not restart. Moral of the story: Do some testing before you run out and start buying new parts. A volt meter is one of the best tools you can get. Always recharge your battery and check voltage output. Clean the terminals too. One good test is to start the car and starting turning stuff on and see what happens. When I added an electric fan to my car, the alternator could not supply all the power needed to run the fan and lights, ac, windshield wipers etc. Thats why I went to the 90 amp alternator. You should see the voltage drop. If it gets below 13 volts, you are running the ragged edge. nice thing about the Maxima alternator, once I got rid of the serpentine pully and got a v belt on it, it bolts in just like a ZX one.

I had a 240 engine with low compression on two cylinders that I raced alot. It probably just has cracked rings, which are not a problem unless they get into the combustion chamber. I have a question. Have you checked your compression yourself to see if this guy is telling you the truth? A 900 dollar wall job would be pretty sweet. If you just drive the car and keep the oil changed and don't flog on it, it could last for years, and it could tear up the next time you start it. This is kind of a loaded question because you are asking for advice and then want to be able to rely on it, when the truth is, no one really knows how long it will last. The bottom line is you are going to have to fix the engine if the mechanic told you the truth. When you are going to have to fix it is what the 64000 dollar question is. I would drive it and save up my money and hopefully it will last past that point. Good luck. BTW, you could always hunt around in a salvage yard for a lower mileage engine to drop in there. Alot of times those can be picked up cheap.

If it has the stock nissan waste gate actuator on it, and it is not modified to fit, then you probably just have a stock turbo. The bolt holes on the actuator bracket don't line up on a T04B housing, and I would assume they would not line up on a T04E housing since it is larger. One way to tell is to measure the inlet on the compressor housing. Usually a t3/t4 hybrid will be on the order of 2.75 to 3 inches, if it is smaller than that, you have a t3. Some of these folks have a picture of their hybrid posted next to a stock turbo, which may give you an idea of what you have. My guess is it is probably just a stock turbo.

The important thing to remember is that I did not put the tip on, nor did I pay for it, my buddy did. HAHAHAHA

IMO, the warpage is due to running to lean, which jacks up you egt temps to levels they don't need to be. Cartech has a manifold, but I believe last time I checked it, they wanted about 600 bucks for it. Here is a little simple math for you. Take your injectors, if they are rated by CC, divide that number by 10.5 to get pounds per hour of flow. Multiply the number of injectors by pounds per hour to get the total fuel flow. It takes .5 pounds of fuel per hour to generate one horsepower. I will break the formula down based upon my setup. 420 cc injector dived by 10.5 equals 40 Lbs. per hour. Multiply that by 6 and you get 240 pounds of fuel per hour. Divide by .5 and you get 480 horsepower. That is the theorectical amount of horspower my car could support. Since we know that injector duty cycles over 80 percent can cause problems, take 80 percent of 480 which is 384 horsepower. That is what I should be able to generate SAFELY at the flywheel.If I subtract 20 percent for driveline losses, that gives me 307 to the rear wheels which is what I dyno'd. While this is a crude formulation, it kind of gives me some perspective that I am pretty close to maxing out my current injector, from a safety standpoint. You can run thru this on your set-up and it should give you an idea if you are running out of injector. That is likely why you have a warped exhaust manifold. I would not spend the money on the exhaust header manifold until I had my fuel delivery set-up straightened out, and you will have the same problem with your nice new expensive manifold. BTW, if you are using a rising rate of gain FPR, that is not the way to get the job done. Get an AIC from HKS or somebody, or go to a stand alone with bigger injectors. One 50 lb per hour injector will give you another 100 horsepowers worth of fuel. This is all IMO.

I second Mikes info on the ARP rod bolts. I put them in my engine. Forged pistons depend on your budget, but IMO, they are worth it if you ever plan on turning up the boost. I like flogging my engine, and a nice flowing hybrid and big boost means a little detonation, and kiss that stock piston goodbye. They increase your costs, but the extra safety margin is worth it. I am not sure about the o-ringing. If you make sure to have the head and block surfaced, the factory Nissan headgasket should be fine. I am running in excess of 20 psi with my hybrid, and the stock one is getting the job done. If you have concerns, spend the money and get the HKS one. The most important thing is to get good machine work. DOn't ever give a Datsun head to someone who just does chevy heads. They must know what they are doing, or they will mess them up. No fun. Just use good stuff, no cast rings. They suck. Use the Nissan rings, some from sealed power or total seal. I would also recommend a balance job, make the engine much smoother.

You are probably going to need a factory manual. I would also check the AC section, they usually have some pictures of the solenoids. I have a ZX and I have the same problem. Good luck. You could replace one at a time and try to match up the broken ends. I think you will find out your ac functions won't work properly, which is my problem.

well if it is only 29 bucks, then it probably wouldn't be a bad investment. I have the ATR one, and it is not worth the money.

No they are 10 thousandths intake 12 thousandths exhaust on a hot engine. If you have an aftermarket cam, most of them are 8 and 10 thousandths intake and exhaust cold. You don't want them to tight. However, I don't like adjusting hot valves so I usually use the aftermarket cam adjustment specs. But the factory lash is as stated. Have fun and don't hold onto any hot parts to long.

A super turbo is not going to be loud enough from the sound of things. I have the hooker max flow 3" straight thru muff, and I like it. It sounds wicked when the boost hits, but that could be the 5 inch tip that my buddy put on there figuring I would get more street action. Hasn't worked, but the tip sure is big. I agree with Ross re the glasspack, they don't flow well, but they are loud. You want stright thru with no perf's hanging down in the exhaust stream. You proably want one of those race magnum bullet mufflers. They are cheap they flow well, and they have very little packing, hence they are LOUD. Check out summit, they are cheap. Not much more than a glasspack, and probably just as loud. Good luck.

I can think of two potential items here. One is coolant for the throttle body, and it is not needed unless you live in an area where it is really cold. The second is called the AIC or IAC or whatever. It sits on top of the intake manifold and had a connection from the ECU harness and a hose goes from the throttle body to this device and then another hose goes from this device to a metal tube that connects to the J tube. This one you need, and should have the hoses connected. What this does it controls your idle during a cold start. When the engine is cold, the ecu tells the fuel injectors to shoot more fuel in there. this thing has a hole thru it with a little door that opens when cold to allow additional air into the intake, which raises the idle when the engine is cold. As the coolant going thru this device warms up, it closes this hole, bringing the idle back to its warm setting. I know the description is pretty poor, and you can run without this thing if you like, but it makes the car a little more difficult to drive when cold. NOt worth removing IMO. I am using mine. If you went to a stanf alone, you can probably get away with not using it, but most stand alones have a provision for controlling these devices. Nix the throttle body one those if you don't live in a really cold climate.

Yeah, I forgot about those slots. DAW is correct about those. Both turbo and NA in the ZX use a chrome ring, and they seal well, but they are kind of brittle. The factory fuel injection can hanlde about 10 to 12 psi max with the stock turbo. I would really recommend an intercooler for your application. It would really help as far keep detonation in check. You should be fine for a stock boost level with or without a thicker head gastket. Get a good boost guage installed. One of the things that happens to people when they first get a turbo and start messing with boost is they like the power increase they get as they turn up the boost, so they keep turning it up, beyond the limits of their engines and fuel injection. Just be conservative, the stock turbo will continue to make additional power up to about 15 psi or so. You will want to turn the boost up higher, trust me. Mine has worked its way up to over 20 psi, and I just keep leaded race gas in it all the time now since I don't drive the car very often. Once you experience that sort of thing, turning the boost down makes your car feel like a pig. NOS is like that too. I guess it is kind of addictive. Good luck, and be careful.

I am not sure if the BAE kit is made anymore, and their turbo is seriously old tech, I had one so I can tell you, it sucked. I would start with locating a donor vehicle. 83 models or 82 models only. You don't want the 81 IMO. Basically, the sky is the limit. You can use the stock ZX stuff, and supplement it with a bigger fuel pump ,and one of those rising rate of gain fuel pressure regulators (not prefferred IMO) use an additional injector controler, a JWT upgrade, or a stand alone. Stand alone is probably the best, but most expensive way to go. Get at least a T3/T4 hybrid turbo, no smaller than a V trim on the compressor side, stage III turbine wheel, or fo to a T4. You will have to have an intercooler to run the boost you want, and even then, you will probably have to step up to a 60-1 turbo to run it on pump gas. A 60-1 flows about 900 cfm, so you need an intercooler that is efficient in that flow range with low pressure drop and high efficiency. Do not buy a turbo from Turbonetics, again, IMO. You are going to have to modify your fuel tank, and return line. The return line is to small on a 240 to work a stout fuel pump that a turbo requires, but you can use the regular fuel supply line as the return, and reroute the hose in the back. I upgraded my outlet to 1/2 inch and ran a copper line to the fuel rail for a supply line. If you want forged pistons, and I would recommend that route, I have a post out on one of the other sections concerning getting some from Ross racing. Top End also has spec so you could order them from them as well. You are probably looking at a pretty substantial investment to do all of this, and I would either go all out, or go in stages but plan everything I do as buildable. I would spend my money on good machine work and pistons, and the EFI setup. You can come up with a turbo and intercooler pretty reasonably by watching what people are selling here. I probably have 5k in my set up and it is not exotic. Stock engine with forged pistons, hybrid turbo, JWT ECU set-up, but I had a ZX so I was ahead of the game. It is expensive, but it sure is fun whooping up on people. Of course there are other turbo engines you could put in there as well, and that is a whole other story. Good luck. Be happy to answer specific questions if you send me an email'

You can get a light weight pulley from orthodox racing, Stillen, and probably JWT. JWT should be your best friend going thru the rebuild process. Scottie is right about the ARP stuff, cheap insurance. In my opinion, the factory head gaskets are fine. My friend was running them on his car with JWT sport 550 turbo's and he routinely ran more than 15 PSI. Having detonation is what will tear up your head gaskets. I have a factory head gasket on my L series motor, and I am running in excess of 20 psi with no problems, although I did deck the block and had the head surfaced too. I have factory head bolts, and it my blow the gasket tomorrow, but so far, so good. Seriously, call JWT in the AM, and talk with Clark. He will be straight with you. He has given me lots of tips about different things like clutch disks, and alternators and all sorts of things. They have really trick pistons for your engine, so if you haven't bought any yet, you should talk with him. I plug Clark alot, but I trust him. He will not steer you into something to make money if it doesn't work. Good luck with you project.

http://www.geocities.com/MotorCity/2824/engine.html Try this link, I believe this guy has the directions. It is not hard, but I don't remember how.

IF I remember my weber days, you are going to have to increase the idle jet for the change in air density. I would also be concerned about your main jet too. Might be wise to go up to the next larger main jet, and increase your idle jet. It has been so long since I have fooled with webers. I assume it is popping or spitting a little at idle? That would indicate a lean condition. If are concerned about the funds, you could have an O2 sensor bung welded into you exhaust system, (the closer to the engine, the faster it will warm up and read) and a one wire O2 sensor, and when the car is warm, measure the voltage. Connect the positive to the O2 sensor and the neg to ground. You want to see .45 to .5 volts, which is pretty much stoichometric, you want a little more richness than that at full throttle, but if you get into the .8 range, you are way to rich. You should be able to get a Bosch sensor for an 83 280zx, and use it. They should be about 30 bucks or so. I would not bother getting one that has the connectors, just get the one with a bare wire. BTW I know I didn't say this specifically, but higher voltage means rich, lower means lean. IF you play with it a little, you should be able to quickly diagnose a fuel delivery problem in the future. I have a AFR monitor, and IMO, not worth the money. Take a voltage reading and go. Good luck. I think the 52, if larger(I cant remember) is probably a fine choice. I never changed mine when I had 40 DCOE's, even though I went from a 28mm to 36mm choke. It didn't like the 36's to much, but it dealt with 33's just fine. I think I had 45's. Not sure. I sure do miss the sound of those webers though. Nothing sounds sweeter than a high compression Z motor with a big cam and some webers.

I put Ross Racing ones in my car, and they we 68 bucks each for forged flat top turbo pistons. I used 240 rods, which are .133 inch longer than 280 rods, and the pistons still sat .040 down in the bore. You will need my information in order to use the my data, or else they will ask you a ton of questions like what your pin height is, deck height, YADDA YADDA YADDA. Oh, mine were .040 over too. If you send me a private email, I will try to find the invoice to look them up. Talk to a guy named Rick out there if he is still there. There was another guy I talked with, but he was an a-hole. If your pistons are out, then just send one to them and they will take care of you. They took less than two weeks on mine.

If you have flat tops, which I am going to assume you do since you have the proper block and head to have them, I would suggest you get the 2mm thick head gasket. There are a couple of differences between the stock turbo piston and the flat top you have, mainly in the location of the ring pack. Generally on an NA engine, the ring pack is closer to the top of the piston than a turbo one. I also thing the stock turbo piston has a beefer pin boss than the NA. Just be very careful with detonation. You won't have much wiggle room at all with that NA piston. You should probably see about an intercooler as well. If you are really worried about it, put a stock turbo intake manifold on it with the pop off valve in the back, and that will save you from any boost spikes. You should be able to run 5 to 7 psi with the thinker headgasket. Keep it full of 93 octane, and put a better fuel pump in the back. Those nissan pumps don't do well with extra boost. Cartech makes a good one called a peirburg or something.

And if you really want to make the glasspack loud, put water down in you exhaust and fire up the car and blow it out. Gets rid of the packing.