josh817

Wow. I really hate taking about engines. Too messy. I tore down the L20 because I saw some real thick pasty oil in #1 exhaust port. I'm thinking rings, but I guess it could be something in the head. Was told the head was refreshed recently and I believe him since it's all nice and clean under the cam cover. My first alert was when we could turn the motor with our hands, with the spark plugs in. "Yah bro, that's a race engine, spins easily". I'm trying not to let my cheapness get in the way of a properly built motor. Now I'm sitting here feeling like a boob because I want to use a Z water pump and not the "proper" one. According to O'Reilley's the proper pump is not just the pump but the pulley and the fan clutch all pressed together. Says it will work for basically all the L20 motors. The Z pump says it will work with the L16 and all the Z/Maxima motors and as we already know, the pulley can be removed with 4 bolts, which is what I want. It's also half the cost. I think I'm going to order a Z one and if it doesn't work I'll keep it as a spare for the Z.

Was considering it but it would be easier to go with an entire KA motor. Once again, didn't want to fabricate much stuff and get myself into a major project. I just need the bare minimum to get me going and maybe alter on I'll decide to play with it.

Nick, I was going to consult you about a VG30 but I decided against it. Didn't follow the "get it running, cheaply" guidelines. As for towing, I don't even know. Honestly I think the 720 manual says it can tow 2000 pounds with trailer brakes. Granted, I will have 4 wheel disk brakes on this truck so that will be better. No hills from DFW to the local tracks that need conquering. Probably have a good 500-750 pounds of tools, spares, tires, etc in the bed. See! They weigh the same now! I still have some reading to do but I'm pretty sure the rear ends are different and if I go by the logic of earlier rear ends are smaller then I'd be curious if that's likely to go out on me as well as a tranny when doing crazy stuff like that. Everyone's cracking wise ass jokes asking if this little Datsun came from Libya. Do you see a 12.7mm gun mounted in the bed?! No. But that would be cool. If you're going to fight a war at least do it in a Datsun damnit.

Ironic, I had the same problem around Christmas time and still haven't fixed it. Was using a 280 dummy dizzy (one without the IC box) so I used an HEI module. Drove to my friends house one night, next morning, car wouldn't fire up. Swapped HEI modules, coil, checked for 12V, everything was good. I assume it's something about that magnetic pickup that you guys are talking about or perhaps one of the wires managed to get loose. I can't figure out why it would run like a champ one day, and the next day after just sitting there, it breaks? I did see that when you take the cap and rotor off, you see the 6 splines or whatever on the shaft. I assume these are the splines that trigger the magnet. Mine looks to have some broken bits. It probably set the gap too large. Still doesn't explain why it just all of a sudden wouldn't work though. With ignition, I expect to see a misfire and signs of deteriorating spark before **** hits the fan.

I've read that a 720 can tow a 16' trailer with a car on it, unsafely. That's all I need to know. Purchased a $200 L20B with what I think is a 5 speed tranny. I'm getting confused with transmissions now. The one on the L20B (from a '78 truck) looks like a Z tranny, but the one in the the truck now has that square bottom to it. I guess the easiest way to do it is to put the motor in and drive it. If I shift into "5th" and it's really 3rd, then it will be most obvious. Lol Went ahead and ordered disk brakes for all 4's and am searching craigslist for 6 lug wheels. I think I found some, with tires that have half tread, for $250. Don't know if it's a good buy. Definitely not $250 I'd like to spend on wheels (not really a wheel person) but the old tires on the truck are all cracked anyway. Still hold air as you can see. Tomorrow I have to measure the center hole on the wheels. The one's on craigslist are a 3" hole. Don't want to do the same thing with the truck as I did with the Z where the front spindles are too big for the hole...

My biggest problem with the bench seat right now is that I have to crawl in. Squish my legs into the seat just to get my knee under the steering wheel. I'll put a different wheel on there but a little more room would be nice, as well as head room.

First the pictures then the chat: My dad bought this truck from one of his customers for $400 but with the BMW, his Ford truck, and a trailer needing some work he was going to get rid of it. You all know I've been looking for a small truck that can tow (hopefully). For $400 its mine, he said. It's a 1971 Datsun 521. Guess it came with A/C and the PO must have installed a 5 speed (talk about that later). Only 2 spots rusted through, in the front bottom corner of the door and then a tiny spot in the bed. So obviously needs another motor. Found a cheap L20b with 5 speed on Craigslist. The shift knob says we already have a 5 speed and the pattern of a 5 speed is there but I'm curious if it's a distinct truck 5 speed case or something. When I peaked under the car it had a flat square bottom with a drain plug in the center. The manual shows that as like a '72 4 speed but I don't know... The shift pattern was really sloppy too... "5th" could really be "3rd" I suppose. Either way, the new motor will have a 5 speed tranny just in case the one I have isn't. I'll rewire the car with my dad and I think I will use Z gauges. Keep the stock speedo, don't know if a Z tach will work but I can just as well get a 510 tach or something aftermarket. Aluminum dash and toggle switches. Aluminum door panels. Rear taillight lenses are smashed so I'll probably just mount some cheap trailer lights. The hood hinges are stuck pretty good. They go down with channel locks but not with my hand. If I can't free them up then I'll just pin the hood. Bench seat is getting tossed and hopefully get some smaller (lower) bucket seats. If not, just recover the bench I guess. Next up and lastly to get the car DRIVING is the brakes. Has 4 wheel drums but I want disk brakes because I'll be hauling ****. Skib on here must be a member over on Ratsun where I'm reading about the conversions. He asked the question I fear the most about brake swaps... will the wheels I have fit? Shucks I hope so. Not even going to touch the suspension because if I get myself into a situation where I mangle a part getting it off, and then its NLA... no thanks. If you can't tell already, this is a low budget project. I'll be using it as my daily and it's going to get beat up one way or another. I'm trying to avoid buying original parts if its expensive and I'm trying to keep it as easy, practical, and straight forward as possible. My budget is roughly $3000-$3500 I'm thinking. That's what I hope to get for my '98 Honda Civic... The priority is to get it running and driving safely and then I can work on making it pretty with rattle can paint and stuff. $400 in the hole for the truck itself, $200 for another motor and tranny, probably another $500 to rebuild it, etc... So, what are your thoughts?

Do you know how tempted I am to stand up and shout OVER 9000. I'm in the middle of a computer room, people would stare. I don't think he meant yah as in over 1000HP. I don't know anything about V8's but if the 4 bolt main is to prevent a main cap from breaking, I've only seen one broken Nissan main cap on the internets. An easier solution would be to have billet caps machined for you I suppose. I posted the picture in a thread somewhere around here. Just my thought... Tony is more often than not correct though.

They make foam socks that are the same concept, here are mine: Be aware that a small confined filter will restrict flow. Not necessarily rendering the air horn useless but of course restricts flow around the horn since there is a filter there. I think Devid Vizard wrote 1.5 (1.-something, might not be 1.5) times the diameter of the air horn is needed for it to breath properly. For a 42mm horn the filter would need to be at least 63mm away from the horn. Honestly though, I didn't notice a difference between no filter and filter. I'd buy one of those filters just to test fit. The ones I have, have some funky way to to clamp/seal. Has a rubber ring that goes onto the horn and the orifice in the filter is big enough to fit the horn through but too big to seal again the unflared part, so that's what the spacer is for. You can see in the picture that the carb with no filters still has the clamps on it to hold the rubber spacer ring in place.

If it's what I think I may be doing the same......

I can't help but think the whole swirl thing really only aids in low-end performance. From reading some of Braaps posts and stuff, without being too general/making it sound simple, some of the finer details are only for low RPM where the velocity isn't up. First thing that comes to my head is 5 angle valve jobs, I think he said. I could be making this all up as its been a long day and my roomie decided to spew her brains out in the bathroom sink which consequently got clogged. She took a day off and instead of unclogging the sink or scooping the stagnant puke out with a bowl, or even spraying some smell good in the air, I guess she thought watching Hulu was better. Therefore, I get home and clean the **** up and speak my mind to her, and now she's pissed. So, I'm not mentally stable right now. The reason why I am getting a that hunch is because of ZBarons suggestions that the picture of heads and exhausts is to reap the benefits of WOT. When I flipped through my pictures, all the heavy duty porting I see, they totally get rid of that guide boss rather than shape it. First thought that comes to my mind is "cram as much charge through the port that will possibly fit". I have some pictures of a Don Potter "hot street" port and then another of a turbo ported head that someone was selling on here. Neither had a shaped boss. Also just a quick note. My head did have shortened guides. About the same length as the ones I posted a picture of except the exhaust didn't have a taper to them and they didn't have "hats" on them but rather the regular clip typically used.

Going to have to wait until tonight when I get home to see my other pictures... Everytime I stumble over a ported head I mark down its application and save the pictures. Maybe we can find a pattern. This is my head though. It did have a ridge in mine but not as prominent as yours. I always thought that ridge was there to simply direct the charge around the guide... I don't know much about this but it doesn't seem proper to impart a spin on the charge through the middle of a radius.

Not that I have much to contribute here but what Tony and Baron said is what I'm hoping for with my intake project. I can see a good mix of not too turbulent but enough to keep the fuel mixed, as far as my application goes... Only because I'm doing what Baron mentioned, staged injection.... but without the first stage... From everything that I have read elsewhere, there could be problems with fuel falling out of suspension (proper term?) at lower RPM's, depending on how much you're dumping into the runner. I could imagine that a little turbulence would help it stay mixed but once you get into the higher RPM's the intake velocity should take over unless you're REALLY saturating the charge with fuel. At my fathers shop, when he tells me to port manifolds and gasket match ports he says to not make them smooth and shiny as per Kas Kastner's performance book. I wouldn't call the finished producted rough since they're cast iron heads but it wasn't mirror finish either. I haven't read the book but I'm curious what his explaination is. I wouldn't be surprised if it was "there is no point on doing the labor to smooth the port when it's going to be gunked up anyway". British car people are a different breed, not to my liking.

I have a complete 40mm weber carb set on my Z. Would come with fuel pump, pressure reg., carbs, cannon manifold, a box of assorted jets, and air horns. They've been on my Z for 3 years. Use to daily drive it until I got a Honda, so they're reliable. PM if you are interested.

I did something like that when a soccer mom called the police on me for going too fast in a school zone... Our highschool was split right down the center by a small road with the parkinglot on one side and the school on the other. I would obviously know better not to speed plus the fact that there is a cross walk every 75 feet means I can't pickup that much speed anyway. She rolled her window down and shouted at me angrily. I didn't hear what she said so I shouted back "what?!". She told me I was going too fast so I asked her if she had a radar/laser gun to record my speed. She looked at me funny and was like NO. So we continued on our way and I saw her write some stuff down and get on the phone. When I was stopped a mile down the road I told the police officer that she wasn't too happy about the noise level/look of the car which almost deems it speed demon worthy. He just told me to take it easy and I went on my way. Honestly, with a T5 tranny and a 4.11 rear end @ 3000-3500 RPM.... it's not that fast. 205 70 tire with 14" wheels leaves a 25" diameter with 3.35 1st gear ratio and a 4.11 rear end. At 3500RPM that should be 18mph. I believe the same incident I wrote about in the last post, going through the turn quickly, was also due to the fact that it's loud and the body style is kind of suggestive. I can see how someone would be easily persuaded that you/your intentions are to speed. And also to anyone else reading my previous post I just want to make it clear that even if you feel wrongly accused there is no need to be a **** to the officer. The officer and the judge deserve respect and like Tony said, their professional opinion isn't completely moot. My beef is with the credit that some seasoned judges give to officers, since they sometimes know each other well which therefore renders you useless. You could be a very smart person however when you're just Joe Shmo compared to Officer Leeroy's professional opinion, you're intelligence means nothing and the Officer's intelligence means everything. I hate the system for my own personal reasons but for you, it should just be a warning that you need to bring some strong points to court other than "he never marked how he recorded my speed". Honestly nothing against you but I have a hunch you were speeding but maybe not by that much. In that case I wouldn't bother going to court because the severity of the speed won't matter and you will still get the boot and pay the court fees. Keep in mind when I say the severity of the speed shouldn't matter, I mean that as in you already received a citation for speeding so you won't see anything more like "reckless driving" unless otherwise noted on your ticket. I think here in Texas it's 25MPH over the limit and they are allowed to do that however being polite and respectful will save you unless they are having a bad day or something. Big Phil set an example of what I'm talking about: I remember the only other ticket I had was when I was hauling ass through the big sweeping left turn when Davis merges with 820, here in North Texas by North East Mall. The officer was like "cool, nice car, does it run well?" I just looked at him with my poker face... "yes... it was running too well for my own good as you just noticed". He just laughed. lol

Indeed he has to prove it somehow but he can just as well say he "forgot" to mark it. I once got pulled over for going the speed limit (40mph) through a 90º turn that had the yellow caution advised speed 25mph. I was on edge about my speed that day because just the week before I got a speeding ticket! The officer asked "what was that all about" and I responded "I don't understand what you mean officer?". He said "you were going way too fast through that turn." I gave him the benefit of the doubt and said "my speedometer said I was doing 40mph but its 35 years old so you're radar may have shown something faster. What did you clock me at?" He never answered and asked for my paperwork. He wound up giving me a "warning" although here in Texas a technical warning is receiving a sheet of paper that says be good whereas what I got was a verbal warning AKA he didn't have anything on me except maybe reckless driving or something if he felt like it. The previous ticket I mentioned I thought I could get out of it for the same reason you have. He made an error on the car model and my plate number. If I were to take it to court the judge would most likely acknowledge the error but not let me free for trying to be a pinhead. Unfortunately a lot of municipal court judges know the officers and exert a certain trust into them compared to you, the joe shmo, who just shows up. The judge is therefore bias... Court then turns out to be guilty until proven innocent rather than innocent until proven guilty. I'm not a very fond of the municipal courts at ALL. The system is not there to protect you, it's there to milk you for all you're worth. Although there may be an error in the paperwork, which technically in my case would deem the wrong vehicle of speeding, they still give the officer the benefit of the doubt and the city your lovely $250. Granted I'd be a weasel if I tried getting out of that because I knew I was speeding and the judge isn't dumb enough to fall for that. My point is that in legal sense, if the documentation is wrong then it's wrong and shouldn't allow for fixing errors, especially right there in court. If that were the case the ticket could be edited to whatever the officer felt like in order to support his case against you. Do realise though that the judge is a city employee as well as the officer and the citation is issued to you by the city. You're wading against the current and you need strong support to prove an illegitimate ticket especially in your case. If the city you received a ticket in is particularly noteworthy of their ticket revenues, you will find that the court is stubborn. This happens a lot in high crime cities where the city wants the money, and the court wants to ensure criminals don't offend again. One of my legal battles is here in Arlington and a huge portion of their revenue are class c misdemeanor citations, they aren't the easiest to work with. I personally don't see going to court working out too well for you. Though, I am curious if the judge would make the officer prove how he recorded your speed. In a court that's being run properly, you are innocent until proven guilty and really there is no way for him to prove how he got your speed unless the equipment has some sort of logging feature that he can look back and go "see 107 right there". Or like previously stated, the judge just takes his word for it which I find highly unfortunate. That is my own very bias opinion though...

You can make it out of any scrap metal you have so long as it doesn't bend easily. The ones I have are only about 1/4" thick but you can also use angle iron. Another way to get around having to tap holes (if you use a thin piece of metal) is to just drill 4 holes untapped and on the outer holes that you would have originally wrenched down, instead put long bolts through with a nut on the underside. This nut will allow you to adjust the height of the puller. By doing so you adjust it first to be 1/2" or whatever above the main cap. You then thread in the oil pan bolts. As you wrench them down they will pull the cap up. Once they have bottomed out or once the cap has been lifted to the point where you're tightening the puller and cap toghether then go ahead and loosen the bolts. Then thread the nuts on the outer bolts up some more, raising it another 1/2", and repeat the process. If you have bolts that will thread into the oil pan holes that are longer (say 1" or more) this will allow you to pull the cap up more before you have to loosen them and raise the puller, since it can get repetitive and annoying sometimes. Note: if you haven't noticed yet a lot of the hardware on the block shares the same thread/size. Judging from my pictures and my amateur eyeball, you may be able to use a head bolt to thread into that main cap hole... If not, you're bound to find something off the block that's the same size. Perhaps an inatke/exhaust manifold bolt or something. Edit: from the picture I posted it looks like the two oil pickup bolts may work.

Stupid question: How do you switch to night mode or whatever. My rearview has a little star on the knob hing but the knob doesn't twist/pull/whatever. I always readjusted the angle manually... I'm surprised Arlington has hope! Judging by the character association I have with Arlington, the headlights are bright but not the people. I remember in highschool this one kid with a v6 Camaro would always tell me my Z sucked and bragged about his HID install as if it was some epic task that took days of fabricating and wrenching. Reality check: He has no tools other than an adjustable wrench, hammer, screw driver. It's not that hard to do... But then I thought to myself "Self; what other tools do you need to fix anything in this world." Usually a hammer solves everything whether you beat it into submission or throw it and walk off, which qualifies as "fixing". My dad use to throw tools across the shop. You knew to be on alert when he started talking to inanimate objects as if the screw, bolt, etc. had a personal vendetta against him and didn't feel like cooperating. Once his curse words graduated from normal damn's and ass' to sexually explicit words like ***** and phrases with "mother" in it, you knew **** was going to fly.

Kind of funny you said that! This weekend I was working at a race. In the evening my dad and I hung out with the Chief Steward and his son. His son, about my dads age, and I started talking. He said basically the same thing. He works for some aerospace company that Dell bought out or something and he was pushing hard for coop programs and internships. He said the biggest problem with hiring people right now is kids come out of college with a degree and expect a position rather than a job, "thinking they're going to change the world with their new degree". I told him just recently I started opening up to traveling some place as long as I can afford it. Instead of doing studying abroad (unless I can get a nice scholarship) I could also intern somewhere and I wouldn't care if I got paid or not, just pay for my living expenses. He told me the coop/intern programs are great because not only would you have a degree but you have the hands on experience. He informed me he never finished college but got his job through a coop and with that experience he was able to form a resume. He wound up giving me his card and he said he would hook me up so I'll give that a shot. I don't think they send anyone international though, I'll just have to see.

You can also fabricate your own main cap puller. Get a long piece of aluminum/steel/whatever that will reach the width of the block. Drill holes that will line up with the 2 threaded holes in the cap that are used for the oil pan. Then on the outer ends, drill a hole on each end and tap it for whatever thread you want. To use your puller you will bolt it to the oil pan holes on the main cap. Then on the outside holes, start wrenching the bolts through. The bolts should come out the other end of the puller and start touching the oil pan gasket surface. As you start to wrench it down more, the puller will lift up therefore lifting the cap with it. The one I made is a little block of scrap aluminum probably 1/2" thick. For compatibility you can get a longer piece of metal and drill another hole between the two drilled for the rear main, and on the outer ends, drill two more and tap them. This way you have one puller with the correct measurements to pull the rear and the center main.

She has family/friends in all those places you're visiting I'm guessing? Any attractive friends?

That's one of the main things I was looking at. The different programs ranged from being able to use financial aid and being independent, whether its study or internship, whether its a pass/fail credit, letter grade, etc. UTA offers a search thing for it so I was just entering the basic "Engineering departement" "English taught" and I was fixing to say "transferable letter grade" but then I was thinking why do I HAVE to get a letter grade, pass/fail is just as good unless I need to work on my UTA GPA but if I'm going abroad then my GPA shouldn't need too much work theoretically. What I'm doing now in community college is pass/fail as far as transfering credits into UTA. http://studyabroad.uta.edu/index.cfm?FuseAction=Programs.AdvancedSearch Currently, after a rough freshman first semester, I'm sitting at a 2.5/2.6 GPA. If I do well and make A's and B's again I should be to a 2.75 by next Spring. With that said, if I wanted to do any abroad studies, then obviously their minimum GPA requirement must be met. Saw a place in Germany "BTU" that would take 2.5 min. and Florence, Italy and Australia. Still lots of options but the money part scares me. That's something to talk to an adviser about. I think I should also look into international internships. I've been wanting one for over the summer to make some extra cash and experience or to just get out and see some places, on someones dime. My buddies brother got a nice deal where they paid for his living expenses in New Orleans and he also made a large chunk of money. Pay for my housing and my food, internationally, and you have won me over.

I'll keep you informed with any info. I'm also really curious what people usually take with them. If I needed to bring a computer I'd either have to buy a laptop or somehow pack my desktop... Then clothes and stuff... and I guess they advise you not to pickup stuff while you're over there because you have to bring it all back..? Nick, that would be a good idea of asking before you invite someone to hang out with you for 15 days. Though I think with a $900 ticket + food + hotels + travel, I can't afford it. Edit: Sigh. May be way out of the picture for me. For Auckland, I read that I have to pay the obvious tuition for my home university, UTA. Then NZ requires travelers/health insurance and then it says something about another $11000, plus living expenses. No wonder they talk about scholarships when discussing abroad studies... Oh and rturbo, what I'm finding is each GPA requirement is different for each program I think. Auckland is 3.0, saw one in South Korea thats 2.75. Finding Auckland is a very popular choice so it would be more difficult to get into compared to others...

Luxembourg if I remember correctly, Nick? Even in a castle/mansion, you will hear the suttle roar of my snore reverberating through the walls. That's a dangerous offer you have just made. How long do you guys stay? EDIT: By the way Nick, once again out of curiosity I checked airline tickets to Paris, France (where I originally went when I was 8). On Orbitz.com they had ones in the $400-range but then it said $500 in taxes and fees... I've never seen taxes and fees worth 125% of the original ticket. I don't remember what my mom paid when we originally went. We went with our church so I think we got a good group price. The bad part was even then, at 8 years old, I didn't like boring church stuff. We went to some holy town in the south and there were no TV's. Just hot springs, holy candles, and a Mother Mary statue. High point of those few days? I got to eat pizza. Mmmmm Apparently the hotel served salad with what I thought was chicken... When we got back to Texas our priest informed us it was horse. Epic Sunday Mass, watching a thousand Catholics hold back the vomit all at once. I thought it tasted delicious, could have been hungry. Your offer Nick, I can certainly think on it but I have a hunch I probably couldn't go. I think I need to take summer classes and I'd also have to dig deep into my Z funds which just happen to be my emergency funds too in case if a bus falls on me or something. I also have some personal matters needing to be taken care of so the all of my March pay will basically go to that.

So I was browsing around between classes today and I got to thinking I really want to go visit other countries like I use to do when I was younger. Only problem is, when I was 8 I didn't understand much of anything and the value of international travel. Curiosity struck and now I really want to try to study abroad! I don't know if it is a realistic thought considering there are the obvious high standards for grades and then I'm getting the impression that it's one of those situations where a lot of people sign up however only a few get to go. Unless if I'm brilliant comapared to other applicants, chances are a no go? Maybe I'm just getting my hopes up because I'm doing well, here at a community college. All A's on everything! It's a shame the GPA doesn't transfer over into the university! Could be I get back to UTA and get my **** handed to me... But I feel like I have gained a lot of responsibility! It's a moral booster, these good grades. Makes me want to push harder. Anyway just curious if anyone else has experienced one of these programs. The information site makes it sound like a cake walk but I'm skeptical. Apply >>> get advised >>> they check to make sure you aren't a bad kid and to make sure your grades are high enough >>> get accepted into the abroad university >>> go. By the way if I did apply it would be for Auckland, New Zealand for a spring or summer semester... Northern Hemisphere that is... Any thoughts on the matter/suggestions? I should probably be asking my advisor this... lol