speeder

Since I've had the EGT gauge, I've been alarmed with how high the temps have been with this setup. 1640* at 18psi makes a real concern for the stock bottom end. Also, it has been interesting to watch EGT at cruise - at 1450* on 5th gear 80MPH cruise I began to worry. Those who have been entertained by my previous destruction of pistons will understand this concern. So far , my freshened up stock ZXT engine has taken a lot of abuse - but I really am impatient to get the new forged piston stroker on -line. I've just refined my E-motive tuning so that I have a flat 11.8 : 1 AFR under boost as measured on the wideband, have advanced timing about as much as I dare (24* on boost with no detonation, running 20% toluene) and now EGT is peaking just under 1600* this is with the new cam timing. I'm starting to feel good about tuning now.

I couldn't find the previous post where I promised to give results of my moving the cam timing from one hole advanced (2 on the sprocket) to straight up (Hole 1).- so here it is. I had hoped that EGTs would go down as a result of the theoretically reduced clinder pressure. They did, but not as much as I had expected - only about 50* at 18 psi boost. I did gain a noticable increase in power, both by the butt dyno and by cutting about 1/2 second off the time to wind out 3rd gear, as measured by my datalogger. So here's the story: I had advanced the cam in hopes of improving spoolup and getting some extra bottom end, and it was counterproductive. I may try retarding the cam slightly with my Nissan Motorsports sprocket to see what happens, but that's for later.

Got it - Will try it out today.

Stony, do you mean realtime monitoring on the laptop? I need to investigate that.

The data I recorded for this session was just several free revs with the car in nuetral to test the interface. I had to leave before I could do more. I'll record a run up through the gears and post when I get time to get back to the shop - The tuning on this car is rough to say the least. Hopefully I can show you some befores and afters. The RPM signal is being interfaced to the LM-1 through the optional "RPM Converter" cable which also has connections for four other sensor signals. Unlike my FJO setup, the LM-1 software doesn't play back datalogs like a movie - you have to scroll it manually. This is way better in actual use than it may seem. Those of you that already have the LM-1 can run the LM1 Manager Demo software and sample datalog provided. Click the Datalogger tab, then load, .dif file, Demo-Log.dif, Open, Show. You can then play with the controls to view the sample log file. To get the jpeg I just did a screen capture using a print screen utility, but Stony's method works.

LM-1 Plot The cool thing about the LM-1 data viewing software is that you can expand the plot both horizontally and vertically, scroll left and right, and also move the cursor to any point - at which you can select which measurement's scale to display, along with the values of all the measurements. This plot is not expanded - For all the "data freaks" like me out there, you can really nerd out analysing stuff with this. Joel, That's an ingenious solution for mounting.

I recently have had use of the LM-1 for tuning a friend's car. I have the RPM converter cable and am using the datalogging function to record data onto a laptop and make plots of TPS , MAP, RPM and AFR. We're working on getting a rather unconventional aftermarket ECU set up - It's a Perfect Power unit that uses throttle position versus rpm maps and has a very weird (to me, anyhow) MAP scaling scheme. The car (3.1 L28) has a big cam and 10.5:1 compression and has been a real biatch to tune for driveability. I just got the sensor inputs set up yesterday and the LM-1 recording - looks like a big help for tuning. The LM-1 is the best / cheapest/ easiest to use I've seen. The only negative is the packaging that doesn't lend itself to permanent mounting. However, the unit fits perfecty on a 280Z's console over the ash tray for convenient use. Throw in the use of the cheap Bosch LSU sensor ( the NTK used by my FJO costs in excess of 200.00 now) and the superiority of Innovate's digital design, and finally, the low cost of the LM-1, IMO It's by far the best choice for WBO2s out there. So much for the "Shameless Plug." If anyone's interested in seeing the plots let me know and I'll post.

z-Rex, I'm going to be visiting my son in Phoenicia, NY - In your neighborhood- over the holidays. Nice change from Florida.... We will not be eating turkey, I'm informed.

Regarding Cam Timing, I recently advanced my cam to the #2 hole (from #1) to see how it affected spoolup ( I have a 60-1 wheel/to4e compressor housing with a .63 T3 Turbine Housing machined for a T4 P-trim wheel) I didn't see much change in spoolup, but did lose a ton of top-end grunt. Also, I think that peak EGTs increased as a result. I've recently finished some wideband data logging (with the cam advanced) to evaluate James' (240ZTurbo) trick intake manifold, and that can serve as a reference for more testing with the cam retarded back to straight up. I'm looking to get my top end back with lower EGTs. I'll keep you informed as to results.

57 years old (chronological) 20 (mental) 12 (wife's assessment) Whatever scale used, I'm not too old to enjoy jumping on the loud pedal of a turbo Z!

The early Zs had the compressor mounted on the passenger side and had an ugly bracket like that picture. Sometime around '74 or '75 the compressor was moved to the driver's side. Sounds like you have pieces from both types. Let me know if you want some scans from the later -style FSM and I'll get them on here tomorrow.

I've been looking forward to someone finding a way to upgrade the Nissan T5 -

I got the Kaminari wing with the idea of making the foil adjustable in case I need to tune aerodynamics when (hopefully some day) I run the Silver State Challenge. I've had the car up to ~140 or so and stability is pretty good. I've always liked the look of that spoiler, even if it has a somewhat "ricey" appearance. I don't know if those are made any more, either. I think that most of my car's body is obsolete!

Good Answer! and Amen to it. That post had me and some others pretty cranked up - Coming after the "consolidation" it struck some raw nerves.

Arizona ZCar no longer makes fiberglass pieces - maybe a good thing because their stuff was not of very good quality. Lots of reworking required to make the piece fit. I didn't tell all I know above about the MSA kit - I had another car (The light blue car on my site doesn't have flares) with flares and the MSA spoiler/valence and had to trim the valence/ airdam where they met the flares. Pretty simple to do and looked good. Like I said before, the side skirts have to be modified to fit and blend well with IMSA flares, and that's the major work involved.

I've been lurking on this thread since it started. I have been disappointed and saddened that the site admin/moderators have let it get this far. Looks as if some in that group favor the ethnic cleansing that is being suggested.

I haven't been coming here or posting very much since the L6 discrimination started - Just happened to cruise through this forum. My Arizona Z Car 1-piece front end on the '77ZT originally had the exact shape of the MSA Aero Kit's spoiler - (My '78 daily driver has that kit on it - see the "model car" on my site.) and then I bonded on and molded in the MSA IMSA flares. The MSA side skirts were modified to make the "kick out" sections to mate with the flares. This was my first attempt at fiberglass work and took a lot of time doing and redoing stuff. It's still far from perfect. I really think the MSA kit does a good job of updating the Z's styling.

I would hate to see the L6 forum removed. Zcar.com or any other Z site I've visited will never provide the technical resources or the caliber of members available here. Please reconsider.

The BAE Kit with Rayjay turbo was the first turbo I had on my Z. I bolted that 7 psi kit onto my brand new '77 and proceded to kick some butt around Southern Maryland. I still have the square - port exhaust manifold and "turn-up" adaptor to mount that turbo, and Rayjay wastegate with flanges welded to manifold if anyone's interested. It's sort of been hanging around my shop as a doorstop for years. I swapped the supplied .82 turbine housing for the .6 and, along with the addition of the external wastegate that turbo's spoolup was pretty good!

Hey, It's a little over a month until Reynolds and time to make reservations. What Hotel are y'all staying in? Has anyone inquired about group rates?

I've been lurking on this discussion with great interest since it started. James, You da man! After you do all the hard research work I'm ready to start on my own P90! I've got to second that Hybrid Z is the BEST gearhead's resource I've ever encountered.

I bought the complete setup from Ground Control - It included shorter ( I think by about 2.5") Tokico Illuminas along with instructions for shortening the struts. Probably too late for your stock length shocks. 3.0 news: Proceding slowly. Venolia Pistons have been received and coated by Swain, O-ringed Block is in the Machine shop to be Torque -plate bored to 87.5 mm. Rotating assy also in shop to be balanced. I have all the rings and bearings in hand. I'm starting work on the P90 head now - I'll probably swap my 290/280 Isky cam into the new head. My 3.0 will be very similar to yours. Can't wait.

I have Ross's CV adaptors with Ground control Coilovers, Sectioned struts, 7/8" Suspension Techniques rear bar and AZCar Wilwood rear brakes. The CV boots were running dangerously close to the sway bar links IMO so I shortened the links with smaller spacers to get them a safe distance away from the CVs. This setup has worked well.

I have the old Arizona Z Car 1-piece on my car. I HAD to have it because I liked the "gill" vents behind the front wheels in addition to being fascinated with the idea of a lightweight piece easily removed for access. When I received the front end and looked it over, I almost sent it back - Paper - thin, poor fit, real piece of $hit. Several months of spare time later I had reinforced the basic structure with a couple more layers of glass cloth, bonded in some fiberglass headlight buckets, bracing, and flares, whopped off large pieces that didn't fit to remold them and built hinges to mount it to the car. The result is a fit that's not perfect, but half decent looking. The wheel arches are different shapes side to side, but hey, you can't see both at the same time, right? I think Enzo Ferrari said that about his early hand made cars. Looking at the overall shape, it looks incorrect (not bad, just different) for a Z's front end. I don't think I would do this again - Probably merciful that ole Dave at AZC stopped making them - Didn't realize how big a project it woud be but it sort of took on a life of its own - sort of like a few other things did LOL.

The boost controller is slowly bubbling to the top of my rather lengthy to-do list.... I was just telling James 240ZTurbo the other day that I don't multi-task very well. I have been doing a lot of thinking about how to do this, however (which explains the lingering odor of burning horse$hit around here) - I'm working on an idea to hold control pressure completely off the back port while applying this pressure to the front port, holding the wastegate closed, until set boost level is reached - Then, applying enough pressure to the back port to control boost while removing pressure from the front port. The "boost up" and "boost down" control pressures would be generated by solenoid valves under electronic control. This way, you will always have boost Plus spring pressure acting to control boost level, which is a good thing if you have a somewhat undersized internal wastegate like Scottie and want a wide boost adjustment range or the ability to ramp the boost from a lower launch setting to some maximum value. Of course, a gonzo giant external wastegate eliminates the control range problem.