jeffp

I am running a zxt car. I got the CF dual friction, not worth the powder to blow it away. I was first running 350 hp and now 500hp the clutch lasted 3000 miles and a good majority of them were highway miles. I found the stock 2400 zxt clutch from Nissan held much better. I would not waste the money, their claim is erronious and if you give them a call on the phone thay will tell you they are good for about 250 hp that is what they told me. Also, when I installed the clutch, the center part of the disc that held the springs hit my flywheel bolts, so I had to machine the tops to get the thing to stop hitting.

Hi I was reading the post regarding the flange adapter for the R200 LSD diff. here is what I got :And the correct NEAPCO part for the JTR part is 2-2-899-1 The -1 is important as it means a larger u-joint than the 2-2-899, which is a 1210 series joint. I bought the 2-2-899-1 part and noticed that the bolt holes are 8 mm and not 10 mm. From what I remember of the flange they have a 10 mm bolt hole. the rest of the post said that this part # All I know is that I told the shop to order Spicer part #2-2-1819 and I got the correct flange. I never mentioned Neapco or an N part number. Good luck. so the question is for me, does the flange have a 10 mm bolt like the 280zxt, or does it have a 8mm bolt hole to mount the falnge. Being I am putting out some good hp I want to go with the 10 mm bolt to mount the part. Any information would be appreciated.

Hi Joel, you just may want to have someone do the work for you. When you change out the bearings, chances are that the ring and pinion gear back lash is going to change. Also when you do the clutches you will want to shim the clutches about .015 extra to help out the break away torque. You can give David a call at Mlvern racing and discuss this with him. He has allot of experience with the diff. I had Robello set up my diff because I did not want to chance buying the shims. They run about 10.00 each from Nissan, so it can get expensive very quick, and they don't stock the shims. Even the Nissan guys dont fix the diff's they replace them. Robello did a good job for me, and it was a gear set change out for me with a Quaife carrier(diff) They charged me about 200.00 to set it up. so you just may want to think about that in stead of doing it yourself. The problem is changing out the bearings, I am almost positive it will change the backlash on the ring and pinion, and if it is wrong the diff will howl like crazy and drive you crazy. anyway just my o2 here

Hi Bob, I did a few things to my pump. The first thing I did was with the gear drive in the pump. When you take the pump apart you find that the drive gear has a hole through the center of it. Oil goes up through this to provide oil to the drive gear on the crank shaft, and the drive for the distributor. The oil holes for the pump(on each end of the grive gear that fits inside the housing also have about a .080 holle to lube the surface of the shaft to the housing. I tapped and installed a screw in the top of the gear drive, ground the screw down so the drive gear/rod wouold fit correctly in the top of the pump. I then drilled the center of the shaft to a .080 dia hole. What this did was to decrease the oil flow to the drive gear, and it decreased the oil that ends up at the top of the shaft at the base of the distributor. What I found was that when the pump turned, when the pressure got up to a point, the oil would come out the top of the pump, wash the drive gear and shaft with oil. Well, it was a bit excessive to say the least, we are talking about a 1/8" hole diameter or greater(I was able to tap a 6mm bolt into the center of the shaft) way to much oil to the gear and it was letting the pressure in the pump bleed off in stead of going through the oil gally where it was really needed for the rest of the engine. I did this in an attempt to increase the oil pressure at idle, and it was somewhat suscessful. I got the pressure up to 15psi at idle with the engine hot. The next thing I did was to flatten the bottom of the pump with fine sand paper on a granite surface to make it flat. I then went to the body of the pump and the drive gear and did the same. Now there was zero tolerance between the bottom of the pump and the housing and the drive gears. I then used a peice of sheet paper as a gasket, it is .003 thick. I assembled the part back together that way. The last thing I did was to open up the inlet to the pump from the front cover with a dremel for better flow. I have noted that the front cover gally hole needs some work on it as it is not smooth and would tend to cause some cavitation. The pump works very well, the distributor base gets sufficient oil to keep it good and the pump has a 5 psi oil pressure at idle. That with a set of dual springs in the pressure valve the pump performs better in my opinion. I still get what I consider low oil pressure at idle (15psi depending on the oil I use, when it is hot) but the pump pressure comes very quick,and the pressure increases very quickly when you crack the rpm off idle. The max pressure I setup for the pump is 65psi when the oil is hot. You do have to watch the pressure when it is cold as I did at one time have the pressure to 85psi when I first cranked up the engine and ran it at about 2500 rpm's. That was a little to high for me so I decreased the shim on the springs. I did not want to blow past my oil filter at the time, but now I have a system1 filter. I was thinking of getting two steel pumps, cutting one pump for an added 5mm of the housing, as well the drive gear, welding that together and machining the housing and see what the extra 5mm of drive gear would do for the pump, but I just haven't had the time to mess with it that much.

Hi Cody, you could be right, it has been about a year or so since I have looked at this thing. I could have swarn tho it was 45mm on the turbo pump. I do have one of the standard cast pumps in my garage. I can check that out and make sure. Who knows, I guess I'm brain dead. anyway the turbo pump has a gear that is 5mm longer then the stock standard pump. Let me get back to you on this one. Now you are getting me interested again in this crazy thing.

I just got off the phone with CSI regarding this water pump I have been working on. The pump is almost completed. They will make a base plate that mounts to the front cover. The pump then will be mounted to the plate. This will be a perfect install along with an electric fan on the car. The unit will be completed in 2-3 weeks and I will have the part in hand ready to run. This is cool, you will be able to buy from CSI. As you know, Nissan used the same pump for all of the L series engines, lets see how it turnes out.

Hey Cody, how much did the pump cost you??? I would be willing to get one for my car also. That being said here is what I learned on the Datsun oil pumps, and believe me I have researched it out to the full extent. There are three pumps made for the Lseries engines. the first pump is for the LD28 engines, that is a ended issue, it suffices to say it is the lowest flowing pump. The second pump is the tandard Nissan L series pump. It has aluminum construction, and a 40mm drive gear. The pump is advertised 9GPM @ 3000 rpm. The last pump is the turbo pump that came in two configurations. The standard shift pump and the automatic pump are one in the same, but the springs have been changed to increase the flow pressure for the automatic because they came with the oil cooler. Both pumps have a 45mm drive gear for the pump. They will flow the same rate, just shim up the spring in the cap with a .100 washer and you are in there. with the standatr shift turbo pump. The last option for the Nissan pump is a add on bottom from Nismo. This takes the inlet of the pump and bypasses the internal inlet with an A/N fitting in the bottom of the pump and is fed by a fitting on the oil pan. Very expensive install, and I could not see the gains you would get making it worth whilr to spend the 300.00 or so for all of the hardware and the pump bottom. Here is where I am interested. I found out hwo made this pump. MILLINGS makes that steel pump you are asking about, they are the ONLY ones that do make an after market pump for our cars as best I could find out. They made the 40mm pump and the (turbo) 45mm pump. Here is what I wanted to try, since it is a steel pump body, the expansion rate of the metal will be different then aluminum. This being the case, I wanted to do this steel pump in much the same way I did my aluminum pump. Blue print the pump and make the tolerances close to see what kind of improvements there is when the oil is hot and the car is idling. I was able to improve my pump by doing this and using of all things a peice of white sheet paper for a gasket, thickness .003 so the pump was tight. I did see an improvement in the oil pressure at idle, and overall in the pump. With the cast part, I could tightenup the tolerance to say .0015 to .002 and see what the improvements are. I just did not want to shell out the money for a pump I really did not need. I did all of this for one reason and that was to get the oil pressure to increase at idle and that was the only reason, also with the tighter pump the rise time of the oil pressure more then likely would improve also. So there you have it.

Ok Just got off the phone with Brian. Here is the story on the dampener (for the ZX 79-83 cars ONLY) the Dampener will be a BHJ part number and be stocked and sold by BHJ. This will be a bolt on stock replacement dampener for our cars. They are going to , tentively, have the dampener SFI approved, and the final design is still being looked at. They just may make it just like the stock unit with the two fixed shivs, and a bolt on third shiv, for the power steering. So the part could end up being a two part number unit. The other dampener,(single shiv unit) that is the racing unit Dave Robello had made is His unit. He paid the engineering costs on the unit, he helped in the design, and the engineering drawings are his. This is not the same dampener that is being made for our zx cars. I just wanted to be very clear on this matter. If Dave Robello buys the zx dampener, he can sell it for what ever cost he likes as a business man. I haven't got a problem with that in the least. I just wanted to set the record strait on this unit. When Brian informed me of this, I said GOOD, then I will give you a few vendors for the part. NO problem, I got this going with them in the first place because I had a need for a good part. I was not trying to duplicate what Dave Robello was doing. Approcahing the requirement from the stand point of a race car/ street car, (really a race car on the street LOL) I needed a dampener that would also fulfill the requirements of a car that had the accessories, like power steering, the A/C system, but be able to run in a race application. I think this has worked out well forthe guys that want to race their cars, but at the same time have a car that is still leagal for the street, and that is what I wanted.

Hi Donna, the price has yet to be determined, I have not spoken to Dave Robello regarding the part, and as far as I am concerned he can sell them for what ever he likes. I took the time to do the ground work on the zx dampener. I have been working with Brian, not Dave Robello. I understand Dave did do something on the older dampener with the company, but that is not my concern. This is a tricky situation here. I would like Dave to take the lead and David at innovator, but not at the cost of it adding extra expense on to my cost for the part. I understand these people are in business to make money, but the reality of it is, I did the work and research to get this going for our cars. I have been very careful not to step on Dave Robello's toes and I would like to think he is going to afford me the same courtesy. I think i am going to make a couple of calls, and make sure this is all in order.

I got a call from Brian today regarding the custom dampener. I guess Dave Robello called him today asking when it was going to be done. They have come up with a number of applications, but it seems they are having difficulty getting the unit lighter then the stock part. While all of us would like a lighter part, myself included, this may not be possible because they are using steel in stead of a cast part, and the cast part is about 10-15% lighter then steel. One option is to go with an aluminum hub (with a steel ring for the front seal like chevy does to repair their parts) and bolt the dampener on and also go with the bolt on third pully like stock. I told Brian the most important thing is to get a part that will not trash itself like the stock dampener does. I am willing to run the same weight dampener if I dont have to worry about the elastimer seperating like the stock unit does when you get the rpm's up into the 7K range. The other option we discussed was making the pully in aluminum, but Brian was not real excited about that option. He want's a part that will last a good long time. I told him I would not care to much if that part did not go 100K like some of them do on a stock engine that never gets any real rpm levels. I dont mind changing out a pully every now and then if I can service it myself. That was one thing I did mention is that most of the people here and on the other forums service their cars themselves, so that really is not an issue. I think there is a good solution here, it's just a matter of deciding which way to go. Myself, I just want a part that will last under race conditions and I will be very happy with that. Brian will be getting back with me next week on the thing and hopefully cost of manufacture of the part. I told him that if I can get a good part, even it it weighs the same as the stock part I'm buying it. Additionally, I think in this case, even tho I did all the leg work on this unit, I am going to let Dave Robello , and david at innovator market the part. have a good one guys and gals. jeff

I agree James, if you can even out the pulses its a plus. I would be interested in a mild steel unit, I like the SS, but for the header I think it is a bit overkill, I dont know I could be wrong. One thing that occures to me is that I would want it coated to retain some of the heat. I think that with a header you caould dissipate to much heat under the hood and not down the turbo. I will give Steven I think his name is a call Monday and find out the stuff on the cheap header he says he is doing. That sure would be cool, but I am not counting on it. The header Innovator has listed can be done for 1500.00 according to Craig I think his name is. Got to start writing this stuff down more.

Give Ben a call and find out what they sent you. Generally, they take a stock Nissan housing and machine it out to fit the turbo. Then you have to get the bolt on plate and machine that out as well. I machined mine out, and used a stock actuator and made my own bracket. They dont send the turbo complete ready for running unless you want them to and then they charge you. The turbo is a good setup tho, you will like it allot. If you have good breathing and flow from the exhaust the turbo should spool by 3K. Oh and another thing, you may want to really sewriously consider dumping the stock down pipe as you cant open it up to 2 1/2" its a good boat anchor when you get this setup.

I know all about that header as I was the one to give the PIC to Dave. That is correct, that is the header that Hoover has on his 240z. That unit cost 1850.00 made of stainless steel, and it is a one off unit. I spoke to the builder and he can make more of them, but it will cost you. Dave and I have been working together on a similar unit that will run about 900.00, but it is untested, and I have not been in contact withthe builder here for about 4 weeks. The first run is suspose to be completed her the eng od October. I do need to touch bases with him regarding the part. I have been trying to get a good reasonibly priced header made and market it through Innovator Z. I have also been trying to get my 3" exhaust system going with Dave at Innovator. Have some patients guys, the stuff is in the works, it just seems like it takes for ever to get this stuff going. I know it took me 6 months from the time I started my proto to ship two systems and install one on my car. MONEY, that is always the problem, the builders dont want to do a one off or three off run, no they want 20 or 50 to make money, so getting this really trick stuff takes time and is a total pain in the butt. Anyway, hopefully, this stuff will be able to get not to long from now, cross your fingers, and maybe we can get some significant interest in doing a rerun of old car parts. REGARDS: Jeff Priddy

You know, that is interesting to me, I have bought the Nismo comp pan and pickup for my F54 block. I hope I dont have to cut and weld my pickup om my car, that would suck the big one. Now I'm thinking there may be more modifications to install this pan.

Good answer James, I was going to ask what the over drive gear was. The T5 is .780 and it was setup stock with the 3.54 gear. That was a good combo with 15 wheels. It put the RPM's at about 3100-3200 @ 85 or so. The Nissan tranny would have lowered that figure. I am running the 3.71(tecinally by the gear set numbers) with my T5 and it has worked out well.

One thing to remember is that the more common heads today dont use the hydrolic lifters. The Amreican engines still use them in their standard builds for the most part. Ford for instance uses a hydrolic lifter with a roller cam in the 3.8 liter engine. Subaru uses hydrolic lifters. The L series head uses a mechanical lifter, except for the P90A head. So yes a hydrolic lifter engine is a consideration when selecting a cam.

I agree with you James that you need to know th specifics of the engine Ie Head you are working with. The flow through the haed is significant. For instance, a fully ported and polished P90 head will folw X amount @ .500 lift. Increasing the lift further actually hindered the flow of the head by a few CFM. This was the case with the exhaust port. I have a data sheet on the P90 head and its flow rates at .200-.600 lift of the valve on the flow bench. According to the data anything higher then .500 lift only decreases the flow rate of the head. Lockjaw: in a turbo application, the best grind will be the low overlap cam in most cases. The fact that you are say pushing 20psi into the cylinder along with what the swept volume of the assembly is is dependant on the overlap and how much you will actually pressureize the cylinder. There are tricks you can do to increase the overlap and hinder the charge trying to excape through the other valve. For instance, in a N/A engine you want the intake/exhaust ports matched to the port on the head. With a turbo application, if you make the port a little larger then the intake manifold port, when the air/fuel tries to excape through the valve that is cracked open slightly the smaller port opening into the manifold hinders the reverse action of the air/fuel mixture. The N/A application you want them matched, because you want the best flow and a good smooth passageway into the cylinder. Then if you put a tunnel ram for the intake manifold and provide a longer passage way into the cylinder head, the tunnel ram helps in packing the cylinders with the air/fuel mixture. This doesn't apply in the turbo application as it is forced air induction. So you can cheat a little to get a slightly larger cam (for topend power) then you would think. The londer overlap will make the cam more of a midrange to top end power producer and the bottom end will begin to suffer. The @ .050 reading is the industry standard for the most part, However with the new cam machines being produced and the addition of a computer controlled grinder (in stead of the older cam lobe master for each grind) you can hold a tighter tolerance. You get closer to the actual opening of the valve this way and a more accurate indication of when the valve lifts off of the seat. For example, a cam that opens @ 36 degrees BTDC @ 50 well the lobe has already lifter the valve off the seat .050 so in reality the cam opened the valve earlier. anyway just some of my thoughts.

I say get the best price from who ever will give it to you. All of the pistons are from the same forge/molding and shipped off to the various companies. I use to work for sivilite they did cast pistons and allot of companines use them, including the car manufacturers. Just make sureto get the correct material, likethe high silicone aluminum, and you should be good to go. I went with Je because they were quick to have them made. I did a custom piston for my car and they did a very nice job on them. I have also heard Ross does a good job, as well Aries pistons. So go for the best deal and you should be just fine Ian.

No Shane, I am doing 475 foot pounds @ 23psi of boost thats all, that is in forth gear on the dyno. 450 foot pounds is allot on a stock engine, I am assuming your car is turbo and you are running about 20-25psi of boost to get those numbers. You surely are not going to do any where near that with a totally stock engine. Good numbers tho. Lockjaw, yes a TT tranny has been used by someone I think. Talk to Clark, he told me how it was done. I guess they cut the case of the tranny and twisted it about 12 degrees or so to make it fit the zx car correctly. That cost about 1200.00 if I remember correctly.

I found a similar site in Australlia, they have an electronic controller to vary the speed of the pump. Sounded like a good setup. I did talk to the guy about a variable voltage input and that is not a problem for the motor at all. Really I am trying to keep this as cheap and non intrusive to the engine compartment as possible. I just dont want to run all the hoses and I dont want to screw with making a adapter for the front of the engine.

Shane, you are putting out 475 foot pounds of torque on a stock engine? Now I feel like I have wasted my thousands of dollars on my engine getting 475 foot pounds of torque from my engine. Lockjaw, I installed the hurst shifter about two years ago on my tranny. There was a significant improvement with the shifter, but I have to say I have missed third one or two times. My tranny is in excellent condition, no grinding or anything like that. The reason I want to change out the tranny is that I do plan on beating the heck out of it racing the car. I have my car setup to run wrinkle wall slicks. The engine is putting out 475 foot pounds of torque now @ 500Hp at the flywheel. I am going to finish off the car at 600hp and that should take my torque rating well over 500 foot pounds. I am sure the T5 will not last racing the car especially with slicks that really bite off the line. anyway that is the reason I want to upgrade the tranny.

I have found a site that brags of a 9 second rustang that is running the TKO ll tranny. The unit is rated at 475 foot pounds of torque and they are running wrinkle walls on the car. That is what I need. My stock T5 has held on the dyno at 475 foot pounds, but I have never put a set of tires that will really grip, I dont know, I am just looking for a better tranny that will really hold some power and the tremec appears to fit the bill. The link is www.hanlonmotorsports.com I also have contacted Tremec and asked them about the unit and they confirm the torque rating of the tranny. I do know one thing, the T5 I am running now is, and has always been a hard shifter in my opinion. I will look into this and make a determination. Some of the stuff I have to do is not that much fun, like looking at the way I positioned my O2 sensor, to move the engine back, I will have to modify the heat shield on the firewall because it will be to close. I guess that was my fault since I designed the down pipe myself. Anyway, it does seem like a solution, maybe I just need to drive a car with one in it and decide for myself.

I have been getting the information I need to do a Tremec install in my car to replace the T5. The tranny is so close to just fitting in the car it is not funny. I will have to machine my throw out bearind slider ID .015 and that will fit. The front bearing retainer is exactly the same OD as the stock T5 diameter, so that is a fit. I will use the stock bell housing, but I haven't done anything with the bolt holes. The big challenge for me is the distance in the shifter handle. The Tremec is 19.5" from the front of the tranny. The T5 is 22.5" from the front of the tranny. I loked at the car last night and it wiould appear I can move the engine back 1"-1 1/2" and I am hoping I can install a 1/2" spacer between the tranny and bell housing and that will set me 1" forward on the shifter. I found a shifter the off sets the handle about 2" so this will move the shifter back about 1". Everything sounds good so far. I am not worried about the drive line,as I will have to get a custom one anyway, and I am not to worried about the tranny mount as it is easily removed and repositioned in the hump. Here are my questions: 1) has anyone moved the engine in a zx back, and if so how far were you able to move it back and not conflict with the valve cover and heater hoses coming through the fire wall? 2) I am reasonably sure the hole in the hump is good enough to mount the tranny, but being the actual shifter will be 1-1 1/2" forward, depending on wether I can move the engine back 1 1/2" and if I can install a 1/2" spacre between the tranny and bell housing, do you think the shifter will still be to close to the dash in the car. I would really like to keep the stock look in the car, and I think I can swing it. Any input from someone that has done this install would be greatly appreciated.

I already have the hurst shifter in the car. I am not running the redline oil yet. I wanted to do all that stuff at one time. I got the MTL for the tranny and the MT for the differential. So where can I get some info on the ripper shifter. I would be interested in checking that shifter out. I am getting ready to install a TKO II in my car. I have done the research on that tranny and it is more to suited to what I am doing with the car. The torque sure is where I need it to be, and I figure if the 5.0 guys are launching that unit with wrinkle wall slicks that is good enough for me.

I am running the T5 in my car andthe thing that has happened to me a number of time s it getting the thing into second @ 7000 rpm. The tranny just will not go into get at times and that is not to desirable to me. The problem is that at that high rpm, the syncro just cant get the gear spinning quick enough to make it go into gear. 6800 and no problem, but it is kinda hard to keep your eye on the tach when you are going at it.