Leon

Metal actually weighs more after oxidation, since it picks up those pesky oxygen molecules! Sand it down to lose that weight!

I'm feeling generous... Tony's high-revving LSR Z: Bryan's DOHC: http://forums.hybridz.org/index.php/topic/54764-my-official-l31dett-rhd-thread/page__hl__dohc Basic Suspension Tech: http://www.carbibles.com/suspension_bible.html

Yes, do a lot of searching and reading, at least on this site. You will learn all you need to learn. e.g. This confuses me since semi-trailing arms are part of the ZX's independent suspension. And I'm not sure what an L28DE is unless you're talking about Bryan Blake's car. Believe me, you have much reading to do. Luckily you've found a great resource for it.

A well designed header should add about 5hp as shown by dyno results and combined with a 2.5/3 inch exhaust should make for a nice bump in performance. A lightweight flywheel is also a great upgrade to make since it decreases reciprocating weight/inertia of the drivetrain which improves acceleration and throttle response. It's good bang for the buck. Take a look at Braap's post on EFI, it won't take much upgrading to have to require a standalone ECU.

I got one of these: http://forums.hybridz.org/index.php/topic/93293-now-carrying-14point7-wideband-controllers-with-native-usb-support It's a great deal, so it might work for you.

If I were to get a BMW, I'd go for an E36. There's a good chance that an E36 M3 will be my next daily (or an S2000). Reason being that the E36 is a fantastic chassis and the engines have timing chains to go with their twin-cams, versus the belt-driven single-cam E30s. The 325is went from ~168hp to ~190hp when comparing the E30 to E36. That's pretty significant. My brother drives a '93 318is and every time I drive it I tell myself, "I gotta get me one of these!" Then again, that would be my daily. I love my Z, and when I finally get it on the road the sense of accomplishment will be incredible. It's my first project. I've driven the car with a worn out suspension and running on 4 cylinders. It's been down for two years, and it will probably not drive again for another year. I know the feeling of frustration, but if deep down you know that you truly love the car, you will really regret selling it.

Of course there is my dad, who has always worked on the family cars. I'm very lucky in that whenever I need help with something, I can call on my dad and he always has a solution, no matter what the problem. Plus, I get to use the garage and all the tools, which is nice being a broke 23-year-old, fresh out of college! I'm also lucky to have a best friend nearby who has worked with his hands all his life and is in sheetmetal now. He's redone the downstairs in his house and I've helped him with projects, like concrete work in his yard. Whenever one of us needs help, the other is there. He's got a '65 F100 that he's been restoring as well. Then there is my neighbor who's a serious car guy. He does all his family's DDs plus his Corvair, Mustang, and two VW Beetles (one done up nice and the other a '55 resto project). We loan each other tools and talk cars all the time. I can't say enough about how awesome it is to have a total gearhead as a neighbor! And for the time when I need someone to "hold this," "screw-in that," or "shine the light here" there are always my siblings or the girly!

I have a complete set that I may be willing to part with. I'll have to check the condition, because I've never used these.

There's a bunch in the bay area craigslist, I just got a vented hatch for $25 the other day. Maybe you know someone there or can arrange something with the sellers.

I don't get what's so funny? That looks like a Porsche 935 with vented wheels that fan heat away from the brakes. Yes, they are functional...

This sounds obvious, but have you gone through the FSM and FI bible and performed the troubleshooting as described? That would be a whole lot simpler than trying to put in a standalone system. The truth is, if you can't make it run now, it probably won't run when you try to install MS. I'm not trying to put you down, but maybe you need to step back and focus on other priorities right now. Believe me, some time away from a project will really help out in all aspects!

Like so? Yes, I did drive it like that...

Here it is, explained in more detail from the posted link:

When anti-lag is used, what you're getting is combustion inside the turbine! With retarded ignition timing and a rich mixture, the exhaust temperature is highly elevated and essentially the flame continues out of the cylinder and into the exhaust/turbine. Yes, burning fuel inside your turbo will make it wear quicker.

While valve lift is somewhat dependent (metallurgical/physical issues) on duration, I don't see why you'd want lower lift at lower rpm unless maybe you factor in some mixing processes (tumble/swirl). Ideally, you'd have maximum valve lift over the duration of the valve's open period, or essentially very fast ramp rates in order to increase cylinder filling (VE). A lot of people put too much focus into port velocity. The main function of port velocity is to keep the mixture distributed and the fuel atomized in a carburated or throttle-body fuel injected engine. There are kinetic effects that occur at higher speeds that are slightly dependent on port velocity, but really you want those ports to be big. Cam duration (along with port and manifold design) is what really controls VE over the operating range of the engine, given a high enough valve lift. At lower speeds, you want lower duration because longer durations encourage gas reversion, where exhaust pressure is higher than cylinder pressure or cylinder pressure rises above intake pressure. At high speeds, you want longer duration since gas speed is higher which increases both intake kinetic energy as well as exhaust scavenging, making longer durations more efficient. A cam is really designed for one operating point where it is most efficient. Being able to alter this point as the engine accelerates is a huge bonus. Changing it continuously would be even better. Many modern engines already do this. If I had a choice of constantly varying a part of the valvetrain, variable valve duration would be on top! Although variable lift is cool as well, especially when the intake valve doubles as the throttle, like BMW! I think I've digressed a bit, but it's an interesting topic! I've had some free time to dig into Heywood's IC Engine Fundamentals...

That's not quite what anti-lag is. Anti-lag systems typically retard spark timing and dump in more fuel in drop-throttle conditions (shifts). The much higher gas pressure and temperature caused by this are then used to keep the turbine spinning faster than it otherwise would be. It is true that anti-lag decreases engine and turbine life.

Hope it's the latter and not the former!

How do people adjust them without a wideband gauge or dyno? You do the best you can. Doing everything the same on each carb is a given, but ideally I would love to have an 02 sensor for each cylinder. Using one wideband is not ideal, but it's a lot better than not having one at all. A competent person can get the carbs dialed in pretty well with a WB02. A dyno is even better.

Generally, slightly rich with lambda of ~0.9 (13.1 AFR). Specifically, it's what the dyno says.

Or to Pertronix...

In a nutshell, mains affect mid-range and top end. Bigger mains make the mixture richer. Air correctors affect top end, where a bigger air corrector makes a leaner mixture. A wideband 02 sensor is very helpful in the tuning process. The Weber sticky has very good info: Linky. There should be some pertinent Mikuni info as well.

Yes, you are right on the first point. By changing the steering axis offset, you can increase caster and still have zero mechanical trail. I think that you would have to redesign the steering system of the car to achieve that though. I think that what I meant to say didn't come across right on my point about feedback. Mechanical trail and pneumatic trail added together gives total trail, which directly affects the torque required to turn the steering wheel. However, the forces produced by virtue of the pneumatic trail are non-linear and dependent on tire characteristics. The forces produced by virtue of mechanical trail are linear and proportional to lateral force. Therefore as mechanical trail increases, driver feedback from the tires (pneumatic trail) gets drowned out. I am not saying that the actual pneumatic trail decreases, what I'm saying is that the effect from it is lessened since mechanical trail dominates (as caster increases with steering axis offset held constant). Thanks for the correction. Leon

Make sure the progression ports are not open at idle. They must all be covered by the throttle valve. Check this sticky out. Make sure you read and understand it, it's got pretty much all the info you need. I also recommend this book.

Thanks, I'm in San Bruno. This was actually down the street from my house. I got a call from my dad who told me that there was a huge explosion by the house, while I was walking the dogs at a nearby beach. It scared the crap out of me, but luckily I found out that it's not a threat to us. Unfortunately, that whole neighborhood is obliterated and I know some people that lost their homes. If anyone needs help, let me know. Leon