Leon

That's very interesting insight! Did you try other SU manifolds (N36?) for comparison? I'll be running SUs when my engine is finished so I'm definitely interested if you have any other info on this.

Haha, those bits of wire get me every time! I'll check out the scotchbrite wheels, good tip. I've been using this paint (got it at Home Depot) and mine have been turning out pretty good, I just hope the paint lasts. Good luck!

He is obviously employing the principles of Milliken's Camber Car :

Nice work, I've been following this thread for a little while. I've been cleaning up and painting my suspension parts as well. I was curious as to what your method is, and what have you been using for paint? I've been cleaning mine up with a wire wheel (angle grinder), light sanding where needed and then applying some rattle can Rustoleum. Your parts look very nice!

Look for rust on the body.

Yes, a mark that shows the alignment of the caps with the head. Here is a quick search result: http://forums.hybridz.org/index.php?/topic/79242-can-the-hole-in-the-cylinder-head-for-the-cam-tower-bolt-be-repaired/page__p__752837__hl__removing%20cam%20towers__fromsearch__1entry752837 Link from resulting thread: http://community.ratsun.net/index.php?showtopic=10760

I believe he means longitudinal alignment, as in all the holes line up so the cam doesn't bind, not vertical. Even then, there is a method to getting all the towers on correctly. Scribing where all the towers are before removal is helpful. It should all be there if you do a good search.

Nope, wave reflection happens with a change in diameter, whether it's a sudden change (step) or gradual change (bell mouth). The advantage of a bell mouth is the desired reflection happens over a wider frequency (RPM range), thus a bell mouth can be said to have a higher bandwidth than a step. There are other advantages such as decreasing entrance losses but that all belongs in another topic. Having an air-box over the bell mouth will not do anything to strengthen the reflection of the intake pressure wave. You say it "feels better" and "a little more torque is produced," but a quantification on the dyno will tell you the actual story.

Great job on the car! I think the steering (turn in, response, etc.) feels better because 240Z has a lower steering ratio. This means that when driving the 240Z (vs. the 280Z), a turn of a steering wheel results in more steering angle. The lighter weight of the 240Z helps out too.

I'm sure many have done it, it's not a hard job, that is if you're talking about an L-series in a Z-car. Giving us info on your car is important. I did it when I first bought my Z, I think I was going off of the ZTherapy tune-up video if I remember right. The biggest, most important thing to do is to wedge the timing chain so that the tensioner doesn't move. Everything else is simple, just follow the manual or search the archives on the details.

San Luis Obispo... SLO needs to speed up! People drive like they're half asleep. The short on and off ramps don't help either. I get on it to hop on the freeway but others are going 35-45mph when merging! People merge to the left to get away from that mess also. It's partly on-ramp design, but a much bigger part driver ignorance/stupidity. San Diego was the same, everyone is so sleepy and unaware except everyone drove way too damn fast. Driving through LA has to be the worst thing I have subjected myself to.

I second that notion! GRM has made me drop my R&T subscription, which I have been disinterested in for a while now. It's always a good, informative read (and they love Z's!).

Were the wheels spinning in that test? Nope. Spinning wheels, especially at high angular velocities will create a lot of drag, so much so that it is very beneficial to block off the wheels as much as possible.

I'm 6'2" 185lb, and I am amazed at the roominess of the Z. There is plenty of legroom with the stock steering wheel and enough headroom for me to wear a helmet. I do also fit in an S2000 however, or maybe I keep telling myself that since I want one!

You took the words right out of my mouth (and the picture out of my brain)! Thanks for posting Ron, I was going to eventually if no one else thought of simply changing the geometry. How lazy I've become!

I know this is a bit old but I wanted to add my two cents... The answer is yes (kind of), and it's because of the engine's volumetric efficiency (VE). VE is the measurement of the engine's ability to completely fill the volume of each cylinder. Having 50% volumetric efficiency would mean that at an arbitrary operating point, the cylinder is being filled with air (and fuel) at half of its capacity. The volumetric efficiency curve will essentially resemble the torque curve that you see in dyno plots. What this comes down to is, around peak torque, your VE will be maximized meaning that the cylinders are being filled as much as they can be with air. Thus, at peak torque, you will likely tend to have your leanest AFR given that the engine is fueled linearly with respect to MAP (manifold air pressure). Of course, with standalone/tunable ECUs you can tune your AFR to whatever you like and if you want to run it rich to be on the safe side, you're probably not losing much power (although you are using more fuel and dumping more crap out the tailpipe). So I guess this only half-answers your question, as I'm not sure what would be the best AFR at each RPM point given the ability to tune the AFR at every point. It would be something to test on the dyno, by loading it up and playing with the ECU fueling curve to see what gives you best torque. So maybe I didn't really answer your question at all, but hopefully it will give some insight as to what is involved in getting an answer.

I also agree with oz's assertion that it's the cam. The 280Z's cam is already designed for low end torque, and by advancing it you are shooting those cylinder pressures even higher. I think retarding the cam a bit, or going with a longer duration cam should bleed off the pressure enough to prevent knock while holding the timing where it is.

Motorsport Auto, scroll down for info. It is in the Los Angeles area. It's a start...

Please follow the rules you agreed to, rule #5 to be clear. I really don't like reading stuff like this.

I was reading up on exhaust stuff, got bored, but felt like doing something semi-productive. This graph shows the relationship between pipe diameters and cross-sectional area, and the differences between a single and dual arrangement in terms of area. Choose a pipe diameter, find it on the graph, and follow the horizontal lines to find an equivalent diameter. The abscissa represents single pipe diameter (even for twice pipes) and the ordinate is total pipe area. For example, it can be seen that choosing 1.75" twice pipes (MSA) is equivalent in area to a roughly 2.5" single pipe. Enjoy...

13257-21000

Daeron is talking actual power, not differences from stock. And BTW, an L24 does not make near 200hp stock! It's closer to about 120-130whp (150bhp). You'd have to put in a considerable effort to get to 200whp. I agree that tackling the (likely poorly maintained) suspension first is the way to go. Do that and then drive it with a stock engine. You don't need 300hp to have fun! When my 240Z was on the road it ran pretty badly, partly because it was a $400 240Z. It very likely had under 100hp, and I had plenty of fun!

Nope, it's back on the presses! How to Hotrod and Race Your Datsun

I got my information from an F1 senior engineer. I guess that doesn't count...

Very good point Roger, and it reminds me of something along the same lines. Compare a Z to a 599 that was mentioned and the weight differences are relatively huge (~2300lb vs. ~3700lb)! The effective mass of the wheels will affect Z-car performance (i.e. time-to-speed) much more than a heavier car, meaning that the effective mass of the wheels is a higher percentage of total mass of the Z vs. Ferrari. Thus, the effect of larger wheels is much less noticed on heavier, more highly powered cars. Conversely, a reduction in weight of a Z's wheels will affect performance more than a reduction of the Ferrari's wheel weight.