Scottie-GNZ

Is that a flux capacitor? :D Please tell me a little more about the inline capacitor, what it does and any drawbacks. TIA.

I need the opinion and advice of folks with real auto electrical experience and knowledge. This is a problem I do not want to experiment with, just to do it right. I installed a Taurus fan in the following manner: 10g 12V source from a 60a fuse off the main fuse block fed by the alternator (170a). That 10g lead is Tee'd to feed low (40a) and high speed (70a VF7) relays. The high-speed relay is triggered by the ECM and the low speed relay has its ground going through a manual switch. Low-speed is only used with the switch when the engine is off in the staging area or pits. When the high-speed kicks on/off, the engine stumbles badly and usually recovers after a few seconds. On occasion it will throw a code (#42 - EST Monitor Error) and sometimes when it kicks off, the engine will stall like someone plug its out of the wall. If the ECM is reset, the code 42 goes away and the engine runs like normal again. What I theorize is that the high-speed has such a high-amp draw, it is affecting all the voltage-sensitive sensors used by the GN engine management system. The ECM senses "change" and goes through it recalibration to recover normal run parameters. In some cases I believe the ECM is resetting itself or there is simply not enough voltage for the system to function when the fan kicks on/off. If I unplug the high-speed circuit and switch the low on/off, all seems normal. I am concerned about damaging the system so I plan to disconnect the high-speed circuit and the manual switch and have the ECM trigger the low and hope it moves enough CFM. The little that I saw of the cooling efficiency of the high-speed, I really want to use it. So, how do I address this problem without causing damage or lot of expenses?

If you are building a 350+hp turbo engine, you should not be looking at junkyard I/Cs, IMHO.

The physical size of an I/C is not the best indicator of how efficient an I/C is. My advice to people looking to use an OEM I/C for a turboZ is this: If the engine that this I/C was designed for makes the same or less HP than a stock L28ET, you do not want it unless you think the factory over-designed it with 50-75% available efficiency (yea, right). The exception to this are the big diesel I/Cs. Here is what I mean. The stock L28ET is rated at 180hp and the Starion was rated at 164hp. You already know the Starion has some backpressure at stock boost, so how efficient is that I/C going to be when you want to pull 250-275hp out of the L28ET? Does it work? Of course. Is it efficient?...... The more boost you run, the more heat the turbo generates and the more pressure build you have in the turbine housing. If the I/C is not efficient, then you have to increase the boost at the turbo end to get a diminishing return at the intake manifold. When you do that you compound the 2 things that turbo engines do not like. You put increase backpressure in the turbine housing and you put more heat into the engine. Remember, HP is directly related to flow and if the I/C is not capable of flowing the air needed for a given HP, it will put what it can in the engie but what it does put will be hotter than desired. As for the GN I/C, the stock GN was rated (errr, under-rated) at 245hp and 350+hp is fairly commomn among these cars with the stock I/C. The main problem with the stock GN I/C is where the factory located it and the fact that it is always heat-soaked. I guess GM in its wisdom figured they would use all that space under the hood left by the miniscule V6. This I/C is more than enough for a turboZ but how you mount it is the problem. I have seen a couple in 280ZXs and they laid it on its side and it does look odd in there. Is it a lot of trouble to install in a 1st-gen? Maybe, but is it any more than the mods needed to fit the medium & large NPRs? I am not advocating this I/C, I am just saying it should be another option if you can figure out how to fit it. BTW, look at the size of the tubes compared to all the other stockers and tell me which you think will move more air. http://www.gnttype.org/techarea/pictureguides/intercoolers/CASvsstock.html

Finally, some progress to report. The new engine (new shortblock) is finally back in the car and hoping to fire it up Sunday morning.

Actually, it could be worse. It could have said quality not quantity.

Mouse over the little square under the number of posts.

"Scottie-GNZ is an unknown quantity at this point" Yup, that's me or I think its me.

Here you go: S A Gear Co., Inc 7252 W. 66th St. Bedford Park, Illinois Country: United States Zip: 60638 Phone: 708-496-0395 Fax: 708-496-1248

No. maybe you should invest in restraint. As John said, show restraint and not pay more than you were willing to. If the bidding goes over, it was not meant to be. Have to giggle when I see people spending so much for items on eBay just because they want the winning bid.

Looking forward to seeing the car run at SEZ. Should put on quite a show.

I never had the cojones to find out the top speed of my Z but I can tell you it was accelerating hard at 135mph going through the 1/4 traps. With DRs, it was stable at that speed and while I would not claim any aero tricks, I attributed it to the slight rake, front dam and rear spoiler (way too much down force for drag racing) and the headlight covers. Headlight covers! Yeah I hear the snickers but I would not run a Z at major speed w/o them. The car started to get light approaching 150 (just upshifted to OD) on my harumph, harumph, "test track" and after that....... this wimp did not care to find out.

Glad to see someone with such a gorgeous car willing to do more than wax and admire it. My hat's off to ya Fred

Hans, congrats on the 1.39!!! So, how does it feel to be shot out of a cannon? :D Nice clean install on the Taurus fan. Also just put one on an alum 24x19 and wired it to run on high triggered by the ECM. Low speed is triggered by a manual switch for when I am in the pits with the ign off. The 2 brackets at the bottom supports all the weight of the fan and the little tab at the top holds it up against the core. No plastic tabs through the core to damage the tubes.

Good point! Another critical thing about making the DP that routes between the bellhousing and tranny tunnel is the angle of the pipe off the turbo flange. You only need to be off by a couple of degress at the turbo end to have clearance issues. If anyone plans to mass produce these, get the 1st one perfect then make an accurate jig, else you are asking for trouble.

Assuming this shop does mandrel bending.

Once again, the issue is not the diff but the axles, halfshafts or CVs depending on what you plan to use.

SA is a company developed by former DynaGear employees when DynaGear went out of business. Do not know much about their product but if it is the same quality and materials as DynaGear, then it should be a good product. However, do not let the name of the company or the fact that is a "double roller", etc, fool you into believing their timing sets are a good product. Most of the big names are now using powdered metal and those are prone to failure. In the Buick world we see this a lot and it is because the chain is a much harder material than the gear sets and the gear sets get chewed up. Where does all that chewed up metal go? What you need to do is find out if the gears are made from a hardened metal and you should be OK, regardless of brand. If you have a day or 2, I can get you the telephone number for SA and you can call and ask them since the people selling the timing sets only know how to look up an item in a catalog.

With that kind of power you cannot break an R230 or maybe even an R200. CVs, halfshafts, stub axles? Thats a different thing.

This obsession with 3" DPs on the stock turbo's 2"+ exhaust outlet just cracks me up. I am doing just fine with a 3" DP on a P-trim exhaust and 520rwhp and a 2.5" DP is not enough for a little hair dryer and less than half that power?

I do not think your scale is wrong. I was in the same boat as Terry. Forgot the actual weight of the 17x8.5 & 275/40-17 combo I had on my Z but after seeing the UPS guy struggling to get them out of his truck, I knew it was a mistake. That was an absolute waste of money. BTW, speaking of 28" rims, I just saw a blurb where Randy Moss showed up at training camp with 30" rims/tires on his dump truck, errr, SUV.

Thanks for the replies guys. It seems like a soft soft pad is definitely what I need and there is no concern about wear on my part. Guess I have to be specific about asking or looking for organics. Dan, still have the trans brakes but concerned about shocking the OEM CVs with all that torque. FYI, I am running a C4 diff in an otherwise stock RX7 suspension, but we have an adaptor that bolts up the stronger Turbo II CVs to the C4 diff. AFAIK, the TII CVs are even stronger than the 280ZXs but why risk it. I have already cut a 1.51 with the hand brake and 255 MT DRs and I will settle for that. The new shortblock is expected to generate between 630-650 lb/ft torque! if I can ever get it off the engine stand.

Folks, looking for a recommendation on a bake pad (rear only) that will provide maximum holding power on dead cold brakes. Here is how the brakes will be used and why I need that. I am foot braking the car at line but the current pads (just some old stockers) cannot hold the torque as the boost starts coming up on the stall. I have been using the hand brake in conjunction with the foot brake and that has been working just fine. Now I need that right hand for something else (snicker!) and can no longer use the hand brake. So, I need pads that will give max initial bite and holding power at the line with cold brakes. Whatever is best for that application will do for me for street driving so please, please do not recommend any super hi-po ceramic, supercalifrag.... road racing brakes. Someone recommended EBC Greens but the writeups on that pad does not seem like what I need. I have a feeling that a set of cheaper stock replacements would do it but somehow "lifetime" brakes seem too hard to get the job done.

You are reading it wrong. Think about it. Why would you merge 2 3" pipes into a single 2.5" or expand a single 2.5" into dual 3"? OK, I guess a ricer would put a single 2.5" exhaust into dual 3" outlets with 5" tips :D