Lazeum

I agree with the last comment More and more people are making awesome pics but we need to get more videos. I want to do one with mine for years but I need skills... Petrolicious is having so many great videos on cars, it is inspiring! The 250gt Lusso (car & video) is wonderful!

Detecting knock is not so easy. System has to filter white noise, noise from other sources (engine, roads, brakes, misc. items loose) & knock. White noise could be reduce during detection by averaging it, other noises could be identified during regular operation (but you have to identify them) & knock can then be determined when something unusual happens. It is not so easy and requires a lot of R&D to be reliable even if knock frequency is around the same for every engine. NVH Signal processing is a science and requires some knowledge to be efficient. I've done this exercice at Bosch Brake systems Corp. on a 6 months intership while I was student to detect squeal on brakes. I was a 6 month project with a lot of coding with Matlab/Simulink, top of the shelf equipement and a PHD tutor who knew what he was doing. On the other side, you could use your ears that can do this filtering quite easily as long as you've got the right tool to hear well & to filter surrounding noises. I've made a DIY detcan that works quite well & cost $15. I would be surprized if a tuner with a dyno wouldn't have his own professionnal detcan so you shouldn't have to make your own anyway.

I haven't tuned turbo engine from scratch but my guess would be to run the boost your turbo is designed for. Check out its map and see where is the best efficiency vs. rpm & boost. With a GT35 and stock head (to be confirmed???), you would need to run some high boost to get 350whp but others have done it, just make sure, as it was adviced, to be conservative with AFR and timing especially during tuning.

Good stuff! At least you know what's wrong. You're on the good path to solve for good your issue.

I second that! Another link to make some test of the box: http://www.msdignition.com/page.aspx?id=3206

if you haven't touched your engine yet, how is the valve clearance for this lobe? What about the others? On my build, they have moved quite a lot on the first 500 mi. Now, it is steady. I have destroyed a cam & an engine because of that. If you had heat enough (lack of oil film) to destroy cam lobe heat treatment, rocker might show some heat evidence, it could look black.

The MSD might not provide some voltage to your coil, it might be normal. For your dizzy, if you block the lazer beam with something; a credit card might be not opaque enough (I mean: non transparent - I'm not sure about my English here ), you should experience some drop in voltage on your dizzy terminals. Anyway, your issue looks like the one I had last year. I had no power at coil, everything else was normal. So I remove the Mallory box (6AL) from my setup to test, car run perfect without it. Mallory box teardown showed some major issues (overheating - it happened after 300mi run - 50 yds before being home ) On your side, it might be interesting to remove the box from the equation and see if it runs without it, or at least if you got spark this way. It was an 1h operation on my side. I don't know the specifics of your 7AL box, it might be not so easy to do but it could be worth it to give it a try.

Have you checked every single component? If you have no spark, you need to think about what could be wrong in your system and test them all. You need to start a proper problem solving activity So instead of providing you answers, I'm going to provide you many questions you need to answer. Other questions would then follow You should try those tests with ignition key set on "on" & "start", one of the circuit might be broken/opened. Disconnect the starter solenoid for those tests to avoid engine to crank. Most of them only require a voltmeter & an Ohmmeter. It should be easy. If you have no spark, something is not working, so I list all the items that could go wrong: battery, fuses, coils, dizzy, MSD box, ignition switch, harness, spark plugs, spark plugs wires. Battery: Does it have at least 12V between terminals? Fuses: are all fuses ok? check especially fuse for ignition since this is your problem. Coils: Do you have power? Is the coil ok? How are the resistance between terminals? Is the ground for coils ok? Dizzy: have you checked if it works properly. I've never messed around with Datsun ignition but on my previous seup with Mallory Unilite dizzy, I could have taken something to cut the beam & create a spark. With a voltmeter, it is just a matter of controlling that voltage at coil was getting low (=short) MSD box: what does the manual says? MSD said box is ok so focus only on connections on your car: does the box receive power? Is ground ok? Ignition switch: Do you see power at the coil going from 0V to 12V when operating the switch? check it at every ign. switch position. If you still have the ballast resistor, you should only read around 9V at coil on "start" position. Harness: if previous test are ok, if should be good. spark plugs: do you they look ok? a visual inspection should tell you if they would work or not. If you're hesitant of if it was fouled previously, try a new one for test. Spark plug cables: check their resistance, you should read read something other than 0 Ohm to make sure they're ok. If you have a "no" answer poping out, you should ask yourself why it does not work and find out why. I hope that helps. Good luck!

Who knows! I've been living in the US for 5 years & travelling a lot accross the world (I was project manager in automotive). It may happen again but chances are low since I'm opening my own local business & moving out from industry and countless useless meetings Good job though!

The steering shaft from the spider gear at rack to the steering wheel has to be straight (if you keep original design with steering coupler), so limit would be clearance with firewall hole. Then there's the spider joint, if you put too much angle to it, you'll introduce torque ripple. Since lowering steering column wouldn't change angle much, you shouldn't be worried about it. Finally comes the safety. If you crash your head/chest against steering wheel, you would have issues. Since it is for a track car, I assume you would have some buckets with harnesses so it shouldn't matter either.

FWIW, it is M22 bolt with fine pitch thread at 1.5mm.

Engine shape is terrible and it still run! I'm not so sure about this one. Check out my location 2 days ago somebody run into a 760 Turbo wagon & wrecked the whole front end (front suspension, fender & bumper - engine is still good) right in front of my apartment, I could follow your steps but I'm not that brave!

You can try www.clarksdiscount.com , it seems they have parts available & the owner is very nice. ITM piston with rings and pin is around $24 new. I wouldn't bother with used stuffs.

To second Xnke, I've got a Rebello cam, base circles are not the same accross the entire shaft. I need different lash pads thickness to get proper pattern on cam lobes/rockers.

I love your build, very tasteful. I must say each time I'm seeing a Volvo Turbo somewhere on the street, I think about your build and the fact that one of those engine is going inside a Z. Good luck!

That's a very valid point. I believe a very careful & methodic approach should be taken to find the root cause. It almost means engine removal and analysis on stand to me.

I'm very sorry for this outcome The root cause of your problem is most likely not in your cam but somewhere else. I would remove the head, disassemble it and check everything. It seems damages were on the first 2 cylinders. Oil supply for the head is in the middle, most likely bottom end is fine otherwise you would have the issue accross all rockers. I would pay special care on cam towers. Open questions for all members: what would happen if clearance between cam & tower would be out of specs? What would happen if straightness/concentricity would be out of tolerance between same parts? I would also check oil, oil pan, oil pickup & oil pump to make sure they're in perfect shape.

Good luck! Keep an eye on valve clearance on the first 500mi. to make sure they're always good and you should be good.

Engine hasn't blown up It is fully lubed & cam looks perfect after 1500mi. What I cannot tell is if results are good because of twin lube system. What I'm saying is I cannot compare nor verify full efficiency of every individual lube solution versus the other.

I'm running both oil systems (internal + spray bar) with turbo pump & restrictor enlarged to 0.120. Results are good so far but I'm unable to really check efficiency of both systems. I had also premature cam wear before so I'd rather get something overkill. To enlarge oil restrictor, I had to pull it out to replace it with new unit (made by Braap). That's a messy job: I tapped it, inserted a bolt with a nut to pull it out. I've put burrs all over the place inside oil galleries. So the only time to do the job this way would be during full rebuild. You can also drill it but outcome would be the same; burrs everywhere. You can try to remove the restrictor without tapping it & then drill it but it could be challenging. Not sure it is worth the hassle.

Very nice! I'd be happy to get more details about the build from Kevin, if you don't mind Engine specs, Engine management (carbs tuning, timing management), Torque/Power output, suspension specs, wheels, etc, etc.

You should have some play inside to make it smooth but the noise seems big to me. Spec for backlash is 0.13 to 0.18mm. So having a cluck is normal since you need some free play. Remove the cover and measure the backlash between the gear & pinion. 280zx FSM PD-19 is showing how to proceed with a dial indicator. It could also be the pinion or the gear that might have some wear... you should check contact pattern between parts to be sure.

I was writting the same comment - stay with stock cam or go big. With a stroker, I would not think twice & go with big cam. How big is the question you need to answer. It will depend on your goals, your intake system, head style, head work, exhaust system, etc. The best move you could do is get a proper list of stuffs made to your engine & ask a pro for proper cam. DJR in UK, Rebello & Isky in the US could help you out.

Hopefully, piston to head clearance will be ok with Nissan gasket but in my attempt to get proper clearance with Ishino (not quite sure of the brand, here...) unit, I ended up with compressed thickness equivalent to felpro unit. Solutions were: -either run the engine as is and risk engine failure -or remove pistons and get them milled to get proper clearance, which took a couple of days to process. This is obviously the solution I've chosen.

Come to France and pay 6.10€ (not $$$) for a gallon of premium fuel! Lucky you!