Six_Shooter

I have not been able to locate in the wiring diagrams what this part is or where the wires leading to it may be going. Here is a pic: It is located on the driver side of the automatic tranny that came out of my 1973 240Z. There is an L28 in there, but I'm sure this is the original tranny and the wires leading to this are definatly in the original wiring harness. Is this at all related to the switch above my gas pedal? Thanks

There is too much truth to that statement. I realize my auto had problems, but wow did it ever suck up so much power. The L28 is actually impressive now.

LOLz. I've been in similar situations. I remember tuning a customers car, back a few years ago when I was first getting into tuning, took the car out for a drive at night, with the GF in the passenger seat. Drove out and around making sure everything looked good, then let the hammer drop, the car definatly wasn't the quickets I had been in, but it was teh quickets she had been in with the hammer dropped. Car was swaying a little and had to corrective steer, I think that's what got her the most. She almost freaked out, and said that she'd never want to be in a car doing that again..... Now after doing the manual tranny swap on the 240 and telling her how hard the clutch grabs, she wants to go for a ride, I think I've been able to show her that quick acceleration is fun. She also wants to learn how to drive stick.

Why was that? Swap the pedal box too? I just swapped the pedals and had it done in about 15 minutes. It's been a lot of fun driving it around, I'm going to pour some Synchromesh in there today, I think it is low on fluid and once I realized that everything was closed for the long weekend. I liked driving my Z before, now I love it!. Thanks for the kind words.

I think it looks really good rounded like that, maybe even better than a pointed corner. Dooo eeeet!

I finished converting my 240 from auto to manual this weekend. I had most of it done on Saturday, then wanted to do a few other things that took a little more time, among family obligations, I put it back on the ground today and took it for a drive. So far, I'm liking it. Unfortunatly it's just a 4 speed, but am looking for a 5 speed to replace this one with. I have a Center Force Dual Friction, that so far I'm really impressed with, especially after hearing of so many people having problems with them. I'll put it to the test once I add the turbo and EFI, in a few weeks. I am actually impressed with the L28 that's in my car now, since I can now make my tires scream for traction going into 3rd. There were a few things that are not covered in any search result I had looked at previous to starting this swap. The bellhousing bolts are longer for the manual tranny ('77 4-speed). I used M10x1.5x60. The shifter opening needs to be cut out to clear the manual shifter. The wiring is not as it is shown in the Haynes Repair Manual, for the starter circuit. The Haynes manual shows the starter wire going directly from the ignition switch to the "inhibit switch" then to the starter. In my car the starter wire goes to a relay on the firewall next to the battery. Took me a bit to discover this, and ended up looping the black/yellow wires that did go to the inhibit switch together. This is an ignition wire, and enables the starter inhibit relay to close and allow the starter signal to pass through. The reverse lights required changing the connectors on the harness. These are "bullet connectors" and on both the harness and the manual tranny reverse light switch were males. I opted to change the harness connections, to female bullet connectors. A small jumper harness with female bullet connectors could be made, but that's too many connections for me, and NEVER plan to go back to auto. Some pictures: Not enough pedals: Ahh, that's better: I believe the OEM clutch tube would run in this location, it looked like a good route. I just used a piece of 3/16" brake line and put metric double flare nuts on it, bent into shape and installed. CFDF: Did this in my driveway, since my truck is still in the garage, going to be putting a garage door on the back of the garage so that I can put it out back. The automatic shifter hole: After being cut out: I now have a manual Z, just like I wanted. More pics: http://domestic.3400z24.com/sixshooter/My%20vehicles/Datsun/Tranny%20swap/

There is LOTS of information on DIS ignitions and conversion on this site. Search "EDIS", there is a very close to bolt on set-up using the Ford EDIS parts, including a Ford reluctor wheel, that needs minor machining to fit the L-series engine. There is a thread in the Megasquirt forum. http://forums.hybridz.org/showthread.php?t=103781

I can't help you with this plug (at least nlot without seeing a diagram), but I'm glad to hear you're so close. I might have cruise out there later and check it out.

This is a P90 headed L28, with a 240 carb intake and downdraft carbs in my '73 240.

Not hard at all, from what I see. I have an L28 in my 240 also, and it came with carbs on it. If it's a P90 head, it looks like it should have two bolt patterns, from what I've seen one would match that of the early carb intakes and one would be later EFI intake. I know mine uses one bolt pattern for the carn intakes while there is another set of bolt holes exposed. I haven't verified if these are indeed used by the EFI intake or not. Other heads look like they may not have two bolt patterns. http://forums.hybridz.org/showthread.php?t=129066

Power windows?! What is that part in the upper left of the passenger door?

I just did this yesterday in my auto to manual swap in my '73. Removing the exhaust, helped get a lot of space to allow the tranny to just lower straight down on the jack. The hardest part of the entire swap was installing the manual tranny, but even that was easier than other cars I replaced the tranny on. I was very amazed at how the engine did not tilt back, even with the tranny attached and no jack under the tranny. The engine mounts must be very stiff. I also made some guide pins from longer bolts, just ground the head to be round, helped quite a bit. Here is a pic of the car, this was taken yesterday, but it's still on the stands because I have to finish a few details, like replace the exhaust, fill the tranny and bleed the clutch. It's raining today too, I'm glad I got most of the work done yesterday when it was nice. BTW the only reason I didn't use the garage to do this is because my truck is in it, still not mobile. After not being able to bench press the tranny into place yesterday, I definatly need to start going back to the gym.

Is the clutch low on fluid?

Where are the front turn signals mounted? High in the grill or below where the corners of the bumper would be?

You get what you pay for, top quality work from Tom's Upholstery. I've seen him re-do things three times so that it's perfect when it leaves the shop, "will do" is not good enough. It doesn't happen often that he or his guys need to re-do something, but there are some panels that just don't seem to go right the first time.

AFAIK, the 280 dash will bolt right into the chassis, I haven't read about anyone having problems with that and it looks to be the same in comparison, but the heater control panel is different, along with the way the gauges mount is different. There's a couple other minor differences too that I don't recall.

Here is a write up on converting the early points dizzy to a 280Z electronic dizzy: http://www.zhome.com/ZCMnL/tech/gmhei.html I have all the parts, and plan to do this very soon, just haven't found the time yet, hopefully this weekend. I just looked up the installation instructions ( http://msdignition.com/pdf/5200_frm18162.pdf ), and the MSD-5 does not have a magnetic trigger in so you will also need the GM ignition module suggested in the above documentation. Just to forewarn you, your tach will no longer function, because of the change in wiring. The 240 tach is current triggered in that the main coil power wire runs through the tach. You will need a later tach that is points triggered and then add a wire for this from the tach output of your MSD ignition to the new dizzy. If you need a later tach I have an extra one I'm willing to sell.

grapeaperacing.com There are a few technical papers there, one of which deals with intake tract length. At WOT the distance from the valve to the throttle plate is not important, since it's not really effecting anything (other than a very little restriction), the distacnce from the valve to the end of the intacke runner is the iportant part and will have an effect on the power band, along with runner diameter, and less so, any bends that are in that path. As OTM said the distance from the valve to the throttle plate has an effect on throttle responce, but I'm sure how much of an effect this has will also be effected by the other runner dimentions as well, diameter, bends and such.

That's pretty cool, too bad I'm not a Start Wars fan, still pretty cool though.

Similar result here, I've been trying some techniques with my Malibu to reduce fuel consumption, and although I have not gone through a full tank yet, using these consumption usage techniques, I'm not seeing muchg of an improvment if any, according to the fuel gauge. I have been driving the Z for the last few days anyway. I would think it's one of those learned things, where the more you do it the better you'll get, but I don't think I'll see much of an improvement in my 'Bu. The problems experianced with the Jeep may be due to it being automatic (assuming, since most are anymore), and the pump not being driven while the Jeep is coasting. Think about it the same as towing it, any automatic car needs to have the drive wheels off the ground when being towed, to avoid transmission damage, when the engine is not running. A manual tranny would be the way to go to use this engine off coasting technique, though I don't know how comfortable I feel with people around me doing this, lack of power steering, lack of power assist for the brakes, etc. On a similar note, I final set a record in my Girlfriends Prius the other day, I made all the way to 40 Kph before I had to stop, with out the gas engine kicking in, I bet I could have made it to at least 45, had there been more distance to do so. As far as the original topic goes, something small, light, and tunable, well anything can be tuned, and with your experiance tuning the OBD1 GM ecm you can either retro fit a GM ECM to what ever engine you choose, or apply what you know to a new ECM. Using something with SFI would be a good idea as well, though there are debates on just how effective SFI really is to economy. I'm thinking a Geo Metro 3 cyl, with a light 5-speed tranny behind it from somthing like a Miata, or even a Z car (no, I don't believe they will bolt up). Why not go for the gusto and convert to electric? I'm doing this with my Jimmy, yeah I know, wrong vehicle to start with to do this, but it's what I have and I need something that will haul and tow, which with the way I will be designing the electric drive shouldn't be much of a stretch.

For starters, I don't think any of us on Hybrid Z are running Indy. Second of all, if that hypothetical car you speak of, opens the mystery protection device (fuse or circuit breaker), on the last lap, and then is able to be reset/replaced immediatly to complete the lap, that shows me that the circuit was improperly designed and/or protected. This shows me that the circuit in question has been runing near or at the limits of that circuit, causing the circuit and protection device to be heated at a pretty constant rate for most or all of the race, and the protection device finaly opened, protecting the circuit, just as it should. Since this protection device can be reset rather quickly (it would have to be to stay with your example, even then a few spots are guaranteed to be lost), this shows that the circuit is able to cool down quickly, and allow a shorter time than was initially seen before the protection device opens again. You start getting into heat cycling the circuit, which will also cause the wiring itself to build resistance after a few heat cycles reducing the ability for the wire to effectivly transfer power, which will cause the "problem" to show more frequently at shorter intervals, even when starting from a cold start situation. In this example, the loads should be split up over more protection devices, to allow the protection device to perform it's intended job, protect the circuit in the event of a short circuit, or a failed device (usually also causing a short circuit). A properly designed electrical system will NEVER open a protection device under normal operation. True, but it was alluded to, in the original post, with the airplane example. The very same thing can happen with circuit breakers, some are not made as well as others, and you do need to spend some good money a good fuse block, for it to last and be reliable. I only ever use fuses in my additional circuits and other than AGU fuses (large glass) of the last few years from a certain supplier, I just don't ever have a problem with the fuses, or fuse blocks.

These are movie cars only, not TV show cars, so no K.I.T.T. or A-Team van, Rockford Firebird, etc.

I agree that list is terrible. Not just the order, which is bad, but the missing cars, like the cars from Death Race 2000 (only Frankenstien's car gets an honerable mention), other cars from Mad Max or the Road Warrior, like Humungous' Ford F-150, or the Bel-air looking car in Mad Max. The Firebird from Firebird 2015 A.D. I was expecting to see the Dayton from The Wraith on the list, but it only had an honerable mention. I think someone's idea of "most memorable" is quite skewed. I've seen most of the movies on that list and forgot about at least half of them.

It is precisly this reason that I never use auto reset breakers. In all my years of electrical experiance (it's lots, it's what I do for a living), I have never seen a fuse blow with out a very good reason. These reasons are usually overloading a circuit, such as plugging in a 400W power inverter to a cigarete socket and running that inverter to a heat gun set on high, or a problem with an item attached to that circuit, or the wiring in that circuit has been damaged. That is why even in the long run, fuses will still usually be cheaper, since they really are rare to blow on a properly wired car, are lighter, because, hey, every ounce counts to some people, and they are a finite protection, the fuse blows that circuit is dead, no chance of the wire becoming warm and starting a fire.

I'll be using LW3 with my LC-1 once I get that far. I don't have anything else to display though, I almost want to buy a DL-32 or SSI-4 just to add more gauges to the display.