zclubhouse
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Posts posted by zclubhouse
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Looking for a ignition box (MSD 6... Mallory, taylor, summit etc.) I do not need a super fancy box with rev limiter and timing controls, but for the right price I would take one. Looking to spend around $75? Please tell me what you have or if my price range is unreasonable. Thanks in advance
Andrew
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Im 21 now. Bought my 73 240z from a friend two years ago around thanksgiving looking like this...
Now its this
At the time I couldn't pass it up for 750 bucks. But I have no idea what I was thinking. I though I was into cars because I had a 87 GTI 16v with bolt ons, the Z really taught me what spending time in the garage was all about. I couldn't weld, Fabricate, wire, tune motors, set up suspension....
Now a year or so later and countless hours I have new passenger frame rail and floorpan, all new wiring, suspension, L28 with a cam, (2 new toolboxes) etc... Hands down the best purchase I ever made. I remember telling my fiance that "Ah no problem, I'll be able to finish this car on the cheap and quick" while all the time about ready to run screaming out of the garage for fear of my mistake. Now I couldn't be prouder of my below average Z. Of course my checking account (what's a savings account?!?) suffered, but it was certainly worth it. I'm driving the Z away from my wedding in june, straight headers
. Can't think of a better way to warn her family of whats in store for the coming years. -
Anyone?
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Hello Everyone,
Searched around for a while to try and find the consensus on the best SU rebuild kit but haven't found much. I know that many people choose to go with the Z therapy kit but I do not understand why that kit would cost so much in comparison to the other kits such as black dragon automotive. I know that "you get what you pay for," but since I really only need new gaskets and fuel hose which one would be best? Is there any performance or quality difference between the two? I dont have a money tree so any advice/opinions are appreciated. Thanks in advance:icon14:
Andrew
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I have removed my rear bumper from my 240Z and am planning on wrapping a new rollpan over the existing holes and smoothing it around the sides. However, when I put my fuel cell in the back of the car, I intentionally left a 5 inch gap to the inside of the tail light housing. I am planning on installing a bar between the rear frame rails and mounting a bumper from a junked car (still a good bumper) inside the car in the space in between the cell and the tail light housing area. I pulled the plastic shield away from the actual bumper material and will mount it to the 2" square steel tube with metal straps. I'm not a 5 star crash safety inspector, but I figure that this will be comparable to a functioning outside rear bumper and will prevent my fuel cell mounts from taking the brunt of the impact forces. Is this reasoning sound? I'll post pics as I make progress if anyone is interested.
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Its strange that I don't see any mounting holes on the carbon front lip. Am I missing something or do they expect you to drill into carbon fiber?!?
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I know a friend going through all the chemistry.... seems pretty hard. But I guess if its not something your doing it seems hard. Good luck with next semester!
Thanks. School goes by so quick anyways, I will be done before I know it.
My best friend is a chemistry major wanting to get into a medical school. he's not doing all that well lol. i can probably narrow it down to two things. 1. he doesn't get it which i highly doubt since he's a smart guy. 2. DOTA! we both play wayyy too much. however, i'm a communication studies major so i can
Haha, yeah I know a few of those guys. My fiance just got into IU med in indianapolis, so it looks like I will be moving the z operations down here for a few years. Medical school is a bear, I started out as pred-med, but I realized that I don't want to cut people, don't want to give out penicillin perscriptions all day, and I like Biology/Botany alot more! Anyways, Im not so sure I would want to wait until 27-28 to have time for anything else in my life.
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Finishing up finals tomorrow with Biology 4050- Genetics. Graduating in the spring with a bachelor's in Biology, minor in chemistry and botany. In school in Indianapolis and the z is at home in wisconsin, talk about going crazy. Looking forward to the last winter break of my life, should be clocking some serious time in the garage with my new heater! Trying not to think about next semester too much... (Molecular Biochemistry, Virology, Advanced Plant Taxonomy, Mycology, Senior Seminar, Finishing up 2 1/2 years of independent research, and T.A. for Organic Chem and Botany,) all while trying to find a job
. However I don't envy you physics/engineering majors, I narrowly survived my brush with differential equations and E&M, good luck to you all! -
Be VERY CAREFUL if you decide to weld anything to your existing tank. I watched my buddy weld on a peanut tank for his bike that had been empty and laying around for weeks. He stuck a bead and caught the fireball right into his chest and spent the night in the hospital. I don't know if there is a reliable method for removing fumes from a tank, but make sure the thing is competely empty before you screw around.
In my humble opinion, I would stick with the original tank if at all possible. I didn't have the option with my car, but I couldn't afford the ATL/Fuel safe and now I'm further away from being legal if I take it to a track.
BTW, if you decide to go with a fuel cell, I would reccomend with stainless braided lines right out of the cell then into the straight line after the pump. On my fuel cell the sump pickups are close enough to the ground and exposed that I thought that stainless line would work better than regular rubber for protection
haha.... Not to mention the fact that whatever cell you get will probably already have a -8AN bung on it and stainless will simplify your plumbing. -
Correct me if I am wrong, but I do not think that you want "pipe" of any sort. You need "tubing," specifically DOM tubing. Tubing and pipe are measured differently as well, so make sure you know what you are getting. Pipe is measuring in ID and the wall thickness changes with the size of the pipe. However, tubing can be ordered in varying thicknesses and different OD/ID. I was always told that unless you need something to run through it, you need tubing. Pipe is only good unless you are a plumber or plan on building fences.
check out this link on tubing
http://www.speedymetals.com/information/material17.html
I have bought all my metal from these guys, very easy to deal with and have pretty competitive prices.
Hope this helps
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I will try to see if I have any old Black Dragon catalogs laying around. I have found that their catalog has more stuff than what they list online.
Sounds good. I tried searching again for their horns with no success. Maybe they lost the supplier in that last couple of years. No worries, I won't be looking to purchase them till after the holiday crunch anyways. Thanks for the help
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Your car is basically a street car so what I use in the diff on my track car is not appropriate. Go with what I recommend for a street car. For the transmission, again your car is a street car so go with what I recommend above. I never run synthetic oil in a Nissan transmission because its often too slippery for the synchros.
In my dreams its a race car, does that count?!
Thanks again for the help. I think I am going to go with a 30wt mobil 1 or redline synthetic non race oil for the motor, keep the tranny the way it is (its a fresh flush and fill) and go for a redline or delo synthetic 85/140 in the rear because Im sure that will hold up for autocross. -
That was with the motor sitting at the middle of the gauge for water temperature after I was driving for 20 minutes or so. I don't know what the oil temperature was like but as soon as I drove it the next day rather than at night so it was warmer, the problem went away. I didn't want it to reoccur so I gave it to my dad. He uses it in all the race motors he builds so I guess they run hot enough. I think the problem is that the oil pump shares its shaft with the dizzy so if you put a load on the pump, the ignition falls behind too. I also was worried about blowing galley plugs since I never threaded and capped them as the books say to do.
Thats scary. The old zr-1 C4 corvettes had a safety switch that would not let the driver go past 1/4 throttle until proper operating oil temp is reached. It takes longer than people think, my water temp is normal way before the oil gets there. Im anal about it anyways, I wont hardly move the car till everything is running the way it should be.
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I used Kendall GT straight 50w and it wasn't even cold out and the motor wouldn't rev past 4000rpm from it being so thick. I like it though because it has the zinc in it for solid lifters. Switched to regular synthetic 10W-30 because hell, I didn't make this motor to last over 100,000 miles. >_>
Thats strange that it wouldn't rev past 4k. My motor hits 7k without a hiccup with the 50wt in it. Didn't make it to last 100,000 eh? haha My poor z will be floating around this planet as trash before I ever put 100k on the motor thats in it!
The best reference:http://www.api.org/certifications/engineoil/categories/upload/English_Oil_Guide.pdf
Any oil that meets the current API SM standard will work well. I'm partial to Mobil 1 or Chevron Delo 400. I will run Delo in the older street cars I've owned (240Z, Continental, Sedanette, Nova, Falcon, etc.) I run Mobil 1 in my work truck (lots of towing) and cars I run on a road race track (240Z, 350Z, MR2, 325).
For transmission oil I use a 50/50 mix of Chevron Delo ESI gear oil in 80/90 and Delo 10W-30 engine oil on older street cars. For differential oil in older street cars I use Chevron Delo ESI 85/140. For track cars I use what the manufacturer recommends in the transmission and for the diff I use an industrial fully synthetic gear oil that meets ISO220/AGMA 5EP standards.
Good link John. Thanks alot for the info, that was exactly what I was looking for. Do you have any examples of an industrial full synthetic? Not sure I understand the standards as applied to off the shelf oil that I can think of. I will see if I can get the specs off a few gear oils and see if they meet that requirement. For the track car's transmission do you use a synthetic product or just normal oil that matches with the factory specs? Thanks again
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That is why I bought them...I figured, out $40 is much better than $100+.
I took a look in their on-line catalog and couldn't find them either. I guess they stopped selling them.
Bummer. I'll keep looking or I might just bite the bullet and make some if the price of aluminum comes down. Thanks for the help anyways
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Heres the list of things I have learned in the past year. Probably common knowledge but I wish I had known this when I started!
Do the job right the first time. Having to redo anything wastes time and money. If you don't know how to do something, ask. Winging it rarely provides you with the result you were hoping for. When wiring anything, have a good mechanical connection (crimp), then solder it, then shrink wrap it. Do NOT think that a pair of pliers and a box of cheap solderless fitting are the way to go. Its worth the time up front to not spend time chasing down electrical ghosts! Learned this one the hard way.
Form a cabinet of knowledgeable and trustworthy friends/advisors. Alot of things we do to Z cars are not Z car specific, meaning that old guy you know with a hot rod chevy has a lot of useable information that can help you with whatever you are trying to do.
Look around your garage at all that crap you have piling up... Sell it and fund your current project! Of course its nice to have a huge pile of car parts, but I would not have been able to finish my 240z if I had kept onto my pack-rat habits. Who needs that intake manifold off the truck you sold 3 years ago? Not you.
Buy a welder or find one you can use. It may not seem like "saving money" when you spend money on this, but its way cheaper to do things yourself than to pay someone else. I used to have a z with rusted out floor pans. Now I dont and I basically paid for the welder in what I saved from not paying someone else.
Use the right tool for the job. I have broken things simply because I was in a rush and ended up breaking the part itself.
Get a collection of small plastic bags and put whatever you take off of the car into them and label the contents. You may think that you will remember that you put those mounting bolts for your dash on top of the snowblower, but 5 months later when you are looking for them, they will be gone and you will have to go and buy new hardware. Every little bit you can save adds up.
Think before you buy anything shiny. Polished or chrome doesn't mean faster, stronger or better. Don't replace it unless its broken or you derive some benefit from doing so. On a race car looking better does not qualify. Also, before you buy something, find 3 other similar products and compare. It sucks to buy something and then find out that you could've had what you really needed.
Autometer 2 5/8' gauges fit right into the stock gauge holes. A bit of single sided adhesive foam strip locks them in there just right and they do not shake. Brackets can be make to hold them in place to the stock bracket location from thin sheet aluminum with tin snips and a handheld drill.
Autometer 5 inch tach fits right into the tachometer hold as well. You can even use the dash mounting bracket inside the dash, just drill two holes and use self tapping screws.
JB weld can solve alot of your problems.
Welding cable is cheaper than alot of 2 gauge battery cable and works great for grounds.
Cardboard wrapped in black felt works pretty good for door cards. You can cut out the original mounting holes and still attach your armrest. Better than always cutting your arm on the metal or spending lots of money on a matching set.
The Autozone Help section sometimes has that weird part you think you will never be able to find alot cheaper than you thought you could get it.
Do as much diagnostic work as you can stand before you start pitching money blindly at a problem.
Before you decide to sideline your car for a project, outline every individual cost of the upgrade besides just the major part itself. Its easy to think that a gauge only costs fifty bucks and then you end up having to spend close to 100 once you buy the adaptors and other misc bits to make it work.
If your door is hard to shut and seems to hang too low, you can put a block of wood just underneath the bottom edge of the door and apply a little pressure with a floor jack (dont lift the car off the ground.) Often this will tweak your hinges up just a bit and the door will close smooth and easy.
Use the classifieds on this site!
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Trends in oil selection for racing or heavy duty use have moved away from high viscocity. Unless there's a very specific need, 50wt is not ideal and using oil viscocity to see a high pressure reading on the gauge is a mistake.
Since 50wt is not ideal, should I just stick with the straight 30w synthetic or should I run a multigrade oil? Which oil would be the best? I am not worried about using a oil merely to get a good reading on my gauge, I had 10w-30 in the car for a while and still had at least 10lbs of oil pressure for every 1000rpm. Thanks for the advice. One more question, what do you recommend for the transmission and differential?
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No, 50wt is not a bad vicousity. There are plenty of racers who run the stuff. I didn't know you only drive the car in the summer. Still, if it were me, I'd consider installing an oil heater for use on chilly days. But I'm anal-retentive. I knew a guy in high school (very long time ago) who spun a bearing on a chilly day (probably about 40-50 degrees) by not allowing the engine to warm up before he punched the throttle. He was using straight 50wt non-synthetic.
Ok. Thanks for the advice. I have an oil temp gauge installed and never even move the car until I am at operating range. Ive spent too much money on this car to implode it with impatience. I never drive the car on chilly days anyways. Do you think that a different weight oil (lighter or multigrade) would be better for my application? I was thinking about a multigrade ?-50W so I would build oil pressure faster on "cold" starts. Or should I just switch to a straight 30wt race synthetic because i do not need the full protection of a heavy weight oil? Is the idea of synthetic oil's reduced friction really true?
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50W!?!?!!!
WHAT?
If you read the FSM, they call for straight 30W motor oil. Valvoline VR-1 30W or 10w-30 would be much more appropriate.
I used the FSM as a reference point. 50wt because I want good protection on a motor that gets beat on. The motor is not run or built under factory specs so I choose 50wt. If you think that 30wt is better, why should I run it and why would 50wt be the wrong choice for my application? I am open to any advice on this matter, but I want to make an informed decision.
Mobile 1 fully syntheticWhat weight? Why not a "race" oil synthetic like redline? I know mobil makes a great product, but would I need all the detergents if I am changing my oil every year after less than 1000 miles of driving?
I would not run 50wt in WI in the winter time. It's way too thick especially in cold climates. If you really want 50wt at full running temp then use Castrol 10w50 synthetic.Haha. The car is in full winterized storage right now. I only drive the car in the summer anyways (generally 75 degrees of higher.) I am gathering that you guys consider 50wt to be a poor choice of oil. I am running straight weight because I don't ever start the car when it is super cold.
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I have been looking around quite a bit recently for reliable information on what oil products are the best to use. I have been talking recently to an ex-chrysler engine engineer about my car and he suggests that I switch every oil in my car (engine, trans and diff) to full synthetic in interest of gaining power through reduced friction. I am currently running Valvoline VR-1 straight 50wt in the motor (10.5comp L28, 5 speed with a sport clutch and standard ratios, and a 3.90 LSD R200) and the rest of the components are filled with standard petroleum products and weights as outlined in my shop repair manual. This car is not a daily driver, its a purpose built auto-x machine. I have been hearing lots of info about newer racing synthetics that are multigrade 0W-50 but I am skeptical that alot of the info available is simply uninformed bench racing and old wives tales.
So the question remains, should I leave everything the way it is, change just one component or do everything? Change what and why? I have heard things about synthetic possibly ruining the LSD discs in my R200. What is myth and what is fact? Looking for any input you wiser folks can tell me, I am very new to performance car building. And advice or links would be greatly appreciated. Thank you in advance.
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I got mine from Black Dragon a couple of years ago. They were something like $20.00 a piece.
I looked through their online catalog but could not seem to find anything. Any chance you could post a part number or link? 20 a piece is by far the cheapest I have heard of.
I got MSA horns on my 73 that has 72 SUs on it. I use the ITG filters, which I think work great and look real good too.I think that is what I am favoring right now. Not sure I will spring for the ITG setup because I already have the K&N filters. Are ITGs supposed to flow better than the K&N or are they comparable?
If you are cheap like me you can cut the air horns from the backing plate of the stock air filter housing and place them under your K&N filters. In my case they were free since I had a beat-up old housing and they work fine.I do not have the stock housing anymore. I really want to get a performance velocity stack that is matched for the carb and better than stock. I am sure that any extra intake length even if supplied by the stock intake would be better though. I have no problem trying to fab something together, but if I am going to spend the time I want to get the best set-up I can. I would like to make my own, but I can only turn the outside of the cone on a lathe, I do not know how I would get to the inside. Not to mention the price of aluminum is rather high and I want to get dimensions that are optimum, not just wing it.
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Heres a pic of the product from pegasus for comparison.
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Starting to answer my own question. I might be the only one on this quest but I thought I would share the info as a possible resource for others. Let me know if you guys find anything else.
Forgot about thezstore.com and stumbled upon these possibilities the other day. Radius doesn't seem to be as large as the ones Pegasus Racing offers, its a shame that there isn't more information available on actual dimensions.
Heres an option for early SU's, the bolt pattern seems to be the same as my 73 SUs but if I had to guess, I would think that zstore and motorsport z know what they are talking about. At $50 a piece thats the best price I have seen.
http://www.thezstore.com/page/TZS/PROD/PFFC07/11-3014
They are also compatible with K&N filters which I know for a fact that the pegasus auto racing ones above are not. These are the filters I am currently running and I have no complaints. $57 a piece from thezstore
Motorsport Z also offers these ITG filters for their air horns is yet another option. Again, I wish dimensions were available because I would not want the stack + filter pushing all the way out against the inner fender wall. 2 options from ITG, either single SU filters or a double option. Heres a link for the single at $85.
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Hello Everyone,
I have been trying to find some information on using a velocity stack/carb air horn with a 1.75" SU carb. I have searched all over this site and I have not been able to find anything. I am running a 10.5 comp L28 with a mild cam and headers and I do not have the funds for triples so I am trying to get the most out of what I already have. I was thinking about getting these http://www.pegasusautoracing.com/productdetails.asp?RecID=5142
which should give me a reasonable power increase over the K&N filters I am running right now. However, I need some sort of filter so when I do not suck rocks through the motor. What options do I have for filters or other velocity stacks? I can always get a universal taper and tig it to a flange too. What are you SU guys running? Thanks in advance
Andrew
. Can't think of a better way to warn her family of whats in store for the coming years.
. However I don't envy you physics/engineering majors, I narrowly survived my brush with differential equations and E&M, good luck to you all!
haha.... Not to mention the fact that whatever cell you get will probably already have a -8AN bung on it and stainless will simplify your plumbing.
Thanks again for the help. I think I am going to go with a 30wt mobil 1 or redline synthetic non race oil for the motor, keep the tranny the way it is (its a fresh flush and fill) and go for a redline or delo synthetic 85/140 in the rear because Im sure that will hold up for autocross.
SU velocity stack/filter options
in Fuel Delivery
Posted
Breathing a little life back in to this thread. Along the lines of the thinking above, I found this product from aptfast.com . They only deal with the british cars that ran SU carbs, but it should be interchangeable with the Hitachi knockoffs. And at 30 bucks a piece and compatibility with the K&N setup I am sold. More along the lines of a piece to "roll" the air over the 90 degree edge than a full blown longer velocity stack, but it should do the trick.