T-Bone028

Struggling to climb above 4500 RPM....I would guess you have an induction (air/fuel) issue. I'm assuming this is a 280Z with EFI. Like others suggested, drain the tank, change your fuel filters, put in fresh gas, and see if that helps. If it is EFI, perhaps you have an electrical issue.

Holy crap thats a lot of rust...not trying to discourage, I just thought my 260Z had a lot of rust... I'm sure you'll be one of the resident experts in the fabrication/welding forum by the time you finish. Good luck!

I'm sure you've thought about, and decided why you want to go with L28E with EFI, but maybe you can reconsider. For simplicity and less work (wouldnt you need new high-pressure fuel lines to handle EFI over the stock carb fuel lines?), why dont you swap the SU's onto the L28? Just a thought. I havent really considered all the necessities to swap to EFI or done any research so I may be talking out of my @ss.

Fuses...Thats another issue to think about that some other members alluded to. The fuse box, has been known to melt near the parking light fuse because of the high current feeding all of those lights (dash, side markers, parking lights, etc). That could be the culprit as well. Hope you find your problem. It took me 3 weeks to finally find mine, and I'm not sure if I even "found" it. I rebuilt my combo switch twice, resoldered questionable connections, followed every single wire from the console to the fuse box, taped off wires that seemed to go nowhere, unplugged every single exterior light on the car, plugged everything back in one at a time, replaced both front turn signal sockets, installed relays, kicked a puppy, and finally got them working again without blowing the fuse...for now. After you get your parking lights working again correctly, I highly recommend the "parking light relay harness" from MSA. It installed in less than an hour, and takes the load off of the combo switch. Its a worthwhile $40 investment. It should also help make your lights a little brighter. I would also install relays for the headlights or buy the headlight relay kit. Anything I can do to take stress off the combo switch is a good idea to me. Both kits are actually produced by a member from classiczcars.com, I believe his name is Zsondabrain. Plenty of positive reviews and nothing like helping to support the community.

I'm sure you were just joking, but if you MUST take your car out to a deserted rural highway because you are too lazy/cheap to go to a track, please do it in broad daylight and make sure you have someone on lookout. There was an instance in MD a couple of years ago where a group of street racers were drag racing on a deserted highway at 2:30 - 3:00 in the morning. A large burnout created a huge wall of tire smoke into the highway. As spectators stood in the highway watching the cars race down the road, a car struck them, killing and dismembering 6-8 people. Who would imagine there would be a group of people standing in a highway at 3:00 am? Most drivers would think that it was just fog, not tire smoke with people watching a street race. Could you imagine the kind of weight you would have to carry knowing you killed someone? Let alone multiple people? Not sure how the case turned out, but its another example why public roads shouldnt be substituted for a race track. I'll get off my soapbox now.

Dominican republic is pretty good. And inexpensive compared to other all-inclusive resorts. Jamaica's Sandals resorts are definitely fun, but are "couples" resorts. So if its you and a bunch of friends, I wouldnt expect to pick up any hotties without getting punched in the face. If your trying to party, then I also second Cancun or something of a similar destination. Lastly, if you're a big baller, Atlantis in the Bahamas is one of the nicest resorts I've ever been to. There's a reason why its always in the top 10 Caribbean destinations.

So, over here in the Washington Metro area, we finally got some warm weather. Or at least warm enough to have a lot of nice cars wake up from their winter slumber. Naturally, I took my Z out for a nice afternoon drive. I get onto the highway and just cruising around 55 mph and see a Lexus IS300 in my rearview weaving through traffic. Its a 3 lane highway and I'm in the middle lane, he pulls up beside me, stares at me and continues to keep driving, navigating his way through erratically. The driver was maybe early 20's, and the IS300 had a carbon fiber hood and exhaust. Not much more that I could tell from the 2 seconds or so I saw it for. It also had a personalized plate that said "U2 CLOS3". I laughed and kept minding my own business. Then I see it happen. About 8 car lengths ahead, I see the lexus lose control, it starts fish tailing to the left, then hard to the right, and then really hard to the left, finally spinning out and the rear end colliding with a guard rail and slamming into a ditch/dirt embankment. I slowed down immediately as soon as I saw it happening, and drove by just as I saw the driver get out of his car, staring at the damage he just caused. Point of the story? Enjoying your car and taking it out for a nice drive is one thing, but doing dumb stuff with a bunch of other cars on the road and putting other people at risk is another. Luckily, no one else was involved and the driver was ok. Take it to the track if you want to go fast. If you think youre the next Cole Trickle, then prove it on the track where other people are actually racing and its a semi-controlled environment. Lastly, if you do dumb crap on the highway and wreck your car, then you will feel like crap because you knew you shouldnt have been doing it to begin with. And thats the end of my rant.

Buying a new switch is pretty expensive and hard to come by. Rebuilding your switch is not impossible or difficult. There is a LOT of info on this forum that has addressed this common issue. http://www.classiczcars.com/forums/showthread.php?t=17688 That link should give you a step by step on how to rebuild a combo switch. Another thing to think about, is if you're blowing a fuse when you turn on your parking lights causing everything to fail. The front turn signal socket can corrode over time causing a short, blowing the fuse, and knocking out your entire parking light circuit. The way Datsun designed them, they are not well isolated from moisture and debris, and the thin rubber grommet has most likely cracked and crumbled over the past 30 years allowing even more moisture to get in. I have replaced both my front turn signal sockets with some generic Ford 3 wire turn signal sockets in the past month after tearing apart everything in my car trying to find my short (a little stripping, crimping, and patience and they will fit, total cost $16). No cutting of the factory wiring, just a little ghetto ingenuity. Also, it helps when you list what year your car is.

So its leaking at the top of the window? Do you mean near the 90 degree bend or just anywhere near the top of the window? Perhaps you can use something like a rubber weatherstrip tape to help thicken the edge that isn't sealing correctly. It might turn out pretty ugly, but then again, it might work for you and you can make it look half-way decent. http://www.amazon.com/Cheftin-Weatherstripping-Tape-Various-Sizes/dp/B000GKAZ5Y And its strange how things work, you now have to slam your doors with the McMaster Carr weatherstripping. After I replaced mine, I DONT have to slam my doors anymore. The joys of a +35 year old car.

Good god thats a lot of eye-candy.

Steve, Then I say, go with SU's. If you have the cash and they could use a rebuild, send them to ztherapy and have them rebuild them for you or have them install their throttle plate with their special ball-bearing roller-shaft throttle plate thing. I would also spring for the SM needles at the same time. Nothing like knowing your carbs wont need to be fiddled with other than some slight adjustments every once in a while. I'm happy with SU's with SM needles on my stroker. Its simple, it works, its fun, and its street friendly. Kris, if you were a little closer, I would say lets go for a ride and compare. If you're in the NoVA area anytime soon, feel free to hit me up.

Oh, just read your post again Kris, if you arent sure whats in your engine, then all bets are off. If you got flat-tops in there with a slightly aggressive cam and some headwork on the P90, I would say you're in good shape for having some fun. I guess the only way to find really out is to tear it open...or take it to the track and see what kind of time you run so you can "estimate" your HP using one of those calculators. I would probably do that before I tore apart a perfectly good motor out of curiosity. Cheers and Good luck!

Steve260Z, Like I said, its a great street set-up for me. If you are looking for ultimate peak HP while running carbs, I would say look at going with some triples. But for my driving and my car's purpose, I do not need triples (though I do have 40 DCOE Weber's sitting in a box). I like the low-end response with SU's and they pull just fine for me. Kris.is.awesome, so you have a F54/P90 running SU's...if its the stock turbo motor converted to carb, with the stock dished piston's meant for turbo applications...then I wouldnt imagine you are pushing more than 120-130 hp at the wheels...if that. But I honestly have no idea what a stock turbo motor (without the turbo and converted to carb) makes power wise. I just know your compression ratio (stock) is going to be around 8:1 or something...not exactly ideal for a NA performance motor...great for turbocharged applications, but not for NA. "How to modify your Nissan/Datsun OHC engine" might be a good book to buy. It can be purchased on Amazon. You can also play with this. Not sure how accurate it is, but its fun anyways. http://www.atlanticz.ca/zclub/techtips/calcs/engine%20builder/index.html

I have the same set-up you're looking to do. Stroker - F54 block, P90 head, 480/274 cam, running SU's with SM needles. Its a fun street motor.

Just so you know, I ordered mine on a Friday, and received them by Tuesday. Pretty fast shipping for standard ground ($5) if you ask me. Hope they work well for you.

Galloguy05, I ended up having the Mcmaster-Carr weatherstripping ends meet at the bottom of the door, directly in the center. As far as the 90 degree bend, I test fitted everything before I finally cut to the correct length. Its not the smoothest 90 degree bend (the actual rubber tubing gets a little pinched in that area due to the bend) but it looks like it worked well enough. I shined a flashlight at the corner and couldnt see any light coming through. It looks like it will seal out water correctly. The gripping edge where it pinches to the seams was a little loose in some spots. However, near the top of the door where the headliner tucks in, it was nice and tight and took a little bit of pushing to make sure it seated correctly. On the areas where it was loose (side of the door, bottom of the door)I just layered a little electrical tape to thicken the edge so it would be a nice snug fit (ghetto, I know). I'm very happy with it. My car is a weekend car and does not see any rain. The only time I need to worry about water would be when I wash my car, but any leaking (if any) will be quickly cleaned up. I only bought new weatherstripping because my old one was too thick and was the culprit for my slamming door issue. I can now close my door with regular force and not be scared of shattering the window.

The power of the L6 is all in the head. My advice is while you're having the head rebuilt, now is the perfect time to invest some money into a free-flowing head, and have that hot cam you've been thinking about installed. Do it once and do it right. You can bolt on a header and intake manifold in a weekend and it is a relatively easy job...but without the proper headwork, the full potential of a stroker might not be realized. Try giving this a read: http://forums.hybridz.org/index.php?/topic/24798-na-31lhead-camshaft-questions-no-shortcuts-max/

I feel like I'm in the same boat. I have a complete set-up for DCOE 40's sitting in a box (linkage, manifold, etc). I've contemplated swapping out the SU's, and bolting up the webers. I've read countless posts on why they are awesome, and how great they are after they are tuned. But yet, they still sit in the box untouched. Why they will stay in a box for another year: 1) I'm too lazy (i.e. stupid) to rebuild them 2) I'm scared of breaking a stud off in the head 3) I'm relatively happy with the SU's 4) I havent heard or seen them (in person) on another Z yet. I know once number 4 occurs, I will most likely swap them in. If I ever ride in a stroker with triples, if it blows my mind (and I have a feeling it will), I will definitely swap them in. Best of luck to you sir!!!

Daryl, what about a 2mm gasket? http://www.thezstore.com/page/TZS/PROD/PEM09/10-2458 Also, regarding saving some bucks and doing it right...I dont think those two things go together. And honestly, the money you spend on sourcing parts for a 3.1L build and machining could be spent on doing headwork and getting an aggressive cam. Not trying to discourage you, but you wont see much of a gain with a stock cam, stock head, and stock EFI.

Blitz, if you are having a stroker being built and eventually being put in, and you have determined that the current motor is dieseling and not some sort of electrical/EFI issue, why bother troubleshooting/fixing? Not sure if this is also your daily driver, but me personally, I would take this time to sort through your car and make sure that everything else is up to snuff. That way, once your new motor is finished and installed, you wont have another million things on your mind that needs to get addressed before you feel comfortable taking it on the road. Just my 2 cents.

Here's a start... http://www.zhome.com/ Under modifications for more HP -> 2.8L turbo swaps into a 240Z Is it a checklist? No. I doubt there are many people that can provide a comprehensive checklist on what is required in a "standard" L28et turbo swap...these cars are over 35 years old and have undoubtedly had changes done in their lifetime (both the donor and transplant patient). You never know what you will find.

I like that Gibson Cygnusx1, is it a bolt on or set-neck? Never heard of that model. Looks funky cool, kinda like a Les Paul Jr with 80's digital vibe all over it. Over the past couple of years, I've become more of an acoustic person. I had a custom acoustic dreadnought commissioned that I took delivery of in August of 09. Its pretty sweet and plays like a dream. Very balanced and articulate. My theory is, if you can make an acoustic sing, you can make an electric scream. Regarding the original posting though, what about maybe put the money towards an all-tube amp (if you dont already have one)? The Fender Blues Jr is an AWESOME amp. 15 watts of warm all-tube tone. Delicious.

I would neither call that one of a kind, or that special. I'm sure its a very nice car, but there are a lot of people out there that have just as many "rare" parts and probably would sell it for less. I know that we are just speculating on this car but I think as a seller, if you want to ask for that much money, you should be prepared to provide a recent professional appraisal along with a full build list documented with dyno sheets and time slips. While we are on this topic of reasonable prices...anybody want to take a crack at how much my car is worth, and how much I bought it for? This is just for sh!ts and giggles...it was a deal of a lifetime. Here's the basic "spec sheet": 1972 240Z F54/P90 bored/stroked to 3.1L 480 lift/270 duration cam Currently running SU's with SM needles, (DCOE 40's sitting in a box) Holley blue fuel pump, FPR set at 3.5 psi MSD 6aL ignition ZX alternator 6-2 header, 2.5 stainless exhaust Datsun competition wide ratio 5-spd R200, 3.7 LSD Tokiko's and Eibachs Toyota brake upgrade (front), stock drums in the rear Stainless steel brake lines Front and rear strut tower braces front and rear sway bars All polyurethane bushings Autopower roll bar Factory wiring and fuse box replaced with Painless wiring kit Autometer guages (Tach, Speedo, Oil pressure, Water temp, Fuel, A/F meter) Miata seats New carpet, headliner, panels Grant steering wheel Clarion head unit, amp, 2 subs, 4 speakers, 2 tweeters RUST FREE, Chevy Indigo Blue Metallic paint 3 inch flares front and rear 3 piece BBS wheels, 15x9 rear, 15x8 front Thats all I can think of right now...runs like a champ and turns heads. I would dare to say that my car has just as much work as the craiglist listing, and although I think its worth near the same price, I dont think it would sell for more than 12K. I pretty much got the car with the above mods already done. Anybody want to venture how much it set me back?

I believe the main theory on why the DGV webers arent a good option is that the DGV webers have a sharp angle in which fuel/air has to flow. If you have the ztherapy video, it explains it quite well. In short, its almost abrupt the way it is designed. Imagine a "J" where the top of the J is where the carb sits, and the other end goes to the head. The curve downwards at the bottom of the J and then back upwards again is what makes it a poor choice. Your fuel mixture hits a "wall" at the bottom, then has to flow upwards to feed the engine...kind of like going uphill. Its not a smooth path. I hope that makes sense.

$300-$500 budget can get you a lot of guitar on the used market. I suppose it all depends on what you like to play...there is no denying the versatility of a Fender Strat. You wont be able to afford an American made strat for your budget, but I would look at the Made in Japan strats that were being produced in the 90's. Great craftsmanship and quality materials. Other people have had good things to say about the made in mexico strats...but I havent had experience with those. If you were more on the Gibson side of the house, I would look at the epiphone's (new) or a Gibson Les Paul studio (used)...again decent quality guitars for a reasonable price. Here is what I would personally look for if I wore to buy a new electric: 1) No laminates or veneer tops. You want sustain!!! 2) Set-neck if you can afford it...but for the price range, it might be pretty difficult. 3) Be weary of anything made in China or Korea...their quality control isnt that good in my opinion. Its all about production volume for those factories, not quality construction. Hagstrom's mentioned below were great quality guitars in the 70's. New production has been shifted to lower labor markets and quality of production has gone down along with material selection. 4) Look for alder, mahogany, or swamp ash bodies. There is a reason why those woods have been used for +50 years. Great tonewoods. 5) I personally like ebony on the fretboard, but it all depends on your style. If I were to buy another Fender for example, I would get a rosewood fretboard..they rarely make Fenders with ebony fretboards. 6) If you dont care about the name of the headstock...look for a "lawsuit" guitar. These guitars were produced in Japan in the 70's and were usually knock-off's of Gibson Les Pauls. I use the word knock-off in a very loose sense. The guitars being produced in Japan during that era put new guitars to shame due to the quality of craftsmanship and materials. The attention these Japanese made guitars have received in the past few years though have driven the price up tremendously and people are more and more reluctant to sell. I've been playing for about 17 years and have about 10 guitars in my stable right now. The one thing I've learned about buying guitars is, buying something that sounds good and feels good is what matters...not the brand.