Tony D

I'm TDY in Singapore on a long term project that has been extended several times. Had things gone to original plan my return ticket was into LAX at around midnight the night of the robbery! I would have driven the rental right up to the yard while they were in the act.

Everybody knows of my Datsun Hoard online. But who wants old Datsun parts, and if they sell them...you think word won't get back eventually? They took the generic scumbag pawn shop stuff. We are watching Craigslist, eBay, local Pawn Shops, etc....

My stupidity contributed to this, I have an 8 camera system and the thought that it needs to be 'properly' installed kept me from putting the cameras up, running the wires properly, concealing the DVR, etc... Had I just thrown the cameras out in the Zones I devised internal to the house, with cables running like spaghetti all over the place, it would have WORKED and I would have known when they got into the house through an iPhone SMS and a 30 second HD Video Clip. It remains in HD Mode for 5 minutes after detecting motion uploading to the Cloud unless I ring in on my iPhone and then it streams video to the phone and cloud in HD until I deactivate it. Sound familiar PS Denno? They were sitting NIB in the front closet. Knowing when they got in, instead of when they left would have had a nice RCSD Surprise waiting for them when they did get out... Bastards. Stole my dad's 4th birthday gift, a set of Senior Tinkertoys. Got Kodachrome Movies of him playing with them under the tree in 1938. I hope their spawn chokes on something and dies in their arms. And yes, I mean that. I don't want their genes reproduced. I believe in Eugenics for property crimes. Solves addiction and is cheaper overall. Call me Adolph on his one. As for someone who knew me....not to rule anything out, but that is HIGHLY unlikely. I don't have many friends, even fewer who have been to my house much less know where I live. Even those who are in the house rarely have a concept of what it contains. Even my shooting buddy watching the house was shocked when he saw the list from the gun locker. I believe it was someone casing for vacancy and betting the averages something inside was worth something. They did not take stereo gear, they too guns and tools. And they brought tools to get to them. I wish I'd had the Liberty SafElert in the gun locker now. Only heard about it AFTER this happened. Having only THAT in place would have let me know someone had broken in as where the locker was positioned there was NO WAY to get there without breaking at least one window or external locked door, then another three internal reinforced locked doors. These people were pros and came prepared. I don't hang with people like that...

It's a toss, most people aren't technologically savvy enough to properly prepare for endurance racing and stupid things break. On an N/A as well as a Turbo.

I've been making 350+ hp on cast nissan pistons since 1985. They are not required for a turbo engine not revving beyond 6,500 or making more than 400HP. Detonation kills EVERYTHING. Including Forged Pistons. You put forged pistons in an engine that's detonating all you are doing is increasing your parts costs. Remove the detonation. Don't mask it for three more RPM's before something breaks. Same goes for MLS Head Gaskets. Stock Fel Pro will hold 650+ HP if you aren't detonating. If you are, then it blows. What do you want, a blown head gasket, or broken pistons and rings. Those are your choices if you run an engine that is detonating. Fix the problem, not the symptom. The failure will repeat, only be more costly.

And yes, they were poking around the hoard. They will be back. I need to make some adjustments to the security alerts available at the house... Spring Guns and remote Claymores are frowned upon by the local constabulary.

That's exactly what they got, unfortunately. Not cheap either. With my dad and Uncle Bob recently passing they just came into my possession. One was a Marlin Model 62 in 30 Carbine like in unfired condition. Really surprised that Bob put that in his will, I was like 4 or 5 years old when he bought it and I asked if I could have it then... My co-worker mentioned a thing from Liberty Safes that if I knew about it, I would have had it and that would have notified me. The SafElert... damn! I have a video system, just not installed. They took the 4,000 rounds of ammo in the front walk-in-closet, but left the new-in-box security system there. That they die under a gas truck tasting their own blood would please me...but only if I saw it happen, and they knew who i was...

Nope, I was pretty well insulated against crackheads with the reinforced interior doors. They would have grabbed the easy to find liquor and ran... No, these guys brought heavy wrecking bars and tools to force entry into every room that had a reinforced door (which was every one...the more time they spend the better likelihood they are caught goes the conventional wisdom... Crackheads break a window and grab stuff, if they can't get through a door with their feet, they grab what they see and book. These guys (there were at least two) got inside and then went to work in earnest. Tore out door frame casings, etc.... I wish them ill.

Yep, bastards broke in through the kitchen window, tore out the door casings to get entry into each bedroom, bathroom, and closet. Once into a room, totally trashed it going through everything to grab small high value items like DSLRs and Guns which they got after extensive and noisy work entering a concealed gun locker. On first inventory, not including the structural damage to the 7 interior doors, the loss is now a running total of $15,000 + Must be nice to work one night and rip off someone's lifetime of saving... They poked around The Hoard as well. Asking a bud to go and install lock boxes on the containers ASAP so they can't break into them and get the Datsun junk... Singapore Canes Thieves. America needs to Cane Thieves similarly. Strokes applied in onsey-twosies until they heal, then another couple of whacks.... Keeps you repenting your crime a bit longer.

you could buy a small chamber O5L (like 37 or 39cc chambers) port it, have new valve seats and tuliped valves and killer cam all done up for under $5K at slovers, including the cost of the O5L Head (if you can find one!) Late L20ET Head, companion to the Y70 head which had port liners....the 2-liter L Engine Equivalent of the P90 / P79 Combination.

Fabwhores the world over say the same thing. My line is: "You know my daily rate? If you're payin' I'm stayin'!"

It's not a Chevrolet get the misapplied factory pulley out of your head. The run in process involved a timing check at the factory...using the factory installed timing indicator. If you're missing the timing indicator the car has been worked on...all bets are off at that point. It would not have passed the Engine Run Check at the assembly plant with the 'wrong' pulley on there as the timing check would be a "fail"... Chances are WAY higher that the installation of the AC was semi or fully hack-jobbed and short-cut to flat rate the job. Very common....

$2,500 is about right with the port work. I don't know about "cost effective" -- you're in the wrong hobby to be using that phrase. Dighera's Law of Performance Automobile Ownership: "A Car is a hole in mid air supported by four inedible rubber doughnuts. Into this hole, you throw buckets full of cash which you will never see again."

Actually, Gene Berg found crankshaft people who were supplying VW to make his Berg Strokers. Compared to other stuff out there it was amazing the quality they produced. BMW has to have someone supplying cranks, as does Nissan for inline 6's. It's finding those OEM quality suppliers to sidestream off of for raw forgings, and then import for machining locally. Tariff is lower, and the machining is in a known, controlled environment. It may cost a few hundred dollars more, but if you put your name on a part, what do you want? I'm sure there are all sorts of warranty and guarantees out there for aftermarket parts... They were summed up brilliantly some time ago in a movie scene: https://youtu.be/mEB7WbTTlu4

Why are you making a 0.002" cut? This sounds like a micropolishing rather than a cutting. Nissan had them to allow individual journals to be accomodated for wear without a recut. First oversize was 0,25 mm (0.010") and was ground, polished, and new bearings put in... You are correct on your thoughts about it. Many racers nitrided and did other hardening procedures above and beyond the factory processes for many reasons. JeffP was on a bent talking to the supplier of the L28 bearings and had a line on some hoarde...which I think he bought for several thousand dollars because he wanted to still match his bearing journals exactly... There may be other hoardes out there.

Depends what chamber it has.... There are at least three different E88 chambers that I know of, late L24 Early L26, and a third which was for EFI... Each has it's own attributes. Post Photos and those who don't know what chamber a "83 Datsun Laurel L24 E88" has, will be able to weigh in.... I don't know what it looks like... Sometimes, you gotta do some legwork.

If you would have said they quoted you $6,000 for a welded N42 head in your original post you could have saved yourself whining over no answers, as I would have told you to go elsewhere. I have seen a full on race head (welded) under $3,000. You live in the Middle East, they are not friendly to Furrin' Iron there...

On later EFI Engines, the EVAP system is a critical part of keeping the fuel pump primed when the fuel is hot. It maintains a positive pressure up to a couple of PSI to give an anti-cavitation NPSH to the pump inlet. VW has a closed fuel tank system on a 68 Type III, there were no EVAP Canister requirements before 1974. Think about that...since you are using an EFI setup. To your question on Line 13, it goes to a "Diverter Valve" which allows the fumes from a hot tank to go to engine crankcase for accumulation, where they are consumed on startup. This valve has a pressure rating, and it's a few inches of water positive pressure (much lower than EFI systems) so it will also hold positive pressure in the tank if suctioning of fuel out does not surpass fuel vapor pressure from hot fuel expansion. When it needs air to make up the suctioning of fuel from the tank running down the road, it allows the filtered air from the air filter into the fuel tank. It works both ways. If it's plugged, and your fuel tank is well maintained, you will suck the fill hose flat as a pancake driving down the road with a good vane-style electric pump like an old Holley Red. Fuel vapors need a place to go as it gets hot, and air needs a way to get in as a vacuum breaker as fuel is consumed going down the road.

What's your warranty exposure for crap contract fiddling? You leave them alone, and not watch them like a hawk, and you WILL get screwed. Your comment smacks of elitism of process, and that gets your arse BURNED BIGTIME in China! How basic is moulding rubber? You want a personal story of a 400 HP rubber coupling 'reverse engineered' in Russia and in China? Our Russian supplier made GREAT parts. Chinese made some that LOOKED great, and APPEARED identical. And under 250HP performed O.K. Putting them on a 350 or higher horsepower machine resulted in the Chinese parts literally EXPLODING on the test stand and throwing bits of hot rubber all over at high velocity. The Chinese had no bias belts put into the part. The Russians did, just like the OEM. The reason I fear Chinese parts is for good reason: I've been there, dealt with it first hand, and seen things burst into flames and result in $500,000+ in liability costs. Thank Gawd it happened IN CHINA where they ACCEPT shite quality and just wanted the machine replaced. In America, there would have been punitive lawsuits, governmental intervention.... Pish-Posh quality control all you want. You don't know what they will do to cheapen their end of the production process regardless of what you THINK the process specification says. I've seen it first hand. It's not a pretty sight...

Any machine shop can spin a shouldered sleeve on a lathe, check Darton or some others for spun cast or ductile iron sleeves. The can be had for $30 to $100 each... Exotic stuff can go stratospheric.

At that price, you can buy custom Arias, Ross, Venolia, Weisco in just about any configuration you want! The set of ITM Standard Pistons and rings is $300 on eBay... Standard or 0,5 oversize! http://pages.ebay.com/link/?nav=item.view&alt=web&id=331908278613&globalID=EBAY-US

Frank280ZX had some of those over in Holland. There may be a chance in some dream world where you could order them from Nissan still.... But the ITM's are all over eBay for around $300 in standard and 1mm oversized.

George calls anybody, it better be me first... I know where he lives and I can make a Business Justified Trip to London to seek him out for retribution https://youtu.be/2xUynRdzzsM https://youtu.be/xu0p6CtioZk What more needs to be said...

I'd not cut anything at all. just flat tops. Once you decide your path, then start cutting. Best do it once, measure first several times!

Speed Costs Money. Going fast in obsolete machinery is even more expensive.