Tony D

"Elgin Super-Secret Mystery Grind" LOL Jeff did a nice writeup on the porting of his stocker. Once it was revealed it was cast steel and could be welded up, the fear of cutting through anyplace, or being too thin was easily solved with his MIG... Turned out nice for a guy doing secret work in the garage where nobody was supposed to work on their cars! It was like getting into a speakeasy back in the day. "Knock Knock" (Little drilled hole opens to reveal an eyeball) "That you? Anybody else around out there?" No (door creaks up) "Hurry, get inside, I'm not supposed to be working on my car in here!"

Thermal expansion along the longest straight run to the ends will cause the problem. The rest of the welds should be fine as there is a loop for expansion. The #1 & #6 runners though, are long enough to cause an issue. Normally the expansion joint is placed where the secondary pipes enter it on this manifold, so maybe that will be where there is a strain...but it will still walk on the #1 & #6, the addition of the pipe at the normal expansion point may just make the ends pull "up" in an arc around where the pipe is welded to it on the top. Once those welds break, then it will expand axially towards each end of the head, and sometimes away from the face...

it almost looks to me like the new rockers are cast, whereas the old rockers are forged. I can't see them revising dies to make the parting line nonexistent. It's almost worth putting one in the 6" Vice and whacking it with a big hammer to see how it bends or breaks. The break will tell the tale of forged vs cast. New one looks like an investment casting vs the old one with the traditional forging line.

Has anybody but Jeff done the exhaust manifold pressure checks? TimO your setup sounds a lot like JeffP's, and the thing to remember is he's still on an L28ET Manifold flowing only 190CFM against a ported head which flows 220cfm, so when he does finally put that set of TWM ITB's in place the dynamics may change considerably. My understanding is some of the new Diesels have an exhaust pressure sensor available, and if this is true, I can see adding that to a logging channel, or monitoring it with the EMS will pay dividends in the black art of turbine sizing. JeffP is probably at the point where his nice custom 3" Stainless Steel Exhaust is starting to be a constriction as well. He never likes me mentioning it...

I have a nice intake manifold for 44IDF's that goes on one of those... Downdraught!

The coupe set I tossed was given to me...I got in a pinch and just had to ditch them as I didn't have the space at the time to store whole doors. The major components that would wear or need replacement are identical to ZX windows parts far as I could tell. I really kick myself for not harvesting them now as it would make a great example for a drop-in kit.

What cam are you using? JeffP running the GT35R(X) is pulling to 7400 and still hasn't hit power peak yet....and laments "I never have used that 0.82A/R Housing it came with!" Remember his earlier tests showed the same pressure in the intake and exhaust manifold at 7,000 rpms and that was before getting the GT35 with the better flowing turbine wheel. The engine makes 2-3 psi boost at WOT at virtually any rpm, and like clockwork goes to full boost (17psi+) at 3100~3200 pulling like crazy till rev cut and before power peak. He went to the X model as it was obvious from the dyno pulls that the compressor end was out of air. The X makes 100 HP more of air from 17-25 psi and that's exactly where he needs it. But back to the forged piston setup since 7400 is pushing it on ITM L28ET Cast Replacement slugs and stock rods. He'll go back to the Carrillo Rods and the 3.0 with Forged pistons and break that one again pushing it to see what it will do. But yeah...."I coulda saved $800 on that damn housing! Herrr Herrr Herrr!" He seems happy with the 0.63. 70-120 is around 4 seconds in 3rd...with two people in the car.

I wouldn't float it.

Why not use the factory S30 Power Window Bits from 76-78 S31's? You can see the cutouts in the door panels for the electrical rocker switches! I got a set in my 2/2, and kick myself for chucking the coupe setup I had (inside of the doors) because of shipping weight charge concerns! They're in the Nissan Parts Book, doubt if any of the stuff is still available though...

Time again to repost all pages of the cooling thread? Nissan had three thermostats available for the L-Series: 72C Tropical, 82C Temperate, 85C Frigid Unless you are in Canada, the top two likely will result in boiling at the rear cylinders and detonation unless you have a stout pressure cap and no leaks in the system. The temperature at the CHTS is about 20 degrees higher than the thermostat outlet. Meaning a 160F thermostat (72C) is running 180 minimum, and more likely 190 when fully opened in the back of the head. A 180F thermostat (82C) is running 200 back there, and will require antiboil as well as a minimum 16# cap if it gets hot. A 185F thermostat (85C) is running the adibiatic ideal of 205 in the back of the head, and if you are trying to do it in hot temperatures you likely will be boiling the fluid back on #5/6, and I wouldn't even TRY that thermostat in the summer without a 24# radiator cap and good anti-boil along with Water Wetter... Oil temperatures are generally 20F higher or slightly more than water temperatures, so you will look at temperatures of 210, 220 and 230 with the respective thermostats. Anything over 200 will flash water vapor handily in all but the shortest of trips. Unless you are in Northern Canada with -40 for months on end, I'd not run the hottest spec thermostat. All EFI controls use 170F as a trigger point for full engagement, so there are no cold start issues, nor EGR/etc enabling with the Tropical Thermostat almost anywhere in North America during the summer. The further south you go, the less you need the higher heat.

Expansion joint on runner to #1 & 6.

Dude, you have absolutely ruined my night... This is going to haunt me now.

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!

Mac's Tiedowns...got a nice bag and everything. Axle straps, through the wheel straps... I was hoisting Z's into a container and my electric winch button stuck on...a little "y" strap from Macs held a Z suspended by the front tow hooks 8' in the air while we got chainfalls on to unhook the electric and finish the job manually! It's basically a "winching strap" that hooks through smaller Tiedowns and chassis holes to let you winch a car onto the trailer with an even center-pull. Not supposed to lift with it! Forgot to take a photo and submit for free stuff at the Mac's website! NIce tie down stuff from Mac's.

Leon covered exactly what I would have said regarding the 'trailing'--- the rocker ratio on an L-Series is variable. Where it contacts the pad is in the 1:4's, and it increases as if gets closer to the pivot ultimately in the 1.5+ range closest to the pivot. This is different than say a roller rocker which FIXES the point of contact of the cam to one point of pivot and the ratio is purely a function then of pivot to contact point to total length. Slider pads have a variable contact point with more pressure exerted as the pad wipes off the end closest to the pivot. This could be a cam grind issue as well. If not properly profiled the loads will increase quite quickly. But that would be exhibited early in development. I don't think the case is applicable here. A reground rocker simply has thinner hardened metal, if you want to use an analogy think of a thin metal plate over soft sand... If you were to step onto a hard plate you may make is spring a bit into the softer sand underneath but it will spring back. Inadequate thickness of the hardening can led to the metals fatiguing and flaking out from a similar action. Once the softer metal underneath is exposed, then it really starts machining away in earnest! I've not seen spalling like that on new OEM parts. I have seen rockers cut into cams..and occasionally cam faces spall. Cams aren't always flame hardened like most Nissan Grinders do (or nitride, carburize, etc...) Usually the rockers kill everything else.

^^^ That starter page is interesting... it mentions an old Japanese Trick they would use on the Turbo Multicab starters --- the solenoid would get hot as hell, so they drilled a couple of holes in the casing so the solenoid would self-ventilate... stopped the 'won't start hot' issues they had when run up on the expressway after disconnecting the governor system! I'd forgotten all about that... I just replaced the starter on my F10 Van and had totally blanked on the holes solution. Damn there went 3,500 pesos...

Insight? "Reground Hardened Pads are not always a good alternative to new." Penny Wise, pound foolish. An L-Series Cam Setup has never been cheap. Cutting corners can bite you in a bad way... This appears to be one of them.

It's not any of the things it states. It's a standard replacement part. If you have a lawn tractor battery in your 13.75:1 L28 Track Car, I got news: that starter won't turn it over really efficiently, but the gear reduction unit from a turbo will spin it like there's no tomorrow. If you can deal with "RUH........Bwaaaa!" when it starts then you can have lightest weight: non gear reduction starter, and a lawn tractor or motorcycle battery. the RELAY KIT is for guys with 260's and 280's who have wire harness drop that won't allow enough voltage to the starter solenoid, and uses a 6V Ford Starter Relay (which will trigger and close down to 2.8V) to switch battery 12V directly to the starter solenoid and pull it in smartly for positive flywheel engagement. This trick has been around since the 70's when older VW Busses with 12V starters were dropping voltage. If you kept your 6V starter it cranked just fine.... Marketing, whatcha going to do?

Backing the truck's rear tires up on the conventional car ramps really makes it a nicer angle... 12' 2x8 oak boards are in my 20' box trailer because the prior owner had a front engine digger and a pro-gas bucket rail, works nice for evening out ramp break over disparities. Then again, having my 'druthers those new kneeling air bag trailers are the bees knees!

"UPGRADE"? I didn't buy a 72 Big Block Vette 4sp posi convertible in 1989 under the rationale "I could buy five nice Z's for that!" Probably still holds true today, but a top-down big block Vette makes a hoot of a weekend cruiser if you hop it up with the right stuff...

So sending money to Thailand for "school tuition" might take a while to process?

I have an LED Ring Light for my Nikon Coolpix 7000, and take metal fatigue and failure analysis photos all the time for work. First time I sent in photos to engineering they freaked because on a 12mp macro photo (square, 1:1) of a failed rotor stud they could see grain and beaching marks... Then they called me because the follow up photo was a 1X, 10X, & 100X photo micrograph series taken with a USB Microscope I bought in Taiwan for $60...

You loop it at 140+ the opened hood latch is just waiting to create tragedy...

Guys, this is a non-gear-reduction unit. For those who may not know: The Gear Reduction Starter is HEAVIER than the standard starter! So yes, a standard starter is "lightweight" and will start your car. Woah! The Gear Reduction Starter was used on TURBO cars with the ECCS because it had a lower cranking draw, and consequently less chance of frying the ECCS Unit on cold days starting due to excessive voltage drop and board components overheating and going 'poof'! The gear reduction starter allows you to use a lawnmower battery and reliably start your high-compression N/A Z, so even though the starter is heavier, it's down low and near centre of rotation, while the battery which is up high is considerably lighter. So the gear reduction starter / lawnmower battery combination is a 'handling improvement'.... Muahahahaha!

^^^ I agree, from what I could see in the photos, it looks like spalling of the face, not galling. They're two different things caused by different forces. Were the rockers new, reground, or ??? Spalling is usually overpressure from an insufficient depth of heat treat. if they were resurfaced, it's possible they were ground almost through the heat treated hard surface and are now flaking/spalling from applied pressures. Oil may be contributing, but changing oils won't really change anything if this is the mechanism at work. Spalling/Brinelling happens independently of lubrication. The issue appears in the rocker, but will affect the cam eventually (as you are starting to see.) What is Rebello's assessment of the phenomenon?