Tony D

"Hazardous Materials Disposal +30%" (possible lead based paint, possible heavy-metal contamination from rustproofing removed in blasting process) 20# @ $25/# via Evergreen Environmental: $500 Blasting of Engine Bay: 4 Hours @ 65/hr $260 State Tax 10.3%: $78.28 City/County Tax 8.25%: $62.70 Total: $900.98 What was that again? Blasting the engine bay was $260... All the rest was...uh...

Yes. It's the same issue that got Ford buying it in the 55 gallon drum size (if I'd only taken a photo!) to add to the stuff coming off the line! Cygnus, it really wasn't for radiator leaks...they are component pressure tested at the vendor, even back then. It was for gasket seeps and leaks (head gaskets)... Nobody remembers their new-car head retorquing at 500 miles? Probably cause the OEM Aluma-Sealed it and if you didn't come in...at least it held together till it was out of warranty when you could pay the costs of your negligent maintenance and not FoMoCo... LOL TOO MUCH of anything is bad. 1/4 a tube works miracles in terms of nuisance seeps and leaks! For our era cars with conventional gaskets, it's an accepted practice for the stated issues. I'd be more hesitant on newer vehicles like a Honda with O-Ringed joints, or anaerobic sealants. For anything Pre 85 I'd say yes, if the mill was "legacy" that it...designed sometime up to the mid-late 70's. For domestic stuff, that could be up until the mid-late 90's! (Think SBC/BBC!) Truthfully, I carry the 3/4 tube in the glovebox, and on more than one occasion I've given it to someone broken down and they've driven home! I started throwing tubes in the glovebox on everything but the VW and Corvair... If you run out of coolant on them, you're dead. Literally!

I would stick to stock AND stock head gasket... You are detonating regularly enough to break pistons, forged will only make the next failure more expensive. Till you are running 400+ HP and have a cam capable of over 7,000 rpms, stick with the stock bottom end. Even with that I'd tune to 7,000, then 7,200 or maybe 7,400 before putting in the forged slugs to tune above to power peak of the cam. Buy a detonation stethoscope like from Speed EFI in Australia, uses VW piezo knock sensors as microphones coupled with a headphone set. You will hear detonation when you never considered there was a problem! And that will convince you to run a standalone...

"Yes, now again guys, tell me why the Flat-Tops with separate, independent idle circuit from the main needle are boat anchors again!" Ray, my L26 with an L28 N47 on it pings like crazy as well. I've taken to buying the Turbo 108 octane booster (off road formulation, not catalyst safe...) and put half the big bottle in per tank when empty. That's usually the right amount or the 10-12 gallons I normally put in. Car is rattle-free afterwards. Same with 100 octane VP. This engine has 150# across the board in compression (The Blue Turd.) The CA formulation is not carb friendly. The same gas runs knock-free (even 87!) in my L28 stock EFI 2+2... That really is the last experiment for The Turd... Put in EFI changing nothing else and see what it does, since its an FI Head it's a relatively quick swap...I just don't have the time!

"You know you'll need to get a custom bent exhaust as there are no mandrel 3" exhaust for the 280ZX." Well, there ARE... Just nobody stateside wants to pay for them! (Domestic or JDM Imported)

Bought Hybrid Z Quarter Window Decals for it! And matching clothing! Woot!

Why is it scary? I'm betting they weren't the only two, but they're the two I can personally say I witnessed it as policy.

I wouldn't exactly blame Seafoam for blowing your gasket if it hydrolocked...that's kinda operator error, eh?

Racer Brown archived website may be of help... But as to this: " it is possibly going into a 3.1L that currently has a isky cam, it is the second from the highest they make but from what ive read stage 1,2,3 arent that good this would i guess be stage 4 out of 5 " If you are referring to what's in their catalog (and I'm betting you are, since you do not mention talking to Ron), the exact quote from him in regards to "big cams" was: "Oh, if you're serious about racing, I wouldn't use one from the catalog, we've got much bigger cams than that...the catalog is for the 90% of guys who want to buy something quickly and aren't looking for the most out of their engines. How much cutting to your piston crown are you comfortable with?" Obviously for most people, the cam journal diameter limits total lift to the 0.620" range... For most people, muahahaha... And as I have stated in the recent past, with a couple of dial indicators and a degree wheel you can figure out what you got pretty darn closely. It ain't rocket science!

High fuel pressure to kill mileage 10mpg would make the car a stumbling pig-rich black-smoke puffer at idle (if it idles at all).... Oh, and that will kill the O2 sensor!

Lockwashers (split) are useless in high vibration, high heat applications, period. Are you saying Seafoam hydrolocked your engine and blew the gasket? Sounds to me you detonated. The turbos blow the head gasket under the exhaust manifold side when they detonate. You won't hear it detonate, but you will hear it after the head gasket fails. Let me guess: Cyl 4/5/6...

Pinhole leaks in Aluminum Radiators? Guys, you DO realize that Volvo and Ford for DECADES put half a tube of ALUMA-SEAL in EVERY production vehicle of the line to minimize nuisance warranty calls for leaks? Works wonders. After every head gasket I do, half a tube goes in... I be 1/4 would be enough.

What exactly is 'the datsun bible' and I don't know what they're on, but 460 is the limit on STOCK SPRINGS, nothing more. I wouldn't BOTHER with a cam that didn't give me close to 500, ESPECIALLY with a turbo... If you aren't porting the head, go look at the flow available from the stock ports versus lift. At the point where your flow stops increasing....that is the lift you want on ANY cam to maximize the flow potential of the port. This goes as well for ported heads. I shake my head when I see guys putting in a 620 lift cam, when their head stops flowing at 575 lift. All you are doing is beating your springs into early replacement. Get a grind that maximizes time at 575 lift, and you will be better off longevity wise. Turbos ain't NA's! If you aren't altering valve events to keep good vacuum and minimize overlap, your compensation is LIFT to get FLOW. And FLOW is where it's at.... The more flow you have, the less boost you use (or need)...

Pete, I sent my section of the payment via paypal. Included a shipping address (my office) since nobody is at the house to accept deliveries any longer. Look forward to seeing it... Thanks! :icon7:

Standard practice since I was trained in 79-80 was anything taken off the seat or the face was taken off the stem tip within a tolerance....then you told them they needed a new seat or valve! But you ask for cheap, you get cheap. Pay now or pay later. Or, as Gene Berg would say "If you don't have the money to do it right now, where will you get the money to do it over?" There is a "Valve Stem Installed Height Specification" --- this is supposed to be checked by any competent shop. Even an incompetent shop should be able to figure out the valve stems all need to be sunk the same just by measuring the stem height before removal. How do you shim your springs for correct installed height if you don't know installed stem height? This goes back to BASIC BASICS!

Measuring installed stem height will let you know!

Looks like no matter what you will deal with head saver shims... Or recutting all your valve stems shorter. What was the valve stem installed height again? This simple check would have told you if the valves were one right before all the reassembly.

The original Nissan FRP doors use the windows and frames. They are floating around Japan at the higher-end shops. Usually with the Nissan Perspex windows in them as well!!! "Unobtanium" Bekkas, the guy I PM'd you about also replicated the door hinges out of Aluminum. The Rally cars used a modified hinge with a QR Pin in it o pull the door off quickly during maintenance stages. Of course, the cast iron hinges were "too heavy" so they were replicated in Aluminum... Just how much weight are you shooting to remove? I think the PS30SB was about 960kg -- 2116lbs

Frank should really update this with photos of his roll cage and interior stiffening... They're coming in on my iPhone, but can't attach them here!

Month too late, and too far south, bro! I'm going to make a run to Pittsburgh via Houston first week in December... I'd gladly tow it, but can't swing an I10 route that far East! Renting an Enterprise Full Size Pickup to go fetch my Emissions Machine in Export PA in conjunction with a factory mandated meeting week of Dec 10-14th. Swinging through Houston to see our shop facilities there, and pick up that Vintage Turbo Tom Kit from Texis Z (funny how that works, huh?) Good luck!

Damn I'm cursed...it double posted!

Amen, Blu! My thoughts exactly! Why is someone asking others about this in the fashion it was presented... Seriously, I thought it was a BS Troll, and responded Humorously, as opposed to flaming what I thought was an obvious troll. I'm so hurt that he was so conflicted internally that he posted it in all seriousness. Don't I look like a fool for tormenting someone so obviously invalided in terms of decision making skills and Datsun prowess... I'll be damned to hell for all eternity for mocking his post. Damn me! Damn me all to hell!

Same as Rebeekah's Z, I went with a "second" that had a cosmetic flaw. Painting the hood hid it completely. Price could not be beat! I couldn't buy the layup resin...hell I couldn't buy the GELCOAT for what I paid to get that CF Second.

Unless he took less than an hour on a highway, that's crap mileage.below 85mph, that car should get mid 20's easily. If this was in-town driving I might agree its nothing to get upset over. But for a highway trip that's a considerable drop. If you were 55-65mph average I'd expect 25-27mpg. Check the basics, including what it took on similar journeys... But generally a quick drop like this on the highway is a sign the O2 sensor has gone bye bye... When mine went away, I retrofitted a self-heating unit from a Z31 tied into the Fuel Pump Relay Circuit. Car gets into, and stays in Closed Loop MUCH longer with a heated sensor netting fuel mileage gains, primarily in-town where it may never get hot enough between stop lights to go into closed loop, and you stay on the preprogrammed fuel map (full power safe-rich) all the time.

You mean your original post was SERIOUS? My apologies! BTW, "humorous" not "humors".