Tony D

Rossman has it pinned as we did, except ours is a hardened pin shrunk and pressed in, then staked. Either way will work.

If that's it, just pin it and don't look back!

Is this a static or dynamic change? Meaning when you check with a timing light is the timing jumping all over (dynamic) a given range, or does it stay relatively steady at +/- 2 degrees of indicated setpoint on one startup, but the next time you start it, it's now offset by some number, and still operating with the same +/-2 degrees (static shift). The distributor slop can give you spark scatter of the stated 2 degrees plus/minus. Anything more and you've got gear wear that is excessive. If its a ZXT CAS drive you won't even get that ammount of scatter. The static shift is a sneaky one that JeffP and I ran across while on the dyno at JWT. The distributor drive gear slips on the drive shaft and timing is changed. In JeffP's ZXT, it jumped 180-Out! Both Jim and Clark scratched their heads with a "never seen that happen before, you obviously didn't drive here like that!" We dropped the pump, retimed the engine and did another pass, checking the timing afterwards: 8 degree shift! Did another pass, yet another timing shift! Jeff installed a 3mm hardened pin to a new ZXT shaft and hasn't liked back. Far as we can tell, it happens at higher Roma when you either have a fuel delivery problem and the engine surges violently (like you are stomping on the accel causing accel chop accel chop engine speeds), or when you lift throttle at higher engine speeds (JohnC mentioned oil pump tangs being snapped off under similar conditions) On Jeffs engine it was nothing over 5500rpms when it happened. From what you say changing day to day, it may be a slipping drive gear to the distributor/CAS assembly. Once they come loose, they can do it again easier at a later date.

Helix, your interpretation is probably a much tamer version than what i was conveying. Scrooge was a man of means and standing within his community and decorum dictated his speech. We wild colonials, suitably freed from Pom strictures of clothing and speech are prone to a much more colourful and salty turn of phrase! I personally own no black stockings!

Apparently nobody told you about filling through the plastic vent after carefully removing it--and that's where your magic fill number comes into play! A hint for reassembly: use loctite PST and no more than 1/4 turn from finger-tight!

And just in case you cant find that inflation calculator, that $3500 Race Prepped L24 Head from Electramotive would run you $8320 in 2012 dollars. So yeah, due to CNC, rapid prototyping, and computer technology making equipment cheaper to do better machining, it's CONSIDERABLY CHEAPER TODAY to get a full-on competition prepped head than it was "back in the day"! $5,500 would be considered cheap. Anybody who doesn't thin so should well weigh the facts set forth in this particular post. I know the guy with the comp prepped head, and saw the invoice. To this day it sits, preserved in his garage. Perhaps when he dies, I'll get it... But it actually cost $3500 in 1982 to have that work done. Consider well the wisdom of your elders, "they were there" and might have a different perspective than youngsters with no interest in history!

I would agree 100%: you get what you pay for! This stuff takes time, and parts aren't cheap. The going rate out of electromotive in the early 80's for a competition prepped L24 head was around $3500. That was 1980's dollars, take a quick trip to the CPI Inflation Calculator, and retire the argument that pricing has changed. If anything it's come DOWN SLIGHTLY!!! Long and short of it is if you are actually a real competitor and not a casual (or even serious STREET) enthusiast, the pricing actually becomes moot. If its what you need to win, and if you want to win, you GET IT. They have a name for people who "bag" about the costs without ever buying the part: "LOSERS" ! In more polite terms: "Podium Places 2, & 3, followed by the rest of the field"!

And the deck/head check in the area of failure revealed... I don't even want to guess where the Internet rebuild came from...

Everybody is obsessing on how "much" the cam is "retarded" by the milling, and has been unable to see the forest because of all the trees when someone answers "degree the cam as you normally would, and move on"... With the KEW tensioner, one makes the assumption that it's not some amatuer stock rebuild, where they are thinking "stick it in the hole and fagadboudit"---one makes the assumption that you will degree the cam, see where it lies, and install "straight up" to give camshaft grinders projected performance. Stuffing it on an arbitrary hole on a stock or even multi-holed sprocket (calculations notwithstanding) is at best a compromised guess. Use the Tomei sprocket, set up your indicator Znd set the cam where it's supposed to be, not approximately, not 'as best as I can get from my calculations'---EXACTLY where it's supposed to be. No, you don't need the shims. Degree the cam as you normally would. If you want to do calculations, do them. Won't change the fact that if the cam is ground 1/2 a degree off the profile you STILL need to degree it and set it 'straight up' for your dyno baseline, then make your pulls to determine which relative position (exact amount of advance or retard necessary) to give best power under the curve. The problem with calculations is they don't remove the reason you do degreeing in the first place: chain stretch or cam grinder errors.

Yes, paying attention to ball care can really increase the volume of squirt produced when you jerk the lever quickly. I met this ball specialist in Singapore who worked mine over in about 2 hours. I was amazed by the volume she produced. To that point, I'd never experienced anything like it. I'd highly recommend that operation if you don't have adequate squirting volumes. The Manager hangs out around the corner by Orchard Towers and can arrange a meeting whereby your balls get a proper working over...

He did something VERY WRONG then! The stock EFI fuel pump will fuel triples using a backpressure regulator to well over 300HP! The flow rate of the stock Bosch-Licensed pump goes through the roof at 3psi. I ran (and still do) this system to 375HP in turbocharged form and with a simple jet or regulator setting change immediately flood the engine to the point of sinking the floats and fuel pouring out the carburettor throats! If someone "ran lean" using mere triples and the stock EFI pump---then either the pump was shot to begin with, or they did something VERY WRONG in setting up the system---first thought to mind by the way it was phrased was 'pressure regulation is reducing flow' meaning he DID NOT use the REQUIRED backpressure regulator. And FYI: the EXACT same thing will happen to a carb pump if you use that style regulator! A backpressure regulator ALWAYS has full pump capacity available to deliver fuel to the carbs or injectors. Any regulator placed between the pump and the fuel delivery source is ALWAYS going to be a potential bottleneck in delivery through orifice size or malfunction.

It really depends on your quantification of 'quality' firstly. What 'grade' of parts will you accept? "Cheapest Possible Way Please" infers using things which most here would find objectionable in quality. They may work short-term, but long term don't hold up requiring a teardown and replacement. It also depends on your tolerance for delay. If it is acceptable to you to wait for 6 months to a year for a 'cheap' price to come up on a component then sure it 'can' be done cheaper. I'd suggest a time frame for delivery might get this into a real-world scenario: immediate parts availability (one day to one month delay), short wait availability (60-90 days wait), medium wait availability (6 months to a year), and long-term gathering availability (parts acquisition timeframe of a year or longer.) Each of those can have distinctly different pricing demands. And frankly between the first and last using identical quality components the cost savings may indeed only be a couple of hundred dollars. I've got a complete Nissan Engine Parts Kit, assembled and waiting--ALL NISSAN PARTS IN NISSAN BOXES FROM A NISSAN DEALER. The parts were bought in Japan when the yen was high compared to now... I paid a dollar a bearing, the timing kit was $25. Prices today are considerably higher (if they can be found...) The entire "Kit" out the door from Nissan-Prince Naha was just under $900 at the time. L14 Rods (set of 6) included! That included the 'nismo' 780KG pressure plate and clutch disc, roller pilot bearing, timing chain tensioner with limiter, turbo oil pump, new front cover, new distributor quill shaft, Nismo 74 degree camshaft (JDM Sourced and delivered through Competition Parts Department), sports option pistons, blah blah blah... No, it is not for sale but waiting 25+ years really saved me money! I don't think I could assemble this kit today for ANY PRICE! Now, those tranny bearing and synchro kits... by all means get a list of sources up as that will save me the search for my 75 five speed!

"That money will cop a bagging from the US guys. They'll call you a rip off and say you can buy a whole Rebello motor for not much more." Thanks for the insulting generality, but with all due respect: "Stuff It!" While it MAY be true you can get a Rebello Engine Complete for 'not much more'... I don't see how it's invalid to state that fact. All it does is bring up an ignorant hypothetical that has ALREADY been discussed on this thread from the beginning. Costs of stuff in Japan would likely get a bagging from the blokes in Australia, things just cost more there, it's a fact. They have a big market, but also don't begrudge a man his living as a specialist. And they get paid less, or more. It really is irrelevant. If I want 360HP, I'll turbo a stock block and not look back...pocketing considerable change in the process. If you have a specification to meet, you pay to have it met. PERIOD! Doesn't matter where you're from. When's the last time you guys got quotes on recasting heads? 35,000 Euros. Seems like $5,500 is pretty cheap when you consider the alternatives available to serious admirers of the marque.

Do you have the book "How to Modify your Nissan OHC"? If so, you have a photo of just such a modified triple intake manifold. The Cannon (actually Nissan Comp) Triple manifold was used as that was what all the porters (most to this day) used as a standard 'best flowing combination' which was then flanged to some bent tubing (undoubtedly with full radius trumpets on the end) and a rubber tube isolator that connected that tubing to a plenum with a single throttle body. That setup is shown in several different pictures from several different angles in the above mentioned book. BTW, I just got my EMS Post from Japan Monday---many more books from Nostalgia Two-Days. I've overspent...I'm broke, and heading back to Japan on Monday!

Over 300 in an L28ET with regular old 87 octane pump gas. Over 165 in an L28NA with regular old 87 octane pump gas. Two personal daily driver examples. Go back and read my original post about compression and how much you get. It's not as much as you THINK you will get, and in most cases all you do is set up an engine that REQUIRES high-octane fuel. What's a 5.7L Chevy making on 87 Octane these days? 330+ REAL HP? That's a 'significant' bump from the unreal 145 you made back in 1975...

"IMO, simple answers have their place, but I try to not over-use them for the sake of someone's ignorance." If I said that..... Ooooooh the furor! I love U's, they were not in Z's.... But it's still in the Nissan Family With the L, the G, the A and RB, too... C'mon Hybridize you two!

Chech for block or head irregularities in the area. Even a 0.002" "wave" in the surface (cumulative-0.001" on the head, 0.001" on the block) can alter clamping forces enough to make it susceptible to blowout when you hit some in audible detonation. I had an Isuzu/Chevy Luv that repeatedly blew head gaskets in the same spot. Instead of decking the block (which had what looked like a "rusty spot " there, at the recommendation of a former Isuzu Engineer I placed a triangular piece of stainless steel shim stock on the area with red RTV and damned if it didn't stop the issue. He said in some cases 0.001" shim would be used instead of milling the surfaces and screwing to the blueprinted centrelines...

I've been told I make answers overly complex, and because if that I'm a bad guy-some sort of know-it-all. I've been told things aren't as complex as I make them out to be most of the time. I'm trying not to know as much as I do, so I'm more like a fat purple dinosaur that sings happy songs and dances with the kiddies in a non threatening, non pedophilia way. I'm thinking of repainting my 260 Purple & Green...

"And pulling a spark plug makes the knock go away..."

Oh, and BTW, Ive just re-read the post and it says "list the mods needed" -- last I checked, hanging a hair dryer on an N/A Longblovk still was considered "a modification"

Get the lawyer.

Idle AFR is too high: 13.5-13.6 is normal , may need different accel pump setting, even when moving slowly they dribble fuel out to airstream. Make sure your distributor is properly recurved to help with this issue! You may need one jet size larger on idle! 57.5-62.5 is normal there!

I'm onboard with Six-Shooter's last post on the JDM-Style wide band clamps. That was how one was assembled. They work darned good!

Thing is, I don't know of any headers that are CARB listed. There was, under the pre-CARB days the simple requirement that as long as the headers retained all smog fittings, they would pass. Then the rules said you had to go through CARB testing. Most existing header makers for the Z-Car didn't want to bother with the new testing and sims dropped "smog legall" headers for the "not Ho be used on any pollution controlled vehicle" or " Not legal for sale in CA on Any pollution-controlled vehicle " Good Luck!

This ignorance of octane rating has persisted for years. Gene Berg was a big proponent of much lower than conventional practice for street engines in air cooled VW's. He showed dyno differences between the same engine optimised at each compression ratio from 7.0-10:1. Big difference was detonation and rod bearing wear due to detonation... His philosophy was with the EXTREMELY SMALL penalty in actual under-the-curve horsepower and torque compared to an engine that would run 150,000 miles+ vs. 30 Dragstrip Runs before needing rod bearings, you were far better off designing around low octane low compression. He actually would change heads to race, and swap back yo drive home! The big thing is the consensus is the most economical way to reach 300RWHP is turbo. Can you do it N/A? Sure. What would you lose on that engine tuning for 87 compared to 113 C16 Racing Fuel? 20-30 Ho? 10%? Seems to me most people have a problem handling 150-200HP, much less 300. I doubt they will notice much less be able to adequately utilise that power properly. The difference in performance envelope between the car with 270 vs 300 RWHP is going to be minimal. The longevity from lower compression, and being able to run most premium fuels with NO FEAR of detonation: PRICELESS!