Tony D

I haven't seen an L Block yet that needed a ridge reamer, but people tell me sometimes the F54's get a ridge... Never seen it personally though. Nissan oil control rings are notoriously weak--that is "low tension" and prone to get stuck if they sit for a prolonged period. Low tension rings means more horsepower for you to use instead of being wasted as friction scraping the cylinder Walls. For years my #5 was like that, oil is cheap compared to the cost of even a halfarsed freshening... Eventuall with enough hard miles of driving (40,000 at 17psi) they seemed to rectify themselves. Nomore fouling or excessive consumption for me. I just couldn't bring myself to crack open an engine with only 40,000 KM (what's that, 24,000 miles???) when I knew it was a stuck ring from sitting in my yard under a tarp for 5 years before I got around to using it!

Jack, wheelset, and a flatbed-still gone in 120 seconds...

Step one: lodged at Kawagoe Dai Ichi Hotel in Saitiama... There are a few places to hit before the TAS... muahahaha!!!

"Damage done to the car"? Unless you hit something, I hope to GAWD you are not making inference that USING AND DRIVING a car somehow damages it!?!?!? If you hit something, that's not a rational reason not to drive any modern vehicle cross country. I would say since the advent if reliable tubeless tyres, anything from the 50's onward should make this trip without a second thought and with very little fuss... My Blue Turd 260Z went cross country several times, and by cross country I don't mean one way-- there and BACK. Anything you might encounter along the way is nothing different than what you coil encounter on any day or weekend run 5 miles from your own doorstep!

D/p

100 gallons of gas, thereabouts. Maybe 150... Plus the cost of a ticket one way BWI-SJC on SWA... And two, maybe three days. Do it over a weekend and you likely won't even have to play Hookey from work for more than a day!

Of course they will say it's fine. They aren't paid to cut the pistons to THEIR specifications, they were to cut the to YOUR specifications. They failed to do that, and turned a piston into scrap according to YOUR specifications. Tell them they can put the piston in THEIR engine if they think it's fine, but they still owe you a piston. Doesn't matter WHO supplied them, THEY screwed up your part. They should replace it.

1/8" Strap 1" wide is more than enough to lift the engine as a bracket. 3x25mm for our metric brethren... As JC said, any of the M8 bolts on the engine will lift it.

Tonight, Okamura informed me since I was working up until the 13th on this emergency job in Tokyo, that this weekend he would be taking me to TAS on the company's tab for 'entertainment' as he was once again assinged the unenviable task of entertaining the Gaijin while he is in town. They really have to twist his arm, ever since he found out I'm Kyu-sha-jin his entertainment receipts have been ridiculous! And when this was posted, I was still looking forward to three more days off. Instead the next day I jumped a flight to Tokyo and have been arms-deep in work until just now. Dude, PM me, we can meet if we are there on the same day!

Been here since 89, never heard of the guy... Got a photo of the car? Anybody at any of the races (like Battle of the Imports #1) would likely remember the CAR before the name of some guy who did something to it along the way!

Your machinist buys you a new piston, machines it correctly, and gives it to you as compensation for his error, and his error alone. Otherwise, you take your parts and don't pay him. Isn't that the way things are done in Europe? If this was in Germany, the machinist would have been apologising that the new replacement piston wasn't already there, and have refunded your money as a general principle for failing in the most basic of apprenticeship skills: Marking those bits with their completed machining numbers! Mistakes will happen, there is ABSOLUTELY NO REASON that you should have to pay for it though. He owes you a piston, machined properly.

Check the aero thread/forum, likely you can greatly reduce potential inflow with proper ducting and exit management. The Euro Turbo cars had a 100% ducted radiator on the S130, plastic duct attached to the front of the radiator and a small flexible duct attached to it and the air entrance point in the front lower fascia.

Been a vented fenderwell fan for decades. Very common in Japan in the 70's and 80's. Only recently finding favour in the US and elsewhere...

TOKYO AUTO SALON/SHOW "TAS" Generally early in the year with most aftermarket manufacturers represented with all their wares on display. Okamura just emailed and inquired about my schedule this month, oh to be in Tokyo/Yokohama for the Odaiba Swap Meet on the 29th!

"no cure for stupid" I can see that coming back some time in the future... "remember the car died and we replaced the battery, then the next day it died again?" If you bring up the real reason... You're braver than I!

I just came to the shocking revelation that I have now put 103,000 on my Blue Turd $125 Police Leinsale 260Z... It went on the road for me in 95, but I've had a company car up until 2008. 100K kinda snuck up on me, and for a car I spent a whopping $125 for, I think I'll live with the issues as they appear.

Badgers...huh huh huh

Thermal mass is overlooked continually in these discussions, and leads to some vehemently defending theories which seem to make sense when looked at superficially, but lead to very poor design changes in practice. It goes hand in hand with the fact that water isn't the sole coolant in any engine.

I bought a built engine from a guy once. Refused to pay a premium for it. Some time later doing som leak repair I was more than shocked to find there actually WERE forged slugs, lightened rods and performance cam in the thing. Of course I took PHOTOS of it all apart so if I ever sell, I got proof other than my word!

Refinery Fires in the south? Isn't that a season there or something?

Outside the USA, the five speeds were packaged with 3.9 or higher gears. Doesn't change fuel mileage but does make for a fun ride. The early 5-Speed in my car with an L28 and 3.90 is a great combination. In a car with an L24 I'd go with the 4.11, makes highway cruising effortless, and normal passing doesn't require changing down two gears llike when a 3.36 is in there!

Yep, and embrittlement of the alloys... Been on one of those that went "Boom" in Alameda!

Vacuum only goes to about 30psig... By High Pressure Helium, I'm talking 6,000+ psig. A bit harder to seal than a vacuum chamber! I hate working on those compressors...

Oh, Bill! He's over in Elsinore about 20 minutes from me. Used to do a lot of Z-Cams, but has been into Hondas of late. Gets his billets for them cut locally at a machine shop right there in Elsinore as well.

82/83 ECU/AFMs are identical. If you have a 'matched pair' then chances are good any issues you have are in the harness, and not the pair. But they are not 'matched' in any way. I have seen BMW AFM's attached to JECS ECU's. Resistance is resistance. Just make sure the pin compatibility is there, and you can basically put any AFM from any car onto any other.