Tony D

Toyota and Honda are your friends in this regard. Search the parts catalogs and technical data. Never be a purist when it comes to parts. The old adage 'parts is parts' is true. I have guys who have blanched at Honda rods in a Toyota, but when you realize that you have a junkyard option that costs you $125 compared to beautiful Carillo's that cost you $1400....uh... well.... I was broken of the parts purist disease when I found out guys were using 5.7" Chevy rods in VW Strokers because the parts were CHEAP. I now return to my metal box and put the leather mask on waiting for Mr. C to come suitably discipline me. In his stead he can send any of these nice looking ANA Attendants from the lounge here in Narita suitably attired in latex or leather... Yes yes yes, the Jack Daniels is free...

I've been to a couple of museums and technical exhibits here in Japan this last week, and it's AMAZING the emphasis they put on deacceleration of bodily extremities through padding and interior deformable structures. I picked up a new brochure for the Toyota IQ (which I'm considering) and the photos of the airbags all deployed tell a very interesting tale! Really the SIDE impact is the deadly one... You have plenty of room fore and aft to keep from hitting stuff. But from the SIDE? I have personally seen someone's head break the passenger's window and go entirely outside the vehicle when hit from the side without airbags. I'm almost of the opinion that I want to drive with my freakin' windows down at this point, and take my chances with the Dale Earnhardt 'stretched neck syndrome' if I'm whacked from the side!

I just HAVE to post this photo from last weekend. I know guys who have been pulling their hair out for original braided hoses for 240Z's being told they are 'NLA' and this little bin just KILLED me when I saw it! I don't know of a source for the rad hoses which are preformed properly. Anything is possible with beadrolled aluminum tubing and simple elbows, though!

You haven't been reading close enough. Less lift if you want to keep the springs you have. 465 or 470 is usually acknowledged as the maximum lift you can use and retain the stock springs. Duration can be what you like. But lift will determine your springs. Have you considered sending your stock cam (damaged as it is) in for a regrind. You will need (likely) new lash pads then, but it may be pretty cheap. In L.A. a reground bumpstick can range from $25 to $100 (from El Inca Cams and Isky respectively...) If you want one you can put in without a long lead time (which "long" is relative) then buying one outright is the path you must go. Don't waste your time with "A" "B" "C" cams, just get one that is ground for more performance than stock. PFFFFFT! Good Luck!

Replace the U-Joints

I could comment, but I would then be caught in the vortex...

I would shy away from 'Paradigms of Turbocharged Motor Theory' by the aforementioned Dr. Bell. Some of the information is good, but like anything it was dated the day it was printed and it's gotten worse since I read it when it first came out. The divergence of his theories on it, and what just about everybody else in the world are striking. Though he made one hell of a nice bypass valve, please keep in mind his book was written from what I can see, to sell his parts offerings.

Correction to Darrel's statement:

I mean, since we're on the "let's pull a guess out of my arse" game... "Its really loud when there's a load on the engine." Exhaust Manifold Leak. Mechanically, electrically everything is perfect. This is (outside of a rod knock) which gets louder when there is a load on the engine. Both go away when you pull a plug and the offending cylinder is disabled.

^^^ ^^^

I think that's a bit much, I believe the moral was roll HOOP (not cage to bang your head upon) and seat/harness...

I knew Booger had some native Michigander in him....

"I'm getting tired of spending my money on **** that people say will work, come to find it doesn't." Are you channelling JeffP right now? Jeff, is that you?

Oh yeah, that's going to be a classic!

The cost for labor at most shops will be under $200, the whole package of mandrel bends is no more than that. All depends on how fancy you want to get with the mufflers. I would be hard pressed to spend more than $500 on the exhaust using conventional mufflers with ricer tips. And that's taking it to the corner muffler shop. Got a torch? Weld it yourself and save $200 --- it ain't rocket science!

Free with the offer to come with a trailer and get it out of the yard always works to get me interested in a car that doesn't run, has rust holes, and 'broken' windows...

I'd say so! "Singh Grooves"

Base Pressure is the pressure used by the injector manufacturer to calculate the flow---some it's 3 bar, others 36psi. This is also referred to as 'STATIC' fuel pressure. That would be the pressure you see on the fuel system with the key ON and the car NOT running, this is your 'BASE' fuel pressure setting. As soon as you turn on the car and start running, the vacuum signal to the FPR (18" Hg -- roughly 9psig) will decrease your static pressure by roughly that amount. When you go to boost, the Delta-P across the injector has to be the same as 'static' so the injector is giving it's rated delivery, so you have to add boost pressure to it otherwise at some point you could literally blow boost back down the fuel rail! For instance: Injector is rated to flow at 550CC's at 3 Bar Static Pressure. (LETS JUST SAY 3 BAR is 45PSI FOR THIS DISCUSSION!) FPR is manifold-referenced, 1:1 Ratio (meaning for any action on the sensor input to the FPR, it moves pressure that way. At idle, with the above example, you would show 45-9=36psig At 10 psi Boost you would have 45+10=55psig Follow? In the same way, you can take injectors and 'tweak' their delivery as well, say you have a 3 bar rated injector of 450cc's, and don't want to buy those 500CC or 550CC/min units. By taking the static pressure from 3 bar to 4 bar you directly increase the flow rating of the injector in a similar ratio. Those 450CC injectors at 3 bar are flowing more like 550 or 600cc/min injectors (this is in injection handbooks, this is a WILD approximation, check it out if it interests you...I digress!)

Amazing what you find when you search, huh?

FYI: The 'standard pattern' of the original NISMO header (JDM Trust/Greddy/OS, etc.) is currently selling in Japan (BRAND NEW) for 56,000 yen, at an exchange rate of 79 to the dollar that's $708. I just ordered the gaskets for those puppies (the small three-bolt flange with twin 50mm holes for the matching exhaust.) From this I will likely make a die to cut my own in the future, and have a water-jet cut a production run of flanges from stout stock so people with JDM headers can fabricate their own exhausts instead of paying the price for the JDM offerings. There are plenty of those nice JDM headers out there with the standard flange...but the exhausts are few and far between!

Yep, grasping at straws and easy suspects is the way to go about it. That FSM, just a waste of time, forget I mentioned the free download! I think you're making much better progress shotgunning and guessing!

"CHEAP" and "RACING" are RELATIVE terms. The LeMons rules said the cars were to be no more than $500 (excluding safety equipment)... Our $500 car was more like 10X that... And yeah, for RACING, that IS cheap!

I can give you a site where you can go for Z-Car information like that... It's on the web, it's really easy to find. Just type what first comes into your head when you think of Z Car and a common internet website suffix...

I take it 'the underside' you refer to is 'the underside of the intake manifold plenum'.... In that case, yes, PCV by the looks of it and kind of by the given description.

ITB's are NOT like Carburettors! At 'idle' they are CLOSED. "Idle Synch" is done through the vacuum log and a bypass line, or individual throttle plate bypasses (depending on who makes the ITB.) Ask anybody who has tried to synch an idle setup on ITB's how easy it is to get an idle speed below 1000 (or even 1200) using the 'idle stop screws'! It's best set closed if at all possible. Generally the injectors go downstream of the throttle plates anyway. In cases where they dont, then you can crack them incrementally, or in most pro setups they drill a very VERY small hole in the throttle plate. Off-Idle synch is more important to see that they all reach WOT at the same time, and that is linkage length. In between there is very little to do, if they all close at the same time, and all go WOT at the same time, they are for all intents 'balanced'... The flow in that situation should not vary measurably between barrels in a body, or body to body. If it does it's mechanical wear in the cylinder causing it and must be remedied.