Tony D

"I thought this was America?!?! Can't we get whatever we want?" Oh son, you've drunk the Kool-Aid if you're in that frame of mind! Nothing could be further from the truth!

If I opened a JECS box to do soldering, it would be to breadboard a MEGASQUIRT inside it and that would be the end of it! This electronic experimenter mentality is OK to a point, but for christs' sake the box is 1968 technology! It works to a point, but that point is so rigid and inflexible, and takes so much work to change why bother? The biggest downfall to a machinist coming into the field is that they think they can 'fix' everything. It simply doesn't make sense to spend $2500 to fix something that can be replaced for $68! Same for E-Sparkies and the JECS box---the reality is you can put that MS into your box, have it look just like stock, but FUNCTION on a par with at least mid 80's if not early 90's fuel loop correction and have an overall performance increase...not to mention self-adjustment via twin BARO sensors and an O2 loop. Unless I was restricted by class rules to use the JECS box, there is no way it'd use it for anything other than a STOCK car (and even then....that retrofit to Megasquirt makes for a BETTER DRIVING CAR! And it STILL passes smog out the tailpipe!)

Davies-Craig is the only speed-controlled electric water pump that I know of in the aftermarket tuner realm. I may be wrong, but they seem to have a good product. Used extensively in Formula Ford from what I understand. Think they have a pump controller based on water temperature.

ESPECIALLY if you are only going to 3500rpms! You are juuuuust kicking into the main jet. under steady cruise conditions, Mikuinis are on their IDLE jet system, they usually run a 55-65 idle jet. They have extensive progression holes to allow low throttle angle operation on the idle jet ALONE. The BIGGEST problem I see with people running Mikunis is they undersized or didn't change the idle jets. They get a "lean pop" so they start upsizing the mains. WRONG! Upsize (or at least check the idle jets sizing) and then concentrate on accel pump volume and squirter nozzle size. With the proper accel shot, you can run idle jets to get GREAT fuel mileage, and on a quick WOT shot the accel pump will mask a very long transition (meant for street driving where you are on the verge of lugging the engine) until the main system is properly drawing and supplying fuel. If you are jetted correctly, on level ground in fifth gear (late ZX box) and a 3.36 differential you can be rattling along in top gear at 1500 rpms(so that is about 40-45mph)and go WOT.... The engine should not lean pop, but should just start pulling---slowly at first, and faster as you approach around 3000 3500 when it should really come alive (comes on the cam)... I don't have any with jet sets in them now but if you could take a look at your jets, the idles, mains and air correctors it might give me an idea where you are or what is wrong. Unless you are completely and continually stomping on it to WOT and just pumping the hell out of the accel pump circuit..... Something definately sounds wrong if you are only going to 3500. If you short-shift an L24 with a 3.7 gearset and a late five speed I have seen guys with 40's break 30mpg if they keep it around 60-65mph. If you have the wrong float level or excessive pressure on the fuel (normally 3.5psi) you will get crappy mileage. A high float level causes the main to tip in too early, and really screws up how much is delivered in the idle circuit as well. To the Weber issue of being over-jetted: I have found guys with 45 DCOE's running main jets bigger than our 320HP Bonneville Engine!!! If we could make that power with a 140 or 135 main jet (depending on altitude...) what the hell are you doing with that thing in a STOCK L28??? Answer is always the same: "It was lean popping so we kept increasing the jet size till it stopped"... They get 8-9mpg as well!!! <EDIT> and the timing comment is spot on: make sure you are running the vacuum advance with the fitting from the first carb, or crank in some advance! Without vacuum advance the car will be a dog and won't get crap for cruise fuel mileage, you will be using a lot more throttle angle than necessary and tipping into the main like being in the wrong gear going uphill!

The JECS is BOSCH licensed technology. As the Japanese say "The Same, But Different!"

That is the downfall of leaving the last company---they had a CMM and Five-Axis capabilities in-house. And PLENTY of apprentices that needed to do programming and setup. All I would have to pay for is the stock. Damn MBA's and their 'no touch parts operation' visions (that fail miserably...) Keep in mind E-Pumps are constant flow for the most part. Unless you have one of the fancy models from Europe that has variable flow / variable speed. The question becomes "at which load point is the flow correct" with an E-Pump. How do you compensate for overcapacity (if it exists) at idle, if sized for maximum load. What happens if flow is lower than expected at full load?

I know the ULTIMATE answer: I'll show my kid this post and ask HIM to comment in my stead!

Y'Know, I always wondered how that happened, that's what those buttons are for... +1 GIF!!! (Downloaded and sent to my son!)

There is a Mitsubishi 550CC injector which has a very short body length. All dimensions standard O-Ring spec, but the top portion above the electrical wrappings is VERY short. It was for a TBI application. I was going to stuff them in a float bowl, but when I saw the price Mitsu wanted.... You want a little space there for thermal growth. The "Stock" Nissan Barbed Injector...Go look at the Megasquirt forums, or Dunebuggies.com (I think) they had a lot of 'conversion' parts either made or that you could order from a Bosch Stocking House to convert from various configurations. For the effort, buying remanufactured, or new injectors may be the most expedient route.

John, RE: Impellers If you get the sourcing worked out, perhaps buying 'bearing and seal cartridges' from the same source as the bulk reman shops do is a good plan for an 'upgrade kit'... Basically make the impeller a shrink-on item, and people can take their old bearing housings, drop out the old impeller/bearing/seal package and refit the new items. This is the direction JeffP and I were going. Plenty of gas engine cores out there, but you want a new bearing and seal package to go with that new impeller. If it's cast or even steel, a powder coat, or Techline heavy coat of abradable paint would work well to seal up impeller to casing tolerances as well... I think grooving the tips of the impellers and fitting a teflon wiper is going a bit far...

40 PHH Mikuinis on stock L24 in 240Z AUTOMATIC with 4.11 differential got 28mph steady state cruising 60-65mph over a 357 mile known loop. Same car in-town would get 17mpg. 44PHH Blowthrough Turbo, L28, Late ZX 5Speed, 3.36 gearing , averaged over 26K miles of daily commuting got 17mpg. Highest was about 20 when cruising, could get 4 to 5 at the track when on the boost a lot. Changed to 3.7 gearset, didn't change anything appreciably. 40 DCOE 18's, stock L28 in 240Z with 3.7 gears and late ZX 5 Speed, averaged 12-15 on the freeway, and 8-10 in town driven spiritedly. Sold them to some idiot who wanted Webers and refitted my Mikuinis, what an expensive mistake and overhyped combination. Mileage restored to 24mpg on the freeway, with 17 combined. Before any comments are made on misjetting et al: horiba five gas analysis AT REDLINE with John Concialdi and Steve of AEM doing the tuning and jetting. It may have been my foot, but even in steady state I rarely got above 15, maybe 16.2mpg on occasion. They just rely on the main jet too much in a Weber compared to a Dellorto or Mikuini and the economy suffers accordingly. They have to be jetted rich unless you start chamfering throttle plates, drilling progression holes, blah blah blah... If I don't have to do that with my Mikuini to get better mileage I don't see why I should have to do it to a carb that is supposedly 'better and more refined'... Also JC and Steve commented on what I could expect my mileage to be, and they were spot-on! Power as shown on the dyno was not appreciably different from the Mikuinis... 40PHH Mikuinis unless seriously misjetted should return nearly identical if not slightly better fuel economy as SU's on the same engine. If you use the HP the mileage will be less. But with a light foot, their jetting arrangement provides for exceptional economy. They were designed as an OEM Fittment for the L24, and their OEM design heritage (Solex) shows in drivability and fuel economy. If you're getting single digits, I'd look at the plugs. You have to be in the Main Jet a LOT to get that kind of mileage!

"Hard Drive Fans : > Hard Drive Cooling Fan Aluminum Internal" "Computer Fan, Economy, External"

yep, don't even have to look at the link. They do make a 'one step' injector drill that does the hole and the injector step...but BEWARE there's not a SINGLE one of them available that I've seen that is for the STOCK injector. They are all for the 14mm O-Ring style Bosch Configuration injector. The Nissan/Bosch injector has a smaller pintle, and seals with a flat o-ring against the body in axial crush. Standard O-Ring injectors use an O-Ring on the pintle in a configuration that seals in a radial crush circumferentially about it and the body is left to float freely between o-rings on either end. You can adapt the Nissan OEM style pintles by putting on a different 14mm compatible pintle cap, or an adapter that slips over the existing one to take the 14mm sealing o-ring (Nissan is more like 10mm)

Seriously, if you can make 700 on the stock manifold.....exactly what kind of performance increase (and it will have to be incremental) that you are willing to spend $1500+ to achieve? "Other benefits beyond horsepower"---have him spell that one out, put it on paper, and have him pay for the dyno time to prove it or give you your money back if it doesn't live up to what he claims it will give you. Other than his pocketbook... If you aren't going past 300 you aren't going to get any significant gains going tubular! Even if you are, until you are near 600 it's sketchy even then! If I had a stock L28ET, and wanted to spend $1500 on it to get SIGNIFICANT horsepower from a GTX35R Turbo I fantasized about putting on, I would spend it on HEAD WORK AND A CAM. If you don't have SERIOUS head work and a cam on your engine, putting a tubular header on your engine is just ricing it up, plain and simple. And even then, up to 600 someone would have to show me the gains. REMEMBER JeffP HAD a tubular header on his car and WENT BACK TO THE STOCK ONE when he found out it was STEEL and could be welded to accommodate an external wastegate! The Tubular header was more trouble than it was worth. There went $1200 down the drain and countless hours of rework, redesign, and rethinking this tubular header paradigm...

"Stock NGK Bpr6ES"??? 7's 8's ? If you don't tune to lean misfire and back down 1 turn, likely you are well into the 11's for AFR. You will not see black smoke out the tailpipe until DEEP into the 10's or high 9's for AFR. I can't count how many SU's I have seen 'tuned to run great' puffing black out the tailpipe. That's not tuned right, but hey the torque curve is FAT and they drive nice like that!

Gas, Diesel, what's the difference? (In some cubicle somewhere there is an MBA going "see! see! I TOLD you we wouldn't get any pushback on this. Give the guy some diesel pumps and hope he keeps his mouth shut!")

"Is it possible that even though the dry compression numbers are all right on spec, that the oil control rings aren't controlling the oil?" Oh HELL yes! I had a stuck control ring on #5 that would FOUL THE PLUG! I decided to "kill" the engine so took the boost up to 17psi and DROVE THE HELL OUT OF IT with the intent to kill it at an Auto-X and driving home one day... To my surprise, the smoking and fouling on #5 stopped after that. I must have unstuck it! Oil consumption went back to nil. I have an engine in my Fairlady Z that has over 225K miles on it now, and has PERFECT compression: first pump is almost 110, third pump is 185 steady and across the board. It also SMELLS of oil if you are behind it! Consumes oil over a quart in 1500 miles, and if I'm driving hard like Auto-X I can go through a quart in 500 miles! No real blue smoke unless it's in the morning, or after long decel. But for the way the thing runs...screw an overhaul! Oil is CHEAP!

I have to agree, I am a fan of Dell Refurbs, the deals you can get are hard to beat. I picked up a smokin' netbook that I gave to my 78 year old mother...for under $300! For all the reasons he listed: use it everywhere, and it had a built in camera "For The Skype" so ma can be couch lounging and avail herself of the wireless router my brother set up (so he could work on his laptop while visiting!) Compared to the cost of a Kindle...I figured that was a better buy. Now dad grabs it when mom isn't looking. Means he can watch the game AND read the paper just like old times! The Desktop/Tower deals they have there are even more ridiculous. And they come with warranty and if you play it right in-home service! (or at the office...) I can't see paying $1000 for a desktop with what's out there...especially with that intended usage.

Yeah, what could one do in this situation.... OH OH OH Mr. Kotter OH OH OH! "Custom Four Link Narrowed Ford 9" with a Spool!"

I might suggest you go back to 17.5 at cruise on BOTH carbs and see what you get. It's not a performance setting, but it should run there for daily commuter duties. You might have to retard timing or run premium to keep the pings at bay... Getting below 12.8 past peak torque is way rich. You can pull fuel like a big dog past your peak torque point FAR leaner than most people think. On turbos I have seen numbers into the 13's and EGT/Power was not affected! But to do that on a carb....well... uh... there's a reason I went EFI! Good Luck, and thanks for the detailed update. Interesting read!

Yeah, you are probably one tooth off very common. But don't overlook the screw slot on the timing tab UNDER the distributor, there is more adjustment there as well as the one on the 'stand' with the "R/A" plate on it. Where that plate bolts to the dissy underneath also has a slot for even MORE timing adjustment!

What was the cost of the Tomei?

Then your carbs 'are not tuned right'... On the off chance you have some super-cold heat range plugs I would inquire which plugs you are using, but you have far too much fuel for your needs if the plugs are fouling....unless this is wet fouling from oil... You say 'fouled black sooty'. No compression results... This engine is NO different than any other internal combustion engine out there, there are no magic bullets when it comes to tuning. What would you think the problem would be in any of the 'other' engines you have experience with? You surmise fuel, I would agree. 200 miles of running---too cold a heat range plug? Fouling is not an issue with timing lead, and it would be an extreme stretch for anything spark related. Fouling is deposition on the plug, and that means fuel or foreign deposits---so heat range, fuel, or bypass oil from somewhere. No mention of blue smoke or burning oil smell in any posts...so we are back to fuel. You say 'tuned the carbs' but you won't see any appreciable driveability or visible smoke until you are well into the 10's for AFR, and the car will drive fine. Running lean best, or rich best on your tuning? I suggest you try "Lean Best" for a change and see if it improves.

Yep, goes to the 1/4" (6mm) hardline that goes up to the left front inner fender and the diverter valve...hose probably rotted off!

I found it in the DVD rack at my video store...