Tony D

Waitaminit here, there is NO requirement for a US Model bought in the USA from a US Distributor to be made compliant to CA Specifications. I have a (three actually) NON-CATALYST S30's out back. I have to go to the Referee EVERY time, but I pass the tailpipe and that 49-State Compliance Sticker gets me the pass at the Referee. Now, if you are talking about having a 49 state car, and swapping in components technically you have to only comply with 49 state testing. But if you are using a Non-US engine, then you have to bring it up to CA specs (like my 73). Good luck finding a Non-CA car in California, Arizona, Nevada, Oregon or Washington, though. The vast majority west of the rockies were CA-Spec. What you CAN NOT DO is take a chassis which was CA-Specification and swap in Federal Components. That is a No-No. I think that is what the Ref was referring to above. If you have a Federal Car to begin with, though....you don't HAVE to use CA spec parts when doing the swap. Chevy LUV's were the same way---in 1980 they had a Catalyst in CA, but in Michigan they did not. If you get a CA Chassis and swap in a Camaro V8 (it's done, and popular) then you need the catalysts on it. If you have a 1980 Federal Chassis you enter that B.S. grey area. Like JC says, "doing the legwork ahead of time" makes these things fly smoothly through the process. Just showing up without documents, photos, etc... and you will be in for a rough inspection.

If you get around your local tubing supplier, a single stick (20') should be more than enough. My suggestion is to make it in three parts: The firewall forward (engine bay) Under the car from Firewall to Differential Front Crossmember (Don't forget the heavy pipe over the tubing in the plane of rotation of the flywheel/clutch disc) The Differential Crossmember rearward (rear section) This will allow you to do the complex bending of each end without worrying about screwing up the under car portion (this can get complex... and that last bend always seems to make it go the wrong way and then...SHITE!) Plus, if you change configuration on the engine bay, or the fuel pump feed section you only need to replace a small section. Swagelock makes nice tube-to-tube connectors (they are not cheap) for joining them in a permanent fashion, and you can use whatever you want on the ends for tubing to flexibles... I seem to remember I went through this recently... I know JeffP liked the idea pretty well... He bent a few wrong bends there and if you do that as well... you will need 'more' than a 20 foot stick. 0.500"X0.035" Wall Feed 0.375"X0.035" Wall Feed (or Return), 0.250"X0.035" Wall Return This is commonly stocked and a popular industrial size. They do have thinner wall stuff, but it's not so commonly stocked. The heavier wall stuff is a PITA to bend, and tremendous overkill! You don't need anything heavier than these wall thicknesses, and even this is overkill. That stuff is good for thousands of PSI!

Quantify the performance gain versus dollars spent... There was a paradigm that says you 'have' to use a header. But with numbers like posted above...really what kind of gain will you realistically get? And at what cost? There are far too many 'theoretical' rules regarding turbos. People repeat them without much regard to real-world payback. Proper engineering should always balance costs against performance gained. A lot of this stuff really seems to add up to 'incremental' improvements with costs far higher than other things you could do.

BTW, there once was a magical porter out gate three in Chibana... he did wonderful things with the L-Head, and many of the top racers on the Japanese Mainland sent their heads to him for work. They had an old one-eyed man there that did wonders on flat metal sheets with only a hammer and anvil. I could watch him for hours...

"It's common knowledge that a stock turbo exhaust manifold is great for moderate power ratings, to bad they're ugly." Yes, I guess if 750HP is 'moderate' and you are planning on building a 1500HP Turbo L28, then by all means go with a header. I would think the breaking point would be in the 800 to 900hp range. Stock or ported US/JDM Spec Log seems to be no hindrance to 638HP, Euro Log well above that point, haven't reached a 'strangle' point there yet it's interior is considerably larger than the US manifold, equivalent to and even slightly larger than the tubular SFP header sold some time ago... Jet Hot makes rusty castings look grand, BTW. And it doesn't cost you $1500. I guess it's more a ricer thing for appearance, eh? Functionally it doesn't seem to matter.

Speed Channel Fiasco? This is what happens when you don't have cable. Perhaps this is a good thin...

Oh, this is where the thread went... Yes, it was a successful install. Jeff and I (as well as Frank 280ZX and Andy Flagg) had a little get-together at the MSA event to discuss some more things on this. Really, with the size hoses everbody is using it's amazing the results we are achieving. Reviewing archival photos recently with a caliper in-hand, the stuff used in the past was much larger! So for you 1100HP L-Gata Endurance Racers.... use bigger lines than discussed in this thread!

I don't know offhand, but it gives me an opportunity to explain surge to people...which I do at work on a regular basis!

Replace with stock P90. Add Turbo. 200HP, done. That's what I did, but I used Triple Mikuinis and had a bit more than 200RWHP...

The entire suspension under my 73 240Z is from a 77 Farilady Z Coupe. Why? Because it was all new and I knew the componentry---the guy what did the work on the 73 wasn't keen on proper assembly so the best bet was to find another, and just swap the whole mess over at once in order to know it was all complete. The P.O. left out things like the steel spacer in the T/C rod bushings, and swapped from late to early Brake MC lines because he "didn't like the look" of them crossing under the MC... Nothing like having no brakes until the last 1/4" of travel then suddenly hearing a "THUNK!" and having the wheel jump out of your hand---and the guy next to you saying "Your wheel just moved back in the wheel well like 5 inches dude!" Otherwise, meh!

I second this opinion. Matter of fact, by my recollection I've seconded, thirded,and up to 13th'd this opinion. Responsible for a whopping 33% of the cars in the yard...

My bets: 1) They might not. 2) Probably because there aren't any 'serious flaws'... I see this headed to the shed soon with commentary like this burbling in now.

Discussing this with Frank and Joe in the truck today I remembered that I also had a serious speedometer error. I was recalling spedometer number, when in fact I showed 110mph on the speedo it in reality was 137mph. So this same error might be retroactively applied to my speed numbers. Perhaps me showing 70mph was closer to 90 mpd...

Con, not that many more rpms. Buy a reground Isky cam, it's better than any stocker will ever be.

1) You are driving the car incorrectly: gear it so you are in the power band on-course. You should not be below 3000 rpms. Same as a Cammed engine. 2) Use a smaller turbine wheel A/R like a 0.48 instead of the 0.63. Mine would spool off-idle to 17psi at 1700 rpms and driving autox was a breeze. Everybody goes for terminal power numbers under some misguided assumption that a small housing just kills your 'top end' horsepower, which especially in stock turbos is hogwash---run a smaller A/R and get the spool back to where it was stock, or slightly lower. It will work wonders coming off a corner. 3) when you change to the smaller A/R, install an ATB, or LSD. You will burn the tires with all the torque you have. STaying in second gear will not be an issue and people will be amazed at how the car squats and goes. You don't need a cam to run the power up higher, you have a terribly mismatched turbo for the application. If it's not boosting to 9posi until 3K rpms, you have a serious mismatch on the turbo or severe tuning issues which should manifest in a number of other ways which I would think you would mention...so that leaves bad turbo selection as the most likely cluprit. Even with the smaller housing, the thing can be cut, and a slightly more agressive cam can be added to push power peak up a bit higher, and give the sensation of pulling to 6000+, instead of 'wow if I short shift at 5500 this thing sure seems faster' type of run you are likely getting now. Been here, solved that. With the original 0.48 nissan housing suitably modified for the wheel and hybridized compressor 275-350 at the wheel with 17psi-21psi available at 1700-6500 was possible (though it was best shifted aroudn 6200 actually but would 'pull' to 6500 if asked on a long straight.) 21 psi was really close to the surge line and was touchy on a hot day... or really cold day. But at 17psi the car was so strong and strong down low it was not a necessity to go to 21. I would routinely cruise in top gear at 50mph and 2K rpm, and just hammer the throttle to pass people. The torque was amazing. I miss that little turbo, and lament I ever drank the cool-aid and put the US Market 0.63 housing turbo on the car. I should never have sold it to that damnable Isuzu freak with the Impulse/Imprezza...

I'm sure it would have held together just fine for at least 10 miles at that speed...

I don't think so, the Cedric and Skyline Kenmeri are two totally different cars. And in the JDM, the CEdric was available with the L28, whereas the Skylines in JDM were all L20's or derivatives---they never got the L24 or larger engines there. Cedric 230 Cedric 330 They were avaialble in 2-doors as well. Kinda like the Hot Impala SS of Japan... A Laurel and Skyline, maybe. Never a Cedric and a Skyline!

Dead Battery

OMFG... TWO of the THREE I got in the shed came from 83's. The year, the casting... MEANS NOTHING--you can say you have Hydraulic when you have LOOKED and CONFIRMED it. How hard is this?

Until Burton Brown goes faster than we did and it's reflected in the record books... Show me an S30 Coupe that is faster than a 2+2, you hater bastards!

So you're saying I should have stolen a gallon of that "LCS Fluid" from the F15's and gone the immersed processor route like most avionics have done for...what? 40+ years? My kid got a fluid cooled CPU for his tower and was all raving about it... until I showed him photos of F15's with AT (or was it XT) computer boards in the Avionics Bay bathed in liquid coolant. What he thought was 'cutting edge' was really rehashed military technology from when I was a kid! Imagine what they got out there now... Your tax dollars at work! I use canned air a lot. Hell, crack the case and clean thoroughly. It doesn't take that long. I have been known to shoot freez-it in the intake port when I'm getting the toasty feeling on my left knee...

Oh, you haven't a clue! They will fail your car on inspection if your front calipers deviate more than 3% in clamping force. There is a reason I really don't complain about CA Smog... When you compare it to European ENGINEERING COMPLIANCE requirements making a car run clean and look legal is CHILD's PLAY! You want a nightmare? Talk to the guys in AUSTRALIA about a cross-platform high-horsepower engine swap and see what THEY have to go through. Passing in Califorina? Hell, that's drunk in my sleep after a bongfull of pure Columbian and an 8 ball of China White easy to pass by comparison....

Yep, I have THREE P90A's in my shed... NOT ONE is "Hydraulic"--you can not go by casting number, you have to look. The fourth P90A I have is in a relatively unmolested 83 ZXT 2+2, and it's got the hydraulics in it. Externally it's identical to two of the ones I have in storage, and the other one simply doesn't have the oil cooler on it.

Oh, how I can relate to that scenario (WINNING!) at this particular point in time... John, I have to agree. I have actually had gleeful calls from guys who are freshly from the Referee Station that start out with "I never believed what you said, but MAN THAT WAS EASY!" If you do the proper legwork before the conversion, it really is a very simple straightforward process. Now that Legal KA24 swap in a 510.... John, we need to talk some more when I see you later this week! In a good way...

The oil cooler is aftermarket, or Nissan Parts from another market. They did not come with oil coolers on ANY S130 sold in the JDM. They were standard equipment on Turbo Cars in Europe, though... If your badges are "Fairlady 280Z" and the firewall VIN begins with 'HS130' then it's a legitimate Fairlady 280Z(X) and should have an L28. If the fender badging says "Fairlady Z" and the firewall VIN begins with 'S130' then it's a 2.0 Liter Fairlady Z which has had an L28 put into it at some point. From what I guess, the VIN is in the low 2000's or before...