Tony D

Guy up the street bought one of those, decided to go with the local 4X4 club 'mudding' in the field off Nandina road near the house. Most of them found out what the locals knew long ago: Groundwater in this area is at about 12 feet, sometimes less. Lots of rain makes it like a bog, and if you hit that vein of groundwater....who knows how deep you will sink. I know an M35 that looked pretty funny listing at a 45 degree angle to the right, and nose-down buried up over the hood in a field. Lots of other 'clubmembers' were sunk deeper than that. They called in a Semi-Tow to pull up the small ones. I saw the M35 a couple days later...I don't know HOW they got it out, but it must have involved a BIG cable from the nearest road BEHIND it, and that was about 300m! Maybe they called in a 'Tracked Vehicle Assist"? I digress...

Engine X$ Trans X$ Differential X$ Send the rest to the junkyard... Saves a lot of headaches.

It's always that way at the beginning, when the Engineers are involved... Then the 'business matures' and 'other forces' take over production realities...

Flat tops do, but I read on the internet flat tops are smog carbs and are poor performers... /sarcasam warning/ Leon has it. Put a CO meter on there and dollars to donuts you are around 5 to 12% CO at idle....and that's why it stinks. I had a set of NOS (had, hell, I still have them!) 71 Round Tops off a car I bought-they had 6 months of drive time on them. I would put them on my cars when I'd smog test them. Never failed, and ran amazingly clean (ESPECIALLY with the AIR Functioning)... Chances are you have no AIR System on the car any more, so you are compounding your problem with the fumes. I ran a 71 Z with an old 'smog legal' header which utilized AIR, it ran out the pipe exceedingly clean. I also ran my 73 with ALL the AIR pumping into the #1 Header Pipe, and I was suprised to find that had a big impact on the tailpipe emissions as well, despite being injected 'in the wrong place'... I think just pumping the O2 into the exhaust is enough to burn up the residual HC's going out the pipe in back. Try using a Toyota-Style Gulp-Valve to introduce O2 into the header collector and see if you drop the HC's. But you have to get the carbs working right first! Then you can scrub the exhaust.

Don't adjust as easily, yes. Do not perform well? Tell that to the National Champions who won with them on the car. Sometimes, you get caught repeating stuff you read on the internet. This is one of those times.

The stock ZG flares were designed with 14X10" wheels in mind. Backspacking for a 10" is no problem. Go a little wider, use a bigger flare. My rears when I bought my car were 295/575R-14 Dunlops on 14X13's and 265's on 14X10's up front... Went wider out back later on.

I have run (an in the JDM it's common) to run the stock flywheel at 15#. These are not for 8000+rpm engines, but for cast piston engines running in more or less the stock rpm range. If you have a sound stock flywheel, lightening it in a competent manner (as done universally in the 80's in Japan...to around 15#/6.5-7Kg) doesn't affect anything. Basically you remove the inertia ring at the outermost edges and remove stress risers everywhere else. In that regard, one could argue that a lightened flywheel is SAFER than a stocker with the intertia ring intact! All those stress risers, big moment away from rotational centerline... The photographs are NOT of a 'lightened stock flywheel'--you can't do that to one, it has to be a forged or stamped steel unit, the cast material doesn't have the strength to support that cross-sectional area. The BIGGEST difference I saw between USA and JDM machine work on the flywheels was that the Japanese units didn't mess with anything behind the frictional surface other than taking enough off to remove casting irregularities (stress risers) while most of the US-Lightened units thinned that area out, as well as the cross-sectional area where the hub mounts to the crank snout. The Japanese worked the intertia ring and ring gear extensively, but left everything inside the frictional surface pretty much alone. This results in drastic changes in performance response compared to the stocker. Very startling change, my 15# iron flywheel runs like an 11# Tilton. If I was having one lightened, that is what I would pay attention to when at the shop. <EDIT>on the 4.2Kg, yeah they are that light. I have some. They are real and have been around for years. THe ring gear is integral, not a separate piece. It's a one-piece forging. As for 'lightest'--well there are plenty of multiple piece units that, INCLUDING CLUTCH AND PRESSURE PLATE weigh under 15# TOTAL! And they have significantly reduced Moment of Inertia, the perormance is brutal.

Mexican car? What, it comes here without official importation or Manufacturer's Certificate of Origin, then breeds, and displaces native born vehicles with governmental subsidies... Top Gear got nothing on those who live in the border zone...

Check some of the old Chrysler technical documentation on EGR injection rates on their lean-burn engines... Ford had tip-in stumble issues with their EGR, but Chrysler was pumping it in like crazy!

'I've had pretty good luck with tweaking the AFM it's simple more tension leaner, less tension richer. the 02 reads at an idle .9V and at half throttle it's reading 1.73V or so. ' OH, good luck with that then, you have a very special set of readings there.

it was more of a comment regarding blanket removal of 'emissions parts'---the reason for EGR was to lower CC temps dropping NOx. Same thing happens where you retard ign timing. keeping egr, you can run more spark advance. with the diesels out there having "egr coolers" itvirtually eliminates the 'bad' side effects of injecting HOT EGR into the intake manifold. Really, flat tops got most the bad rap for the heat of the egr. Eliminate the heat, and keep the benefits. it's a thought, it won't be the easiest route, but you should see some gains.

"There can also be such a thing as too big." Not from what I've seen. At least on the exhaust side. Extractors, maybe, exhaust pipe? Bigger=better. This is covered extensively elsewhere, but a 3" exhaust on a 2.4 is not 'too big'...in fact, it's just about right. Going slightly smaller won't hurt all that much if packaging is an issue...but if you got the space, may as well do it once.

Yeah, my enclosed trailer is a behemoth compared to the flexible flyers made today. EMPTY it weighs in at 6600#! The thing is so stiff I can jack it up from one corner and all the doors open and close. Definately not like todays trailers. The difference between 1978 and modern day, for sure.

My gawd! What's next crossbreeding with Australian V8 Supercars????

Slovers is getting 218CFM on a stock intake valve... I forget the exhaust number, but 165 seems to come to mind, and that was either on a stock or small oversized valve there. Rebello was making similar numbers on stock valves. JeffP was kind of stupefied that he improved the numbers to what he has in his bigger-valved head on stock valves. As Burton Brown in the #7770 Bonneville Car shows, the Rebello will make enough HP to punch a stock-bodied Z through the air to a point where the aerodynamic forces undisputably prove the 400 HP Claim. (That was the Red 240 on the salt I posted earlier in this thread.) And that doesn't take into account it's happening at 4400 ft elevation!!! Proprietary stuff is the man's bread and butter. I know for a fact one engine builder in particular is really interested in what JeffP has on his head now. When you can punch 400HP out on an Engine Dyno (say at 5500 rpms held for 5 minutes to check cooling performance)and have consistent oil temperatures, and consistent water temperatures, with no front to back difference on the temperature probes you start to realize, it's not making the power that is the key, you can do that with a turbo easily. It's keeping the engine cool and consistently cool during the whole time of high-specific output. You keep it cool, it doesn't detonate.

I'm with John C on his #6. I buy them for the Indexes, and as they burn up, I replace them with 'good' drills that I hide from the wife and son. There a plenty of HF Drills floating around my place...but hidden in a locked cabinet is the nice high-end American Made Drill set which is almost complete now, after two decades of burning up cheap drills and charging them on my expense reports! I bought a Butterfly 3/8" Drive Air Impact from Harbor Freight in 1985. I abused it forever, and sometime around 2005 it stopped turning after I spent several weeks using it at NAS Coronado on and air system that literally had water flowing out the exhaust port when I used it. No, I didn't lubricate it. I didn't fill it with WD40, and then at the end of the job I just threw it in the tool box and it probably rusted solid. I've been meaning to take it apart and see if the vanes are able to be freed up. It's a principle thing, I bought it for $9.99 and had FREE SHIPPING to my APO. It's probably the best buy I ever made in a tool. I would NEVER have thought I would use it as much as I did (in an industrial setting daily from 1989 to 2005) and it never missed a beat. I rarely oiled it, and when I did, it was with whatever was available. Never did any of the stuff you were supposed to do. I am really amazed it lasted and performed like a new tool right to the end. Bought the replacement at HF on sale for the same $9.99, but it isn't finished as nicely as this one which was "Made in Japan".

Yeah, I'm close to Burns, so when I go to Porterfield, I stop by Burns and pick up the stuff I need. I'm with the guy above in the regard of 'stainles steel that rusts'---I had a set of 400-Series headers, and damned if they didn't rust. If I'm going to make it stainless then I'll buck up the $$$ for the 304 after the turbo or header. You CAN polish series stainless and it will look great. I just don't know what you can do to keep it from getting the specks of rust all over it. You can polish it again and they go away. But how often do you want to polish your exhaust? I did my headers once. Once. Aluminized and coated would be a liftime exhaust. Frankly the JDM Trust system I got from the late 70s is still going strong with just some high temp paint on it. If it was coated, I guess it would still look like new except where I curbed it a few times! All a matter of personal preference I guess. To use 400 Series to say you have 'stainless exhaust' is one way to look at it, but most guys who want stainless don't want the rust. If you aren't running it enough to get the rust, probably making a straight mild steel exhaust (not even aluminized) and having it total coated would likely give the same results...without the damned rust. Did I mention I hate rust?

Better go back and check the facts: 1) I have the 1975 Datsun Dealership Brochure, showing the 1975 260Z. Initially both were offered because EPA, DOT, and FMVSS regulations didn't conicide. Any vehicle made after 9/74 is FEDERALLY a 1975 Model. 260Z's were produced till 12/74... 2) Again, the bumpers are an abberation due to the same kind of preparation for the same DOT and FMVSS rule changes. The non-North American 260's basically have 72 style bumpers till the end of 1978 when the ZX was introduced overseas. The EARLY 74 Bumpers comply with an interim standard that is more stringent than the 1973 standard (mainly the requirement that the bumper return to it's original position within a set time after an X mph impact), The 73's don't do that, the early 74's do. The LATE 74's had a 5mph complinance requirement stacked on top of the prior impact standard, so they put a BIGGER pbumper on the same strut assembly that was present to comply with the 'interim standard' in place from 12/73 to 6/74. Welcome to the Government not making up their minds... 3) I've never smogged my 75 280Z, and just to be a bit anal about it, it isn't "Exempt" from compliance, it just doesn't have to be physically tested at a smog station every two years like 76-Later cars. Get tagged on a roadside test, get turned in by a 1-800-CUT-SMOG do-gooder, or get pulled over by a CHP for a roadside smog device check, and you're trooping down to the Test-Only or Referee Station for that sniffer and visual compliance test. If you blow gross-polluter, guess what? You go back into the program....forever... Actually in this regard, I'd PREFER the later EFI cars as with the proper steps being taken in California. ) The Flat Tops from 73 and 74 are very different animals. My preference is the 73 carbs as they have bigger float bowls and can sustain a longer pull with a marginal fuel pump... but really the issue was said to be the 'carbs' when in reality pumping hot exhaust gasses through the intake manifold really was more of the issue. Hot start was an issue, but so it was on ALL 1973 and cars...including 350 Powered Chevy Impalas. The word on the street in the day was "don't buy a 73 because the starters bake with all the emissions crap on the car, and the vapor lock is terrible." Same quadrajet that was there before.... Hmmmmmmmm....

Use "Fill Flash" and get on the ground to take the photos. It's too dark for me to tell, but it looks like an older Kameari Urethane unit apparently screwed over the lower valence for a 280Z with sheetmetal screws.

I have never seen a Narrow Band give more than .9V, if you are reading a WBO2 maybe... I'd start looking at your electrics for stuff fouled up. The rest of the post is so abbreviated I can't make heads or tails of it. If you have .9V on acceleration that is where it 'should' be, but using a narrow band is guessing. It should be switching between .5 .7 light and cruise. Closer to .9 if it even reads at idle (unheated single wire...) A three wire heated O2 will work at idle, but that's a step to nowhere. The AFM bypass will tweak the idle mix, but jump two paragraphs below to see you need more than a single wire O2 sensor to set it! Get rid of the hodgepodge mickey-mouse Bosch Licensed stock EFI crap and put proper fuel control on it and these 'compromises' will not be necessary. You will tailor the fuel to where it needs to be. But not with the O2 sensor you have in there, you need WBO2 at least, or a five gas analysis on the dyno even better. If you want to screw with the AFM, you will need at LEAST a CO meter to properly set the idle air bypass. If you're happy with partial throttle and it's only idle with the 'rich' problem now, this would be the way to do it. It's on the side of the AFM, and everybody I know of who tweaked it without having a CO Meter hooked up was sorry they did. You can try, but don't say you weren't warned! The problem is not with the mechanical part of the engine, it's the substandard hodgepodge of electrics you are tweaking and freaking to try and make it do something it wasn't meant to do. Get rid of that, and you will get rid of the fueling problems. Good Luck on the AFM tweak.

Scott Burkhardt's 240Z ran at MSA's dyno event last year at 192RWHP. That was an 040 L28, running a worked head, Isky Cam, and basically a stock flat-top bottom end. Oh, and SU's. That's rear wheel, so that is right in your realm of stated desires if you were talking 'crankshaft' horsepower. It's a daily driver, not ill mannered at all. Very tractable. Frankly I'd call it 'sedate' compared to what I'd tolerate for my daily driver. But then again, I'm a bit off... But some of this commentary??? "Stock Exhaust"? Dream on. Extractors and a 3" do a STOCK engine good, on one that's hotted-up, it's mandatory. Unless you want to get intimate with a die grinder and that stock 40+ year old cast steel behemoth you got underneath the induction system now! The head is where the power will be found. Gas Flow it, cam it correctly, and your HP Goals are within reach as stated with an untouched bottom end. And yes, on an L26. Easy Peasy Lemon Squeasy, all it takes is dinero!

Nope, depending on loading and use of EGR, you can go as far as 22:1. Typically 18:1 is a generally accepted as a benchmark. Old lean-burn carburetted Chryslers were at that level, and as lean as 22:1. If you have EGR, it allows you to introduce it, lower combustion chamber temperatures and run a bit more advance. But it's an Emissions Thing, so take it off...

I'm delayed a couple of days in Thailand. But not to worry, I will be gracing Gen. Trias Cavite with my presence....just a couple days after Valentine's day I guess

To be honest, that is where I've turned to watch the sport I once loved.

Many online references people think are 'complete and comprehensive' either through inference or someone outright stating it....usually aren't