Tony D
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Posts posted by Tony D
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Phil, will you ever make a video that just gets to it?
So what was the practical difference in boost threshold?
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manila folder is what I make mine out of...
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Dail-in-Cams. I got one of those, but not in that good a shape! Mine was experimented on quite a bit.
Not quite as easy to adjust as my new Tomei, but it works well. Read the sticky on how to time your cam for why the thing is on there in the first place.
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Yeah, the originals were better. I'm not going to go into my involvement, but the rules and politics got bad when money started rolling in, like with anything.
Now...meh. Better than boxing I guess. But really restricted from the original format.
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When they allow groin shots and joint strikes, I'm interested...
Till then, more 'sportfight'...
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I too, am often stopped by the police, just to have a conversation...
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Randy77ZT:
"but i have been determined to go as far as i can with my parts combo so i can see the result.its a male pride kind of thing-i am not giving up until i get some results"
You and JeffP need to bond when you come to LA Randy!
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ok so i took it to a place thats called Precision Z. They told me that it will cost around $1,000 to fix,maybe more. Its realy hard to believe it will cost this much to fix it. They also said it will take 20hrs to fix my z. Just want to know what you guys think about this.
(The motor is from a 83 turbo and my car is a 78 280z)
willing to pay $500 to someone to get my car started
As a frame of reference, 20 hours is three days shop work. And $1000 is $50 an hour. I would consider that a ballpark if you have done all the mechanical stuff. It may take less time, but you never know what you will find inside a used wiring harness. And if it doesn't work out properly, it's them you will come back to looking for a free fix under warranty!
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You should probably give Art Rinner a call over at Sunrise Z in (Glendale?)
Sunrise Z
420 W. Broadway
Glendale CA
818-240-1594
Keep in mind having someone else fix your project will always be more than having them do it from the beginning. They likely will have to 'fix' things you were satisfied with, but as a shop they can be held liable for should something go wrong.
Art has done L28ET's into S30's before, and has a regular L28ET - Megasquirt Conversion business going at his shop. The problem is finding time in his schedule to fit in this kind of 'rescue operation'.
Tell him "Fat Tony from L.A." sent you...
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Does it happen when the car is stone-cold?
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That's what sleeves are made for! If you can catch your fingernail in it, you should apply one of those Federal-Mogul Shaft-Saver Sleeves. Stainless Steel and thin...
If you are spunky and can wait for the next business day, take your stock crankshaft seal down to a seal place and ask them if there are any other configurations available. many times you can get triple lip seals on anything 10mm wide or wider. It's been a while since looking at the recess that goes into, but if you can run a slightly wider seal you have some alternatives:
1.Drive the seal in slightly further to ride on the ungrooved surface.
2.Get a wider seal with a 'double' or 'triple' lip which would likely have seal lips running in a different spot anyway. Investigate the rubber used in this case, fluroelastomer is a good choice if you can get it. PTFE should be shied away from as it WILL groove the shaft in short order unless you put a sleeve on it.
3.Put a sleeve on the shaft and run what you got. Don't forget copious application of Loctite 609!
These seals aren't special, you can get them from just about any good bearing and seal house. I've replaced single lip seals with doubles before, and the results were pretty amazing (we had a crankcase pressure issue due to leaking cylinder liner o-rings). Where we formerly were puking oil out the front and rear seals, we could actually (after double lip seal installation at PTO and Pulley End of the crankshaft) pressurize the crankcase of the engine to nearly 5psi before getting fluid leakage on a dynamic shaft seal! That was more than acceptable, as our crankcase explosion vents lifted at something like 5" Hg or so. That kept all the 'steam' from the leaking water coming out the crankcase vents and not making an oily mess all over from shaft seal leaks.
Good Luck!
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You got a lot of good advice here but as usual, its what you feel and want for your car is best for you, so if you have a crazy dream or idea to be done to your car that will make you happy, Do it, and give yourself a nice treat! just do it right
Crazy Dreams many times conflict with the reality of physical laws. People need less encouragement to 'feel' and more stress needs to be towards the 'think'...
If you have a 'crazy dream' that is always busted and you never drive it is that still a 'dream' or is it a 'nightmare'...
The key to any turbosystem is to be realistic in expectations, and engineer to a set of defined goals. Once you reach them, be happy for a while, and DRIVE the car reaping the 'treat'... But too many times, too often in fact, I watch guys tear into perfectly good long blocks under misguided assumptions left over from the 1960's about what 'needs' to be done to a turbocharged car.
Take a good look at Saabs. If they have a 'low pressure' turbo system (by their definition, less than 1 bar positive pressure) they don't even include a boost gauge because they don't consider that stressful enough to warrant the gauge!
Coming from the turbocharged small displacement VW world, everybody was running a 20 or 25psi wastegate (and this was the 80's!) Now it's even higher.
The stock Nissan OHC is a damn stout engine, and with no modification will easily return 'lifetime' reliability (100K+) at the 300HP level. What boost level is needed to achieve this is dependent on turbocharger and top end breathing. But that horsepower level barely gets this engine to 100HP per litre. And it's built to handle that all day long.
Keep if from detonating (that means FUEL AND SPARK far more than static compression ratio at this power level!) and it will live literally 'forever'!
It saddens me to see people throw a bunch of money at a car because they were 'told' stuff was necessary, when in fact, they could have saved that money and used it for far more important things (like a chassis modification to better handle the power, or gawd forbid a much-needed driver improvement class/track time!)
In fact, if guys would leave their car alone, and take the first $2000 they normally would have put toward 'car mods' and invest them in "driver mods" like a driving school they would reap driving rewards in EVERY car they drove. And in many cases they would realize how far beneath the potential they have been driving the car they had already sitting in their hands! This is especially true for the younger set, in many cases they have not been exposed to the FULL capabilities of even a stock S30. If they knew, and could extract it, think of the treat...the joy they would get from what they have-and everything from that point onward!
Put $1500 into a turbo and a set of pistons, and one plugged injector and you're back at square one...
I digress...
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A common misconception is that Humidity adds somehow to the loading of the A/C system: it does not. COOLING is the only thing A/C has to do, dehumidification automatically takes place during this process. It's why evaporators can't run any colder than 35F...any colder and the copious condensate that forms rapidly turns to a big block of ice and renders the cooler ineffective. 'More is not necessarily better' is the watchword.
If anybody has ever taken a car into the SoCal or Southeastern Desert areas they will have experienced the worst thermal loading possible. Humidity removal is a secondary byproduct of the cooling process. All you need to insure is you have a proper condensate tray and adequately designed drain tube from the evaporator housing.
If you time the compressor cycling, and monitor the head pressure (and know what you are looking at) you can gauge how efficient each portion of the system is doing it's job. That a compressor cycles on and off signifies you have 'excess capacity'---you will notice nowadays the A/C tends to cycle ON a lot more than OFF when it's hot out. You will also notice cooling efficiency goes up when the car is moving forward rather than when standing still at idle. All signs that the components are progressively getting smaller, and working harder. Yes they are more 'efficient' but they are also working at 100% capacity far longer. The net result is that any deficiency at all in the system will result in marked decrease in the cooling capacity and a miserable cabin environment.
In the old days, the systems were so grossly oversized it wasn't funny. I could make condensate appear on the windshield, side windows, and hatch glass in my 75 Fairlady Z with the stock Nissan In-Dash air. I actually had to turn the adjustment knob down because it would literally get meat-locker cold inside sitting in the sun parked with the engine at controlled idle (the vacuum dashpot kicking up idle when the compressor kicked on).
The 75-78 systems were better than the ARA and Frigi-King simply because they were a blow-through evaporator core and less susceptible to leak dilution of the cold air. But the JDM system in the Fairladys sent to Tropical Climates with the little knob way up under the dash...AMAZING! And yes, it used the 'old style' flat copper tube and fin condenser... The size of the components in the ARA and Frigi-Kings was oversized because of the draw-through aspect of the evaporator. Blow through that puppy instead and you will get a meat locker inside the car it's so oversized!
There are tag-on under-dash units that will fit under the glove box. Give those a serious look---I can remember FOG coming out of them they were so cold! And since they usually have dual fans and can get decent air-exchange in the cabin (plus be mounted anywhere) they work exceedingly well.
Everybody gets stuck on the paradigm of an A/C system having to blow from the front of the car through the stock registers. The under-dash units work great and will cool the interior just as well. EVEN BETTER you can place them BETWEEN THE SEATBACKS blowing FORWARD and get a very efficient cooling without having knee clearance or fusebox (260 or 280Z) issues. This is where the Toyota 2000GT had it's aftermarket A/C pod... Worked great!
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Whats wrong with mounting a surge tank in the car? It is the same as a fuel cell with less capacity.
Er.........
Does the term 'firewall' have any meaning? I don't know of a single sanctioning body which will allow a single walled fuel ANYTHING inside the passenger compartment. Generally the requirement is secondary encapsulation with sheetmetal of a specific gauge, or construction of a firewall to 'segregate' the fuel section to someplae NOT directly accessible to the driver.
What you do on your cobble-job streeters is your business, but in a sanctioned racing series where a tech inspector, or worse yet a track or sanctioning body will be possibly held accountable for someone's bone-headed self-immolation you got to realize they take it kind of seriously.
I would say putting it behind a properly segregated firewall would make it acceptable, but with as little details as was given for being 'turned away' it's hard to say what their objection was. I have seen fuel cels in the spare tire area, but they have always had secondary containment (another layer of sheetmetal minimum) to keep any chance of a ruptured cel from splasing willy-nilly into the passenger's compartment.
With a surge tank mounted that high, outside of any roll structure, I could see where containment and proper leak segregation would get a non-compliance ruling.
I mean, am I the only guy who sees that?
For the street, you can do what you want and get away with it until something terribly tragic happens and nobody's the wiser. For a race series...expect to have your logic scrutinized from an impartial level (and in some cases be ready to be viewed with a prejudiced eye...)
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Flying MobilOil's Pegasus would be preferable to Merpati Air...
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'Xnke'
The condensers that are commonly fitted to the S30's are effective, yes, but not even close to the level of the newer designs available. Would you run a turbocharger intercooler designed like the S30 condenser?
This isn't an intercooler is it?
No, of course not, because there are more effective designs available. The condenser in an A/C system is the same thing, a charge cooler located after a compressor.
And if the current item does the job, what do you expect to gain from 'more efficient' units? Overcooling? Unless you have seen evidence of the prior system not making capacity, 'upgrading' is a theoretical crapshoot based more in 'well lets do it anyway just because' than logical thought or engineering.
As I said, the Mazda condenser I chose to use is more effective, has a greater capacity, and I was able to fit it in space available. Not to mention it is lighter weight, and offers less restriction to airflow than the old tube-and-fin type.
There, a scintilla of some cogent thought arises: possibly lighter weight (whatever that difference makes) and possibly less restriction to airflow. Marginal reasons to upgrade, but possibly worth it. Possibly. If the original wasn't performing. The original performs---that you don't have one makes this an acceptable choice in your application, but don't get people thinking there is anything wrong with the original components. They are more than up to the task at hand. As I originally stated, the problems with the Aftermarket systems generally stem from improper installation and air leaks than undersized components, they are grossly oversized matter of fact! Going in the opposite vein---would you install a GTR 500HP capable Intercooler on your stock ZXT? Well, sadly to say with this 'more efficient thinking' vein...it's possible you would---and reap no advantage from it. Planning on driving in mudcaked ralleyes with the A/C on? Then I guess that may pay off for you!
Also, the S30 is not the most ideal situation for climate control...lots of window area, and little to no insulation, except what you install after you pull out all the old thin rotted stuff and replace it.
No worse than a Geo Metro---look at component sizing on it and realize how terrible OVERSIZED the original 70's era stuff was! The condenser core was good enough for a MUCH larger car, as was the Evaporator---matter of fact, that same evaporator was used in ARA's kit for Chevy Full Size behind the dash setups! This doesn't mean the components are undersized for an S30 due to 'not ideal situations' but again, most shortfalls in these early systems are due to poor installation and leaks in airpath, NOT components being undersized! They are grossly OVERSIZED as a matter of fact.
Another issue for me is the flow through the core...I will eventually have a turbocharged engine with intercooler infront of this, and then the radiator is behind this. They will all be ducted together, with a fan shroud, but that is a LOT of flow restriction possible!
Then proper airflow management will be necessary on the Condenser as well as the evaporator. Making it "bigger and more efficient" is a ham-handed way of getting around proper airflow management. It may work, but don't give the impression there is anything wrong with the original stuff supplied with the ARA or Frigi-King kits. If they worked fine for countless thousands of miles in my turbo car without an issue, methinks you are going into 'overkill mode' out of some misguided notion that there is something wrong with the components as sourced originally. There is not. People apply patches and fixes to something which is poorly designed or not understood. They proclaim victory over a problem which didn't exist. I can see not having a condenser and then saying "this one will work" but having an original ARA or Frigi-King condenser in-hand, I would be sorely tempted to 'forego' your 'upgrade' simply because it's unrequired even for the application you state. It's plenty oversized. Now, if you got one which was HALF the square footage so airflow over the radiator was only HALF restricted---you might have something there. But as it is you have effectively restricted flow through the whole radiator, with the same realitve delta T across the device---so what have you gained? Nothing, in reality. And in terms of system efficiency??? There is no free ride in thermodynamics. That you didn't have one, and found this one fits is the biggest justification for using this part. Don't think you have gained anything in 'efficiency'.
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Don't know about a Civic Fan never installed one. I had ZX's coming out my butt some years ago, and was determined to make what I had fit---so I did.
The fan is a large part of the A/C equation. As long as it's not hte 240 fan, you will get better airflow and that is what matters.
If you don't want to cut your fan housing, forget about the 280ZX fan.
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I gotta fly coach next week. It sucks. Especially when the guy you are meeting in Indonesia is flying there Business Class. My ticket is 1/5 the cost of his, and I'm going to Bangkok afterwards. Man I miss Business Class...
Oh, wait, you are using veiled codespeak.
I blather mindlessly, I digress...
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Depending on how much you use the dyno, and how competent your friends are, the dyno place may let a competent friend run the dyno and leave you be in the car to tune it yourself!
That saves quite a bit of money. Especially when you realize they are charging you like $45 an hour to have him sit there and push the button...
Now, having someone who can run the dyno AND tune your system...that might be worth some money as long as you can talk to the guys customers and find out how that dyno tune actually ran on the street afterwards.
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Fiddle with the timing bins. If it's jumping between bins it can change and that will make your engine speed up and slow down. The timing should be the same to about 1200---take a look at the stock FSM for the lead curve to use that as an example.
There is no reason for it to move like that othwerwise barring vacuum leaks.
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What's 'inefficient' about the aftermarket condenser or the 280Z or 280ZX condenser?
Most issues with aftermarket S30 air are due to air leaks bypassing the evaporator, not system component sizing. Actually almost all the components are grossly oversized in the old S30 systems.
Yes, even with R134 in there.
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I can say if you know what you are doing, and have a properly charged and sealed ARA or Frigiking system, at 110mph, driving across Iowa in 103 degree heat, and 85% Relative Humidity in a light blue 260Z with hatch lovures and a GOOD FAN (not a stock 240 fan, a 280Z fan and motor minimum) the car will be maintained at 70F.
If you have a stock 240Z fan, you won't have air exchange.
If you don't have a PERFECT seal between the evaporator housing and the fan housing on the HVAC unit you will get MISERABLE performance.
The #1 issue I see with people who complain about their 240 system being weak is they have a HUGE leak where the evaporator seals to the fan housing under the dash.
I took an all-R12 system and did a straight conversion to R134, and had to still turn the thermostatic housing down or it would freeze the evaporator into a solid block of ice! With it adjusted properly, and SEALED with a decent fan to put out some air I would easily maintain 37 degrees center register temperature.
The system depends on the car recirculating ever colder air. It will hold the condenser at 37 degrees, and the initial air passing over it will be hot---say 100 ambient within the passenger's compartment. If ALL the air passing through the fan goes over the condenser it will come out the center register somewhere around 70F. There should be a 30 degree drop under even the worst ambient conditions.
After that first air exchange in the cabin, the temperature will be down to 40F, and soon the compressor will begin to cycel on and off as it maintains this temperature.
But if you have a weak original 240Z fan, there won't be very much air exchange, and it will take longer to get a cabin through that condenser---meaning it's getting hotter as it sits in the cabin.
If you got a leak between the evaporator housing and the fan pickup---then you have air getting sucked in at ambient---and since it's easier to draw through that leak instead of across the condenser, the performance quickly goes to shite. I can't count how many units I have seen where the guy has turned the temperature down to the point where the evaporator is a solid block of ice and still it won't go below 85 or 90 degrees on a 100F day. All because there wasn't a gasket between the evaporator housing and the fan housing! A leak there---ANY leak---is a total performance killer.
Now with in-dash air, you will notice that they PUSH the air THROUGH the evaporator...
Notice that a VW or Corvair PUSH the air THROUGH the engine cooling fins....
The reason being when you draw air through something, ANY leak is an easier path for air to travel, so it draws from there instead of across the cooling medium (evaporator or cylinder head!)
In short the reason 240 ARA and Frigi-King coolers 'suck' is because they 'suck'! The key to getting it working right is to make sure there are not any leaks on the upstream side that will let air bypass the evaporator (that black goopy strip around the condenser to make it all pass through instead of bypass around the outside...) or suck air from the cabin (the gasket on top of the housing and at the bottom of the air uptake for the under-dash fan).
Stop that, and the thing will cool just fine.
Get the larger fan in there (Honda Civic, 280Z, or like me 180watt 280ZX!) for some decent air exchange and you will be fine.
But in Illinois? It doesn't get hot there. Heck, that's nice humidity, I can leave my windows down there, keeps your skin all nice and silky soft. Now, try it in SoCal through the desert---sure you never sweat, but a 160F blast-furnace in your face gets old after a while.
If I can get those ARA and Frigi-Kings working---getting them to work in IL will be a piece of cake.
Make sure the condensate tube drains properly also....I digress...
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ANY old Datsun with round lights will work. There is no need to get them from the PITA S30 Headlight assembly.
If I was to go through the trouble of pulling one of them, I'd take the whole bucket assembly, not the little plastic bits!
The bits are easily removable from any number of cars (not just Datsuns) which have far easier headlight access!
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Thunderbird Header?
in Exhaust
Posted
Was a discount header brand years ago. Haven't seen them for a while (since the 80's).
It was akin to the Wine of the same name:
"Pass the word, Thunderbird!"