Tony D

apparently I'm 55 or so...

Photo Big Enough? Looks like a Late RHD Switch. The connector on the end will determine suitability, I think later models used a different connection (my 77 GS31 takes a different switch than my 75 GS30, for instance---the only difference being the connector to the dash harness.) Nothing special save for the plastic stalks. All the same switch components exist on LHD Stalks. As long as the plastic stalks are in good condition, you can swap components from LHD switch assemblies to 'rejuvinate' one that is no longer working. Done it many a time! But I'm curious why it "won't work" on a 240? The steering column is universal. With the correct surround, it will work just fine on a LHD Car, you will just be switching your signals with the right fingertip instead of the left. Someone who talks on the mobile a lot may find that useful...

"Sure everyone knows if you can sell a product for less, that's business." No, actually this is illegal in most commercial codes. If you can DEVELOP and manufacture/sell it for less is one thing. Imitating a product blatantly ripping of design features or outright shadow moulding aero parts for example...is a violation of most commercial codes. But most companies don't have the resources to back it up and spend $50,000 on a trial that will go on for years with the imitator eventually simply declaring bankruptcy and then opening up selling the same product with another name on the front of the building. Or adding a bump, ridge, or imperfection in the mold to call it 'their product'. (How much does Microsoft spend on Piracy, or MAC on rogue clones...and how much money do they have to dedicate to it???) Morally it's bankrupt, and the people that support it for the sake of 'saving money' will pay the price in the end. As for the commentary on JDM and markup prices. They have a set culture which allows them to do this. The reason you can go to any small town and find at least ONE speed shop that can get you ANYTHING is because of the strict control of retail pricing and markup between manufacturer and end seller. While the American Model is to buy at wholesale-direct prices from big stores, when's the last time you found S30 Aero Parts in stock at you local speed shop? Common to this day in Japan? Why? Pricing models that SUPPORT this kind of stocking. If it sits on the shelf for a while, and it's marked up 500%, the flooring costs will make it worthwhile. If you only mark it up 3%, it either moves, or you go out of business! I have watched this in Automotive Circles now for close to 35 years, and when I was initiated there was a lot of education from suppliers about patronizing them so they can have the profits to put back into developing obscure parts nobody else will do. I will name names: Cal Clark at Clark's Corvair Parts. While all the other manufacturers have gone out of business, or Cal has bought them up to keep their product available he still provides obscure and impossible to find NLA parts LONG after Chevrolet obsoleted them, and the mass market chains stopped providing CORRECT parts. Get a Corvair Alternator from Autozone and see what you will pay. Then take it apart and see if it's RIGHT! The support and technical assistance you get from the INNOVATORS requires support. You nickle and dime them, and they go out of business. When they are all gone, and you end up making the stuff yourself, don't cry about how all the vendors dried up. "Don't begrudge a man a living." is how I've heard it said in the U.K., and you find guys there who will still cast custom heads, and make body panels for long-extinct cars. That attitude is not present here in the USA. It is in Japan. Beware of chasing the 'best' price, many times it isn't...in the long run the price you pay is far more expensive. Morally, and in the continued availability of parts. BTW, quickly do a CPI cost revision for something like a G-Nose from Nissan circa 1990 to the present day. Before the yen dropped from 268 to 131, a G-Nose from Nissan IN JAPAN was around $1500 (around 400,00 yen) US, and in the USA it was $3000. Inflationary pressures would have made that $1500 now cost $2600... With the current rate of exchange that price (in Yen, in Japan which is what it would still be around...) would be equivalent to $4600 (5300 at Nissan if they kept the same yen markup from the original pricing, if Nissan kept the same markup adjusted for inflation on the DOLLAR cost it would be near $10K!) Look at what they replicants cost. And what the improved American Parts cost here on this shore available from ONE parts source. People remember what it cost 20 years ago and think today's price is outrageous. They never stick it into the CPI Inflation Price Indicator and find out that what was $3000 in 1989 would have t0 sell for at least $5265 today to simply keep up with inflation! If it's cheaper today than yesterday...someone's cut costs or changed content...or both!

Yes, it's an oranges to apples comparo, the reason such anecdotal snippets are best not turned into irrational jumps to judgement. People now committing suicide have been in CLOSED garages and have failed to kill themselves due to CO percentages being catalyzed to nothing. And most will tell you that if the injection is working and calibrated properly the catalyst is along for the ride until you make a transient (accelerate, decelerate, etc) at which point 'scrubbing' occurs. Later four way catalysts actually result in cleaner air out of the vehicle than what went in in some bizzare cases! The Engelhardt Catalyst Company was working on Low Temperature Catalysts for the radiator fins and taking hot engine bay air on some Loncolon Mercury products because the latent HC in the ambient air was enough to throw the emissions readings off enough to skew and fail a federal testing regimen! It's a flawed anecdotal comment not thoroughly researched with a hasty conclusion drawn to make the original statement. Empirically it has not been proven, but then again a 30 year old system being compared to something new and adjustable is not the best thing to start with...

Did someone say Screaming L20 in an S30? Runs not too far from L.A., up on El Mirage, just head up I15 or Cal Rte 14 and turn left or right (depending on which route you're on!) First meet this year is May 15th, I'm hoping I'm back from JFE to make the season opener... Screaming L20 in an S30:

I knew I'd seen it elsewhere.... Thanks, Alan! In ever-Japanese fashion, I have a nice decal adorning my tool box that says "F.E.T. Kyokuto"---they were all over the place 84-89! Just got another F.E.T. manifold via EMS from Mr. Okamura.(the one with the balance tube and "F.E.T." on the removable balance tube cover...) Heading back to KIX to meet him and take the train over to Hiroshima for some work at JFE Steel on 8 May... Just in time for the next crop of new magazines to hit the news stands. Means I have to pack an extra bag, that weight allowance is a killer when you're packing solid books in there! Egads, I just realized that is the same manifold on my old HKS ITB's! (The one in this post!)

Lot of speculation here on salvage titles. Got news, you have an old car that gets a dent in it....say a daily driver 280Z with flat paint that blue book values at $1500-2000. If that dent costs more than 50% of the blue book cost of the vehicle to repair (in this case $750-1000) then you will get a check for the car of the blue book value, and usually minus the 'salvage' value of the vehicle, generally aobut $500. Meaning they cut you a check for $1000 if you are on the low end of the scale. You retain the vehicle, get roughly enough to fix your car, but since it was written off as a cost saver by the insurance company, you are saddled with the 'salvage' title. WHY it was salvaged is more important than the title saying that...it can always be 'washed' to get rid of that tag... Having had a car salvaged, my insurance stated salvage vehicles are valued at 50% of blue book. When I bought my wife a 1993 Geo Prisim (in 1994) blue book was $12,000 for the car, I bought it for $3500 as it was chop-shop recovery front of one car, back of another, and drivetrain from a third. LAPD had the car reconstructed and used it in drug stings for 6 months putting 22K miles on it. I got it for half salvage blue book, and when my wife was hit 5 years later the car was again 'totaled' and the insurance company wanted to pay out 'salvage value' for the car, which was blue-booked at $7000 by then, but they only paid $3500. My wife then sold the car to a Mexican for $600 and a baby goat. With the $600 we bought a male goat, and feed. Within 6 months the goats bred and produced triplets on the first mating/gestation cycle. We sold each of the babies around easter to more Mexicans (mmmm, tender easter baby goat....) for $150 each. We then sold the pair (Leo and Geo---Geo being the female named thusly due to the car-connection, Leo named because it sounded too cool) for $575 to someone else who was jazzed to pick up a known mating pair of goats that had a propensity to produce multiple offspring. So for me, 'salvage title' is not something which turns me off. I did pretty well by it, and you can too. Generally in CA a car in that condition would maybe sell for $1500 if it was running and driving with current registration. That it doesn't run and has incomplete registration means half that would be fair (again, if it was running). Not running? Maybe $500 would be my offer, and likely that would depend on what I saw when I inspected the car. There aren't a lot of connections below 'the water line' in a Z, as you described the damage. RUST would be my primary concern. I wouldn't give a second thought to 'salvage', on a 240Z, despite what some have said---it won't matter near as much. Collector Cars aren't playing by the same rules. A 280Z though isn't a 240 (facts are facts) and are viewed like other cars for the most part, so this may or may not affect resale if you decide to go sell it at a later date. I would have NEVER sold the Geo had it not gotten in the accident. It looked like hell, my wife had put over 120K miles on it, and it still started and drove fine...but we needed a small truck, and the profits we got off the sale of the car put us over the top to buy a Y2K Frontier Cash on the Barrelhead. So still no car payment, haven't had one, don't plan on starting to, either!

Absolute, total and positive bullshite. This goes to show that a high post count doesn't necessarily mean you know what you're talking about. That is some anal bloviation in that post. First class fertilizer! In fact, if I'm in a junkyard, and see a good cam it's easier for me to simply undo the towers and take the whole thing---I've several heads from Japan that had been milled top and bottom for true, and the towers have gone missing, so 'spare towers are a good thing'! If they are welded to repair the bearing surfaces (?!) you could line-bore them to restore an individual tower. Or if they had bearing inserts added (?!?!?) you could line bore them... But knocking them around with a mallet will get your alignment juuuust fine. Been doing it for 20+ years without incident. And this is not a 'screwing your sister' example, either! If the towers were so critical....how do you correct top of cylinder head warpage? Replace the head with a new assembly????????? This is common machine / millwright practice here, nothing rocket-science level involved. Apparently the poster hasn't actually come out of mom's basement to work on an L-Head in the real world...

The Chris Craft has elaborate bellcrank linkages as well. It was directly related, but I edited that part out since it was incongruent in my idol worship of Dr. O. The inference to be drawn was get a divorce, remarry a trophy wife, and ALSO get a place on the lake to relax with a bellcrank-actuated Chris-Craft Vintage Wood Hulled Boat. You have to read closely to pick up the genius in some of my posts. Like looking at photos in the How to Modify Book, the answers are right before you, but I can only present the water to the horses....it is up to them to sniff and lick accordingly...

I believe Alan Thomas provided the translation of the characters the last time this manifold was posted up online.

Deathrace 2010: DC! I'd watch that, and with the definite time limit before senators and congressmen are 'sent to the streets' to particpiate in mandatory competition against constitutents who are driving high-powered cars, I can see a healthy feeder series locally as well! If we could only get our footy rules to come in line with down under, we could fix that snooze-fest as well!

Well, he did have that escape cottage on the lake, with the Chris Craft... Guess he was doing O.K., since he got it back from his second wife after the divorce... If THAT doesn't take decent income, I don't know what does!

Doc O was a great guy, and a big reason I decided to do what I ended up doing. Guy was old, like 65, big as a bear. Had cancer snips from his nose and ears from spending so much time on the lake. Always came back with a story from the prior week's consultations. He did 'neat things' like design a device to walk down the legs of oil platforms in the gulf. It used triplex pumps to pressurize the water into high pressure jets to blast the corrosion off the legs down to bare metal. His biggest challenge was working up the compound to inject into the water that, when exposed to saltwater and bare metal, had an affinity to the bare metal and would coat it like paint when combining with the saltwater. He brought back lengths of pipe from that job, and had me sink them to a specific depth around his gate because he had a suspicion that a particular make/model of car kept backing into and ruining his gate. Sunk those posts to allow the rear axle to slip over, but then catch when run the other way. It worked. One morning a 67 Impala was dug into a hole with the axle half ripped-out from it. "This is what happens when you repeatedly mess with an Engineer's Gate" is what he told the guy! Back in the 60's he sued the gypsum company on the bay and went to MI supreme court to regulate the loading hours of their ships. They contended their company was there before any residents were there. They were wrong. He had his place there in the early 40's, before their dock came in in the mid 50's. Recently, the local town council allowed different loading hours after the company talking heads appeared in front of them using the same argument. I was shocked to find out old timers remembered the Doc when they used his MI Supreme Court Case to get the loading hours put back to where they were originally. Guess if you wait long enough.... He was a real character. Had free cable TV in every room of the cabin, AND the garage, PLUS weather-resistant cable connections on the deck, and near the beach by the dock. That was because he owned from US23 down to the lake, and the cable company HAD to cross his property to service those south of him. They sent a letter for free access 'in perpetuity' Doc Responded with a letter saying he got as many connections, and all services offered by the company free of charge, and for all subsequent owners, lessors, and heirs of his property 'in perpetuity'... All I can think now is 'man that's the ultimate cable modem / playboy channel beach-house! Had the first 50HP Mercury Outboard ever released to the public, serial number 1 or 2. Was on that Chris-Craft. Man, about this time of the year(first weekend in April, usually Easter Weekend) we would be out in the water of Lake Huron putting in his 125 foot dock... Yes, it was as cold as you think it would be at that time in Tawas Bay! Three years I put that thing in the water in Easter, and three years I took it out the last weekend before Bowhunting Season Started (Michiganders know when that day is....) Yes, the water was as cols as you think it would be at that time of the year as well... I digress, but as you guess, he really made an impression on me. The first engineer I dealt with that wasn't behind a drawing board all day, or in an office all the time. He went into the field and solved problems. And that was SOOOO cool! Now, what the hell did he start with me? 106 Days in the USA last year....

Talk with the V8 Supercar People in Australia. More Road Courses...

Four Cylinder? How about a Six? 205 to the rear wheels out of 1998cc's and under 11:1 compression... 9500 Shiftie L-6 2 Liter Looks better in 480p resolution, big or little! Yeah, non-crossflow SOHC here as well...

Cos error.... Damn, we DO use that math! I'll never forget working a summer job for a brilliant Chemical Engineer, PE, PhD, Professor Emeritus at MSU...we were cutting down some tall trees at his lakeside retreat one weekend. He says "How tall do you figure these things have gotten, do you think they will reach the house?" So I pace off a distance, turn around, move my arm and sight along it, and state "82 feet Tall" He looked at me, and with a scoffing tone said "Well, Hercules, why do you say 82 feet?" "My pace is 11 for 30 feet, I walked out till I got a 45 degree angle, sighted to the top of the tree, calculated my shoulder is 5 feet tall and the Tan45=1, so that makes a right triangle with two equal sides so add the distance from my feet to the last angle being about 5 feet, and the last angle is 82 feet from the base." His shoulders slumped and he just looked at me and said "I'm an engineer, I know that! Why that didn't occur to me puzzles me." Dropped it with no cares, as the house was 90 feet in any direction from the base of the tree. The tallest point was 7'9" from the house. I was off by 3"! Yes, the FIRST thing he did was take out the tape measure and check the clearance from the house. He just kept shaking his head. Coolest guy in the world to work for as a summer job. After that little incident, I got the key to the gate, the Chris Craft, and the Beer Cooler Math: "It comes in handy once and a while!"

I know we gained 3mph at 140 by ditching that littel BRE-Styled Decklid Spoiler... At 173+mph, I'm thinking Hood Pins may make a difference, especially when they are measuring my speed to three decimal places. It is all a matter of degrees in the form of competition you have chosen to participate. I laugh when people tell me to lighten my car to make it go faster. I put 250# of concrete in the spare tire well on top of a fuel tank full of 16 gallons of water and went 4mph faster than I did without it in there! Didn't have wheel spin problems either... Little things matter. And Matter More the faster you go...

Distributor Mechanical Advance Curve is abvailable in the FSM. I can't recall if they have a chart for vacuum advance as well, but I think they do. Yes, I'm still up, I haven't reverted to the west coast time in the USA... I only returned on Friday. Sorry I didn't get a chance to call and say 'bye' Mark... I went to Fours -vs- Rotaries and did some posed photos in front of Atlas Copco Blacktown that third weekend. And I did get my shirts at HD B-Town before I left. Pete, you didn't answer the phone... Yes, 0404611119 was me! (Expired on the 13th....I've been using my excess Vodaphone Minutes here in the USA to make international calls---you know how Vodaphone offers "$1200 in call credit" and you figure nobody will EVER use that much? In a bit over a WEEK I made a concerted effort and have gotten it down to $200 by my calculations...muahahahaaaaaa!) Maybe next startup...

I really get dejected when people make ignorant commentary when they have never used something. I have used the Colortune for over 30 years now... Bought the first one when they were still using Anodised Aluminum Tubing for the Riser/Shade and Stainless Steel Mirrors (not the plastic and vapor-chrome crap on my last set...) Yes, I bought my first set in late 1977 or early 1978 to do jetting on Flat Six engines. In the early 90's I lent them to someone who shall remain nameless, and I lost my original set. While in Wales, I REPURCHASED a set of two to continue quick tuning as I always have. At the time of the original purchase, and even today, they are about the least expensive reliable way to tell what your mixture is, and they are REPEATABLE from engine to engine and test to test. If you were dyno tuning years ago, this was faster than the Gas Analyzers in some cases... And transient effects of accelerator pump adjustment was ALWAYS a dream for EGT, and until the Horibas got fast, AFR Sensors were too slow to pick that up till comparatively recently. While you say EGT or AFR will tell you all this----you tell me how you're going to do it for $160 (pair of two Colortunes, but that's my preference you can do just fine with one...) now try doing AFR or EGT in 1979, 1989, 1999, and even up to last year and give me the prices on those two respective analysis instruments. In 1978, and into the late 80's AFR was thousands of dollars to reliably measure. EGT was and is still several hundred dollars for multiple cylinder setups... If you take the time to learn how to use it, it's damned decent for a tuning tool. FAR more accurate than 'your nose or guessing'... You want quantification of results, the AFR where you see visible black smoke out the tailpipe on an L-Engine is around 10:1. You get a consistent "Any idiot can see this is orange" 'orange' flame in a Colortune around 12:1, which is where they tell you that you are TOO RICH... If you use it and start to understand the orange licking means around 13:1 the progression makes easy enough approximation. But they won't say this in the brochure from 1995...or 1977. Someone with WBO2 who has both can quantify it that way. Don't need to drill any holes in anything to use a Colortune. Don't need a battery connection to use a Colortune. Basically all you need is a spark plug wrench and one good eye (or one good eye after correction...) From my experience, it is what it says it is, and considering when it was originally conceived, it's a brilliant little tool! I have no complaints. The addled youth of today may not have the skills to adequately master it's nuances, though. Just my bit of personal opinion there, it doesn't have LED's, it doesn't flash at you or make noise. It requires you to observe something closely for changes. The closer and better your powers of observation, the better you will find it works. Have the eyesight of a syphalitic one-eyed pirate and an attention span of a Ritalin Test Case, and you will likely be disapointed. Then again, you would likely try snorting the anti-seize and white deposits from the O2 sensor in that case as well...

Older 18RG or 2TG are bolt-in JDM fittments for that chassis. Seen Nissan FJ20ET's in there, as well as any number of late model Hondas with 240HP on tap. Check out the Japanese Classic Car Show albums (http://www.japaneseclassiccarshow.com/) they have a buttload of Celicas/Corollas/Coronas with replacement for the Refrigeration Powerplant R-Series SOHC donks we got in the States... One day, I'll scan some of the photos of my 77 Liftback (powered by a 18RG-R from a 73 GSS Corolla, all 145HP worth!) There's a reason I stuck with the Z's: The Toyota couldn't handle it!

Translation of JeffP into Dead Languages for Romans: Mea Culpa, Mea Culpa, Mea Maxima Culpa

"Location of the tip is irrelevant in THIS case." Please explain, the way you wrote it, it appears you have a different exhaust system on it now than before, therefore making where it discharges pertinent... Unless the 2.5" non-cat setup was on the car with the ECCS as well. A five-gas will tell the tale. Fumes into the car are more than just mixture or fuel delivery...

I would agree on the cast impeller comment. I have seen stamped steel items go away in less than 6 months after installation if the coolant has gone slightly acidic! I stopped using them altogether after seeing several do the exact same thing.

Well then, it looks like you have handily answered your own question! Just buck up enough for 10K units, and you can give them away cheaply enough. Don't use the bank, though interest would run up the costs. Just do it cash. You'll get your money back eventually. Probably. Maybe. Dash caps are available out there, I believe they are ABS already...

I am pilloried there more and more regularly. John Galt has become my hero...