Tony D

Dope smokin' and trippin' hippie! Get a job ya bum!

To give it all, and you will all go out and look now... The F54 has the Detonation Sensor Hole, The Oil Filter bolt-on provision (some P30's also have this, but we're talking about L28 Blocks---specifically the N42 and F54...) And............ (Drumroll Please) A little hole/bolting divot on the right side 'ear' which is normally underneath the starter. Looking at blocks on a pile, you can pick out the F54 from quite a distance by looking at that 'horn' for the hole/depression. When you see it, you will go "oh...yeah..." Watch!

It's Elaine Benis in disguise, there are no periods, only exclamations. If we want to be anal about it. Good to see someone so exicted about being anal...(!)

would help if I mastered elementary math, huh?

Muahahaha! I doubt Yossarian would be a 'friend'... If you find the book, you will see they are diametrically opposite. But why ruin the journey? You will find out for yourself!

I would probably take and put a whole bay of four posters in, and doublestack the cars, to give more open floor space to allow for working or moving. It sucks to have to move cars to work. Then again, it sucks to work on dirt. AT least I'm up to Concrete now! Still outside, but nice, smooth, CLEAN concrete! 2400 Sq is like 30X40. I knew there was a reason I ordered a 40X80...(40X60 enclosed with a 20' overhang for working outside in the shade of the summer.) Alas it was not to be, thanks Riverside County Permits and Plans.

Nugent and his Amboy Dukes: Journey to the Centre of the Mind Amongst others... THEN: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UN2VNFpiGWo NOW: "The 60's were good to the vocalist" LOL!

Below 100 amps at idle? The important thing to consider is the alternator's output at idle as that will be where the drain and most strenuous demands on the electrical system will be... There is very little reserve in the early 240 system. The later 83 ZXT's had 83A alternators, and even that was marginal at times with all accessories running. Add a big stereo, 30 AMP electrical fan, maybe a 10 AMP Electric Water Pump and the additions overwhelm the stock alternator at full production. At idle, you're basically running your battery. And since you can't keep up with the load even while at speed, eventually you kill the battery from excessive cycling. Many of the alternators out there start with voltage that is O.K. but when heat-soaked, they go everywhere under the sun. JeffP is in the process of installing an alternator that will provide 95 Amps at IDLE. This will take care of his 30Amp Fan (real fans move real air, and air movement means horsepower, and horsepower means amperage!) and not make those nice High Beam 100W headlights dim when the bass beats on his stereo. If it's not much bigger in diameter than a stock alternator, chances are output falls off pretty quickly at idle speed. To get amperage at idle, you need diameter to get windings and 'turns cut'. You can get all sorts of GM style alternators that will adapt easily enough to the Z. It doesn't have to come in a Nissan Case. It may make the bolting in easier, but really there's more to it than just bolting in the alternator. If your power lead (I replaced mine in my 260ZT with 6 Gauge Wire...) is rotted, corroded, or just downright undersized for the higher amperage you try to push through it, all you're doing is asking for trouble in the form of heat. Heat deep down in a wiring harness no less! Take some time to think on the big picture on an alternator upgrade. Many people find that a simple headlight relay system solved 'flared lights' because of limitations within the stock wiring harness and it's ability to carry anything over the stock loads. And this hasn't changed, my wife was amazed at how bright her Frontier lights got when I put relays on it which were fed by 12 gauge wire. STOCK LIGHTS! The stuff they had in there may have been 16 gauge, maybe 18. Man, I wouldn't wire a relay coil with the wire they used for Headlights with a 55 watt rating! We got mass-produced cars made for the lowest cost possible, when you start upgrading, you really need to think about what the original system was designed to do, and if it will handle all this newfound power (or whatever)...

Nope! You are thinking about the L24 P30 (early) block and the L28 N42 and F54 . The early blocks have 3 CORE plugs-on between each pair of cylinders, whereas both the L28 Blocks have five (I think...) one between each cylinder. I'm asking about the right side (the easy one to see) between F54 and N42...

I knew there was a good use for Girts on the wall: RIM STORAGE. My life is complete, knowing that now. It is also miserable at seeing it...maaaaan! Nice garage. I think I will show this to my wife, "See honey, even with a nice garage, he's got cars in the yard as well!" LOL What size is the building, BTW? I think I saw links to this place during construction...

HUZZAH HUZZAH HUZZAH! A man worthy of inclusion into the ranks of Hybrid Z! That is the first step to REAL knowledge! Congratulations, there are some who refuse to see that, and they can be quite bothersome...

Bingo! I think it's still available from McMaster Carr---why yes it is! Commonly used in bolted flanges and machined metal to metal surfaces to check for stresses and warpage of the made-up-joint. http://www.mcmaster.com/#pressure-sensitive-film/=4phx3a They do have it in 0.020" 'low pressure' applications. I have stacked the thinner stuff before, but that gets tricky. Stick it on the there 0.020" and lightly tighten the bolts. Not crank em down, just lightly tighten so you see a little compression. It should be EVEN across the face. If not, you will see just where you have warpages leading to leaks, and more importantly how much gap you have at those points. Great for deciding if you are going to mill, double gasket, or slather RTV and "Bubbles It"... (Hint: This stuff works wonders to diagnose warped heads if you cut it to head gasket template size and bolt the thing down even lightly! Dramatically records warpages you may never think amount to anything!)

I mean, right now there is available a 65mm ITB Triple Setup available for N/A L-Engines. Overkill? I'm sure there is some dragstrip application where peak power comes into play for justifying that. But in a Turbocharged application, it gets a bit murky as to what you really 'need' and the high-power car I use for a reference point since it's pretty well documented is the Electramotive 83 ZXT.

"It is a heavily engineered engine with little in the way of "let's just throw it in there" mentality and virtually no bling stuff since it's in a big boat of a car, but they selected a good sized throttle, so there must be something to matching up the throttle to plenum size." Read what I said about the Explorer and Expedition and their Humongo TBs to give the impression of power, when a lighter Mustang with the same size engine and basically the same plenum has a much smaller TB. If you start throwing plenum size in there, you are starting to talk about what I discussed about the 'suction bottle' for the recip compression section of a dual staged compressor section of a Hybrid Compression System where a Centrifugal Compressor Feeds a Reciprocating Compressor. And again, I throw the question out there, which nobody has really answered yet: If Electramotive made 1000Hp out of a non-stroked L28 without a 90mm throttle body...and they have far more engineering brainpower and experience than I...well, from an engineering standpoint, functionally what is the justification given their success? I mean we are almost always talking about these power outputs in cars that are usually lighter than the weight of the car that engine powered, so logic would dictate we are using a smaller TB simply because we don't need the 'impression' of power, since the car is so light anyway. I mean, 1000HP. That's up there. I don't think it's a matter of 'just enough' with that kind of power level! Like I said, I don't know the answer, but I can ask that question. Other than 'looks' or 'because I can' (the second answer of which is a fine justification in my book for just about anything), nobody can give me a concrete reason for using a Throttle Body bigger than what E-Motive used. I'm sure if they got an edge by using a larger body, they would have made one. They made the one they used, so there must have been a logic for them choosing the size they did, at that power level. And they spent a lot of time at WOT, so there has to be 'peak power' reasons as well...

There is number TWO... Oil Filter Bosswith four bosses, knock sensor... /Jeopardy Music/ And the last distinctive F54 external difference?

nope... I don't know what you're talking about there, but it's not on 'all' of them since I have a photo of each, and I can't see anything like what you are talking about. Let's keep this between 'left and right' and not 'passenger and driver' side. Or Oil Filter/Sparkplug side, and Intake/Exhaust side. Those last two and the first one doesn't change. Driver and Passenger is not consistent worldwide. The items I'm discussing are universal to all blocks of N42 and F54 persuasion. Obvious items... Three of them. One has been hit thusfar...

ARGH! Visible on the OIL FILTER/SPARK PLUG SIDE (the place on the intake/exhaust manifold side -passengers side in some markets- is usually obstructed.) The whole point of the exercise is to see if anybody besides me can spot the differences WITHOUT crawling under the car to see that number which is behind the headers/under the manifold. You don't need to, there are three distinct differences on the Spark Plug/Oil Filter side of the L28. What are they? We have ONE so far: the F54 has a Detonation sensor in the #4 Cylinder webbing. What are the OTHER TWO?

"Who is John Galt?"

Where have I heard that before.... Block decking of a 'coupla thou' will alter the pinch at the bottom of the valley, but if it's only 0.004" the gaskets should accomodate that. Usually you can do the pressure paper bolt down and see if everything is compressing properly and evenly. Any radical changes either calls for a thicker gasket, remachining, or lots of RTV and setup time.

It's my understanding that radiation exposure will turn your balls black all on their own. Are you sure this 'blackballing' was not due to inadequate PPE usage in the pre-OSHA days?

Rustling around the morgue, you lift the sheet and realize 'Hey, I knew her in high school!' Look Left... Look Right... Nobody's there to watch... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BZR_Mipc_-M This is in response to the 'necropost' commentary on the first page. But since you mention a place that freezes people like a morgue... I can use an old Minot joke... 'Why not Minot? Freezin's the reason!'

yep, nope. block differences. What head is on it doesn't tell you anything reliably. I have seen E31's on N42's. Does that mean I have a P30 block? Not bloddy well likely when I can see the casting number is N42! There are at least THREE visible differences between an N42 and the F54 (both simply say 'L28' on the serial number stamping pad)...that are visible on the spark plug side of the engine block. What are they? Knock Sensor hole is one identifier of the F54, there are two others... husker du?

rtv...copious amounts of rtv... Don't feel bad, the AIR pump on a 1980 Chevy Luv will pump enough air into the exhaust during a 4th to 3rd downshift at 55mph that the muffler will not only have an explosion, it will damn sure enough split the thing down the center wide open! And that was in 1982, not even two years old!

How do you tell an F54 block from an N42 from only looking at the spark plug side of the engine? (Hint: Two or three distinctive features are different...)

I didn't always live in SoCal, you know. I lived on a tropical island with daily rainfall and typhoons. I practiced what I preached: I moved away from the waters that rust and wreak havoc. I just see using flooding as justification for not mounting an ECU under the seat about as justified as saying there are tornadoes, so don't ever buy a mobile home, it will come and get you. Maybe in Oklahoma it will, or Arkansas. But c'mon! Like Ron says, 'don't make it the low point'... notice I mentioned brackets and standoffs? I mean how wet are those feet?'??? That's an entirely different floor section, separated by a metal 'bridge' that the seat bolts to... But really, the car should not be leaking. I do go through automated high pressure car washes occasionally. I should not be dripped upon! If I am, I'm slipping on my vehicle maintenance. I poked the choke cable hole bigger, and used a grommet for the penetration. Sealed the backside (inside the firewall) with that urethane sealant like you use on windows of newer cars. Cable makes a turn UP and is secured by an adel clamp. Overkill? Probably...and I live in SoCal where it never rains. There are things that are common sense to do to prevent these disasters from happening!