Tony D
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Posts posted by Tony D
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The last time I got a smog check I passed with really good results now I'm getting really high CO. I'm thinking it is the catalytic converter its one of those 2.5" high flow cats.
1) Aftermarket Catalysts do not have any requirement to meet regarding longevity. There is a reason OEM catalysts cost around $1200 to replace: they have met testing and have been certified by the manufacturer to last the requisite time required by USEPA Dictates...that is 10 years/100,000 miles for some time now. A cheaper 'universal' or 'high flow' catalyst that is cheaper than an OEM unit is cheaper for one reason: They have less catalytic material, and no testing requirements to pass. If it is put on an engine and passes for a short period of time, it's suitable for sale.
2) As mentioned above in the earlier posts, slapping a cat on it will likely do nothing to the car---if it has something wrong with it, it will kill a new cat in short order. Likely your car is 'running rich' and killed/poisoned your new catalyst. This is done all over and because the cats are cheap, people don't complain that much.
Likely it is NOT the injectors (likely it's an input device that is giving false signals to the ECU and commanding it to run with full fuel), but those are the easiest to replace and charge money for...the next will be an ECU, then into the componentry like AFM and TEMP sensors, maybe eventually an O2 sensor... The FSM spells out very specific troubleshooting techniques, that even without a CO meter you can do at home to determine if your O2 sensor is providing a signal for the feedback loop. An O2 sensor is supposed to be replaced as part of regular maintenance, they DO go bad and when they do, they cause all sorts of problems like killing cats and dogs, and all sorts of other things---including Smog Techs...
Check your FSM in the emissions control section, and the EFI section. The tests are well delineated, and very simple to accomplish. Instead of letting a shop take you for a ride, confirm some tihngs on your own beforehand (the cost of the multimeter is less than the hour diagnostic charge at the shop!)
Sometimes a simple O2 Sensor change is all that you need to get working.
On the pre-O2 sensor cars (Like yours) that same line of thinking works as the multimeter will show you the resistance in the temp sensor line that causes 'cold start' fueling to happen, and run rich.
Sure, the car runs great---rich and fat, and full of rich best torque production...but it will kill that tired old catalyst you have (or that new cheapo the shop put on to pass last time).
Thing to take away from this is that hte catalyst is a scrubber device---these early cars do not CLEAN the exhaust leaving the car, they simply are there to scrub HC and CO excursions from transients (acceleration, stabs of the throttle, running WOT uphill in overdrive, etc...) When the car is running in closed loop (all the time in these cars) the emissions are VERY LOW and the ECU is calibrated to do that. (on newer cars with a MAF or O2 sensor that has a trim capability, the emissions can go even lower...but they purposely run at a given cruise Air/Fuel ratio to leave enough unburned fuel in there to keep the catalyst hot enough to actually convert many other compounds out into their base elements...they run 'richer than needed' to promote cleaner exhaust out the tailpipe through better catalytic action---a totally different reason than why catalysts were put on the original 75-84 cars)
As long as your input signals are correct, the output to the injectors will be correct. It's a very simple system. If you can, download the "EFI Bible" from any of the several online sources and read it---it makes the technology crystal clear, and shows how all the parts interact. The system is very basic, and it's not different now than when it was a carburettor. Give a carburettor the wrong fuel pressure, and it will not work as designed. Change the air density and you run rich or lean.
Same with this early EFI, you just have Temperature, RPM, and Air Flow to worry about in the most basic forms. As long as those inputs are good, your output will be good. And the FSM and EFI Bible show you in plain clear verbiage how to isolate and check each of the inputs and outputs to determine what is wrong.
It should only take 45 minutes to check all inputs and outputs with a multimeter following the FSM instructions relating to the EFI System. After that, 'trust your instruments' and do what they tell you to do. In almost every case people diagnose what is wrong, out of the gate following the FSM instructions, and then convince themselves 'it can't/couldn't be that easy!' and revert to shotgunning or guessing at popular mythical solutions...usually causing more problems in the process!
I can't tell you how many times I've gone to someone's car, reinstalled all the original 'replacement' components, and started from scratch finding a simple problem that required minimal time and $$$ to fix. Only to have them say 'I found that, too, but I convinced myself it couldn't be that simple, and replaced the AFM instead!'
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All fore and aft bracing does on those arms is give the bracing more moment/leverage for pull-out ability. They won't 'stabilize' the stand unless you make them up so high that it interferes with access under the car.
Hoke is correct, the pullout for drop in or epoxy anchors is amazingly stout. There are anchors you can buy for FRAME PULLING MACHINES to allow you to use an epoxy-surface plated garage floor to act as your platform, and simply drop in anchors to bolt down your pulling posts. Start reefing on a 10 ton puller 4" above grade and realize if they aren't pulling out...likely you will break the FLOOR before the anchor will pull out!
A 1 ton Jib Crane with a 12 foot boom only requires a 6" slab with around a 3400# pull-out on a 2' base circle of bolts.
And going back ot earthquakes (in my part of the country at least): If the car starts rocking while you're working on it...GET OUT FROM UNDERNEATH IT!!! (same as if you are on jackstands!)
I like the 4 post units simply because I can move it around where I want it, but for the price, I would install a 2 poster permanently in a bay just for maintenance.
Being able to roll a four-poster out onto the driveway to drape the car and sandblast the underside with a pressure pot does come in handy. You can do it on a two post, but who wants to do it inside?
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What, something in those pictures needed repair?
"Why I love cheap cars!"
See above first sentence to adjust attitude accordingly.
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The block number really is all the Shaken-Sho goes by, they usually restamp it to get around the over 2-litre tax class fees.
The head numbers going away is more likely a 'clean work' kind of deal, cosmetic.
Really, in the JDM there wasn't a whole plethora of heads or blocks to be had. You got N42 for the 2.8's and that was about it. There were casting configurations within the N42 that we never saw in the states. I have a 1977 N42/N42 block head setup and it's flat topped pistons and 8.5CR...figure that one out. And I had all the maintenance records on that engine, and personally pulled it from the donor car (a corporate owned Cedric with 42,000 Km on it!)
It was a foregone conclusion that other than the E88 L26, and E31 L24 heads the N42 was what you got, and you simply welded and reworked it to get what you wanted.
It got busy this weekend, so no photos. It's raining today, but I'll try to make it out back with the flashlight and snap a photo of my head for comparison. I'm sure this head still has the casting number on it as well, and since it's been planed, you can see the reqork that was done to change it from the original N42 configuration.
After it's been in an engine and operating, without careful cleaning looking at a dirty combustion chamber would make one think it's a 'stock' setup, but in fact it's been welded and reworked extensively.
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We're really getting ahead of ourselves here. These things may run like crap and not idle at all. Derek
Unlikely. EFI is an amazing equaliser. With your manifold block setup for the idle circuit, I lay money you will idle like a stocker.
In CCC (and UK Magazine) there were guys running Fords using injector bungs made of plastic and epoxied into the hollowed out bodies of old cast-off Solexes....
I think you will be suprized as hell how well they do run once it's all fired up and ready to go.
And the 'raw' casting does have merit. I for one would not use the head-mounted injector bosses. They would be trumpet mounted, and by not boring the bases, it always leaves open the ability of some retard like me using them for Mechanical FI running 100% methanol on some salt flat somewhere (and thereby preserving my strange, but hood-clearanced Eggers & Vickers manifold...) sometime in the future.
Hell, if I can get our L28 to idle at 400 rpms with the cam that Bonneville Car has and with EFI...I think these will work admirably!
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I'm with Howler Monkey---sometimes people use a dedicated pressure/scavenge pump for the Turbo which has it's own coolers and uses a different oil than in the rest of the crankcase...
Failing that, then you would need a scavenget hookup on the pan to accomodate the turbo return/drain line.
It's a bit overkill for a street car.
Though, for my Bonneville Project it would be the cat's teats! Selling? muahahaha
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Oh course you'll be forever known as That Horny Z Guy.
I see a request for a moderator intervention for a user name caption change...
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You might want to check on Milspec Hard Anonidizing after fittment of the plates (and subsequent re-disassembly) to give the aluminum some durability beyond as-cast. It is especially resistant to abrasion. With aluminum plates, and Anonodized bodies, the plates would be the wear item, and easily replaceable if need be.
Though, personally, my first choice would be brass...
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Logs could be more than useful. If you do a WOT pull to check AFR at full throttle, you'd better look at the road and keep your hands on the steering wheels.
Datalogging is more than WOT, the transients for snap throttle movements, decel, all sorts of drivability will register on a datalog and in some cases never display on the meter other than an average number. I would not waste my time or money on a pod style gauge unless it had datalogging downloading capability...and I don't know any that do, sooooo...
A datalog lets you concentrate on your driving technique so you know what you were doing during what particular phase of the log (I was gradually accelerating, etc) Throttle application and how it's applied can be tedious if you are troubleshooting or concentrating on trying to get rid of a specific drivability issue. Then you review.
That advice about keeping your hands on the wheel while driving made me think of something funny>
My favorite thing in a dyno session is play 'spot the noob'---the guy with both hands on the steering wheel intently staring ahead...
What's the point, if a strap breaks at WOT and 4500+ rpms, all having your hands on the wheel will accomplish is bending your wheel when you hit that concrete wall 4 feet in front of your nose...
You can tell guys who run on a dyno tuning vechiles a lot, they are sitting halfway askew so they can have the laptop accessible, and spend more time watching the WBO2, RMP and modulating the throttle/dyno controller.
Even to this day, JeffP will occasionally put one hand on the wheel during a run, and trust me he hears no end of grief about doing it!
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I had a car in Japan what had the 1/4 window broken out several times as lowlives on base decided they needed some belongings of mine visible in the interior more than I did.
After the third time, I put a Lexan window in there, figuring the next time they would break the large glass (guess not, it attracts too much attention)...
someone heard the guy whack-whack whacking feverishly on my new lexan 1/4 window (smoked daaaark black!) with his stubby ball-pein hammer and called the SP's. They caught his butt and hauled him to the brig.
Stops a bullet, heck, stops thieves. For an occasional user car, with some cockpit canopy polish polycarbonate sticks around opticallin in stationary windows for quite a long while. You just don't go cleaning it with water and newspaper!
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Jack up the motor-trans assembly by the lower bellhousing after you've loosened / removed the bolts.
Jack high enough to remove one mount (that you have loose).
Replace, lower tighten everything.
Repeat.
You can do it two at a time, but it can get tricky. I do the LH side one (under the intake) first as it's the most difficult to reach.
To prevent any damage by a failing mount, you can 'chain down' the engine so it won't rock when you get on the throttle. It's common on SBC powered trucks to break mounts, and when you get on it the engine torques over and you put a big dent in your hood from the valve cover hitting it! D'OH!
A nice chain bolted to the block and tied down around the K-Member will limit movement wihout imparting harshness to the interior like solid mounts would do.
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The T/B doens't care what it's on, you just can't use a T/B with a BDCC in it, the boost will open the bypass plunger.
Anything from an N/A car with the BCDD in the intake manifold plenum will work fine---that starts around 81, so I'm not sure what you have or what you're looking at.
The TPS is the same 75-83, no worries there.
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Stainless or Brass (even mild steel) is the standard. Brass is usually the choice.
Aluminium may expand equally with the bores, and cause a sticking problem on slam-close throttle conditions once the bores get slightly fouled with fine dust that passes the filters.
The brass and steel throttle plates normally used expand slightly less with the heat than the mazak and aluminum bodies do, letting them fit progressively 'looser' in the bore as they all heat up. This keeps them from sticking, and is one of hte reasons for that 'sealing paint' mentioned earlier in the thread...it does a nice job of keeping any actual gaps from opening up when the bodies are at operating temperature.
I don't know of any commercial applications where aluminum is used on a butterfly. Even in slides or bike carbs they are usually hard-anonidized to keep any galling/metal transfer from occurring---which I've experienced in compressor butterfly throttles where it's Aluminum to Aluminum contact. You have a SS bore in that area as I recall? Probably best to be brass on SS or brass on AL in that case. Easier to machine brass...
Which you might want to consider on those bodies once they are all machined, either alodine or anonidize the aluminum parts to keep the 'white fuzz' from growing on them. The alodine will give them a nice, OEM look of slightly bronzish tint, and it's easy enough to apply with a swab/brush while the bodies are warmed (to let it get into the metal pores nicely). Aircraft Spruce and Caswell Plating are online sources for that kind of stuff.
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so where did the 22.6 pounds go that is noted above in the 'green scale readout photo'?
And it looks to me like the chains are tight---heck suspension from the chains could account for this skewing of numbers...
(where is that 'throwing petrol on the fire smiley' ;^p )
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Really?
Man, you should photograph for a Porn Mag with that photographic talent...
You made them look absolutely huge!
I think I have throttle-envy....
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Those stacks will clear the brake master vac and master cylinder, right...
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We did similar with the MS in the LeMons car, using a 'screw terminal board' as the interface between the stock harness and the MS wiring.
Got that TB idea from the previous poster above me...
For people who live in a 'smog controlled environment' the ability to retain the 'stock' wiring harness in the engine bay is a definite plus. I know guys in Long Beach who are now on their THIRD successful SMOG Check with their Bay Window VW Busses powered via MS and wired into their stock Bosch wiring harness.
It makes living in the 'emissions world' nice. And as long as that concealing footwell panel covers it up and there is no 'ECU VERIFICATION' (like in Sweden, where guys have assembled their MS units inside the stock ECU box!) this proves to be a very nice way to have a performance car that wil lpass a visual and tailpipe inspection as long as you are willing to do the tuning requisite with the emissions levels demanded.
Which is not all that much in cars without an O2 sensor!
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Randy 77ZT is in Iraq now...
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Baton Rouge:
Once a decade.
WOAH! What happened Forrest? You guys have a plane crash nearby and the fire department spray runway foam on your cars and property to protect it from the fire spreading???
What is this 'snow' you guys speak of, anyway? It was 75 here today, and this morning it was 65 in SoCal:mrgreen:
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A second pertinant thread at CZC! Al actually joined in for a round or two...
I sent you a PM at CZC. E-Mail me.
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Four dead on the ground.
A Korean Immigrant family. The father was away at work, the mother, infant, a 2yr old, and the mother-in-law (grandma) were in the house at the time and were killed in the incident. The mother-in-law had arrived in the USA only last week to help tend to the care of the infant and mother, as is common in Asian Cultures.
In an incredibly magnamious gesture, the Father asked everyone pray for the pilot and that he didn't blame him. he said the pilot is one of "our national treasures" and was confident he did everything he could to direct the plane somewhere safe. He said that the pilot was not to blame, and that he wishes him well and hopes he gets through the incident well.
That is truly someone who I would be proud to welcome to America, just from his words alone. To refer to a servicemember as a 'national treasure' goes towards the upbringing he had in his home country, and their precarious war footing day in and day out.
I feel for both parties who survived the incident, they both are going through a personal hell I would never wish on anyone.
When my son saw the late news report on the incident, he said "that motorhome looks just like the one we passed Sunday when we went to look at that truck down in San..." and stopped in mid sentence when he realized it was the motorhome we passed... He was silent for some time watching it and soaking in what 24 hours means to living or dying.
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I'm wondering about wheel and rim hitting if the caliper is that close...
have you tried this altitude with your prospective rim/tire combination BEFORE testing for parts that, by definition, will be inside the rim???
I think you have clearancing for the rim-tire to do, and that will solve any brake clearance issues.
Brake clearance issues are usually referred to with RIMS and not the body!
Am I the only one thinking this way?
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Consider that someone along the line may have dumped a load of BARS-LEAK or other leakstop into the radiator and not read the directions.
When someone does this without the heater being ON, the control valve becomes a nice place for the overage to settle out and totally plug the lines or valves. In some cases the stuff can actually plug the heater core.
That's something to check.
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Yeah, I'm pretty sure I have this exact same chamber configuration on an N42 out back in the shed. I don't know if I will have the time to access the thing to take a photo till Friday, but I'll make a note to try and do it. I'm going to be back home after dark today and tomorrow, and finding things in that shed is treacherous in the dark....
bcdd removed, now backfires at downshift
in S130 Series - 280ZX
Posted
Dead on, the BCDD admits air to the plenum to allow a combustible mix in the exhaust to continue burning.
Without the BCDD, on drop-throttle there isn't enough oxygen to support combustion, and you flood the hot exhaust manifold with unburned HC (gasoline)...what happens then is it keeps building and at some point down the tube when there is enough oxygen (free flowing exhausts it happens sooner) you get a reburn phenomenon, nad can get a violent backfire out the exhaust.
My brandy-new 1980 Chevy LUV would do this when I downshifted at 45mph into third. The exhaust would go completely silent as the carb pumped gas into the exhaust, and the AIR pump pumped oxygen in at the same time... You could count: One....two...threeeeee...BOOOOOM!.
The truck was absolutely silent for those three seconds and then a HUGE violent backfire in the muffler occurred. No catalyst on the truck, just that AIR pump working to get the entrained HC in the exhaust up to the LEL or combustion limit, and then relight.
One day I was demonstrating this technique to a friend, after getting VERY adept at it, and after the boom (which turned heads in the coffe shop I did it in front of...) there came a rougha-rumbla-vroom vroom sound of an unmuffled truck.
Seems the explosion in the exhaust was so violent I split the seam on the 3" long Stock Muffler and blew it WIIIIDE open!
I replaced it with a Thrush...
My brother, once moving to the U.P. near Marquette, eventually removed the AIR pump and the 'popping' went away completely...we just spewed unburned hydrocarbons into the atmosphere unabated and unburned from that point forward. Till it rusted back to the earth from which it came.
The issue isn't making the overall mixture leaner---it's just that on drop throttle in almost anything you go pig rich in the exhaust. The BCDD in conjunction with injector cut lesens this phenomenon.
Hell, VW Beetles had an External BDCC on them in the late 60's for emissions purposes. Everyone trashed them when they put on QP Mufflers anway, but on theirs it was an arm that held the throttle open, and they rarely gave any problems. Adjustment was easy because the screw faced you when looking at the engine. Didn't stop them from being thrown out. They have been around for a while, and the physics/engineering on WHY they are there, and how they work/what they do hasn't changed one whit since then (working to re-earn wiki since being dubbed horny...)