Tony D

1/4 a quart over a three-day track event? That's not oil consumption. I'd get your ventilation system fixed to eliminste the fumes, and live with the slight puff of smoke. They will do that under hard use, you may be carrying oil into the intake under drop throttle or pushing it into the intake tract through the PCV under boost , and then when you decel it all makes it's way into the cylinders instead of laying in the inlet tract to the turbo. A catch can/mist eliminator on the block PCV vent before it goes to the suction line of the turbo might alleviate it. But from the sounds of your consumption, it's nothing to worry about. The fumes are an exhaust leak, and you need to fix that, and get your car properly ventilated. I'd not worry about the puffs of smoke, personally. My 260 will use less than that in 3000 miles of high speed interstate cruising. It will use almost a quart in the same time driving on back roads and twisties. And I can use 1/2 a quart during the MSA Event Weekend. But I've no fumes... Visible smoke puffs out back, but no fumes in the cabin.

I'm not sure on their widths, I think we are running 5" rims in back and 3" width in front. Usually a 24 / 25 / 26" tall tire, depending on gearing. The land speed tires aren't particularly wide, it does you no good and makes it near impossible to keep the tires together reliably at higer speeds...the center of the tread bulges out and that is all the contact patch you have anyway. Watch a slow-motion Top-Fuel Lanuch and you will get the idea what is happening. USFRA runs throughout the season on the flats, but in march I'm sure they are all under water. August, September, October for sure. Maybe as early as May or June under USFRA.

Yes, Woldson the Honda engines cam towers are no different than main bearing caps on any other engine...you mill the ends of the caps down to make an undersized oval hole., then you line bore from there. Different than the L-Engine, which doesn't have a split-bearing setup on the cam bores. And of course, making sure an aluminum head is straight BEFORE line-boring a split bore makes perfect sense (see comments on RB Head Salvage in another post of mine to someoneorother...) LOL

"I took all the bolts off of the intake manifold off and the two on either end, are there any more bolts on it?" If you took them all off, no... There are four bolts on the top of the intake manifold, and six nuts with washers on the bottom. There are no studs/nuts on the end...if you removed those you started with taking the exhaust manifold off as well. If you removed the four bolts and six nuts, then 'yes, you removed them all'... But that still leaves the water hoses, EGR line, and electrical connections as well as fuel lines to remove. There's more than just nuts and bolts. Having the electronically downloadable Factory Service Manual with the general engine breakdown printed out and in front of you will help you determine how things are put together. Shows the parts off their major subassemblies with dotted lines and torque specs for the various pieces. Searching for the Chiltons is a waste of time IMO, there really is no reason not to download the FSM ad get the information straight from the Nissan Technical Engineering Support Department...

That's bascially what I just gave you... a Fairlady Z 2/2 will outperform a comparable year US Specification coupe with the same power specifications. My car is consistently 1 full second + faster in the 1/4 mile than every 75/76 US Spec coupe I've come across. So consternating is this fact to some owners, they actually swore at me (in the Texas ZCon some years back!) For like-market models, the coupes will have some handling and performance advantages due to the lighter weight (stock versus stock), but the 2+2 will have a lightly less choppy ride due to the wheelbase difference. A 2+2 is pretty stable at 170.325mph... "One handed drive!" I'd assume a coupe would be a bit less stable at that same speed.

Fiberglass mesh screening as a 'foundation for the bondo to stick to' over newspapers stuffed up into the A-Pillar through the large rust hole at the base 'to keep the fiberglass mesh from buckling when you apply the bondo'..... It was at that moment, being 'given instruction' by a self-taught auto body whiz (all the while never letting on at 2 years instruction I had undergone back in Michigan before joining the service...), that I decided anybody doing the body work on my vehicle will be watched very very carefully...and as for amatuers? No thanks, unless I've seen their work and know how they work, I don't even consider it. The post is actually funny in a sad sort of way. He's a bit uninitiated in thinking he would have gotten any kind of decent install on that kind of a kit for the price he ended up paying. I got a laugh out of his 'rust rant'---you can tell he's from SoCal...LOL There is an old adage (which he says is ignorant to point out) that "You get what you pay for." I doubt he would have gotten much better for that price. And with all his expectations of the installer, personally I would have turned the job down. There are some people who expect the sky and don't want to pay for that kind of quality. I suspect from the post content he is one of these sorts of customers. Workmanlike job aside, I wouldn't have quoted even $750 for a full skirt install on rigid fiberglas parts much less urethane. That's less (or at most) 10 hours of work. No WAY that kind of install can be done in 'a day' including painting. A week, maybe. But then, that would have cost too much. "If you can't afford to do it right the first time, how will you get the money to do it over?"

I had a physics instructor that would be searching around his desk madly for something...someone would inquire as to what he was looking so urgently for, to which he would reply "I seem to have misplaced my pencil" (it was stuck above his ear)... One time, while he was gazing out the window, looking particularly absent minded, with his head on his left fist, and his right palm open, he started looking around...for his pencil. He looked around his open-palmed right hand as if it was something in his way. You got it...the pencil was in his hand! That is something totally different than what I witnessed. We all 'space out' from time to time. I find myself with a moment of panic, then realize that which I thought I forgot to do had already been accomplished automatically by me, without remembering I did it, or having any inkling at all of doing it. This Physics guy...he had a mean Chevy Cameo Pickup, as well as a hotted-up Opel GT that he drove to campus every day during the summer months. Of course once the snow flew it was 'Volvo Time' till the spring breakup. Had designed and built his own pit for working on his cars in the old barn on his property (in the days when lifts were big affairs in shops). He was so spacey it was fun to play games on him. But that, as they say, is another story... For a Tie-In with the Bees, it was either this physics guy, or the Anat and Phys instructor that mentioned corking a bee's nest with a cone of paper and transporting it away from your house. AT THE TIME it all sounded so insane: "Move the beehive, why not just spray RAID on it and be done with it?" Yep, I'm sure it was Larry that said it 'Why hurt the bees? They just made a house---if you had been observant you could have destroyed it in the starting stages, but once the thing is complete it's wrong to destroy it because you didn't notice it for a couple of months. Just make sure they are all inside, and then just move it some place where they aren't bothering you. I do it every year in my barn! Haven't been stung once yet. Once they're inside, it's not like they have any tools to get out through the walls!' He was that kind of gentle... But it made 'common sense' when he phrased it that way. It would take someone like me to use that lesson in compassion for lesser things, that lesson in gentlemanly treatment of animals and all things great and small YEARS later in an offensive campaign of retribution against his own flesh and blood...as well as innocents of all relation... Gunpowder was for entertainment purposes in China, and those using it in war were sternly punished. But when Us Europeans got ahold of that stuff, we had a LOT better ideas on how to use the same knowledge base than simple noisemakers and things that flash for entertainment purposes! Kinda like Ceremonial Tobacco and the American Indians. Puff a way, once a week, or maybe on some special occasions? NAH! Snort it, smoke it, stick it in your lip...all day, every day! Some times 'common sense' doesn't reap benefits...LOL

I won't even go there... With what I was issued here Monday, "Soldier of Fortune" could take a few snaps and I would show up in there looking the part... Speaking of "Euro Celeb", have you checked your e-mail for a photograph I forwarded to you?

I was shocked last night when I saw myself on French T.V.! (in NIGERIA of all places!) On a show called "Planete" which had a half hour segment on El Mirage and the bikes that race there. I was shocked to see myself waddling around the starting line, putting the door net in, closing the door and giving Dave the thumbs up...as well as Andy's old van pushing him off the starting line! You could have knocked me over at that very second. "Shocked I was" as Yoda would say. I remember a couple of guys with a Pro Rig camera and Tripod two years ago shooting there, and that they were speaking French. Long hair, big moustache. I chit-chatted with them and made small talk. Didn't even realize they filmed me during our morning run! I'm still kinda shocked.

That would be applicable for the G/FBMS catagory, that would be 2 liter and below. A simple boring of the engine to something larger than 2001cc's and less than 3000 would put him in the class pictured. Curious what you run into on the road, huh? I was shocked last night when I saw myself on French T.V.! On a show called "Planete" which had a half hour segment on El Mirage and the bikes that race there. I was shocked to see myself waddling around the starting line, putting the door net in, closing the door and giving Dave the thumbs up...as well as Andy's old van pushing him off the starting line! You could have knocked me over at that very second. "Shocked I was" as Yoda would say. I remember a couple of guys with a Pro Rig camera and Tripod two years ago shooting there, and that they were speaking French. Long hair, big moustache. I chit-chatted with them and made small talk. Didn't even realize they filmed me during our morning run! I'm still kinda shocked. But we digress... With the front end closed off like in JGK's photos I could see nice slipstreaming. I just don't know what the function of that silver section is...and it looks like it was added this year. Perhaps it's ballast. I've seen a lot of stuff done to keep front ends planted. But I don't see the trade-off for the open front end compared to the previous 2007 Shots on the Salt. I'd really like to spend some time talking with the guys. I hope they come to ElMirage this month (I hope I'm there to see it!) OR for the Two-Day meet in November. Usually a lot of Bonneville guys make it down from the salt to that meet.

I would simply depress the valves and blow the ports out with solvent, generous ammounts of solvent. I would not pull the valves and reinstall them, the risk for cutting the stem seals would put me off on that. Really, if the engine is prelubed properly valve greasing is not an issue. From my experience the white grease is more to lube up the stem so it passes through the seal more than anything else. If you have the ports sideways like they are when installed on the engine, and the valves down and opened, and flush in that position, any grease you might flush off is extra anyway, and will do nothing other than get washed off by fuel vapors when you start the engine...or gloop down onto the back of the valve head and drop in the cylinder when hot. Personally, I'm not a big lubricator so that it shows all outside of the friction surfaces. If I was 'preservative action' I'll use something persistent and spray on like cosmoline. You want something that picks up grit and dirt and is really persistent in not giving it up under a solvent bath? Try cosmoline. Old Cosmoline. Hard, sticky, tacky, cosmoline. Good Luck!

I ditto BRAAP's comments. He hits the reasons for the binding issue. The only times I have seen L-Cam Towers line-bored was after someone heliarced them to repair a galled saddle and needed to line the repaired tower up with the others in the set (curiously they used a VW Line Boring Apparatus, modified, to do this!) The reason for the repair was they didn't have another set of towers to use as a set. When using a mismatched set of towers I've seen them lined to fit. When using the cast-iron towers (L4's) when installing bronze cam bushings. The point being, as BRAAP said, if there is a reason for the binding, fix the reason---line boring the tower will only mask the root cause. Surfacing the bottom of the head, but not the top is a BIG cause for this kind of bind. A head with a 0.008" warp resurfaced on the bottom only can have no oil wedge at all in one of the towers towards one edge, and just be skirting disaster on the edge of a bearing living on oil spilloff...then you get a burp in oil pressure or suck some foam in a corner and the oil wedge drops minimally, the edge of the cam bearing runs on bare aluminum long enough to 'grab' and then either the cam snaps, and you get a galled tower...or something else lets go. Sure, it turned fine... I'd look for top surface warpage or see if the head was surfaced properly. That would be my first suspicion especially if the head was returned from the surfacing shop with tight cam towers (mine come back in a box, usually!)

It's an invalid comparison. My Fairlady Z 2+2 weighs considerably less than a comparable year US-Spec Coupe. With me in it at 255#, I scaled in my 75 Fairlady Z 2/2 at 2695#... Do the math. Bryan's ZL model is slightly heavier...but I doubt Bryan is 255#, either! Really, the comparison is 'Fairlady -vs- US Market' and the Fairladys always feel sportier, faster, and more connected IMO than a US Spec model. Stock for Stock. Gearing is better suited for the power range of the engine, the car is lighter, all the springs and bushings are stiffer... Really, after starting out in a Fairlady Z and owning only Fairlady Z's for close to 6 years it was a shock for me when I drove my first US Specification vehicle as the first impression I got was what a 'wallowing pig' the US Spec model was handling wise.

I don't recall anybody saying it was 'dumb', but then again masochisim never is well undestood by those who aren't 'into it' as well. It's not a matter of dumb, or anything like that. It's that it's cheaper, easier for people to get right quicker, is on most of the current generations 'learning curve' and the most important 'dumb' thing of them all: It's hands down reliable. Far from it to be driveable and reliable. Most people who rave about 'the good old days' weren't there to experience it firsthand. If you want to actually DRIVE the car in varying conditions...go EFI and don't waste your time. I'm not saying it's dumb, but I'll remind people that 'old school tech' encompasses HKS ITB Throttle Bodies, or SK ITB's and a generic, hidden EFI controller. Same Blowthrough Plenum, and about...ooooooh 27-30 years old? That old tech enough? If you want 'old tech' for Turbo, look to a 'Turbo Toms' drawthrough, or a Crown Conversion using a Corvair E-Flow Turbocharger and no wastegate, with a single SU providing fueling. I've got one of each, and can extoll the virtues and vices of each. Thank gawd I don't have to drive them every day! And before anybody retorts about EFI being 'hi tech' or 'new tech' I'll remind you the Datsun has had EFI since 1975. The VW Type 3 since 1968. And in aftermarket applications, the 240Z Rally Cars in 71 or 72 had a JECS ITB EFI Setup! So before you slough off EFI as not being worthy of being classed as "Old School Technology" get those facts straight... You can have EFI hardware on that car from the early 80's and be TOTALLY 'period correct'! I know I do, and I am. That you have updated a hidden component to provide much better control is never seen (the EFI Computer). The look is still spot on period correct to those who know what they are looking at, and the thought of that old school EFI componentry always gets noticed. Nice find on the pair. How low is the VIN on the 69?

This was illustrated on that same flight. There was a guy in rags. Literally. Older than the hills, escorted to the plane seat by someone, telling him how to do everything along the way. The guy was shown how to use the baggage cars to move his bindle around the waiting area. But I watched that guy sit in the seat, and look to the left and right of him to see that the people next to him were pulling the grey snakes up around their bodies to strap in... I watched as he turned around and fished for them while the other people buckled their belts. So he was in the same spot as the guy next to me (he was in his early 30's at the latest...so you would think 'technologically exposed' this kid was...) Grandpa in the rags gets the two dissimilar pieces up in front of mis face, examines them, looking intently at them. Screws with the latching end and lifts the lever... then on the first try tenatively 'puts tab A into slot B' and clicks it closed. Lifts the lever, and the belt slips out...kind of nods his head like "oh OK, I got this" reinserts it and then goes back into some meditative state or something. All the while youngster is repeatedly slamming the tab into the release latch side of the buckle. I mean, we're not talking knowing anything about cars, this is a guy who claimed to be a Project Manager (in his early 30's) not being able to figure out a 'simple machine'... I have known plenty of guys who space on stuff because they have a head full of particulars all the time. That's not what I'm talking about. I was just aghast that someone who appeared to be putting his full attention towards a task (given his stated profession) couldn't get it! And the guy who you would never think would get it...examined, and 'got' it without any intervention from outside assistants. Just interesting. I watch people... I like to watch...

Up to aboutfour hours ago, I dismissed the blase airline instructions given by the flight attendants. You know, the ones that, on Southwest at least have taken on a joking tilt: "If you don't know how to put on a seat belt, you deserve to bounce around the plane if we crash, please try not to hit any of the other passengers!" Today, as I was leaving on a Lufthansa flight from Morocco, the guy in the seat next to me was fumbling with the seat belt... Now, he wasn't a fat, corpulent bugger like me. He was not struggling to get the latch to reach the clasp. I watched out of the corner of my eye as he repeatedly, for a period of two minutes, tried inserting the latch into the 'lift to release' end of the buckle assembly. I mean, trying in earnest and getting really flustered because it wasn't catching! It wasn't until the attendant clicked the seatbelt in the 'fasten your seat belt by putting the latch into the buckle so, and releas by lifting so...' demonstration. She had actually did it one time, and he stopped and watched it the second time, then rearranged and fit his buckle. Now, I was trying reallllllly hard to be 'culturally sensitive' save for the guy was wearing a suit that cost more than most of the cars I've bought recently... During the flight, we strike up a conversation... I'm expecting him to be some sort of marketing guy, you know? Nhap! He's 'an engineer'---I figure 'engineer' in a broad sense of the European Definition like a guy that works on stuff. No, the guy is an 'Engineering Manager in Charge of Upgrade Projects' at a local refinery in Morocco. Mechanical Engineer.... I am aghast. My only consolation was that I told myself that, as a manager, he only supervises people and hopefully the people he supervises know which way the buckles are supposed to go... I'm not shocked by much...but this one set me back a bit. Talk about 'Non-Tech, Off Topic'---how's that?

I'll go look the kenyan up while in Nigeria. Right after I find the guy who keeps e-mailing me about that 28 billion put into a numbered swiss account...

I would have welcomed the chance to take on the bear... I get wood every time I see the final scene in "Legends of the Fall" And yes, I did throw the Nest into the car, and then held the door closed so the occupants could consider their previous pranking against me... I got wood reading that story... Though, personally I think I would have taken the cubs home as pets and raised them...letting them roam my yard and keep the Z's safe. Kinda outdoes a Rottie Couple in the same function. I would name them 'Zeus' and 'Apollo' and teach them to 'sic balls' like that dog in the movies! LOL

That has to be an instinctual Michigan thing. I say the same thing! Cool site. Bookmarked. Gracias!

Very JDM! They are big on segment bends in Japan, I think there is more tradition involved or showing off their welding ability than any other practical reason for doing it nowadays. Mandrel Bends are readily available now, for the most part negating 'having' to segment bend tubing for turbos and exhausts. Thank Gawd!

Dude with Militant Rabbit Avatar Wrote: "I cant license it as an antique because then your limited on how many miles or where you can drive the car and its my daily driver." How do they enforce the annual mileage limitations on 'Antique Vehicles'? Is there an Annual Declaration you must make to the state? Do they use an Annual Declaration to your insurance company? Do they require you to come in and randomly have the mileage verified? Do they require you to make an affirmation that you will not exceed some set mileage limit, or do they merely inform you that is the limit and to not exceed it? /The following is Not a Political Statement, merely Observation of Fact, I'm Not trying to circumvent site protocols on political discussions, nor to start one./ Legislators are big on telling you what to do...but in many cases are very sorely lacking in followup. There are several states that make similar such requirements but have absolutely no mechanisims in place to confirm or track that the vehicle is not used in the manner which it is relicensed! No actual realtime mileage tracking. I had a heluva time with AAA SoCal because for years my wifes Corvair and my 73 240 registered '0' miles annually. Kept getting kicked out of their system, and required them to call us informing us of our error. "We didn't drive it last year." Seems simple, huh? Don't get me started on what happened when they were dropped from the insurance roles, but inadvertently got registration paid and not PNO status put onto them...

"Homestead" or "Homeland"? If "Homeland" that's basically where I'm at...Mead Valley. Except for right now. Now, I'm in Morocco. Soon, Nigeria.

If memory serves, a Volkswagen Flywheel that was supposedly never designed to be run above 5000 rpms was only allowed 1 gm/cm imbalance. Then again, they were forged chrome-moly too...those crazy Germans! That sounds like a lot to me, but I'm suprised it's in the flywheel and not the clutch-cover. Usually the flywheels are pretty stable and don't 'go out' unless something is coming apart. I would not not use it unless it was penetrant checked or magnafluxed.

When I added the Class III receiver to the back of the 75, I incorporated oval holes in the brackets that let a 5/16" chain threaded link fit in there...made it EASY to tie down, tow, or LIFT the car! Having that receiver on the back makes for a convienient jacking point as well... On some of the new rental cars (I checked out my VW Jetta Diesel I had in Spain...) they have a nice forged tow-eye in the spare tire tool kit. Screws into a place on the car. I have a couple of forged eyes that screw into the bumper holes I use to lift cars to the upper berth in the shipping containers when containerizing them...if you aren't running a rear bumper, those forged eyes screw in really nicely! And even on the front, you can screw em into some of the chassis mounting points on the frame rail to accomplish similar tie-down/light towing duties.

Horsepower for sure...they were running 150mph range in G/BMS, which means with the 2-liter they were going almost as fast as us with the F-Motor (3 Liter N/A). I really would like to check out the engine setup. I can't remember if their website showed any engine detail shots or not...but it's gotten me curious... "Half a Big V-8" comes to mind... "Brick" is what I was thinking as well. The differences between the 2007 photos and this one I posted may simply be the front end removed for towing...but with that bitchen foldaway tow-lever it's an open question as to why the nice airbrushed lower panel is not on the car and there is salt on some of the exposed work there...