Tony D

If anybody wants Hard PTFE bushing stock, I literally have BOXES of PTFE Extruded rod in 1" diameter (maybe slightly larger...) laying beside my storage sheds. I have been cutting off 6 to 8" sections for use as Split-Bearing and Seal drivers on Centrifugal compressors. I leave them with the customer or with the distributor. For small bushings it's great stuff. And seems to hold up well under impact from mallets driving aluminum and steel bearings/seals out of turbine casings. Bryan, if you want some, stop by on your next trip out. You can have a rod or two. I think they are 10 feet long, and something like 24 to a box. I have several boxes. I'm sure my wife would be happy to see some leave the yard. Stuff turns well in a little 6" Atlas Lathe. Handy crap to have laying around. I'll trade anybody with Oilite Bronze stock in similar dimension laying around. 2, 3:1 trade...anybody? Bueller? "Copolymer Acetal" BTW...

I just ran across something in a VW Magazine (probably from July, DB&HVW's) in their 'New Items' section there was a set of air cleaners like you proposed to make. There was something in there about new low-restriction filters for 48IDA's or 51.5 IDA's. It's back at the hotel...which doesn't have internet, and where I won't be for at least another7 hours... They used what looked like a grey felt-looking compound in the screen sandwich. They also showed some smaller individual-stack K&N style filters that had air-trumpet clamps on them.

Then again, this is another advantage to guys with RHD cars...the exhaust exiting the side of the car directly offends the passenger, leaving the drive unaffected!

Nope! They followed the countour of the stock 60L tank, or the optional 100L Rally Tank with nothing more than a heat shield on the top of the pipes. The BRE car had a different fuel system, but the rest of the world using that same exhaust in stock-or-FIA competition using the stock gas tanks did little to nothing to them to run the megaphones straight out the back. Originally, the Datsun Competition Parts Department had the exhaust systems available with the premuffler in the trans tunnel (acts as a crossover pipe mainly) and the Twice Pipes were flanged just in front, or to the rear (I forget which) of the differential, for easy trackside fittment of either silencers for road use, or megaphones for track-day use. And for quick replacement to prior configuration for the ride home or non-race transit sections between stages.

You would be very suprised what 'loud' is, in California. The test is VERY specific, and is the reason a lot of the 'ricer tips' have the 45 degree angle on them pointing to the sky. The CA test gives a specific distance behind the car, and that little deflection upwards makes curiously loud sounding exhausts pass with flying colors. In many cases with four cylinders, it's intake noise that gets them pulled over, and there is no way to replicate the noise in front of the judge on a free-rev. Curiously there is no induction-noise limit for veicles in CA, and when tested many ticketed vehicles pass. Greddy was giving out copies of the CVC with each of their exhaust systems for a while, and a 'certificate of compliance' for people to show to the judge to get their tickets tossed out. I have twice-pipes (modeled after the Z432 OEM System) and while there is some resonance at torque peak when free-revved, on the road the car actually falls eerily silent around 90mph. Were I geared correctly, this could happen around 70mph as well. All depends on tuning of the system. As people have suggested, find out what the section of the law is that you were cited under and test compliance accordingly. They can't just right 'loud exhaust' normally a citation must have vehicle codes attached for the violation to be valid. If they cited a moving standard when they tested you stationary, make sure you pass the stationary test and argue that you aren't looking to get out of a ticket, that you realize he made a clerical error, but that your vehicle indeed complies with the section he MEANT to cite you under. As for the License Plate...here in CA, it must be visible from the front of the vehicle, and at a height no less than XX" (I think it's 17) and no more than 54" from the roadway. Meaning one properly propped up on your dash would comply (other than the 'no covering' ordinance) And if they cite you for that, yo usimply show up with it on the front bumper. Not that I EVER would sign off my own fixit ticket and go directly to the courthouse to pay the $10 Administrative Tax with an unfixed vehicle...but I'm not beyond suggesting that is a totally illegal and viable option to someone inclined to flaunt the spirit of the law in such a way...

All I can say is, if there is a next round, as long as I get my headlight covers back...they're available. I didn't have them at the time of the first test. That should put this issue to rest once and for all. We wouldn't consider running the car without the covers at Bonneville. And the rake, accompanied by the G-Nose makes 173.325mph on the short track a 'one handed drive' as long as the rear tires are getting grip and not spinning. Very little sensation of 'lift' as compared to a stock Z, and even less once the radiator opening is blocked off for the F/FALT runs. I'm with Mike on this one, 'it's useless without photos'... And in any case, it's still a guess without actual testing.

People mistake the use of an IAC to think it actually controls idle speed. It does NOT! It compensates for loads on the idle speed like the alternator charging the battery, fast idle while cold, kicking up the speed when the A/C is on, stuff like that. Base hot no accessory idle speed is set using an idle speed screw, and then compensation is done with the IAC afterwards. Actually, making those blocks would pay dividends...that looks a lot like the blocks that came out in the early-mid 80's in Japan when the first analog Fuel-Control Computers were being introduced. The ITBs were all set to run closed throttle, and idle synch and idle speed was all done using a separate manifold block with tubes to the manifold. Didn't anybody ever wonder why the runners on some JDM manifolds have those 1/8 npt plugs in them? Now you know!

Both---on the way to Bonny Island. Is he going to be at the Shell LNG 6 Project? Send him an e-mail to try to contact me. I'll be heading down Sunday the 13th and going out on the Twin Otter from Lagos Monday Morning. I will be working with Entrepose in the LNG6 Train on the Instrument Air Compressor Skids. Have him ask around for the "FS-Elliott Rep" I will be there at least a week. Sorry for the Threadjack. In retrospect I should PM this... But internet here in Morocco comes and goes without notice so it's here first. Now to copy and paste.... I'm with Stealth Z, same timeframe on Okinawa, same timeframe buying the cars. I don't know how long 'your whole life' was at the time you had to switch, but it was no big deal for me. And since then, driving several RHD vehicles of my own here in the USA since 1989, I've really not run into anything that would be a real 'drop dead inconvienience'... Like Stealth says, it's humorous to swing through a Drivethrough backwards once and a while, but it's no different than getting into the In-n-Out burger Left Side Drivethrough. I can tell you it's a LOT more inconvienient driving a LHD F350 through the left side of one of those than it EVER was driving my RHD Z through the Right side of the same joint! No real reach-across. Passing is best done properly. If you are so close to the tail of the car you are trying to pass that you have to go 'that far' out to see oncoming---you're inadequately driving the car. Prepare a bit better. Overtaking is something done smoothly, from afar, and with a shift as you pass the slower vehicle. If I can pass people towing a trailer, with three people in my 2+2, at 65mph on a twisty Michigan Backroad without problem...I'm thinking the problem may be more on the driver's end than the vehicle's orientation. Maybe some people are more adaptable than others. But I'd not see RHD or LHD an issue in any country. SIZE is FAR more a concern than driver position everywhere I have gone. When it was time for me to rotate from Okinawa, the government was not shipping RHD cars for a period, so I had to leave my Fairlady there, and ship a 240Z back. After filling out all the paperwork, I was offered a 1971 Fairlady Z 432 as an even across trade for my 240 CHASSIS! Woah. Had only I the money to have shipped it on my own, and not already filled out the government shipment forms in triplicate to ship my 240... I would have had a Z432 now, instead. And still bought that one in Arizona in 1990 for $1000 (my most expensive). That one had been in the USA (Airzona) since 1976 when a DOD Schoolteacher rotated home to AZ. Rust on an early Fairlady? How many FairladyZ's do you know spent only 5 years in country, then went to ARIZONA for the rest of their years?!?!?!?!? The 75 2+2 I got for $300 was in better shape than the 71, the only appreciable rust was in the rearmost rocker panel area. Another long-term SoCal Fairlady Z. It's like anything, when you look, you can't find one. When you aren't looking, or broke, they show up. Key is putting aside the money as a 'just in case fund'. I would say with $2000 laying in a fund, you could find a decent RHD if you have the patience. If it doesn't need to be running...the price goes down QUICKLY!

I may have to contact that guy... For that lowered reserve price, I might bite. There are some pieces I 'need' off that car. All depends on documentation provided at time of sale. Unfortunately the jobsite I'm at blocks the login to E-Bay so I'm stuck for now till I get to another internet node to try contacting the guy again. Can you see me with ANTOTHER Z? Muhahahahaha!

NAPS: Nissan Anti Pollution System The EFI JDM cars had a stricter emissions criteria to meet than even California Specifications! The Four Cylinders with the crossflow-heads got the "Ultimate" NAPS system: NAPS-Z as we all know "Z" is signifying the ultimate evolution of the design. Originally the L20E and L18E existed, and those cars had the same "NAPS" emblem on them, but due to the later changing of Emissions Restrictions within the JDM (not the USA as many people mistakenly thought) the EFI L-Heads were supplanted with the LZ series of heads on the pre-existing blocks-then they got the distinctive badging of "NAPS-Z". The pre NAPS-Z L18SSS EFI intakes are nice pieces if you can get them. If you are a four cylinder guy, that is! The "E" is signifying the EFI system, and was first employed on the 1073 cars at the Tokyo Auto Show---the 260Z's Debut there was for the Fairlady 260Z-G/E a 2.6 Liter EFI car with power windows in 2+2 form. This was adopted in Showa 51 (1976) the car produced in S49 and 50 were of the later body style but still had carburettors. I think midway through S50, around June or July the EFI conversion occurred. As for how many Z's do you need... Poor question. It's more how many do you want. Nobody needs a Z, and I don't ever justify it by need. Well, almost never. If you need parts, you need parts. And having a second Fairlady Z with power windows comes in handy as spares are hard to find...

Tomcat rims are cool. I got a set of Tomcats on my 71 Fairlady Z-S! And the Celica (or is it Mitsubishi GTO) tail light panel is a nice touch as well. Beats the same old euro lights you see everywhere, and which have become deriguer for show cars on this side of the pond.

I've not done it Alan, like I said, the 'hack jobs' I have seen did indeed use the LHD rack, though. In one instance, I know of someone who used a RHD Power Steering unit, 'flipped' so he had power steering in his 240Z When I get back from here (Morocco, then Nigeria) I have a complete RHD, and I think LHD assemblies laying out at the house...I can photograph them side by side. As I recall, in one of the illustrations in the steering rack section of the FSM it refers to a 'dot' on the splined shaft being in one orienation for LHD, and 180 degrees out for RHD. But I'm closer to you than my stuff right now... So the photos will have to wait. It's still cheaper to buy one, that attempt a conversion. Especially in San Francisco... They are out there, and they can be had cheap enough that it makes it worth while.

I'd not reuse them... but who is saying the other pistons you get will be any better? You may end up weight matching with a set of drug scales (er...postage scales) and using POTL (Pick of the Litter) between the 12 you have to choose from...if I were using used parts, that would be where I'd tend to lean. But only after very careful measuring of everything! Ring side clearance is like JS said, hare to 'eyeball' but once you stick a ring yer screwed!

Arn brings up valid point on the heater blower assy, it is different. For the $500 you spent on the rustfree 260, you can get a Fairlady Z for LESS than the cost of conversion. I have not spent more than $1000 for ANY of the FOUR RHD Z-Cars sitting in my stable at the moment. Yes, the rack flips---it's in the FSM for 'RHD' or 'LHD' orientation. But frankly the 'conversions' I have seen here in the lower 48 have been hideous hack-jobs...a lot of work that turns a perfectly good donor car into worthless junk. Flame-Bent pedal clusters, no heater, Windshield Wipers that don't clear the windshield on the Driver's Side, an underdash morass of clipped, shortened, and cut wiring to make it fit on the 'short side' of the dash... The list goes on. At least with a real Fairlady, you have a VIN that backs it for resale down the road. For all the work involved (contrary to what others are saying) you get a car worth LESS than when you started. Desirable to nobody, that you're stuck with... I wouldn't buy any one of the 'conversions' I've seen here Stateside. There have been some nice RHD works done on Domestic stuff done in Oz and the UK that have been well executed, but the cost of the bodywork for the master cylinder reinforcement mounting plate cost more than your ENTIRE CAR. Just be realistic... If you can buy one complete for less than the cost of coversion, why bother?

Some have put an oval shorty muffler in a box under the driver's seat...

I've had an L28 with anywhere from 275 to 350hp, depending on the boost level in my 73 240ZT since 1987. not a whimper on it, and well over 40K+ of HARD miles. People who go for a ride with me in it comment that driving like me in that car is like most people's idea of throttle application at an Autocross. The chassis flexed coming off a corner one day, and cracked my windshield. The L-Engine is reliable at the power level to 100K miles easily I would suspect...if not twice that. Now, at 400HP, I think you decrease reliability accordingly using the stock components. Mine has stock pistons in it, no problem thusfar. But much above this point, I'd likely go with something heavier in the piston department which I would forecast to withstand 500 hp levels in a turbo application the way I drive for 100K miles. That's damn reliable in my book. And curiously, coincides with what Bernard has experienced. People discount the L-Engine. It's a mistake. It's just most people go about modifying it in such a hamfisted way that they screw it up along the way and blame the engine and not themselves. It's not the engine's design problem if someone tuning it is an idiot. But it plays out that way because the engine never gets to tell it's side of the story.

Really, the only way to determine the thickness is by tapping the stack downstream and taking a water column restriction reading at WOT peak torque, and peak horsepower. If it's appreciably more than a few inches of water column you will really afffect the pumping efficiency of the engine's intake.

Just buy one, it's far cheaper, and they are out there. There was a PAIR in Mississippi I believe, a 240Z and Fairlady Z "from two get one" was the way it read. They are more common than you think, and the conversion is a PITA. Far easier and cheaper to buy one. Especially in the Bay Area. They abound there...

I point my finger and tell people whatever they did isn't according to our specifications, and that they need to do it over till I'm satisfied. Then, and only then will I wave the magic 'warranty wand' and allow their newly purchased piece of rotating machinery be covered under our warranty. When not in the field, I answer technical inquiries on the product line. (Big Suprise to some of you, huh?)

I do.... Thing is, it's garaged in SoCal. And 'garaged' is a liberal term. Not like I'll be taking it to the car shine out in front of the Holiday Inn Express over in Delmont, eh? Just watch the porno barn's parking lot just up the street...I like to park 'round back! LOL I'll have to keep my eyes peeled for that one driving around. Didn't think there was a Z in Export. I work over on Enterprise Drive at the FSE complex....from time to time. He he he he!

The Japanese knew the N42 was what to use for 20+ year before someone on these shores took the time to rediscover it. Normally anything less than 0.125" is considered too thin to be structurally sound, and you will want a liner in that case. Braap recalls the discussion correctly. BTW, the siamesing did not 'in turn' make the walls thinner. The casting was redesigned, with supposedly even cooling, the bores 'should' stay rounder, so the engineering rationale for the thicker walls of the N42 was no longer justified. The thicker walls of the N42 were used under the rationale that they needed all that extra beef to keep the bores round under extreme conditions. In practice, the differences in concetricity is dubious, and the thicker walls of the N42 still work as well as ever to keep the cylinders round. And as Bryan pointed out, some people don't run anti-freeze in their blocks (common in the 1960's when the L-Engine was designed) so thicker walls gives you 'corrosion capability'---unlike some of those F54 blocks that have paper thin walls due to corrosion pockets that have eaten away at the water jacket side of hte cylinders! I think Bryan even experienced this on the DETT build! No N42 came in the 260Z, the bore is 'not' 83mm because it came out of a 260Z. Look at the block serial number---the engine was replaced with an L28 some time ago. There is no 83mm bore N42 block. They are all L28 86mm bores.

There is an Orange 1970 (VIN # 4000, actually) sitting in the Garage on Paseo de Granada, just on the other side of the Barricades the PV people put up to keep out the Riff-Raff from Torrance/Redondo Beach... Several more in PV, and a load in Torrance. Many of them go to the GroupZ meeting in Buena Park every second Thursday of the month (Beach Blvd and the 91, 7PM---meeting there since forever. At least since I joined in 91...) There is the West Side Z Coalition that has a page on Meetup as well.

Ford USA builds a whole slew of CNG-Only engines available through their dealer network here. The whole modular V series is available. The 5.4 I had in my E350 came from the factory with 13:1 Compression ratio, and apparently forged pistons. I thought it would make a nice econo-racer setup if it had a more agressive cam and ran it on racing petrol!

That's not really a downside...if you are commuting youcan easily locate two or three stations and fill as required. The real downside to Propane is for the guys that live up north. At -40 there is no tank pressure. The propane goes fluidic, and unless you supply heat to the tank, you won't likely get any tank pressure unless it warms up. THAT is a REAL downside. 4bbl would work well on the available manifolds!

I used a tea strainer on the inlet to my turbocharger for the longest time. Really, it's kind of restrictive, and there are better alternatives. The larger you can make your filter area the better it will filter. The velocity across the single-stack style filters is sky high. They only catch 'the shark sh*t' as my old tech school instructor used to say... "Strainer" more than "Filter" if you follow that meaning.