Tony D

I guess a disconnect on the negative battery post to kill everything overnight is out of the question then...

Don't lie to us, you bastard. YOU WERE AT SPA ALL WEEKEND! And these useless monkeys down here took Sunday off, and from all I can tell they took g-damned today off as well---or may have well had...didn't do a damn thing, and I'm no closer to leaving now than at 1500 Friday last! The only thing better that could have happened here is that during 1939 to 1945... Did I mention I hate the French?

The LPG conversion I drove in Holland was really nicely done, and Megasquirt ECU'd to boot! And that was a tank that was strapped into the spare tire well shaped like a doughnut!!! AND that is TUV approved. A bit more stringent than most EPA or DOT requirements IMO. But will you EVER see that type of 'DIY' retrofit offered for sale here in the USA? Doubtful. There has to be a point where you jsut tell the Government "FOAD" and get on with your life. I'm to that point with a lot of automotive things. It's beomce clear to me that through the years it's less and less about competent legislation and more about keeping money in someone's pocket. I'll probably illegally be importing one of hte LPG systems I saw some time in the future. I can fuel it at the local U-Haul or Mexican Grocery---where they won't give me hassles about 'doing it properly'---they just take my money and smile. I like simple things, and living my life and driving my car in a clean manner should not require government approval. Especially if it's predicated on the fact that I have to buy a current-production vehicle at a cost of $30K+... I have a house that didn't cost me that much. Screw them. Sorry for the rant. I probably shedded myself for this post. Hopefully not the whole thread, though. Some stuff just fills me up, and it boils over from time to time.

Don't let lack of an EGR hookup stop you. I replaced at least THREE turbo EGR setups using nothing more than a standard forged steel pipe half-coupling (or stainless halfcoupling depending on the application) and replacing the piping with T316L 1/2" tubing using Swagelock STainless Steel compression fittings (As well a Parker A-Lock, and Imperial Eastman) On the N/A setups I've used AN steel fittings in the past, but SS is really the only thing you want to use for the fittings and pipe. The 1/2" tube will clog faster but with the AN or Swagelock fittings you can make the tube a 90 degree affair so it's not "Captive" and can clean it regularly and easily. If you have mild steel, I think I was using 309 rod in a TIG machine to weld the SS half coupling to the pipe, then simply drilled a hole with a drill. Depending on the size hole you drill you will alter the flow of EGR into the manifold when activated, if you drill it undersize, you will still pass smog, but will not be injecting the same level of exhaust gas, keeping the manifold slightly colder than usual you want to make sure the drilled hole is big enough... Big enough to meet your goals of passing smog, that is... If you have the pipe there and no hole, they will fail you---they check the pipe to make sure the EGR is heating it up... And you want enough to pass the dyno portion of the NOx check during the functional test. But a 1/2" tube is more than big enough. I had swagelock on one end, and the stock SAE 45 Degree Flare-Nut on my 73 when I originally did the conversion to a set of headers back in 1989...

I believe mylar is more radiant heat barrier in construction materials. I specified in in a couple of metal buildings due to it's properties. I don't think it would survive the environment. That is why the mirrored polish stainless would work facing the exhaust---and like Derek mentioned, with the mill finish facing outward to the visible eye, would be very 'stock OEM looking'. I have made a few SS heat Shields for the Bonneville Car from the stainless steel used on Munters / Atlas Copco regenerative dryer drums. It's pretty nicely polished for air handling use, and I actually scuff it with a DA and fine sandpaper to take the sheen off after metalworking it. The side that faces the drums is what I prefer to face 'out' as it's almost exactly the same coloration and dull finish as the stock heat shields. But a quick run with a cotton buff and triploi, and I can SEE myself in it! MEH... I like dull and sneaky more than flashy and attention getting. Outside of the Shark's Teeth on the bottom of my front bumper, that is! LOL

Yep, there was an array of dealer equipped options and aftermarket manufacturers that supplied good quality parts for the Z back when it was new. I have seen them as well. In addition, if anybody ever gets a chance to sit in or closely inspect Mr. K's personal 260Z, check out the sunroof in THAT! More like a modern BMW unit than anything from the aftermarket---I guess when you're running the ocmpany, you have some 'discretionary R&D Money for modifications that exceeds the normal buyer. ANd if you like the sunroof, the one in Mr. K's car is wicked OEM_Like Quality. Flush outer opening, with retraction UNDER the roof. Much like the 69 VW Beetle I had when learning to drive... Very Nice.

For leaks, use "SNOOP" sold though Swagelock distributors. It's MUCH better than dishwashing soap. It even suprised me how one would not show a leak and another would. I'd ask if you are aftercooled from your compressor, and are you using high volumes before you shut down for the evening. If you are running the compressor a lot, the tank and air inside will heat up---especially if you don't have a good aftercooler. The resultant cooling overnight will cause a big drop in an 80 gallon tank. 20 psi would not be uncommon. From your water problems it sounds like you don't have a cooler. Do you have an auto-drain on the tank? If it's releasing condensate overnight, it can also bleed it down. The isolation valve should be a ball valve ideally, they have less incidence of leakage than cheap gate valves usually found in that service. Do you have an EXTERNAL check valve on your line from the aftercooler to the tank? It's redundant, but this will help when the compressor's valves are leaking down. For compressor valve check, take some good duct-tape and remove your air cleaner. Paste the tape over the hole where your air cleaner was, and observe. If it puffs up (and it should do it relatively quicikly) then you have some leakage on the valve system in your compressor. Adding an external check valve rated for the discharge temperature will stop this, and depending on how big your compressor discharge line is, could be as little as $15. Which will be cheaper than overhauling your valves. Just beware that if it is valves, they will only get worse, if you don't put an external check valve (Conbraco Ball-Style Check Valve or a Whitey/Nupro poppet style) in the system, eventually the valves will leak tank pressure into the compression chamber while running, elevating the discharge tempreature. This can lead to temperatures in excess of 451F, and lighting cigarettes off your discharge pipe... But I digress.... YES, a quick-connect can most DEFINATELY leak with nothing on it, and that is one of the points you should SNOOP with the detector. They are cheap, if they are leaking, replace them. Consider "THOR" style connectors for main line connections, with the lighter duty "AMFLO" CP Style for point of use hoses, air tools etc... My battery is dying, if you want more info---PM me. I do air compressors for a living. In Morocco now on a startup of a couple of 'baby' units. 888KW each... Yep, these are 'babies' compared to some of the stuff I've worked on...but I have done/can do everything from fractional to multi-thousand horsepower systems.

then I take it we are talking abuot black smoke then?

LOL three years...

That's the old JCR intake with a Camden Supercharger on it. Likely it's a TBI throttle body, they originally came with a Holley Projection unit (Analog EFI Controller). I have seen Carbs on that setup, a 650 Holley with some additional solenoids dumping fuel into it (the ProJection had a rather low upper horsepower limit...) for higher boosts. THey used a spacer under the carb to level it out. I have a TERRIBLE internet connection here in Morocco(go figure, huh?) so watching the 9 minute video that guy posted is out for the time being. I don't think Lagos will hold anything better for my layover...and Bonny Island in the Niger Delta... Well, someone stole my Malerone, 5 1/2 pairs of socks, my 2008 MSA Shirt, one of my new Dickies Denim shirts, and a pair of jeans so I'm lucky I'll be clothed, much less have a supply of anti-malarials to keep me from getting sick. I don't think Internet will be extant. I'm more interested in getting my malaria medicine. Dammit!

Yeah, wanna neat trick with the first-gen G-Tech, watch the instantaneous G-Readout while doing your gear to gear shifts. You can play aorund with shiftpoints and see results immediately. For the price they go for on E-Bay these days, it's worth the paltry $$ to have it around just for that kind of playing. Two of them, and you can see laterals if you make your own bracket... Or pay the $$ and get the PASS system, but I'm cheap. And convinced the SECOND I pay full price for a G-Tech AGAIN, they will come out the NEXT day with the subsequent generation, making mine worth about $40 NIB on E-Bay...like what happened the last time.

More of a cosmetics kinda guy than functional, huh?

USAF stopped using Simple Green? That was the 'latest and greatest' and was supposed to supplant PD-680 for immersion degreasing. That PD-680 and "Gas Path, Engine Oil NOI" are the two biggest thefts I miss not being in the USAF any longer...LOL That gas path stuff would do wonders on aluminum.

gawd, I can't count the number...so many at lein sale. Bought, stripped, adn scrapped. I had the tow yard asking me if I wanted 'extras' at one time or another. Was picking them up for as little as $100 at one time! There are 4 left in the back yard now, each with designs on it. 79 Slicktop Coupe 79 Slicktop 2+2 80 Slicktop 2+2 83 ZXT 2+2 (GL) Scrapped... man, that I can think of that were 'memorable' 83 ZXT Coupe simply because it had a brand new Nissan Service Replacement Block, Turbo, and Injector Set---with a BW-5speed all for $475 82 Coupe hit so hard on the right side the suspension broke off the subframe. It had a list of components to 'repair' it inside, along with dates and receipts.Seems like the clutch slipped while they were in an intersection and they got T-Boned. Got it for $100 due to not being a roller, pristine paint, leather interior...but the passenger's seat was crushed it was hit so hard. My son found a $10 roll of quarters between the pass seat and the tunnel, and cut it out with a knife. I found two checks in the pocket of a shirt, one made out to cash, the other to someone else. When I called the check's writer (address and phone on the checks, they were only 31 days old when I found them!) He commented the 'bastard' took off wihout finishing his garden job---so I figure the guy was an illegal and got the free ride home after the accident, there was a half-eaten burrito on the pass floorboard. So the guy re-wrote the check to ME since he already wrote off the money, and had no problem with me cashing the second one since it was made to 'cash' anyway. That was one check for $215 and another for $247. When I told the impound guys what was in the shirt in the back of the car...they shat! 80 2+2 with 186,000 miles I got for $100. Looked like a pig, but someone had put new starter, alternator, injectors, clutch, fan clutch, and tires on it before it got impounded. T-Roofs were all spidercracked and held together with window tint. Could not get it to pass smog, despite running smoothly---there was a 2" hole through the center of the monolith brick! When I scrapped it, I found someone had cut the entire wiring harness going up front and then butt-spliced the whole thing back together. Maybe that's why the electrics were so iffy... That engine and transmission is still in my 75 GS30 Fairlady 2/2, now with almost 230K miles on it and still running strong. A 79 Slicktop Coupe for $500. It was another example of what happens when people don't have a license and registred vehicle. Got impounded with a new radiator, tires all 'round, Blaupunkt Stereo, thing was black on black and clean. Flipped it for $3500 two days after I registered it and put it in the paper. A slew of pigs mostly 81 ZXT's for some reason where the only thing I ended up keeping was the Engine and ECCS Harness, and the Differential. Plus alloys. I think right now I have 12 of the six-spoke wheels with good tires just sitting around with no place to put 'em. I use them to go pick up a car when I'm not too sure about it's tires. I think I had 6 of those go through the back yard in one summer. I called it "The Summer of 81's!" 81 Slicktop 2+2 I bought for $100 out of impound, just for the alloy rims and the roof. Cut the roof off, took the FOUR-Spoke (like the 77/78 Star Alloys!) Rims off and sold the engine trans for $500 to someone else. Scrapped the hulk in chunks for some $$$ as well. There were others, but it was just pull em in, pull the hard parts, and scrap the hulk. Nobody wants ZX interior parts, I couldn't GIVE prime stuff away, so after a three year period of storing pristine body parts I gave up; I loaded an entire 82 2+2 to the ROOF with the stuff, and called PYP to come take it away since my trailer was down...otherwise I would have scrapped it myself. I think I still had a dumpster full of parts I just trashed to clear it out. For all the talk of people wanting stuff, I offered it free to anybody who wanted it, and they were unwilling to ship, drive, or do anything that required effort on their part to pick up the stuff. I think I gave two pair of ZX T/C rods, one to DonnaZXT, and another to someone else. They were the only two people who would pay for their own shipping. 280ZX's make great driveline donors... I am to 280ZXT's what the stroker crowd is to guys with Diesel Maximas. They call them "Crank Vampires", I guess you could call me a "280ZX/ZXT Driveline Vampire"! /Dracula Voice/ "I want to pull your driveline, mu-ha ha ha ha ha!"

Single O2 Sensor or dual? There may be a Maxima Cross for an N/A setup...but for a DET you would be looking for a Z31 application here in North America likely... Even that's a stretch, as I'm not aware (not a Z31 Fan...) of a DET available here stateside for the Z before the Z32, and then it was a DETT setup with the requirement of dual O2 Sensors. Maybe one of the other ECUs would work and then you could 'Nistune' the fuel and timing maps for the turbo application. That might work from something like the 92-94 Maxima, it had a VG30DE...with a single O2 sensor, then remap the injection timing for the turbo. good luck eh!

There has been some work in Europe on a Roll Cage utilizing Chrome-Moly Tubing that is put inside the original crash structures of the car... But we are talking that involves some very detailed body disassembly, and competent calculations. The shop doing it does FIA Certified Roll Cage Engineering, and the proprietor is a former F1 Team Engineer from the 80's. It's neat from what I saw of it...reminiscent of Tim Allen's "Hidden Cage" Saleen done up a few years back. That kind of tells you the costs involved in properly designing and installing a 'street safe' roll structure. At least one that is mostly hidden from view.

I think that article will get linked to my son... "So, what do you need to know about algebra for, anyway?" With the way that article is explained, he should be able to follow it, and I know they're graphing curves in his class now, so it will be a real world example that may open his eyes close to home for an application. I suspected most of those calculators were using Crank HP, that gives me the explanation of the '202' hp I got with that one, opposed to the 150 or so on some of the others (close to the G-Tech and Dynojet number of 147--which are supposed to be "RWHP")

Where is that E32 manifold? I have NEVER seen that one before. If it's complete with the accompanying carburetor (even if the carb is shot) send me a PM...and throw in a price. I'd be willing to spend some $$$ to get that thing statesite and stick it on a car (er...I'm thinking early 810...) and watch people scratch their heads. It is similar in the radius to what I recall the Mercedes units with, and the separate runners in the manifold make sense to keep velocity up on the smaller barrels while running around town with the secondaries not engaged. Then when you open it up, you get the full flow of the setup through both runners---keeping velocity high on the small primaries and insuring the secondaries don't open till sufficient draw is there for the secondaries to give adequate velocity in the larger secondary portion of the runner. What application did that come on? S30's were all SU'd. Even 260's. I'm thinking performance sedan, like 240K or something along those lines. I have a serious case of the "I want it's" right now! You bastard! I want that manifold and carb now. lol

Oh, if you have a B.S.M.E. what are you interested in? Rotating Equipment??? There are opportunities all over Los Angeles for BSME contract, long term, permanent hire, or freelance. Santa Monica would normally have been "Aerospace Related" but that's changed. Still work out there, but not like there was 'in the day'... There's always waiting tables on the pier... LOL

Easy Off is an Alkaline Cleaner, and DOES have the potential to harm aluminum. For the block and it's crud, it would be great, but I would shy away from it on aluminum. If you want to use alkaline cleaning you can make up a 5 or 10 gallon batch of cleaner using "Vanish" toilet bowl cleaner---really active cleaner for carburettor bodies, but you have to watch closely, or it WILL turn the aluminum and mazak bodies BLACK...and from there, the disolving begins!

Chances are you won't likely see the top, either. Stainelss steel is the preferred OEM choice for high temperature undercar applications simply due to it's resistance to heat transmission. This would be FAR superior to Aluminum, and 'all things set correctly' the mirrored side would be set to reflect any heat it does get to make for the most beneficial setup for the application. I'm not sure what you're driving at with your post, in one breath you say one thing, then come along and say 'you're not going to see it anyway'... I don't have mirrored stainless laying around. I DO have dull stainless laying around. I really don't care one way or another which way he installs it, but from a functional standpoint, the mirror should face the heat source. Regardless of what happens to it in use. As for ceramic coating, with a ceramic/stainless sandwich, there will be very little transmission. In that case, I would agree that you may get a benefit from ceramic coating the BOTTOM piece for additional transmission impedance...but if you are seriously worried about salt splashing up THAT HIGH in the engine bay, I might suggest not driving on the beach so much. I would be suprised to see salt spray anywhere above the PCV Vent in the block. VERY suprised. Expecially on a Z Car with ITBs being driven in the winter when salt is on the roads...aside from summer beach running, that is.

The shutoff breaks the circuit to the source of power most likely to cause problems after a shunt...in most cases this is the battery. Sanctioning bodies have their reqirements, and if you are going to compete, follow their notations to the letter. Most cars will not function properly with a simple disconnect switch on the positive alone, it will require a secondary set of contacts to disconnect the alternator.For storage purposes, maintenance disconnect or 'theft provention' either would likely work as well.

Alcohol only combines with the water, it does NOT disblace it. It's a fine point, to be sure, but WD 40 (as much as I hate the stuff) DOES physically displace water. Moves it out of things and replaces it with itself. If you have ever seen a rusty nut in the bottom of an open vodka bottle, you will realize using alcohol to 'remove' water from ferrous alloys is only so effective. Alcohol combines with water, but the corrosive effects of the water are still possible...if you've ever wiped alcohol onto a piece of 4340 that is polished, you can see water droplets left behind if someone was lax in capping even the 'good' 99% technical grade isopropyl stuff used to clean high speed (50K+) rotating equipment bearing jounrals and etc. But when you spray it lightly with WD, you will see water droplets coalesce and drop away if large enough. It's a wierd compound, and how it does it I don't know...but as a penetrating oil IMO it sucks. As a water displacement compond, it's hard to beat. I buy both Isoproply 99% Technical Grade, and WD 40 by the gallon can for my work. One is for cleaning, one is for driving out water. At least the way I see it.

The thread previous to my last stated, denoted, linked all those adapters. They are metric ISO STright Threads on one end, and whatever A/N Size you want on the other. you would use the thread size mentioned in the previous thread to my last, and write it out as "METRIC SIZE" X -10A/N The Nissan Cooler uses screw in fittings, so just replace them with the appropriate A/N Fitting...

BTW, I said the Japanese were under High Boost Conditions. I realize you are still below 20. The Japanese were boosting well in excess of 18psi when this was happening, and likely since it was carburetors they were using, it was a detonation incident that caused the splitting (from a dirty jet usually), Back then, if you weren't running at least 1.5 Bar, and triple OER 50's you didn't get close to running with the back of the pack. Mikuini 44 Blowthrough setups like mine running only 17psi (and the occasional bump to 20-21) were considered mildly modified and suitable for daily driver usage. They weren't anything worthy of racing, they were just drivers. I had no problem with that.