Tony D
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Posts posted by Tony D
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I'd go with Multiport EFI. I have been in LPG powered ZX's in Europe (Megasquirt Driven!) and they performed flawlessly even in cold weather.
My experience with vaporiser carbs has not been as good.
If you had some really good friends in Japan, you could have them look up the old Taxicab LPG fuel systems for the L-Engines. They were everywhere and like you said, used a downdraft carburettor style setup.
But the newer EFI multiport technology is better IMO, as it will allow you to go with a spare 'cheater' tank of gasoline to get you to your next fillup should you need to do it. And if you are REMOTELY considering a Turbo, then don't bother with the vaporiser carb setup, multiport FI is the only way to go---all components are available to easily change the turbo system to work with the EFI plenum...whereas the carb setup would be a suck-through nightmare conversion with much wailing nad gnashing of teeth.
The ZX I was in overseas could flip a switch and select fuel sources: Gasoline running on the stock ECM, or LPG run by a Megasquirt Piggybacked onto the harness through the same injectors. I took some photos, but who knows where they are now...and likely they are 6000 miles away at this point in time.
"I'm on the road to Morocco..."
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Design is identical to what you have. Z31's used the same center section but it simply had a separate cavity to run coolant through as well as the oil. I have seen several 'water cooled' center section turbos installed into early cars in the early 'stock' configuration---they water cooling is supplementary, they still work as oil cooled only in this instance.
Some other turbos may depend more on water flow to cool them, but I doubt it. The way most are set up, it's as a thermal siphon for after shutdown post cooling through simple 'percolation' of the coolant through the body. Once the thermostat opens in that configuration, there really is little water flow through the circuit, and that which does occur is of hot coolant back through the turbo to the inlet of the water pump on pressure differential, not so much of a 'forced flow' like in the block.
Garrett/AiResearch probably has FAQ and Information on their stuff online, as I recall they have a decent tech section, but forget what all is covered by it. You can check it out here:
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They move the bottom beam out away from the chassis. On lowered cars you may have to stack them. When you look at what happens to the trailing arms as you lower a bug, they go from a good stable tracking caster, to "Flop Around Like A Shopping Cart Wheel Backwards Caster"
That is not an exaggeration, twitchy does not begin to describe it...if your car is raked quite a bit. On mildly lowered cars it probably just makes them twitchy. But if you really rake the car, if you have loose suspension components like tire rods, drag links or kingpins the wheels can actually get into a hysterisis and starte shaking the front of the car back and forth as you hit a critical speed. Hit a bump and the process repeats. Not good!
Yeah, I was O.K. driving around town on the skinnies as long as it was below 4000rpms. After that, things happened quickly, the cam was coming on just about that point, and boost would go from nil to 25psi like a sledgehammer.
If I drove it like a stock bug, it acted like one. First to 10mph, second to 20, third to 45... My problem was I didn't shift to third when I should have---I would have kept accelerating like a semi-stock bug at that point. But it crossed the 'Hell Treshold' and that was NOT my intention. Even with 'soggy off boost performance' it would outperform any other Beetle in the area, it's just when the cam and boost came on it was like a light switch.
Ahhhh, Turbo Technology of the 80's...(er...truthfully the 70's, it was a Holley Draw-Through Setup!) With all it's hairy warts revealed.
The good old days....WEREN'T!
LOL
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Check Flat, Nissan Turbo Gasket, Kopr-Kote gasket to prevent adhesion and promote several re-uses. I have routinely used the Turbo Gasket over up to 5 times before chucking it into the 'Just in Case Parts Bin'
They look good, but a Fel-Pro Seminar I went to back in the early 90's said Graphoil Composite Exhaust Gaskets were designed for re-use and re-compression for up to five cycles. So even if they look good, I usually retire them after that point. I have successfully taken them out of 'The Bin' to put on other vehicles that roll into the yard and need a gasket for this or that, where I don't perticularly feel like I want to spend any money on them at this point in time...
The Nissan Turbo Gasket is nice and compressy, and the Kopr-Kote promotes sliding for the heat / cool expansion the manifold does in normal operation.
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My 1962 Deluxe Microbus did 15.50 at Milan Dragway back in 1983 (Turbo City Conversion Kit on 2110 Mill)...it weighed 2315# without me in it.
My 67 Beetle was much quicker, with the same engine swapped into it.
Oak Trees make you want to learn about 'CASTER SHIMS' before what you feel like will happen...happens!
Best story I had was running around town with my slicks in the back seat 'area' of the 67, and driving on 5.60-15 Bias Ply Retreads from Sears. A brand-new 84 Crossfire Corvette rolled up along side me at the stoplight of US23 and Numan St. in Tawas. He started doing foolish stuff because the my bug was idling at something like 1800 rpms, and roughly at that so I had to keep blipping the throttle to keep it from stalling. I guess he thought I was 'revving' the car...I guess I was. Well he showed me. Took off a couple of car lengths. I kept my foot in it totally forgetting I had the biad plies on it, and as I pulled along side him in 2nd gear doing 35mph, the boost came on hard and I lit up both rear tires, started going squirrely and all I could think of was 'OH SH*T NO SLICKS!" (as they clunked around the back seat area reminding me they were there, and not on the rear of the car!) So I let up, the back end caught, I jumped a little wheelie and shot out about a car length and a half in front of him...aat which point I realized "OH GREAT RIGHT IN FRONT OF THE STATE POLICE POST!" (Chastising myself for being an idiot and wanting to get the HECK off the road and shut down before someone impounded my car and thrw me in Jail, I took the next side street exit off US23. Bozo in the Vette comes from the right hand lane, across three lanes to chase me!)
After I did some zigs and zags (with vette boy following me) I pulled over and wanted to just walk away. Guy rolls up and is all enthusiastic and wants to know what I got in the car. I thought he was chasing me to kick my a$$ or something! I was apologizing profusely as he rolled up 'Man, I'm sorry, I almost hit you, I was stupid, I totally forgot about not having my slicks on. I didn't mean to go onto boost like that..."
All he can say is 'MAN THAT'S ONE HOT BEETLE-BUG! What you got in there, a Chevy Motor?'
Yeah, after that came the Toronado Conversion. What can I say, I was stupid in youth. I didn't mean to be on the car and have it go into boost, but I'd gotten so used to driving around on the slicks and the grip they provided, when those $19 retreads saw power, they just squalled and lit right up. I just couldn't spend the money to keep slicks/stickies on the car. Eventually I compromised and installed my dad's Impala Take-Off Tires. 235 78-15's I believe. They stuck decently for spirited driving, and the price was right. 235's on the back, and 5.60 15's on the front. Goofy looking as heck. And squirrely with the lowered beam as you mentioned! LOL
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I'm curious how you managed to get a predator carb under your bonnet line with some sort of air cleaner attached?
We didn't! It stuck through the hood and had a large scoop facing forward in the slipstream over the hood. Andy commented that over 130 the car actually seemed to be pulling much harder through that relative rpm band than it seemed to on the dyno.
I guess that's where we got the idea that there was a restriction somewhere downstream of the VV setup of the Predator. RElative Cam position (as revealed by wipers on some bluing applied as a tattletail) indicated that the venturi was opened more under load on the lake than it did on the dyno. Normally that would mean it had a higher vacuum signal in the manifold to open the venturi up some more (all readings at WOT).
The way I could best describe the engine with the four barrel manifold on it was like an old Capri with the German V6 in it and the US spec Two Barrel. Engine pulled well to 4500 in that case, but simply would not any faster. Many Ford Fans swore there was a rev limiter on the engine. But put the Eurospec IDF or a Rochester 500cfm 2G on it and the same engine would twist the tach around to bury it. Totally intake restricted. Well, we put the predator on there, and it should have been the 'IDF' for the Datsun...it was more than enough flow, and supported a 500CID engine at 6500 rpms quite well. But we just couldn't get it to open up and rev well above 6500-7000. Put the Webers on it and ZING to 7500. TWM's ZING to 8500,9500+!!!
It should have done that with the flow capability of the Predator. We lightened all the springs and cams to let it open up and allow max flow, but it never did. I mean it's a 950cfm carb for gawds sake...it 'should' have been enough. We were running it on only 176 CID...which explained why it would idle at 2200, over 2X what the 502 ran it at for idle speed. AFM was good all the way up, it wasn't going rich on the top end or anything to limit flow. WE actually tweaked it a bit richer than the dyno pulls from what we saw on our AFR meter on the dash during the run, and that's when Andy commented on the picking up acceleration at the top end. It's what kind of sold me on running Mustang-Style Load Bearing Dynos over inertials. When you only get one run (maybe two) in a month, your car needs to be right as it drives OFF the dyno, not adjusting for radical mixture changes (outside of normal density checks) just to get it to pull correctly on the top end. I think the 45's had a theoretical flow capability of soemthing like 1100cfm if memory serves. For the difference in the way it pulled, it wasn't 'small' like the difference between the 650 Holley and the 950 Predator. It was a BIG bump and increase in RPM capability of maybe 500-1000 rpms. I don't know if we could have even kept the engine running using an 1050 Dominator on the thing, and for the costs involved it was Cheaper to go with the Webers which were a 'borrowed from Dave' situation. When we maxed out the 45's, the Dyno Operator was suggesting 55 Webers for our next step in power, and the costs for the manifold and carbs were comparable with the TWM setup (around $4K USD at the time, plus EFI system, plus Tuning...) But ultimately the EFI gave us rock solid consistency, the ability to turn the key and have the engine fire up and idle while warming up at a speed relatively low (hell we could idle the ITB's to 400rpm!!! Threshold of the 'cranking limit' on the TEC.) and all on a 39F November Morning.
Such was not the case the previous November with the Webers, or previous Novembers with the Predator!
Ultimately, the car went 143.325 mph at El Mirage with the Predator on it. The Webers got to the 150's, and TWM went into the low 160's, with mid 170's at Bonneville. I think the 2000 SCTA Rule Book has a picture of our car on the cover with that predator sticking through the hood and a 'cosmetic' scoop we stuck on it for most of the photos (hey, it was chromed!)
Putting it all in once place like that, I can see now we made X HP with 650cfm, X+ with 950 CFM, X++ with 1100CFM, and ultimately X+++ with our final 45mm ITB setup (forget the cfm of that potential, but I know it's measured at a different manifold depresison than carbs...they pump air easier as they need no restriction to work! So maybe no restriction on the front end of the Four BBL Manifold would work well. 1100CFM air doors are plentiful on E-Bay... But we sold ours long ago.)
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Yes, the mirrored side will reflect more heat. Sandwich it between two plates of the stainless, with the mirrored sides both facing the heat source. That would be like a double-stainless heat shield but instead of using an air-gap as an insulator (which actually is very good when using stainless) you will have an even better insulator, the ceramic. Some Stainless Pop Rivets or the like would hold the whole mess laminated tightly as if it were a single piece. Mount it on some Bakelite or other high-temperature non-conductive standoffs and it would be very efficient.
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Pump, Oil Thermostat (bypass to filter), Cooler, Filter, Block Service Port.
Best if you run an oilstat to keep from overcooling your oil. You do want some heat in it!
You forgot the third alternative: Turbo Timer. Set your parking brake, turn your key off, remove it and yourself from the car and walk away. Automatically turns itself off after a requisite timed period.
Or Running a water cooled turbo, where the suction side of the water pump can thermal siphon throug the turbo after shutdown, and cool it with water as well. Synthetics are resistant to coking, hence their popularity with turbo owners, amongst other items...
The P90 head hasn't anything to do with oil routing lines. The block has an adapter for the oil cooler on it, and the lines come from there. Gozeouta and Gozinta fittings I believe is the technical jargon used to refer to them...
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The Manifold Vacuum with the Predator was such that it was indicating airflow restriction downstream of the carburettor. The VV in the thing was nowhere near where it 'should' have been even with custom camming of the mechanisim. Fueling was adequate, but the VV mechanisim was not opening further as it should with an engine flowing that kind of air. We spent a fair ammount of time with both a larger holley and the predator. We got slightly more out of the Predator than we did out of the Holley, but in the end it was only about 215 at the rear wheels.
When you compare that to almost 100 more with the same cam, head, block, piston, etc....but at almost 8500 rpms instead of 7000.
I can't recall the exact datalogs but with the TWM induction setup we are running something like 95 or 98 KPA at WOT and peak HP (forget which), whereas with the Carbs the manifold vacuum signal was nearer several inches of mercury. The Webers moved our power peak up 500 rpms to 7500 instead of 7000. With the other manifolds and 'more than enough carb' the carb flow was there to accomodate that kind of rpm, but we never got the vacuum signal at the carb to allow that metering to take place. The main problem we had with the carbs was that they need restriction to work, while our engine wanted and liked less restrictive flows on the inlet side. Maybe with an EFI Air Door the results would be different---that may be something you can tell us. But again it depends on the use of the engine as well. Power at 7500 or 8500 is probably not an issue on the street.
Does that make sense? The Holley gave good results, but with a 650 we figured to try the Predator since it was supposed to flow more. When the VV Predator got on there, it ran stronger to be sure, but it just started getting sluggish above 6500. I posted some dyno sheets long ago, but I wouldn't even know where to find them other than to say generic ZCar.com...and then someone else was hosting the images.
The idle signal was a problem for idling as well. The Holley idled around 2000 rpms for proper smooth operation. The Predator 2200. The Weber 45's 1700. Down low the plenum wasn't happy with our overlap and vacuum signal. I think the datalog shows us idling now around 58-65 kpa.
Besides, I'm in Spain now, getting ready for a flight to Morocco, and then on to Nigeria...so I couldn't find those dyno sheets even if I did know where my wife relocated all my files to! >:^(
The dyno curves look similar to yours anyway, just with a peak closer to 62-6500 and tapering off slightly faster. I want to say 213 with the Holley, 217 with the Predator, 237 with the 45 DCOE's, and 256 or 286 initially with the TWM 45 ITB'sand TECII.
With the Webers the power fell off quickly past power peak, even at 7500. We were loath to run to 77 or 7800 for fear of loosing acceleration time. The Predator was kind of 'flat' from 6500 on, similar to your graph. When you compared the Webers to the Predator, the jump of 20hp was at 7500 rpms, over where the Predator was at that point of the rpm curve. At the Predator power peak of nearer 6500 rpms, the power difference was more like 7hp difference, but it kept pulling towards higher rpms. That made for us being able to pull between gearspreads better. When we went to the TWM setup, the difference at 7500 was more like 17 hp, but that more than doubled by the time you hit 8300 rpms compared to the Webers (close to 40HP more at that point!)
Curiously, the same cam in our 2-Liter has a hellacious output dip at 5K rpms now...but pulls like gangbusters over that point...to over 9500 rpms. Different engine, different characteristics. I always found that interesting.
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I'm humongous, corpulent, fat, call it what you will. With a similarly porportioned friend in the car the Tokiko Illuminas give a nice controlled ride, while the HP's felt like worn out stockers to me.
If you have weight in the car, the damping reacts differently than something light. Like John C said, it's the combination that can make things feel rougher than they really are.
My experience has been comparable with John Mortensen's, except that one day I forgot to put the things back onto "1" for the highway drive from a car event....and it was almost 6 months before I realized it. Highway driving and maybe 'getting used to the control' made me drive around on 5 since.
I live down a washboard road. Not everyplace in CA is like you see in the commercials. In fact, the roads downright suck in most places as the state is...no. No, I won't go there.
"The roads aren't as smooth out here as you are led to believe!"
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Flopped Type 2 Bus Transaxle runs V8's on the Dunes at Glamis. They are very stout. But even the stock VW thing would hold up admirably with a stock L28ET power/torque as long as the standard torque mods were done.
Remember, get the right Beetle (not necessarily a Super Beetle) and the car is only around 1200# with the driver's seat, interior panels, and back seat removed...take out the engine and there's another 250 gone...
Now start adding L28, bracing, adapter plates, radiator, etc....
It's not moving a lot of wieght, the tranny can be pretty light, especially if you aren't doing holeshots and drag launches. Even a VW engine can bend the frame horns doing that crap!
Light Bugs are scary fast with power added. All I got to say is 'CASTER SHIMS'!!!
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I don't know 'bout 'club events or to a repair shop' but about the only time I'm driving the hot car is during a club function. And my preferred repair shop to fix that streaky wiper is just around the corner from where I work. Wouldn't make sense to drive back from work home, pick up the Z, then drive back to work (arriving around 8pm) to get it fixed... There would be no legal basis to support any citation for a car being driven anywhere that wasn't 'club or repair shop' linked. That is as simple as anybody making a simple declaration on the spot.
What exists is the insurance company limitations on coverage for collector vehicles. "Pleasure usage" is a key term in many policies, and if they are granting 'collector car insurance' to 'pleasure use vehicles' then it complies with the letter of the law, and you are covered by functional criteria only-no visual. There are no mileage limits other than what your insurance company imposes, so shop wisely!
They have moved compliance checks for collector status to the insurance companies, and basically they don't want commuter vehicles being exempted from the full-on smog testing. Ever notice the 'historic vehicle' plates used to have a form to fill out, now it's not in the DMV catalog? Now you have to make a statement of fact and go through all sorts of hurdles to get one of THOSE issued. Why? Because they don't want to issue them as once you get one that's it for anything they have as restrictions over your car. It's the only exempt plate a private person can get. Yes, exempt. Same classification as municipal vehicles and police cars, exempt exempt. No more of the testing which I refer to as anachronistic and bureaucratic at all for an Historic Vehicle Plated Z. But I'll keep it under the lid for now only because I'm supposed to... There's just no practical way for them to enforce that phraseology to deny collector car status---It specifically states you have to have collector insurance, and that is how they identify the cars. The DMV finally moved up to the 21st century with such technologically adept states as Alabama and had all insurance carriers in the state submit insurance information via computer! So they know what coverage you have, and smog you accordingly. Unless you are driving well beyond 2500 miles per year locally with your car (in which case you shouldn't have collector car insurance anyway, it's a regularly driven vehicle!) it's likely not an issue, and that is the threshold in many Insurance companies policies with the same verbiage of club events, parades, repair work, etc etc etc. Though the 'pleasure use' is still the most liberal and IMO the best policy to get. Most of the insurance companies will let you bump any mileage restrictions on your policy for infrequent out-of-state events. I told them I was going to drive cross-country to attend a Z-Car Convention in Canada, and I expected to go around 18K miles that year. Ended up going 18K miles in the trip, and all the agent said was 'which way did you go?' trying to figure out how I put 18K on in three weeks when in a straight line it's maybe 3200 miles. Hey, "Enjoy the Ride"!
The letter of the law says that ANY engine replacement or swap be reported to the DMV for recording of the appropriate information as well. If you don't do it, it's an illegal engine swap/replacement and subjects your car to impound. They only press it in the cases of street racers, but all those L24 serial numbered 240Z's with L28's in 'em without a valid engine replacement record on file are crusherbait as well. It's all in the V-Codes.
I blame the Tool Shed for directing me to revisit the post, and thereby bump it again.
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If it 's controlled by an OEM computer, I posit the Motec can drive it. This is nothing difficult, this technology has been around as stated for the diesel world for years.
I doubt the OEM's are using processor speeds faster than aftermarket offerings. And if they are, people would be ramping up to drop their aftermarket systems and hack the stock ECUs.
So this is where Diesel Technologies landed. South Carolina. PCM Bosch bought em, shut em down, and moved south. Good to see they are making good use of the technology they acquired.
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Middle tank is 260Z, you can tell from the size of the return fitting compared to the 73 and earlier tanks. Fits earlier chassis just fine, we put one in JeffP's 73 240Z that went to Norway.
280Z tank fits to around the 6/76 chassis date when they went to the space-saver spare in the USA, or any of the S30 or S31 Fairlady Z's with EFI to end of production. Fits earlier cars with above notations, though I just slackened off the J-Bolts in the 74 260Z-T conversion I did and it was all good.
Tony D was flying to Spain when this was posted, and now that his job is done, he's surfing the internet at ...er... 3.27 AM local Tarragona time. And tomorrow he's driving back to Barcelona to catch a flight to Morocco (Casablanca)...
Will there be anything else before I go to Nigeria and get abducted by oil crazed revolutionaries? (On the slate after Morocco)
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Egads...PIR!
You ever remember a guy back in 94 or 95 that got to the final 16's in Bracket Eliminations running an Oldsmobile with Avis Rent-a-Car Plate Surrounds? Got eliminated when he went way too slow due to a tranny letting go?
No?
Good. That means there's no way to trace it back to anybody.
Same as the Nissan Sentra at Farmington N.C. two years ago....
Muahahahaha!
Nice photos and vids!!!
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Don't adjust your weight to make the darned thing read what you expect you're making! That defeats the WHOLE purpose of an objective piece of test equipment.
Go to a gravel yard, or other truck scale and WEIGH your car.
My 75 2+2 weighed 2695#, ran a 15.50 1/4 mile, and my G-Tech said I had 147HP. Curiously the Dynojet showed very similar results, and consistent with the times so did some of the 1/4 mile calculators I used.
But I actually WEIGHED my car. The whole premise of the device is that you need to know the mass you are accelerating, and then back calculate from the known time of acceleration and g-loading. Simple physics and in my case very accurate.
BUT you HAVE to follow the directions on the first generation boxes (don't know about the new ones) to make SURE the thing is level, reading the proper acceleration plane, that your weight is correct and verified as you will be testing, and that you do the tests according to the directions (both directions, on as level a piece of ground as you can find, etc etc etc)
Using their directions, I was spot on with not only the actual 1/4 mile results (I have run from 15.30 to 15.60 in the car, G-Tech was in the 15.20 to 15.50 region) and the horsepower numbers (depending on the pull it was no more than 5hp off, to spot on with the Dynojet I used).
But like mentioned above, the big thing is comparable loss or gain after an adjustment. I was curious, and spent the $75 for the dyno pulls since the shop is relatively close, and I said "whow, I can't have that much, I'm diriving over to the shop to see how f'd this thing really is!" After that, I was a believer. Once I got it dialed in at a consistent place to do the testing, I have a very high confidence in the results of the testing. The numbers are not all that important, but the relative change is...
To trust the numbers, you gotta follow the directions. Guessing to make the HP suit your expectations is akin to passing the dyno operator some $ to change a constant on the machine and bump your dynoqueen numbers up so you have a nice sheet to show your friends. I know of plenty of 250HP N/A 2110cc VW's running around Orange County...because that is what the guys showed me on their dyno charts. You would'nt think a 2.1 Litre four banger with dual 40's would make 250HP @ 6200 rpms would you? It will if you tweak the dyno constants...
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as for putting the engine in the passenger compartment, the engine is so LONG that even that wouldn't be easy. if you put the engine inside, the front of the engine would come right up to the back of the front seats, and the back of the engine would most likely sit almost right at the firewall. it's also so long you can't fit it sideways. if you tried putting it in the rear, you'd have the last 2 cylinders sticking way out the back of the car, and if you tried putting it in the front, you'd have the same problem. basically, a straight 6 in a bug can't happen unless you did something like strech the car a few feet.
Somebody never did an Otto Parts Corv-8 conversion if he thinks a fiberglass integral engine cover/driver seat is something out of the ordinary.
"Can't Happen"?
I have put a whole Oldsmobile Toronado FWD Engine Cradle Assembly in the back of a VW Beetle. There's plenty of room for a lot more than you're crediting the chassis with, nobody said it would be a 'drop in' prospect, but to say it "Can't Happen" without a stretch is just plain foolish.
I have seen Datsun Cherry's (I think those are the B210 here in the States) with an L28ET in it, and there is scant little more room in the B210's firewall-to-radiator space than you would have in a transaxle-inverted bug.
If you can do a mid engine 13B Turbo that fits under the rear seat (faux Fiberglass seat albiet...) putting an L28 back there isn't out of the question. It's not appreciably longer than an L-4, and that conversion is a piece of cake! PLENTY of room behind the seats for a proper cover and accessories.
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If you don't admit it...
You're in denial!
LOL
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A metal backed, ceramic mat covered shield will work well. That's what's on the bottom of the 73/74 Carbs as heat shielding, and on the original SU heat shields as well. Though that was blown-on asbestos, or woven asbestos, the ability to stop heat transfer is what you want. A nice mirror polished piece of stainless steel (not aluminim!) is what you want. Mirror finish faces the heat source, with the blanket over it (covering it up, alas...) That will be about the best you will do with common materials. Attach with some monel or stainless safety wire through the shield holding the blanket in place like a quilt.
You don't want aluminum as it absorbs heat. Stainless is much better at preventing heat transfer, doesn't corrode as much, either...
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I probably should have taken the time to pull that thing off just so I could say I had one!
It sat relatively close to the head, and the dual-plane setup was more akin to using the four barrel as two progressive two-barrels very close together each half of the carb supplying three cylinders. Probably something engineered off the dual-two-barrel setup. Less parts, less complexity. The runnners were somewhat longish, and snaked about a bit---largely I suspect because of the packaging requirements of the engine bay. Sorry I can't remember more...I took some time to look at it, but the yard was closing, and it was a 'Huh, lookit that!' kind of moment. When I went back, the engine was gone. I've seen others show up from time to time, usually sans the carb---which showed me the runner parsing and balance slots cut between primary and secondary barrels and planes in the manifold side.
I got called "B.S." for my comments on what we saw on our Bonneville Car Testing, I'm glad to see someone else had similar results or at least took the time to quantify them! I'm not digging out all those old dyno sheets...if I could even find them now! LOL
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I'm surprised that nobody has come up with a roller rocker for the L-series over the years. OR has someone done it and kept it their little secret?? Can't see why it couldn't be done.
Jim
They Have.
It Is.
None Whatsoever.
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The justification for many expensive parts...isn't justification, it's spendthrift gratification.
Remember that when the salesman tells you what you 'need' to get to this HP level or that...
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I had a bud scrap an 'l20' that was pulled out of his S30 on Kadena. I got there about the time he had pulled the head. No mistaking the big bores---it was a restamped L28 to L20. Pretty badly done, as well! I just wondered out loud what kind of idiot would actually think this engine was a small-displacement mill? The "N42" block and head kind of did it for me. I met up with the guy, and he swore the new L28 had GOBS more power than the 'old L20E' that was in the car before...
Yep, another victim of the Butt Dyno's Unmistakable performance advantage!
The L20A cams, especially the earlier ones are more agressive than the larger displacement engines, and it was common to recam the engines with them...if you didn't want to spend the $100 from Isky for a real good cam.
I have 4 L20A's at the house now...one of them dynoed at 205HP to the rear wheels. Muahahahahha!
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The TPS does not have to be on the throttle bodies. It can just as easily be mounted on the throttle pedal as long as you have adequate relative rotation for decent throttle resolution and a linkage without slop in it. Heim Jointing the stock ball-socket arrangement with oilite bushings works well, as does a throttle cable. Mounting it on the firewall on the back of the linkage that goes out to the carbs will work well also (get the idea someone has spent some time screwing aroudn with carb conversions?)
Makes it stealthy, as well. Nobody looks at switches on the balance tube, or firewall, or under the dashboard...
Timeline of a Crash Event
in Brakes, Wheels, Suspension and Chassis
Posted
Mercedes is known for their engineering of the seatback latches not to fail in a rear-end colllision.
Something about Frau Knockwurst getting a high speed rearender and being ejected out into the unlimited lane where she lands through the window of Baron Von Shikelgruper's 969 at 320+ kph...
Can't have people flying out the wrong ends of the car, they could hit and damage another vehicle!
Impetus behind SCCA and most sanctioning bodies requirement for a seat-back brace.
Luckily you only broke the seatback---you could have been in bro in laws lap...or worse, on the windshield (or through it) of the vehicle that impacted you from behind.
As I recall there was quite the tabloid TV Show about rearward ejections some time ago. Collapsing the seatback totally compromises the entire seat belt system. You just slip out fron underneath it and bounce aroudn.
Want some photos of a frontal offset crash test of a 1970 240Z at "35mph" against a Toyota Tacoma?
http://www.cardomain.com/ride/2969745/9
I'd put up a teaser photo, but apparently the site is down for maintenance right now, and I can't access the 'small' format photo.
Driver had fractured left hand, fractured left clavicle (got pinned three days later) bumps on knees, and abrasions on his right hand where it apparently slipped off the steering wheel and broke out the center pod of gauges in the 240's dashboard...