Tony D

Do I sense Chris 'treading lightly' to make sure Jeff doesn't have any more stress in his life right now? LOL I'm sure he will appreciate the mention Chris. The Dampner is probably the only thing that hasn't caused any problems since he's put it on!

How big is that fitting? Do you expect it to support the PCV role? Where is the anti-reversion valve now? Which vacuum hoses are you talking about, I addressed the one that was circled in red, as I thought that was the one you wanted information on... The one with blue tape on it goes the to brake booster The one in the center of the manifold down below the throttle linkage bar goes to the FPR Vacuum Reference Port. The AAR valve goes to the J-Pipe off the turbo. The one hanging there in the foreground used to go to the Carbon Cannister, but like someone just said 'what year car'---really vague request, some details would help. What are you looking for if not what you circled? Just a thought: showing up at the Z-Club meeting in Buena Park may give you a car you can simply snap photos of to answer these questions, as well as showing up at their car show at Rickie and Ronnies in Torrance (Sepulveda and Normandie) on the 16th (I think)... http://www.groupz.com

That's considered a 'light wipe' but will total out a car as the bluebook value of a daily drive ZX is under $1000. If costs exceed 50% of the cost, they will total the car. I have seen worse being driven daily! Likely whatever bounced off the side, took out the factory alloy as well---I'd look to having it put on a 4 Wheel Alignment and seeing if they can get the tires in line. If they can...like said above "It's cosmetic" drive it. I'd not repair it personally---the reason the car is so cheap is there is no bluebook on it. It won't be worth what you put into the repair. You are better off getting it in a running condition and driving it...and finding one with a better body and doing a driveline swap. Done that a few times myself... But don't think you will make a bundle by 'buying cheap'---a running ZX sells all day long for $500 to 700 here in SoCal, they are bought as driveline donors. Body damage simply isn't worth fixing, they have become 'throwaway' as there are plenty of them out there with tired or blown engines and good bodies for a swap. I'd buy it, simply for the driveline parts. Engine is worth $450, Trans is $250, Differential $150. There's your purchase price. You can get $200 for the scrap value on the body if you shop around and have a trailer to tow it to the scrapyard. So from that perspective alone, it's a good buy. But I'd not get illusions about making money off it by pouring money into it and 'resurrecting' it...that would be folly.

Exactly the conditions it was made to combat! There is a period from around 5 minutes after you do a hot-shutdown (in warm weather, above say 85 and running on the highway) to about 12 minutes where no matter what they tried, Nissan could not prevent the formation of vapor in the rail due to pressure rise, and FPR venting it back to the tank. Initially it starts with the fuel expanding and venting, then pressure drops and it flashes... The S30's with EFI does this, and it's the reason the S130's have a priming pulse, as well as the cooler on them. In JDM, they had a vehicles with plastic valve covers to combat heat transmission in un-vented hood engine compartments like the Cedric, Leopard, Gloria, Laurel, etc... Timer criteria is coolant temp above something like 215F, and as mentioned no longer than about 15 minutes of runtime after shutdown. It may turn on some time after shutdown as well, should the temperature rise to the point it gets triggered, but in any case it will not start after being 'ignition off' for 15 minutes no matter what happens. One thing you can do to forestall the hard-starting is simply change the 'priming pulse' for your Fuel Pump---make it run for 10-15 seconds to take that heat out of the rail and get fluid petrol up there, it may be stumbly after the start, but it is FAR better than trying to crnak and bleed that vapor out of the rail using the normal pulse and cranking/cranking/cranking. I've noticed it's exacerbated of course in hotter weather, but also as your tank level goes down. Ever do a fuel temperature reading when you go highway driving with less than a 1/4 tank of gas? Scary how hot it will get! Yeah, I know, I got WAAAY too much time on my hands to be checking crap like that out of simple idle curiosity. What can I say? I'm diseased!

Frame Rails, running the Z432-Style JDM exhaust with twin 50mm pipes, they tuck up nicely, and flow like a 2.7" exhaust. I'm currently replicating the system in 2.5" Twins because that looks like as far as I can go and still get the same frame-rail-is-the-lowest-point kind of setup, and that should flow significantly better for the new turbo... On the stock 260Z, when loaded, the frame rails will hit on the speedee-oil-change place floor opening surroiund. I get out, and six guys lift the car by the fender lips to get it over the pit all the way without the terrible scraping sound disturbing all the other customers... Maybe the springs are sagged a bit... Maybe I'm fat. Maybe it's a combination of both.

How come guys making $10.95 an hour are considering buying top-end sequential injection units... I make, er... "more" than that, and am still scouring e-bay for used parts to keep my unpainted slog-beasts goin'????? I KNOW: No wife, no kids? LOL Maybe I'm just cheap.

Plug the original PCV hole, and retap it --- the PCV pipe and hose shows you where pretty clearly. The N42 manifold has the PCV right where the turbo scroll goes, the Turbo Manifolds have it relocated to the place where your hose is showing it to be. Simply move it.

When I was taking a 71 240Z out to Phoenix on I-10 some years ago (when the CHP was not supposed to be using radar) I got in behind a VW GTI (what is it with VW's?) and was crnaking along at XXX, I was drafting him, and pulling out to cool down. We would swap places occasionally to 'share the risk'... sad thing was on the last section I was in the lead, I opened it up and realized the reason he was going XXX was that was as fast as he could go---advantage Carburettors and no electronic limiter. Anyway, he took his exit, and the guy who was on the trip with me eventually caught up and we kept cooking to the border. Suddenly I see him flashing his headlights in the Stanza Wagon (he had a Fuzzbuster in there), so I HAUL on the e-brake as I see the CHP Cessna up behind me. My partner is flash-flash-flashing away in a frenzied manner and I've slowed back down to 65 (10 over)... Then down to 60 where I maintain and he catches up to where I can see him pointing to the fuzzbuster and giving me the 'what gives?' with his shoulders/hands. This is the middle of the desert. There's nothing out here. As we take the 'Blythe Wake-Up Curve' I see a CHP Mustang GT Interceptor coming the other way. The driver literally stuck his head out the window and 'evil eyed me' as I passed! Across the median---it was a grossly exaggerated 'I'm watching you!' kinda message. We stop for gas, and my partner tells me out of the blue his Fuzzbuster went off. Once. When he flashed his lights at me (our prearranged signal) and I hauled it down so drastically (without brake lights) the Fuzzbuster started going nuts again. Apparently the CHP was using radar in the planes, and once they hit you with the radar, they would 'legally pace you'...I have no doubt they made the pacing match the radar readout, too. But that CHP in the Mustang literally poking his head out the window to glare at me just made me laugh! Ever since then, I watch the skies! LOL Just once, having access to SAM technology....

That is not what I said. What I said was my Japanese lightened flywheel felt more like my old Tilton 11# aluminum one, and was considerably more 'snappy' than the 13# units currently being marketed. The Tilton 11# unit was a very nice unit, and IMO the 13# unit that is out there today is kind of disapointing the way it reacts. Yes, where the weight is removed is very important, but simple physics says the more you can take off the better. The Japanese units concentrate on maximizing the weight reduction at the furthest portions of the flywheel, and as it was explained to me, once you get within about a 125mm diameter from crank centerline you won't accomplish anything of significance anyway. Curiously the Japanese Machinist pointed out that this number depends on which crank pulley you have installed, and if you have a larger diameter pulley, you can leave more on in the center of the flywheel. Their opinion was that metal left there contributed to strength, and as such paid a double dividend. Though they did completely machine the back of the flywheel to remove rough casting. They looked very nice indeed. And behind the frictional face the tended to leave a little more material. The bad thing about a 240mm flywheel is that you need the facing thickness at 240mm diameter meaning any 240mm flywheel will rev slower than the comparable 225mm flywheel as the intertial effect of that ring will be more at 240 diameter than it will at 225... But it's splitting hairs. You cut your flywheel down to 15#, and you still have a 24# pressure plate! Get someone to disassemble and cut THAT down comparably and you will REALLY see some more snappy acceleration! For some reason the flywheels I have had lightened in the USA don't seem as snappy as the one I have in the car form Japan. I still have to pull it down to compare the cuts. It makes me curious as to the difference in cut-down they did. I notice differences, but haven't had that Japanese Flywheel off the car since 1989, and the last time I had to put a clutch in it was late 1989 or early 1990... (first NISMO Clutch assy smoked...yeah, 250HP 250ft-lbs capability my butt!)

Now, do it all in Nigeria with AK's cracking around you from the local militia...and you basically have my weekend...

Removal of the "Inertia Ring" is what pays the most dividends. Regardelss of 225 or 240mm, the flywheel is the same, they just have holes drilled in different spots to accomodate their respective flywheels. REMOVE THE DOWELS ON THE FACE! If you don't, chances are good they will be surfaced flat with the face of the flywheel and then...er...yer screwed... There are other tricks that can shave more weight, like cutting down the ring gear, drilling the outer edges ala Kameari's Cr Moly Flywheel, etc... But the big improvement comes form the removal of the inertia ring. I have one that was done in Japan, and it's 15#. It acts snappier than the 13# aluminum units sold today. Closer to what my old Tilton 11# unit did... As for now, even with a Kameari Flywheel, I'm not running to 6K to get a start. If you have a grabby clutch, you will get away with slipping it to get it moving smoothly a couple of times, but once you are hot, it's going to be on-off engagement and you better get the feel of the launch/bog point or you will stall embarrassingly. I don't think I have to go over 3K for a launch...but I've driven nothing but lightened flywheels in Z's since 1985. On stock clutches I can slip it off idle and get the car moving. IMO the light flywheel drivability issue is overblown...what clutch disc material you have is what makes it untoward. And that goes with any weight flywheel!

I would check your actual operating temperature. And also this has to take in to account the type of driving you do...and if your system is working properly in the first place. Oil temperature is not necessarily related in a direct correlation with the water temperature setting. Generally is can be noted they rise equally, but different under some conditions. As I have stated, the cold start is all OUT of the situation by 177 F water temperature. My car is a Fairlady Z, there is no EGR, as a matter of fact, the EFI system on it is from a 1976 Federal (non Catalyst) 280Z. You don't give any numbers, where is 'where it should be' and how does that compare to what I've been getting since...about 1990? I can't count how many 160's I've put into cars without any negative impact on fuel economy. Not to mention that Nissan offered a 170F thermostat for standard fittment, meaning to me that the range of temperatures seen during running with a 170F thermostat installed would have to be FAR away from any influential skewing of the EFI system. So from that, one could logically deduce that if everything is working correctly a 10 degree change in thermostat operating range (from 170 to 160) should not have any appreciable effect--if any. Actually, from what I've seen when dissecting OEM EFI setups, most have fueling back to normal in the 155 to 160F water temperature range...that being considered 'normal operation' in most cases. Nissan uses 177F for the thermotime switch...meaning that is when the cold-start will never actuate on cranking, and the EGR will be enabled given proper conditions. My thought on this is that Cold Start Enrichment follows along with most other OEM's in that fueling is run to 'normal' due to emissions concerns well before EGR is enabled. And that would be around the 150 to 160 range. Easily sufficed by a 160 Thermostat's operating range. I know starting cars sitting with the hoods open in the desert sun will give some strange operational troubleshooting issues as the thermostat housing heat soaks to around 140-150, and the rest of the car is only 100F. And this causes coughing and spitting, like the engine is running lean. Knowing what multipliers I use on my standalone, REAL enrichment (the fuel mileage affecting kind) happens below 120F. Once you are above that point, you can start the car and run it on normal fueling with no problems. I know my 260Z is a BEAR to start below 80F with no starter system engaged. But at 110F it fires up and drives away cleanly.

Shipping them to L.A., home of insidious environmental regulations will get you triple plating for about half that. Looks ggod to me, and far better than what was on the OEM. I think LA Bumper and Chrome is the place that does em... Generally it once was $125, now its about $250 a bumper. My 'vair was done in 91, and it's still great looking finish, living outside and unprotected.

Egads! My .02...

Cool, that tidbit about bad solder joints in the box will be filed in my vault! You MAY want to get yourself a late-model ZX Distributor assembly. It's a drop-in for what you have, and I ran my 75 for months till I found the correct transistor unit for mine (from a California 77 model...the 75 I had was a JDM FairladyZ!) Would make for a nice roadside bail out should the need arise.

Work smaller areas. Cover the applied area with a garbage bag to keep it from evaoprating. Once the light ends evaporate the stripper is not nearly as effective. And if it dries before you get to removing the paint, it will adhere like you wouldn't believe...and then you ed up getting machanical stripping disct to grind it off. Work in smaller areas, give the solvent time to work and penetrate, and cover it to keep it from evaoprating. Each of these things should really work together to give you paint that you should be able to use a plastic spatula on and just flick off the metal---leaving undisturbed fresh metal underneath. Anything you use, including the scotchbrite and metal strip thingies will leave marks you will have to contend with later on when the topcoats and primers start to shrink and reveal the scratches. I'd cover the plastic pieces, or remove them entirely, as well. THe paint stripper can do nasty things to plastic... And WD on the car is a no-no. It WILL get into the pores of the metal. As mentioned above, once you are cleaned to metal, use an etching type EPOXY primer to seal everything. You can always remove it for spot repairs, but the Epoxy Primer will not absorb moisture like normal old lacquer primer does. In 'the old days' you would spray whatever lacquer topcoat you have left over in the guy on horizontal surfaces if you had to store the car outside for any period of time. Looked hideous, but when the dew forms in the morning, it just soaaaaks into primer, and you ALL have seen the primer car with all the horizontal surfaces with rust poking through the fresh-looking grey primer... Epoxy Primer kinda stops the need for that kind of topcoating.

I would disagree on the 'right on the money' portion. A 160 degree thermostat should not make any difference unless you are making VERY short trips VERY frequently in the day, and likely then fuel mileage is shot anyway. I run nothing but 160's in all the Z's, and if you know the settings of the stock EFI system, you will be able to follow the following explanation. Cold start is COMPLETELY gone by the time the engine reaches 177 degrees This is in theory, it can be either way, but the 'official' word is 177. TOTALLY OFF, as in nothing is on the enrichment circuit. EGR is enabled, and above this is the temperature the engine normally operates with a 180 thermostat. What you get with a thermostat is a cracking temperature, and a full open temperature. A 180 Thermostat starts cracking anywhere between 5 to 10 degrees either side of the rated temperature, and will not be fully open until at least 10 degrees above the rated temperature. So what you end up having is an engine that runs up to 175-180 quickly. If you have radiator and flow capacity sufficient the thermostat will be somewhere around half open, or cracked to maintain a stable temperature between 185 and 190F. If it can. With a 160 thermostat, you crack around the same region, and with the thermal outuput of the engine running with a load, will generate a running temperature of 170. My experience has been that this is 'close enough' for the computer to not use ANY of the 'cold start' parameters, and fuel economy is not affected. What WAS affected though, was my underhood temperatures! I rarely seen underhood temps on anything over 180 now. The coil is a full 25 degrees cooler. Same for the distributor and I notice that the 'heat soak' shutdown restart problem inherent in the EFI S30's is FAR less of an issue. I have heard over and over again people saying that running a 160 theromstat shoots your fuel mileage in the arse because it makes the car run on 'the cold start circuit'---while that might be true in theory in practical application (and given the wiring harness condition of many cars) it in effect has no proactical effect on it! Running a 180 thermostat, or even a 190 will exacerbate the 'surging and hard hot-start problem' by a magnitide. Things start cooking under the hood with those thermostats in, and I hear pinging under light loads like going up the I10 grade in Palm Springs. The car runs noticably hotter on the gauge, as well as with an I-R scan. Truthfully, I run 160's in the SoCal summertime, and a 170 when it comes time for late winter as it helps heater efficiency. Carburetted cars it's a no brainer! With the quality and terrible vaporisation problems in most of today's fuels, running a 180 thermostat in 110+ heat just makes the fuel rail and float bowls boiling hot with radiant underhood temperatures. When averaging 80mph, towing an 800# trailer, with three people in the car, using a 3.9 differential, and early 5 speed, I averaged over 22-23mpg on the interstate. Slowing down to 65through Wisconsin netted me 25-26mpg. In town anywhere between 17 to 20 was what I got using that same combination. With a 160 degree thermostat. How much more do you think I would have returned with a 180 or 190 in there? I know driving across the Desert Southwest would have been far more adventuresome due to fuel vapor issues! As it was my 'floor temp light' came on once on that trip---driving for 16 hours a day will do that I suppose. My 260, on a similar trip years before peaked at 27mpg through Wisconsin, and got 24 on the freeway as a minimum, save for the section from Oglalla NE to Iowa, which averaged 19mpg at an average speed of 1XX Mph...I udnerstand that decrease in economy. That was with a 2.6, late ZX five speed, 3.7 gears, and a car loaded so heavy you couldn't see out the back, and two people in it.

Yep... And if you take some alcohol, mix in some dry ice, and swirly it around, then put it down the center of the valve guide (after heating the head in an oven to around 150F) the guides drive out much easier. If you try and use a press, unless you have a jig set up to put the guides 90 degrees from the point of force, you stand a good chance of breaking the guide off right at the head/guide juncture in the port...

McFadden-Dale, Bo...you know that!

I agree, I had my driver made out of USAF Aircraft Specification Steel, and case hardened back in 1985... The drawing from Nissan was VERY specific like Bryan said: NO RADIUS! Cut STRAIGHT with the bit so it fits the guide snugly.

This is a self-built board? Has the build procedure changed to where they aren't running the checks with the stim as you complete each circuit? Allowing you to troubleshoot as you go before things get complicated? As stated above, caps polarized in some cases banding, marking, or longer leg denoting +, resistors are unidirectional.

My assumption for the hot ticket elcheapo acquisition would be the former Chevrolet NASCAR engine that this one replaced... I mean, that's probably marginally acceptable for our purposes here, right? Marginally...

Dyamtiapm?

Kinda Reminds me of the P65 Nissan Intakes on JDM vehicles like the Leopard and Cedric. They were on both L20E and L28E's. Runners wrapped around under the plenum, around the outside, and actually airflow entered the runner on the top or on the valve cover side of the plenum. Someone posted some photos here, I'm sure. There is a removable piece on the plenum.

LOL! Transmute "Front Wheel" with "Skis", "Kawasaki" with "Rupp 600Magnum Nitro Free-Air" and Fullerton CA with Tawas Michigan, and the legend of the "Red Racer with the Black Suit" lives on! I wore no cape, though. And it took two winters (and selling the thing) for me to be done with those antics. John, you are a bad, transcontinental influence. Simultaneous Civil Disobedience, coast to coast!