Tony D

I don't know about Biodiesel, but CNG (120 Octane+) is going for about $2.40 a gallon equivalent at the station by the house. And if you buck up the $1500 for the home slow-fill setup, it's closer to .40 a gallon... But BioDiesel is good. I guess. Use the new Frontier Direct Injection V6 3L Turbo Engine... Nice power-up chipping potential. LD is old-tech, non computer controlled Diesel. Very limited with what you can do... If you want a turbo edition, bet on getting one from a Forklift with the Turbo and Manifold already on it, along with the properly anneriod-controlled fuel pump setup.

I don't feel bad now knowing my Fairlady Coupe has been sitting, waiting since 1991! Makes me look positively rabid with speed about my restoration of it! LOL Those Racer Brown Cams are tasty! Nice old stock stuff...

Sounds like you may be percolating, or vapor flashing in the bowls from heat generated in the engine bay soaking the bodies. Mikuini made cooling bodies to put under the carbs to allow the fuel return line to pass through the chamber, acting as a coolant keeping the body's temperature lower during periods of low airflow through the engine bay. Gas boils, bubbles, and can cause rich or lean conditions resulting in a misfire. Cooling bodies solve a lot of that kind of stuff. It was 102 here (Riverside) yesterday, and I'm assuming up in Merced you guys beat us to that mark by about a week...

Techline is in Murietta, I can get that stuff through work as well, having my offices in Buffalo order what you want, and then appearing in person to 'will call' at their offices...they're about 20 minutes from my house. As for 270CFM per runner on a stock manifold, that is significant. I think most L-Heads only flow 210-220cfm in the ports, that would indicate that a stock manifold with optimal porting would flow all the head could take.... Check with Dave Rebello on what your intake port actually flows and match to that. As for thermal blocking / hi tech coatings, I am and have been a big fan for a long time. It's a payback thing, though... Do you really need everything they are offering, or will your money be better spent elsewhere?

I'll chip in that as far a Mr. Dream states, I personally attended the Bosch Dyno Session when RS Okinawa ran 444Kw to the rear wheels on their twin turbo 74 Fairlady Z-S...in 1986. No distributorless ignition, no EFI. An HKS Type 1 Surge Tank, OER 50mm carbs, HKS Twin Power CDI on a freakin' DISTRIBUTOR! But that being said, I think the ad is more hype than truth. Receipts may prove me wrong, but I know I'm not the only one that has seen some easy bolt-on additions bump a tired 160K+ mile junkyard L28ET to 400HP...for a while. Personally, I don't believe anything about 'internal modifications' unless someone has a sealed crankcase by a sanctioning body, or lets me talk to the engine builder with receipts in hand.

Nope, you didn't see that car in Atlanta. The car you saw in Atlanta was Herve Oluettes' "Silver Elegance"---primary distinctions between Herve's car and the one pictured are: *TWM Throttle Bodies, and not the Twin Injector Bodies Shown. *Valve Cover was not "NISSAN"--totally shaved of all I.D. *Valve Cover Vent was at the Rear and hidden in Herve's Car. *Voltage Regulator WAS on the right inner fenderwell on Herve's Car (WHY, I have no clue, with all else he did to leave that reg out there...) *Herve's car did not have a Distributor, it was Electromotive TECII, with the spark plug wires coming in a 'Dusenberg' style chromed loom from the firewall (TEC was in the Glove Box) *Herve's Car had polished V-Stacks, not Annodised Blue *Throttle Actuation on Herve's car was down underneath the ITB's and was cable actuated, not from the OEM 'Finger-Linkage' on the Firewall And you're right about 'becoming the standard'---Herve's car was the first "Gold Medallion" Awarded by the ZCCA. He was a member of Group Z Sports Car Club in Orange Country, and had removed the car from competition in San Diego the previous year because some rocks had damaged his paint, and the 'paintless dent remover' guy screwed up the paint worse. He had to wait another year to send it to Atlanta to show it. I thought the same thing at first, but knew it wasn't Herve's when I saw no Voltage Regulator on the fenderwell. I asked him at a club meeting one evening: "Herve, with all the money you put into this thing, why the hell did you leave an externally regulated alternator on it? I mean, a one wire is an easy conversion!":burnout:

Yep, I have a GS31, as well as a GS30... 2/2 setup, you're right in that respect, without the "G" it's a coupe. With an S31, you could get the "L" trim package and have electric windows! The doors from those vehicles fit nicely on 240's here in the States...

PUMPKINCAR! Fit to drive Jack, the Pumpkin King to the show! I'm going to start calling you "Jack"! LOL Oh, BTW, will you be fitting the Cowl Induction Hood on it for the drive back to Phoenix...seeing I haven't made it out to deliver it to you? Primer Light Grey...and Orange. With Black Fender Flares. Shouldn't draw any attention at all... Nice compressor in the corner, BTW... LOL

I don't know about 'form follows function'---I'm one of those guys, and for the work you would do to get that power, I would have it a bit cleaner. And a car that 'once made' any given HP level is just that: "Once Made"....patina comes from storage. Or another way to put it, Patina comes from Neglect. And remember, I don't polish my anything...but my engine doesn't look that bad! I'm tending towards "B.S."

Because there's ONE in existence... And the owner "Richard" has gone underground, I havent' seen hide nor hair from him since he came trying to make a quick buck off his SanDiego Swap Meet Find... Other than that...

Whatever you do, use the right respirator (or as the man from Cinnci wisely suggested: supplied air respirator). I got silicosis BAD just from using beach sand on my engine bay and a cheapie mask-type 'dust mask'... And I still get sand out the ventilation system at high speeds... 23 years later! Good Luck!

The cat won't TAKE much is a better way to look at it. The cat may cost you fractional horsepower. But the mixtures you will need to run to ensure it is actually catalyzing will cost you fuel mileage. IMHO it's better to just run it leaner and pump out more NOx than to run it rich for the sake of a catalyst's operational happiness. Frankly, I have not looked into Three Way Catalysts too much (which is what I think you need to take NOx down)... If you run enough EGR under light cruise, I think NOx will be considerably reduced. And because a Turbo Car is so low in the compression ranges anyway, the NOx production is inherently less anyway. If you could put the car on a Five Gas Analyzer and run a rolling road dyno test on it after your mods, you could see where you are and where you could make improvements. Really the way OEM's do it...they make power first, then work on drivability and emissions compliance. (Not to say they don't think about emissions in design...but when it comes to ECU tuning, this is the steps they go through.) Power first, emissions, then work to ge the best compromise between emissions compliance and drivability. If you work on Power first, then drivability...you will be happy. Then find that five gas analyzer and a dyno...and decide what compromises you want to make and 'how clean you want to be'... I'd skip the Catalyst until you get it up and running. If you don't need it for compliance right now, just run the car and tune it clean as you can. If you enable O2 correction and standard narrow band O2 sensor, you can easily slap a cat under there and see for yourself what kind of improvement out the tailpipe you will get. At idle you would make 'nothing' frankly...as long as the cat is hot enough to keep working at idle that is! I digress, and ramble....

One of the biggest problems on 'witheld' information is not from people on this forum. It's in the general industry where people simply don't talk to one another. On an obsolete engine like the L-Gata, there is loads of information that has been learned, forgotten, and then relearned by someone else. Read some of the Racer Brown Camshaft Articles from the early 70's, then realize that Ron Iskendarian relearned it in the mid 80's, and now Sunbelt is taking similar strides again. The biggest thing about people thinking they have 'special proprietary information' is that they simply don't know enough about who has done what in the past... There were single digit Z-Cars in Japan in the early 80's running carbs and distributors. Where did all that knowledge go? There was no easy way to 'share it'. Chances are very great, it's been done by someone else, and simply forgotten, or discarded as old news when the next generation of engines came along.

Crap, I got called out on a job, so I didn't get back there. Just got back home. Anyway, my stock engine has 55's for idle jets, 52.5's sounds small to me I'd expect a lean pop with that small an idle jet! Many people undersize those jets. They forget the huge accel pump squirt and nozzle size adjustment to mask idle to main transition. Up to probably 3000rpms, you basically run on the idle jets in a mikuini. That's how a set of 40's on an L24 with an automatic and a 4.11 gearset turned in 28mpg at 65 driving LA to Phoenix (least, that's how I rationalize it!) Pathetic when your "Economy Chase Car" gets worse mpg than the hot 'sports car' you are trailing! I'll get to the crate tomorrow. No concrete to pour, so I should be able to do it no problem. "Turns Out" is a relative thing. I have seen people who swear 1/2 a turn is 1 turn. Guess the question begs is a turn 360 degrees from seated, or 'one turn of the hand' in which case it's only 180 degrees....

Yeah, speaking of desmodromic valves, DEVAS wouldn't be out of place on this engine...LOL What's that, just another $50K...

Curiously to throw a SOHC rock in the mix here, has anybody gotten flow numbers from the FIA L6 Non-Crossflow Head? The key to power is flow, and while valve area makes for nice flow at low lifts so you can rev higher....having a stable valvetrain in the SOHC well past 9K begs the question 'just how high do you plan to rev the DOHC'?

I have a milk crate of old 40PHH's out in the shed, if I have some time today, I'll go knock one apart and take some photos for you. But really, if you soak the bodies in carb cleaner and blow it out with a good compressed air gun with a rubber nozzle, it should dislodge everything in there. Blowing backwards through all the circuits if you can also is a good idea. And for anybody else reading this, no, they are not for sale. And yes, I do mean literally a 'milk crate full'...I'll take photos of it as well...LOL

With a catalyst you are stuck running 14.7:1 AFR for proper catalyst operation. If you lean out considerably from that point, the cat has a problem lighting off and sustaining catalytic action to properly scrub the exhaust. If you take a look at some of those AFR charts that chart NOx, CO and HC, you will find that you can get REALLY clean by running leaner, though at the expense of NOx that skyrockets. I could lean out my 71 SU carbs to pass a tailpipe test for a catalyzed 83 car! That was pre-rolling roady dyno testing, and I KNOW the NOX was skyhigh. But the CO and HC were CLEAN! When the 73 gets refitted with EFI, I will not be running a catalyst, but know the CO and HC will be low enough that I will sleep well at night knowing I'm clean. It's also why I keep that Federal 75 2+2 out back. The thought of a "NON CATALYST" stock EFI Z-Car appeals to me, as I know without the cat, it can still be clean. If you discount the NOx issue, you can be very clean CO and HC wise. Keep this in mind, though: Over 3500rpms, and over 75 or 80mph, almost every car produced is in 'open loop' mode anyway! The cat is along for the ride then as there is plenty of heat being forced down the pipe to keep the cat working on a three way catalytic action. Some catalysts can be set up to attend to the NOx issue. Stationary powerplants using Recip Engines (natural gas fueled) run super lean, like 22:1 AFR, and run special catalysts to attend to the NOx. I digress... Tune the car for both...really! Your car will be light loaded when cruising and can be tuned 'lean' while once you get to say 54Kpa, or above 3500rpms, and/or say 40% throttle opening your fuel mixtures can take a quick jump to the 13:1 and richer ranges for maximum power. Really, you aren't concerned with 'max power' at a throttle opening at any rpm that would produce say, 40kpa in the inlet manifold so tuning that bin lean would give you fuel economy as well as the lower emissions (CO and HC wise) that come hand-in-hand with that tune. After 50 or 60 Kpa and 40% throttle opening you are definately "on the throttle" and want the rich mixture for maximum power and to decrease your EGT's if you are holding it at that point for a long time (like high speed runs at 100+mph across I-80 between SLC and Reno...er...uh...theoretically speaking...yeah, 'theoretically speaking'!!!) Really, though, the car should pass emissions testing without a catalyst at all. The catalyst scrubs 'excursions' like that quick acceleration burst when you are running the FACTORY fuel curve at 12:1. When you are light cruising, the catalyst is basically along for the ride and not doing too much...if your fuel curve is proper. I am awaiting a full Allen Diagnostic Machine for the house. My bud got one from Delaware. Apparently it was the same machine Del was using for emissions testing till recently. If you can pass a simple tailpipe sniffer test at idle and 2500 with a good five gas readout you will know what your engine is doing. If you can take that same test on a rolling road and make your own decision on power versus emissions output, all the better. Tune it where you have the balance you want, and then you're done!

Before you go there, check the idle mixture adjustment screw against another one. I have seen countless screws with the tip twisted off and lodged in the idle port, causing this problem. People overtorque the screws when 'seating' the screw, and when they back-off to start idle fuel adjustment, the tip remains in the body. REmoving the broken tip is as easy as pulling the carb, inverting it, and pressing carefully with the tip of a screwdriver---you can usually see the tip sticking out of the idle mixture hole! Other than that, anything that would get into those passages should be relatively easy to dislodge using high pressure air, with an appropriately Non-OSHA Approved Rubber-Tipped Blow Gun (for that 'occlusive seal' to really put pressure on the passages and blow what ails-ya out!) As I recall, there are some larger flat-bladed screws that you can remove to open up access to the idle/transition ports for inspection. It's where the machinery in production drilled the holes (but this may be a Weber or Dellorto...) If you mean the simple lead BB's pressed into the body, make sure Wolf Creek Racing can supply you with new ones before you remove them! Because the only way I know of to get 'em out is by drilling them out. And once they're gone...if you can't replace them, it becomes a case of the cure being worse than the original disease! Good Luck.

Slidehammer with the 'screw end' attachment. I have also seen people drill a hole and use the slidehammer with the 'hook' attachment to pluck them out. Good Luck removing those core plugs.

That wasn't Steve at Alamo, was it? That second paragraph sounds like my racing program! I know it's what I recommend to most people starting out. Burn up those stockers till you get your techinque down, then put the money into the internals for the final edition with tuning close and you proficient in the process. Besides, you need a 'core engine' for that final build anyway, right? You're not burning em up, you're 'creating core engines'!

I'd wear a mask (respirator). My understanding is during the combusion process you get cyanide gas...not sure how Zn turns to cyanide, but that was the gas I was told was produced. Anybody know for sure? TLV and Trace exposure are two different things. OSHA says you can stand next to our compressors for 8 hours a day without ear protection since they are only 85DBA...but I can tell you what OSHA allows and 'what is good for a person' aren't necessarily the same thing. Short term or long term. When in doubt, ventilate and Respirator-Up!

Wow, someone posted it on You-Tube. I've had that on a DVD for a while. Nuke Spark Plugs anybody?

I sold my 76 Celica GT to a stupid kid who ended up running it up a guy wire to a telephone pole...somewhere I have a photo of it hanging by the left front wheel/suspension member. They were 'doing curves' (what they called Togue in Japan at the time, today they call it 'Drifting') and went off, snagging the wire. After that, he suck to 'drag racing'... That car got him discharged from the USAF. (It was evil, trust me!) Oh, sounds like this guy did the same thing! Except the Celica was still on the guide wire, not on the actual wires from pole-to-pole.

I must go shower now...after I have a cigarette. CNC photos have that effect on me...