Tony D

That may give a standard of measurement, but is GROSSLY misleading, especially in a forced induction cam. .050" lift is flowing a LOT of air under pressure. And with the assymetrical ramps Nissan uses (Ron can tell you loads about that little quirk) the numbers at .050 are as useless as the gross numbers used by others because different grinders (if they grind assymetrical at all) may alter the ramp rate as well. Also important are the valve opening events, and the stagger from the ramps that minimize overlap, or increase it. There is a link to a website somewhere that has all the old Racer Brown technical articles. Anyone trying to understand how a camshaft works in an L-Engine should really read that site (http://www.datsport.com/Racer_Brown_Menu.html) What Racer Brown pioneered in the early 70's was relearned and quantified by Ron in the later 70's after he got out of the USAF and got his engineering degree and started doing cam development work for Electramotive's racers.

The easiest thing is to buy one of those miniature K&N filters (like for a keychain) they have them down to 1/4" line size. And cap your flow control vavle, or the stock vent line with the filter. This allows you to keep you gastank vented through a filtered air source. Many have done it. The 260's and later have the carbon cannister, before that it was 'crankcase accumulation' and the gas vapors from the tank when sitting on a hot day were vented to the crankcase, eliminated during startup by the PCV system. I have moved the carbon cannister to the wheelwell, as well as replacing the Datsun Cannister with a Geo Metro Cannister (much smaller). For the early cars, all you need is a filter on the line---that makes it equivalent to the JDM 432R Race Spec with the filler tube overflow vent to the wheelwell!

Water Temperature Sender is a straight thread. I want to say an M10 or M12. I know when I tapped my manifold for one, I had the tap in my Craftsman kit, and it was not a tapered pipe thread, just a standard metric straight thread.

Oh come on now, guys! How many counterweights do you have? Airfoil shape the first one to lift one way, then shape the next to lift the other way....thrust bearing wear is therefore balanced! The odd man out on odd-counterwieghted crankshafts would always be the forward most one, where you do the conventional knife-edging. It will only splash through the oil on heavy braking annyway, so you want the engine braking that oil provides anways... Where did I put my boots?

How in the world was it we never crossed paths? My 73 looks a lot like that to this day. My flares were done when Roger Puffer (400MMS Kadena AFB) had the car on Okinawa in 81 (Done at AY-Body outside KAB Gate 4 on Rte 58 next to the Bimbo Bakery). I bought it off him when hard times hit (Divorce) and he needed money fast. I painted it Black, Added the G-Nose, as well as Triple Mikuini 44's Blown Through with a T-Series Turbo. Gone when I got the car was Rogers neat addition of Corvette Popup headlights in the Hood, with Glased over Nacelles! Shame, it was some nice work by A-Y... I rotated stateside in 89, and brought the car with me. And was down at Carlsbad regularly from about mid-91 till about a year before they shut the gates. Regularly is at least once a month in my book...given my travel schedule! I may have seen your car around The Rock...there is something familiar about it... Not wanting to threadjack, just got shocked when I saw the car photos and then read the background! Just amazed how many Oki-Car guys there are around here! LOL

Del West. Ferra. Any number of valve manufacturers on this side of the pond can replicate that tuliped stainless vavle easily. I doubt they get them from "Japan" either, they say that because it's believable, but most of the pieces parts relating to internal high performance is sourced locally (i.e. inside the USA). If it's a 99996-XXXX number, chances are good you can find the source here stateside.

Mags and spiral core metallic cored wires can/will get picked up in your interface cable, and give random garbage bits that get misinterpreted by the computer's comm chip. I had this problem with my MS setup---hell having an AC power cord close to the data acquisition cord (even at a right angle) caused me problems. Make sure any backshell on any of the cables is metallic and properly grounded to the shield of the cable at the dyno end... or the computer end, I forget which...it's an either / or situation. Good Luck. I almost bought a Stuska, they were the standard for the VW industry. Those were good to around 500Hp as I recall, depending on which brake and strain gauge combination you got.

Actually, the VATN turbos use a 5 Amp PWM curcuit to drive their vane actuator, so you use the MS to PWM control the boost at lower rpm levels, and then use a conventional wastegate over 5000 rpms. Below that, the VATN will control boost pretty well by varying the vane angles and A/R. Problem is they are usualy .83 and larger (like 1.06 A/R) on the hot side....

Not to shake the tree here, nor split hairs, but the original L20A's did not use a harmonic dampner till 1976. They used a two-groove solid cast iron pulley to that point. Flat-Four VW's use a solid 'equalizer' pulley, not a harmonic dampner, in high performance applications. Stock, they had a stamped steel pulley! The shortness of the VW crank overall keeps torsionals under control, this coupled with bulletproof cross sectional diameters on crank throws and cheeks of the crank keeps it all rigidly tied together. We have found the short stroke L20 does not have the same pulse problem that the longer stroke, torque producing motors have. It's all a function of the crank's arm, and the torque it can apply during the power stroke. L28ET's that rev will eat up the dampner much faster than a stock L24 running to 7000 on a regular basis. I'll admit it, I like the tree shaking and hair splitting, I just HAD to put it out there....Pay no attention to the man behind the curtian!

DAMN! You killed Kenny! YOU BASTARDS! ;^P

Like I said, there are far easier methods to get around smog than to swap a diesel in there, get it inspected and through the referee station, and then pull it all out again to install an petrol engine. Lots of work for something that can be had much easier just moving paperwork.

In L.A. it's a lot easier to simply plate the vehicle out of state to avoid smog. Doing an engine change from diesel to gasoline is an extremely diffisult way to go to avoid a smog, IMO. There are far easier methods of evasion than that! As for a non-op, you can't do that unless it's within 90 days of expiration...I just went through that one! Apparently, once you have paid registration fees on a vehicle in the state, you are STUCK for the duration of the year with a registered vehicle, you CAN NOT PNO the vehcile until the 90 day window. So if you don't have insurance on the vehicle for whatever reason, they suspend the registration, and you have to pay $14 to 'reinstate' it... Besides waiting till 90 days before expiration to PNO a vehicle that hasn't moved 50 feet in 7 years.... Like I said, don't get me started on the idiots at the DMV...

The section quoted means no RETROFIT engines are legal (unless performed and documented to have occurred before the May 1984 Law Came in to effect). You have a 1976 vehicle, a 1976 or newer engine with all applicable smog equipment can be used to do the engine swap. ANY passenger car engine is legal. This is the basis for this site! You can't tell me a 76 SBC is cleaner than a 2.8L inline six! It's any passenger car engine into any other passenger car. Hell, you could stick a ROTARY into it from a 78 RX7 and be legal (good luck getting it to pass smog out the pipe, though!!!LOL) A 1975 engine swap is illegal, as would be one from a 1970, or an engine from a TRUCK and can not be certified no matter what you do...with the caveat that you will have to install all smog and emissions equipment from a 76 onto the 75 engine, and if it passes tailpipe and visual, then it will pass....but you are still being smogged to at least the chassis year of the vehicle. Before May 1984, you COULD retrofit the engines, so if you put a documented 64 SBC into a 1976, the car would be smogged to a 1964 Standard. I went round and round with BAR on this exact same thing when I tried to get my 73 Initially Registered in the state with a 1970 engine in it. BIG hassle, and long story short, they did not accept my documentation for the engine swap, and I was forced to have all 1973 Smog Stuff on the car (and as a result put out 10X the CO, and passed HC by 3ppm (997ppm vs 1000 allowable) compared to the 71 setup that was in the car which piped clean to 1983 CATALYZED standards!!! Don't get me started on the stupid bureaucratic rules these idiots devise. As for SEMA and E85. It's not written yet, it's not law yet, and until it is, you will drive yourself crazy planning for stuff as to the second it passes, it's available for total revision and scrapping. Such was the 30 (now 35) year rolling exemption from Visual Inspection for vehicles with Collector Car Insurance. (Yeah, it's in there, guys....) As for lesd's contention of putting a Gas engine in a Z that was converted to Diesel why the hell would I ever do that?!?!?!!?!?!?!!? Seriously, if I'm putting a diesel in there, it's getting a TURBO, and will make mroe than enough power for daily driving and occasional track usage. The Gasoline engines are not some great aura for me---I am in the process of converting a 1978 VW Microbus into a Turbodiesel. Once I go with the Magic Oil, I will not run the crap fuel once known for it's abilities to remove paint from clothing... The specific heat from Diesel is much higher than gasoline. You can get more power with less fuel than using Petrol. If it goes oil-burner, it STAYS oil burner. If I wanted to get around SMOG and still run CAL plates, there are PLENTY of ways to do so that nobody says "Boo" at... But I'm not discussing them in a public (or private for that matter) forum. That is up for you guys to figure out on your own. If nothing else, plate the vehicle out of state. Tell me how they prove you've been in the state more than the requisite 10 days with an intent to keep the vehicle in the state permanently... I ran Alabama plates for 4 years to circumvent smog on my 74, because I TOLD the idiots at the DMV that was what I was going to do! They refused to give me a TITLE on a car that DID NOT RUN but was complete. "We need a smog to get a title". No, NO they did NOT! But they were such idiots about it, I went and plated it out of state for four years (after I got it running) just out of SPITE. The DMV is a bunch of idiots, and I'm too damned old to play their stupid people tricks just to have the priviledge of driving MY car on what they perceive as THEIR roads. Screw them! Damn, you got me started. I better stop now...

I'm missing the part in there where E85 makes a vehicle smog exempt. From my understanding, most E85 vehicles are 'multi-fuel' and those are not eligible for breaks like carpool lane access, or other dispensations. Also, in reference to eec564s comment on 'swapping to a cleaner engine' this is totally untrue, and is nowhere in the CVC. The reqauirements are that you must swap from a comparable year vehicle, or newer, and no cross-swaps (from a truck to a car, for instance). The Diesel was offered in 1983, and is a legal swap into any L-Engined Car as the Maxima was type certified in the USA as either an L24 Gasoline Powered vehicle, or a Diesel. This engine-type certification makes it easy to justify the swap without too much ado. But that being said, you can swap a 350 Chevy from an 83 Camaro into an 83 Z without any requirement to retrofit EFI to the Carburettor system on the Chevy...so that should tell you something about 'cleaner engines' only being legal for swaps. You can put just about anything you want into anything else. Just as long as all original smog equipment remains in place and functional, and the tailpipe tests clean you get your sticker at the referee's station and you are tested to that specification henceforth. CNG is available in Tulare...

I'm not sure what you're getting at with the last post. The section of the CVC you posted involved veehicles used for hire, not privately owned personal transport. E85 IS available in California, you have to look for it. Any vehicle can be converted to any fuel and can qualify for an exemption. Basically Hybrid and Diesel are your only options. The CNG option is viable, because there is so many places to get fuel now, and passing emissions for the vehicle on CNG is very easy it's a very clean burning fuel. Of course, if you convert a 75 and earlier vehicle to CNG, you need not smog it, and are entitled to apply for the "Solo Carpool" stickers! CNG lets you in the carpool lane, alone. Big fun with the CHP! Gotta love it!

I reserve comment at this time, for fear of banishment.

What diameter rims? The 3/4" should fit in most 14" rims, unless specified backspacing is too much, then rim construction may come into play. 15" should clear everything...what is the height of your spacers, and if this is not being built to a specific racing class (i.e. Hot Street Vehicle), why not relocate the inner A-Arm pivot point as well? Funny, you can actually build a street vehicle that can handle better than most race vehicles, as you are not constrained by suspension mounting restrictions... I digress...

Oh wow, what is it, everybody in Denver live off 104th and I25? I just met two guys there for lunch Thursday (Golden Corral by the Sams Club off Thorton Parkway (or something like that)---I know I went just north to take 104th to the Airport! Maaaaaaan! BTW, the early JDM 280Z(X)'s had a 'cargo cover' covering almost the whole rear deck because the things used a full-sized spare that was secured to the 'floor'---the thing was pressboard, and pretty much covered the area you are working with. Making the upper portion out of 'acoustically transparent' cover over a light screen mesh, you could accurately replicate what the original JDM interior looked like, even with all your expensive stereo stuff in there. Stealth is good in today's world of "smash and take because I want it" Rogues....

Yeah, that's a classic "Stuck Needle" symptom. Finding exactly what is sinking the needle (float leak, swarf in the works, fuel pressure) takes a bit more work! Glad to hear it's fixed for now. You have a nice quality fuel filter on the inlet line, right....

Like Pete said, Water Injector Controller has been in the Extra Code for a while, only looked at it in passing, but it's in there... What are they, how much, and would they fit in a priority mail package so they get there faster than the turbo exhaust manifold??? You know better than to ask who can pick it up! Order extra, and then lord them over Frank! PM me the details, and I can do it this week, I'm in-town according to the schedule I just saw, so should have time to pick them up/order, and ship...etc.

"Polyflo" is a trade name for the stuff. McMaster Carr has it as well, and they ship stateside for you remote people... If you are in L.A. McFadden-Dale in Anaheim (LaPalma and Red Gum) has it---just north of the 91 FWY at Kramer/Glassell exit) They also have a web store now as well...which shocked me when I saw the sign. They have a full selection of Legris and Push-Lock Tubing Fittings as well. Nice thing about McF-D is that it's out on the floor---touchy-feely guys can mock stuff up and try out flexibility, etc.

Actually... There are inserts from Nissan that were available for the IRON towers from the early L-4 engines. Thin walled bushings will also work---it's a common machining practice. Line-bore the towers oversize, then install bushings. You can also have the towers welded up with a heliarc, and then re-linebored. All common machine shop stuff. But finding good ones in the JY is easier.....now...

YEP! He hit it on the head, MILL SCALE. Probably something like a 1/8" (0.125") thick or thicker, right? Definately Mill Scale by the sounds of it. Black Magic will take it off, but doesn't leave a nice smooth surface to powdercoat. Try a 4" grinder with a 60 grit flapper wheel, and then clean it up with something slightly finer till you can finish your stuff with some abrasive blasting.

I did noe of these after seeing Andy Flagg's Black 73 TurboCar. Similar to what Datsunlover describes, I used one of those universal choke cables, and poked it through the upper portion of the hatch. Opening is simply a tug away to pop it. I snaked it down the left side next to the window (inside the hatch), and made a littel bracket to secure the spiral outer cable support (like the heater clamps for the vent controls on a 240) so the pull-button end really only needed to rest inside the rubber grommit I put in there to keep it from rattling around. That hatch was rusty rusty rusty...Ended up doing a Mercy Donation to someone who had their back glass broken out so they had a secure hatch for their long drive home. I ended up getting a decent hatch (sans glass) out of the deal ...

Frank 280ZX flew to MSA, then he, Xander, ianz, and my son loaded five S30 chassis & Incomplete vehicles (less taxes), along with his rust-free 280ZX-R for shipment to Europe. Then they acid dipped the chassis. Then they said "Find more cars for us, it's unreal, these things have absolutely NO rust---we have NEVER seen cars like this shape, even three year old BMW's have more rust than these chassis!" So yeah, with the money you are willing to commit---you can find one damn nice rust-free car. And none of that hidden inside the A-Pillar condensation Rust either! Just stay away from Beach Cars. High Desert all the way!