Tony D

Yes, Bartman put up what I was going to: FEDERAL law trumps state law on this point. Removing any emissions components is illegal. So is inactivating them. And yes, the Feds do occasionally check in various places around the USA. Last place I knew of was a DOT compliance check down in SanDiego. Believe it or not, they were actually busting people for E-Code Headlights... They have done it on the east coast as well. Anyway, why bother? They are all inactive under WOT anyway. They do not affect performance in any significant way.

Diesel is a viable alternative. Propane would work IF you rebuilt the engine with 13:1+ compression and remapped the spark curves to give decent power and take advantage of the octane---otherwise the power will be way down with a straight across conversion. CNG will work as well, and surplus vehicles with all the parts are floating around out there. Those Gasseous fuel conversions can be a bear toget initially inspected, moreso than making your gasoline engine pass! Electric just isn't practical.

Actually the phrase "Springs, where we're going, we don't need springs!" First is the pneumatic spring, basically an air chamber sealed by o-rings that can close the valves---the springrate is infinately variable by the pressure in the chamber. Second, the DEVAS system uses electrohydraulic actuators, there are no springs. Hydraulic pressure is counterbalanced to move the valve like a spool valve in any other Hydraulic System. The key to the control you need for the opening and closing rates is the piezo control of the orifices diverting the flow to open or close side. This is similar to peizo control of Diesel Fuel Injectors. There is also (from what I understand) a system whereby the solenoids CLOSE the valves, and Hydraulics, or opposing Solenoids OPEN the valve. By using PWM signals to the two solenoids on each valve, you can infinately vary opening and closing rates, lift, and etc... Engine oil would most likely not be required on the top end of the engine for anything after the conversion.

wowo, woowee! Something happened to my post, it's dissapeared. I leave the rear drums adjusted loose when dragging, and then readjust them back before going home at night's end. Works for me! wonder where my post went?

If the ignitor on the coil is going, or improperly grounded, then you will have coil problems. Same goes for our 81-83 ZXT's here. The big "Power Transistor" on the coil needs to be grounded for it to properly gate the power to the coil. If it's going out, or has bad contact, your car will just quit. Another thing to try is hitting the thing with some freez-it component cooler. It may be that it's in formative stages of heat related failure, so it fails when warmed up, and won't work again till the component has cooled. If hitting it with freez-it lets it fire up and run, then you have it isolated, and will need to replace the component. Once they start failing getting warm, the only get worse, leading eventually to total failure. Which may be where you are now!

nissan comes to mind, how much can one be new?

"With a stock sized runner, you'll only get "X" cfm out of the head." I don't know if JeffP actually posted those numbers, but he had Nathan check the head flow alone, head with the stock manifold on it, and one with the "ultimate" intake stub on it. I don't remember his port flow, but I think the stock intake cut that down 30cfm. It's quite a bit percentage wise given his port flow. But if you don't have port work done like Spork says.... if it's not done to support AT LEAST that "X-30cfm" that JeffP found when testing the stock extrude-honed manifold, chances are a different one will not benefit you all that much. It's true! The power in the L-Engine is all in the head. Get someone who knows what they are doing and you will be amazed what you can get without massive pressure ratios on your turbo!

This is not the way it works with automobiles in the state of California. You have no right to utilize a vehicle on public roads unless you meet their rules. Matter of fact, unless you are paying fees, you can't really even have a vehicle on your own property wihout the state retaining the right to confiscate it if the fees are not paid... Welcome to Government oversight of everyday life. We voted for it, can't complain when it becomes the eventual reality. Before we digress further, let's not go there...

Helix/Dave: LIKE STATED in the post, there is an issue with the Yahoo Server rotation, and I can apparently only invite people individually. They were in a public album for over two years, and nobody came to look even though stuff was posted. I sent linking notifications out in bulk mailings. Matter of fact, I started getting grief because of how difficult it was to access them, and then people started getting downright demanding and rude, so I made them private. You think with your attitude when it becomes difficult for you to access them I won't get more grief? So what is my upside to reopening that can of worms? Maybe a useless post, but no more worthless that yours. maybe all three need to go to the tool shed. But given past history it's not worth my time to link them---just gets me too much grief. See, even mentioning them has drawn fire...

Man, I posted gobs of those photos at my Yahoo Photo Gallery DURING the convention in Syracuse. Talk about chance of a lifetime. I was on the floor underneath that thing taking photos. When you get the chance to learn from the masters, even by observation, make the most of it. When I went back to look at the photos, even after intently studying the thing up close and personal, I STILL found neat littel details I missed! Yahoo changes their server rotation, otherwise I could link to them. That was the car that I photographed coming out of the corner at 80mph, with the hood totally flush with the fenders. But by the time it was passing the grandstands at over 120+mph, you could see the hood bowed up from underhood pressure significantly. Telling about some issues encountered at-speed when dealing with an S30 Chassis, even with a G-Nose!

E-Mail Nismo in Nashville (shudder) and they can tell you the sourcing and probably the specs on the parts. They should, at least.

If you had a short, it would blow the fuse...ask me how I learned the rear marker lights are not an "idiot proof" plug-n-play hookup! Heavy draw doesn't equate, but there may be a bad ground that causes a big draw where normally it would be minimal. sounds like you are draining the battery with the lights on, and that your alternator is not charging. You should have 13.8V with the engine running at about 2200+ rpm. If you don't see that across your battery terminals, put it on a charger, get the battery fully charged, and then check again. If you don't have 13.8-14.2VDC at the battery when racing the engine above the flash point on the alternator (the point where it self-excites) then your voltage regulator or alternator is kaput. You should never see only 12V on a 12V battery! Counterintuitive, I know, but a 12V should read 13.8V fully charged. Good Luck, Man! Gremlins...it's how they tried to win the war! They put Gremlins in the electrical panels of our B17's. But this Kentucky Harvester..... LOL Forgot to answer your question: find all the points in the circuit that can cause a draw. Disconnect them ALL. Replace your fues with your Ammeter leads so you can monitor the draw on the circuit. Start plugging in each individual connection and seeing if you find one with a particularly big draw. Make notes on which connection caused what draw when connected. They should all add up to what you get when you hook them all in. Same way you find a short, but make sure your ammeter has internal fusing so if you hit a draw above 10A, your internal fuse will pop, and not fry your meter. Most are fused these days, even Harbor Freight and Korean Junk... Again, good luck!

I will confirm, the change in the door glass carrier mechanisim for US Spec Vehicles was 7/76. up to 6/76 you can change it around. But when that striker went internal, the carrier and glass shapes changed on the bottom. Now if you have access to Fairlady Z's... they have the same carriers and glass 69 to 77. Why oh why...They got skinny bumpers till the end on 72 style brackets as well. Lucky Bastiges! I got six 260Z doors. I should probably sell some of this stuff some time, huh? But I'm in SoCal, and your in "shudder" Toledo...

Exactly Ron! I am 'the devil in Jeff's Ear' when it comes to these things, and he already knows what Electromotive used for their manifold, and has had his head ported to match that setup. he has the basic manifold, only requirement is to make some conversion pieces to the plenum. But after the last test (535 RWHP with an aborted pull to only 6300, when his power peak was around 7K) at only 20psi literally has him now asking "how much is too much". With him running the car in fourth gear at boost threshold rpm, and romping it ...the chassis flex combined with the way the quaife differential hooks with my bulk as ballast... the car literally wants to change lanes HARD! He's now questioning wether he 'needs' the 30psi he planned everything around. He's already at his crank horsepower goals well below the boost he projected he thought he would need. As I have always said, boost is merely an indication to restriction to flow! With that lower restriction manifold setup, I'd figure Jeff's engine would make some massive power with FAR less indicated boost than he now is seeing. It's a funny dichotomy: people want big boost numbers thinking it means big horespower. But when you really correctly prep the engine, you don't NEED humongo boost levels to reach big power! And it must be said: Jeff is hard-headed! He wanted to make 600hp on the stock Z31 ECU, and using an engine that for all intents and purposes could be made to pass the visual smog check requirements in CA. To his credit, he's stuck it out, and is sooooo close to the goal he can taste it. If it wasn't for some limitations imposed by the injectors he's using he'd be there already. But his trailblazing has resulted in the invention of a neat circuit that RADICALLY improves the response of large injector opening and closing events. I shouldn't say any more, but as Jeff says, "That little standalone circuit could be added to any control circuit for injectors and it should really improve the resolution for people using larger injectors." Myself, I'm laying in drums of waste oil, and have found my supplier of refractory cement. I will probably have a waste-oil fired blast furnace capable of batch quantities to cast my own manifolds before the end of the year. Of coure, it will be totally illegal to operate...but then again, they have to catch me using it...

Yes, you can configure the output on the MS to work within a specified Temperature range (say above 170 degrees F, like stock) and within a specified range (again, above 1500 rpms, like stock). This way the output from the MS signals a relay (I don't know if the output can srive a solenoid directly, I doubt it!) to signal a solenoid that allows manifold vacuum to the EGR diaphragm. This will allow stock EGR metering just like stock. There is not section in the CVC regarding instrumentation, but recently there has been an "Educational Campaign" in the Law Enforcement Community that uses "signals" for a stop and reasons to search further. It involved how to recognize 'Tuner' vehicles---i.e. those that likely have illegal modifications. These hints and giveaways were things like "Gauge Pods", "Front Mounted Intercoolers", "Larger Exhaust Pipes", and generalizations like "Accessorized Underhood Detailing"---the CHP was advised that if they saw these things to CITE the vehicle, and send it in to a Referee Station for a Compliance Check. This is within their purview as outlined in the CVC. So you get cited bacuse you have gauges. It doesn't mean they are ILLEGAL, but it means in the training session they went through it was given as a "probable cause for suspicion for illegal modifications" which is along the original line of reasoning given to him---it was just misstated, or blatantly lied about. If they pull you over and THINK you have modified the vehicle to be outside of compliance, they CAN cite you and send you to the Referee. So can your fellow citizen by calling a toll-free number, identifying himself, and giving the 1-800-CUT-SMOG people your vehicle description and tag number, saying they see black smoke pouring out your tailpipe when you passed, and saying it smelled like a gasoline station on fire...in a few days you get a nice letter from the DMV that says report in XX hours or your vehicles' license will be suspended, and that continued registration is contingent upon successful completion of the Referee Station Inspection. Of course, that can also generate a 'random out of cycle testing' letter as well. After several automotive company employees got tagged with 'random testing' requests for EVERY VEHICLE THEY OWN after their cars were featured in a Tuner Performance Magazine with their plates in clear view, and names/city/county up in print...the mags decided it was best to blank out those numbers, and maybe be more 'generic and nebulous' with locale information. (These poor bastards were tagged with having to pay smog for several vehicles, including their company-leased vehicles for their wife and themselves, for three years running after their cars showed up in the magazines! Paranoia is a GOOD thing when dealing with the BAR, in that case Big Brother REALLY IS watching!)

The japanese commonly bored the block and installed the L24 crank / piston combos using LD28 Diesel Sleeves. This gives you an L24 in an L20A block that will run the OEM 300,000+ miles with ease. most they would do on the stock bores was 2.XXXcc's---around 2300 cc's. The diesel service liners are a long term, stable solution when you want to fool someone with a block casting. As long as they don't capacity check a cylinder, and only go by block casting numbers, you will skate fine! Come to think of it, using the Diesel Oversize liners, and an L28 crank, you should probably be over 2600 cc's, but that is about it.

If you want to get a 'better' connector, find yourself a VG30. The connector in the bottom of their distributor is identical to the one in the one you have. The connector on the end where yours is white (ours is a round four pronger) is a grey weatherpack connector. if you 'harvest' both connectors from the VG engine (Turbo or N/A) on the 'grey' end, you will have a connector that is much more waterproof, and is easier to attach and separate. But yeah, that's a "Late" optical trigger CAS. 82/83 Cheers! Actually, thinking about this, I would much rather have that white plug than the round plug we got!

Cool... I guess the only question that remains is "where do you want your power"? Most will peak those numbers between 55 and 6300 rpm. With that boost level (JeffP was at 415 RWHP at 23 I believe)... Changing basically turbos and cams made a serious jump to well over 100 more RWHP, at 5 psi less boost. He's scared to change the intake from the extrude-honed stocker at this point... It becomes "how much will it really make with a 10% increase in flow through the runners?"

Exactly, Randy! One of the programmable I/O's will work the EGR just fine. Especially if you follow the same parameters listed in the FSM. For my 260 Project, the initiation comes from the speed sensor in the speedo head and the 'third gear switch' in the tranny. So it will function and to casual observers look exactly like a stock set of flat top SU's running an incredibly strong matching numbers 'L26'.

If you pull the cap off you will find one of four possible interiors which do not change: "Spiky Ringed Wheel" = Conventional Dissy, with "Black Box" on the exterior (or simply some wires if it's a 260/280Z) "Nothing"= 81 ET dissy, needs the Airconditioner Bracket Mounted CAS unit for the ECU to function, it's only function is purely to DISTRIBUTE the spark. "Chromate Cap with small screws"= 83/82 CAS Dissy Assy. "Points and Rubbing Block"= RUN AWAY RUN AWAY RUN AWAY! Discard and replace with Lumenition, Perlux, or whatever you want but get rid of mechanical breaker points! That's all you need to do for the quick check. No need to remove the chromated cover---if it's in there, it's a CAS. If it's just the diecast bottom of the dissy, it's somewhere other (81)

Man Prefab Rails...what is the world coming to? I made mine using a bench edge, then welded them in with a torch...while under the car... Times change, huh? Sounds like they are a stout product. I made mine out of the same thickness steel as OEM. They are still there 20 years later. But I moved from Japan to SoCal, so longevity of repair parts left untreated on the backside should be good...

What HP are you shooting at? Shopping by price and come back to bite you. Determine your needs, then decide on the components that will meet those needs. Do it honestly, and not on dreams. Then buy the parts that reach the goal. Cost will be what the cost will be...you are going at it kind of backwards IMO. Ask the question "what do I need" to reach the goal. Not "what do I want on the car"... Kind of like boost. Guys are continually asying "I want to run 30psi..." Why? Because someone else said so? Because it sounds correct? Cool? Granted the stock manifold doesn't flow 200CFM per runner, but then again will you need that on your build?

Wow, 56$. Hell for that much why would I bother to weld my own... And they have more! Also T3-T4 straight adapter flanges as well. Hmmmm. http://www.auctionsniper.com, my snipes, item number..... LOL

The 81 has the bock/A-C mounted CAS. The 82/83 has the distributor mounted CAS. They both have the same plug, and are interchangable. The black plastic box on the exterior is a standard dissy.

LOL Mario! But right on the mark!