Tony D

Yeah, you don't have those red silicone sponge pigs from Cosmodyne, do you John! It pays to be around an oooooold German Pipefitter that worked at Cosmodyne during the Apollo Project, and listen to his stories... When he retires, you pick up his Cybertig for $350, and a truckbed of tools and neat fitting parts to go along with it! I forget others don't have the same "legacy stash" like I stumbled upon! LOL Solar Flux is probably easier for most people. I guess nobody has the purge box like we used in the USAF for TIG-ing the F15 Combustor Cans laying around, huh?

No, none came with a Factory Installed LSD. They were not on the factory option order list in the USA or North American Market (the only place that got 280Z's). Outside the USA, both the 240 and 260Z were available with an optional LSD (S30 Vehicles) in the JDM, not sure about other markets but the JDM cars all had an LSD option.

My earlier post has been revised to correctly reflect the status of the heater loops... I have a set of the G-Nose Covers arriving shortly. They were posted on a Japanese Website, and I got them for the asking price of 32,800 Yen. Yes, I choked, as when I was last in Japan (1989) they were selling for 30,000! For this guy to only add 2,800 yen in all this time, I wasn't letting them go away. With brokerage fees and postage, total cost was $419 for the set. I'm not complaining, the set we bought for the Bonneville Car in 1999 ran us $745 from Nissan Motorsports in Gardena! And I had to drive there to pick them up, for $300 less, these will be delivered to my door, Japan Express Mail!

I really got to wonder how much adjustability in the cockpit you really need. When I was young and impressionable, I bought a fancy HKS EBC... Thinking it would be great to be able to just "crank up the boost" from the cockpit. After living with it for the years from 1985 to 2007, I have come to one conclusion: I don't adjust my boost to either one of two settings: 10psi for "normal driving", and "Full Boost" for when someone gets spunky. From my experience, and from my original impressions, I never really set the controller at anything in between the two settings. So, were I to build another car (like for my wife) I most likely would use that Two-Stage Boost Controller, and use a keyswitch to switch between "Wife Boost" and "My Boost". Other than that, in 22 years...I rarely if ever have run anything other than 10psi or 21psi on my controller. For a while daily boost was 15, then 17, then I set the HKS EVC up to control 12psi on normal, and 21psi on the high setting. I never use the 'scramble feature' which when I bought it I thought I'd use all the time. Just my experience---I'm curious, do you other guys constantly fiddle with the settings, or do you use one or two settings?

Where in Inland Empire? I'm near 251S and 60.

It's usually glycerine or silicone. Look in your yellow pages for "Instrumentation Calibration and Repair" for a local source. Failing that, McMaster-Carr Supply company (http://www.mcmaster.com) has it and they take credit cards, and ship. You may try to confirm with Autometer what dampening fluid they use, but I doubt it's anything different than the rest of the industry uses.

Stainless filler wire, and if possible get another regulator/mini tank and backpurge the inside of the piping with similar blanket gas.

You got it! no matter how well the seal is on the nacelle, the splash from the tire eventually will spew up from behind... and if there is no way for the condensation to get out: Fogging. Still not home, but the MS units have been waiting my return since Saturday. heading home tomorrow afternoon. Hopefully will have a Friday to get to it before the weekend hits and "planned activities" take over again...

They have a small storefront, but just about everything in their catalog is in the warehouse directly behind the counter. I usually order ahead, and just will call my stuff at the counter. it's not perusing the store that gets me in trouble....it's opening that damnable catalog... "Oh, I could use one of those... That would be nice... While I'm ordering I should get some of this..." Rock may still be available in Japan. Don't live there anymore! LOL

You were talking about non-turbo. Meaning absolutely no torque whatsoever below 4000rpms, and an absolute miserable car to drive in stop and go traffic. A short stroke turbo motor, making 3psi before boost threshold will act like a much larger engine upon throttle application, and the rush to redline will be even more interesting since thie redline is so high comparatively. You also wanted to use stock pistons, and for the same reason I gave trowa above, "what's the point"? The questions were totally different. Don't generalize my statements to his situation in comparison to yours without telling all the facts related to your original question. Which, as I recall, was predicated on the premise that "L28's don't rev fast"...

Rods do not determine your compression ratio, the PISTONS determine your compression ratio (along with your combustion chamber volume). In either case, you will have to fabricate the pistons---it will be absolutely NO USE making this engine without forged slugs---what is the point of building an engine who's powerband is 5000 to 9000 rpms, if you can only rev it to 7000 because of cast pistons. The rods will determine what pin height you will have to use to get a zero-deck or negative deck height (and my how much)---the piston configuration will determine your compression ratio. To get 8:1 on your L20A crank, you need to have the right PISTONS made for it.

Where's it need to go? And why didn't you ask me at the DZA meeting last week? I was there...where were YOU! LOL I'm lodged at the Candlewood on Baseline and Priest. If you need something to go to SoCal, let me know, should (hopefully) be going that way Thursday or Friday afternoon.

There was a header in Japan that would change color according to EGT. Pretty neat, helped with nailing jetting quite a bit. External Paint....hmmmm. Hot parking lot, maybe turns white from black so the interior doesn't heat-soak so bad while sitting. They make that, I buy! LOL

Dick over at Garret AirResearch (honeywell Engine Boosting Systems) in Lomita has a VG30DETT powered sandrail. Scary fast with digger tires out back. I have assisted with the following VW Beetle Conversions: Rear Engine Corvair 180 Turbo/ Corvair 140 Rear Engine Type 4 Turbo (2.4L) Rear Engine Subaru Turbo Mid Engine, full framed Olds Toranado 455CID Conversion. Mid Engine, 13B Turbo (In Japan) Front Engine 350 Chevy... Of the lot, I thought the Subaru/VW conversions were the most stealty because they are stock configuration. The 13 B Turbo was a real SCREAMER! With a 4.88 and 5.13 stock gear ratio available for the Type II Bus Transaxles it makes for a nice conversion, and keeps all the vitals away from things that could do harm. With an engine cover on (boot), you can't tell it's been swapped! The 455 was an animal. Everyone loved it. Kind of scary to drive, especially at the speeds it was capable of!!! Two sets of caster shims on the lower tube is HIGHLY recomended! LOL We did a 350 because we lived in Michigan, and everybody kept asking us when we were going to do it... Bleah. The 327 Corvette Mid-Engine (Otto Parts)Conversion of the Corsa we used for the 140 Horse donor for the bug was a LOT more fun. It started before we even had it assembled. Local cop was cruising the neighborhood, saw us trying to stuff a Chevy V8 in through the passenger's door, and stopped to see what we were up to. Took one look inside the car, asked "You putting that Vette Motor in this Vair?" and when we said 'yes' just went to the back of the car, wrote the license plate number down on his notepad, shook his head, and walked away saying "I'll be seeing you real soon!" You got me started on VW's and Aircooleds. "I digress"! Yeah I did a lot of crazy stupid swaps when I was a kid. Lots of time, and cheap parts makes for idle hands in the Auto Shop! Having all sorts of GMI and Big Three Engineering types living closeby to ask questions---and who were all to happy to "investigate" what our latest projects were really got us way further than we ever would have alone. They were "Bad Adults" in today's terms: "They Enabled Our Miscreant Behaviour!"

I know people who would probably kill to have something that different. Must have been from a Quebec Separatists' car! LOL It's bad, I actually know where Oconomowoc is....LOL

I'm sorry if you took it as an insult, it wasn't! Both the short-nacelle and longer G-Nosed light covers from the factory are not watertight. There is this misconception out there that they are, and I was just pointing out that they are not. They do have a foam seal, but anybody who has owned them, and mistakenly tightened and tightened and tightened them after a rain trying to "keep the water from pouring in there and fogging up for hours afterwards" quickly finds that with the factory nutplates and fine M5 threads you can distort the metal ring and CRACK the plexiglass cover! The best you can do with the factory covers is lightly tighten them, and only to the point that the foam juuuuuust starts to compress. ANYTHING tighter and the foam overcompresses, and the leaks start. Most people have cars that have been overtightened, and the frames slightly distorted, and have little to no hope of sealing them from "splashed" water. The works rally teams as I said, ran loops of tubing in there with hot coolant to defog the lenses from splashed water. So let's not wag fingers here, or come with an attitude of confrontation. Both covers will flood the light area, the OEM units less so as long as the foam gaskets are intact and properly tightened. This is a few and far-between instance from what I have seen. Don't look for insults that aren't there. Try looking for a laugh sometimes, it really helps with your general disposition and outlook. I know it helps mine.

Yes, the "Type 1 Beetle"---Hitler's Sponsored "People's Car" has NEW fenders for CHEAP. They are maybe $49 each. There are some very nice HEAVY Fiberglass Reproductions for sconsdierably more, but they are also available in WIDER versions than the stock Metal Fenders. Come to think of it, there are METAL Beetle Fenders that are (if I recall correctly) some 4" wider than stock---thesae are, of course, all new products of current manufacture. VW OEM Fenders are still available as the Bug isn't reallly that far out of production (late 2003 I believe) last produced in Mexico... They are usually a bit better than cheap aftermarket repop parts, but if you are hacking them up, who cares? The Taiwan produced Beetle Fenders are pretty cheap. I'm gonna go look it up now... I have a 62 and 66 Microbus, so I'm in the VW scene, but never heard of this utilization of the old parts. To think of the prospective flares I just chucked out the door... Talk about having blinders on! LOL J-Bugs in California is currently selling rear fenders for $80 each. Hit them on the right day, and you can get a discount. These are NEW fenders, never been on a car. You just have to decide if you want the early (59 to 67) or late (68-72) Beetle Fenders. Superbeetle parts are the same price. Kustom 1 may be cheaper...but I only deal with them on a PICK UP WILL-CALL basis only (since I'm local, and they have idiots in shipping). JC Whitney have rear fenders for a 66 for $70... With VW Crap, it's seriously bottom-feeder cutthroat, so you can get a real deal from places if you time it right.

This is funny! When I did the first round of bodywork on my Z, it was in Japan, and there was a polyseter filler called "Rock"---they sold paint as well, and it was said to be an "Imron Equivalent" 10:1 Polyurethane... Anyway, Rock Brand Filler came in MANY consistencies. From thick like our regular bondo, in several stages all the way to a runny stuff for body glazing that was slightly less solid than the lacquer based red spot putty I was using. When I got back to the USA, and had a shunt, working with US products was very frustrating given how well the Rock Stuff worked. One thing I did notice was that the Rock Putties seemed to shrink FAR less than the US Products. Despite being parked in the SoCal sun in an uncovered black car, the Rock products didn't shrink and lift like the Evercoat, Bondo, et al that was used on the other side for a repair. This trick of adding resin was on my mind to try and "Make" some "Rock" here in the USA. Now after reading all this, it seems like this will be the way I go next time I have the oportunity. I hate mixing epoxy and microballoons (Aircraft Spruce is up the street, Baby!) for "flexible filler", as that is the only stuff I have found to be equivalent in durability to the "Blue Rock" and "Tan Rock" Body Fillers sold in Japan in the late 80's. BTW, in Japan, many shops used MEK-P (Methy-Ethyl-Ketone-Peroxide) straight from a tube for either their bondo hardener, or polyester FRP resin hardener. From what I understand, MEK-P is a "Universal Catalyst" for Polyester Resins.

Do not think adding body solder to an area that will "flex" will make it last any longer than anything else. It will flex along with the sheetmetal underneath it, and allow any filler above it to flex, crack, and do whatever it will do. On top of that, the lead will most likely separate from the base metal, or at least crack as well unless it is verrrrry thin---and if the lead is that thin, then there is absolutely no reason not to use current technology products. WERE IT UP TO ME.... I would use the metal to metal or standard bondo (er...or my special mix of aerospace epoxy and microballons---far more flexible than a polyester matrix...) and then over that use the current stone-guard chip-resistant coating (you see it on the lower parts of GM Vehicles, kind of like undercoating texture, but painted over shiny) and paint over that. It will be resistant to chippingform stones, and if something DOES chip the paint from stones or road debris, the self-healing stone guard under the pain will seal and keep out water minimizing corrosion. If it flexes, all of it is flexible and there is flex additive to below the beltline paint, so it will not flake off...problem solved! I have BIG flares on the car, and the front wheels throw a LOT of crap onto the rear flares lower sections. I wish I had done that when I painted it in 1986... But now it waits for another paint job, and that is how it will be finished.

I will admit, that is a brilliant idea for Bugs. Actually, you can get NEW Beetle Fenders DIRT CHEAP from many different sources. They are very durable, and thick allowing much metalworking to match the bodylines of the Z. So I just want to be perfectly clear: The orange car pictured has flares made from four rear fenders cut as described---from a VW Beetle? If so, that is waybitchencool! And I will be getting some New Beetle Fenders ASAP! I much prefer Metal Flares...

I'll give anyone in Phoenix a DEAL! I am working at Honeywell in Tempe this week, and will probably head home this weekend (SoCal). And return to Tempe either Sunday evening, or Monday morning. If you can get the $$$ to either of the Sellers (I have a John C hood and can vouch for it's quality: A#1), and they are willing to let me pick it up Friday afternoon or before I head back, I can strap it into the bed of the truck and deliver it to the Phoenix Valley Gratis. PM Me if you are interested, and let me have some contact numbers.

Yes, Compounded turbos ARE NOT the same as Sequential! What you get with compounded turbos is PRESSURE RATIO. About the maximum pressure ratio you can get now is around 3.5/4:1. That means you are limited to 45-50 psi output. With Sequential turbos, that's it! With compounded turbos, you get 9:1 to 16:1, meaning in theory you can get 230 psi or so from twins, but normally the practical limit is 4:1 on the first turbo, and then run 2:1 on the second for less temperature rise and easier intercooling. This will give you a useable 100-110psi to the manifold. If you want more flow, the new Garrett Turbos are spinning TWO compressor wheels (for massive flows) off ONE Turbine wheel! This makes for the flow of twin turbos, with the packaging of a single. Theri pressure ratios are in the low 4's as well. Any way you look at it, a single stage of turbo compression will be limited to around 45psi. But add a second or third stage of compression (with water injection in between stages for intercooling and efficiency) and your boost pressure go sky high, and so does the possibility for additional fuel and combustion. Tractor Pulling engines routinely have upwards of 200psi of boost! Detonation is not an issue on diesels, as fuel is not present in the combustion chamber till it's supposed to be so boost and heat is not the same issue we see in Petrol Engines...

Used part originally installed, or new? GM part, or aftermarket? Curious as to those two points. I can't wait to get home and try the "Z-Ya Critiqued" boxes in my car! Wife called me Saturday and said they arrived...but I'm on this job "till it runs" and no end in sight at this point.

I think the "pooping out" of an L28 with SU's at 5000rpms is more due to the stock cam and poor state of tuning the setup than the SU's!

A nice irrigation syringe works wonderfully for CC'ing heads. You can get a 50cc syringe out of the dunmpster at your local hospital..... Er, maybe not... Anyway, my dumpster proclivities aside, you can do a nice job with a syringe, the nice thing is you can read directly off the plunger no interpolation of the miniscus. Using a 1mm drill will give you an easily calculable hole in the plexiglass cover as well---just keep that in mind. You can inject an irrigation syringe through a 1mm hole, for a burette, you need something a bit larger to let it drop in. But polishing the head will net you little gains. Your best bet is to find pistons to lower the compression. I have run over 21 psi on stock JDM N42 head without issues, and that was a JDM N/A setup... Flow is more important than boost. Make an efficient pump, and boost drops, but horsepower goes up. Ask Jeff P about "boost goals"! LOL