Tony D

Angle mill the manifold ends, stick in a spacer, and run your port injectors up into the cross ram instead of down the back of the valve. Should be able to "hide" the injectors, and REALLY make some people scratch their heads when they look at your setup... If you really get sneaky, I wonder how the injectors would hold up UNDER the manifold, like some of those old Cheater NOS systems... Muahahaha!

That Engine Management system will be very nice. I know Lance, and he designed that system. It kicks a$$! We are considering it for the Bonneville car, but may stick with MSS-E simply because we don't really need the definition that Lance's system has.... Have you talked with Lance about that Fuel Management System? Pantera Specialists, in SAnta Ana Ca, he is the supplier for the Redline Kit. John at Redline will talk to you for hours if you can get ahold of him...the guy is an enclyopedia of knowledge on tuning EFI and Carbs...

Taper Seat Plugs are a no-no on an aluminum head meant for crush gaskets. Deformation of the seal area, and the first thread in the head is almost assured. They will probably seal, but chances are they will damage the head...

Dude, I have no idea, I know I was ALMOST where I needed to be by adjusting it all the way up. Just not quite enough... At least by my adjustable timing light it was...

Yes, that is what Xander did. He was all stoked about doing it when I talked with him in Paris last November. I thought using the flywheel was a good idea, as I recall, some Dodges used that method, and it's pretty proteected, so nothing should bet bonked around during an accident or normal usage. I thought of doing it on the starter side, so all I needed to do to inspect the things was drop the starter. My only reservation was putting in a dowel or pin to orient the flywheel to the crankshaft permanently (like the LD Crank Does) so during a panic clutch change, you don't skip timing to some radical new setting by moving the magnets one or two bolt holes the wrong way... Being there's what, 6 holes, that might work in several positions now that I think on it! LOL Maybe a punch mark...

General rule of thumb used to be 10psi per 1000 rpms. Now with coated bearings and synthetic oils, they have revised that even lower. 10psi at idle would be a normal figure, and you should get to "regulated pressure" before 3000 rpms. If you don't reach the higher pressure by 3000, there are clearance or supply problems.

I'll add that "Right" would mean the way the engine is positioned in the car, in the USA, that means "Right" is the passengers side of the vehicle, or oil filter side. That is common industry practice. Even VW's had "Front Seal Leaks" as did Corvairs, where in our vehicles, the same seal leaking would be in the "Rear Main Seal"

Mine was 24 adjusted midway between extremes, and my understanding is that is how it should have been. You can count the teeth from the trigger paddle to the mark to TDC and see the degrees you are advancing/retarding. I moved something like 8 teeth from the trigger point by moving it up all the way...that should be 16 degrees, and half that added to 24 initial (in the middle) gives you 32 degrees total. Not quite enough. Under boost it runs fine, but under high vaccum cruise, it's just not enough (35 to 37, and in some cases 40!) Remember to do crankshaft degrees you have to move it twice as far as you would on the distributor. That is why the adjustment slots on the 82/83 Dissy allow you 50 degrees. 24+16=40 so for the same relative movement, you get TWICE the displacement!... As for screwing with the chopper wheel, like I said, then you aren't using the 82/83 Dizzy, you are using the Z31 setup, and it may have the same waveform, but I believe there is another sensor in there that references TDC on #1 cylinder... There is not any sort of pickup in the 81CAS to do that, so the conversion would only work in Batch Fire, and the idea behind the Z31 is that you get a semi-sequential firing of the injectors at lower speeds... For the Effort, Lance's System can do that, and is only $1700.... Muahahaha!

Just so you know, the head on the car I posted photos of is an E88... he he he he he he!

B, I thought I had taken photos last go on the last adjustment, but it was only of the CAS unit itself sitting on the fender. Next time I go over to ianz's house, I will snap some photos of the adjustment bracket, which should make it very clear what has to be done without screwing with the trigger wheel.

What would Norm's car have to have to run that 12.80 Sec 1/4 mile at 107mph? I mean, that's with stock bored SU's... And pistons he "milled" using sandpaper on his driveway...

Well, the "looks" of this setup sure looks shabby, huh? And actually, this engine is DESTROKED so the .020" cylinder bore we did will stay within the CC limit of the class! I don't dislike strokers, they are just hyped to such an extent it makes me laugh.

Actually I will lay money we had a fraction of the $$$ outlaid for your stroker. It was built in a Garage attached to a house, and mostly from stuff ordered over the phone. As for idle, it would idle reliably down to 400rpm which is a tick above "cranking speed" on the EFI we used. In normal operation we set the idle to 900rpms. Had we a stock weight flywheel assembly (or even one of those heavy "lightweight" units sold for street usage) I suspect the idle would have gone lower. But having a 7" triple disc cluth that weighs 15 Pounds (clutch AND flywheel combined) doesn't lend itself to idling sowly. The Weber45's we had idled around 15 to 1700 when warmed up. That was one reason to go EFI. The idle quality myths all disapear when you actually don't depend on airflow through a venturi to generate atomization and fuel mix at idle. I was getting at the same thing JM is heading towards above: the stroker is really not the best bang for the buck. You would be WELL ADVISED to stick with a L28 bore and stroke, and spend money on induction and headwork. That is where the power is...the displacement you get really doesn't add that much HP at all, for all the hassle it is to get there. For all the hype, even in Japan, most guys stick in a VO7 Crank, but never go above 3 Litres because of the reliability issues from cylinder wall thickness. Like he said, cheap power will not come from boring the block and adding custom pistons. The power in the L-Engine is, was, and always will be in the HEAD, and the induction system. You are well advised to stick with journeyman bottom end work, and standard competent preparation of the bottom end (you can do it at home, in your garage, with only a few trips to a competent machine shop), and save your money for a professional head rework of the ports, valves, etc.... You posted numbers, I posted numbers. Remember that the 315 number was with .080" scores in all six cylinders blowing by like crazy. We really don't know what the engine will ultimately produce until the L20A we have in the car blows up and we go BACK to the L28 for more runs on the dyno. A lot of people want to knock on our engine with the "lacks bottom end" commentary simply because of the numbers it made. Talk all you want, but when people see the torque curve from that engine on the dyno sheet, they realize quickly it is only a rearend change away from stock to get them RIGHT in the heart of the torque band for monster acceleration (for an N/A Engine, that is...) The torque curve is flat from about 3600, to well above 6000. It only moved up the scale slightly compared to a stock L28. But the top end of the graph.... it just keeps on climbing! With the EFI, that 2.0 to 2.8 conversion is but a few keystrokes away, and we have that calibration right back in there, ready to hit load points on the dyno, and start tuning again... No, this engine doesn't run on pump gas. But when you look at what you gain from compression, dropping back to flat top pistons and say a pump gas doable 10 or 10.5:1 ratio will not cost us appreciable power. The VW guys did that all the time: run 10:1 heads at the track, and after the run was over, swap the heads back to the 7:1 configuration for the drive home and around the commuting chores for the rest of the week.

The CAS units on 81 through 83 are TOTALLY INTERCHANGABLE. If the Z31 swap requires you to swap the Z31 CAS internals into the 280ZX Dizzy, then you aren't using an 82/83 Dizzy, are you? LOL If it works with an 82.83 dizzy unmodified, then an 81 CAS PLUGS IN. They have the SAMe connector, and from my O-Scope testing give the EXACT SAME waveform! If you have even taken an 81 CAS off it's adjustment bracket, you see it fits in a little bracket with (for this discussion) basically a large, oval hole in it sorts curved like a banana. The top and the bottom of the "banana hole" limit upward and downward travel of the CAS unit because on the back of the CAS is a little tang that fits inside the ajduster screw. If you grind the top or bottom of the "banana hole" you increase the travel in whatever direction you ground. This increases the advance able to be cranked into the CAS unit by the stock Adjusting screw. If you screw it all the way to the top of the existing hole, you get about 35 degrees advance. If you were to grind the top of the banana hole more, you would be allowed more advance. Follow? The bracket the CAS mounts in has travel for about 80 degrees of ADVANCE adjustment from zero (TDC) but it is limited by the little "banana hole" piece. If you cut the top out of that piece, you can adjust the CAS up waay more than the stock limiter will allow, but still be on the main mounting bracket. I may have photos from my last readjustment, I will have to look. If I do I will post them at cardomain and reference them here in this post. Hope that made some sort of sense.

Well, we had 315 to the wheels on a .040 L28... We didn't need on stinkin' stroker... Heck, 286 was the baseline for us after going TWM Induction 45's...

GM 3.8L V-6's have very nice connectors, and fit the Bosch Connectors VERY tightly. I like them a lot, and they have supplanted the Volvo Connectors I have been using for years. The Volvo Connectors have similar back boots, and have the "quick disconnect, press-to-release" wire bail on them, and fit nice and tight, also. They are black liek the stock connectors, and the boot on the back seems to be made of better rubber than the Nissan Pieces. The TPS and AFM connectors are also of similar design, but you may need to move the terminals around in the AFM one... But for injectors, the Grey ones of the Buicks seem to work nicely for me now. At the cost of not looking stock.

Same Here, Gen 1 RX7 Cooler. Plenty of Capacity, and nice rubber shock mounts if you care to adapt a bracket to them. I cut 'em off and used a fiberglass channel to mount mine on this car.

It's a half and half proposition. I have run some without the pintile caps, and the spray pattern didn't seem affected at all. But on another brand of injector, cutting the pintile caps off to make them fit caused a TOTALLY different spray pattern (?!?!?!?!) so rig up a test jig and see what happens to yours when the cap is removed. There are sources for replacements available, check online sources. Dunebuggies.com seemed to have an extensive listing of injector information. The way I look at it, someone took the time to put it there, and if they could have cut the cost and improved profitability by omitting it, thye would have, so it must be there for a reason (I may not understand what it is, but nevertheless...)

I'll second that! Make sure it is all clean and secure. Things vibrating loose and making intermittent contact are a problem also. Next step, MEGASQUIRT! Muahahaha! Call me "the devil" for putting the "temptation" out there!

Wierd Reasons for the gear reduction starter. To be honest, the reason had to do with the starter drawing the voltage down too far causing glitching in the ECU. The Reduction Starter allows for cranking when cold, with lots of accessories on, and still maintaining 9VDC for marginal operation of the electrical systems. Little known fact... Trivia from Keepers Of Odd Knowledge Society...

he he he, at Inland Valley's First Car Show three or so years ago, they had an "introduction" Titan out for display. Myself and several others were out there with a tape measure and the salesman came up asking us what we were doing. he about had a cow when we told him we were sizing it up for a swap into an early Z... My thought on it as installed in the Titan, while narrow enough to fit, it is a TALL engine, and with the sump configuration would be almost impossible to do without reconfiguring that section of the engine.

San Diego Valve and Fitting (or it may be Sand Diego Fluid Systems now) is the authorized Swagelock Dealer for your area. Orange Fluid Systems is a branch office down by Angels Stadium in Anaheim. They have Metric Fittings.... If they are good enough for the Space Shuttle, and Los Alamos Testing Labs, they are good enough for low pressure fuel! They have a comprehensive line of fittings that will work properly on STEEL lines, as brass compression fittings will only be held on by friction, and are not designed for STEEL lines. They can convert your line cut to a union, or to a barbed fitting for hose, or to a flexible stainless steel line with teflon lining, or even a 45 SAE of 37 JIC fitting! Stock is in Brass, and Stainless Steel. You want Stainless, and if you want regular steel, they can get that overnight--but they may have some sizes in stock. I use stainless steel almost exclusively, for the cost difference, what's the diff?

Kopr-Kote in a spray can is how I installed mine. They say dry because the Viton covering will adhere to the block finish or the head finish tearing it when you pull the head for the first time... With the Kopr-Kote, it comes right off, no little rubber delamination to make you go "oh sh*t, another $231 down the drain!" (or whatever they go for now...)

If you have the fittings on the bottom of hte carburettor USE THEM! They are for the fuel return to pass through ,and are there to prevent PERCOLATION. They are referred to in Mikuini Literature as "Cooling Bodies" and are optional equipment. They were used in MANY OEM applications of the Mikuini PHH (Celica DOHC's for example) to prevent what you are smelling: raw fuel (AKA: Evaporative Emissions!) The carburettors WILL give off FAR MORE SMELL if you don't have an air box or good air cleaner assmelby on them. So will SU's for that matter! But heat boiling the fuel will be GREATLY reduced by using the return line (they were designed to use a return line....) and letting the return flow cool the bottom of the bodies. This solved the stumbling and precolation that was happening in my friends 3.2 some years back---he had to retrofit them to his car, and was glad he did. Also, if it's hot and you have a deadheaded system, the regulator will not bleed back pressure to the supply side, it invariably restricts the flow to control fuel pressure, so once shut off, the fuel rail will heatsoak, the pressure WILL rise, and the fuel in the rail will sink the floats and dump into the fuel bowl of the carburettor. A proper fuel system with a return line or return line regulator will help with fuel pressur control, but I think your problem is those three things in concert: No Air Box to contain vapors, percolation of the fuel in thebowl, and sinking floats after shutdown adding "more fuel to the fire" all together... Getting an airbox, heat shield, and running the cooling bodies will reduce many of the ill effects you are experiencing now. My Mikuinis on a blowthrough turbo setup never smelled like raw fuel. But when N/A with the ITG air Cleaner ther ewas a faint smell just like the SU's give when run without an aircleaner box. These older cars are captive emissions nightmares. After a hot run, you can have your eyes water from the fumes given off by the fuel system! BTW, have you checked you gas tank vent hoses for integrity lately? Smelling gas in the cabin may not be your carbs!