Tony D

"And it's One, Two, Three strikes The Corps in the Marine Corps Game!"

Anything that works with a VSS will not have any assist at highway speeds, This is the way the Dutch unit works, and with any that hook to a VSS. The rotary pot adjustment of the assist simply puts a manual input to the VSS Input to the brain box. No reason for that, when you have a Nissan Tranny since the VSS off 90's models backfit easily enough. Or, like any number of old-school aftermarket cruise control, you slap some hall magnets on your driveshaft and set up your own VSS. This is not as complex to make work properly as most would believe. I'm surprised they don't offer the flying hall solution instead of that knob in the first place. Makes it speed-sensitive power steering right off the bat.

OEM thread size is M12-1.25, that goes for the Quest as well. 1.5 as stated previously is for Toyota's and other ilk.

The glass in modern cars is the same glass in the Z. No Z was sold anywhere in the world without a Safety Glass Windshield. NOS Glass is Safety Glass... Novi, that's where the big dump is, right?

RC Engineering, Torrance CA.

So you didn't just grab the two big knobs in the center of the cam with a vice grips and turn it that way... Good, I guess...

I ended up living in a Geo Metro during June / July in Reno and it seemed to work great for me (dark blue metallic car, no less!) and that experience was what got me thinking about it. Especially after I saw the size of the compressor and started thinking about weight savings... When you calculate the interior volume and greenhouse on a Z compared to a Metro the Z is actually noticeably smaller. I currently have a Suzuki Every 660 Turbo... and it has that same dinky compressor, and it will idle and keep the front seat passengers cool on a hot Manila day...much to my surprise. Yes, it runs all the time...but I think the actual limitation might be the condenser. My van had a leak, and I replace it with a unit from some Korean 13 passenger van. Same Evaporator, same fan... But it seems that the big condenser and self-cooling fan on it (it's in the back where the spare tire normally resides) keeps it cool just fine. And my girlfriend actually complains it 'blows too cold' when we're running down the road at 35mph (50kph). I think a lot of this stuff relating to poor performance is condenser, and fan sizing related, (and with Aftermarket Systems the way the evaporator was suck-through instead of blow-through.) Really, as long as you have sufficient fan sizing to assure enough air changes through the evaporator, it will cool the interior. The key and where I see shortfalls is the condenser setup not being ducted and getting proper airflow across it. The passenger vans here almost all use horizontally mounted condensors under the floor with dedicated fans blowing on them based on a pressure switch. To improve the system, most guys put a switch to run the fans continuously and boost condenser efficiency. You can only cool the evaporator to 35 degrees F or so.... meaning you just have to blow over it more air to cool it down. If you have more condenser volume to make LPL (low pressure liquid) and supply your orifice or expansion valve...it will have plenty of refrigerant to chill the interior. My big thought was the Metro possessed a small component package that could fit in the space behind the Z-Dash, and then from there, the rest could be sourced wherever. My van's compressor runs A LOT... but it also cools the interior of a small kei van to 70 when it's 92 outside and not in direct sunlight (full top moonroof and dark blue paint...) If in direct sunlight at idle, the front passengers will be in 70F, the back two in the cargo area just under 77, and behind them 80-84. If I put a curtain up behind the rear seats, everybody is in the 72-75 comfort zone. If I close the roof shade, the interior temperature drops as well. BTU's in, BTU's transferred, BTU's out. Balanced properly, THAT is the tricky part!

Methinks you are incorrect. An In-Dash Factory A/C System was an offering from DAY ONE in the S30 Chassis, and mechanically it's almost identical to the 280Z system, just shaped a bit differently to fit in the confines of the 240 Dash... It was just never offered in the US of A due to 'Sportscars not having A/C' mentality.

"Tony, here's the thing, you are correct." Well, I give you kudos for not getting PO&B over saying that! LOL Remember if the head had any work, and they put new valves in, they tend to recede at a VERY fast rate for the first valve adjustment period. Some builders will run the engine on the dyno, then readjust valves. If it was road-broken then maybe after 500 miles, with the oil change, and then again at the next oil change (3000 miles) -- depending on what kind of recession rate they see, they may leave it for regular interval afterwards (30K miles) or adjust it again until the recession (change in set value from last adjustment to as-found) levels off. Once they are 'beat in' they can go quite a long time. I don't want to say this, but I actually realized my 260Z has gone 110,000 miles since I last adjusted the valves in 2001 when I took my son to the ZCON in Canada. Maybe THAT is why I've been having the problems I have been having... It happens to all of us... doing a valve adjustment on 'The Blue Turd' is on the top of MY list when I return to the USA in April!

It's not a big deal. The two have similarly spaced floor holes, but the exact same transmission. The ZX had a shifter that went STRAIGHT UP --- no bend at all and it will hit when used on the earlier 280Z. The 280Z had a shifter that had a 'lazy S-Bend' in it to move it back towards the driver somewhat and clear the front of the shifter hole in that chassis. I would say the only thing you are going to need to do is offset the shifter to the left by a small bend or adjustment of the shifter assembly you use (aftermarket shifters use segmented shafts held together with bolts so you can move the lever to suit where you want it.) As for actual placement, the actual shifter hole position in the transmission in a 280Z is slightly forward biased (hence the curved shaft). In the 280ZX it's almost dead center of the floor hole. So with that... you will see that the hole in the floor is pretty big, and moving the shifter position physically 25mm left, and 50mm back in a hole that's something like 100-125mm X 150mm is not a big deal. I think you will actually have plenty of clearance without doing anything. At most a shifter adjustment. When swapping the ZX tranny into a 280/240 you can torch heat the Straight ZX shifter and bend it to approximate the same as the earlier models shape. That is always an option for placement. If he's referring to the early 240Z hole...and not like a later 73-78 260/280Z hole... then the shifter will be slightly left and almost centered front to back in the ZX chassis. If you can follow that all! I don't have a photo of the shifter on anything in the iPad right now, or I could enclose photos for you.

One thing to remember, if you get it above 3500 rpms, the AFM is not in play there---the flapper is wide open and it should 'smooth out' --- it goes to the preprogrammed map at that point. If it's still running rich, you are looking at FPR / CLT generally. That is the quick diagnostic checkpoint to eliminate AFM from the picture. I saw that originally it would not rev over 3500.... and that can be the case with CLT sensor. Usually if it's fuel pressure it's much more pronounced at idle, and less so as you proceed higher in the RPM range. And above 3500.... it's all Preprogrammed on Engine Speed, and if the WOT contact is closed on the TPS, then it's a bit richer than less than 35% throttle opening above 3500.

You have your ENTIRE troubleshooting scheme backwards. The FIRST thing that has to be done is a basic tune up, and that STARTS with a Valve Adjustment. Specifications are give hot and cold, after overhaul you adjust cold and warm the engine to the point where you can recheck hot and go from there. Block the radiator with cardboard, until it's up to temperature. It seems very strange you can't run the engine 5 minutes to get it up to temperature, but can run it long enough to make all the other adjustments you are doing. You start it run it until it dies and repeat until up to temperature. Adjust your valves then move on. That is the basic first step in any Bosch System that used air flow control and was even more critical on the MAP-Based systems that preceded it. That critical nature was a primary consideration when it was decided to switch from MAP to AFC in the first redesign. Everything else stayed basically identical...but how it measured what the engine was doing was radically altered.

All this...and no mention of a valve adjustment. Last 8" Z I had, it went to 15 after valve adjustment...hot.

HAHAHA "98 Towards Goal of 50"! I guess they walked into an untapped demand!

If you pull, use a torque wrench (beam indicating deflection pointer style) to monitor your turning torque. It's easy to overdo it and pass the stretch limit of the stud and that just sets up a lugnut and broken stud flying off someplace!

They blow out, down the manifold, and end up rattling against the catalyst monolith...

I've discussed this with Frank and Jochen... We started calculating during MSA last year. I was at the house for MSA 2011, 10 days. Came back again in December/January 15 days. I think the total in 2011 was maybe 45 days all-in but most of that was at a service meeting in PA and visiting dad in Michigan... MSA 2012 10 days, January/December 5 days, MSA 2013 10 days. Service meeting 2014 3 days... Somehow, in that period, I ended up with a 280ZX, an F150, a 1958 Datsun 1000 (L210) and a supercharged 240Z! WTF?!?!?!? Six months??? Hell son, you got PLENTY of time to work n the car!!!

Head to PIR...

Why doesn't anybody try the Geo Metro System? Comparable interior volume, VERY small components... And a Compressor about the size of and AIR pump!

Got a turbo?

Buy the NISMO long Stud Kit for a 350Z... So you get 20 studs instead of 16... PFFFT! Maybe you need spares if something breaks , right? That's what I used on my S30 Courtesy Nissan likely ships to your door. 1.25 thread pitch... Drops (presses) right in!

"I would do it myself, but I travel for work and rarely have time to work on the car." I know that job...

Actually, the factory option parts covered from the G-Nose (which sealed on the bottom side to the radiator crossmember, to in back, halfway down the transmission. It was an FRP underpan, and was open on the exhaust side so any air let into the engine bay was biased to exit over the top of the tranny and on to the exhaust-side of the car.

Gene Berg would say "If you don't have the money to do it right, where will you get the money to do it over?" it's apparently not primary transportation...why rush and half-do it? If you had the tools to get the head off, getting it out isn't a big next step.

How much do you value accurate valve timing?