Tony D

The cold start injector just blasts fuel into the plenum to get the engine to fire. After that, cold running is handled by a map in the ECU based on input from the coolant temp sensor. Cold Start Injector floods more engine than it starts, sometimes.... I swear! Ether is a nice way to get it fired. Squirt a shot in the air cleaner, touch the throttle slightly and try a crank. Once they fire, then the rest is easy. This could be some many other things as well... Excessive Cranking almost ALWAYS wet fouls the plugs in a Z from too much fuel from the Cold Start Valve. If your ignition is up to snuff, and the cold starter does what it should, and you have no vacuum leaks and a proper valve adjustment it will fire and run EVERY TIME with less than 10 seconds of cranking. If it doesn't, you have work to do.

Yes, in the quest for quiet, the EFI S30's actually had a plastic snorkel with silencer built in, that went to the passenger's fender and sucked air from inside there! When you put a CAI on one, it's whistling, wheezing, growling.... It was louder in the car than my double muffler exhaust! So I put the stock box back on. No performance drop. One thing I looked at was the spacing of some of the BMW M-Series Engines and their intake plenum and feed hose. They are heavy...but would definitely muffle intake resonant roar! (The do a nice job on the BMW's!) Good Luck on your tests. Let us know how it turns out.

"It was just being put together to run...I get the feeling thats what many backyard guys do around here for just a daily street driver. " You don't say? "Do the job right the first time and you will save money in the long run." As Gene Berg told me long ago, and his familiar refrain: "If you don't have the money to do it right now, when will you find the money to do it over?" I was in the same boat on my VW....countless 'professional' shops attending to my daily driver because I was too busy building performance motors for other people. I simply ASSUMED they were doing all the same checks as I was and simply had bad luck. Gene changed my mind on all that, and one shop here in SoCal did my mild build when the thing got a rod knock on the way home from work after the throttle stuck. In 75,000 miles of driving since, not a sneeze, cough, or fart from that engine! And for a VW in a Bus that is saying something...especially the way I drive. No, it's not capable of turning 15.50 like the turbo engine I had in there...but it gave me exactly what I needed: reliable daily transportation to do my job and pick up Z-Parts at the PNP! Having recorded the price of the countless 'get by' jobs I'd done....the single overhaul was cheaper by a factor of four. That's right...over four years of ownership I'd spent close to 4X what a single overhaul would have cost me where I ended up having it done. After that.... I did all my own work. Or paid the price to have it done right.....the FIRST time! Keep us posted on the results. Welcome to the 'I got bit, too' club!

A 1/4" tubing will run you at 2,200 rpms fully opened. I took an N/A bypass valve off the side of the plenum and heated it with a propane torch, that loosened the glue holding in those big 10mm thin wall hoses. I then tapped the holes for 1/8NPT and put in barbed fittings. Put one to my "J" pipe, the other to a 1/4 barb connected by fuel injection hose (because I don't trust carb fuel hose at 20PSI). This allows me to set the idle from zero to 2,200 rpms. A simple solenoid on that line and a bypass to the needle valve with a carb jet (or another needle valve) in it will act as a nice fast-idle if you have a GPO in your input that can be configured based on CLT. If you go with the needle valve you want "linear coeficient off seat, ten turn valve 0.125" orifice" that will get you aroudn 1100 turned all the way out....but it will be susceptible to plugging if you aren't running a good filter just like any bypass. Make it easy to get to so you can give it a shot of cleaner now and again. When JeffP saw mine made from cheap leftover Nissan pieces he had laying around his garage... he called me names and questioned my parentage, specifically my lack of a father...and my mother being some sort of inbred cur... We love each other surely! Pfft!

There are those who will argue it's impossible to have 400HP, but Burton Brown's car (3 liter) is running around doing 173 mph on a non-G-Nosed open front stock body Z Car.... .465 Cd, 22 sq ft frontal area.... Physics and Physical Laws don't lie. The dyno can say all it wants, but the indisputable fact that a car does the 1/4 mile, or overcomes aerodynamic drag for a known set of conditions makes calculation of what it likely could be easier. You won't got 11.99 in a 240Z with 250HP. And you sure won't go 170mph, regardless of what your speedo (that stops at 160) says!

Oh yeah, I got that.... I was the 'bet your life on it' comment that got me. Like how it's so impossible. The fast car N/A that year was 9.99 in and S130 as I recall... The Aussie doing the narration strikes the same chord in me as Howard Cosell doing commentary on an NFL game "Shaddap, let me hear the announcer and sounds of the GAME. I'll figure out what to think without you running your damned mouth, Howard!" If you didn't catch it, my "I won't go into all the little things" was along your same point. There are no registration stickers on that car. That says something. If someone in Japan looks at the car there are telltale signs. It's not all shiny chrome and paint like "Howard" is obsessing about!

"I was just wondering what exactly was necessary" That is a personal decision based on your pocketbook depth, and your willingness to gamble. "Originally my goal of 325 rwhp was because of the limitations of the stock head and cam, " I would say more aptly it was based on lack of in-depth research. Anybody reading my threads knows 350 on a stock head and cam since 1985 without a hitch, fart, or burble in well over 60,000 miles of driving and the compression on the engine continues to remain steady if not increase! (Stuck Rings after almost three years in outdoor storage.) Everybody who does it knows: The Power is in The Head. The Corky Bell Phenomenon tried to convince otherwise....but the complications of the "Maximum Boost Mindset" wreck so many engines (just look at the archives here!) it's not even funny. FLOW is the key, as boost is simply a manifestation of restriction to flow, nothing more. JeffP's engine made 380ft-lbs at 8.39psi of boost and 4,500 rpms. Think about that if you will.... What is your turbo discharge temperature at that point? Do you need an intercooler? If you had one, couldn't you possibly make that same power on STRAIGHT 87 OCTANE PUMP GAS? What if you added a squirt of methanol now? For argument's sake WITHOUT an intercooler using a two-stage boost controller with say 10psi as base, and 17 or 20 psi as a 'scramble' setting? In all the years of driving my turbo car I realized that for all the money I spent on that state of the art 'adjust from your seat' boost controller....I only ever used two settings "10 psi, or CorvetteEating" Nothing in between. Continuously progressive boost control was not needed in my case. It was either driving normally, or hammering it. With a head that flows, that would mean low setting to be somewhere in the 325-350 range (ON 87 OCTANE NO INTERCOOLER) and maybe closer to 425-450 on 'high boost'.... Cogitate on that scenario. BOTH can be done on bone stock bottom ends. One day I will get around to replacing my con rod bolts with ARPs but they are the stock units for now.

Dashracer 100 is commonly available at no-so-premium prices. No offense here, but guys commenting from the midwest on what is or is not possible in Japan without a clue as to the norms in the market is laughable. Why insist SO HARD it's "impossible"? Like I said, we had 320+ from an L28 on a CHASSIS dyno from a non-stroked L28 that idled like a kitten at 900 rpms with a 15# total weight Tilton Triple-Disc....and listen to that starter engagement ringarattlerattle.... In any case, it's more than anything I currently have registered on the road. (There are other clues in the video, but I won't go into things like Shaken Stickers not being on the car, etc...) In 1989 at the L-Gata Shootout, no N/A Z-Car was admitted unless it was running 11.99 or faster. That was 20 years ago and on the CUSP of EFI being used there. Full bodied cars with full interiors. Do the math.

I won't say who....but there is a team that runs at Spa 6 Hours Historic... Lap Times close to the GT350's if not GT40's when they put their "Ringer" driver in for the night section of driving... all from a '2.4 Liter' 240Z. Coming down the straight into Eau Rouge, that engine is MAYBE turning 6,800, the sound of a big bore L-Series compared to a competitive L24 is quite distinct.... One day, in their garage stall, I asked about the F54 Block and Freeze Plug Configuration and they were INSISTENT that it was an "L24" to which I smiled and chuckled politely. After that, they closed the garage on both ends and didn't let spectators in any more... The scruitneers know externals, and until you win, and someone protests you for a teardown there is nothing anybody can say other than 'it's an L24'! As for gearboxes, unless they have a way to prove it's not what you say it was....how do they know it's not a comp box (which was nothing more than a box out of a truck!)? Some current competitors are running the KA Internals by switching the bellhousings. Why? Because quaife and JDM suppliers have nice straight-cut boxes made for the Sylvia gearbox. Externally it looks the same. Grab a number/letter punch and stamp a part number on the thing and say "LOOK LOOK! There's the part number!" Or would that be considered "pragmatic interpretation"?

That's just seasonal weight of driver increase offset for some...

"I was looking at delta cams since Isky doesn't list a cam profile that will work with the stock springs. " At Isky Cams for a meeting with Ron Iskendarian last April: Frank280ZX: "Well, Ron, (opening catalog to the Datsun Section) which of these cams do you recommend for my build?" Ron I: "Oh, those? Those aren't all we make, those are just for the guys who want to pick something out of a catalog and spend money. We have LOTS more grinds we can do! We have things MUCH bigger... Do you mind cutting your pistons?" Point being, EVERY build is a CUSTOM BUILD. The SAME car, with an overbored 3.0 will get a different grind than a 2.8 or with a 3.0 that is Stroked but not bored. It's THAT precise these days. Spend a couple of hours talking to Ron on why things are done the way they are, and why you want a specific valve opening event and your head can start to hurt from the things that get poured out. Call Ron, talk with him and tell him EXACTLY what you have and what you are building. Look at their cam specification sheet in the catalog online and have the answers to each of those questions ready when you talk to them. Things like bore, stroke, valve sizes, when you expect boost to come on and how much, HAVE PORT FLOW FOR THE HEAD READY with lift figures if possible. YOU WILL HAVE TO MAKE DECISIONS. Give him your concerns about using stock springs alone and that you want something that will maximize performance at 460" valve lift, with a power peak around 6500 and redline at 7000/7200. Keep in mind the ITS guys measure stock valvespring life in HOURS.... for each excursion over X rpms they start the clock ticking and replace them regularly. Which I suspect is why Isky's minimum grinds go JUST OVER stock spring capability. You have to put in a set of their springs which are better at elevated rpms, and last longer-term than stockers which get weak and either break or loose tension leading to other issues... Yeah you can swap stock for stock. But as discussed, that's really just a stroking. Really, the cost for the springs and lash pads opens up MUCH larger cam possibilities when used with lower valve seals. By changing springs, retainers and seals the limitation of 460" lift is GONE and you can start to REALLY breathe, or at least leave it open to putting a larger cam in as you get more greedy with time... You likely will get a cam quoted that is NOT in the catalog, won't cost you ANY MORE than one in the catalog, and will perform to what YOU wanted. Not just 'something from a catalog for guys who want to pick something out and pay their money." Chances are the cam you have ground will appeal to many other people, so the cam specs will start being used by more and more people....maybe it starts to get added to the next edition of the catalog...

" I only say this because on the MSA site they will only warranty a cam if you replace your entire valvetrain, which seems unnecessary to me... " This is the typical customer response. You want them to cover all the risk with minimum investment on your part. They want to minimize their exposure by making sure everything is the way it's supposed to be. If you don't want to do it YOU ASSUME THE RISK...just don't whine about something being un-necessary. Wear patterns are wear patterns, it's all a matter of risk tolerance. As a manufacturer selling these things by the hundred their exposure to multiple failure liability is quite a bit higher than yours. Put six new rockers on, and six used ones. If six lobes wreck, and six aren't wrecked it costs you the same either way...for saving the cost of six rockers. In all the excitement of reassembling the engine, maybe you forgot.... "did I replace all 12 rockers, or only 11?" Well, being it's well know Datsun OHC's have an appetite for cam lobes when things aren't just right you gotta ask yourself a question: "Do I feel lucky?" Well, do you feel lucky? By the sounds of it, you think you are.... So maybe you will be Mustafa at the Bank who takes the chance, and not Scorpio on the Dock... Why do you CARE about the warranty anyway? Please go watch "Tommy Boy" with David Spade and Chris Farley to get a real perspective on a guarantee/warranty: Tommy: Let's think about this for a sec, Ted. Why would somebody put a guarantee on a box? Hmmm, very interesting. Ted Nelson, Customer: Go on, I'm listening. Tommy: Here's the way I see it, Ted. Guy puts a fancy guarantee on a box 'cause he wants you to feel all warm and toasty inside. Ted Nelson, Customer: Yeah, makes a man feel good. Tommy: 'Course it does. Why shouldn't it? Ya figure you put that little box under your pillow at night, the Guarantee Fairy might come by and leave a quarter, am I right, Ted? [chuckles until he sees that Ted is not laughing] Ted Nelson, Customer: [impatiently] What's your point? Tommy: The point is, how do you know the fairy isn't a crazy glue sniffer? "Building model airplanes" says the little fairy; well, we're not buying it. He sneaks into your house once, that's all it takes. The next thing you know, there's money missing off the dresser, and your daughter's knocked up. I seen it a hundred times. Ted Nelson, Customer: But why do they put a guarantee on the box? Tommy: Because they know all they sold ya was a guaranteed piece of s hit. That's all it is, isn't it? Hey, if you want me to take a dump in a box and mark it guaranteed, I will. I got spare time. But for now, for your customer's sake, for your daughter's sake, ya might wanna think about buying a quality product from me.

NASCAR guys were using Datsun Gear Reduction Starters for years...

MAKE SURE you have a proper inlet box or silencer on the intake. Those regulations are similar, and the noise (ESPECIALLY on four-cylinders) comes from INDUCTION at those points! The inlet is barking pretty good, and that is about where a set of triples gets really loud, just before or coming into the torque band. How the microphone is positioned is also important, is it 90 degrees to direction of travel, or tangential coming/going. Each would be very sensitive to the direction of the exhaust tip. You see many taking a 30 or larger degree upturn in back....that is aimed right at the California test which specifies distance behind the pipe and the method to test. When you know the test method you can tweak your system to play around with it sound is directional and some times it's simply turning the tip up that gives you a pass! Third Floor Flat Dwellers will hate it when you pass by, but everybody at street level will not hear that sound directly and it will seem quieter. It got so bad in California that the manufacturers were giving certificates away to people stating their exhaust complied with the testing. People were getting cited for 'loud exhaust' and in fact when tested it passed. But that INTAKE was barking like a rabid dog! And there was no restriction on intake noise!

Now, if you had a roller cam setup so you could run radical ramps to maximize time at full lift, you could RADICALLY decrease overlap, and increase duration without any degrading of idle quality or vacuum.... See how it all starts to work together? More lift doesn't cause the vacuum drop that more duration does. But because we have assymetric cam events the cam is ground pretty screwy to make it linear opening. JeffP's cam idles at maybe 900 rpms, but has only 10" Hg Vacuum at idle. It would be what you would call a bit on the sporty side. But it idles BETTER than the prior cam he had, with less duration and quite a bit more lift than the last. (0.575" I believe...)

WHEN the valve opens is as important as how long. If you open that exhaust valve earlier so it 'pops' the scavenging and also the turbo gets more energy. Actually what happens with turbos is the opposite of what you theorize: the overlap, because the exhaust pressure (in the old days) was usually higher than intake pressure, would cause exhaust REVERSION (a reversal of flow into the intake) and kill cylinder filling. JeffP checked his build some time ago, and was shocked to find that his exhaust manifold pressure was identical to his intake pressure at 7,000 rpms.... meaning he was not in any danger of reversion, and not long ago, that would have been unthinkable on a street turbo car, only something in F1! The reason for maximising intake lift and duration is simply 'cylinder filling' the more time it's open, the lower boost you will have to run for the same power. Split duration cams are nice as they have better manners than 'straight up' cams. Kind of a disjointed response, it's late here.... the key in minimizing overlap is to get your cyllinder filled and no chance of dilution by any residual exhaust gasses... Opening the exhaust at the right time gives a nice, concentrated pulse and then it's closed. That's what you want.

Either should work. The 3" should be lower frequency than the smaller. I have been working on a Z432 Copy using dual 2.5" pipes.... Why? Let's just say that's my little secret! It will be quiet, that is for sure. Muahahahaha! You have to pass noise regulations for inspection, right? A supplemental baffle you insert up the tailpipe can really cork up the sound for inspection and then easily removed and placed in the glove box or cubby holes behind the seats!

Freaks....

Compression test results showing the break-in progression, along with the leak down test results done concurrently?

For comparison, some of the more 'radical' cams, and what they say about them note the 'STUMP PULLER' specs, this is what you would like for a Turbo Cam.... note the lift compared to everything else, and compare it to the duration!!!: The Engle FK7 is a classic VW Cam for milder engines. It is designed for 1.4-1.5 rockers, and it's specs are .357" Cam Lift, .500" Valve Lift (1.4 Rockers) 288 degrees of advertised duration, and 244 degrees of duration at .050", on a 108 Lobe Center. This is a much milder behaving cam than many people think it is, because it lifts .500". If you want a lopey idle, get the FK8 or bigger! The Engle FK8 is a classic VW Cam for milder engines. It is designed for 1.4-1.5 rockers, and it's specs are .382" Cam Lift, .534" Valve Lift (1.4 Rockers) 298 degrees of advertised duration, and 258 degrees of duration at .050", on a 108 Lobe Center. The Engle FK10 is a classic VW Cam for serious engines. It is designed for 1.4-1.5 rockers, and it's specs are .385" Cam Lift, .539" Valve Lift (1.4 Rockers) 310 degrees of advertised duration, and 266 degrees of duration at .050", on a 108 Lobe Center The Engle VZ14 is a Stump Pulling cam for Off-Road engines. It is designed for 1.1 rockers ONLY. Specs are .420" Cam Lift, .462" Valve Lift (1.1 Rockers) 274 degrees of advertised duration, and 242 degrees of duration at .050", on a 108 Lobe Center.

We had a regrind by a hole in the wall outfit (under $100) for our N/A LeMons car.... We maximized duration, ran lift to the point of 0.005" away from coil bind and carried a BOX of matched valve springs to the track and changed them all overnight. That car with MS ran scarily well being all stock otherwise. The thing is this: if you are committed to STOCK parts....you have to discount the cams. You can get a regrind done cheap to maximize the lift---even if it's the stock duration, you want as much lift as you can ESPECIALLY on a boosted engine. The numbers for flow off the seat (0.050" lift) seem small when flow-tested on a ported head on a flow bench, but when you cram even as little as 3 psi onto it flows massive air. So that lift gets to that flowing point as quickly as possible---meaning a big bump in torque over the exact same cam with stock height. If you add some duration, then you can start breathing up higher in the rpm range. Like I said, for all the hassle you would go through, even on stock ports, a cam reground to give you 460" lift will perform VERY STRONGLY compared to a stock one especially when boosted. Isky really throws lift at the boosted grinds, and his power doesn't lie. It's not my discovery, I'm not to proud to steal ideas from the best out there.... you may not necessarily 'need' a huge cam and ported head, but again....look at 1FastZ's stock port comparison and realize the flow possible at given valve lifts. EVEN on STOCK ports, they will show a flow increase at higher lifts. So that means, you can increase lift to get more flow without the downside of lumpiness and all those things associated with duration and overlap. YES, this means your cam has faster ramps, this could mean valvetrain instability, but at the RPM's we are talking about it's not going to be an issue. For the money, a stock duration l28 Grind 460" cam, is a VERY good choice for someone who doesn't want to port the head. The cam - to - displacement relationship is very well known in the VW Air Cooled Circles. An Engle W110 cam is 'the standard' for first time builds. These numbers are changed when you run 1.25 rockers (another first time build standard hop-up) This works really well in a 1600 CC engine, but for something like a 1835 or 2110....it's really not worth the effort it's WAY too mild to try. The general cams available in the USA discount the L20A SU Cam, which outdoes them all! More lift and more duration.... To get the same power ratios from smaller engines, you got to be more and more aggressive with the camshafts. Here's a list of the Engle Cams which progress logically according to grind so you can see the relationship. The limit is how far you can push the lifter into the case and in some cases clearancing the lobes is required to clear crankshaft counterweights...when you quickly hit the lift limit, you start adding duration. The difference can roughly be stated that a 2110 with a 125 will have similar characteristics as a 1600 with a 110 or 100. The use of 1.25 rockers can lead to instability on the bigger cams, but I hope you see what passes for "STAGE SIX" on a 1600CC pushrod engine lift wise (460 valve lift) is basically 'Stage 1' for our cars... that 274 duration at 0.050 is not that big relatively speaking, while stock on ours is around 245??? In fact, the Engle 110 is very close to a stock Z Cam specification wise (245 duration, 430 lift.) something like that. The commonalities and progression on the cam (since most everything else is the same) becomes clearer looking at the below comparison table. Oh yeah, and any of these cams is like $84.... and you wonder why I started on VW's? The Engle 110 used to be $19.95! The Engle W100 Classic VW Bug camshaft grind is designed for 1.1 or 1.25 rockers, and it's specs are .383" Cam Lift, .420" Valve Lift (1.1 Rockers), 276 degrees of advertised duration, and 236 degrees of duration at .050", on a 108 Lobe Center. The Engle W110 Classic VW Bug camshaft grind is designed for 1.1 or 1.25 rockers, and it's specs are .392" Cam Lift, .430" Valve Lift (1.1 Rockers), 284 degrees of advertised duration, and 247 degrees of duration at .050", on a 108 Lobe Center. The Engle W120 is a Hot Street VW Bug camshaft grind is designed for 1.1 or 1.25 rockers, and it's specs are .397" Cam Lift, .435" Valve Lift (1.1 Rockers), 294 degrees of advertised duration, and 253 degrees of duration at .050", on a 108 Lobe Center. The Engle W125 VW Bug camshaft grind is designed for 1.1 or 1.25 rockers, and it's specs are .418" Cam Lift, .460" Valve Lift (1.1 Rockers), 301 degrees of advertised duration, and 262 degrees of duration at .050", on a 108 Lobe Center. The Engle W130 VW Bug camshaft grind is designed for 1.1 or 1.25 rockers, and it's specs are .419" Cam Lift, .460" Valve Lift (1.1 Rockers), 308 degrees of advertised duration, and 267 degrees of duration at .050", on a 108 Lobe Center. The Engle W140 VW Bug camshaft grind is designed for 1.1 or 1.25 rockers, and it's specs are .419" Cam Lift, .460" Valve Lift (1.1 Rockers), 313 degrees of advertised duration, and 274 degrees of duration at .050", on a 108 Lobe Center.

Buckeye Nuts, I won't touch Buckeye Nuts. They come from Ohio. You freaks!

You don't say? Inter-generational information exchange loss.... wow, what a concept!

Absotively!

look at the dyno charts... camshafts react differently to different displacements.What's hot on a little motor is mild on a larger one. The power peak on the L28 is unmistakable though, it's done by 53-5500. That's how it's geared. Compare that with the L24 curve. Either published by nissan, or by anybody posting the dyno run of their stock car... Frankly, you're wasting your time with a stock one. The only thing a stock cam is good for is a core for regrinding. Delta can regrind a copy of an Isky L475 (higher lift than stock same duration for L24, Higher lift but shorter duration for L26/28), L480 (Higher lift than stock and 10 deg more duration L24, same duration as an L26/28 but higher lift), or L490 grind (Hihger lift and 20 degrees more duration L24, and higher lift and 10 degrees more duration than stock L26/28) with the requisite 0.465" Valve lift...and a slight lobe center change so it minimizes overlap. Its turbocharged so you play with opening events to minimize reversion, and put in as much lift as you can. Look at the charts for stock ports and flow and it tells you when more lift is not doing anything for you. Then you are left with as much duration as you can use with minimal overlap....and Boost. It's wasting time playing with the stock cams. Get something that has duration and lift.Lift is good. Lift means flow. Even the stock valve events with maximized lift will be very satisfying when boosted. The thing is, the bigger your engine, the bigger your cam has to be to make it pull up top. And that just isn't going to be with a stock cam!