Midri

I did.

Has anyone used one? I'm wanting to switch out all my smaller gauges (clock does not work) I've already got Depo water temp and oil pressure gauges, looking to use the 3rd spot for some kind of fuel gauge if possible... anyone done anything neat looking for their fuel gauge if they removed the stock one?

Serious, I've got them just sitting here... Why not try it? Engines not going to be left stock, obviously. Have headers on it now, looking getting one of my P79 heads worked on to increase airflow.

So I picked up a bunch (6) of 240sx throttle bodies for basically nothing and was playing with them when I realized I could chain them all together and use them as individual throttle bodies for an L28. Would need custom runners made with injection ports, but that's fairly easy to fab up... I could also maybe do 1 intake per 2 cylinders and use the 3x mikuni carb intake... That's all stuff we're going to play with... My question to you smart people is how is the air metered in an EFI ITB? I've looked at a bunch of pictures and install guides and have not seen any indication of intake O2 sensors and obviously you can't use a MAF.

Thanks for the info, I was going to use the N42 intake manifold (pre egr) and find a 60mm throttle body to put on it, if I go with the P79 head I'll use my 6-1 or 6-2-1 headers (they're both round). As for the actual induction I was thinking running the stock airbox without the top half (the flat flute) with the filter held in place by a custom mounting bracket. I'd think the larger rectangular body into the hole design would put more pressure into the intake than a "ram air/cold air" tube would when moving, but I'm going to play with that I guess. We've taken L28s apart before, for valve and cylinder wall repairs; I'm not to worried about parts getting miss matched. Also I have so many gasket kits... really want to use them... lol I'm wanting to put a Megasquirt 2 in the NA at some point, have a wide band O2 sensor and some other misc parts sitting around that could be put to good use. Mainly I just wanted to get as much out of an NA engine as I could and since I had all these misc parts I know people have done some crazy combos and gotten interesting results. Needed to know if it was worth doing a high CR on an L28 (read a few forum posts on it, and agree retarding the timing to get high cr engines to not knock kinda defeats the overall goal.)

The engines are all being torn apart, regardless of if we plan to mix and match them. 4 of them have been sitting for 5+ years and the one that was running is a franken engine already and we're wondering how well it was put together so we're taking it apart (it was originally going in a different Z than the one it came out of, I got a rust free one a while back and my current one is about 99% rust, so it was going to be pulled anyway.)

I mentioned that I was open to the idea of getting flattop pistons, but later in the replies I also pointed out that I have located a L28 out of an '83 ZX that should have a F54 with flattop pistons as well.

How would an increase from 8.8:1 to 10:1 not be worth it? I'm legit wondering, since you are one of the pros on here Tony. I have no problem getting a different cam if I need to or having one of my stock ones machined.

Well the turbo cam is 270intake/260 exhaust, could it be used in the NA engine with N42 + flattops? I've tried to research how all the different measurements of a cam shaft play into dynamic compression ratio, but it's just not something I'm comfortable with yet. Also I just got informed I can grab an '83 280ZX's L28 for cheap, which should be a flattop F54 block.

Complete engines that have been disassembled due to sitting for years, we're replacing gaskets, checking seals, etc. Just want to make the best engines out of all the parts (one of the engines is not going back together)

Well I was looking for a bit more theory craft... Why would you suggest dished pistons instead of getting flat tops for the NA? I was aiming for higher compression, but I'd probably need a new cam right? Also if I could get an F54 block with flat pistons would it make more sense to use than the N42 with flat pistons, being I'd have to buy pistons for the N42?

Sooo I've got 3 L28 engines now all out of cars and wanting to mix and match them to make the best 2 I can. I'm building one turbo engine and one na engine. Blocks: 2x N42 (dished pistons) 1x F54 (brand new dished pistons, recently rebuilt) Heads: 1x N42 1x N47 1x P79 Cams: 2x stock 1x Schneider 270-60F-14 1x Schneider 270-60F-14H (I think this one is for a hydraulic head.) Turbos: 1x Stock L28ET Turbo Any suggestions for pairing? Also I'm aware I probably should get some flat top pistons for the NA since all of these engines have dished ones.

So I'm playing musical cams this week and pulled my stock cam out which had 0.16" lash caps with 0.04" sinks (so they're effectively 0.12") is that stock? I can't see anyone selling anything close to that thin. My other engine has 0.16" lash caps but they're not sunk. What is the stock lash cap thickness? Do they have a sink?

Well the plan is to run it EFI for now, but switch it over to 4 barrel carb in the future.

EFI and I forgot to mention we have rocker arms out of the engine one of the cams came out of, so we're switching to those since they are already worn in for that cam.

So I recently acquired 2 after market cams from a buddy of mine. One is a Schneider 270-60F-14 C1/D1 and the other is a 270-60F-14 C2/D2 (not sure what the difference is. If anyone knows I'd love to know.) I also received a set of 0.16" lash caps to go with them. What else do I need to be aware of when installing this more performance driven cam? Also these are sold as turbo cams, does it even make since to put them in a NA car? (My old cam is stock, Japan "A" model)

Seats look good, carpet looks good, dash is shot (never seen one that was not unless it was refabed), center heater plate is good, console is good until ash tray where it's split. Just going to cut it after ashtray and custom fab an arm rest. You say that, but I've got everything else on the engine tuned up and I had the exact same issue with a N/A Toyota Celica engine when I was a teen that I had totally forgotten about. When I put straight pipes on the Celica is sucked the bottom end right out of the engine. Technically you're right though, it's not back pressure -- that's just what all my mechanic buddies use as the general term for the stupid dynamics you have to account for with air flow and pulsing of the engine. Here's the best write-up I've seen on it: http://www.dsmtuners.com/threads/exhaust-the-straight-scoop-on-backpressure.168578/ -- and once again, you are technically correct that back pressure is not what I need, but the exhaust pipe has EVERYTHING to do with it.

So I got up early to go to our local Nissan dealership's car show yesterday, I'm not a morning person... almost did not go. Wanted to show off my Raty '78 280z. Hung out there for a few hours, got to chat it up with some other 280z owners. One guy helped me figure out why my '78 feels so anemic off the line (previous owner put way to big of exhaust pipes on it so no back pressure at all), and I started chatting with another fella (who had a really nice 280z almost restored completely to factory stock) about rust issues and how I was going to have to stop working on my Z and learn how to weld and figure out how to put some new frame rails in (passenger side no longer connects under the floor board to the car or to it self) and he just said to me, "I've got a complete '78 that's stripped down to the bones from Arizona (so little to no rust), you want it?". I thought to my self, "Yes, of course I WANT IT... but I can't afford it." and replied sheepishly, "How much you want for it?". His reply, "Come get it and it's yours." -- Over the moon, this complete stranger just offered to GIVE me a RUST FREE '78 280z (sans engine, transmission)!!! So I go over to his house with a uhaul car trailer and get ready to tow it and he points out he has another 280z, a '77 that also needs an engine and tranny. This one has a bit of surface rust on the top, but has full interior, 2 perfect looking seats, and the under body is almost as good as the '78 he's giving me. He says, "If you want that one too, take it." Needless to say, I spent all day yesterday hauling 280z back to my house. My birthday party was also last night (I turned 30 on Sept 30th) and I was not even mentally there, I was basically "shell shocked" for the rest of the day. Unable to process any emotional stimuli.

My good oh Ratsun that I'm slowly fixing and making "modern"

Just watched the 24 hours of LeMons episode, god I wish I had the balls to destroy my exhaust and side panels to make it look like how they did.

I've taken the pan off my engine twice, both times whilst still in the car. You've got about as much chance as winning the lottery as seating that gasket properly without taking the engine out of the car (or at least lifting it with a hoist) so you're going to get leaks and no, you probably should not reuse your gasket -- especially if you put the pan on with the engine still in the car, you probably ripped/stressed it some places.

Relays it is, luckily I have a bunch of 30amps laying around for just such an occasion!

A transistor (I personally would use a MOSFET) will work for outputs I suppose if you use PWM drive them with 12v and gate them with 5v/3.3v, but your inputs to actually read the sensors from the engine are all going to be 12v so be careful.

The ark would never be constant, regardless of placement. The relay would control the flow of electrons and either source voltage to the contact or drain voltage from the contact.

Just wanted to comment on this for science! Ethanol is actually a lot less effective a solvent than gasoline is. Gasoline, however leaves varnish which then makes things look dirty and thus it's not used as a solvent (though a byproduct, Diesel; can be used as a very effective solvent -- we actually use it a lot to clean engine parts and the more manly of the mechanics club wash their hands with it). So it stripping rust from your tank would make no sense. The reason ethanol is bad for older vehicles is it dries out older rubber/plastic compounds causing them to become brittle and crack.