Pharaohabq

How'd it go Dave?

Nice, I'll check them out, I've got some routing issues to work out, trying to fit the stock headers in my VQ project.

Yeah I know running down parts for the HR motor is a pain. Some things just don't make sense like why do they have offset bolts for the Alt and PS brackets? Why not just use a bolt that's got the same diameter along the whole shaft? I've had to source a lot of parts, fortunately there's a ot of these motors around so it's not too too bad, just a pain. I really like that GTR plenum, I'm really tempted to order one of those. The are shorter than the stock plenum which makes be wonder if with that, it would be short enough to drop into a Z32. I know the DE is just a little too tall.

Before you guys buying anything, just pull off your wipers and cowel. (be sure to mark them for reinstall) I've heard of a few people where the linkage just came loose. you might just need to put it back on and tighten a screw. I've seen people also fab new linkage, or even replace with an 80's honda motor/linkage.

Hey Where'd you get that exhaust kit? Some of those bends would be great for my project.

Yeah with the tank leaking it would certainly be a really good idea to drop the tank, though becareful with your hoses, they're liable to be old and brittle, may need to replace some lines, and possibly the rubber part of the fuel filler neck. Let us know what you find out.

Very cool, you've sure been doing a bit of work. I like the coil on plug packs. that's a pretty cool looking idea. The Timing wheel, is that just bolted to the front of the damper? I've gotta admire the amount of work you've been putting in since my project has been advancing fairly slowly. I was looking at painting my engine compartment, but I can't yet afford to paint the whole thing so I'm kinda stuck in that it really should all be sent for stripping and paint before I doo too much more, or I'll be tearing it all down again when the time comes for paint. I kinda don't want to be redoing too much work. I'm sure you know what I mean.

Well my guess is that the seafoam you put in the tank knocked loose some old crud in the tank. (thus the leak etc) and now you're car is dying out due to fuel starvation. I would almost guarantee your fuel filter is clogged up. This isn't too much to worry about, though it's very likely you'll need to drain and drop the tank, Get it cleaned out (hot dipped is recommended) then replace the filter, hook it all back up and I bet you'll be good to go... Anyone else got a better diagnosis? Please post what it turns out to be once you get it figured out. Phar

Well I wouldn't say you overpaid. If the car really is in very good shape it could easilly be worth 6500 bucks. Be sure you insure it as an antique or modified, through hagarty or other collectible insurance, or if something happens you won't get the real value. I would like to see more picts of the car of course. but so far it's not sounding too bad. The paint is unfortunate, if the car really is in such great shape, it's sad they wouldn't spend the extra cash for a decent paint job. in anycase, Take care of it and hope to see you around. oh, The headlights, check the fusable links, that can certainly make them not function. the Speedo I bet is just the cable either not connected or busted, easy fix, though you might just wait till you swap the 5 speed in since you'll be muckin about in there anyway.

CGSheen, hey could you detail how you went about converting to 134a? Did you have to swap out a lot of parts due to the old mineral oil from the R12?

No, I don't think the AC amp has to be plugged in for it to start, but the manual has a * next to the plug notating that it's a required part. On the gtood side any AC amp 03-06 and maybe 07-08 years should work. but that's probably just for informational purposes. My diff mount is going to be basically the RT design. For your axles, how much are they going to charge you? Did you need to provide 2 sets of shafts for the secondary CV joint? I've read that most often you need those so they'll match up, but you're swapping to 300Zx rotors anyway, so it's probably a moot point, in that they just need to shorten your shafts rather than adapt to S30 stubs. With the McKenney MS mount kit, you might want to put the motor in then mark how to mod the crossmember since that kit is going to position your engine differently than Austins. I just welded in my mounts last weekend, they're 13.5" off the firewall, put the HR engine right up snug. my crossmsmber mods are different, the biggest being the cut for the Oil filter. I'll be dropping my engine back in when I get my exhaust sorted out. got a little pain on that since I'm using the stock Cats for emmissions purposes. tho I was talking to the MVD guys and since the 78' is a non-cat car I may not have to have the cats. I'm wondering if without them, that I'll be getting CEL's off the o2 sensors. Anyhow, more pics more picts! your email sounded like you've made progress.

That looks like a decent regulator. Should do the trick. I've got a set of round top SU's if you're interrested, send me a pm. Another way of lowering the pressure in your fuel line off a EFI pump is to put a T off the loop before your regulator, then put a second regulator off that T before your carbs. This effectively puts the regulators in parallel dividing the work they have to do in half. You don't have to do this unless you're having flooding issues with the primary regulator turned all the way down.

yeah, you've got the humidity. You might look into what it'll take to upgrade to 134a refrigderant. Call each manufacturer and ask if either compressor is compatable. Now I don't know that much about AC Systems, but I do know that the newer refridgerant is cheaper not to mention supposed to be better for the environ. Er Sorry just noted you already bought the SWP123, so just check to see if that's usable with 134a. I don't think there's any rubber seals in the rest of the S30 system. gotta ask tho. The big thing is to make sue you've got the right lubricant in the system for the type of gas you're going to use. R12 uses mineral oil or something, and R134a has to use PAG. If you've already got the condensor, evap and all with R12 and mineral oil, you should stick with it, since cleaning out all the old oil is almost impossible. I was reading something about other gasses like HyChill which might be usable. This might need to be explored much furthor since Hychill is propane/butane and apparently is compatible with any oil. Be careful though since an incompatible oil and gas is apparently what messes up seals, not the wrong gas itself.

CHeck the PS pump mount, I bet it's not installed correctly. The PS pump has a bracket at the bottom and then a scissor tensioner ajusting bolt at the top. If that tensioner isn't put together properly it'll cause things to be out of alignment. Search on here for the FSM, and I'm sure you'll see what I'm talking about.

Sounds like you don't really want any advice... But really it your car, if you want to do it then do it. the Downside I would say about it is the wiring. The Z32 up to 95 runs ConsultII thus have a distinct wiring setup. you'd need to swap in the 2JZ harness and ECU, but then getting any of the stock gauges to work will be a pain. Swapping in aftermarket stuff can be done but then will ruin the nice look of the Z32 setup. You're probably not caring about that at this point though. So, Sure go for it, have fun knock yourself out. This isn't a common swap so I'll hope that you'll post picts and to let us know how you've gone about it.

were there Tokico springs lowering springs? are you certain they were for the S130?

I read the comments on the site. People saying it's too tall don't know what they're talking about, Maybe the front could be lowered slightly, but you said that could cause suspension geometry issues. So just raise the rear about .5" that'll shift the look aside just should I bet. It only looks tall because of the flares anyway. I bet you're only 4" off the ground already. You guys did an awesome job getting the paint and all installed in time for the show. But did you get the engine in?? I didn't see any picts or hear you talking at all about the engine install. Yeah it looks great but if it doesn't go.... Oh and I saw you did some work on the flares, but The tires still look a bit like they'd rub. perhaps you can tell us the plan for that? It's pretty awesome showing it next to a stock S30 in the show too, it really enphasizes the amount of work you've put in. The Fender vents, Wow, they're kinda large, but they don't look bad at all. When I saw the outlines I thought you were going to cut them on the front top and botton edges and indent an inch or two to make tall vents. The top and bottom would then be glassed in to finish the look. it's all good though, and since you've got moulds you can make more easilly too. You ever consider selling a Kit? The Karotta S30 widebody. Sounds cool huh? Now your rear quarter window, Seems to me you could do a lot with it, since you're using Lexan, you had a lot of options. What I was thinking would be realy cool would be to get a set of S30 2+2 rear quarter glass mounts and integrate those, so that you could pop open the side glass easy for ventilation, you'd have the mounting handled. (Though the front edge you might need to use early honda civic glass mounts since you already removed the B pillar.) I'm planning something really similar, but I'm looking at drilling a stock set of glass for the 2+2 quarterglass conversion. I know, not easy on tempered glass. I think we can heat it and drill and hopefully be okay. So very nice, keep up the picts, I'd love to see more. Phar

Picts look pretty cool Mark, What'd you come up with for the transition with the wheel flares? Back to my bigger interrests in your project, the HR engine... Courtesy Nissan has the GTR intake manifold for ~$600 bucks, It's a little shorter than the HR stock plemum. I've been thinking about that for my build, just to raise the engine about an inch. Not to mention the cool factor. Do you have any picts of your engine apart? There's not too many picts out there about the HR internals. How are your engine mods coming? Have you decided how your Turbos are going to mount yet? I imagine you're not going to have the AC or PS pumps on there so I was also wondering what you're thinking for the belt routing? I've been looking at mine and I haven't figured out a way to route the belt without building an additional pully into the mix. I might go with the AC pump instead so I can have AC, since NM in freakin hot in the summer. Keep up the good work, and any more picts you can post would be awesome... Phar

yes with a good pressure regulator you should be able to use the stock fuel pump. The Stock EFI system is a return system so your regulator would need to be able to return the excess pressure down the line, while the low pressure side should go to the carbs. it will take a little work to dial the carbs into the right pressure. I think it's only supposed to be 7-8 psi for the carbs. The EFI system is 40+. You may be able to put an inline FPR in place of the EFI FPR to hold the pressure much lower. I would have to look as the fuel routing more closely to tell you more.

a good machine shop should be able to either weld and retap that, or install the timesert straight and in the right spot. Though you might consider finding another head somewhere since the cost of a new head is pretty cheap in comparison to machine work. Not that a used head shouldn't be cleaned planed and setup with a valvejob and new Viton seals(for unleaded gas use) before installation.

Hmm, I've never seen a master cyl leak through the brake booster, but I guess it's possible. If the booster's full of fluid you'll probably want to replace it too since brake fluid isn't very good for rubber parts. Pull loose the Brake Booster vaccuum line and see if there's oil in the hose. If there is then that could be your source of contamination. I wouldn't bet that's the cause though. Check for fluid leakage at your wheel cylinders to explain the loss of fluid. it's gotta go somewhere. Hope you can find the leak... Phar

Good Question, Though the MJ167 may be compatible and work well, but it doesn't do you much good to change things that you knew worked before. If the SWP123 worked well for you, then why change models to something unknown? If you swap to a new pump thats rated higher than the other components then don't you risk other parts of the system? Perhaps. I can't tell you how well one would work over the other since I've only used mine which is the SWP123. The bigger thing to consider is since you're cracking open the system, just be sure all the appopriate steps to refill the repaired system are taken, especially the part about evacuating all the old oil and replacing with new.

heh, I doubt they ever drove a S30, though they might get the truckishness from the manual steering and the 70's larger steering wheel.

It's hard to say why it would be smoking is it didn't before, and all you changed was the tranny. The sticky rings ideas is a definite possibility. You could try doing a wet compression leakdown test and see if one cylinder is weak. It's possibe you might have had some oil leak down from your valve seals into the engine cylinder. I would go for about a 20 min or so drive and see is the smoke gets a bit less. Keep an eye on your oil level if you're burning it you could start running low. Just to be sure, you should also unplug the cold start injector, that'll ensure it's not stuck and flooding the engine with too much fuel. (though that would be black smoke) If it goes away after a drive then it's probably no big deal, unless it's happening always after it's sat a while. The original valve seals were made for leaded gas, and can wear allowing oil to drip into the intake from the head. Newer Viton seals fix that, but find out if it goes away after a drive before thinking about ripping into it too much.

Very nice, You've convinced me to go ehead with the larger tires on mine. What'd you use for the undercoating?