wondersparrow

hmmm, I'll have to check it out. Tried all the Nissan dealerships in town, a Napa, and a Parts Source and they all looked at me like I was on crack. Heading to Canadian Tire today, woo boxing day. I'll see what I can find.

Wow, there are a lot of locals on here. Good to see. Yeah, autocrossing it sounds like fun. I really should take some racing schools sometime. I have been waiting to see when the one at Race City is and start there. Silly question, anyone know where to get a radiator drain plug locally. The car has the stock rad (I believe) and did not come with a plug. I have a Chevy block bolt teflon'd up and stuffed in there right now. Thinking of getting a new rad, but haven't found one that doesn't cost and arm and a leg to get here. Supposedly Sumaru's has one, but I have been there 5 times now and not yet run into anyone competant enough to even sell me a plug. I am pretty sure I am done with that place. Seemed sketchy in the first place. I ordered the ArizonaZcar brake kit the other day. Can't wait till that gets here. Even though I have never really driven the car yet, I am sure it will be a vast improvement over what is there now (Drums still on the rear? Really? Drums? C'mon.). The expensive part is going to start soon, need all the safety gear. Going to get a HANS right off the hop too (going to be required inn 2010 anyway). I have heard that Mopac and Gee's are probably the best places to check out for that stuff. Then all I need is a trailer......hehe

Good day everyone, This summer I picked up a 240z for track use. My plan is to get it all ready for next spring. Like Daeron, carbs are new to me; and Webers are not the easiest starting point Anyhoo, the car was previously raced (and I would assume tuned). While taking apart the carbs for rebuild etc, I noticed that all of the chokes were 38's except for one. Its on cyl #2 (unless I have them backwards, its the second one from the front of the car). Its a 34. I know some people run into detonation and cooling issues on cyl #5, so maybe I do have them backwards. Can anyone think of a logical reason for this? Well other than the prev owner just never noticed or something silly. I was going to order a new choke for it, but I don't want to cause issues if there is a method to this madness.

Interested as well. Whats the word on this? Maybe we can get a group buy going if and when these things are ready.

Sorry if this is a bit of a thread hijack (tho the subject is pretty vague , but has anyone evaluated electric fans vs belt driven? A couple of my mechanic buddies were pretty adamant that if I wanted to get the most power to the wheels possible, I should switch to an electric fan. Thier reasons were better cooling and less load on the engine. I am just wondering if it is a worthwhile swich since I am going to be getting a new rad anyway.

If you don't mind me asking, what did the Ron Davis Rad set you back? I need a new rad for my track car and I have heard good things about them. Its just a pain because it seems you can't get a rad shipped to Canada for a reasonable price.

Autometer actually makes wideband gauges for most of their product lines as well. That's the way I am going to go so it matches all the other gauges I have. I think its a little cheaper and still comes with the Bosch sensor.

I have heard nothing but good things about Bel engines just off Argyll.

Thanks Tony, makes sense now. The flour analogy made it click. The rest of the article made sense and was quite helpful.

I think in terms of what the article is saying is that worst case scenario pre-ignition is when the fuel ignites just after the intake valve closes. It goes on to discuss how at that point the compression cycle has to compress all the hot expanded mixture. This then causes extremely high pressure and heat to build up usually resulting in a hole in the piston within a few cycles. I just found it surprising that it stated that almost anything can ignite the charge at BDC. I could understand it if Dave is right that that what they are talking about is the difficulty of creating a spark near TDC. Instinct still leads me to believe that the charge is more volatile when compressed, not when at near atmospheric pressures.

In the obvious quest for more power I like to do a lot of reading about basic engine theories and such. I also know that I shouldn't believe everything I read on the internet. A thread here at HybridZ pointed me to an article on detonation and pre-ignition here -> http://www.streetrodstuff.com/Articles/Engine/Detonation/Page_6.php Great article, good read; though I do have a question.... The article states: "Keep in mind the following sequence when analyzing pre-ignition. The charge enters the combustion chamber as the piston reaches BDC for intake; the piston next reverses direction and starts to compress the charge. Since the spark voltage requirements to light the charge increase in proportion with the amount of charge compression; almost anything can ignite the proper fuel/air mixture at BDC!! BDC or before is the easiest time to light that mixture. It becomes progressively more difficult as the pressure starts to build." This seems odd to me. I would have thought that in thinking of the whole concept of a diesel engine that this would be the opposite. Is this a case of "the intake charge has not had enough time to cool the hot spots" type of thing? I would expect pre-ignition to happen much later than BDC, in fact probably much close to the actual spark event. Instinct tells me that you would have to be running quite lean to get this type of pre-ignition. What are the thoughts from the gurus around here?

Well, I have to say, I am quite angry about this thread. I started reading it just after lunch and have got no work done at all today. Good thing the boss isn't looking over my shoulder But seriously this thread is an inspiration. I learned loads about the L series engines today. I have been looking into ways of improving my race engine as well as what I am going to be doing for the next. Thanks to everyone that brought their knowledge to the table.

That looks pretty sweet. Did it come with a tranny? Which transmissions do the neos come with? That seems like a decent option. As much as I love the triple Webers, a nice standalone EFI system is pretty attractive.

How is the aftermarket support for the RB30 series? Any better? That could be an option too, just the cost of shipping an engine half way around the world seems like a waste. I hadn't really considered them maybe its worth looking into.

i think triple downdrafts might be a better way to go if space is that tight and you are willing to make your own manifold. Could have some fun with it and make the horns stick out through the hood, hehe.

yeah, I beleive there is only one triple manifold set out there for the Z's, but would they fit your head?

It would obviously depend on the manifold you are going to use, but that seems really tight if not impossible. I'd measure mine for you but I am not a home right now. Is there a kit for that model?

Ah, once again the difference between the regions comes out. That would be GT-1 up here, probably GT-2 in SCCA I am guessing. Anything over 2.6L is a GT-1 here tho they may bump you down if your p/w ratio is really low. We do allow turbos up here, so I am still toying with running a turbo, but then if I go and take a tour in the states I end up in some SPO catch-all class. Not that I am expecting to be really competative my first couple seasons anyway, I just want to race I just want to have a spare engine ready to be dropped in for when this one goes. Without pulling it all apart, I dont really know what is in there, it came with the car. I just figured running in schools and some rookie races with it won't do any harm.

I dont think I have ever seen the start circuits hooked up on dcoe's. I usually just have to give it 2-3 good pumps on the pedal and she starts no problem. With the cam/compression I have it takes a while to be warm enough to go far, but it starts ok.

I am pretty sure a carb'd L series won't exactly be smooth either. I was just wondering if the better head design and vvt (on some heads) is worth the trouble. If this was my street car, I would definitely be going with an RB25DET. Its just a pain trying to find a good engine that can be used in different racing regions.

I have done a bunch of searching and I can't seem to find much info on the RB25DE. Yes thats right, the non-turbo (scca thinks turbos are evil). As I am going to be road racing my 240 starting next season, I want to have a spare engine ready to go. Right now I have a well prepared 2.4L L-series with triple Webers, racing cam, upgraded valvetrain, headers, flat pistons, etc. It will hit the dyno in the spring so I know what I am dealing with. I have had my eye on Rebello's "Big Bore" for a spare/upgrade. They claim 365 HP / 300 lbs-ft torque. I think that would make a nice GT-1 engine, but I want to keep my options open right now. I have done some asking around and there is no rule preventing me from running an RB series engine as long as its not a turbo (curses scca again). What kind of power can be made from an NA RB? Does anyone know of any good builders for RBs (pref. in north america)?

Of course the improved fuel management will acount for a lot. I dont know what size the throttle shafts are, but I am pretty sure I have 38mm chokes in there. I don't know what the limitations of these heads are when it comes to flow, but somehow I don't see anything bigger than a 45mm ITB working well on an N/A setup. I do like the looks of the secondary injector mounts though.

Has anyone here converted from triple Webers to the extrudabody ITPs and measured the performace before and after? I was wondering if there is much of a performance gain to be had, or just the consistency and programability of EFI. I have triple Weber 45 DCOEs on my L24 and was considering doing something like this in the future. I want to have a spare engine ready to transplant into my roadcourse car the second it gives me issues. EFI/ITBs seems like a good way to go.

I wish I could daily drive my Z. Unfortunately its a total track car and nowhere near street legal. I just got it this summer and want to get it ready for next season. Until then it just sits there tempting me. Its a really good thing that its too low to get itself off my driveway or I likely would have done something stupid. 103 octane isnt exactly available at your local gas pump either.

Wow, is calgary the Z capital of Canada or something? hehe. Good to meet another Albertan for sure It kinda sucks that I work in Kamloops and my car is in Edmonton. It sure would be nice to be working on the car daily; c'est la vie. I think this way it will be pretty easy to keep the momentum up tho. While I am away at work, I do lots of research and order parts, then when I get home I get a few days of solid tinkering. Ordered myself a wideband O2 kit. I wrote down a ton of specs on those carbs, but one of the things I didnt check is was the size of the needle valves I think the next thing on my to do list is brakes. I was thinking of building my own adapter for Wilwood radial mounts until I came across Arizona Z Car. Who has used those kits? What do you think of them? They are a little on the pricey side, but they seem to be exactly what I want (6 piston fronts, 4 piston rears, remote bias adjuster, etc). The car right now has 280zx front brakes and stock drumtastic rears. The other thing I have been disappointedly looking into is what engines I can run and meet both WCMA and SCCA regs. I don't get what the reasoning is behind not allowing superchargers or turbochargers in the SCCA. Seriously, am I looking at some archaic outdated rulebook or is that still the case? WCMA allows it, but with a 1.55x displacement factor; thats fair, at least you can do it. And then comes the hybrid swaps. Thats a complete no no. I would love to do a small block chev or an RB25. Can't run a chev, because thats just straight up not allowed (unless maybe I can call it a Scarab just for the purposes of classifying it). And I can't run an RB as turbos are apparently evil and eat babies or something (I am pretty sure the RB25DET would be allowed in WCMA). Is it just me, or would racing be a fair bit more interesting if you allowed people to build the best car they could. I honestly don't know many car people that run stock blocks in thier daily drivers even. Maybe I am reading the rules wrong, but I don't get how changing every part in the car (even the frame) except the engine would allow it to stay in the same class, yet changing the engine just makes it straight up illegal. Any other racers out there have any insight for me?