cygnusx1

Yes, take that paint off, and treat the steel and use a high quality primer. It looks like moisture got under that paint. Painting over that would be a waste of time.

Any off the shelf spray paint will work fine. It's not going to just burn off. Prep it well, and any paint works. If you want extra peace of mind, use a duplicolor high heat paint. If you want super long lasting, then powdercoat. IMHO, cost/benefit ratio of off the shelf rattle can is very good here. Mine has lasted over five years with a few chips here and there. The VC comes off more often than it needs to be touched up anyhow.

I second this. +1 All we need is 1post with the "dummies" version of these 23 pages. Great thread, and next time I blow the head gasket...

The turbo, drain, pan fitting, tubes, and cartridge, were all cleaned up during the rebuild. All block vent's and PCV parts are hooked up and functioning. It's most likely the bad turbine shaft, and the oil control rings not quite seated yet. Possibly, some valve seal leakage also, even though the head was built 5000 miles ago. I will start with the new turbine shaft. Then I'll drive the snot out of it for a week or so. If it still smokes, I'll do the valve seals. The new turbine and shaft are sitting in customs....

Looks like it rained just before they took the wheels, or as the rain ended.

Here is a photo my friend took at the used car lot right in front of his house. This was Mother's day morning. Not a ghetto.

Awesome car BTW. The insurance will pay for this but it sucks that WE have to pay out of our pockets so that THEY can steal stuff from us...and probably get away with it. The dealer have any cameras on the car? If not, I would look at it as a possible inside job.

When I got my 240Z, I think it was wearing it's original steelies.

It don't care which way the noise is going... use it or you WILL be back wondering what you did wrong.

OK now that we are off topic a bit, check out this company based on a relatively simple invention. The company is right around the corner from where I worked, and what made me investigate, is that every day of the week there was a new super car parked out front. Veyron, F50, F40, Diablo, Mclaren...I swear it was a daily cycle of super cars. Not much apparently going on inside the building, so I had to investigate. http://www.hytorc.com/ It has an ingenious little secret that let's you apply torque to the bolt with cancelled kick back. The secret is in that the threaded portion of the "counter torque nut" (load disc), is "splined" into the hex portion, allowing it to slide axially as the stud stretches. One of the few bolts approved for oil pipeline use. Now I know why he has an exotic for every day of the week. Tony, if you aren't using these, you might consider upgrading to them. http://www.hytorc.co...load-technology

Keep going you have momentum, and it looks good!

Ground the braided insulation only at ONE end, and that braid will "catch" electrical noise and ground it before it gets to the signal wires inside. That's how I understand it.

Absolutely Tony, My comment should have a disclaimer limiting it to backyard stuff, between friends, that will only ever stand trial from traffic light to traffic light. I should have stopped at: I like to use my cordless click-clutch drill for boring repetitive work.

Just pull out the dizzy and block the hole with a plate. The oil pump still drives. If you want to get fancy you can cut off the top of the dizzy and leave the lower part of the housing in there with it's bearing, to support the top of the dizzy shaft. It works either way. Your list sounds complete. Just buy some Bosch pigtails, and either make your own MS harness, or buy the one from DIYAT. I used the Megaview board in the dash so I can see the O2 readings right from MS. I would think you can split the signal though...not sure on that one. Nissan sensor values are easy to find and input into MS. If you can't find the values, make your own with boiling water, ice water, and room temp. Nissan does not have a TPS in the Z's and ZX's. It's a switch. You need to get a 240SX TPS. You also need to buy an IAT sensor. The Z one is in the AFM which will be abandoned. To keep the cost down, go with the internal wastegate. It works great for moderate to strong builds. Think strongly about using shielded wires for anything ignition and fuel pump related. Make a ground rail somewhere in the car with a fat cable to the - battery post and body, and run all your low current grounds to that rail no matter where they come from. I would do the 240SX TB mod only if I were installing an intercooler because of the plumbing size changes needed. The stock turbo discharge pipe is small anyhow. OTOH, you do need to dremel out the mouth of the intake to get benefit from the 240SX TB and it's easier to do before you install the engine. You decide. I am going to be doing a turbo swap this Summer for a customer so I will try to document everything I can.

The head was rebuilt not long ago by a respected shop here locally. I believe fel-pro seals were used. It was done about 5000 miles ago. The pistons, rings, pins, bearings, timing kit, were all replaced two weeks ago by myself. The block was bored and honed 0.020" over. I verified piston clearances and ring gaps before I put it together. Compression readings are perfect. It smoked a little before this rebuild only on decel. During the rebuild, I decided to changed all the turbo bushings and seals. I noticed that the turbo shaft was not pretty but i figured it could not get any worse by changing seals and bushings. I think I was wrong. By cleaning out all the carbon from the turbo, I made it easier for oil to get past the seal on the worn shaft. Yes, it could be leaky valve seals but after studying the turbo shaft closely, why would I blame anything else, until this was fixed. I think that turbo shaft was pulled from a sunken offshore racer and "cleaned" up to use in my "rebuilt" turbo when I bought it a few years back.

I have some 76 parts laying around...mostly odd and end stuff, nothing on your list, but if you need something down the road, feel free to try me out via PM. I did my 72 with stainless bolts and screws mostly from http://www.boltdepot.com/ The car is mainly 6mm, 8mm, and 10mm. They sell by the bolt without huge upcharges.

75lbs is a good number. My 75/76 styles came in around there.

Proportioning valve and line lock in the ashtray pocket.

For the pan bolts, I used my cordless drill with the adjustable slip clutch. On minimum, it's slightly over finger tight (my fingers, when clean). I'll go around 2 or 3 times with the drill, really fast passes, to set the pan up evenly. I go back later and set the clutch tighter for the next stage when the sealant has set up. The point is, that the drill with clutch keeps them all really even, and it's fast. If you have a small torque wrench, you can calibrate the drill clutch. I just do it by "feel" now. After many years of wrenching, you get to know, what can tighten to what within reason. Especially where the absolute value is non critical. IMHO torquing every screw and bolt to a spec is kind of OCD for non critical areas. There is a place for torque wrenches, but not at every single fastener...unless you are building a high performance motor for endurance competition.

Bad link....can you repost it?

Like a battle of rust, versus scrap steel prices. i would like to see someone plot that out to find the optimal time to trade it for cash.

Yeah the ebay turbine and shaft are on the way. The new seal will go on that sucker. I'm not going to bother putting that old rusty spear back in the snail. I'll drive the triple 240Z around for a while...if the rain ever stops. F'ing Matt, I'll check the PM and thanks!

Thanks Tony. I hope this is the issue. I'll gladly toss this thing into the puddles if it's the cause of my smoking problem. Hmm this my be the creek paddle I am looking for! Made in China but looks way better than what I have now. http://cgi.ebay.com/...sQ5fAccessories

Jon, I hope that's all it is and that they do seat. When this seven day deluge stops, I'll get more miles on it. I chucked the turbo shaft in a drill and polished up the bearing surfaces, and cleaned out the ring groove. I measured the turbine seal fitment. End Gap 0.002", Side Gap 0.009". Shaft axial play 0.001", radial play 0.010". Then I took some photos. They are scary looking under my phone's amazing macro lens.

Might want to look into aluminum steering couplers, or a heat shield for the coupler.