BLKMGK

You'll find that above the rear there's a boxed steel fram piece. To mount my cell they welded angle iron from it to the frame piece at the back of the car. Cell mounted on that using "ears" to suspend it. Not sure there's much support from that tire well but the framing installed should add support. It's not much different on my car than I've seen on others in pics (shrug).

Are you using a Ford remote solenoid? Check the batt connections on it. Also, sounds silly, check the battery connections at the battery. I watched a guy have this problem at work once - before anyone had a chance to try and jump it I smacked the connector with a screwdriver and it cranked right up Hope it's something this simple for ya' man... [ October 07, 2001: Message edited by: BLKMGK ]

Figured out the headlight problem When I wired the headlights with my "Painless" wiring relay setup I was VERY careful to wire it up so that the pins in the plugs matched. I had to cut the plugs off though since the plug wouldn't fit into the headlight housing. I even wrote down wire colors to get it right! However I was seeing some things that didn't make sense - primarily the fact that if I removed either relay all lights seemd to die - I expected one relay for high and one for low... Completely frustrated and unsure of how this circuit was supposed to work I decided to look at the driver's side circuit. Gee, it functioned as I expected - one wire stayed hot while the other two alternated to ground withthe stalk up front. Hrm! Looking at the wires I hooked up months ago I noted that the one that was COMMON to both relays wasn't hooked to the wire that was hot all of the time. Hrm!! I looked closely at the relays and saw nowhere that that wire was tied to ground so... I tied the wire that was always hot to it. Gee, lights now work "correctly". Rather than the common wire being a ground in this case it's a HOT wire - cute that it's BLACK on the "Painless" harness. I'm not sure what to think. Are most cars switched HOT and not ground? I was pretty careful wiring this thing. I could swear it worked fine but I didn't drive it much. Motor off with no vibration it DID work but obviously not putting the voltages in the right places .. Well, I think it's fixed now (sigh). On to the tailights!

3pages of notes - pulling my hair out here. Question - the stalk appears to switch ground in order to change from hi to low beams - this sound right? At the bulb - is there a common HOT and then switched grounds to lite the bulb?! Would appreciate a sanity check here. If it's NOT a common hot then I'd appreciate someone explaining to me how it works? I can take the connector from the stalk and ground pins in order to lite the lights. Low comes on but so does high always. I'm seeing a hot up front nearly always which I thought was the high beams but now I'm not so sure. Pulled ALL fuses except for the circuit that goes to the bulb I'm using - no change in behaviour. I've inspected the harness as best I can - no damage visible. Am going to examine the headlight stalk switch a bit I think. Having a heck of a time understand how this circuit is supposed to work... Wiring diagrom from Nissan is spaghetti and damned confusing. Anyone got a diagram of just the headlight circuit?

Aww great. I checked voltage going out to the headlights. One way I see 10volts on one wire just fine. Click it again and I see 5volts on ground, 5volts on the lead that had no power before. Tapping the relays kicks on "high". Need to double check this as it's pretty confusing. On what I assume is "highbeam" I get 10volts on the highbeam indicator, click it again and I get 5volts?! Think I need to put something in this circuit. I think when it's got 5volts on two wires is when tapping on the relays clicks on highbeams. Kripes this is weird! Pretty sure it's not coming from the switch area. If I disconnect the stalk and use a wire to ground pins I see the same behavior I'm pretty sure. Going to have to take notes to keep track of this - what a PITA!

Okay, looked it over today and FINALLY found the little holes that activate th ething in the carb throat. It was a SuperChevy article that said to blow air past them with the throttle open BTW. Tried this- no joy! Pulled vac can off (PITA), pulled it apart, diaphragm looked fine. Verified linkage moves freely. Haven't retested yet. Pete - the wire tie is on there very lightly, just lightly not to fall down. If my wire tie was blocking th eopening of the secondaries it sure didn't hurt performance one little bit. I've confirmed that a vac secondary carb works on load and NO amount of winging the throttle will open them - my memory is obviously faulty. Managed to dig up my Holley's instructions and will review them to troubleshoot this. Am hoping that having pulled the unit apart, blown out the passages, and reassembled that it will magicly begin working. Didn't think to test with a vac pump today (got rushed) but if this doesn't work I will. Looking this whole part of the carb over I'm struck by just how dirt simply it is - it should work! P.S. Assembled I did try compressing the rod and holding my finger over the hole I confirmed that the unit didn't "leak down". When I pulled it apart I also noted that the rubber was pretty much squashed flat and I popped it back into shape when I put it back together. I hope that indicates that something funky occured during assembly and that I've fixed something. I'm not holding my breath

Okay, this just sux... Worked on the headlight "issue" tonight. Here's where I'm at: With engine off I turn on lights - tap relay area and high beams come on! Bad relay right? Unplug one relay (either one) and all lights go out. Plug it back in and lights are on, tap brings on high beams. I measure voltage at one relay and it's 5volts at one point, 11+ when I hit th estalk. Looks like some voltage MIGHT be sneaking in making that relay trigger more easily? Only thing recently changed was my circuit for the high beam indicator. For that circuit I took the two wires going to the high beam bulb and ran them to a relay. I pull those and leave them unhooked. While goofing around under there I've now got it so that ONLY the high beams work Looking at the stalk switch it switches GROUND and seems to work fine. Gave up at this point. Question - what happens when a Z's high beam indicator bulb goes out? If I short those wires together I blow a fuse I'm thinking of putting a bulb on to see what happens - need to measure voltage with stalk in both positions too. I will also be checking the voltages at the "old" headlight connector. This will allow me to isolate out the relay harness as causing the problem. Will be looking at the schematics tonight too I think. Didn't go out tonight on account of the flakey headlights - not cool at night (ahem). No work done on rear signal tonight - tomorrow maybe.

No word yet, need to holler at them and see what's up. I want to try and keep my existing O2 bungs and maybe even try to hook thes to my existing exhaust. Will see when it shows up - hopefully soon! Will let you know - extra hands are always good to have aorund fo rthis

Randy - you can run stock 9.25:1 compression on a 302 w/turbos. I've got a set of manifolds in the garage for this now if you'd like to see some pics to get ideas. They came out of my FOX Mustang and worked well. They were T25 turbos - little things. Fast boost though! Only ran about 10PSI.

How much power? Turbo examples can mke as much as 500 and maybe more. Naturally aspirated I really am not sure. Cost I'm also not sure of but 3rd GEN RX7 motors like I've got new in the crate go for around $3K I think - sans turbos etc. That's the only copst yardstick that I happen to know. Durable? So long as you do NOT overheat them or encounter detonation they live fine although I'm npot sure a 500 horse example would Generally I think of them as somewhat frail since detonation kills them so easily - run them rich or pay a price! Cheaper? I dunno' about that. Realize that while they may make big HP they also make little torque. When I get in my RX7 after driving the Z it feels like the clutch is slipping madly because the revs climb and I don't feel like I'm moving much - till I look at the speedo! I can't say they'd make a good or bad swap candidate. I won one but am honestly afraid I'll toast it if I'm not careful. The V8 I'm not so worried about

I'm thinking X Pipes are a bit overrated. Maybe on a full on race car they make a difference but the shop I deal with claims they see next to NO difference in power between the two. Sound difference yes, power - not really. If you've got an H nearly ready to go use it and be happy...

You'd think that Holley troubleshooting stuff would be all over the place - nope! Holley's site mentions how to tell if they're open but not what to do if they aren't Found one site that shows the vac passages - the passage for the secondaries is MUCH higher than what I was blowing air on. It looks much like where Car Craft showed it except that on my Avenger I didn't see it there. Will be looking closer again tomorrow - this is frustrating. I agree that something has to be wrong with the diaphragm or the passage though. Will pull it off tomorrow and check it over. Fun and games!

Okay, the mystery of the missing horsepower may have an explanation. Tonight I put a wire tie on the vacuum secondary plunger and drove the car around th eblock a few times flooring it in several gears. Ran great! However when I popped th ehood and looked at the plunger the wire tie hadn't moved at all. I've put the weakest spring I can in the can for this test and could feel no secondaries - the wire tie seems to confirm this. How exactly should this be troubleshot further? Brand new carb, linkage moves freely when the throttle is held WOT, when the plunger is pressed I hear escaping air but I'm not sure if it's venting into a throttle bore or not. I'll try to examine the diaphragm tomorrow as that's th eonly thing I can think of - this puppy has a quick change spring thingy and is a Holley Avenger 770. I'll be reading up on any FAQs I can find on the 'net but appreciate any input here. I intend to dyno this sucker again as soon as I get this thing working!

Okay - someone double check me but I think this is how th ethree processes are done: 1) Cast - Pour into mold, let cool, tool. 2) Hyper - Pour into mold, strike the mold, cool, tool. 3) Forged - Cold blank is struck with great force to produce the desired shape, cool, tool. Look at Probe forged pistons. I believe you'll find them to be good quality. This is what many of the Ford guys here run if memory serves.

What GrinZ said is about right. Fine for NA apps but do NOT run NOS withthem or a blower. They're harder and more brittle and if you experience knock you will have problems that you will NOT enjoy. Check the piston weights on the pistons you're looking at - the TRWs are reportedly heavy so be careful. As for picking a piston from an OEM perspective - the 87-mid92 (think that was the ending year, Ford lied about the switchover so don't believe them) pistons in the HO apps were forged. They used low tension oil rings though so make sure you could use something else. These may also be a bit heavy and the valve cuts might not match your application. They hold up better than the OEM hyper pistons in blower and NOS use (ahem).

Scottie is our GNZ expert bu tI can help a little until he has time to post... Converting a stick car to an auto is no biggie, it's not harder. Front suspension won't "require" any work but I'd be looking very hard at bigger brakes - you WILL need them You'll also probably want to consider using a 700R4 too since overdrive will be something desireable if you drive the car much other than at the track. Hrm, the rest I think you'll have to get from Scottie. I think you'll find this swap to be a good one and VERY fast. Scottie will likely be in the 10s here pretty soon

When I check the power at the lamp I'm grounding to the frame - weird that it's like the power isn't going through the socket.. Harness is OE and I measure voltage at the harness just before it goes into the last bit of harness attached to the lamps. That little piece is socketed on the 240. I also trimmed away a bit of insulation on the suspect wire near the socket and got no juice - that's when I decided to check behind the socket going to the main harness. What a PITA!

Okay, feeling too sick to work on carb I decided to check out 2 electrical issues. 1) Passenger side turn signal not working in the back. Bulb is good. I check voltage on the contact - nothing there. I check it on the other side's socket and see a pulsing voltage. I pull the harness for that lamp set and check it at the socket - I see pulsing voltage. I plug in a harness from another lamp set - nothing. I plug in my lamp set and try to check voltage on the backside of the pin going into the socket - no voltage?! Is it possible the blinker module up front is bad and can't drive the bulb back there? The front blinks fine though. I'm open to suggestions, my next step will be plugging in the other lamp harness again and checking for volts on the back of the pin but I'm not expecting anything. It used to work fine... 2) When the motor is running the high beams pop on and won't go off?! I thought maybe it was the little relay setup I'm using to turn on an LED for high beam indication but I'm not so sure. When I first crnak up the car with the lights on I see the high beams pop on but th eLED is dark. Kick on the high beams with the stalk and it lights. Kick them off and the LED stays lit as do the beams. These are Hella H4s so I'd really like to fix this - I'm blinding people. I didn't get a chance to check input voltage to the relay up front (not stock) but will do that next. I'm actually wondering if engine vibration could be jiggling the relay closed? I may also try disconnecting the LED setup inside the car. The only place that it could get phantom voltage that I can think of when running like that would be the fuel pump's oil pressure switch but I cannot imagine how that would occur. I'd appreciate any ideas - this one has had me stumped for about a week but I hadn'y really looked at it much until tonight. Hrm, just realized I've not tried turning OFF the car to see if the lights dim after it shuts down (smack). Bizarre!

Well, I just had my car dyno'ed at "only" 300RWHP. I can tell you that it's pretty darned fast - figure it's 350HP at the flywheel. I don't think you'll have much trouble beating folks with that much power and if you decide you want more swap some parts and get more. You don't have to have a zillion ponies but you can always upgrade. Heck, build for 300 if you want and hit it with NOS for more HP later down the road. At some point I think you can have "too much". One of us is hitting 9s in the quarter which is really impressive but breaking rear diffs left and right must sure get old. Personally I'd be happier going a little slower without breaking things - obviously not everyone feels that way though (shrug). It's up to each individual to figure out what's good enough - realize that over time you'll probably want more This isn't a project you'll build and never turn a wrench on again I'm pretty sure! I'm only trying to get more power out of mine because it "should" be making something like 100HP more and I'd like to post a bigger number than a particular person. Sort of a pride thing. Besides, if you pay for X amount of HP, buld for it, and then don't have it you kind of get a little annoyed I think you'd be plenty happy with 300 or 350HP. Sit down and do the math as to what that power will get you with about a 2500lb car. I think you'll be pleasantly surprised! In a daily commute or cruise you will most likely be coming up against mid 12second cars or slower with some exceptions (obviously). You'll be right there with them or better if you can drive... Hey Andrew - would it be possible for folks to post their guesses as to what their HP and weight is along with their times? Might make conversations like this much easier. Jack, have you looked at Andrews page of timeslips yet? Maybe pick a range and ask those folks what they run?

Yup, you could use any number of boost controllers to do this. The HKS unit I had used three different boost buttons and included a "scramble boost" option where you could hit a button to allow it to "overboost" for a period of time. Launch with about 2PSI, hook it, and then hit the button for 8 or 9 down track. Turbos have a giant top end rush anyway so I can only imagine what that would feel like.

Sizing isn't too bad actually. The RPM ranges on these things are known as are the CFMs. You can figure this stuff up much liek you can with a turbo - they have compressor maps of sorts. Talking to the manufacturer is a good way to do this. IF I do it I'll simply buy a used head unit and an NPR intercooler. The rest will probably be custom except pulleys. Yeah, turbos have excess boost so you can have a flatter curve but overall the centrifigul units are pretty responsive. In a car with traction problems anyway it works to our advantage. Supercharger bearings CAN be an issue. Mine had been run on a race car with a cog belt. Sure enough the shaft deflected too much and needed bearings. This cost me a hundred or two and a little time but it's right as rain now. I figure turbos have this problem some too with oil seals and whatnot going bad occasionally. Advantages and disadvantages to both methods. I really think turbos are the better unit for max power and flexability but I'm not chasing peak performance in this case. The biggest downside to a supercharger is the NVH - darn things ruin any surprise!

One of these days I'll build one but not alone the first time As for the 440 Mopar, yeah it's really hosed. It was pulling fine until it got to the 2500RPM mark and then power just plummeted. I didn't see the graph but they said it was pretty weird. Got to be something like ignition or valvetrain IMO bu tignition issues usually show up in the graph. Once you've done it setting up a Dyno run is pretty easy. Hardest part is tying it down (shrug).

Turbo book has the results of what occured when a turbo V8 was first built and dynoed. At around 10PSI it simply went to pieces! Made so muh torque that the "pink" rods couldn't handle it and the crank broke too. We're talking some serious power. I'm wondering how we'd hook that power in a Z. However if you're only going to go for 10PSI or less I'd look at centrifigul superchargers. Turbos are fun to play with but for that little boost they'e not really needed. Personally I'm torn - I'd LOVE to have a turbo to play with other than my $RX7$ but a supercharger is pretty easy to do. "Cheap" too compared to a turbo unless you're a whiz at fabb'ing. We'll see but if I go turbo I'd want 15PSI or so

Just a side note - freshly rebuilt 440 Mopar in a charger was dynoed the other day at the shop. 139HP with torque much the same! At 2500RPM the power "fell off a cliff". They're now keeping tissues next to the dyno Guy "built it myself" and it apparently really souned nasty at idle. Obviously something is WAY wrong with the motor but I'd sure hate to build something like that only to find out it made no power or worse. I wouldn't do a rebuild like that unless I had someone to hold my hand through the whole process... This guy suspected something was wrong - geez I'd guess so! Mine goes on the dyno tonight, wish me luck!

Shaft breakage - if you run a centrifigul supercharger with a cog belt than you can indeed have problems. I've never heard of a shaft breaking but the bearings will wear and the impeller will contact the volute - whoops! Not using a cog belt is the easy solution as the belt will simply slip a bit when you get off the gas (shrug).