datsunlover

Yeah.. thats cute.. I was going to post that but I don't know how to.. can some one explain to me how? Ah.. btw, I ment that last bit as a joke...

I'm getting my engine re-built, but am lucky in that my pistons are good, as well as the bores. My builder is going to buy new rings and hone the block. I have to call him tomorrow and see if he got pricing yet, and I can ask him where and how much he's getting the stuf from.

Ok.. I had a thought.. "hey.. how about a KA 240sx 5 gear to replace my old 4 gear?" So I searched.. I found a little info, but I'm a little confused now.. there are conflicting statements.. Some posts say it bolts up but sits at an angle.. Some say you need to use the front of the Z tranny and attach it to the KZ tranny (How? Bolt it on? cut/TIG weld? ...??) One of the posts asked "arn't the L series a one piece case?" but there was never an answer.. From what I can tell looking at mine (75 280z 4 gear) I think it is, but... ?? I'm hoping someone has new info on this and could help me out.. Anyone runing a KA tranny? From what I gather, the Z clutch will work/line up, and some bearings have to be swaped... But, is a custom driveshaft needed? or is it possible the u-joints are the same? (IE: use KA piece out of the tailstock, and Z driveshaft..) Is it (trany case) a combo of KA/Z pieces, or what? I'm just gona run a mild N/A 2.8 so I'm not woried about how much power it'll take, I'm sure I won't break it. Hope someone can answer some of these for me.. PS; ZR8ED; I'm just curious, because I can get my hands on an 89 KA 5 speed for $100, and it's local. I wana see if it's an option, cause well.. you know the $$$ thing. I will let you know though. __________________

Are you sure it's coming out of the dizzy? Sounds to me like one of the (posibly up to 4 i think) conectors that comes out of the thermostat housing. Even my '75 has THREE sensors/conections there.. One is the sender for the temp guage, one is a 'thermotime' switch and Im not sure what the others are. Sometimes these get so corroded, they just break off flush and look as though there wasn't anything there.. If you're having a cold start/stumble issue, that may be something to look into.. I'm pretty sure the 'thermotime switch' has something to do with telling the ecu when the car is up to temp, and changing fuel/ignition timing and such..

Could be your vacuum pot is ripped/leaking on the dizzy.. May be only a small crack now, but at certian points it looses vacume. I don't even run the vac advance on mine. (75 280z w/zx dizzy) I just set more intital advance, and find it's very responsive. I had one of those silly dual pickup units in my car )stock) and could not get the thing to work properly. IMO there's too much other crap (thermotime switch, transistor 'box', ect) that it relies on to work the ignition properly, and its all 30 years old now. I think maybe this is a carb problem.. asuming you've set the dizzy to factory specs and all is in good working order... but Im just thinking now.. I doubt the factory settings will perform well with triples..

That would more than likely be your heater core (under the dash) leaking, or posibly one of the hoses going to it. This sucks, (I've been there) and there's only two options; you can either unhook/plug the hoses in the engine bay (and have no heat) OR pull the dash out and replace what's leaking.

OMG... Thats horrible.. and funny at the same time.. I started laughing at it, and my cat just walked into the room and looked at me; "Meow?" baahahahahahaha!!

Bump..... Just curious...

Um.. iirc, the early 240z's came with fiberglass buckets from the factory.. I know where a car is that's being parted out, (scored a bunch of parts from it already, on two ocasions) and I could probly get them dirt cheep for you.. but I'm in Ontario canada..

I think vic. british caries oversized piston/ring kits; standard, .020", .030" and .040" oversize. They come in a "set" (pistons and all required rings) and from what I'm reading, (04' fall edition cataloge) your're looking at around $229 tops..

I'd say the TPS/conector got wet, OR, the electronic box on the distributor is either wet inside, or may have a bad conection dues to moisture... here's a thought though, in the AFM there is a contact that cuts the fuel pump power (should make contact when the flap closes, like when you shut the car off) I think maybe it's possible some water got in there and at one position (that would corespond with about 2100 rpm) it makes a conection due to the water and kills the fuel pump.. Either way, check evrything and make sure it's free of moisture..

Funny.. I realized how easy it would be to hotwire my Z (once I had riped it all apart) so I now have a hidden switch that controls the fuel pump. I figure, if some one wants it, they will find a way to get it.. but without the pump running, the float bowls only have enough fuel to idle for about 1.5 minits, and under acceleration, it's less. (I found this out by mistake once.. ) It'll rip through 1st gear, and about half way through 2nd it sputters and dies.

I have never driven a porsche 911, but had a ride in a 924, and on another ocasion 'test drove' a 944. (Both from the mid/late 80's) The 924 felt.. ugh.. Basicaly slopy and bumpy, but that may have been mostly the condition of the car (was NOT maintained well and needed lots of work) The 944 was actually quite nice, but I will agree on the clutch feel.. Seams to me it's a european thing, as most VW and Audis as well as BMW's I've owned/driven are similar. Not that I hated it, but it is a very difrent feel than a Z, or and Japan built car for that matter. Power was about the same (going on the 'but-o-meter' for that observation) as my 280 in the 944, definatly less in the 924. (that crapy Audi 4cyl was never BIG on power anyway..) The hanleding was a lot better though.. Despite the 924 being rough and poorly maintained, it felt pretty stable, and more 'together' than my Z. The 944 was leaps and bounds ahead.. VERY stable in hard corners at speed, very tight, and felt very tossable. It seamed the harder I pushed it, the better it felt.. and the braking was much better than.. well, most cars I've driven! I actually uttered the phrase "I'd trade my Z straight for that.." BUT; Aside from the looks, I like the Z's simplicity and ease of maintinence, and Porsche parts are NOT cheep.. I'll keep my Z for now.

All I can think of is maybe when you put the head on, a little piece of dirt/? got in there, and maybe just by chance it's near an oil passage between block and head.. So under presure it's getting pumped out under/over the gasket? And the front seal may be a similar issue.. if the sealing surface is mared or dirty, it might be causing the leak..

cool.. Thanks. I'm a little tight for $$$ right now, so trading the MSD off for some of the engine build cost will be healpfull. I just wanted a second opinion (I thought the ZX dizzy would be ok, just didn't want to have to find another MSD box later on.) I have a spare zx dizzy as well, so I guess I'm good to go.

Cut and paste my friend.. Find a parts car you can cut the 1/4's off, fix them with the still availible patch panels if need be, and 'swis cheez' the thing together. It kight look like a$$ but it'll be all metal and strong. THEN, you can attach the fiberglass panels and mold them to the car.

Just wondering if the zx electronic dizzy will work (and be reliable) in my soon to be rebuilt L28. I'm getting some head work done; shaved, heavier valve springs, and a cam instaled that, in theory, will make power up to 6500 rpm. (possbly higher) I'm just wondering if that electronic box will 'keep up' to that kind of reving? I plan on driving the hell out of this car on a regular basis btw. I have an MSD box w/rev limiter (got dirt cheep, and yes I know it works) that I could instal and do away with the 'little expencive black box' but my engine builder wants the MSD for one of his projects, and will knock some $$$ off what I owe him for the work he's doing on the head/engine.. What do you guys think?

well heres a bad out of focus pic of the front cover, behind where the water pump goes.. My engine builder came by for a few hours and helped me pull the rest of the motor apart, and he said the same thing. He sugested maybe filling in some of the deaper gouges with 'devcon' (?) but said it's not really neccesary. Oh yes, and now I definatly need a new oil pump (although I had good presure) because the dang studs were siezed in it, and we ended up destroying the pump to get it off. Then we had to fight off the front cover as it had 2 studs stuck the same way.. grrrr... and we snaped a few oil pan bolts too. Heh.. now for the good; EVRYTHING in the bottom end looks next to new! Pistons are good, the bores will just need a light hone, and I'll get new rings. My engine builder was impressed with how strong looking the botom end was too, pointed out it has 7 main bearings.. compared to a 350 chev that only has FIVE! (and a bigger crankshaft) and the mains are recesed quite deep into the block casting, making it very strong. I'm getting excited now.. can't wait to get er back together and roast off some tires in a few months!

Well, I got my motor out and started tearing it down today.. The left side head bolts were rusted and really tight, but came out.. snaped off a few bolts in the front cover (thermostat housing blts) but all in all, it went ok. So then I pull of the water pump... I think I may know why the engine was rebuld back in 82'; By the looks of it, I'd say the original water pump lost a piece of the impeller, and it got smashed around in there. There are huge gouges and chunks out of the aluminum casing all over the place, and some scoring marks on the back face. I'll try to get a few pics of it to explain better.. The pump looked ok, and there were no pieces missing from it. The thing is, it wasn't making noise, and it never overheated on me so I'm thinking I could just re-use it (but replace water pump obviously) and be ok.. What do you guys think? Also.. what's the consensus on re-using pistons? (dished, look alright on top..) I have yet to pull the pan, so I have no idea what the skirts look like, or even if the bottom end/rods are good yet..

I'm sorry.. nicely done car and all, but not my cup o' tea.. For the effort and cost involved, you could build a screamer of a rotary OR heck.. even.. this is going out on a limb...shoehorn a V8 in there!!

Wow.. did he use a stick welder for that?!?

Heh.. my first thought was 'Hey.. a Ford Z car!' I like the rear of the car.. but everything from the rear wheel forward is.. odd.. Doesn't sit right with me, looks cobled together and it doesn't flow..

I forgot to mention that too.. I e-mailed them (showcars) several times, and did recieve a reply.. but it seamed to be 'pushy' and kind of vauge. I felt like a slimy used car salesman was talking to me, and that they really didn't care about my needs/car.. just wanted my $$$.

Sooo... are the brakes on one of these cars, or your current driver? Jst curious if you had a chance to look at them yet..

I've been there too.. I met up with Glen there (member DOT, V12 jag guy) and I wont speak for him, but I was not impresed.. the 'work' that was in progress (some sort of body kit.. I guess..) looked a little hack, and it was the most disorganized place I had ever seen.. and I have worked in a wrecking yard! The guy may be a nice person, but I got the impression hes a scam artist and I don't think I'd buy anything from him.. even though it's local to me and I could pick up..