JMortensen

My Mikunis have a choke. Never seen em that didn't, although that doesn't mean they don't exist.

rear calipers

Have you considered just not hooking them up? With Mikunis most people don't, and some even safety wire the choke shut so that it doesn't vibrate open and change the mixture. Not sure if the Weber system is better or not, but nobody I've known with them has bothered to hook up the choke.

I think that's how they did all of the CP cars back in the day IIRC. That's a little too close for comfort IMO.

It's really easy. If they are Visa or MasterCard, they already know your account number. But Visa and MasterCard don't verify charges to my knowledge. On classiczcar.com this came up and a bunch of people were saying "I'd just tell that f#cker to f#ck off!!!" and stuff like that, but it is pretty common for your BANK to call and verify charges, so don't go ballistic on anyone who calls, only the ones who have to ask for your info. Or better yet tell them you'll call them back at the number on the back of your card.

8 and 10 is common on aftermarket cams.

Search. This topic has been dealt with before.

My favorite story regarding this subject is Dennis Hale's 215 aluminum V8 510 race car. It is a true front mid engine with the firewall moved back A LOT so that probably 1/2 the engine is in the passenger compartment. He built that car specifically with PMOI in mind and it has 50/50 with almost no weight outside the axles, and he has described it to me on a couple occasions as "nearly undriveable". My friends who have seen it in person say it looks like one hell of a race car, but apparently it loves to spin... just like the extremely low PMOI would suggest. Weight distribution is not the be all end all of handling and I would disagree that 55/45 cannot handle. I don't know the weight distribution of the British touring cars, but I bet they would love to see 55/45, and yet they handle pretty damn good. I've seen some pretty fast front drivers at autox too. I can think of a particular Fiesta that people would actually LAUGH at... right up until they saw that it beat their Vette, Mustang, Camaro [insert your supposedly fast car here] and realized that it REGULARLY took TTD at our old Santa Maria autox. EDIT--All that said I like my Z with 50/50, and I can tune it to do what I want, either plow or oversteer. Just like you should be able to do with 55/45.

My experience with Volvo low pressure high compression turbos is that they burn valves. I worked for a dealer around the year when the 850t came out, so it could be that in the following years they got those problems under control. I don't understand how installing a turbo is easier than installing a cam, but then I've only installed cams and never a turbo. Low pressure turbo is an oxymoron as far as I'm concerned. You can get so much more from turning the boost up that it seems a waste to set it up so that from the get go you limit the boost severely. I love the engine build you've done, but why not save this one for the Z and slap a regular old run of the mill L28 turbo engine in the Maxima? You could then turn the boost up and potentially make a LOT more power than your 10:1 engine will at 5 or 6 psi, and you can save the engine that has all the work for the sports car. Yeah, it's gonna have lag off the line, it might not have the same throttle response, etc. But it started life as a diesel Maxima after all.

Slots in the timing chain guide refers to slotting the mounting holes to move the guide farther than stock. Most aftermarket guides are slotted anyway, but it used to be that you had to slot them yourself. What it allows is for you to move the tensioner out of the way so that you can get the chain on, then you push the tensioner into the chain so that it can't whip around quite so much. This relates to your other post too. Your answer to your question there is that the guide should originally have been set up by someone who had the timing cover off. You shouldn't have to take the timing cover back off to readjust the bottom of the curved guide unless something else changed. Since you're just doing a head gasket, you should be able to loosen the top bolt on the guide with a long 10mm wrench, and pull the guide away from the chain. Then you put the cam gear on and push the guide back over so that it touches the chain, and lock down the 10mm bolt.

Make sure the chain guides are pushed back. Usually on a motor like yours the chain guide holes are slotted. Loosen the 2 10mm bolts on the right side and pull the chain tensioner away from the chain. Attach the cam sprocket, then slide the tensioner up to the chain. How much tension to put on the chain guide is an open question for me. I don't put much pressure on the guide at all, but I do try to move the top and bottom so that the chain hits the top and bottom of the curved guide tangentially.

I think the open chambered E88 is completely different IIRC. Look at the original two heads you posted pics of Isk. If you cut one down, it wouldn't take on the shape of the other. Your lash pads will be an issue, but this engine was running before so hopefully that was already taken care of.

You're comparing 2 different castings. I've heard that there were as many as 4 different E88 heads. The one you've got is similar to an E31. Some other pics for you: http://www.classiczcars.com/forums/showthread.php?t=13114&highlight=E31

Liddell was a bouncer at one of the bars I used to go to in San Luis Obispo. His girlfriend was THE HOTTEST BARTENDER EVER. I mean... DAMN!!! And she made good drinks too. He always struck me as a prick who walked around with a chip on his shoulder all the time, but then he was the bouncer and he probably wasn't being paid to be nice. I guess I'd have to root for Couture just because he hasn't looked me in the eye, assessed me as "NOT A RISK" then pushed me aside and ignored the fact that I didn't like him pushing me all in the space of about 3 seconds. Go Randy!

Different cartridges require different sections. I want to say that my MR2 rears required 1 5/8", and my 240 fronts to go in the back got a full 2". The best thing to do is not cut until you have the struts in hand.

Driving aids will really screw with the handling, and beyond that if you've ever been to a driving school and been taught "traction circles" that whole bit comes into play pretty heavily in GT4.

Good point Dan, but I think the issue that was being discussed is running lower than optimal timing to prevent pinging. I'd rather get the octane needed along with the optimal timing to prevent the pinging than run less timing than optimal to prevent the pinging. There is quite a bit of power in the timing. When I first got my engine together I tried to run it on 91 octane and it pinged pretty bad. I was able to cut down the timing to about 25* total and it would **almost** not ping, but it was really down on power compared to upping the octane and advancing the timing.

Search and you shall find.

Keizer Wheels can hook you up.http://www.keizerwheels.com/Road_Race_Wheels_15_Road_Race_Wheels.html

Mine rattle too, but you can only hear it in the back. I replaced the bearings in my plates once. You need a press to press them out of the camber plate, FYI. I wasn't expecting that when I did mine. Anyway, they were quiet for about a week, then the noise was back. I have all the camber plates out right now and the bearings have maybe .001 or .002 play in them. They certainly aren't worn out, but they make noise. I did use the aircraft grade chrome ball teflon liner bearings which were something like $30 each. I never realized what Katman said before, but since the monoball is isolated that might be the reason for the noise. Every time the strut gets compressed then extended, that little change in direction can make the bearing clunk just a bit, then the strut tower amplifies the noise. John, with regards to the upper spring perch, don't MOST camber plates come with an upper spring perch that necks down to sit directly on the bottom of the monoball? I thought that's what most of them do. Example: http://www.arizonazcar.com/coil.html

If you've got the cash I really like the light flywheels. There is a noticeable difference between a 10 and 12 lb IME. Might not be the best for drag with a turbo, but would kick butt on a track.

There really are no absolute answers on this one. My engine runs 11:1 with a .490/280 cam and needs 95 octane. I also have the chambers polished and there are no sharp edges. Backing off the timing really hurts power, you'd be better off IMO to run less compression and more timing. I don't think MSD is going to help. We're talking about preventing pre-ignition, which is ignition that happens before the spark plugs fire. Carbs on the rich side does help somewhat, but also loses power. Stop and go didn't seem to affect my motor too much. A standard thickness head gasket will drop the compression a tiny bit. A Nissan gasket is already .050" instead of Falure-Prone's .040" thick. If that's not enough I'd suggest the HKS gasket and you can peel off layers until you hit the thickness you want. I've heard of people stacking headgaskets before, so that might work, but you could actually get the thickness you want within .010 or .020 with the HKS. You might have to shim the cam towers and play with the lash pads too, depending on what has been done to the head. Just making sure you were aware of that situation.

If anyone cares to see exactly what we're talking about here, here are some pics: http://www.arizonazcar.com/fly.html

Cary, to answer your previous question, most track Z's seem to run between 250 and 400 in/lb springs. Weren't you planning on 800 or 1000 in/lb springs? Or am I just imagining things? Joshua, why not add another brace in front of the engine? Especially easy if you're going V8, cause there is plenty of room. Plus you'd have to crush that brace before you even GOT to the engine. I was in a pretty good head on in my first Z. I got rear ended by a lady who never even saw me. She was going ~50 in a Firebird. Hit my Z which was stopped making a left hand turn, I went into the oncoming traffic and hit an Acura Legend that was going ~35 head on. I figure the combined speed of the head on was probably 50 to 60 mph. The front caved to the core support, and then the frame rails crushed about an inch more. The frame rails tweaked a little bit to the driver's side. That was it. In the back the Firebird's low nose hit my right rear tail light area and pushed the car in about a foot. The tail light lense broke on the right side. None of the glass in the passenger compartment broke, including the hatch glass, since the Firebird hit below the hatch. It was pretty amazing. All the taillight bulbs were still on, and my blinker was still blinking when the cop was taking the report. He asked "Did you signal that you were turning, and were your lights on?" and I just pointed to my car and said "They still are and the blinker is still blinking." It was crazy... So IMO Z's hold up in crashes pretty well.

First time I drove a Ferrari it was a mid 80's Testarossa. Got in, fired it up and drove it around the block to the shop entrance. Then I pulled the hood latch handle and it snapped off in my hands. F'in Fiat...