JMortensen

The later 280ZX style has the module bolted to the side of the dizzy, which some people dislike but I prefer. The modules are expensive to replace but I never had one go bad before I used MSD by itself, and I've got 3 spares that I picked up for next to nothing. If you don't want to use that module you can run MSD or something similar. The benefit of this distributor is the trigger wheel has 6 prongs, and the stator has 6 prongs. All 6 have to line up for a spark to occur, should theortetically be more accurate than the 280Z unit. If you get one from a junkyard here's a link to a page that discusses checking bushings and replacing if necessary. This helped me out a lot and JD was very cool to me, so I keep posting the link on this forum from time to time. http://www.physics.ohio-state.edu/~jrdemers/280ZX/distributor/distributor.html Jon

The Motorsport kit doesn't contain bushings. It is just a set of slotted washers and a set of eccentric washers. It would be a very good idea to do both at the same time, since you'll already have the semi-trailing arms off the car. The kit is only $40 + $40 if you don't already have the hole saw. I still don't understand how the washers attach to the subframe, but if it works it would enable you to fix the camber and toe problem. I say go for both and let us know how you like the kit. Worse case scenario the kit sucks and you return it to MSA. Still no one knows if it works for 510s??? Bummer... Jon

Cody - What you've got pictured is for a 300ZX front upper control arm (I think) and it just lengthens and shortens the upper control arm to control camber. The slot is where the bushing at the front of the control arm attaches to the subframe. You can lift the inner pivot for camber and use the eccentric they provide for the rear to control toe. Changing toe changes camber slightly, so you have to keep adjusting one, then the other, then the other, until it is right. No prob Afshin, I've stuck my foot in my mouth a few times on this board too. Jon

Anyone else want to weigh in? I don't want to be disrespectful but I am convinced that I'm right. One guy I know runs old Camaro shocks in the rear of his 510. I've worked on 510s, and pulled parts from a 280ZX, but never actually done an alignment on either. Done lots of 911 alignments... Also, I have a friend who is slotting his 510 crossmember in the next week or two. Anyone know if this kit works for the 510? Jon

Go get a mechanics stethoscope (sp?). Then you can place the probe around the block and head and maybe figure it out. Alternatively get a broom handle and put that up to your ear to listen. Jon

How about a light flywheel? Stock turbo flywheel is what 25 lbs??? You can have a stock one turned down to ~15, but that always seemed like a lot for a cast iron flywheel. Don't know if there is an aftermarket available for turbo. Check with the guy on Ebay who sells Fidanza. He could tell you if they are available. Centerforce aluminum flywheels are not that light if I recall correctly... Jon

Boring an L24 that far would leave very little cylinder wall. Get an F54 "turbo" block and do the stroker buildup. It has a brace in the water jacket about 1/2 way up the cylinder wall to prevent the cylinders expanding under pressure. I haven't heard anyone talk about this here, but I know of a guy who built a stroker out of a 280Z block (not braced) and he got about 5K miles before it started smoking really badly. Turns out the high compression and thin cyl wall actually warped the cylinders so badly that he had to replace the block. I think he had actually damaged the pistons by the time he got to fixing it. Jon

I was doing an alignment on a 911 and I had made my own adjuster, which was about a 1 1/2 inch long section of 10mm allen that I had cut off of an allen wrench. The adjusters have a lot of friction, so I had a 10mm on the adjuster, and a 12mm on the 10mm, double wrenched. I kept adjusting, and was looking at the alignment machine computer screen from under the car. I turned to look back at the adjuster just as the 10mm slipped off my allen tool. The 10mm flung off the adjuster and the open end hit me right on the bridge of the nose, hard enough to break skin and cause a huge lump. Bled pretty good too from 2 nicely spaced spots on either side. I saw stars for a few. My boss thought it was pretty funny, said it looked like I had put my sunglasses on too fast. Jon

If you were messing with the clutch slave (especially if you were working from the top of the car rather than underneath), did you possibly disconnect the fusible link that goes to the starter? I've bumped mine and disconnected it accidentally because the connector was old and loose. Jon

One more thing, I am 99.99999% sure you need an N/A distributor. I've bought a couple from the junkyard now for ~$50 with the module. You can use the stock module or run MSD. Jon

Putting the E31 on a block with dished pistons yields an 8.56:1 compression ratio, and makes the quench area almost nil. Not exactly high performance oriented. Flat tops make about 10.2:1. Bore .40 over and you get 10.5:1 approximately. This is with a standard thickness head gasket. If you use a 2mm head gasket, your quench area will also be useless, because the pistons and head need to be within .045 or so to make effective quench, but your compression drops to 9.63:1. All of these compression ratios were figured using the Nissan L6 Engine Builder program which I got from an internet site. I tried the URL they list, and it is no longer there, but its a useful program if you can find it. I can't remember which other Z site I saw it on recently. FWIW, I have a F54 flat top block and E31 with 44 Mikunis, and I have had problems running pump gas. I had to run very little advance with 92 octane, and that is not good because it puts a lot of heat into the exhaust manifold and exhaust valves, and the motor made no power and wouldn't rev. I have figured out that I need about 96 octane to stop pinging, and so I've been cutting my fuel with Tolulene, 5 gallons gas and 1 gallon Tolulene, or lately been running 1/2 92 octane, 1/2 100 octane leaded AVgas, which is very illegal on the street. Tolulene is about $10/gal from the paint supply store, and is 114 octane. It is a very strong solvent, and it is already in the gas you get from the pump, and is also usually the main ingredient in most octane boosters (which are a serious ripoff BTW). From what I've read, you can run up to 30% tolulene (aka toluol) with no ill effects. I've had no problems so far. My first motor was a dished L28 block bored .020 over and supposedly had dished pistons that were only 1/2 as deep as the standard dish. Since I had that motor built I found that the machinist who ordered the pistons was a complete hack and totally screwed me on the buildup, so I now think that they were your usual dished pistons and I was running 8.5 compression. It was a good motor, and I could run 87 in it all day long. With 96 octane, flat tops, and the timing appropriately advanced the car is pretty damn fast, much more so than the old motor. Jon

I think this kit allows you to move the pivots on the trailing arm, allowing Porsche style adjustment of toe and camber. 510 guys slot the crossmember all the time, and this kit looks like it does the same thing. I am also guessing, but I feel pretty confident when looking at the parts in the MSA catalog that I'm right. Moving the top of the shock would have no effect on camber in this type of suspension, because it uses shocks and not struts, and they are just dampers, not locaters for the suspension. You have to move the pivots on the trailing arm to change camber and toe. Jon

I have a FlexDam and it came with a 3" rubber strip that attaches to the fiberglass portion of the airdam. When I was at the track a friend noticed that it started folding under and flapping about 1/2 way down the front straight. I switched to lawn edging from the supplied rubber strip, and that has worked fine. Jon

That's one expensive exhaust system!!! Check out JC Whitney. You can buy 180 degree bends cheap, I wanna say you can get stainless too. Buy a few bends and go to an exhaust shop and have them weld it all up if you can't weld yourself. Should save better part of $800 including new muffler and shop charges... Jon

When you get it running you may want to throw in a bottle of Techron for the first few tanks, it will clean up all the varnish in the carbs. Jon

tap right on the wing nut. Jon

Were these carbs sitting for a long time? Could be needle and seat valves are stuck open... Jon

If this is just for drag racing you might want to consider a steel wheel. You can get some spun steel wheels which are very light, I think you can get a 15x8 that weighs about 18 lbs, and they just weld the center wherever you need it to get your offset correct. They are also CHEAP!!! http://www.diamondracingwheels.com/DIAMONDRacingWheels/AvengerSeries.htm http://www.mrt-wheels.com/Merchant2/merchant.mv?Screen=CTGY&Store_Code=MRW&Category_Code=SW There are a lot more vendors out there, but these were the first two I found online. Its a circle track thing, so search for circle track steel wheels or something similar... Jon

About 10 years ago I saw two local cops pulled up next to the high school talking to each other. They apparently finished the conversation, and both backed up and turned right into each other. That's the best one I've seen. You gotta wonder what the police report looked like!!! Gotta love the stupid ones... Jon

Don't assume that because 3/4" up and 1/2" out works for someone else's car that it will work for yours. Chances are they never checked it either. If you want to check bump steer you need a gauge. If you don't want to buy a gauge you can use 2 dial indicators and make your own mount. I fixed my bumpsteer by drilling a hole directly above the stock hole as high as I could on the crossmember, then cutting a slot between the two holes. I then used a gauge and kept raising the pivot until I got it done. My pivot moved approx 1/2" up. I didn't move out, because I am using adj control arms and figured that I could lengthen the control arm instead. Bump steer is something that has to be measured and changed precisely. I hate seeing people drill the hole x amount up and x amount out. You'll probably make it better, but it won't be right. BTW I've had my setup on the track and auto-xing many times in the last 6 years with slicks and never had a problem with the control arms moving. If you can slot a rear 510 or ZX crossmember, you can slot a front one too. Jon

Arizona Z car changed their design about 4 or 5 years ago. The old design didn't have the rod end for the sway bar. I think its the OLD Arizona Z car one. Jon

Didn't the turbo have dished pistons??? So flat top F54 would be N/A...

Yep. I've got an F54 non-turbo block in my car. Mine came from an 82 ZX. I think all 280ZX's were F54, could be wrong... Jon

I would love a copy... Jon

Phantom: I grabbed an 87 turbo 300ZX diff and just stuck the cover from a 79 280ZX on there and plopped it in. The yoke from the 79 fits as well. The diff cover on the 300 has greater capacity and cooling fins, but all bolt holes are the same and the carrier does not interfere with the earlier cover. The gears are not all interchangeable, at least not "plug and play" because the later gears have 12mm ring gear bolts and the earlier (pre 85???) have 10mm ring gear bolts. In order to make this work you need a 12mm OD 10mm ID spacer to fit into the carrier, or a shouldered 12mm shaft ring gear bolt with 10mm threads. Wasn't Ross C working on that??? Jon