JMortensen

I've got the MSD 6AL, and yes, that should help. You'll get 3 high voltage sparks until 3000 rpm, which really works well, sometimes too well. I had a hard time when I was trying to adjust my Mikunis because no matter what I did, the plugs looked the same. Finally hooked up an O2 to get the carbs situated, which I should have done in the first place. Everything I've heard about Jacobs wires has been positive, except price. Do that 1st. As far as plugs go, my 1st Z wouldn't rev past 5000 rpm. I changed EVERYTHING in the ignition except the plugs, because they looked great! I even took the car to a Nissan master tech, and we couldn't figure it out. Finally changed the plugs out (just out of desperation at that point) and the car ran much better, and revved to 7000. Plugs may look good but not be fully functional in my experience. Jon

Plug wires, cap, rotor??? Spray some water on the spark plug wires with it idling. You will see/hear the crossfire if that's the problem, or check resistance in the wires if you want to be really sure. Check for carbon tracks in the cap, and make sure you don't get a cap with aluminum electrodes if you replace it. They corrode fast. Could also be a bad spark plug. Clean/re-gap it as much as you want, if its bad you're not gonna fix it. A miss sounds just like you described. Jon

I've got to chime in here: Snap On 3/8 ratchet: Bought one about 10 years ago, very notchy action and way too much angle needed for the next click. The little screws that hold the ratchet mechanism CONSTANTLY come loose, finally broke the ratchet mechanism. Cheesy aluminum cover on the back of the ratchet head gets dinged up FAST. The Snap On guy comes by the shop and WON'T warranty it!!! Tells me I ABUSED it. BS!!! Score: 1/10 Price: TOO DAMNED MUCH! Craftsman 3/8 ratchet: got the one with the button and toggle switch on the back. Ratchet mechanism much smoother than Snap On, but after a year or so felt "loose". This one I DID abuse. Finally I had a cheater pipe on it, DESTROYED it. Took it to Sears, the salesman looked at it and said "We don't have this model anymore, but you can exchange for the new upgraded model." No hassles. The release button sometimes gets pressed when you stick it in a tight spot, causing the socket or extension to fall off. Score 7/10 Price: cheap Favorite tool of all time: Snap On ratcheting screwdriver. This thing is AWESOME! Liked it so much I bought one for my dad for XMas that year. Worth every penny of the $40 I paid close to 10 years ago. Today I went to get an engine crane. 2 ton folding crane from Harbor Freight: $159.95!!! I had seen it on the internet for $249.95. Also bought 2 ton load leveler for $29.95! Part #'s 35915-5VGA and 5402-4VGA. I haven't used these yet, but I've used similar cranes with no probs. Jon

Got it. You had me confused for sure. Jon

260DET Am I missing something??? I'm confused. I've never heard of using a tie rod... how the heck do you use a tie rod as the pivot for the control arm? I don't think its possible, and I don't think I'd want to. It looks like you are responding to what I said. I said use a rod end. Just like what you are talking about. I was saying though, that you don't want 2" of thread hanging out of the control arm on your 1/2" rod end, even if the threaded portion is 3" long. You are still relying on the threaded portion of the shaft to take a lot of stress, and the more you have exposed, the weaker it is. The rule of thumb is 1.5 times the diameter of the shaft is the max you want outside of the control arm. At least that's the advice I got from an engineer who works for a suspension fabricator. Jon

Cruez, I just bookmarked your site. I think if a bunch of us L6'ers jump over there for L6 questions, that would ease the tension. I LOVE the other forums here so I'll probably stick to this one for suspension, drivetrain, exhaust, etc. You might think about NARROWING your focus to just the L6 so you are not in direct competition with hybridz, since that's kinda tough to compete with... all the experts are here. Jon PS - I spent YEARS on zhome's mailing list reading through posts about dim headlights and bad gas mileage. I check it every 3 to 4 days now just to see if anything interesting was posted, but this one is up on my computer while I work damn near all day. Can't believe the time and $$$ I wasted that could have been prevented by learning about this place earlierm, e.g. having control arms made by a local machinist who had to figure out all the dimensions, etc. I thought this was V8 engine specific, so I never checked it out until just recently...

If Mike C was right that 12 bolt Chevy shims will work, and you need to change the backlash, then you should buy some SuperShims. Instead of getting a stack of thin shims you get 2 thick shims (1 per side) that open up. Once open you can put the thin shims inside. This is advantageous because you don't have to fight to get a stack of thin shims in on the side of the carrier which is a real lifesaver. If you buy 12 bolt chevy carrier shims from most people you will get a stack of shims in varying thickness. I think Mike C was thinking of factory shims. I didn't see anyone mention carrier preload, but you can also use the SuperShims to adjust that as well. You get the backlash right with 0 preload, then add .004 to each side so the backlash stays the same and the preload is there. Preload is absolutely necessary. Without it the ring gear will deflect away from the pinion when you put power to the diff. You can get the shims from these guys: http://www.ringpinion.com They also have tech articles if you aren't sure how to measure, etc. Jon

Maybe I'm being dense here, and I obviously don't have SDS, so forgive me if this is a stupid question. Wouldn't it be easier to see scatter with a light? Can you see scatter with the monitor? Just trying to help because it seems like he's tried everything... Jon

There is a limit to how far you can adjust camber with an adjustable control arm. The rule of thumb that I was told by one of the engineers at Maximum Motorsports (yes, the Mustang guys) was that you don't want to have the rod ends threaded more than 1.5 times the diameter of the shaft. So if you have a 1/2" rod end you don't want it threaded more than 3/4" out of the control arm. That 3/4" length includes the threads in the jam nut if I remember properly. If you think you'll need more camber adjustment, then get camber plates in addition. I did it backwards, had the plates, didn't have enough adjustment, got adjustable control arms. Yes, all of this stuff is loud, but people are usually surprised at how smoothly my car goes down the road. Its not so much the ride, but the noise that is a problem. But I don't have a stereo in my Z either Jon

Did the car sit for a long time? Could be the valve springs lost their spring, and you are floating some of the valves at 4500 rpm. I've heard numerous stories of this happening when cars sat for 10 years, but I've never seen it myself. The valve springs that sat compressed lose their tension, and then they float at low rpms. I still think that if you've got timing scatter that is your problem. Have you actually checked with a timing light to see what happens to the timing when this problem occurs? This is a tricky one. Jon

Usually if the pump diaphragm goes it sprays oil all over the right side of the motor. I agree though, ditch the mech pump and get an electric and a FPR. I also found that my vapor lock probs totally disappeared when I switched to an electric pump and got rid of the stock rail. I know there's an isolator in between both, but try touching the rail after the car's been running for awhile. HOT!!! Same with the pump. Even more so when the car is sitting in traffic heat soaking. Jon

Depends on how thin you make it. I'm sure if you made it razor sharp there would be issues. Jon

How is the crank angle sensor mounted? I've seen two mounted in flimsy aluminum mounts that vibrated at high rpm. When the sensor vibrates the timing scatters. I've seen this on 2 TEC-II equipped motors. One completely stopped on the track mid race when the pickup came in contact with the trigger wheel. The other was in the pits for a loooong time. Never saw that car run, probably had to trailer it home. I assume that the sensor hit the wheel on that one too. Jon

Just another thought - you wouldn't want a port that looked like the surface of a cheese grater at all. More non-scientific proof that these things are not helping flow. Jon

I've always been told that the "cheese grater" glasspacks seriously reduce flow. Reason is that all of those little hooks cause the exhaust to tumble and slow down. Its sounds logical, so I've always avoided those like the plague. I'd stick with a straight thru that has holes, not the cheese grater. Jon

I think you're right about the ridge hindering overlap. I cut the ridge way down to get more effective overlap on my NA motor at the suggestion of my machinist (who builds lots of race engines). Jon

The G Machine bushings are the cheapest way to fix. They are a little tricky to install, and I haven't done it in 6 years or so, but I'm sure someone will chime in here. I had someone holding my hand while I did it (you never learn anything that way), but if memory serves you have to file the end of the control arm to be slightly shorter (couple of thou) than the bushing itself. Otherwise the bushings slide back and forth on the end of the control arm. If you are tight on cash, G Machine bushings are probably your answer. Jon

I've boiled fluid a couple of times on the track. On one occassion in particular, there was no warning at all. All of the other times, there was a sensation that the pedal was engaging lower and the pedal getting slightly soft before it boiled. I got used to what it felt like. If you drove for a mile putting massive amounts of heat into the caliper without touching the brakes, I'm sure that you could have missed the warning signs. You might want to take a look at the caliper on that side too, because you may have damaged the seals with the heat. Jon

If the rotor was damaged from the heat that's pretty damn hot :flamedevil: so you may have boiled the fluid in the caliper. Once that happens the fluid turns to gas which becomes compressable, and the pedal goes to the floor. I'd throw the new parts on and bleed the brakes and see what the pedal feels like. Jon

The Petty bar, that's what I'm talking about. Thanks John. Sorry for not being clear on that one. Attaching it to the center of the hoop would alleviate a lot of the problems I mentioned, but like you said, you then have to work around the passenger problem. Majik, I for one agree with your last assessment for a street car roll cage. Jon

Super Turbos are $35.96 at JC Whitney (just checked). Local exhaust place wanted $80 when I did mine a few years ago. Jon

Geez, you've got a lot of toe out in the back. SKETCHY!!! Should be 0 or toed in. Not out, at least not on a Z. Probably wearing the inside of the rear tires pretty bad, huh? You say it drives fine, but I bet if you did some laps on a track you'd notice that toe out! Under heavy braking the back would tend to wander really bad with those settings. Probably gets sideways pretty easy too, I'd imagine. You can adjust toe to some degree with the G Machine camber bushings in the back as others have said, but they are noisy as hell, just to warn you up front, and they are not real easy to adjust. The only other way I can think of to adjust the rear toe is to buy an adjustable control arm like the ones at http://www.arizonazcar.com. I'd fix it, one way or the other. IMO about -.3 degrees toe (total) is about right for the back. Makes the car more stable in all situations. Sorry, no easy (or cheap) fix for that one that I'm aware of. Jon

Have you watched the slave move while someone stepped on the pedal? I blew my clutch slave almost instantly after going to the ACT. Who knows how long it was in there before the switch, but it let go after about 30 shifts with the new pressure plate. I've also seen the throwout fork split where the pin engages it. Could be either of those problems on your car. Jon

FWIW - I've got my 5 point lap belts and my stock seatbelts both mounted on the same seat belt bolts in the floor. I've got the shoulders going to the roll bar, so they don't interfere. When I race I pull the 5 points out and pull the street belts out real long and latch them behind the seat. I tried just using the 4 point without the sub belt for a little while on the street, and you are exactly right Tim. Big PITA. The "head trauma" bars I've seen have been within 6 inches of the driver's head. I don't care what kind of harness you've got at that point. You are going to hit your head. My question was more is there enough benefit to the structure of the cage to justify this bar at all? Or were the cages I saw built by... less intelligent folk. Jon

One thing that always made me wonder: Why do people put the diagonal from the hoop to the passenger floorboard in? I always referred to it as the "head trauma" bar. Is there all that much to be gained over a 6 point cage? I've seen them in otherwise well built cars with no padding being driven on the street! At one auto-x I snap spun and did a 360. When the car stopped I smacked my head on the roof right next to the door hard enough to ring my bell with a helmet on. I gotta wonder what would happen in a similar situation on the street with no helmet going the other way. I think the "head trauma" bar might live up to its name. Jon