randy 77zt

if you had stock 78 280 z ign it will fire the megasquirt no problem-you just need a tach signal at the negative side of the coil.most people use the megasquirt to control the ignition timing because they are running turbo engines the need a well controlled ignition advance curve.my ms is fired from a hall effect sensor and magnets installed in the flywheel.the it uses a 81zxt distributor and 81 zxt transistor /coil for spark.but the engine is turboed.i have A 77 dizzy with a modified advance curve that would be great in a na car.

boost does not kill the motor-detonation does.there is a limit to boost because of low octane pump gas.if you put race gas in you can run more boost with a better ignition timing curve and get more hp.if you are trying to cobble your car along with stock efi system it will limit out soon.a stock 280zxt engine with a good turbo/efi/intercooler system will live a long time if tuned properly.i have run a stock zxt motor for 2 hours at sears point at 15psi on stock efi system but i was running 110 octane gas.

compression test #4 cylinder-visual inspect spark plug for mixture reading.its 3 things-no compression-no spark-no fuel.if you have a tight vlave you get no compression.note-a l28et wont give a high reading.150-140 psi is good.

my welder-thermalarc 180 viking-runs on 220volts.seems to have plenty of power for average hobby use.will get some stainless wire brushes and turn the gas up a little.thanks for the hints.i dont like farming out my stuff-it seems like if something is welded away from the car it doesnt fit when it comes back.

after 2 weeks of delays becuase of work and not having the right liner for my mig i finally got it working .biggest trick is having to weld fast -i turned the wire speed down and had problems.i welded some scraps together but will be welding more scraps before welding on my intercooler.i am sure johnc has some advise.my local welding shop said the trick with the liner is to go 1 size bigger than the wire.it jammed once but i straightend the hose out and no more jamming.hopefully that small bottle of argon will get the job done by the time i get the hang of it.does anybody run argon for everything?because i have a large bottle of 75/25 and i am thinking it would be easier just to run argon on everything.the weld has a dark grey look when done but if you brush it off it looks good.i have a bunch of ford f250 diesel ic tubing to practice on-nothing like free parts.

whats journeyman pay back there?i work at a ford dealer in central ca.its union-not flat rate.i quit the flat rate dealer when they reduced times on alot of work.union scale is $23.75/hour.but a cheap house is $350,000 and everything is expensive.and its a traffic jam all the time .if you can get out of the car repair business do it.its a dead end job.the way that work is dispatched in a dealership can kill you financially.working on cars for a living has killed it as a hobby for me.mazda should be easy after awhile though.hyundai is just left over mitsubishi parts .i would take a cut in pay to get out of being an auto tech.i get to spend 2 days laying on my stomach working on a ford 6.0 diesel this week.if it was flat rate i would be working 1 day for free.i could make more money delivering pizza.

i make it a point to invite somebody that talks alot of bs for a ride at a track day with me.they usually shut up after that.its also amazing how a group of suspension parts that you bought dont seem to work as a team at the track.my car is a compromise street/track car but it took 3 years of changes to get it right.when i get my intercooler welded up it will be some track time this spring.i miss it.

i have had a thermalarc 180 amp mig machine for about 5 years.it takes 220 volt to run and runs gas shielding.great welder.i assembled a skid plate for a buddies jeep and he was surprised i could weld for more than 5 minutes with out overheating.i bought an old boat trailer and converted it to a trailer for my z and the welder always had the horsepower i needed.but tonight i am loading it with aluminum wire and %100 argon to practice on some scraps with.i need to finish my intercooler install.tried last week but needed a new liner-wire jammed up.

new mustang-front struts make creaking noise when turning-tsb for that.gas tanks wont fill-tsb and new tank for that.rear suspension bump stops close to axle-will be a pain to lower with proper suspension travel.all late model cars are heavy-subaru sti supposed to be 3300+ lbs.i know why mike kelly has a vette-good power to weight ratio.

ran my zxt engine 8 years with no bov and 12 psi boost-sometimes 15 psi.since i put in spare engine with t3/t4 turbo and megasquirt with ic i will probably get 1 since i installed a na intake manifold,

that thing looks like a small block to me-middle exhaust ports are close together.i would set the fan up so it blows the warm air to me.even if was was not areally built engine it would still be better than a 15hp briggs.

its isnt allowed many mods.really just stock brakes with upgraded friction material.but limited horsepower helps save the brakes.this makes for alot of maintenance work.like bleeding brakes between heats if you overuse the brakes.i put an instructor off at turn 6 at laguna becuase he was bummed that he couldnt pass my street z and he ran out of brakes.my car runs toyota truck calipers.84 300zx rotors all around.front rotors are drilled .rear has 2 piston willwood calipers on dp racing brackets.pads are changed in front for track days.track pads are porterfield r4-street just napa pads.rear are porterfield r4s-i leave those in.there is a bias valve by the shifter.i run ford fluid.you really dont need fancy stuff unless you are running lots of horsepower and have to scrub lots of speed.when my car is running again with new motor ,efi,turbo,ic i will be hitting some track days.i like smoking trailered in race cars.sometimes at thunderhill i turn the a/c on on the cool down laps-it gets hot with a helmet on.

i got 1 of those chinese 240sx ic's off of ebay for $250.it basically covers up the whole radiator.i will have to weld on some of those tight radius cast aluminum el's to make it through the core support.i bought a tank of argon and a roll of aluminum wire for my mig.will try welding it tommorrow.

ford used a bunch of these.the purpose was to keep vacuem off of egr system on a cold engine.the base is common pipe thread.i think i have an old ford part in the garage.

if thats the case i will just buy it from john c.

my opinion is mitsu doesnt have the quality of the suby.i used to own a shop that worked on jap cars.so what if its a little faster-it doesnt do any good if your making payments on it and its sitting in the driveway with a broken trans.i would be looking at a used 2003-04 z06 vette.it weighs about the same as a subaru-has torque on tap and probably gets about the same mpg on the highway.i find the high rpm drone of a 4 banger tiring on a long trip.

i will have to call them-i need a scca approved roll bar for my z.maybe they have 1 laying around.they are about 70 miles from me.

do not buy a diesel ford-the 6.0 is having many problems.i rode a a mercedes/dodge van in mexico and it seem to run good even with 12 people in it.for a 1/2 tom a chevy with a 5.3 would be good.

cat converters where installed to mop up the exhaust if somebody forgets to tune up thier car.it is best if all the hc's were burned up in the engine.if your car isnt jetted /tune correctly the cat will run hot and possably plug up.get a wide band 02 system and use to tune your jetting so the cat isnt overloaded .

i would like to find a wrecked s2000 for a lotus 7 replica chassis.s2000m works much better in a 1300lb car.

z car.com-a bunch of computor geeks that dont know which end of the screwdriver to use.so they post there to figure out how to change a headlight.

the cars i have taken rides with at sear point or laguna -the owners complained about the abs not being programmed correctly.a well sorted race car or z will stop much quicker.if the abs detects a sliding wheel it will release the brakes-car will roll farther.but i got my *** saved by the abs system in a rented lincoln town car i was driving too fast iin the rain and came up on slow trafffic in.if the car hadnt had abs i probably would have spun the car out by locking the wheels up.so it depends on what you are using the car for.i did a big brake kit on a 95 mustang gt and removed the abs and put a brake bias adjuster in the car and it stopped alot faster.but it would probably lock the rear wheels up in the rain.

no new camaro at san francisco auto show last friday.if they did sell a new camaro my opinion is it would be a rebadged pontiac gto.

my turbo l28 ran for years before blowing a head gasket at 18 psi .that included many track days.but track days it got 110 octane nascar gas.if i wass worried about weight i would run a 302 ford with a t5.i have a hot rod mag about 3 years old that has an article about a stock 90 302 making 400 hp on a dyno with heads,manifold and headers .a world class t5 would work fine on a road course.but i would build the engine with 5.4" rods and custom pistons.

mike-went to your website to learn about your company-not much there.when you get it done i will check back later.i am really burned out on working as an auto mechanic so i am trying to get some ideas about a career change.good luck.