A to Z

11-03-2024 Turbo project update. I Went ahead and snagged the turbo for my project. Ebay special... "T3/T4 T04E V-BAND Turbocharger Turbo .63 A/R with Internal Wastegate New" The seller is "TurboBoosts" which has a really good reputation. Good cheap unit for what I am doing, just putting around town in my toy a little bit Here is the link if interested https://www.ebay.com/itm/203047116629 Here are some pics

Man everything looks great! I have a Yoes oil spray bar, the one you have is HUGE in comparison! I do have a question though......running carburetors....why a fuel setup more in line with EFI?? Surely 3-4 psi / standard carb flow is sufficient, or are you overbuilding for the future? I don't even know HOW you found the HKS surge tank and stuff.

I was searching online, and this is the cheapest price I found for the Snow Performance Water/Methanol injection Stage 1 kit:

Click to watch video from the above post. V1.MOV

11-02-2024 Turbo project update. Since the turko kit I bought hasn't arrived yet, I started work on an aluminum plate heat barrier around my brake master cylinder. I also went ahead and ordered t a Snow Performance stage 1 water/methanol injection kit, that will make my 11.54 to 1 compression motor survive a little bit of boost on top of it all. I have also decided to go with an internal wastegate, and the video I posted earlier, shows a neat way to lower the boost setting on an internal wastegate with a spring and and a couple spacers. I now want to figure out how the throttle cable or hopefully rods will work for the single SU carb. Here is a quick video and then a few pics of the heat shield, keep in mind, it is NOT finished, just started. (video from today on post below this)

11-02-2024. Well, I found a new project. An old Crown Turbo kit in pieces, that I am going to clean up and install with a new Trubo, some water/methanol injection, and run it on my 11.54 to 1 compression stroker L series. I will keep the boost LOW. It is primarily for looks, and that little shot of power will be cool also. I am at high elevation, so the overall compression is lower, .....at 5 Psi I will be at 14.27 to 1 compression. I really only want 3 psi, no more, so that compression figure would be 12.7 to 1. Methanol water injection 50/50 mix will make the 91 octane act like it's 116 Performance (octane) rating.

First oil change today. 523 miles. I pulled the drain plug and the oil came out BLACK as expected. I had a buildup on the end of the plug, which I also expected being a fresh engine. Topped her off again, with the Risilone ZDDP and went from 10W30 to some thicker 20W50 cheap oil "O'Reilley's 20W50" (hey its got the ratings....) to see if it raises the oil pressure up a tad. So, this will stay in for 1,000 miles, then I will switch to a synthetic and a new filter of course. The rear main seal weeps a tiny bit on the ground, but very acceptable. Perhaps this thicker oil will stop that. Overall, the engine has performed as expected. So, for those that have been following along, this is a pretty good way to go for a Z car engine. Pics to follow. Cheers!

The Factory manual states 18 degrees at idle. I did 20. It runs GREAT! 91 octane fuel up here, which is 93 everywhere else, 11.5 to 1 compression...no pinging, pulls like a frieght train. When all else fails, follow the manual I guess. Everyone told me the "A" cam was too weak.....my exhaust manifold won't work......well, it WORKS. Its a quick Z car.

in a d? As in Datsun? what? we bore until 3/8 from the end and stop. that leaves a 3/8" thick shelf for the liner to rest on. If I bevel the top of the bores, it would allow for welding the top of the liners in. You could also weld the liners at the bottom at the step. cleanup decking and a clean up bore to smooth up the liner to step area and you're golden. Cooling could be a concern.

I know F54 has the siamesed bores, and the N42 does not. Both have a bore of 86mm. P30 is a 240/260 block, and has a bore of 83mm. Someone today told me he read somewhere that the N42 casting has better oiling than a P30 block. I also read that the N42 block has a higher nickel content than ANY other L6 block. SO.....If one were to bore out all 6 cylinders and sleeve it for BIG pistons, why wouldn't the P30 be just as good as say an N42 or even f54? Thanks in advance.

I consider it finished, in that, it is a ready to be driven at any moment. Small little projects as you said are never ending. If it ever gets to where nothing can be done, it will become another boring toy that just sits.

It was done.....then the stuff that was never touched decided it wanted to be "touched". Sure is nice and strong in the midrange with the diesel crank

Today I installed the gas tank. First I jacked up and drained the old tank, then went to removbe it, the nuts that hold the tank straps are 14mm. I recommend having a ratcheting open end box end wrench and a ratchet with extension and a deep well 14mm socket. Screwdrivers to remove the fuel lines, unplug the electricsand lower it down. You will have to pull it off of the filler neck, even though the clamp is loosened. Oh, and take pics of everything so you can refer to them on re-install. Once it was half way down, I was able to remove my singular vent hose. To put the new tank in, the rubber pieces I bought for it did NOT come with a sticky side, so I used some of my 3M VHB double sided tape and got them on. I then cut the plugs off the ports I do have and then just put the tank in the hole carefully getting the vent hose in and then getting one strap up and held on to take the weight off then push/pull the tank to get it in the correct spot and then get the filler neck started. I wasn't able to push the filler neck on...just able to get it started, so I put the other tank strap on, the closest to the end, and as I tightened it down, it pushed the filler neck on to where I needed it! Then it is just a process of tightening clamps. I found that instead of a screwdriver, an 8mm open end wrench worked better for tightening the filler neck clamp. I noticed that the drain plug in the new tank is 18mm, and the original was 19mm by the way. Putting the sensor in was easy enough, but I ended up doing it twice and draining the tank twice, as the ground pin, or the pin with the rubber at the base needs to be on top of the other post. When I filled the tank up, the gauge was reading backwards, so I qucikly drained the fuel, tapped the ring off & flipped the sensor and tightened it back on. Everything worked great from that point and Bob's your uncle . I have attached some pics of the days work. See attached.

So, I decided to cry uncle on patching and repairing my original 52 year old gas tank, and went ahead and ordered one from Chris Visscher at S30.world. He is very easy to work with, and the tank I received in the mail showed up just a few days after shipemnt from Europe to my doorstep in Colorado. So incredibly fast shipping. It appears from the box it was manufactured in Taiwan, and the ports that ARE on the tank have nice rubber plugs on them, and the tank comes with an additional drain plug, a nice unit all zinc plated. In the pics below you can see how it was shipped and I shined a light inside and grabbed a few pics for you to see how it looks on the inside. I also went ahead and snagged some new rubber bits to go on the tank to isolate it from the car....I found them on eBay motors via a quick search, Chris also sells them I believe. So, next will be install. I also snapped a pic of where you can locate the gas tank on eBay Motors if you wish to buy it through them, and I also provided the email addresses to reach them. I went through eBay motors, and quickly received an email from Chris wanting to know if I actually wanted all the vents on the tank or not, as the tank on eBay is US spec with all the ports. That was great, as I really didn't want all the ports, and it added that little extra bit of customer service that I like. See pics below, Cheers.

After noticing my temp was a bit higher than optimum via the dash temp gauge, I decided to embark upon installing a shroud in the hopes of dropping the operating temp of my engine. After looking online, I decided on the Shroud being sold by Motorsport Auto "The Z Store" . It is a copy of the factory shroud, but made in fiberglass. It is a nice piece, very smooth and has a nice shine to the gel coat. After much thought, I decided to make it a shroud I could install around the fan setup in the car so I wouldn't have to everything apart to get it on. The shroud came without the mounting holes NOT being drilled. So I cut the shroud into 4 pieces, and began determining where to drill the mounting holes. I ended up "wallowing" out the holes to I could have some movement in getting each of the 2 major side pieces mounted. Mounting screws...I was able to find some nice round head allen bolts and washers in my stash to make it looh good! I then started using plate aluminum I had kept from previous projects to make mounting pieces for the top and bottom pieces to join, and used basic 6/32 hardware to make it happen. The aluminum pieces were treated to a polishing, via my polishing attachemnt in my electric drill and the use of Mother's Mag Wheel Aluminum Polish. I was able to then go about adjusting and marking to get everything attached and when done, it was secure..... but the looks of it from the top were not what I had hoped for. So, I then cut and fabricated an aluminum cover piece for the top. I polished it out like I had the smaller pices and then attached across the top. Once finished I can see the slight marks from the metal shears ont he edges, which I will go back over with my ball peen hammer and a re-polish at a later time....I will of course have to mask it off as I polish it, but as far as being complete, it is done. Driving impressions after install are that it DID in fact lower operating temps. The TEMPO gauge needles used to be at 5 O'Clock, now it is just a hair past straight down, 6 O'clock! In the pics you can see I had to use some wire to hold the top up so as to clear tha fan for the drive tonight to a local car meet. The car attracted attention as it always seems to and many very nice compliemnts were had. I will have to also make a bracket on the top to hold it up so the fan clears the shroud. The pics attached should cover it. All in all, this is something any Z owner can do, if they don't ahve a shroud, and would like to give their engine a bit more cooling. Cheers!

Geez, thanks for saying something....I got the posts crossed! Appreciate the kind words. I don't need water tight, as the car is just a "nice day" toy!

Random pics of the Z today. Some engine pics and the old girl sitting in the parking lot at ACE while I run an errand. Fun car to scoot around town in.

Today I did my headlight cover project. I bought these clear covers from MSA (Motorsport Auto "The Z Store"). Cost was about 100 bucks. Because the rubber that goes around the edges of the covers adds a color I didn't want with the look of my car, I decided to forgo it, and just mout them up with a bit of an air gap around them. If I wanted to later, I could tape off the cover edge and the car edge, run a bead of clear silicone caulk, smooth it with a finger and then remove the tape to have a clean line only wide enough to fill the gap and let it dry....but I will see how this works first. If I want to wash the car and not get water in there, I could also quickly cover the gap with masking tape, wash the car and then remove the tape. They are made so you can use the tape to mount them, and I tried that, but then decided to go ahead and drill holes and I used the supplied chrome head screws they came with. Here are some install pics:

I decided to tackle another little project I had to do today. I bought some chrome decal material a while back, and I decided to finish the innder door panels where the "chrome" stripe is supposed to be. My original stripe's chrome was long gone, and when I had finished the panel I intially wasn't going to try and do the chrome, but having the decal material here, I decided to give it a go. I measured the length and cut it so it was a bit wider than needed, and then got some 3M aerosol adhesive. I then installed and used a sharp razor blade to cut them to the right size, then used the aerosol adhesive on them where additional "stick" was needed. Once done, I carefully used a rag with somne denatured alcohol on it to wipe off any glue residue.

UPDATE: Thanks. S30World has a few new gas tanks for sale on eBay. I just ordered one. it has the extra ports so, ill just weld them closed.....I am going to have the seams welded and possibly powdercoat the tank. Pricy, but this Z is a keeper and I don't want to have to keep dealing with fuel leaks....I'm tired of it! Also got some new rubber pads for the top to go with it.

I have been dealing with a somewhat on-going issue with the gas tank in my 72 240Z. the seam where the top and bottom parts of the tank meet has been a source of a leak. I had previously used JB Weld "Steelstick" to seal it, and it worked.....for a bit,... then the leaks came back. So, in reading online about ways to fix it, in car, I found out that POR-15 makes a sealer that comes in a tube that is supossedly a permanenet fix for a fuel leak. it is one tube that you squeeze out, and it costs 30-35 bucks! At any rate, I climbed under the car, and with a hammer and a screwdriver...1-2 wacks and the old JB weld "glob" came off (see pics). I then wiped down the area with some denatured alcohol and a rag, and then laid in the sealeant and then used a finger to smooth it out and then made sure it covered the seam and the edge and iunderneath. As they advised me, I used rubber gloves to do it, as this stuff apparently doesn't like to come off....pretty cool to finish the job, peel the glvoes off and have clean hands and no scrubbing! I have had this gas tank out, and blocked off ports and switched the fuel system over to a basic one overflow hose up and over to a breather at the end, eliminating the fumes tank that used to be in the quarter panel. It's a good tank, clean insdie and all....but the seam right at the front edge was leaking. Crossed fingers this fixes it. See pics!

Today I worked on the glove box door. After wiping it down and masking it off, I sprayed it with the same paint, the SEM interior paint in "Landau Black". I removed the original badge and will reaplce it with a new one I found at JDM-car-parts.com. Once it is here it will be all finished off, but I have a few pics to show the result. I also found out that you have to be careful when cleaning, as I cleaned off the vinyl "carbon fiber" decal portion next to the door with denatured alcohol, and it screwed up the decal, so I had to redo the decal and do a little touch up around it....some decals can handle stuff like denatured alcohol and others obviously can't, so water on these I have! See pics attached.

Stock early "A" cam, early cam towers and Yoes oil spray bar so you are on external cam oiling. Have the head completely ported out. Add boost. No reason not to have nice reliability and driveability for the 90% of the time you are driving around not spooled up. Trust me....in time you are going to get tired of cruising in 2nd gear around town, to keep the turbo spooled. I've been there.

anyone have any ideas for the glove box door?

I have ignored the lower part of my dash basically since I have had my 240Z, and I have one small circle crack, just a bit smaller than a dime, and so in thinking of ways to deal with that, I came up with this. I went online and bought a small roll of carbon fiber looking vinyl on Amazon, I figured I will make 2 panels for each side of the lower dash. I started with a tape off and a couple thin coats of SEM Laundau BLack to get the color back, then I made the patterns by taping the area, drawing out each panel and carefully taking the tape off and then sticking each piece to the vinyl and cutting them out and then installed them. This opens up a wide range of idea for you guys, and you could easily use leather and other fabrics. See pics below: