J Taylor

I took my 77 to the drag strip last night and the 1st passes were back to back 9.76 and 9.77(approx 15.2 in the 1/4). I was really impressed with the times considering the car is stock except for a header and full exhaust. I got home and was reading about the different heads and stuff and it turns out my car has the stock n42 block with a p79 head which gives it a 7.8:1 compression ratio??!!??!! I have a e31 head sitting here and access to a e88 for cheap. Which would be the better head? Would the compression be too high with the e31? Is there another head that would be better suited to the motor? I want to be able to run on pump gas without a problem. Bare with me....I'm used to the turbo stuff and still new to the na route. Thanks alot, JT

That's cool. If/when you get ready for them give me a shout and I'll let you know if I still have them. Thanks, JT

UNless you are planning on doing the turbo really soon(sounded like more of a down-the-road kinda thing to me) stick to 2.25-2.5" pipe on the L28. On my non-turbo Z I am running a header to 2.5" exhaust back to a super turbo muffler. It's not all that loud but I would choose a diff muffler if I had to do over again. The super turbo sounded really nice and mellow before the header was on the car but now with the header it sounds really hollow and raspy sounding when up in the revs. JT

In case you are interested I have a set of 6 of the mercedes injectors still in the boxes I need to get rid of. I bought them for a z31 project that never got finished and they are going to be too small for the 280 project. Let me know if you are interested and we will work out a price. JT

My step dad used to always tell me about putting moth balls in his 427 fairlane to raise the octane. JFYI, I'm pretty sure you will need to disolve them in gas before you put them in your tank. Toluene also works good as well. Buddy of mine has had good luck with it in is WRX. JT

Yes, you can drive the pin through the shifter piece. Then pull the tailhousing off. Watch for a ball and spring under the shifter piece as you are pulling the tailhousing off. They sit in a little groove and like to shoot out when they are uncovered. You can then pull the top cover off.....if you have never done it before just watch how the shift forks go as you are pulling it off. Hope this helps. JT

Well, I'm not really building anything all that special but I just don't want to have to upgrade again later. I'm not really concerned much with gas mileage b/c I basically only drive the car on the weekend anyway. The guy that tuned my cobra is going to tune my Z as well so I'm hoping to put up some pretty impressive numbers. He said it shouldn't be a problem getting it to idle good with the 72#'s so we will see. JT

I really think 53# will be too small. I'm probably going to end up getting some 72# injectors through a local mustang tuner. Can get 6 for about $350 which isn't bad at all. Any idea if a grand national injector will work? Precision turbo sells injectors for a good price as well but they are for GN's. JT

I'd be interested depending on price. Would the turbo sit in the stock location? JT

Hell yeah. Let me know. There is no real rush just yet but I would like to go ahead and do something soon. JT

In the process of getting SDS Ordered and need some injectors. I have the common 420's that everyone uses but I really think they are going to be a waste of time. I am looking for smething in the neighborhood of 650cc. Can anyone recommend a good place to get them from without paying a fortune? JT

Sorry guys but the 300zx tranny is not going to be a bolt in type deal. Even with swapping bellhousings the input shaft is quite a bit longer on the 300zx unit and will not work. JT

I have a nitous xpress wet kit laying around I want to throw on my basically stock 77 280z. Will the stock pump handle it? How big of a shot is safe? I really want to spray 100 to it. I have a t-rex pump laying around as well if need be. Will the car handle 100 shot with the stock of aftermarket pump? Thanks, JT

Somehow my turbo manifold has gotten warped....the fron 2 ports don't line up to the head worth a damn. I slotted the holes for the bolts a little to get me by but this can't be good at all for flow. Noone around can fix it and noone wants to attempt a turbo header. I have several more manifolds but I really don't want to go back to a stock one and I really don't want to port and jet hot another one....plus add the wastegate flange. I would really like to go ahead and spend the money for a real header. Does anyone actually make one to sell or is it going to be strictly a custom job?? JT P.S. How the hell can a cast iron manifold get bent out of shape like this????

OK. Add a leakdown test to the list as well. Had less than 10% leakdown on all cylinders. Apparently the problem for sure has nothing to do with engine internals. ANyone else know something I can try? JT Are there any sensors that could cause the car to run rough and bust up bad on acceleration? It doesn't have the hard or no start anymore. It always starts on the first turn over.

Oh yeah. I have replaced the fuel filter as well. Thanks for the suggestion though. This brings my list to: -mass air -ECU -FPR -CHTS -gas treatment -plugs look fine -cap and rotor look good -all wires are getting spark but I will tomorrow about what color exactly it is. -looked for vacuum leaks -compression test -timing -distributor --cap -rotor -fuel pressure reads just over 2.5 bar at idle which is right at 40 psi. -fuel filter I really hope I can find this before I decide to trailer the car 220 miles away to the only person I trust to work on it. Noone around here can help me b/c all the Z people with problems seem to come to me. LOL. JT

OK, added a few more things to my list of things I have tried: -cap -rotor -fuel pressure reads just over 2.5 bar at idle which is right at 40 psi. This is about right, right? JT

Well **** , so much for that theory. LOL. Timing lines up perfect. I'm starting to think I'm just **** out of luck. If I knew it was somewhere in the FI part of the electrical I would go ahead and get a fuel management system which I am going to do anyway. I would just really hate to do that if that's not the problem b/c then I am adding more stuff to mess with on top of the original problem. Grrr. What a pain. JT

I can't help you on the rest of it but the temp gauge should go up when you turn the car off as it is getting no more water circulation. When you start it back up it will drop down very quickly due to the cool water running through the motor. JT

If for some reason my car has jumped time and the cam timing is now off could this cause the vacuum to be low as well. My boost gauge is only reading like 11 vacuum at idle. It used to read 15 or so after I put the ported head and crane cam in. When I started having this problem with it it was reading only 11. I cannot find a vacuum leak anywhere and have checked everything I can think of. It seems to be acting the same way my 84 300zx turbo did when the timing belt was off a tooth. It had a bad idle and busted up bad when making any boost. I was second guessing myself when I put the timing chain on this time and I am thinking this may be my problem. Ideas? Thanks, JT

I would love to know this myself. I have toyed with the idea of putting an auto in my Z. I wouldn't be surprised if the car dropped .5 by going to an auto. JT

Yeah, my instant messenger name is turbozzzzzz. JT

Ok guys. Thanks for the suggestions. I have a few more ideas now on things to check tomorrow. This is what I have tried so far: -mass air -ECU -FPR -CHTS -gas treatment -plugs look fine -cap and rotor look good -all wires are getting spark but I will tomorrow about what color exactly it is. -looked for vacuum leaks -compression test -timing -distributor I'm getting a Fuel pressure gauge tomorrow anyway so I'm going to check that tomorrow. I really don't think that is it....I have a T-rex pump which is pretty damn loud and you can still hear it very well. Could it be my MSD ignition box by chance? Seems like my friend's mustang had a similar problem and that's what it ended up being. I do have a spair thankfully if that ends up being the problem. Hopefully I will get this fixed soon. I'm about to the point I want to give up for a while. Thanks! JT

Compression is perfect on all cylinders. Added gas treatment and it didn't help anything either. I am stumped. JT

v8dats: that could have been the reason it was cranking the way it was at first. I have had problems with my starter lately. Mike: I have replaced the plugs, checked the cap, rotor, changed distributor(crankangle sensor), etc. My next step is going to be some gas treatment. I know my old 55 ford pickup would act up kinda like this after it would ran a bunch....would get some water in the tank somehow. A botle of the stp gas treatment would always clear it up. I doubt this is the case unless I just might have getten some bad gas or something. Anything else I should check? JT