TimZ

What are your goals here? In front (at least on the 280Z), the 2.5" coilovers offer enough tire clearance to easily mount a 245 section width tire, even with the spring perch below the tire. We had a discussion on a similar note a while back... http://www.hybridz.org/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=21698

I used them when I had Mikunis because at the time I thought it was the "thing to do". They worked fine for me, but I don't think that they were a noticeable improvement over the stock needle valves. Point of diagnostic order - it sounds like you were having the same problem before you installed the Grose Jets, and whatever condition was there before has just deteriorated a bit further. Maybe it isn't the needle valve/grose jets causing the problem? Sorry - I'm not a DGV expert so I can't steer you any further than that...

I was thinking the same thing. Isn't the adapter going to make the injector assembly too long to fit, anyway?

Which way was that, again?

You might try GREEN Locktite (290) - it works like a penetrating oil, and can be used to seal small leaks. Just apply some around the edge of the plugs. Clean them up first, of course, and it would probably help to drain the coolant first so that more isn't leaking out while you are trying to fix the leak. I don't know why this stuff is not more widely used (PEP Boys carry it here) - IMHO it's the most versatile Locktite variation out there - same strength as Blue, but works on bolts that are already assembled. Awesome stuff.

BTW, it's "lb-ft" (lbs x feet), not "ft/lb" (which would be feet per lb). As spiirit pointed out (I hope - I didn't read the whole thing ), torque is a measure of force applied at a distance, not distance travelled per force applied.

Is there some compelling reason to use one? As far as I know Porsche just bought their EFI from Bosch, just like Nissan.

Glad to hear Joel's car is up and running well. Keep up the good work Joel.

I've had it running now with the plenum off - here are some pics of the setup so far, the turbine heatsheild is from http://www.atpwrap.com

Mine is shipping on Friday - there was a delay due to the incorporation of the 60-2 tooth trigger wheel for the TEC. Don't have pics yet. Mine is a two groove pulley, btw. I don't know if they have assigned a part number yet.

It's 'getting close' I'm hoping to have it ready for the Woodward Dream Cruise - mid august.

LOL - no, I've got a hood ...Ft. Leonard Wood - I went to school at Rolla.

It's powder coated - I believe they called it 'city lights'. The color flips from gold to green to purple, depending on the angle the light hits it.

I used the stock EFI pump, regulated by a pressure referenced Solex regulator that came with the Cartech setup. It regulated the fuel pressure to 4 or 5 psi above the plenum pressure. Because of the low pressures required, that pump was adequate for the application.

James was nice enough to post some progress updates. Man, this is taking a long time...

Sorry, but I don't know much about the Dellortos, so I can't help you with which one is better. Do you have a link to a picture of one? The cartech setup is intended for the Mikuni 44phh carbs, and as I recall, these aren't the same as even the Mikuni 40mm carbs as far as the mating surface for the plenum, assuming you want to use the cartech plenum. How did I like the setup? Well, it did quite well at WOT, once I got a clue as to how to set them up - remember this was about ten years ago and there wasn't an internet support group out there, so I was pretty much on my own. The main problem that I had was with driveability issues - they really didn't like fast throttle transitions - dropping from fifth to third and nailing it almost always resulted in falling flat on your face for about a full second or more. Really annoying. I think part of the problem was with the plenum being a bit too small, and when you would open the throttles in an off boost situation, they would create a weird pressure fluctuation in the plenum which really messed up the flow through the venturis. BTW, you really couldn't hear the Mikunis at all any more once the plenum was in place.

Side draft Dellorto's have been used by Lotus for factory equiped blow-through turbo Esprit's. When above atmo is pushed through a Dell, I think all you need to do is fill the float with foam(or get solid floats) so it won't crush under boost. I don't think any of the availabe side drafts require the entire carb to be in a pressurized box. What is the maximum boost anyone has heard of being used with blow-through side drafts? You need to make sure that the float bowls are pressurized to the same pressure as the plenum, or no fuel will flow. Obviously, the fuel pressure needs to be regulated to ~4psi above that (or whatever pressure the Dellortos generally need). The Mikunis have a third port on the front of the carb, which is a pressure reference port for the float bowl. This is why they never required a pressurized box. This port needs to see the same air pressure as the carb throats. Presumably the Dellortos have a similar feature. I used to run the Cartech setup up to about 15psi. You might be able to go a bit higher. If you do, I'd go with forged pistons - it's quite a bit harder to tune this setup, and harder to tell what's going on before it's too late.

...more like 'start at 10 bucks each'. As soon as you need a hose end with a bend in it (and you almost certainly will), the price goes to more like $20-30 for each end. You also need to do some research into finding the proper hose for your application, especially when we are talking about brake lines. Get yourself an Earl's and an Aeroquip catalog and do some reading. Both have a fair amount of application info and assembly/installation tips and instructions. I would recommend doing a little bit at a time, until you get the hang of sizing up a project and figuring out exactly what you need - mistakes get expensive fast at upwards of $50 a hose. Better to make a small mistake than a big one. Oh - and one more thing... Unless you have solid motor mounts (i.e. engine mounted to a steel plate with no bushings), you DO NOT want to use stainless steel hose for the radiator. The stainless hoses in the size required (-22 or thereabouts) are way too stiff, and will literally rip your radiator apart if the engine moves around at all.

Bushings. All of 'em. (I'm assuming you would have mentioned them if they were new) Worn bushings can definitely cause your vibration problems, too. I'm having trouble believing that the rack is the problem - I'm not sure if I've ever seen one go bad, and that $259 is about what a master set of polyurethane bushings cost from Courtesy, as I recall.

Clutch starting to slip, maybe? Generally if your clutch is starting to slip, you'll notice it in the higher gears first.

How different is the sound? If there are a lot of additional harmonics present (i.e., the part 'buzzes') in the tone, I would say there is a definite possibility of problems. Otherwise, it's hard to say. I am a bit concerned with the testing method, though. What kind of surface are you dropping the bolts on, and how far are you dropping them? You can generate amazingly high local accelerations by dropping a hard part on a hard surface. For instance, a 1 meter drop to a concrete surface can generate several thousand g's of instantaneous acceleration (the number that sticks in my head was 20k g) in a test like that. I'd be a bit worried about causing local damage to the threads or elsewhere on the bolt by using this method, which could effect either the torque/clamping force relationship or the overall strength of the part. I know it sounds stupid at first, but high tensile strength parts like that can be pretty brittle.

To make a piston with a 32mm pin height work with the stroker crank on an L28 block, you would need a rod length of 134.37mm for zero deck height. How long are the L20A rods? I thought they were longer than that.

All very good points. The key with this whole thing is to get your suspenion in the middle of it's travel at your static ride height (probably somewhere in the middle 1/3 of travel is okay), ALL ELSE BE DAMNED. In other words, it doesn't matter whether you are using coilovers or stock springs, which hat, etc., you need to do whatever is necessary to get the travel centered. This means that you need to look at all of the factors that influence your ride height and suspension travel, and THEN figure out whether you need to section or not. Also, I think Jon was just using 12 inches of travel as a generic example, but we don't have nearly that much travel. Our struts generally have about 7 inches of travel, and the bump stops probably eat about an inch of that up. So at standard ride height we only have about three inches of bump travel. Drop the car two inches with springs only and you are down to about 1 inch of bump travel, maybe less. At this point you need to assess what your options are regarding regaining suspension travel.

One more thing - if you are running a larger front bar than stock, you do want to check the condition of the frame rails around the sway bar mounting points. On the early Z's these were just weld nuts on the inside of the bottom of the frame rails, and significantly stiffer bars tended to tear the frame rails apart after extended hard useage. I would imagine that the zx setup is the same in this respect. This would definitely reduce the effectiveness of the front bar. If you find this to be the case, all is not lost - it is fixable. Not trivial, but fixable...