Gollum

You know, I think I've read pretty much every post in the windtunnel section, and I've been following it since day one, and I love all that's gone on. But there isn't much talk about something that i think about quite often with S30 engine bay/radiator air. We know that there's quite a bit of lift being gererated by air that wants to leave via the bottom of the engine bay. If you block of more and more of the bottom of the engine bay, that air is gonna have to work harder and harder to escape. I know some guys have done, and plan on doing fender area air exists, but why doesn't it seem like anyone talks about hood venting? If you persuade the air to go upwards you'll be creating downforce instead of lift, and if it's engineered well the air traveling over the hood might create a scavenging effect won't it? This might even help pull air through the radiator, lowering coolant and air temps even more. You'd probably create a little more drag than if you exited air via the fenders, but I'd imagine it'd be minimal, like going to a wider tire. Reducing drag seems much easier to do at the back of the car, and on a few other problem areas. I just can't stop thinking about this every time I come over here and read more updates in this thread. It just seems like a logical part of this discussion to me. With how much room most people have in the front of their engine you could create a duct to bring air in, or block off areas for air to escape, but then create a duct on the back side of the radiator to push air upwards through the hood. If the entire bay was sealed off well enough you might not even need duct work.

Well took the driveshaft to a local tranny shop I've had work done at in the past. Good honest guys with previous race experience. They really seem to know what they're talking about when I've delt with them in the past. Never felt they were feeding me BS. They said from the looks of it they can swap the yokes, and if there's any problems they'd give me a call today. No calls yet, so maybe things are going good. Price? $80. Not bad, probably charging me an hour labor. If it all works out I'm happy.

Sorry if I didn't explain myself well enough Alan. I understand the current exchange rate, and I also understand that what a british pound is to you is completely different to what a british pound is to us. Just because an exchange rate might be 2:1 doesnt mean costs are 2:1, far from it. What I was in england I was still spending nearly the same in pounds on a day to day basis as I would in USD back home. I understand that the world is bigger than the USA And 700 pounds is a lot for someone in the USA to pay for flares, but I don't think that's a lot of money for a small run of something of quality, which is what we're talking about. But at the same token someone in europe paying that same price is actually a lot cheaper my comparison. Hopefully I've gotten my point across. I was merely trying to help you out alan. I don't think you'd be charging too much at the said prices. Cheers.

I'll have to jot down a note so I can remember to ask my ferarri friend next time I see him. (used to run a well established ferarri only shop in the east bay, told him about 6 months ago that I'd stop by once my L28et was on the road) I'll find out what he knows about 180 and 90 degree ferarri cranks. Last time I was in his shop he had one of the horizontally opposed V12 cars in there, and had a 3 liter V8 on an engine stand. I'd thought about this idea before. I'd only thought about it in regards to a SBF though. Either ford or chevy route might be a very affordable option for a high reving V8 if you can sort the valve train out. You're the man to do it though. Ok, here's what I know. The rotory motor "sounds" like a high reving motor because it's firing a whole heck of a lot more often than a "2 cylinder" which is what the idiots at mazda insist on calling it. As mentioned in another post the shaft rotates at a VERY different speed than the rotor. For ever SINGLE rotation of the rotor the crank rotates 900 degrees. What this MEANS is that a single rotor has 2 fires per a "normal" 720 degree "cycle". Some other interesting info: You can setup a 4 rotor wankle in two ways. One way allows for an ultra smooth motor like I believe the scoot is, where every rotor is offset and fires on it's own. Another way is to pair 1 and 3 rotors, and offset 2 and 4, this actually allows you to run NO, repeat ZERO balance shaft and frees up the motor to rev much faster, and it has been done. The shafts that have started selling for something like $7,000 USD are the former type, designed to run smooth. I've often wondered what the torque curve and max rpm would look like if you had a wankle that had a 1:1 or 2:1 shaft/rotor ratio instead of 3:1. So this is hopefully brings light as to why there's such a displacement argument about mazda's wankle. For in a 720 degree cycle a normal V8 fires 8 times, and a 2 rotor fires 4 times. This is why in MANY, repeat MANY race circuits a rotary motor is rated at twice it's normal displacement. For many teams this defeats the purpose of the rotary, and makes it a marginal HP/per liter engine unless you've got a big wallet. But can someone clear something up for me PLEASE!!!!! I've asked several people that "should" have known this, but there's no definitive answer I've been given. Is 1 RPM = 360 degrees or 1 RPM = 1 cyle = 720 degrees... Because in scenario 1 that means at 9k a rotor is at 3krpm. In scenario 1 at 9k a rotor would be at 6krpm. Oh yea, another note about the sound of a rotary motor. You have to consider that even though I've just explained that it isn't really moving THAT fast compared to a high winding F1 or anything, all the fires are comming from ONE location, and come out of ONE pipe per rotor. I believe this to be the biggest contributing fact that makes them sound like high winding engines. I single piston only fires once per cycle, and a single rotor fires twice on the same time frame. So the sound is acoustically doubled... ...in theory. EDIT: Oh yea, I just wanted to state my own ideas of what I'd do myself to get an high reving V8 that sounded great. I'd do a 1UZFE. They weight way less than some people say, and they're possibly the lightest V8 with more than 4 liters. 6 bolt mains, camshaft sits directly on valve bucket, so with some super light valves, hollow camshaft, stronger valves I see no reason the valve train couldn't take 10-11k rpm. People say it's been done, but there aren't really many examples with lots of data. We know there's a 1500hp drag 1UZFE with the iron 2UZ block, but details are hard to come by. Main issue is that the stroke is 3.24 inches, so at 10k those pistons are moving really really fast. If you go with braaps idea of getting a destroke crank, you can also go with a flat plan crank as well. That'd give the bottom end the ability to take the revs. I'm betting the stock rods would take it too. The early 1UZFE rods were way over built, and they've proven to handle tons of HP in boosted application. It's the stock cast high compression pistons that kill these motors, but even then they've been shown to handle 500hp on the stock 10:1 compressoin with boost. Use super short exhaust and that'll help get rid of some of the lexus rumble these engines are known for. I'm envisioning 8 seperate tubes exiting out of the vender with about a 30-45 degree angle cut flush with the body... Hawt. Retro drag, but with modern style and finish. And LOUD. Of course run ITB, and if you could make a F1 style intake like on the H1 V8. Sexy, and sounds great. In reality it's just as much work as the SBC or SBF would be. But you have to pay for 3 more camshafts, but it's probably a more relialble base for high RPM. And you can get a 1UZFE in great shape for $500....

Geez that was fast... Yea, my car is in richmond sitting out in the rain. My poor lil L28et is getting rained on. Please please PLEASE let me know when/where you go to the track. I'd love to come check out the car.

Well I believe you're right team nissan, but I think the bumpers combined would easily weigh more. I think they're around 30-40 pounds a piece. Based of my estimate when one fell on me.... The hatches are pretty heavy too. You'd know what I'm talking about if you ever had to lift one that didn't have shocks in it. But the weight I'm sure is helped along with that huge piece of glass and wiper + motor. Fenders are light. Doors are pretty heavy. I havn't stripped on yet, but so far I'd guess that the longer 2+2 is a good 30+ pounds. I also noticed that the 2+2 doors feel WAY heavier when opening them compared to the 2 seater doors. What other removable panels are there? I think I've covered them all. At any rate, converting to a fiberglass or carbon hood could easily reduce any weight added from an engine swap for most people around here. Most V8 engines are lighter, or less than 50 pounds more than the L28 origonally in the car. The transmissions are normally quite a bit heavier though... I'd love to see someone make an aluminum bumper piece though. I really wanna take that weight off my car, but I still want the protection of a bumper, and knowing I can bump a car while parking is nice. Not so much because I can't park, but I've watched so many other people hit cars while parking.

Alan - I can see where he's comming from. The price "seems" high for some bits of fiberglass. I mean, beta motorsports sells carbon fiber hoods for under $800 USD, and I don't think he's making thousands of them THAT being said, I myself understand where you're comming from. If you're gonna make something high quality, and the piece is hard to replicate to begin with, then even to break even they're not going to be cheap. At any rate I applaud people like you who put effort into making sure things like this don't just dissapear. I'm in no means a collector of much, or a purist of much, but I can still value the historical value and functional value of these flares.

What DID you say before editing your message INSANE? Lemme guess... "where have people done the 300ZX ECU swap?" Thanks for the replies everyone. I'm surprised to see such a quick responce from others that think the same way I do about OEM EMS systems. I myself am thinking about going with a late model Z31 system if I ever want a better EFI system for my L28ET. I like the features it has, and I like how cheap I could get it into my car.

I've been learning more and more about tuning EFI systems, and I've been quite amazed at how many OEM systems can easily keep up or out class many of the super expensive stand alone systems. So is anyone out there using OEM systems they've adapted to their application? There's several guys who have done the 300ZX ECU swap, and the 88-89 ECUs are very VERY nice from what I've seen, and you could easily get a programmable eprom system for a price comparable to megasquirt. So why havn't i seen anyone doing this? It seems like if you found a 88-89 300ZX in a junkyard you could just pull the entire EFI system for $50-$100, then add a programmable EPROM for around $200 and you're good to go. You can even upgrade to a MAF with higher resolution and able to measure more air. And you'll get a nice OEM wiring harness that'd probably be easier to modify than making one from scratch. Am I alone in considering this?

:cough: ah ha a ahem... So... Got any pics of this mystery header firm?

Nope, because I don't care what you think, and I'm not looking for any converts. I can totally agree though about matching interior/paint to an extent. But for some reason I tend to like the more plain colors that blend well with all colors. White/Black/Grey etc. Black tends to get hot though. White gets dirty... Grey... is perfect. Looks good on anything imo.

White w/red is the most common i see for the later years. I'd say the next most common ones I see is brown w/brown (usually 79-81), black w/brown (79-81) and blue w/blue (82-83). My ideal factory S130 would be a 79' power nothing, blue w/grey interior. For some reason the grey seems extremely hard to find. I personally can only stand the brown, grey, and black interiors. Most others are just too 80's nike for me.

I got pretty pissed last night. Got all my tools together. Trying to hurry up and get the driveshaft on while there's sunlight outside. Get under the car, get the driveshaft down there and start to mate it up to the transmission... ...doesn't want to go on. What? Hmm... pull it out, bring out my old driveshaft that was on the turbo donor car... differnent spline counts on the transmission yoke. Apparently the 2+2 turbo had a 26-2 (meaning 24 teeth with two blank areas for locating) and the 2 seater turbo had 24-2 (meaning 22 teeth with two blank areas for locating) It's quite obvious when you look at it. The opening on the 2+2 yoke is a good 1/4 inch larger in diameter. So I guess I've gotta call around and see if I can get the yoke changed. If I get the same BS from shops saying the yokes are irraplacable on that shaft then I might consider just craiglisting the whole project and buying something else. I'm pretty mad at this point that I'm getting help up by an issue as stupid as this.

I agree it might seem like less trouble to turbo the L28, but since you have the ford motor sitting there that's probably going to be the best route. Since your son's 79' has power everything it'll weight closer to 2900 pounds as a guess. Might be a little bit lighter, but not by a ton. Check what type of power steering it has. If it's recirculating ball then header clearence will be tight for sure, so be thinking about how to deal with that. If it's rack and pinion then it should give you a lot more room, but there's far from a huge database of V8 S130 cars, even here. Also keep in mind if you want to convert to the rack and pinion, power or manual, you'll need the corrosponding cross member as well, as the mounting tabs don't exist on the recirculating ball cars.

Well I'm 20 as well and I can also so that there's no way I would want to deal with a 300+ hp Z right now. I'm sure I could get used to it, but my brother's 93' cobra was an handful, though I was only 16-17 then. The stock 86' 302 was pretty wimpy. If you left it stock it would provide a good stepping point for him to get used to it I think. All that being said the fasts 280ZX times in our database are in the 11 second range. I'll go hunt around looking for some times of one with a FSB and report back here. EDIT/UPDATE: Well I'm not finding any times right away for ford timeslips, but a member here "80LT1" has a LT1 motor in his car and he's well into the 12's, mid 12s, on his Gtech Pro which tend to be accurate enough for comparison. Here's a link to his engine mods. http://www.datsun-280zx-lt1.com/LT1andT56.html Another Edit: Oh yea, if you look at his page you'll see that there's steering clearence issues on the driver side that mean you have to run a custom header on most V8 engines. Well you shouldn't have to worry about this, as I believe all, or close to all 79' ZX cars had a manual rack and pinion steering rack. They were also all slick top (no T-Top) and many had manual mirrors, manual windows, and even no AC. If this is the case for your car it should be pretty light and you can compare times with relative accuracy with the 280Z guys.

That's not too bad. From the looks of it you didn't wrap the chassis much, if even at all. New hood, touch up the headlamp buckets, clean the bumper up and you'll be good to go.

Not a bad deal at all. Sure is nice to have it drivable isn't it though? If you follow the trend around here that won't last long. Nice car though. There's a 79' for $500 that runs listed on craigslist... really making me itch.

Daeron could be talking about flywheel HP, because 240-250 would be right around 300 fly HP. I myself am only shooting for around 210-230 wheel hp. I still wanna see 40mpg someday, which might be possible with the ZX aero.

Something tells me that when that happens you'll still be able to find clean rust free S130 chassis cars for under $500 nationwide. And I still hold that when the S30 cars are either all too expensive or too rusted out for the average V8 swapper then the S130 will start to gain a huge V8 crowd. Of course, who knows how long that might take...

http://www.energysuspension.com/pages/nis1.html tada. Here's a quick refference list of what they have for ya Front/Rear Control Arm Bushing sets Front Strut Rod Bushing Set Front/Rear Sway bar bushings Front/Rear End Link Bushing Set Differential Carrier Bushing Set Tie Rod Boots You can also get the same basic bushings from zcarparts in one package http://www.thezstore.com/page/TZS/PROD/PSDC06A/23-4100KX

True story - It's 11pm friday night. I'm heading to my friends house for a quick chat before heading home for then night. I'm traveling I-80 at 80mph or so. In the distance I see some tail lights... Hmm??? What's that? It's still a good mile off or so. Once I got a little closer, less than a half mile or so I knew for sure what it was. Supra. Instict and stupidity kicks in, I mash the throttle to take a closer look. As I get closer I can tell it's purple, has a pearl paint job, and definately has some turbo whine. As I get within that 1/8 mile of him or so I start slowing down a bit so I don't just fly past him. As I roll up next to his car his hand fly's out the window with a huge "Thumbs Up" and smiles. As I roll past I give him a thumbs up and a "rock on" metal fist and change over 4 lanes since my exit was coming up. Of all people to ever give ME a thumbs up... Shesh. And I was in a S130 at that. For the most part it seems most people I run into have positive outlooks on the Z cars. The most harsh critic I have is my brother though. He doesn't like 90% of S30 cars I show him, and has a hard time picturing any S130 car as "timeless" and to him they'll always be 80's, and crappy 80's at that. I personally don't find any Zcar to be the most beautiful car of it's era, but I certainly find them to be one of the best balances out there. Price, looks, performance, potential. These are things that ALL Z cars have above many other cars out there, and i think that overal package has been what's made these cars so well remembered.

Like crap. haha Just got it running finally. Still got some kinks to work out. I'm not getting water temp, and oil temp on the dash, probably due to sensor issues sitting out in the rain for so long. I also don't get any boost signal, but that's because the hose going to the sensor is cracked. It was running super rich, adjusted the AFM, doesn't blow black smoke now. PO had it running super super rich, and also knew his injectors weren't in the greatest of shape (car wouldn't run on low gas), and had it super rich for "safety". With your injectors it's running great. I've had some spark issues, so I'm gonna have to go and get a set of plugs, wires, and makes a cap and rotor while I'm at it. I really need to get some money together and buy all new hoses for the entire engine. Rid myself of the coolant in the throttle, replace the oil lines, coolant lines, etc. I should also clean all my electrical connections. Most of my driving is highway, so I don't see 25mpg as impossible on a stock L28et. Hard part will be getting it lean enough and still not pinging on cheap gas.

Yea, sounds about right. I'm gonna see how good of a highway tune I can get on my L28et before thinkning about megasquirt. If I DO end up even keeping my car then I'll go megasquirt eventually, and if the stock ECU can't get over 25mpg then I'll be saving money in the long run.

I've run into the same problem, and I think it's due to a poor seal between the glass and the outer rubber. There IS a drain, but it sucks horribly. Nissan saw fit to put a little rubber plug in there that's "supposed" to let it all drain out. We it basically creates a really nice PLUG and just gets in the way, so I just removed mine. It's drained fine since. But I've only had this problem in 2 S130 cars, and this car has quite a gap at the base of the window. It's the only way I could see that much water getting in. (i've had what seemed like a gallon at times)

My car runs now. HA! Beat ya... Could it be a bad connection at the ECU? Just a thought...