drzed

Ah Doug then you saw the new "stealth" paint job. I had just finished it before the show last year. I like the look of the flat black but I will never paint another car flat again - what a PITA! As for the time down the strip I'm OK but looking for some improvement very soon. New engine is almost done and should be in by mid summer - do I smell 10's? Doug if your coming out again this year let me know and will get together. Mike

Ya Doug that was cool eh? That was Terry from Washington but I don't think he is a member here. For a bone stock 280Z Terry managed a couple of quick runs before the explosion! And his setup did look very trick. If you remember you and I talked for quite a while - I think I was just starting to run my 260Z - it was still brown and very dented and ugly.

The welds get ground off and then you throw the damper and crank away and start over again - well at least in my case!

I'm probably a little late (5 hrs) but better late than never eh? So by now my guess is that you are looking at the end of your crank and wondering if it is useable. If it is not damaged yes the L28 damper will interchange. If it is damaged but not too bad you might be able to get away with it for a while until you have time to change out the crankshaft. I've had this happen before on my 240Z and I reinstalled another key and damper and welded it on the end of the crank. Not the best idea but the crank is junk anyway and I didn't have time to change the crank - still in and working after several years. You still need to install the bolt and I would locktite it with the highest grade locktite and then let it sit overnight. Then cross your fingers and check it often to see if it's still holding. Good luck

I don't know about the Hoosiers but my MT ET drags seem to work well at 15psi. I was told to start at about 15 psi and work my way down but it seems to launch well as is. How do you find the far end of the track? My combo seems to hunt and squirm all over the place above 100MPH.

I should have a power rack for an 81. Don't have any non power though. If interested PM me.

Thats right!! I forgot about the master plan of buying 1 x 2mm gasket and making 3 x .6mm gaskets out of the layers. I've come up with an even better plan this time - I'm going to buy bone stock Nissan head gaskets and sell them to stupid unsuspecting Canadian's for $154 each!!!! They will be shipped in NISMO packages so it will still look like a cool part! What do you think? BTW when is the Munroe swap meet? Must be coming up soon.

Trying to build a little more compression in this engine. The used forged pistons have a huge dish so I need as little gasket volume as possible. I'm committed to using the P90 I have. I'm going with a 1mm gasket now anyway.

Here are the pics (thanks Jonny). As you can see not much different than the stock Nissan gasket - except a little wider at the fire ring. Now for the even worse news. As I was going to install the gasket I found that it actually overhangs my 86.5mm bore by about .020 on each side of the cylinder! The fire ring is actually a little egg shaped. Thats right this gasket would not even clear the stock 86mm bore of a 280Z block. So now I'm unable to put the engine together until I get this straightened out and a proper MLS head gasket. This gasket is supposed to be for a 91mm bore. What a POS!! I'll keep you up to date as to whether or not these guys take care of this situation properly. Hey 2003Z thanks for the link but I'm still back in the dark ages with Windows 2000 and that software doesn't support it. Guess I'll have to upgrade someday eh?

pics sent - thanks alot

For all those who may be interested in using a NISMO 0.6mm head gasket you may want to think again. I finally found a source for this gasket (performancenissanparts.com) and was quite surprised when I took it out of the package the other day. This is not a multi layer steel gasket like the 1mm and 2mm gaskets even though it is the same price! So what I just purchased, shipped and paid brokerage on was basically a slightly better than stock Nissan head gasket for $154 plus brokerage and taxes. Not a good deal in my books. I expected that I could use the gasket maybe 3 or 4 times so that made the price more reasonable in my opinion. This style gasket obviously can only be used once. It looks like a good quality gasket with even wider fire rings than the stock Nissan piece. Now to make matters worse the gasket measures out at .060" on the steel fire rings and .055" on the fiber. I don't think this gasket is going to compress to .024" (.6mm) even though they said it would when I called yesterday to confirm that I received the right part in the box. They also said that it was not advertised as a MLS gasket but I can't confirm this since their website has been down for the last 2 weeks. To be fair I may has just assumed this from other information I have found on the internet. I can't really send it back (even if they would take it back as it was a special order) since I would be eating the shipping, brokerage and taxes twice making the 1mm I would order even more expensive. So I will be installing this overpriced POS tomorrow AM and measuring the compressed thickness - I will post results and if it isn't quite close to .024 I will be making another call to these guys. For interest would like to post some pics of this gasket but I can't seem to figure out how to downsize the pics to meet the required size limits. I don't have any software that can do this - is there anything that does this for free on the net?

The parts we were breaking in the R180s were the side gears - welding it up should fix that anyway. Not near as strong as the R200 but you might get away with it. The welded R200 in my 260Z is still working fine and is more streetable than most people think. For a drag only car it is the only way to go. My car only runs 11.49 but it does it with a 1.57 60 ft!! As for the 3.36 gears I think you might be over gearing a little. Try both the 3.36 and a 3.55 and let us know the results - I think the 3.55's will ET better.

Stock bottom end is good for 7000 RPM. Both my cars have seen regular use with junkyard engines up to and slightly past 7K. My NA 240Z did have balancer and flywheel bolt failures when used just above 7K at a couple of autoX events whick required one section of the track to be run at 7200 to avoid shifting and at the 1/4 mile where I was trying not to shift into the next gear at the end of the track. This is my 3rd season with my 260Z at the 1/4 mile track without any problems on the factory F54 bottom end. The balancer is still OK and no flywheel problems - it's an auto HA HA! Now on to the important part - do you really need to spin it up that fast? IMO no. My 260Z is actually quicker in the 1/4 by shifting at 6700 rather than 7000. This enables the engine to stay in between the torque and HP curves for more of the run. Unless you have a larger cam than mine I doubt you will need more than 7K. Good luck with the project.

117mph!!! Cool! With that mph you could easily run 11's with only one other thing TRACTION. Get some slicks or at least drag radials and 11's here you come! Good luck and keep us posted.

I think you might be on to something! I was thinking of maybe using a 50 shot to help spool the turbo but was not interested in plumbing a wet system due to the complexity. I can't see any reason why it wouldn't work.

Should be easy to get at least that HP level but I would change the following. Forget the ARP fasteners at this level - too expensive. Use the saved money to get a cam reground from Colt Cams here in BC (coltcams.com). Geoff will help you out and he is very reasonably priced -tell him "drzed" sent you. Get an "M445" grind (not his grind number but he will know what I mean). This cam will work well with the carbs you have and the compression level. Watch the piston to head clearance - the last F54 block with flat tops I used had the pistons out of the hole a fair bit. Lastly I would find some 280Z (not 280zx) valves and grind the E31's seats to work with them. If you are getting new seats just get the 280Z seats installed instead. If there is an edge of the head material (in the port) sticking out past the seat grind this off and blend into rest of port. While your in there grind out any casting flange or rough bits. Don't take off too much material just remove any obvious defects. If you get the cam you can't use stock valve springs as they will stack solid at this height. I don't have time right now to go over the whole "how to set up a cam properly" thing but I'm sure it has been explained 20 times on this site better that I could. My personal opinion is that you don't need new rocker arms if your originals are in reasonable shape and I like using L20A outer springs and stock inners if you keep it under 7000RPM. Good luck

Hey this could work out pretty good. I could order one 2mm head gasket and make three 0.6mm gaskets with some left over!!! Just kidding but I'll look into this as I've never even seen one of these gaskets before. Thanks for the reply. BTW I think I found someone with the .6mm - Performance Nissan Parts. They are also cheaper than the other two I mentioned at $132 ea.

Is this some sort of onion joke or are you serious?

I've tried both Motorsport Auto and Courtesy Nissan - neither one can get this gasket anymore. Courtesy Nissan still lists it on their website but they didn't know what I was talking about when I tried to order it today. Does anybody know where I can buy a 0.6mm steel head gasket? If not, has anyone used one of the copper head gaskets on a high boost L series engine? If I can't find one I'll go to the 1.0mm but I don't want to lose any more compression from this engine - dismally low already.

I have an extra one on one my parts cars. $25US plus what ever it costs to ship to you. Last stuff I sent to OZ went via the mail - slow but cheap. PM me if your interested.

Hey thanks alot! Now I just need to find someone locally who handles Goodson - the two I tried still can't find it even with your part number. Did you order them direct?

I can't seem to find any cam tower shims locally. I have 2 sets at home but I need to buy two more to get the head back together and I can't find any parts numbers on them. Both local parts houses can't find them (or are too stupid or lazy to look it up). I've searched and can't find any part numbers. I seem to remember that Goodson used to make them but neither place could find a listing.

I wouldn't bother with a cam at those kinds of boost levels for the amount of money and work it takes to set up a cam properly. Just find someone with an extra stock cam - you shoud be able to find one cheap. The Rayjay setup (if it is the old BAE kit from tyhe 70's) was designed to work on that engine so you won't have any problems - the standalone ECU will be a major improvement over the stock kit. I use a Rayjay on my 260Z and am very impressed with it's durability. It does spool slowly due to the large exhaust housing and lack of wastgate. I think the stock kit ran about 6 psi of boost but you can get stiffer springs for the BOV from any hardware store. When it comes time for a cam (15 psi +) there is a cam grinder here in BC that is very good (Colt Cams). I have used several of his cams with good success. I wouldn't spend tons of money on that head or block if you are going for a budget setup. Try to find a stock 280ZX turbo engine in running condition and swap it in complete less the computer. Better pistons and better head. Good luck!

I ran all last year at the track at 19psi on a bone stock bottom end with just new rings and bearings. Ended the year at 21 psi for the last 2 nights. No failures at all except for the headgasket leaking a very small amount of water externally down the side of the block each run - doesn't leak on the street at all unless it's under full boost. I run conservative timing and good fuel - always avoiding detonation like the plague!! I also have an intercooler the size of my rad to keep the intake temps cool.

Ya, if I ever take the car to the dyno and the graph looks anything like Tim's it will become part of my signature below! As for building boost on the line I haven't had a problem yet - the trans is an auto and I foot brake at the line with a 2700 RPM stall convertor. It takes a second or two for it to start to spool but it builds about 10 lbs of boost by the time I leave - 1.57 60 ft time. I had an intercooler hose blow off late last year and it's pretty doggy without the turbo. Who would have known that a 7.4:1 engine with a cam wouldn't build any power without the turbo !! I think the cranking pressure was about 135 psi when I checked - very sad indeed.