pparaska

I have one of those - out of a V8 Sunbird. I think it might be called a T-50. Weird shift pattern - 1st is down to the left, 2nd up in the middle, so on. If anybody wants it, let me know $100+shipping. I even have a 10.5" clutch disc (and 2500lb PP) for it.

I have a line on a set of L98 heads that have been ported, etc. These would be near ideal for me as I'm using 461 cast iron heads now - more compression, less weight, better flow, better combustion chamber. The only possible downside is that I'm using 1-5/8" Hooker Block Hugger headers. And they've been coated already. That and the L98 heads have angle plug orientation and D port exhaust ports. So I'm wondering if anyone has experience with these or other angle plug heads with the same plug location and orientation (not all angle plugs are in the same place/angle) and they've tried them with the Hooker Block hugger headers. Also, will the flow into the block hugger headers from the D port be o.k.? Not looking for optimal there, just don't want to do something stupid. TIA!

Ya know that might just fit! I was wondering, if the turbos are sized/used in a optimum part of their compressor map, and it's an efficient turbo design, would there be such a thing as a knee in the curve of boost vs turbo output temp? I mean, if you ran it at "ONLY" 5,6, or 7 psi, with optimal turbos, would the heat added to the intake charge be low compared to if you went to 9+ psi? Just wondering about the need for intercooling at lower boost. Just dreaming.

I passed on them. I talked to a few people about header/plug clearance and it sounded like no fun, even with short plugs. Plus the boss wasn't too happy about any more money going to the Z now - go figure! I'd dumped plenty in the past 4-5 months, and she's right - not right now! Pete "I want better/lighter heads" Paraska

All new wiring to the ALT here too.

Lone, bud. Just because I have a problem with some of the HD people around here doesn't mean I paint all HD people with the same brush. Let's just say I've had my fill of SOME arrogant HD riders and their self-righteous attitude about loud pipes. That's fine if they lived in the middle of nowhere or didn't crank them up when most people are trying to sleep. Sorry if I ruffled any feathers. This is a daily bother for my family.

Davy, all. Sorry if my post was upsetting. But these observations are not just my own. My wife being a crab in the morning because the inconsiderate HD persons in the neighborhood decided to put loud pipes on AND leave at 6 AM and wake her up is a very real thing, Big hairy steel tip boot toes or not.

Lone, some observations for you on HDs and cars. There are guys around with "free flowing exhaust" on their cars and yes this is loud sometimes, but usually the right frequencies are muffled to keep it from pop-popping through the walls and closed windows of the house - even with flowmasters it's better than a HD with open or almost open pipes. It's all that high frequency crackling at low rpm that makes these HDs so annoying and that make the sound go right through window panes, etc. The problem I have with many of the HD people around me is that they think that they NEED to have a loud exhaust for safety in riding around cars. That, and as they roll to a stop or into their driveway late at night, or out of the driveway EARLY in the AM, they feel the ridiculous need to pull in the clutch and to BRAAPP the throttle. Sure, they've come down the street pretty stealthily, at low rpm, (but even that is pretty loud - I just heard them on the other street climbing the hill) and they waste all that stealth by cracking the throttle once or twice. I know the old HDs would sometimes be tuned so they'd load up and you needed to do that to clear them out. But the new bikes that these people have with the loud pipes (AND I MEAN REALLY LOUD), don't need to do that. This is VERY common around these parts. What really makes me laugh are these turkeys who don't know a damned thing about how engines work buy a new HD, put on a straight set of pipes, maybe with a half of a baffle (that does next to nothing to quiet the open pipe) and lose ALL the low end torque. So now they have a bike that not only tops out in a power band at less than 5000 rpm, but have no low end either. Chuckle heads, I tell ya. If HD people don't want a bad rap, they need to talk to these idiots that put loud pipes on and piss off their neighbors. I'll never say anything to them because they get all defensive and say how it NEEDS to be loud and all that absolute CRAP. I guess the real thing that bothers me is that these people ARE really nice, until you mention that their HD is too loud. Then they get all defensive. Damned selfish if you ask me. [ August 04, 2001: Message edited by: pparaska ]

I have a blueprint for the ones I built under "structural mods" on my site. As far as I know, there is no "kit" available.

This idiot is using a red plastic encased incandescant bulb from radio shack. Sounds like the same one you're using?

Evan, My alternator seems to put out 13.9-14 volts no matter what's running when at idle. That's the beauty of these alternators. If it's charging, I'd think you didn't hurt it. I ran an 8 gage wire from the lower mount bolt of the alt to where my 2 gage negative battery cable bolts to the block near the starter. I don't know if it helped, I just wanted to make sure it had a good ground path to the battery, with minimal voltage drop. M.A.D. Enterprises number is 559-539-7128. No 800 number, no website anymore, no email I know of. Give him a call, but be ready to be on the phone a while, as he like to talk. Very knowledgeable guy!

WOW! I bet those students didn't take ANY other courses that semester! Incredible. Seems like overkill to me though! Why not a 4 cyl? Is that a carbon fiber wrap on that transaxle, or is the entire case (except the bolting flanges) CF?

That might be a T45? Not as strong as the T56. BLKMGK, any other Mustang guys, you know?

Mike, I was hoping Ross would chime in. I THINK the R200s before the 300ZX were 10mm bolts, but not sure.

Evan, all I learned from the owner of M.A.D. Enterprises (the guy is an auto electronics WIZARD) that the CS alternators don't really need an external sensing wire, as there is one set up internally to the output. The center of the 3 small prongs on the alt connector is the field source wire. You need to send voltage to this wire, with either an incandescent lamp ("ALT idiot lamp") or a small resistor in the line (maybe 10 ohms?). From a battery POS source, put a bulb in series to the center small prong on the alternator to "turn it on". I don't know what would happen if you gave it the full battery voltage. I'm not sure what resistance to use instead of the "idiot lamp". I wanted an idiot lamp anyway, to tell me if the ALT was not working, I threw a belt, or the battery was shot, etc. Anyway, that field source wire is the only one needed on that 4-wire connector on the ALT. Oh yeah, Mine reads right around 14 Volts at idle or 4000 rpm . HTH, [ August 03, 2001: Message edited by: pparaska ]

Firstly, Thanks to Scottie for reminding us of the spirit of HybridZ. Secondly, I understand the "sacred Cow" thing about HD. But I'm not going to touch it here either. It won't change anyone's mind about HDs anyway. Let's just say that I've been woken up WAY TOO MANY wee hours of the morning because some HD riders thinks it's more important to be heard (loud pipes save lives!) than for their neighbors to get uninterrupted sleep ! Me, I took the easy road - SBC with a carb. I'd love to upgrade to EFI, and maybe build something different some day (GNZ, NSZ, Kit Cobra). Jamie, Scottie, Lone Star 1, thank you for pioneering another engine swap! [ August 03, 2001: Message edited by: pparaska ]

DavyZ, I had this same problem with my Holley Contender intake and Moroso cast valve covers. I just filed the valve covers a little bit on the edge to clear it at the intake ports.

Yes, I did that to a bud's V8Z one day. Luckily we were in his driveway. Like DavyZ said, undo the hinge to hood bolts and lift front of the hood carefully. Try getting a really long screwdriver or something to move the latch arm that the cable hooks to toward the left side of the car (do this from the side of the hood on the left side). Oh, if it's a RHD car, do it from the right .

Ashe, I'd also add that a Quaiffe is a huge chunk of change for someone not going road racing. Alot of people do just fine on the street with V8 and other high powered Zs with just plain old open R200s. In fact - that beautiful blue with white stripe customized Z on the main page of this site (Terry Oxandale's) has an open diff, last I heard. If strapped for cash, I'd try an open R200 first.

Yep. 1992 Eclipse GSX is my daily driver. Bad paint, dings, sluggish at low end (carbon'd combustion chamber induced knock causing timing retard) sometimes, but still a fun car for DD. Ton's o' fun in the rain. But other than a pressure type bleeder and a few shifter mods, that's all I've done to it. All my mod money goes into the Z . BTW, lot's of sharp people on the DSM.org list and site. The guy (Todd Day) that runs the list and site un-assembled the ECU code and burns custom EPROMS for people with tons of neat stuff, to include multiple rpm limiters, etc. etc. Wish my car had an EPROM version of the computer! Not all did.

It bleeds pressure from the small line from the turbo's output to the waste gate. The Mitsu (at least the Talon/Eclipse) uses a solenoid bleeder circuit. It has a "T" in the line from the turbo to the wastegate. It goes from a slow bleed to closed when the ECU thinks the knock count is too high (although it throws in retard before that). Anyway, the popular thing on some turbo cars is to change the amount of that "bleed". This is o.k., but it's MUCH better to put a relief type valve between the turbo output and the wastegate, with no bleeder. The nice thing about a relief type manual boost controller (well, it's not some electronic boox and a solenoid like HKS, Greddy, etc.) is that the wastegate gets NO boost pressure until the pressure against a ball in the controller overcomes a spring force. The spring preload is adjustable. This can be dangerous though. You can set it to too high of a boost "relief" pressure and get detonation. But at least the Mitsu computer pulls timing out on you so that can save you or signal to you that you've gone too far on the setting. Not bad for an old American V8 hotrodder, huh?

Yep, me too. Lots of it. I'd actually pack the bottom of each stud hole and the stud and let the stuff ooz out. BTW, if anyone ever gets cute and uses stainless steel nuts and bolts on head/pipe flange bolts, be SURE to put anti-seize on the threads. After one hour of running, some of the bolts/nuts were quite galled. The SS fasteners had a brown tinge to them due to heat. One bolt/nut was galled so bad that I twisted the head off of the bolt!

I don't think that just because you put a V8 in a car it makes it a muscle car. You can do a slightly warmed over 350 Chevy in the Z and get 12 second 1/4 miles with grandma like around town driveability. And that's because it's so much ligher than a real "muscle car", which typically is in the mid to high 3000 pounds range, like 3500-2600 for an old Camaro.

I think the real problem here is quite different from a steel boat in the water. The ferrous (iron, steel, etc.) metals on a boat in the water is generally though of as the anode in a big battery. Not sure where the anode is. But anyway, the ferrous bolt in an aluminum block has set up this little battery right at the point were the two touch. So adding cathodic protection with a zinc anode probably won't do much to help this, unless the engine block is submerged . BTW, I probably mixed up cathode and anode above. If there are two things to choose from, I usually pic the wrong one .

A little Ti story: The USSR used to construct the entire hull of their Ti hulled submarine in a huge sealed hangar with shielding gas as the atmosphere in the hangar instead of air. The workers and welders wore suits that had air piped to them.