pparaska

Well, I went and did it. Went against the spirit of the doctor's orders. I was walking about 2 miles a day, the right calf still not working (nerve), but everything else was great - I was getting my stamina back. 20 May (my 17 anniversary), the wife says "hey, since your backs doing so well with the walking, why don't you cut the front lawn (probablyh 1/4 acre). This is probably not in the spirit of the doctors orders! I say sure. It was a bit of twisting, not much, pushing, not a ton. Next day felt fine. Monday woke up and has a bad back spasm on the lower left. So I had a limp from the left calf not working, and another from the back spasm. I lasted 5 hours at work. Next night I was laying in bed and had a back spasm that registered a 10 on the 0-10 pain scale. I was screaming and couldn't help it. Lasted about 5 seconds. Next morning was my first Phys Therapy appt. I get up GINGERLY, take a shower get dressed mostly by laying on the bed. Tried to get up to go and #10 pain spasm again. Called the PT to cancel then called 911. Ambulance crew had to take me to hospital and out of bed on a back board. The hospital put me on valium and Dilaudid, enough that I could make it to the car and go home. I've been on that stuff ever since (22nd). I'm getting somewhat better but the spasms are still there, just a 5 or 6 instead of a 10 in pain. I've been on the treadmill at home doing .7 miles in 30 minutes to try to work through it. Seeing a holistic PT that's been trying to straighten out my misaligned spine - seems to help. I'm in bed most of the time, walking around some, and on the treadmill. Guys, take care of your back. Maybe even see an PT for the hell of it in your 30s to see if things are o.k. My problems seem to have started a LONG time ago. TAKE CARE OF YOUR BACK!!!

Cool Thanks!

Jon, I was wondering if you would try to condense all of the posts in this thread into the original FAQ so we could clean up the thread and make your FAQ more comprehensive. Pete

Thanks, Ron! Beautiful cars!

Good point - I'll do a more thorough survey.

After using the standard to calibrate the 0.0001" mic, each journals had no more than 0.0002" of variation in diameter as I went around them 90 from one measurement to the next. Main journals, measured at half distance between cheeks, were: #1 2.4479 vs 2.4480 90 degrees apart #2 2.4479 vs 2.4480 #3 2.4480 vs 2.4481 #4 2.4481 vs 2.4481 #5 (in line with forward oil hole for/aft location) 2.4482 vs 2.4482 #5 (in line with rear oil hole for/aft location) 2.4483 vs 2.4483 I remeasured and got very similar results the 2nd time Rod journals, measured in for/aft location of oil hole for each rod: #1 2.0990 vs 2.0990 #2 2.0990 vs 2.0990 #3 2.0990 vs 2.0988 #4 2.0991 vs 2.0990 #5 2.0991 vs 2.0991 #6 2.0992 vs 2.0990 #7 2.0990 vs 2.0991 #8 2.0988 vs 2.0989 Again, when I measured the second time I got very similar results, only a .0001" difference from the time before on just a few locations. OF course, you can split hairs even on a vernier scale, and sometimes that was the reason - a measurement would come in as either a bit more than 2.0991 or a bit less than 2.0992, But I was taught not to try to read those split hairs and try to decide which vernier mark looked closer. As far as bearing clearances, I'd like to see no less that 0.0025" and no more than 0.0030" on the mains, no less than 0.0020" and no more than 0.0025" on the rods. But I'm all ears. Any suggestions? I can get 0.001" undersize bearings to mix and match with the STD ones to try to hit those numbers.

The laryer of the King bearings that are the bearing surface is a good bit thicker than the babbit layer of the Tri-metal bearings, so imbeddability is actually better. I have no idea where the dirt got into the oil. I'm not sure that it was actually debris. It was right in the center of the bearing, in line with the oil hole. It MIGHT have been a raised area around the oil hole chamfer. The bearing was dug out pretty deep all across that area, deepest in the center. But it MIGHT have been dirt. I know I was REALLY careful about taking the oil pump apart, blueprinting it and cleaning it, as well as cleaning the pump pickup. I even took the pickup apart. I cleaned the oilpan many times too, but there's a slight chance that there was dirt, etc. trapped under the area where the internal baffling meets the pan. I tried very hard to get that clean though. You can believe that when I put the 406 back together (starting this week) I will be even more careful about dirt, etc. Anyway, I've asked around and no one had anything bad to say about the King bearings, only good things. This includes people that build lots of engines for customers and themselves for street and racing. I mic'd the crank last night and ordered (STD) King Alecular bearings for it. carshopinc.com had them in stock, supposedly. I've never bought from them before, but they listed all of them and the different sizes on their web store and made it easy to order exactly what I wanted.

YOu should have NEVER posted negative stuff about his persona in the first place. That's not in the spirit of HybridZ in the first place. You have been warned. Do it again and you are GONE.

http://www.putgrandprixondvd.com/ I just ordered

Who's replica? http://i58.photobucket.com/albums/g275/thehelix112/MSA2006ZShow/240zbrereplica-rearsuspension.jpg I'd like to know more about the rear control arm. Thanks for posting the photo links, guys. Saved me a trip to the left coast!

This is like mental therapy! Laying around for a week and a half will drive ya nuts! I'll be in the garage a bit now, filing piston rings, mic'ing journals, etc. The wife will have to put the crank on the bench though .

I understand what you're saying, but the fact that they talk about the "silicon" knocking off the high spots on the crank journal, I came away thinking it was more like silica.

"...Is There Anything To Gain Polishing Tripple Webbers?" Yes! Chicks!

I've got the Dart Sportsman block back from the machine shop (now zero decked and bored/honed to my pistons from the old 406). Had to have the crank polished (dirt got in the bearings somehow, and they were showing copper). So I need new bearings for the mains at least. I usually use Clevite 77 H or P bearings, but I've heard people say the King Alecular bearings are good also. http://www.kingbearings.com/advantages.html I found the ones I need pretty cheap - $25 for main bearings. These are the silicon Alecular bearings. I know, silicon is sand. Not sure it's something I want in a bearing. They make them without the silicon also. http://www.kingbearings.com/SI.htm Any experience or advice appreciated.

Ian, I haven't gotten it back yet. G-Force is having a supply problem with the main shafts, but they are at the heat treaters now, supposedly. mrparks - notchy, meaning that it doesn't shift smoothly like a honda or like most T-5s, but more like a riding mower or truck transmission. The issue is that the TKO gears are more massive and the synchros aren't optimally designed to speed the gears up, so it takes a bit of time and force on the shift lever to do the speed matching for synchronization. Everything is more massive in the TKO (well, all Tremec TR-3550 type 5 spds for that matter) than in the T-5. It's not absolutely hateful, but at times you do feel like you're driving a UPS truck. Changing the gear oil often helps keep some of the notchiness at bay, but GM Synchromesh is the only thing that Tremec says should be used, and it's not cheap.

The TKOs are over 100 lbs, and a good bit larger than the T5. The top of the TKO is wide and comes close to the lines in the tunnel. They also shift more "notchily" than the T5. Have you considered doing a G-Force T-5? All the light weight, good gear ratios (2.95 first) and shifting quality of the T-5, but with 600 lbft torque capablility. It's done with stronger material for the gears and shafts. Not cheap, but neither is the TKO.

Sounds like maybe the flywheel gear is not at a constant radius from the crank centerline, making the starter move around? You may be just looking at a symptom of that, the starter getting loosened.

Thanks again guys! Ernine, Thank you for the prayers. I'm very open minded and will look into that treatment. I see a craniosacral therapist sometimes and he has helped find where connective tissue needed to be released - it's amazing what people out of the main stream of medicine can do for you! The body is very complicated and the western docs are JUST beginning to realize what effects what in some areas that homeopathic, asian, and chiropractic people have understood for a long time IMO anyway. I'm also speaking with a DC and homeopathic doc that is helping me sort out seemingly unrelated health issues. Seems lot's of seemingly unrelated stuff all over the body can come from binding of the spinal cord in the neck area and all that's needed to help it are some stretching exercises and watching that you eat the correct things including minerals. I've been taking large doses of minerals for weeks and according to some of my reading it's probably why my pain from the surgery has been so minimal. Anyway, I'll check into the 4 walls thing - I have an open mind and a 'Merican V8 in my Japanese sports car . Pete

Thanks guys. I've been off pain meds for a few days, things going well. I'm being a good boy and not doing anything, just laying around. Good thing I have a laptop to stay connected!

I agree about the T56 and gearing with a lopey V8. Mikelly found 6th to be useless with his 383. I find the .68 5th to be all I'd ever want as far as overdrive (Tremec). The OE .50 overdrive of the T56 is useless unless you are running a very mild cam. The T56 is rather large and heavy. Consider going with a G-Force T-5. They have cases as well. It's not cheap, but it's plenty strong enough and light, and has better gear ratios for the typical Z.

A bit more info: I got back from the hospital this afternoon. Everything turned out well! A few happenings or minor complications: 1) There was so much pressure in the area that when the laminectomy was done, the nerves and disc fragments jutted through the window cut in the vertabrae that the laminectomy produced. This didn't phase the surgeon, as he knew from the MRI going in that things were packed tight. He did say that if he'd done a partial laminectomy and only opened up half as much of a window, I'd probably have been instantly paralyzed by the nerves squirting through the window, etc. Nice! Made me feel good that I had a doc that knew what to do from the beginning (full laminectomy). 2) He had to pull the pieces of the disc out from around the front of the dural tube as well as from behind where he made the opening. He came out to the waiting room and told my wife: "I had to come at the disc from both sides." She thought he meant through the front of me! 3) There was so much pressure for so long on the dural tube against the bone in one place that the dural tube and bone had adhered to each other. He was able to get it loose though. 4) There looked to be a half thickness tear in the dural tube in that area, but it didn't leak fluid. He took the precaution of putting a few stitches in to keep it from bursting later, along with some adhesive, both of which disintegrate by themselves. Prognosis: What little there is left of the disc may fail at a later date and cause pain, or weakness and cause me to have to go in to have the disc removed and L4/L5 fused. Oh well. These guys must have huge balls. I mean that stuff all makes me nervous thinking about doing to someone's spine. I'd say whatever $$ he makes, he deserves! I'm home, had a shower, on no meds now, laying in bed and feel only a little discomfort in the surgery site. I can lay and stand with little discomfort. Sitting is uncomfortable. The doc says that the disc can regenerate itself. I thought I'd heard they can? Oh well, I'll just have to see what happens and be careful. Again, thanks for all the good advice and kind words everyone! Cheers, Pete

thanks again, guys. I just got home from the hospital. There were a few complications but nothing serious - the doc was able to handle it. 3hrs instead of 1.5hrs surgery. I'm on a bit of pain meds, but not too much. I can walk around slow, everything is working pretty well. The recovery begins! Tom, I agree with the exercise program, but will have to play it safe and follow strict doctor's orders. The disc was in pretty bad shape and he left it in there, but it may have to come out in a few years and get the vert's fused. I'm going to do my damnedest to rehabilitate the disc so to stay away from surgery. Thanks for all the kind words, I'll probably be on a lot in the next few weeks, laying on my back with the laptop propped on my gut . Cheers, Pete

Thanks, guys. I'm probably going to be thinking very hard about lifting more than 50 lbs in the future, past the 4 month mark. I'm going to use slings and my engine hoist to lift the crank in and out of the block when I get back on my feet and start putting the 406 back together. I had to have my WIFE lift the crank out of the block and into the trunk to take it to the machine shop Monday, and she did the man-handling of the block at the end of the hoist as I worked the hoist controls to get the block in there! I'm trying to educate myself on the CAUSES of disc disease, that supposedly is the real problem that I only exacerbated with the lifting. The L3/L4 and L4/L5 discs are diseased, according to the docs that have looked at the MRIs. Some say that too much sugar, not enough minerals and water intake, neck spinal cord pinching due to a bad curve there (need to strecth it), are the real culprits and I've just failed a diseased disc. You don't usually think of this stuff in your 20s and 30s, but as we age the stuff we put our bodies through starts catching up to us and we HAVE to learn or get worse. Dake, LSx will be the next engine!!! But at least 400 cubes! No plans to do that unless this 406 build goes south as well! Pete

I believe it was the Howe unit that shop used on Jim's Scarab that ended up puking it's guts out in short order due to a stiff clutch. Mike?

I have searched, but haven't found where anyone that's done the R200 Quaife with MM's 300ZXT CVs has broken it with "high torque". Anybody know of a case where someone broke these parts?