bjhines

JT1 and his white 240Z were inspiration for me to get into this. The thing I love about that car is the fact he could return it to bone stock, factory trim in a weekend. He approached that build with an attitude of getting the absolute most fun for the money. That is something that takes years of experience to figure out. I would like everyone's opinions on a few points. 1. Float bowls; Do I need to change things in the float bowls like extensions, baffles, foam, various wedged, slanted, slotted, weighted or otherwise non-sock floats? I will inspect and weigh the existing floats and most likely buy replacements, stock or otherwise. 2. What about power valves? a. Do I really need a power valve at all??? Obviously rejetting would be required. Would the mains circuit need entirely different emulsion wells, ducts, and/or boosters to work without a power valve? b. What about 2x power valves(primary and secondary)??? That seems like it would make a mess of tuning and jetting the thing. I am using a 4150-4777 with mechanical secondaries. Is the secondary power valve a magical fix for someone who just likes to floor it all the time?. This gets back to DRAG racing mods IMO. 3. Milling the choke horn? I really only need more clearance to my aircleaner. The choke horn is within 0.25" of the lid. I have read that removing the horn entirely/improperly will change airflow around the air-bleeds. Should I just remove 0.5" and leave it at that? 4. Bowl vents? should they be baffled or modified in any way? 5. Four-Corner Idle ports????????? WTF? It is a race car. All I need it to do is idle without smoking up half the spark plugs. It is not a street car that needs to idle flawlessly with an emission probe up it's tailpipe. 6. Throttle plate??? I have a worn-out, rusty-bladed throttle plate. I could buy a replacement for ~$150. I never liked the way Holleys set IDLE speed like a lawnmower carby. How do they deal with transition ports when they never know where the blades will be to begin with. Why drill the plates? is there no way to add a balancing/air-bypass needle? Do you drill the plates to set idle speed, that seems like a lot of trouble to get idle right at a set blade opening. I am sure I can come up with more Q's.

I own 2 books on Holley tuning and modifications. They flat out suck balls. They make absolutely NO mention of HOW to do any of the typical modifications beyond painting the float bowls and installing off the shelf parts. This reminds me of the fact that NO manufacturer has EVER printed a dimension for a distributor cap and base. What the F@#$ is up with Chevy tech? Thank god we have some smart fellas around here.

Thanks Bain. It is good to know that the HP series works so well. I don't really want to BUY a modded carby like the HP series. I wanted to know what to do to a base model double pumper like the 4777 I already have. I have a 4777 double pumper that needs a new baseplate and a rebuild. I was really going to do this myself, So I wanted to know about the mods that can be made to improve a base model carby instead of paying for the "full boat" treatment $$$. I have a Chinese lathe and mill and a creative mindset. "If you didn't build it yourself, it's just a rental." is my motto. I also have experience with several sets of various Weber designs and their counterparts on motorcyles and cars. I have dual narrowband guages installed.

Thank you, thank you, thank you. It looks like the bottom row, 4th from the left, half assembled axle is the one I need. The right side axle I have is like the first one one the bottom row. You can see that there is at least a 1" difference in the center section lengths. Remember... The right side axle is the one with the longer differential stub.

The center bar would be fantastic!!! Thanks!

NAPA... Gotta love NAPA. They all use the same rebuilders. I am still short ONE axle. I have a rebuilt right side axle, but from the 1984 300ZXNA. I still have not been able to get my original right side back or the correct RIGHT side axle in trade. This has been in limbo for months. I really need another right side axle from a 280ZXT to rebuild myself. I would have compared the rebuilt units to the originals... but,I was forced to send off my units to be "rebuilt". They sent back a RH 300ZX axle and "lost" my core.

I have a short list of mods that may be useful... or not. double wedged floats for primary and secondary secondary jet extensions billet adjustable metering blocks higher quality inlet needles install cup over power valve inlet with hole in bottom install dual power valves?

I would like to know more about differences and similarities between carby modifications for drag VS Roadracing. This comes up because a friend and I BOTH need new carbys for our track cars(one engine is an early 327 and the other is a TPI 350). We run on road courses like V.I.R and Road Atlanta. My buddy is looking at $800 Holleys that, IMO were modified for drag strip use or circle track cars that turn left only. We turn both directions and must be able to get on the power smoothly and consitently under a wide variety of conditions. Throttle blips for downshifting need to be consistent. Power must come on smoothly past the apex. full power under hard cornering must be dead on consistent. Neither of these engines is putting out more than 350HP, so CFM flow/size is not the problem. I have heard of capping the powervalve off entirely, or installing a cup that places it's pickup lower in the bowls. I don't think we need four corner idle, or fancy throttle plates, or high flowing venturis. What we need is a carby that works under extreme G-forces in all directions, and a carby that is VERY predictable and consistent under widely varying circumstances.

okok.. I have found that the rebuilders will substitute the WRONG AXLES when sending you your rebuilt units. They will also mess up the inner tripod housing which will not allow the axle to completely compress. I obtained a complete pair from a 1982 ZXT, and used them in mockup of my suspension and overall build. Then when the car was being painted I ordered rebuilt units. ONE of the axles I got back was a 1984 300zx axle(the same parts but too long). The second axle was the correct part but the inner joint was stiff and would not compress more than 1/2". I sent that one back and waited nearly a month before I received a third axle that worked.

I'm just going to throw this out there. Try a different distributor... I had this problem with a mild compression L24 and found that the distributor advance mech was trashed. I swaped to a different distributor and the problems ceased. I believe that someone had "fixed" the advance mech before I got it. It was randomly jumping timing around 3000 RPM. You could try stiffer springs in your dist if the advance mech checks out.

Hehe.. While I pity the current owner. I wonder how he figures that minor list of missing items stops him from being able to own the car. I can't complain though, some of the best deals I have ever gotten were from people who bit off more than they could chew.

I never saw temps above 350f degrees. There are a few who have seen them get over 400f degrees.

New bearings on a rebuilt diff can cause it to get very hot until everything breaks in. I had the same fluid puking out of the top vent when I installed a brand new off the shelf R-180. It ran cooler after a few track events to break it in. I tapped the vent hole for 1/4" NPT and installed a 3/8" barb, hose, and cheap metal fuel filter strapped to the floor above the diff. This completely eliminated any fluid seepage whatsoever.

hehehe... I think some of that might be real. His brother incites a riot in more than one case. Brothers do that though. The truck vid explains a lot. Momma is in charge, Im not sure how the men fit in their life. Momma has never enforced limits or dealt with outbursts other than to let them run their course. I remember a few loose nuts similar to this when I was a kid. Most of them turned out ok, one is dead.

Scott, You are creative and handy enough to make some improvements over the original design. I considered this route myself and ended up rebuilding the orginals. Have you seen the newer car model's with dual flow/zone aluminum cores, even a cheapo Chevy Astro-van core is large and super lightweight and holds very little water. Make the plenum out of fiberglass/epoxy. Use an electric soleniod valve for superior automatic control. Make use of a modern blower housing out of some common Honda model or something with a divorced blower housing. I was poking around in large car and SUV models for the big honking blowers. Some of the newer units are using rare-earth pancake motors(light and powerful). I am sure you could come up with something super lightweight, powerful, and electrically/automatically operated

I realize that the stock S30 heater wasn't that great. But keep in mind that the heater core is capable of putting out 10 times what your best electric dreaming can muster. There are a lot of VERY GOOD REASONS why manufacturers do not use electric heat. Considering the amount of waste heat produced by the engine and moved through the water jacket would involve numbers in teh range of 10,000-20,000 watts.

The biggest drawback in the OHC design is the SIZE of the completed motor. I replaced the engine in my van a few months ago and found the OHC FORD v8 was way too big to get into the Datsun, or any other small car.

You might look at it another way. Build the car to suit street/track days. Get the suspension and brakes upgraded first. You don't need to go for a full coilover set, but there are some KEY components that will allow you to get the alignment correct for sport duty. Then you can start with a cheap engine and see what you have on your hands. I think you will find that tracking the car can be a handful even with 200HP. That is what I did. My 1964 SBC 327 will get close to 300RWHP. I am pretty sure the chassis can handle a bit more HP. The more HP you put out the more you need upgraded suspension, brakes, and driveline, and chassis reinforcement.

The picture of the silver model shows the sugar-scoops are way too short, the hood appears shorter as well. The horrible door fit is similar on both models. All I can figure is that they attempted to make an honest reproduction of a flawed production model. The only problem is that they screwed it up even worse than the original model.

The brakes work no matter what, Steering wheel still steers, door handle still opens for bailout. The car cannot be shifted out of drive and it cannot be turned off if the computer fails to allow it.

Burst my bubble why don't ya there. OK FINE! I will make a cooling duct and shroud for my alternator instead.

I can only go down the list of things to check. At this point you should check everything. Take your alternators to AUTOZONE and have them tested under load. Make no assumptions that anything is connected properly. Test for voltage, and voltage drop across all circuits. Test circuits IN-OPERATION. I own a 240Z, so I had an entirely different set of problems and circuits to start with. I had to build up a circuit to suit the modern alternator. You should figure out what exactly you connected the "L" terminal to(in between the light and your alt.).

I think the Cali dude was faking it. But for the record; A prius is entirely computer controlled. You have no mechanical connection to anything but the brakes, steering wheel, and the door handle. If the computer was "stuck" he could not pull the key out or even turn it off. He also could not put it in neutral or pull up on the gas pedal.

Read section 3 of this article and call me in the morning. http://oljeep.com/gw/alt/edge_Alternator_Theory.html#Section_4