johnc

My uneducated guess would be standing wave formation in the intake and exhaust and the track length/shape tuning issues that go with wave control. On a high rpm normally aspirated engine you're constantly fighting to accelerate and maintain momentum on both intake and exhaust charges.

FYI... Its critical that the cuts on the strut are perfectly perpendicular to the tube centerline. A big Lathe is the best but a big pipe cutter works well too. Be scared if someone uses a band saw (unless there's a GREAT vice on the saw). Be terrified if someone uses a chop saw. If the tube is not reassembled perfectly straight (which is totally dependent on the cuts), inserts won't go in and definately won't come out and you'll concentrate stresses at the focus of the bend. You can fudge a bit by putting an alignment tube inside the strut tube that is a close fit to the strut tube ID. That can hold it in alignment for tack welding. Just maek sure the aligning tube doesn't get welded into the strut tube.

$200 if all I'm doing is cutting and welding, but you'll probably pay more then that in shipping. Look around locally.

The weight distribution goes from 52/48 to 49/51 moving the engine back 4". Been there, done that. You do have to remove the center hood latch mechanism because you can't get the valve cover off (or on). You also need to fabricate motor and transmission mounts and the left motor mount must be removed when installing or removing headers. You might run into clearance issues with the steering shaft (depends on the header), and you'll probably have to clearance the driver's footwell area under the gas pedal to get the headers to fit. Is it worth it? Depends how fast you want to go around a corner.

Use the search function. This topic has been covered a few times.

Usually this is an indication of a float level that's too low.

If you're still stuck, you can ship them out to me in California and I'll do it.

First you say compare the engines using power to weight. Then you say: Which do you want to discuss? Powerplant power to weight or powerplant displacement to weight. If you want to discuss powerplant power to weight then the new Mazda Renesis 13B rotary engine is my guess at the winner. 250 horsepower from a fully dressed engine that weighs just over 200lbs. If you want to discuss displacement to weight then some of the built off-road VW flat fours at 3.3L and right at 200lbs fully dressed would be the winner if I had to venture a guess. Remember, a fully dressed pushrod V8 is pretty heavy. A lot of the weights people quote don't include manifolds and that stuff.

You can either fix it THE RIGHT WAY now, or fix it the right way a couple months from now after the car's been towed back to your garage. Either way, its your choice.

Earthlink. We were Verizon (previously GTE) customers for 8 years (starting with ISDN) but they cancelled our account in error and could not reinstate it! At home my wife and I use Earthlink DSL. At my shop I'm in the same boat as you, no cable and no DSL. Earthlink offered me satellite at $69.95 per month if I bought the equipment for... $800! I use dial-up for $16.95 per month, typically get a 48K connection, and am never dropped.

They get 2.5 liters out of them now. Before the recent "Import" drag scene many guys like Ron Lummus were turning 8 seconds in VW bugs in the early 1980s. I remember racing brackets at the old Orange County International Raceway and the Schley brothers ran an 9 second bug that just pissed all of us V8 guys off. They could hit their dial-in every single frickin' time even with a 4 speed! IMHO the VW bug is the best car ever built and the VW flat four is the best engine ever built.

Shrink wrap is usually added to keep the braid from acting like a file on parts it may come in contact with. Braided brake lines, if not properly routed, will file away the edge of your rims and/or grind metal off most anything it touches.

You don't have it listed: VW Flat Four. It powers cars, aircraft, boats, off road vehicles, and industrial equipment; holds drag, road race, off road, land speed, air, and water speed records; and you can find parts for it anywhere in the world - including Antarctica.

From what I've been told and what I've seen on engine dynos, the L6 engine needs the most work on the exhaust side. That's where the "restriction" is - in particular the two center exhaust ports. Just bolting on a set of headers does little to resolve this because the stock exhaust manifolds are well designed. Unless a person has made an effort to increase velocity on the exhaust side through head work, a bigger throttle body just slows the intake charge down and can reduce overall VE because of the time it takes to accelerate the intake charge into the combustion chamber. It might only start to work at higher rpms where the momentum of the intake charge can overcome the reversion from the exhaust side. Remember, the stock SU carbs work very well up to about 225 horsepower and a big reason for their effectiveness is the variable venturi design. Replace that with a "big hole" and you're reducing intake charge velocity. Also look at the horsepower being made from normally aspirated race engines that have to run restrictors. The Nissan V6 run in the ALMS LMP675 class breathes through one 30mm restrictor (2002 rules) and makes over 400 normally aspirated horsepower. But, again, reality has little to do with what sells in the automotive aftermarket. You'll be able to sell a bunch of these bigger throttle bodies 'cuz the "marketing education" has already been done for you. FYI... my 305hp NA 3L runs a 65mm TWM throttle body and it has extensive head work, a big cam, custom intake, and the 1.75" Nissan Comp headers. FYI2... None of the above applies to a turbocharged engine 'cuz they be different animals.

Check your transmission and diff mounts. BTW... a 700R4 is a GM automatic transmission. Hopefully he won't find ANY synchronizers in there...

Turn off the caps lock.

If you're comtemplating an egnine swap I would just spend enough time and money to get the L24 you have running perfectly. I would defer spending money on mods and save it for the swap. You'll spend at least double what you're planning so every penny saved gets you that much closer to getting it done.

E31 heads are of some value to folks doing a restoration. They are no longer of much value to racers because their only advantage (compression ratio increase) has been negated by what a lot of L6 engine builders have figured out. Early E88 heads are now the preferred ITS head.

I'm sure you could sell a bunch. Bigger throttle bodies are an aftermarket upgrade "must" despite their lack of benefit to most street L6 engines. The wonder of marketing.

Velocity, velocity, velocity... Forget ultimate cfm flow numbers, try to get the intake (and exhaust) charges moving as quickly as possible. Ramp profiles are often more important then ultimate lift because the valve spends way more time opening and closing then sitting completely open. Knowing that, I would spend my time and effort on finding a good cam as opposed to installing bigger valves, especially if this is a street car. An example is the changes Ford made to their street Boos 429 engine from 1969 to 1970 - smaller valves to make the beast somewhat driveable on the street.

Does it vibrate more or less under power, neutral load, or decellerating? At those speeds any number of things can contribute to the vibration you're feeling. I would focus more on a balance issue then a driveline misalignment. Have the driveshaft balanced to 9,000 rpm, have the halfshafts balanced, check and make sure your u-joints are in good shape, and look for other things like loose engine, tranny, and diff mounts. Are the driveshafts and halfshafts fully seated to the diff pinion and the stub axle respectively? Did you throw a weight off the driveshaft? What kind of diff are you running (open, LSD, welded)? A simple fix might be to unbolt the drive shaft and turn it 180 degrees in relation to the diff pinion and bolt it back up. If that doesn't work do the same with each halfshaft. Set aside misalignment issues and look for more simple solutions.

David, The only way you'll get "the facts" about any political topic is to do the research yourself. Relying on someone else to provide your with their interpretation (or even just a list) of "facts" is boring and dangerous. Educate yourself. Read the New York Times, The Wall St. Journal, The Washington Post, The Economist, and The Christian Science Monitor. Those are probably the most well respected news sources in the English speaking world and they provide a diverse coverage of the news, from Liberal and Conservative points of view. Anything posted here by the fringe that haunts HybridZ is suspect...

There are two types of stub axles used in the 240/260/280Z: 25 spline and 27 spline which refers to the number of splines on the inside where the companion flange mates. The 25 spline stub axles are used through the 260Z model and the 27 spline are used in the 280Z. The 27 spline stub axles are stonger due to a larger diameter at the companion flange end and a better fusion weld radius where the wheel flange is attached to the axle itself. Overall metallurgy is the same. If you get a set of 27 spline sub axles you also need the corresponding companion flanges. Reuse the spacer that came with the hub you are mounting the stub axles in. Don't use the spacer from the hub where you removed the stub axles. Use new stub axle nuts and seals and replace the bearings and races while you have everything apart. Use only Nissan OEM or Timken bearings. Don't use any bearing made in China. Lube them with Redline or Mobil 1 synthetic grease.

Regarding tube bending... I buy 3/4" electrical conduit tubing as a pattern and bend, cut, and shape it to fit. The conduit fits tight to the ouside of the beds with the proper radiuses. I take that pattern to a tubing bender that has a multi-thousand dollar mandrel bender and have him make the real parts using my conduit template. It takes a little more time but the cost is about the same and I don't have to pay for tubes I screw up in a cheap bender.

Why limit your choice to a new vehicle? There a many great used BMW 3 series that fit your criteria exactly.