Why are triples such a pain?

[74 260z]

lets see some finished pictures

[Tony D]

Not to hijack, any reason that brass nuts cant be used on the exhaust/intake studs? I just took manifolds off of an l28 that I recently picked up that had mostly new-ish looking studs and brass nuts with a flat washer molded in(with "teeth"). Twas easy to remove these nuts. Would brass loose their torque value as opposed to steel units? I use them on exhaust connections with great success!

 

Are you sure they were brass and not discolored stainless steel units? The flange-nuts I use are a yellowish 'brass' color when I remove them, and have the 'teeth' underneath them. I prefer the flange nuts to nut/washer because the teeth are very effective at keeping them in place, and don't contribute to a small part falling off when reomving the parts later during maintenance...which you then have to go look for on the ground someplace.

[cygnusx1]

Not sure if this applies here but here is a tip that helps me access the manifold bolts.  Use just the right amount of socket extensions to reach completely past the carb inlets.  Put a universal joint and a short 12mm socket on the end.  Wrap one or two wraps of duct tape around the u-joint.  Tape each of the extensions together if you don't have locking ones.  The tape keeps the socket and u-joint straight but lets is flex just enough to find a sollid home on the manifold nuts.

[oldhemi]

Tony, I believe that you are correct. I assumed they were brass. They are nothing like my 260's rusty originals. The teeth are a nice touch and these WILL be going onto the 260's L26. At least I will have something shiny under the hood for now!

 

cygnus - nice tip. Gotta love another use for duct tape!

Edited March 1, 2010 by oldhemi

[wondersparrow]

Since noone else stepped up, here is a pic of my engine bay early last year. Its certainly not the prettiest one out there, but its my favorite One day i'll get around to redoing all the electrical and my rushed brake line job, then it will be much cleaner.

 

[yetterben]

People are always having issues with trip's. I have never had a issue with tuning carbs or understanding how they work so i guess i dunno what all the hub bub is about. I tuned my triples in two tries and never ad the FLAT SPOT issue or anything. Throw them on there jet accordingly and off you go.

[RIP260Z]

For me, I see a lot of stacked cut down washers to take up the difference in height between the inlet and exhaust manifold....just not right. I had my inlet triple manifold (generic) machined to take the OEM thick washers (also all the same height) and be the same height as my exhaust manifold. This made life soo much easier and hopefully applying clamping force to both manifolds.

[ZR8ED]

Well if you wanna talk tips/tricks, you can always sacrifice one of your 12mm wrenches, and grind some of it away so it fits on the nut, and gives you a bit more range of turning. For the life of me, I can't recall which stud is the tightest fit, and requires 1/8th turns at a time. Grinding the outside of the wrench around the circumfrence, as well as making it a bit thinner (laying the wrench down flat on a grinder if you can picture what I mean.) Yes it reduces the strength of the wrench somewhat, but you will only use it a couple of times on a few of the manifold studs, and use it for nothing else. I would do this even with the high priced tools. Low buck wrenches are not as strong, and are usually much chunkier compared to the professional grade tools.

 

Scott.

 

BTW. Prepping of the carbs BEFORE installing them is the key to getting them to work right. I won't go into the specifics of how to do that, but I will say, that accuracy counts!

[ZR8ED]

whoops dual post.

Edited March 8, 2010 by ZR8ED

[wondersparrow]

I like the idea of grinding down wrenches, never even thought of that. I bet I have a half doz that would work great. Good tip.

[wondersparrow]

Silly question... I received the manifold stud kit from MSA. It has 3 sizes. 6 long, 1 med, 10 short. Who knows where they go? I would assume the medium one goes in the middle. I would also assume the long ones go between the intake and exhaust (where the giant washers go). Is this correct? When I got the car, they were all the same length and the fsm has no info at all.

[gtted]

Not sure if this applies here but here is a tip that helps me access the manifold bolts.  Use just the right amount of socket extensions to reach completely past the carb inlets.  Put a universal joint and a short 12mm socket on the end.  Wrap one or two wraps of duct tape around the u-joint.  Tape each of the extensions together if you don't have locking ones.  The tape keeps the socket and u-joint straight but lets is flex just enough to find a sollid home on the manifold nuts.

 

 

Dave, That's a great trick. I'll try that next time. My triples sound great, well worth the extra effort. I'm working on designing a heat shield. I coated and wrapped the headers, but I think I'm going to need a shield to deflect heat from the headers. What do you guys running triples think? Shield or no shield?

[Dtsnlvrs]

Dave, That's a great trick. I'll try that next time. My triples sound great, well worth the extra effort. I'm working on designing a heat shield. I coated and wrapped the headers, but I think I'm going to need a shield to deflect heat from the headers. What do you guys running triples think? Shield or no shield?

 

 

SHIELD

[wondersparrow]

I did a heat shield last summer. At first I was bending, twisting, and drilling trying to figure out a good way to mount it to the intake or carbs. After all was said and done, what worked best was just using a flat piece of stainless and using a couple of exhaust clamps to fasten it to the header. I wrapped it on both sides with a heat blanket as well. Its a bit of a pain to get on and off, but it was cheap and simple. Dropped my engine temps by nearly 15 deg c on the track and no more vapor lock issues. After a cooldown lap, both the shield and carbs are cool enough to touch or work on right away.

 

Oh, if it matters, my headers are wrapped as well.

 

Its hard to see here, but this is the best pic I have.