doradox

Ford, and the rest of the big three, are saddled with huge labor costs associated with the UAW. Their retirees pensions and health benefits are a huge drain. That's part of the problem. They have several thousand dollars per car they sell going to fulfill those obligations. The UAW is draining the US auto companies dry. That wasn't so bad when we didn't have to compete on a global scale. I know, unions help provide good jobs blah, blah, blah. You can have all the best benefits and pay but if the company you work for can't make a profit because of that "your" job won't last long. Toyota is a non union shop. Union workers are supposed to be the best (that's why they "deserve" such high pay) but if you look at the quality of what comes out of Ford vs.Toyota you sure wouldn't know it. Steve

Strong burning smell? Sounds like you let the smoke out of some electrical component. That's usually bad. Check your blower switch. Steve

It can be professionally repaired, sometimes. But with all the trouble to remove, replace,evacuate and recharge you'd hate to have it fail again. I'd buy a new one. Steve

Next time it does it push in the clutch and see if that changes anything. Or if it's doing it with the clutch pressed in pop it into neutral and let out the clutch. If there's a change that will help diagnose the problem. Steve

The openings are probably just for weight reduction. Steve

If, as you said, the old caliper was misaligned then chances are the pads you reused are unevenly worn. This can cause your noise too. Otherwise Arne's suggestions should solve your squeal. Steve

Yes I agree, not always. Steve

That's certainly a better looking car than the 350Z even with the GTR inspired front. The 350Z has such a kit car looking front end. I consider it more S30ish by far. At least form what I can see in the picture.

What's legal and what's moral can be two different things. Look up eminent domain abuse to see what could happen to you. "Legally". If one wants want to enforce the zoning laws for the purpose they were intended, fine. If one is looking for a way to take someones property for ones own greedy purpose then I think a re-examination of motives and thinking about how one would feel if the table were turned is in order. Steve

Except when the low pressure part of the the pressure waves are at the exhaust port. Steve

Too much or too little exhaust gas velocity is bad. However, the thing that really matters is pressure wave tuning. Header pipe diameter and length as well as collector configuration,size, and length. This article http://www.burnsstainless.com/TechArticles/Theory/theory.html explains things fairly well without resorting to garden hose analogies. Steve

Very nice! Steve

Tap on the side of the carb float bowls. That can unstick the floats if that's the problem. There's also a chance that something got in the fuel line to the carbs when you replaced the pump. But both at the same time? Is it both carbs doing it? Could be too much fuel pressure but that would be rather odd. Steve

For a quick check to see if you timing marks are correct you can pull the #1 plug, bring the engine around to the compression stroke, then carefully, insert a straw or some other long plastic thing into the plug hole, then slowly BY HAND rotate the crank pulley. You can see whatever you put in the plug hole rise and fall as you reach and pass TDC. Rotate the crank pulley back and forth and eyeball the straw, or whatever and you can get within a degree or two of TDC. Now check to see if the timing mark lines up with 0. You should be close if you were careful. Z distributors can be off a tooth or so off and if the plug wires have been shifted you can get her to run. BUT, you will use up all your timing adjustment and maybe not get back to correct time. That's usually a clue that the timing gear was not installed correctly. A stuck centrifugal advance (fully advanced) can make it hard to have enough adjustment also. Not to mention not run too well. Steve

I understand, you were suggesting a way to differentiate between the two torque values to see which one seemed more reasonable. I was just pointing out that it's often a lot more complex than that. Like your 1.5 times diameter for aluminum. If you have control of the processes used to make the internal threads and tighten the joint you may be fine. But once it leaves the plant, well, how many of us have failed to clean, inspect, and properly re-torque every fastener we've ever touched. Fastener theory give us a good place to start, but I've seen plenty of aluminum threads pulled out of holes. Steve

The internally threaded part material and hardness will need to be taken into account. Steel grade 8 bolt into aluminum is an example. Also compression of the parts being bolted together. Gasketed joints often can't withstand tightening to full rated bolt torque. Like your Z's valve cover, aluminum internal thread and a gasket. All in all the bolt torque calculators will give you an upper limit that the bolt can withstand. Steve

The distributor may not be clocked correctly with the drive gear. That would put the rotor in the wrong place according to the manual. Dig deeper into the distributor installation procedure and I'll bet the FSM really is correct. Steve

Did you have the diff guy look at the spiders? They don't do a lot of turning compared to the ring and pinion so it might not really be too bad. Steve

I'm with 280~Master on this. Removing the fan/fan clutch and using an electric fan can actually be felt. Snappier throttle response at the very least. The engine seems smoother and quieter also. Electric driven water pump? On a street car why introduce more points of failure? You still have the belt and pulley for the alternator ( which was shared with the water pump) but now also wiring, switching, electric motor, belt and pulley for the pump. And you won't find replacements at your local NAPA if you break down on the road. Steve

To expand on what hls30.com said.. In manufacturing there is a fixed cost with respect to tooling and fixturing. By using the same part on both sides of the car they are able to spread that fixed cost over twice as many parts. The individual parts are then cheaper. This is often referred to as economy of scale. The lower control arms are designed to function identically, within reason, regardless of the side they are mounted to. Steve

I think I need to get my glasses checked as I did it more than once. It's funny 'cause when I wrote it I thought it seemed off but didn't take the time to re-check. :stupid: Steve

I was just poking a little fun about carrying out conversions to way too many decimals. Steve

Yes, I see your point, having a vent (the little filter) to atmosphere would would allow PCV air to bypass the airflow meter. I was just pointing out that air should be going IN the filter and not OUT. Steve

On page ET-11 of the 75 FSM, figure ET-26 shows exactly what I described. Steve

Actually the little vent should be working as an clean air intake into the engine. The PCV valve pulls fumes from the crankcase into the intake manifold to be burned and that vent supplies clean air to replace the fumes. Assuming, of course, that your engine doesn't have an over abundance of blow by. And the PCV valve is working. Steve