steve91tt

I can't seem to find Green Stuff shoes anywhere. I think they may no longer be made.

What shoes do you like in the stock drums for the track John?

I'm currently running Wilwood brakes in the front and stock drums in the back of my 240Z track car. I know I need to move to a set of rear disks at some point but time and money are delaying this upgrade at the moment. I'm looking for a little more brake balance front to back than my current system has with part store shoes in the back. I did some poking around on HybridZ and on this forum and it seems that some folks are recommending Porterfield S4 shoes for the track. Anyone have any experience with this setup or other recommendations?

When I installed mine I eliminated the controller and went with a toggle switch. It made for a cleaner install and there is really no chance of the evaporator freezing up in these cars. At least not in Texas...

I installed a similar unit myself. Very straight forward installation. I believe it took me about a day of leisurely wrenching including evacuation and charging.

I used the rubberized liner trick until I got the racing bucket. I agree it works great on the stock seats. I don't have a problem with my butt moving in the new seat it's my head and shoulders that are getting tossed around. Yet again, my swollen head gets me in trouble.

Thanks John. Good to know that it's typical for these cars to have a light inside wheel in a corner. I've been working to be as relaxed as possible on the track but I don't have a harness and even with a decent seat and the stock belts as tight as I can make them I'm still fighting to keep my body planted in a corner. This should all change soon as I'm taking my car to a builder tonight to have a custom cage made and 6 point harness installed. Hopefully that will help with safety and stop me from being thown around so much in the corners.

Blue, I picked up a copy of "How to Make Your Car Handle" from Amazon this morning. Looks like a great book. Jon, I will dig into Hybrid Z and see what I can find on the subject.

Would you then stiffen the rear sway bar to keep the front tire on the ground?

I noticed that my car tends to come very close to lifting the inside front wheel in a corner on the track. I assume this is a symptom of something being off in my alignment or suspension geometry. Anyone dealt with this before in a 240Z?

Before you put on the new gasket you might consider spraying a little carb cleaner around the intake ports on the head while it's idling. If you have a gasket leak the car will stumble when it sucks the carb cleaner through the leaky spot. I've used this technique before with good success. If you don't see any sort of idle change when you spray the carb cleaner you don't have a significant leak.

I have orange paint on the stock cam in my 1973 e88 head.

Blue, I disagree the WOT are leaner than normal. 14.2 AFR is pretty lean. It may not be lean enough to cause a misfire but I'm used to seeing AFRs staying below 13.5 at WOT. Especially with SM needles.

I agree these afr readings look very lean for sm needles. I'd crank the adjusters down until you get the idle in the mid 11's and go for a drive. This might be a bit rich for best fuel milage but it should not be so rich it stumbles.

The valve lash can effect results. I would compare cold lash on your high and low cylinders. Even If lash turns out to be the same those numbers look good to me for an engine that hasn't run for a while. Maybe someone with more experience will chime in but I expect your numbers to be better after you blow the cobwebs out of it by putting few hundred miles on it.

I find it easier to turn the adjuster knobs all the way in (full lean), then center the dome/piston, do the drop test and then turn the knobs back to where they started. With the adjustment all the way lean during the drop test, the distance between the needle and the seat will be at its minimum. Therefore if you pass the drop test at full lean then the needle will be as close to centered as possible and you stand a better chance of being perfectly aligned once you move the mixture adjustment back to where it was before you started.

Based on my wideband experience 15:1 at idle is very lean for these cars. Both of my engines seem to like to idle between 12.5:1 and 13.5:1 any leaner or richer and idle suffers. When you get a stumble, expect to see a false lean reading which will be independent of whether you are actually lean or rich. When the engine misfires a slug of unconsumed air hits the sensor. Because it can only measure oxygen, it thinks you are lean. YMMV.

If it were me, I wouldn't rebuild the engine unless there is a reason to. These engines are very durable. I would spend money on replacing cheap things that degrade with time like the water pump, gaskets, front and rear main seals. Get it running, tune it up and figure out what needs fixing.

I'm starting to think along the same lines as Blue. I think it's time to open the valve cover and check timing marks to confirm valve timing. To check for slop in the distributor drive system you can use a timing light to see if the timing jumps around or stays nice and constant at various RPM's In other words, check for nice solid timing at 1000, 2000, 3000, 4000 and 5000. If you see the timing mark jumping around then there is slop in the system. It should be very steady and consistent.

Cork float bowl gaskets on the other hand are generally not reusable. I've made my own in the past out of gasket paper. The home made ones are good for several uses.

I'd bet the wideband will show a lean condition when the engine is popping. A missfire will almost always show as lean as unburnt fuel and extra air gets to the sensor. The interesting data will come just before 4500rpm and just after.

I would be happy to swap my SU's with yours for trouble shooting purposes. Just as we did with the distributors. A couple of gaskets and an afternoon and we'll know if the carbs are to blame.

Unfortunately there is no bolt on option for coilovers in our cars. The problem is that the lower spring perch is too large and must be cut off and replaced with a welded steel ring that supports the coilover threaded collar. There is no need to modify the strut towers, just the lower spring perches.

For what it's worth I found that both 10W30 and 20wt worked well in my SU's.

Yep, got mine from John. He knows as much about 240Z suspension as anyone I've heard of. He sells a great product and has excellent customer service.