Walter Moore

The bad voltage regulator is the cause of your 15V reading. Get that fixed before you cook the battery.

The word "youth" is a code word. Do a little digging, and look into the history. This is mostly a problem in a limited number of specific geographic regions around Paris.

Another trick that I have used is to put the transmission in gear, and rotate the output shaft with my fingers while lining it up with the clutch. I use a transmission jack to hold the transmission up while getting it back in place, but still I admit to more than my share of cursing while installing the transmission the last time. One time I had my adult son help and things went better, but the last time I did it by myself and it was a hassle.

Rust... what rust... That looks great compared to what most Zs look like in the midwest. If that is the worst rust you find consider yourself blessed. It looks great to me.

The best sentence I got from Google translator was: "It is also because many Japanese-made English terminology to say write sentences and very hard!" Yep, that there is the truth... (But Google's Japanese is way better than mine...)

The lumpy cam lowers the effective compression, but still 11.5:1 does seem pretty hot for pump gas, unless he has the timing set way back.

You just have an electric personality. If the key is in your hand when the spark occurs, then whatever electrical power source is involved has to be flowing through you. Unless you are holding a live wire, I suspect it is static electricity.

Really great articles.

I doubt that you would need a sub woofer, but depending upon the exhaust system you have installed you may need plenty of power to hear anything. (I do...) I have two sets of 6x9 speakers. One in the far back in a box from Motorsport auto, and one set behind the seats in WalMart special boxes. If I was doing it over I wouldn't put speakers behind the seats. They seem not to do anything. The parts you have picked seem to be good stuff. I bought all my components from Crutchfield and they gave me good service.

The 280Z isn't generally as "collectable", in theory, but it is a much better "driver". At least that is my impression. The fuel injection and slightly more modern ignition system make it less fickle and less difficult to keep in peak working order. That said, it is really up to you. Either one isn't going to lose much value over the next ten years, but in either case the cost of a full "restoration" will exceed the value when you are done. If you want maximum resale value you will pretty much have to make it bone stock, as any serious performance modifications will actually lower the resale value. So do you want bragging rights, or a cool retro fast car?

You can get a digital "dial-back" timing light at NAPA, and I think I saw one at an Auto-Zone once. It is a really great tool for verifying the dynamic spark timing.

Let's see, I bought my Z when I was 42... yep that sounds like a midlife crisis car. ;-)

It will bolt on, but I believe that the stock valves on the E88 are smaller than what is needed for the L28. I know that if you want to use an E31 head you have to have larger valves installed. Some of the E88's may have come on the L26 and have bigger valves. Do a search for oversized valves and I suspect you will find your answer.

I have had my K&N filter for so long that I don't know what the part number is, but it fits fine. If it wasn't so late I would go measure it for reference. If I can remember I will check it after work tomorrow.

Actually, if you read the installation instructions they aren't intended to mount to a roll cage. The instructions show drilling a hole in the floor for the shoulder belt mounting. My current harnesses are mounted to the shoulder belt mounting point.

I had heard that this was possible, and I believe that Madkaw may have a Subaru R180 in his car. I know that they look identical to the Nissan unit. I wonder who really makes them...

:cool:I would expect "something" from a 3.0L at lower speeds as well. My 2.4L is kind of Jekyll and Hide about that. At 2-4K it has good torque and moves well enough, but get it over 5K and it feels like it has grown more cylinders. Great video however! It makes me wish it wasn't so cold outside. Now I want to go driving.

With my vaccum advance hooked up my car prefers 93 to 94 octane. It will ping on anything below 92.

The metal spoiler looks great! Where did you have that done?

Go here to see the effect: Transmission Calculator - Z Design Studio Basically it would be like lowering all for gears about 1/2 a gear. On the interstate driving in 4th would be almost like driving in 3rd with the stock diff. If you only used the car in town, or on a race track, it might be OK. Long trips would be noisy.

Oh that scene looks cold... In a couple of months it will look like that here, and my Z will be packed away for the winter... ACK! But that is a nice 510. Have fun!

Thanks, I was looking at the roadster style because of the seat interference with the three point version. But I was looking at my car earlier, and noticed that the seats are really wide compared to the stock seats. Both seats actually touch the door when it is closed. It isn't a problem with the 4 point belts, because they thread through the seat openings, but a shoulder belt isn't going to fit easily in the very narrow gap between the seat and the window. There is no way that I would run shoulder belts through the seat openings because that would guarantee that they would rub on my neck. I wonder if something like this might work better: 4 Point Passenger Car SeatBelts - Chrome Buckle The problem that I have had with the existing 4 point belts is that the lap belt adjustments are near the floor, which makes them nearly impossible to use unless the doors are open. These appear to have the adjustments near the buckle, which would be much more convenient.

Sorry to resurrect a long dormant thread, but I have a question about the Wesco style belts. (Or any retractable belts in the Z for that matter) How comfortable are these belts, and is it possible to keep them from riding on the neck of the driver/passenger in the car? I have been instructed that the next major "upgrade" I need to make to the car is to replace the cheap (very cheap) 4-point racing harnesses that I have installed now with "real" seat belts. (At a minimum on the passenger side.) The harnesses that I have came with my after-market seats, and we have two major issues with them: 1. They are really difficult to adjust, which means that when we change drivers, or passengers it takes 5-10 minutes to get the belts adjusted before we can go anywhere. 2. They will not stay adjusted. They only have a friction lock on the adjustments, and I find myself constantly tightening them as I drive, they just work loose over time. I am considering changing to the roadster belts, but I have had really bad experiences with some seat belt designs and want to make sure that these don't ride on my neck. They appear to be the type where you can set the lap portion tension separately from the shoulder belt tension, which is what I prefer. If these are comfortable I will likely go this way, Otherwise I may just look for better 4-point harnesses.

The combustion chamber is smaller than the later heads, in part because the engine was smaller. Some people also talk about the head being a "quench" design, but I have never been able to track down what that means, or why it is a good thing. Apparently if you are building a 2.8L full race motor for racing gas you can get crazy compression ratios with the E31. In a stock L24 the E31 gives you around 9.5:1 or something like that. The down side, besides the valves being smaller than on the L26 or L28 heads is that the intake valve seats were brass, and didn't hold up well. When the intake seats go bad you have to have them cut out, and then you have to replace both the intake valves and seats with larger L28 intake valves. (Not that anyone minds, but the cost is higher than reworking later heads because there is more labor and parts.) If you install the larger exhaust valves, you have to either use it exclusively on an L28 motor, or on either a L24 or L26 you have to "eyebrow" the cylinder walls to create clearance for the valves. (Which seems like it ought to lower the compression ratio.) If you have the head in a fully rebuilt condition, with larger valves ready to install it might be desirable. Otherwise it is pretty much just a core.

Do you know how it sounded in the original car? I ask that because frankly the stereos in the Hyundais that I have rented in the past year or two were miserable.