Chickenman

Yep. I worked as a Partsman for a Nissan Dealership in the late 70's / early 80's, that was a distributor for Nissan Comp parts in Canada. I raced Datsuns back then, so heading up our Competition Parts sales was like a dream job to me. It was like Christmas when our competition stock orders came in. Recognized the manifold right away...

Oh my..... I think you've got a bit of a rare piece there. That looks like an original Nissan Competition race manifold. I'd hold onto that if I were you... even if you update manifolds. Could be worth some decent $$$ to a collector or Race Car restorer. I would NOT modify or cut up that linkage!!! Edit: Fuel line ( metal ) looks to be factory Nissan Comp as well. You don't see that often.

1985 and 1986 Mustng SSP ( Police special ) had 15 x 7" steel rims with a 4 x 4.5" stud hole spacing that should fit our cars. You can get these widened fairly easily at shops that deal with widening wheels. Fairly common on the East coast in the land of Nascar. http://www.sspmustang.org/parts/wheels.htm You can also look at Circle Track suppliers who make steel wheels. They can provide and width and bolt pattern. 15" is a common size in Circle Track ( Dirt and Asphalt ). You can also get 14". Companies like Diamond,Basset, Bart etc all service the Circle Track market and can make just about anything you want. probably going to be a custom order, but they are surprisingly cheap. Basset makes their popular " D " hole lightweight series in many different 15" sizes with just about any back spacing and any 4 or 5 wheel stud pattern. Widths in 7", 8", 10", 11", 12", 13" and 14" .... is 14" gonna be wide enough?? Link to 15" steel " D Hole " series: http://www.bassettwheel.com/dhole_lightweight.html They also make 14" rims in limited widths, but could probably custom make something. http://www.bassettwheel.com/14x7_14x8_dhole.html Edit: They also make 15" DOT legal rims. These are made of thicker rim material to meet DOT Street legal standards ( IE: New York potholes!! ) and as a result weigh more. If you're really worried about that sort of thing.... http://www.bassettwheel.com/dot.html Edit-2: Summit Racing and Jegs sell Bassett wheels.

Myself and another local Z owner ( Dan ) whom I've just recently met have both ordered parts from RA and Z-Depot to convert to rear discs. We'll post some pictures when we get going on this. I'll be sourcing the AN brake fittings and SS hoses locally. Goodridge makes good quality DOT approved universal SS hoses and I'll likely use those. I'll provide part numbers as I go along. I don't like using a Banjo bolt fitting on the caliper side, unless there is an integral locking device to prevent the Banjo fitting from rotating and coming loose. I've seen a couple of failures on Race cars from that happening, and the results were not pretty. I much prefer straight thread-in fittings to the caliper for SS hoses.

Edit: Just found out that the Z-Cardepot.com sells similar brackets as Silvermine for only $79.99 a pair!! Sweeeet!!! https://zcardepot.com/brakes/rear-brakes/disc-brake-conversion-rear-caliper-bracket-pair.html

Unfortunately, brake shoe quality has taken a big dive since the banning of Asbestos. Asbestos was the perfect material for brake shoes ( and clutch discs ) due to it's thermal and friction properties. It was the " Just right " bowl of porridge. Since the banning of asbestos, brake shoe manufacturers have had to go to other materials to act as a " filler ". The result being that some filler materials ( such as Kevlar ) are too hard and result in noise and excessive wear on the drums. Shoes with carbon as a binder, create a lot of dust and again can be noisy. It's getting very hard to find quality brake shoes for Vinatge cars these days. You can still get custom shoes made, usually by specialty manufacturers for Trucking and Industrial use. But the places are not as plentiful as they once were and sizes may be limited. If you can find a good semi-metallic lining for your shoes, that may be one way to go. https://www.google.ca/search?q=Custom+brake+shoe+relining&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&gws_rd=cr&ei=_XE6VsHUAcaqogSRgKnoAQ BTW.. the glazing on the shoes and dust will have to be removed. The dust can cause a lot of noise and can be very abrasive. You may have to machine the drums depending on the severity of grooving. Unfortunately, with today's brake shoe materials, it is common for the dust accumulation and drum grooving to return in fairly short order. Easily in 10K miles. It may be time to consider a disc brake conversion....

Because newer pumps use a Ceramic Turbine design instead of the old roller vane style, you absolutely MUST run an auxilary fuel filter before the pump. A Fram G3 will work. The newer turbine style pumps are more efficient and quieter than the older roller vane styles... but they have much tighter clearances inside and will not tolerate dirt particles. Dirt that would pas straight through a Roller Vane pump, will jam a Turbine pump or damage the components inside resulting in a loss of pressure. #1 failure of new style Turbine pumps is debris getting into them. Edit: The instructions for Airtex ( and all other Turbine impeller fuel pumps ) state that the Fuel tank should be drained and cleaned before installing the new pump. Very few people actually do that and suffer the consequences. An auxiliary F/Filter before the fuel pump works in most cases, but a really dirty fuel tank will ruin a new pump if dirt gets past the inline filter.

Delete post.

OP. Have you done a compression test on this motor yet. May have been in one of your other threads, but there's too many to search. If #4 is low it could be your issue. Post up compression figures please.

Can you take some picture of the shoes, drums and overall brake setup. We may be able to tell more that way. A picture says a thousand words. Drums should not have any significant grooves worn in them. " Significant " is subjective, so that's why the request for pictures. FWIW, brake dust in drum brakes accumulates with use and can cause noise. But usually not a " Metal to Metal " grinding sound.

I follow the same basic procedure as Mark. I just use a straight edge across the needle shoulder and piston bottom to get the needles flush. Sometimes I'll use the edge of a Vernier caliper if I want to lean out the idle a bit by having the Needle shoulder protrude by about .020" from the Piston bottom.

If you're putting the head and block into storage, here's an interesting experiment. Bolt the head to a block with no head gasket. Bolt down the center part of the head only. Try 40 ft/lbs torque. Come back in 6 months or so and check the head and see if it's straightened out. I'm betting it will.

Interesting question. I " think " you could get away with it. While .007" is beyond factory specs, it is a long cylinder head and the head is made out of aluminum. The head gasket is the problem. A flat steel plate doesn't compress, but a Multi Layer head gasket does. There is a way to " fudge " things though. Use variable head bolt torquing. Get some brand new " Turbo " head bolts and torque in normal spiral sequence. But on the final tightening, torque the head bolts near the center 5 ft lbs more than the outer head bolts. Use the Turbo head bolts as they will take the extra torque. That should give you an even compression of the head gasket, or " more even " than if all of the head bolts were torqued to the same amount.

Could probably be made to work... but is it worth the trouble? Most people seemed to go back to the stock ZX ignition. Actually, on a 280ZX... why would you get rid of the factory " Matchbox dizzy " in the first place?

We'd have to dig deeper into the wiring diagrams of the factory ECU and the Trignition boxes/ Modules on 280Z's and 280ZX's. But a quick Google search shows many people that have had problems running the Mallory Unilite on the factory FI system. None were able to make the Fuel Injectors fire. Some of the threads you answered but I couldn't find any that were resolved. Mind you I haven't searched that long.... I think that you're right that it's a signal type or strength issue. Bottom line is that the ECU is not getting an RPM signal or it is getting one that it can't understand with the Mallory, so injectors do not fire. OP: Is your car a 280Z or a ZX? Totally different Ignition circuit wiring on them and we need to know more of what you've done.

He's using a Mallory Optical distributor in place of the 280ZX distributor. OP: Do you have a normally aspirated 280ZX or a factory Turbo 280ZX . I'm assuming a 280ZX of some sort as this post is in the ZX forum. The Mallory distributor is designed for a carburated car, it will not work on the stock Nissan ECU. The Optical sensor on the Mallory sends out a different signal type ( square wave ) vs the Variable Reluctor of the stock Nissan dizzy, which sends out a Sine Wave. The ECU receives the Injector trigger signal from the dizzy, but with the Mallory Optical ignition the ECU can not understand the signal pulse. Note: This only applies to the Normally aspirated 280ZX. The 82 and 83 280ZX Turbo's also use an Optical distributor and the ECU should be able to trigger the Fuel Injectors from the Mallory. You may be able to install a Tach adapter to convert the signal into something the Nissan ECU will understand, but more research will be needed. From MotorSport Auto: http://www.thezstore.com/page/TZS/PROD/12-4042

OEM LED bulbs are interesting and will probably going to be the way to go, but the ones for cars are still in their infancy. I'd give them a generation or two to develop. Plus there is a big difference in quality. There's some pretty good stuff and some utter crappolla on the market right now. And prices will drop every year. Complete LED H/Lamp conversions are OK. Halogen bulb to LED bulb conversions are a different matter. Same problem with LED bulb conversions as HID bulb conversions. The position of the filament ( or diode ) has to exactly match the original position and axis of the halogen bulb. Unfortunately this does not happen. The result being that you get horrible light scatter and this is what blinds other drivers and light up the tops of trees. Focal point gets changed. The lamp reflector has to be specifically designed for each type of bulb. Halogen, HID or LED. You can't switch them back and forth. Well you can... and blind other drivers. #1 reason why the sale of cheap HID bulb conversions are now banned in most parts of the world.

You should see what 100 watt Super Oscars do!! I once made a Train dim his high beams from 2 miles away with my 510 Rally car!! Your last sentence is the big key. GL.

Don't waste your money on the PIA bulbs or the like that advertise brighter lights with lower power consumption. It's all snake oil advertising. You cannot alter Physics. You can however, trick the eye into thinking something is brighter... when in reality, it actually isn't. Have a good read of the Technical sections at Daniel Stern Lighting. He debunks a lot of the " Lighting Myth's " out there. Then buy some good quality H3 Narva, Osram or Flosser bulbs from him. Here's a couple of good articles to start off with, but I would recommend reading all of his Tech articles. Particularly those concerning Blue Tinted bulbs and " Super-White " bulbs. http://www.danielsternlighting.com/tech/bulbs/bulbs.html http://www.danielsternlighting.com/tech/bulbs/blue/good/good.html

Actually, de-carbonising agents work really well. All that " gunk " is the same stuff as in your Intake manifold , except the stuff on the valves and pistons is Baked on by heat. So the de-carbonisng agent by nature has to be much stronger than a typical Carb Cleaner. The Mopar CCC spray that I mentioned is extremely strong. It's not just for combustion chambers, it will clean everything it touches, including the inside of the Intake manifold. It will dissolve EGR deposits, especially the varnish in the Intake runners and the Plenum. The hard lumps of " Coal " in EGR passages are a different matter as Steve mentioned. It will soften them, but you'll still need need to poke and prod them with tools. For $10 or whatever it's worth a shot. Isn't gonna clean everything sparkly clean ( If you have EGR ) , but it should clean the inside of your Intake manifold considerably. May take a couple of cans, depending on how much "varnish is in there, but it's the best " chemical " treatment possible.... IMHO Throttle body should come out sparkly clean with CCC. I'd take that off and spray it on directly. IME.. short of the professional carb dunking tanks, nothing else came close to Mopar CCC for cleaning carbs and TB's. Use Nitryl Gloves and Eye protection!!! Lead lined apron is optional.... Ultimately the best way is to take the manifold off and have it cleaned industrially. Steam cabinets work really well.

First hit on Google for online parts. Lots more out there. Just an example of what a few minutes searching turns up. Brake rotors available: http://www.canadapartsonline.com/search/?N=0&Nf=price6|GT+.01|shipping2|GT+0&Nr=AND%28universal%3A0%29&Ntk=Main&Ntx=mode+matchallany&Nty=1&PN=0+9179&VN=4294967037+4294960609+4294960593+4294967132+4294966919&universal=0&Nf=price6|GT%20.01|shipping2|GT+0 Brake Hoses: http://www.canadapartsonline.com/search/?N=0&Nf=price6|GT+.01|shipping2|GT+0&Nr=AND%28universal%3A0%29&Ntk=Main&Ntx=mode+matchallany&Nty=1&PN=0+5553&VN=4294967037+4294960609+4294960593+4294967132+4294966919&universal=0&Nf=price6|GT%20.01|shipping2|GT+0 Napa, Canadian Tire, AutoZone and other franchise brands have their own distribution centers and tend to use only their own " House " brands. They don't look outside their own little world and wouldn't check an Independent supply chain like Altrom or WorldPac ( Another HUGE Canadian auto parts supplier ) supplier .

Rock Auto is also an excellent option as others have mentioned, particularly if you live close to the Border. I have a drop box address in the US and have everything shipped there. Much cheaper freight charges and no Brokerage fees.

Unless you are in a remote area of Ontario I find that hard to believe. Getting brake rotors and hoses is no problem in BC, and Ontario uses the same National distribution chains. They may have to bring the parts in from Toronto or elsewhere... but that's not a big deal. Edit: Just called my supplier ( B&J Parts ) in Port Coquitlam, BC. Brake hoses are no problem ( BTW, right and left front hoses are the same ). Brake rotors however do seem to be a bit scarce. He did find one in Brampton Ontario at a Uniselect Auto Warehouse. There may be others but he just did a quick search as a favor. I didn't want to tie him up on the phone for too long... Shop around for different Parts suppliers yourself. . Some automotive shops only deal with the Parts jobber that they have an account with an if that one place says they don't have stock then they don't bother looking further. I find that the independent, family owned businesses go the extra step to find parts for you as they want your return business. The big chains like Canadian Tire ( useless for parts other than Universal stuff ) and Napa etc often pay minimum wage and the quality of service reflects that. You pay peanuts... you get Monkeys.

A lot of variables, but as when you take the head of you can examine the cylinder bores and get a better idea. If it got hot enough to damage the head gasket it probably got hot enough to take the tension out of the rings at a minimum. If you see any cylinder wall scoring or a polished or Blue look to the cylinder walls, then you may want to have a hard think about things. There will likely be piston damage as well if the bores are scored. Engines often experience combustion detonation when they are over heated. That can break rings and while it may still run, the downward spiral to a nasty demise has begun. Modern engines operate with very tight piston to wall clearances and are not tolerant to overheating. Thin wall casting iron cylinder blocks distort like crazy if over heated. Aluminium blocks are even worse. If an aluminium block engine over heats, it's pretty much toast. Major work will be needed, but often the engine is scrap. About the only thing that will help the situation is if the engine was run with a good Synthetic oil. Synthetic oil doesn't lose it's shear strength at high temperatures like Dino oils. Whatever, you'll get a better idea of the situation when you pull the cylinder head ( s ) off. I'd lean towards a good used engine if you see cylinder wall damage. . The vehicle is probably not worth the price of rebuilding the engine.

Beauty...