AK260

ROFLMAO - CO, I had a feeling you’d bring it! Thank you for the detained clarifications.

I too had to google it!!!

Not sure why Tapatalk sometimes duplicates my posts! [emoji848]

Thanks for the education CO! [emoji106] You’re very right sir - I’ve rarely seen the stock manifold on a US 260z or flat tops close up. My 260 came with the round tops and an MSA header. The sound had me at hello!! I was so excited that I even drove off without a receipt or the V5 (our version of title documents)!

Just looking close at your photo, holy original exhaust manifold Batman! Is that some kind of emissions reducing air injection setup?

Good for you buddy! Now that is a lot of names to remember and a makes for an expensive Christmas!!!! [emoji33]

You’re most welcome and to answer the question posted by [mention=23570]Siteunseen[/mention] that I forgot to answer, yes it just caps off the “spider/bug” hole created by the first cap that is inside the Y pipe already. Now that’s an interesting coolant setup! I had never seen it go in at the balance pipe end before. Normally it feeds the manifold from below. See my markup in yellow on your photo (and strictly no phallic jokes, that’s the other illicit thread) [emoji12]

Brilliant, glad to be of service! ;) BTW, I was getting complaints about it looking odd, so I got another one, a piece of 15mm pipe just long enough to fit into two cap and hammered them together. See below ...

Ah, the good old days of the 70’s - the days when disco was cool and you could fish GI Joes our the back of the car!! My wife and her brothers used to drop pennies through the holes in the floor of their Datsun on the motorway and see who’s would bounce the most! BTW, was that thing able to go around corners at anything more than 20mph!?

Well done fella! Which brand did you use in the end? Keep the old one - some day you will come across someone who can rewind / refresh it for you.

But you need an engine to drive them with!!! Orange wonder 2028! (Sorry, too easy [emoji13])

Zedhead is on the money - my original braided hose from the thermostat housing to the carbs blew and I had the most beautiful and dramatic under-bonnet recreation of Jellystone park! That is what turned my attention to the question, do I really need this superfluous water routing!? As for the Y pipe, I kept mine but blocked it with some 15mm copper pipe plumbing end stops. They are just the perfect diameter to hammer in and for good measure I added a tiny bit of solder - which really wasn’t necessary but I sleep better with it there! Spray the whole thing with silver VHT paint and it looks the part! [mention=23570]Siteunseen[/mention] - nothing wrong with a functional engine bay! It’s how she drives that counts!

Racer, that sounds like some immense fun!!! Absolutely love that 8x10 photo!!! And, that’s some serious effort into that side box. Without the wrap that must have been mega louuuud!!!!! We’re you running coil overs back on the day or some variation of the stock suspension?

My very typical old school Brit of a father in law always asks if it’s a boy or a girl so that he knows whether to buy a shotgun or a pony. I contend that in the girl scenario, you most certainly need the shotgun for interviewing prospective boyfriends the correct way! 5 kids!? Let alone hormonal teenage girls under one roof!?!? Dear God! We have enough trouble with two little man pups constantly killing each other. Frankly I’m in awe of anyone with more than two!!! On that scenario, I can see how Golf becomes a necessity!!! The good news is you’ll get 5 times the love when they’re older. Those Saabs have forever been cool and continue to be. They were bloomin quick in their time too. Always loved the engineering ethos of Saab, shame they couldn’t remain commercially viable. [emoji22]

Loving that Z of yours Racer! The side exhaust looks totally mean!! Do you have any skin left on your calves though!? [emoji1787] :p

There is no such thing as a dumb question, except for the one not googled ;). As google doesn’t tell you a lot about this, then this is a good question! :D I have read that the idea was to keep the manifold at a constant temp, improve cold start by heating up the mix and help with atomisation, stop them icing up in the winter - blah blah blah and furthermore blah. In short, it was one of the best things I did to mine. The carbs run “fridge cold” to the touch after a good hard blast around. There is less heat soak and related issues when you stop for fuel on a hot day. Fewer points of failure and leaks (mine was leaking from every possible point). Unless you are driving your car in a subzero winter and worried about carbs icing up, then my advice is take it off. A cool carb is a happy carb and performs better, giving better responsiveness and HP. Oh and it saves weight!!! Every gramme counts, that is why I shave (face and other bits) before I go for a drive!! Not to mention a cleaner engine bay. Here’s a recent photo from when I was testing longer velocity stacks ...

I used Silent Coat mass loaded vinyl on the floor with some 3mm closed cell foam over the top. Works beautifully and gives a cushioned feel below the carpet too!

Casey and Reptoid: wow those are wardrobes on wheels!!!!! The funny thing is, when I was a kid growing up in pre-Islamic revolution Iran, those were everywhere and considered quite cool! The big Cadillacs were also ultra cool as we used to teqvel long distances from one end of the country to another in total luxury! Dutchman: that is a seriously cool bike! [emoji106][emoji106] It really is the two wheeled equivalent of a sofa on wheels. One of my fond memories of working in Holland was the CRAZY large multi-sorry bicycle parks!!!

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Shouldn’t that be on an “Original bottoms” thread of sorts? Or indeed on a rather illicit PM to CO? Just sayin’ !!

Which of you yanks (or your parents) had one of these? A whole new definition of sofa on wheels!! Edit: Mods, my apologies, I appear to have posted in the wrong area but unable to move it, please help and forgive! ;)

Thanks Site! I am indeed aware of that thread and “12 second Norm” with his baby toss rings! Such a cool solution! In fact it was reading his experiences that convinced me that the SUs were the way forward for my engine. I was hovering with intent on the buy button of RHDJapan for a set of triple OERs for sometime before giving myself a slap and keeping the SUs. Interesting stacks in Zcardepot - thanks for the sign posting! [emoji106][emoji106] I will seriously look at those. Yes sir! It is free indeed [emoji1787][emoji1787] Today’s test run was with the ITGs first and then off with them and naked carbs only. What I have found, is that the reversion condition is best without any horns. But with the stock backplate only (no filter etc), I get more butt dyno power and keenness than with just naked carbs. We all know that the sharp edges of the carb cause turbulence which acts as a choke at the carb mouth. So I’m now tending toward the baby ring toss solution for best airflow characteristics into the carb as my next nearly free intake experiment. With naked carbs, the torque hole becomes more like a flat spot. Basically, I find anything sub 11 on the AFR makes the engine lose power / bog down. But anything close to or just over 11, feels more like a flat spot which I can just about live with for the scintillating top-end. But I have to get to that point with a solution that involves an air filter. At some point this year or next, I will revert back to my old header (with 21% smaller cross sectional area on the primaries) to evaluate the suggestion that I’m losing exhaust gas velocity at low revs. All good stuff gents! Thanks for chewing the cud with me and the great suggestions! Keep ‘em comin’!

Well gang, a proper test today revealed that the new horns are making my torque dip even worse. In 3rd starting @1.8k rpm with WOT: Without the trumpets: she “touches” 10.9 on the AFR @ 3.3krpm and then sits doggedly between 12-12.5 from 3.6k to 6.5k. With the trumpets: it goes to 9.5 (where it bogs down) and stays below 10.5 until 4K rpm. Here’s a really interesting article showing how longer trumpets can actually accentuate a torque hole ... http://www.emeraldm3d.com/articles/emr-adj-length-intake/

Steady on!

Thanks dude. Funny how we can be critical ourselves - to me it’s still a bit messy ;)