Chino 240Z

After getting back from the Z Convention track day we estimated that at W.O.T. (wide open throttle) we got about 10mpg. That was about 20gal of gas that day. :surprised

Sounds like it started out as a turn indicator switch mechanism was wore out or one of it wires broke off and grounded, but then you may have introduced a second problem with your tester lead, shorting out a hot wire to ground, the streering colum metal or another hot wire, while you were testing you wires? It is easy to short out a wire you are trying to test in tight places with your test probe. You can wrap your test probe tip with some electrical tape with only the tip exposed so you won't touch 2 things at once.

Butterflies undersized? Interesting, wonder if they worked or tappered the leading edges alittle, or the shafts & screw heads (one of the racer tricks) for better flow? So, when you say sometimes, do you know if they or the linkage hangs up alittle? When they catch that fast idle thingy, have you got up there and movered the linkage around or the butterfly shafts to see if it makes a change and drop the idle back down?

I don't know about the butterfly being installed wrong by ZTherapy- besides you will never have it completely closed anyways, it will always need to be slightly open for idle airflow. Gotta double check the set on my bench. Anyways if it has the bearing shaft- most likely it is still in good shape with little wear. Does the idle stay high even after it is warmed up real good? Ours drop a good 200 to 300 rpm after it is good and warm. But that sounds great that its up and running again. The cost of education these days! :eek: Craig

Firebird Formula or T/As with aftermarket bolt-on mods can run low 13s, but very few in the high 12s. LT1s spend a bucket load of money to get in the low 12's lucky to get 11 if at all? And an LS1 can achieve high 12s with little effort, and mid 12's with a little money. My 93 Formula is good to do 13.096, and a friend with $6K into his LT1 motor is freaking cause he can't get out of the 12s. That extra second is alota bucks! So if you can get your Z into the high 12s, low 13s you can shut him up! Good luck.

Oh my goodness, how fast they grow up! :paranoid: Hey thanks guys for the votes! It would be pretty funny to see you guys take that Spec-V down!!! Craig Kaelin, maybe ask Mom to use her Van or the Dually first? Little more protection. We'll talk later. . . Dad

Thanks Carl & E-Racer! The Z is the only thing that is getting votes lately. And alot of them have been coming from our fellow Z-friends at Zdrive.com, thanks to them too! About 50 more votes will get a 33 year old, stripped down Z out front of a bunch of new cars! Somehow this guy keeps picking up votes? Must be a good size club? Craig

Combined 2 grills to make 1.

These are a young Japanese Couple. They are really nice people and come to the West Coast events when possible. They love your early model Japanses cars as much as you do! They like to share what we are doing in the US with our friends in Japan. Victor & Stephen I dig your cars too!

Great to see you all again, Home again! Home again! Jigidy Jog! Okay, We got our selves in a car popularity contest at the place we pickup tires from for the Z. We posted pics of the Z (same ones in the gallery). Anyways, there are 10 finalist and we are in 3rd hoping to gain a few votes. We could care less about the prize, can't really use a video screen in a race car, but rather like to see a "Classic Z Car" beat out a Spec V or anyother late model car. There are some nice cars, but just not my flavor. Anyways if you got a moment show your colors, help wave the Z flag or what ever you call it, we could use a little help flexing some Z Muscle! :devious: We got until the 31st (I think), to catch up to the Spec V, can we do it? It's time to call out "friends in low places", "from down under" and "where ever you may roam!" It's sorta like the feeling that you get driving down the road in your Z, "Sometimes you just don't feel like letting that other "new" guy get ahead!" Thanks for you support and glad to see this place alive a kickin! Cheers- Craig, Cindy & Kaelin http://www.1010tires.com/forum/forum_topics.asp?FID=113

Here is a Japanese web site here in California that covered the MSA show this year. They also were at the Convention track day at WSIR. They also write articles for a Japanese magazine in Japan. They cover most import cars, but are true Z lovers. I have met them a few times and they are really nice people! Check out the gallery, maybe your car is pictured there. Craig www.katysnest.com (if you don't want to load the Kanji - Japanese character writting just click close, and it will continue to the site.) :classic:

My ignitor is quite old and has some adjustment, so not sure what the later ones look like? If it was working fine and then later you experience problems, chances are it's not the Pertronix unit. My problem was found else where too, but checking that the ignitor was installed correctly, and after having a shop put the distibutor on a machine and spinning it to 8000rpm (Pertronix Ignitors are good thru 11K rpm) and everything was fine confirmed that my problem was elsewhere. Like I was told, "If you think your problem is ignition? it's fuel." And "If you think your problem is fuel? it's ignition." Except, I thought I had a fuel problem and so everyone (dyno shop, mechanic friends & others) told me to look at my iginition. Well I went through alot of time, money and effort to find that it was fuel. Good side of it all is that I learned alot about my ignition, got extra parts now, all new wiring and a good feeling of knowing I got good spark. Anyways- Keep looking and let us know what you find.

When I was chasing a problem I needed to call Pertronix (909) 599-5955 regarding a loose reluctor, they were good to talk to. Check the web site www.pertronix.com -there is a support section with helpful troubleshooting info, which may help you? I would check the gap of the magnetic pick-up and the reluctor donut. Also if you have another coil you can use to check if yours is bad. Check your Battery for 12V too. Good Luck Craig

Thanks ZCCA for WSIR event on Thursday. I agree, it was special to meet Mr. Katayama. We had him sign our magazine, and spoke with him and had some laughs! We feel it was a great day at the track. :classic:

Now that ounds like a good setup! :classic:

Eric, We have SUs with no return line and this freaks other Z people out when they see it missing, they say- "well, there is your problem". We are not street driving, so with our setup the fuel doesn't have time to heat up, it's being guzzled at an alarming rate $ (because if it ain't W.O.T., it's parked). Also, as for after a session coming back to the pits to park, we shut off the fuel pump and idle the remaining fuel in the bowls & lines after the regulator. Kinda idle it till it starts to make a change, then kill it. With an improved heat shield, header heat in not an issue any longer. We sometimes run the electric fan for 5 minutes after the car is shut down to circulate the heat out too. Don't really think all these steps are needed, but it don't hurt when its 110 degrees at the track. But never had a problem with heated fuel by doing this. But I can imagine that city traffic on a hot day can heat up the fuel by the time it gets to and is used by the last triple:paranoid: craig * I believe if you had a pressure drop in one they all would see the same drop and it would be read as an overall pressure dop reading on your guage.

I'm sorry my finger was following the wrong line across the print out, I'm one notch off. Here is a general AFR chart that K&N puts out. Yes I think 14.0 to 14.7 is good. Gasoline: 17.1 16.0 15.1 14.7 14.7 14.7 14.7 14.0 13.2 12.1 Alcohol: 7.6 7.1 6.7 6.5 6.5 6.5 6.5 6.1 5.8 5.3 Propane 17.9 16.8 15.9 15.6 15.6 15.6 15.6 15.0 14.0 13.0 so we are actually in the High 14's. and once it jumped up to the 15's but went back down as the rpm increased.

That's a good price, and with the video you will be saying "I know what I'm doing!" With us we nailed the carb setup the first time. With access to dyno equipment we were able to see aceleration, speedometer check, B.S.F.C. Volumetric Efficiency, O2 sensing with the tail pipe wide band Lambda reading, Fuel pressure and consumption, Volts, RPMs, Temp. and if it is a good dyno they can see all these things under full range loading (simulate road grade ect.) Too much data to handle! But what we saw with the O2 reading out the tail pipe the air fuel ratio was pretty good. I believe you want about a 12: 1 ratio, under that, it is lean and over is rich. People think they can tune a car with feel (seat of your pants), yes you will be close, but for real info it is gona take some modern day tools, computers and software, fuel monitoring systmes to get the data and then turn the screwdrivers and dial in the best performance you can. I'm trying to learning what is good and what is bad, and I can pull a few more horses out of the motor by leaning the carbs down some to get closer to the 12 : 1 ratio but I can also go too far and lean things too much and burn up stuff up too. So I can live with what we have right now. I'm not racing for real, but getting some real fun seat time in for now. I'm like everyone else- on a budget and a do it yourselfer to save money. You need to know what is going on with the SUs if you own SUs cause most shops and help from people at the track are no help at all.

F.W.I.W. just got some wide band sensor readings the other day and was pleased with Ztherapy SU, SM needles and .101 nozzels. full radius airhorns, stock motor, 9.5 :1 compression, E31 head, E46 intakes, some cam & rockers, Pertronix ignition, MSD-6AL, Blaster coil, no smog, headers, Moroso muffler, fuel pressure is 2.9psi, was puttng out about a 13 to 14:1 AFR at a steady line. Don't mind being a little fat knowing we can back it off a little. But all in all I was glad to see the results were what Steve had sold us. As far as driveability & idle no problem, I was only concerned about w.o.t. anyways. :classic:

If you really want to have some fun on a track and even race soon, I would slow down the purchase of a stock Z, and do some more hunting for a race preped or a Z that someone has started and wants out. If you haven't built one before, it is very easy to loose the fire or run out of funds in the middle of construction. We were lucky to find one that was 75% done and just needed finish up work and some TLC, Now we can enjoy time on the track instead of in the garage. You will get enough time in the garage tweakin things between events and days at the track. Try to make it to the Z convention track day on June 17th @ Willow Springs if you can, you can maybe do some shopping there or even get ideas from others. Goog Luck, Craig

Not to mention an addiction to "track". Open track at a real track will keep you dreaming of you and your Z for months after! You should go to the Z convention track day!