Pennyman

Very good! Thanks for mentioning that, I TOTALLY should have caught that myself, hehe.

Hey everyone! Just had a brainstorm and thought I'd share it with you. The "L" series engine in the older nissans have a non-crossflow design (Is there an actual term which describes the design?). From an engineering standpoint, this design isn't as efficient or as user friendly as a crossflow design. This becuase the exhaust is located right below the intake, heating the intake air, and making the gas flow in the exact opposite direction when its expelled from the engine. Not to mention it makes it a pain to work on the exhaust system and put on a header (which I will be doing in several days to my Z, arg!). I'm an engineering student, and I'm curious if there's any advantages to the non-crosflow design. In theory, there should be. For example, if you were crowded for space in the engine bay (which the Z isn't) or if the intake/exhaust assembly was on the passenger's side to offset the weight of the driver (which isn't the case on the Z either). Although, I am aware that the engine does lean toward the passenger's side to equalize the weight. Any insight into the reasoning behind this design? Was it the best Nissan could do for the money? Was it the best the 70's engineers could to? This should be a good discussion topic. Was covered a little bit in this thread: http://classiczcars.com/forums/showthread.php?t=7316&highlight=non-crossflow

Dave lives in S.F. now, I think. Met him a couple of times, once at the Historics with V12horse. Used to drift that 240z, but stopped because of the poor weight distribution. Also had to raise the car about an inch because of the "poor pavement up here in Norcal". No more Slide Squad sticker on the windshield, but he does have a sweet "nostalgic hero" sticker in it instead, hehe. Pretty damn sure he was the first to drift a 240z at a sanctioned drift event.

Probably movie magic, nothing special. Could be an LCD screen hooked up to a stand alone engine manegement system. Honestly, even if it was, I wouldn't want that kind of distraction on my dashboard while I drive.

I remember hearing that during the indoor super-special stage in Wales, the imfamous "Stig" from Top Gear showed up to drive around and entertain the crowd. Also, rally France is at the end of this month, and when Loeb shows up, they're all gonna go nuts!

Yeah, I liked the channel better when it was "speedvision" now I swear you can watch 3 nascar shows in a row, then after another hour or two, they re-play the same three again! FAIL. They need to get on top of the grassroots and scca/nasa racing in the US. That rock that Petter hit was HUGE. They showed a shot of the broken brake rotor halves next to the rock, it was very large. Did you happen to notice that all the Rally cars had a new "tribute" sticker on the rear wing showing a Peugeot helmet with the word "Beef" across it? It's a tribute to Marko Martin's late co-driver who died last month.

Well, the race for the championship ended in Rally Japan last weekend, and due to consistant 1st place finishes this season, the frenchman Sebastian Loeb of Citroen clinched the Championship for the second year in a row. Now it's a race for 2nd and 3rd. Peugeot's Marcus Gronholm won the rally weekend when Subaru's Petter Solberg hit a massive rock, shattering this front suspension and dropping him from first for the rally weekend.

I bet the rears rub the fenders, huh? What size are those rims and what size rubber you got on them? BTW this site needs a wheel/tire fitment sticky. If I was going to get a similer size but didn't want the overfenders, what size/lip/offset would you recommend? I will never buy a pair of wheels unless they've got "the lip" hehe.

Ziptied.com The drift site with the attitude, hehe

Your pics made their way to a drifting forum that I browse. They recommend you throw some spacers behind the wheels to really fill out the fenders. I personally think they look fine, though. Damn I want a set. Personally, I'd like to get them re-powdercoated a dark brownish bronze.

With the right gearing, perhaps. But you'd need quite a lot of power to get you going that quick. Not to mention robust running gear to help put the power to the ground. By that point, you might be relatively slow off the line because of the gearing, but you'd have your insane top speed.

I like the bit with the flames coming from the tailpipe, hehe. You need a camera mount, bad.

1-800-radiator, and MSA has a pricy aluminum one. The choice is yours.

Those wheels are too JDM for my 280z. They are beautiful though. Reproducing those would be a crime. Keep em rare.

It's pretty crazy, but I've seen worse.

Yeah, even fiberglass would be a good idea. It would reduce the weight on either end of the car, and you could even make them a little smaller, just to clean up the profile of the car a little bit. I don't know what color would look good though, cause that chrome just looks sweet IMO.

I happen to know that the '76 Z came with a catalytic converter in CA, but nowhere else. The driver's side sunshield is a way to tell. If it has clear plastic saying it has a cat, it's from CA. Just my 2c.

Thumbs down for Fel-Pro on this one. Looks like they have some more homework to do. I'm going to return it and get one from MSA. At least then I know they'll send me the right one, even if it does take a little longer.

Here's a site with the gasket. they said it was for the 75-83 Z...Look's like they got it wrong? http://www.pickproparts.com/pictures/result.aspx?linecode=fel&partnum=MS91034%

Ok, judging by the center ports, I think they're trying to incorporate 2 port shapes into one gasket. Will it work?

Hey. I just bought an intake/exhaust gasket, but it doesn't seem right. I have an N42 head, square exhaust ports, but the gasket has funny shapes for the exhaust ports. They aren't round, they're more hexagonal. Shouldn't they be square? The box even says it's for my year Z, but the ports aren't square. What's going on? Can I still use it? It's a Fel-Pro gasket,and I wondering if it's possible if they tried to incorporate a couple port shapes into a single gasket.

I don't think it would be very hard, as a matter of fact, I think it would be a very cool project. The only think I see being a problem is the fact that the 280z's radiator support is larger, and hangs lower than the 240z's. The main problem I see is that the 280z's front valence hangs so low that the gaping opening looks funny with the small bumpers. A cow catcher-type airdam has a smaller opening than the stock valence, which helps it look much better IMO. Also I think the "buck-tooth" look of the 280z turn signals can be easily remedied by simply getting them smoked at a local body shop. 3 coats is perfect. Check my gallery for pics of my smoked lenses.

Cool, too bad it's not a real step by step build, but I'll figure it out. Any idea which year small bumpers work/look the best?