jmortensen

Food for thought for the safety first crowd: What is the stock spring rate on a 240Z and how much compression is there on a stock spring as it sits installed on the strut when there is only one thread left hanging on? If you can figure this out then you'll know why I've never used a spring compressor on a Z strut. I usually just zip off the nut while the car is on the ground. The car isn't even going to budge since the spring is already compressed just by the weight of the car. If the strut is off the car completely then I lay the strut down facing away from me and zip it off and let the spring fling off (doesn't go very far, maybe 3 or 4 feet). Note that I'm always installing aftermarket springs or coilovers that don't require a compressor to put back on. Is this dangerous? Well I suppose you could accidently point the strut at your crotch and zip the nut off, but if the person doing the work isn't a complete moron I think a quick check of the math will show that it isn't terribly dangerous... EDIT--I should also say that I've worked on some Porsches that were VERY dangerous. The danger is related to the spring rate and the amount of compression.

There is no distributor available that will keep up with distributorless ignition, purely because there are no crank and distributor gears to cause lash and change the timing. DIS is only marginally more expensive than a new Mallory distributor, and I would guess cheaper than the Kameari setup. It takes a lot more setup for the DIS, and you have to make a bracket for the sensor and mount the trigger wheel to the balancer, but there isn't much reason to go with an aftermarket distributor anymore IMO. If you want to keep a distributor or the rules require one, the ZX EI distributor with a MSD system works pretty good. It already has a pretty decent mechanical advance curve from the factory.

I just called Courtesy and asked for 280ZX Turbo (not sure if turbo matters) stub axle nuts. He found them just fine. It appears to be the same nut for the R200 pinion, but I'm not absolutely sure on that one...

I know I seem to be the only one trying to go fast with a Z on the Nurburgring, but I just figured out the nitrous and did a 6:59.103 with the 71 Z. Also managed a 7:08 and change without. A little rear toe in makes a big difference!

I cut the peened area off the nut first whenever I do them. If you do it carefully you will do minimal damage to the threads which is quickly cleaned with a thread file. BTW 280ZXT nuts will fit and are staked so they don't require peening, and are easier to get off if you have to get in there again. If you have stock drums just drill a hole in the backing plate and you don't need to pull the stubs to install your longer studs.

Weird. Usually the 5 speed is about 3 or 4 inches shorter than the early 4 speed. When I installed mine I modified the shifter. I used a truck shifter (much shorter throw) and cut it just above the pivot pin hole. Then I welded it back on pointing straight at the back of the car, and heated and bent the shifter up so that it sticks up right in the middle of the stock shifter hole. I cut it at a comfortable height and rethreaded the end to put the shift knob on (most aftermarket shift knobs don't use a threaded end, so you usually don't have to worry about the threads. Some people cut a bigger hole in the transmission tunnel for the shifter. I wouldn't do that because then your inner shift boot won't fit and the shifter will be too far forward to comfortably reach 5th gear.

I understood that the fuel coolers route fuel from the return line under the carb bowls to cool the carb, which is being heated by the exhaust. IME this is not necessary. I've run my car in stop and go with no heat shield at all, and have also run at a track in 114º without having the fuel boil in the bowls. YMMV though...

Kinda OT, but have you found any of those tires in an appropriate size for a 15x9? I took a quick look and all I could find were 225's... I'd be running 245's or 255's on a 9" rim.

I understand how you do this in the front, but not in the rear. Seems like the halfshafts would be right in the way of this. Maybe your situation is different Cary? If not, and you have pictures, I would love to see them I'm still screwing around with bars and I'd like to have the rear attach to the strut if possible.

Richard, you could run nitrogen instead of air in the tires. That would make the pressure change smaller. I had a boss who ran ITSS who did that. He brought a big cylinder of nitrogen to the track, and he used it to run his impact gun and other tools also. The faster I go the more the pressure increases, and the lower I find I want the total pressure. Started out at ~33 cold to get to 35 hot with BFG R1's back in the day, now I'm running 28/26 hot on slicks. I usually start with 24/23, then bleed off pressure in between runs or work groups, and I have to bleed of a lot of air... I've got this theory, maybe Cary or others can verify. The more heat you can put into the tire the better (within reason of course but I haven't overheated a tire yet) and the less air pressure you start with the hotter the tire will run. So as I continue on, I find myself running less pressure, and more negative camber and still getting good temps across the tire. Another way of saying it: Used to be I didn't have the required camber and I had to jack the pressure up to keep the the temps good across the tire. Now with more negative camber I can drop the pressures, maintain good temps across the tire, and it sticks a hell of a lot better. It's a bit counterintuitive to me, but that's what's been happening with me since I started running R tires, and a couple friends' experiences seem to back me up.

Another 4 oz bottle won't hurt anything. If you want to try and diagnose the noise: http://www.ringpinion.com/content/technicalhelp/default.asp?pid=109 http://www.ringpinion.com/content/technicalhelp/default.asp?pid=110

Turned them off and couldn't keep it pointed in the right direction. Turned them down and pulled a 7:10.838. I think a 7:05 is possible if every bounce went the right way and every turn was hit just right, but I think a wheel would be necessary to get there.

If it's brand spanking new you need to get some lube into the clutch packs. Put LSD additive in the oil if it doesn't already have it, then go do some figure 8s in a parking lot until the lube gets in there.

Just do the math. It was 5 gallons gas to 1 gallon (114 octane) tolulene = 95.33333 octane. AVgas is 50/50 since it is only 100 octane. Xylene is 118 octane but I mixed it like Tolulene, and I think I went 4 to one on the 112 leaded race gas. Look into home made octane boosters if you want to run the xylene or tolulene. You need to add some ATF and mineral spirits. Recipes are easy to find on the net.

I didn't mess with the aids, so if they come on, they're on. Is there time to be had there? Now that you mention it though, there might be some time there...

I'd be curious to see how I stack up out there. I did a 7:31 on hard slicks and a 7:13.350 on super softs. Not exactly a "clean" run, but the Z gets airborne a lot on that track and it is super squirrely on super soft tires. My sandbag is I'm using a joystick just in case someone gets into the 6's....

The big one is TDC. The others are 5º increments.

I got my 2 1/2" Dynomax Super Turbo from JC Whitney for $29.49. Bought mandrel bends from them at the same time to make the rest of the system. That was a few years back, don't know the current price on the muffler. I'm running it with triple 44's and the MSA header. Have a listen: http://album.hybridz.org/showphoto.php?photo=1562&sort=1&cat=500&page=1

99.99999% sure the reaction disk fell out. The reaction disk is a small rubber disk inside the booster. It sits right in the middle of the booster, and can fall out when you separate the master and the booster. It should be down in the bottom of the booster. Fish it out and put it back in its place. Everything should be good to go afterwards. While I haven't had this problem myself I've seen quite a few posts about it over the years, and they all said exactly what you said: "Bled the system 57 times, everything is brand new, still no pedal."

Sounds to me like your car is too low. Look into roll centers and you'll find out what negative effects they can have when low lower strut type suspension too much. The big one is that lateral force compresses the suspension, and your camber curve isn't good either. Bumpsteer spacers will help correct the roll center, but to really correct bumpsteer you need to measure it and adjust it out. It's worth doing both. My friends running Kuhmos are running slightly lower pressures than you, like 26/24, but you'll have to do that by feel or better yet by tire temps. The HUGE thing that you didn't mention is caster. Caster makes a major difference in turn in. I've had good luck with a pretty similar setup with 5.5º of caster and more toe in on the back end. You might try a little more toe out in front too. Some others are running more caster than I am. I think John Coffey was running 7º if memory serves. Stiffer spring rates are going to reduce body roll and squat and dive and keep the suspension in the "sweet spot" with regards to camber curve, but are definitely going to require different struts. You're at the limit of what the Illuminas can handle as far as spring rates according to Ground Control so you'll need Konis or the GC Advance Design like Tom has.

That's a good article but not entirely accurate. The Power Brute is a Nissan clutch type LSD, the 12mm ring gear bolts seem to have been introduced around 85/86, the 300ZX does have spring plates but not spring discs which still gives it some preload, etc. By far the most detailed and accurate info I've found is here: http://www.gordon-glasgow.org/lsd1.asp

I have an E31 and L28 combo and I took out about 1/8" (it was a lot) around the edge on the intake side of the chamber to unshroud the intake valve when I matched it to the Nissan L28 headgasket. I took some out of the exhaust side as well. Sounds to me like you have an L24 gasket, not an L28 gasket. But that is just guessing. I'm with Phred though, something doesn't add up. I did also notch the block to match the head so that there was an open space around the valve when it was all the way open. I didn't use a flow bench, just common sense. I don't know exactly what the results were, but I can say for sure they were better than before. I wouldn't have thought that undercutting the chamber before the head gasket as Phred suggests would do much good. It might increase the flow at lower valve lifts, but at full open the valve is past the headgasket into the bore. Again, I've never used a flowbench, so maybe I'm just plain 'ol wrong on that one. The other thing I concentrated on were the triangular wedges between the valves. I cut those down A LOT. I also polished out the circular machining marks around the valve seats, and took down all the sharp edges, including the triangular patch of spark plug threads that stick into the chambers. I also took down the walls where the chamber meets the deck of the head farther away from the spark plug. On the E31 there are 2 sharp ridges there with some pretty poor casting. I polished out all the crappy casting and took the sharp ridge out. My only suggestion would be go big on the cam. I have a 490/280, and the head got shaved a bit so I believe I'm in the 11:1 range, and I have to run 95 octane to keep it from pinging. I'd go at least 280, maybe a little bigger if you can find it.

240ZX is right about the ring and pinion being matched. I think acanthopis is looking at the bolt head, not the shaft. The 12mm bolts have a 17mm head and the 10mm bolts have a 14mm head. If so, then it would be the same 12mm bolt shaft as the later 300ZX Turbo LSD. Easy to fix, just use a spacer like described here: http://www.classiczcars.com/forums/showthread.php?t=14880

I would keep the adjustable slave and fork just because it's nice to have the adjustment. The fork won't matter as long as the fork with the hole in the end is used with the adjustable slave. Then you just need the right throwout for the pressure plate. The key here is that the throwout collar MUST match the pp. None of the other stuff will matter in your case, since it sounds like you have the fork with the hole and the manually adjustable pin. Here's the info for that: http://www.zparts.com/zptech/articles/trans_swap%20parts/4tobear_specs1.html If you don't care to adjust your clutch, then you can do as Curtis says and use the self adjusting slave pin and fork with no hole.

I think his question was in regards to how you get the 12mm carrier to work with the 10mm bolts. Not a problem. The bolts go through a hole in the carrier and then screw into the threaded holes in the ring gear. All you need to do is get some ring gear bolt spacers to take up the 1 mm gap between the 12mm hole and the 10mm bolt. They don't have to be exact or super tight, they're just taking up the space so that the ring gear gets bolted on straight. Here's what you do: Look up stainless steel tube on the internet. You're looking for something with 12mm OD and 10mm ID. You'll probably have to buy a stick of tube that might be 4' or 8' long. Get the tube, and cut the pieces to the right length to fit the carrier. Deburr the ends, and stick them in the holes. Then just bolt it all together. Easy to do, and you can recoop your cost on the tube pretty easily. Just make more sets of spacers and sell them on here or hybridz or zcar.com. I bought my spacers to install my 12mm carrier on my 4.11 with 10mm bolts from someone who had done just that. I would just give you his email but I know he ran out already. He did tell me that he did more than break even on the spacers and he was charging $20 per set. Your side stub axles should plug right into the LSD. Mine from an 80ZX plugged right into my 87 300ZX carrier.