jmortensen

This is not correct. If you want to wring the neck of a given engine and get every single hp out of a given engine, yes, that is very difficult. If you want to get a particular hp number or a particular power to weight ratio, that is easy to do, and depending on the numbers you're looking for, much easier with a swap. If I were looking for 300 hp for instance this is possible with the L6 normally aspirated, but then you're talking about a very expensive high compression engine that runs 110 octane gas. A turbo L6 can do it easily, as can a V8. Hell my Sierra pickup makes 285 hp on 87 octane gas and comes with a warranty. Weight distribution, center of gravity, and polar moment of inertia are all improved by the JTR V8 swap with aluminum heads and manifold vs the original L6. Since the heads are splayed out in the V8 instead of standing straight up (or close) the engine is shorter and the cg is lower. The JTR is almost, not quite but almost a mid engine, meaning the PMOI is lower. The weight distribution can actually go to something like 48/52. What is "best" for the weight distribution is a matter of opinion, but I wouldn't mind 48/52. As it is my car has 50/50 now, and that's just peachy too. Alex is a little sensitive about that car. I agree with his sentiment though. The horse is freakin pulverized already. We're now beating a stain on the ground where the horse used to be.

Just to clarify Alex, that's the LATER style 82-83. Early style doesn't have those problems, but the caliper is much bigger and heavier and the pads are actually smaller. Also of interest, if you look at the later ZX caliper vs 240SX caliper looks damn near identical to me. Haven't heard of a bunch of frozen SX calipers yet...

Take the car to a muffler shop. Have them weld in a O2 bung. Then get a simple one wire O2 sensor and either buy a gauge that shows the air fuel ratio (Autometer makes one) or if you're cheap like me hook the sensor up to a volt/ohm meter and shoot for .8V. It's pretty simple to get the O2 in there, and you can get it fairly close that way.

You are correct that Mikuni bought Solex. There are several different carburetor styles, and they all have slightly different float assemblies. The main stuff that gets changed out, the jets, are all the same AFAIK. If you can find a Mikuni manual that would help. A copy of the "How to Modify your Nissan/Datsun OHC Engine" book would also help, as there is a pretty good explanation of the carbs there. I don't know how much you took apart, but as for the "normal" stuff one would get into like the float chamber covers and the jet covers that stuff is pretty basic. If you get the manual or the book you should be able to get them back together properly. Getting them tuned is a whole other ball of wax, but it also isn't rocket science. Unless you're really mechanically inept I'd suggest you give it a go yourself AFTER reading some of the info in the above manuals. You need a little bit of knowledge, because if you don't have any idea what jets do what you'll chase your tail. But if you have a basic understanding of what jets are working and when it's not that difficult to tune them. I would HIGHLY recommend putting an O2 sensor in the exhaust so that you can monitor the air fuel ratios as you're driving. Then you can figure out which circuit should be working when you go lean or rich, and make the jetting for that circuit richer or leaner to compensate.

Anyone can buy 4.38 gears from Nissan Comp and put them in any diff. The gear ratio is not the LSD part. It's the carrier that does the LSD bit, and there is no reason why you couldn't install 4.38 gears in an open diff. All that being said, the Skyline diff is the one that I've seen from the factory with 4.38's, and I don't know that they all came with LSD but it would be kinda surprising if they didn't. As to breakaway, it is VERY misleading. Nissan apparently had quite a few different clutch pack setups, with different breakaway pressures as low as ~10 lbs. If you want more info on breakaway, check out what I found when I shimmed my LSD: http://forums.hybridz.org/showthread.php?t=92629

I'm sure they'll be fine.

Looks pretty sweet under the hood too. Not sure about the "nostrils" though...

I guess I'm a little late for this thread :stupid: but I did have the setup you were talking about so long ago Mike. This was Eric's setup that was sold under the name ZQuip. There was a write up about it in Z-Car Magazine's very first issue. Used 79-81 Calipers and rotors. The kit did indeed include the caliper brackets and the bolts. The bracket was a circle, didn't need to be. You could easily cut part of the bracket away and bolt it up with 3 bolts and it would be fine. I realized this later, but at the time when it was installed I pulled the stub axle to mount the bracket. On mine the rears worked great with the stock front calipers, but when I went to 4x4 calipers I couldn't get any rear braking. The big 79-81 calipers are supposed to be more reliable than the later 82-83 calipers, and I never had any trouble with mine in the 8 years I had them on the car. I ran it with a 240SX ebrake cable and removed the front bell crank and attached the ebrake handle directly to the cable end. This setup worked fine, just couldn't handle the hard braking I was doing on slicks, so I ended up with the JSK/Wilwood brakes, very similar to 2fiddyZ's.

I wonder if you might be able to cut the brackets off of a 280 and weld them to your car, then maybe use 280 sway bar bushings if you can find the right size.

Suspension Techniques makes a rear mounted bar that attaches to the 2 uprights that locate the rear control arm bushings for a 240. IMO this is the best solution. If you space the bar back about 3/4" from the uprights it is bind free (that's not in the instructions, but it's a good idea). The other solution is the MSA sway bar for a 240 which mounts in front of the diff (not sure if the mounts are identical to the Nismo). Problem with it is that it binds pretty bad after only a few inches of suspension travel. The 280's had a sway bar mount that came down from the frame rail. I'd imagine that the reason this mount sticks down an inch or so is to allow the swaybar to clear the frame and the floor, and prevent it from binding like the MSA bar.

Most everything aftermarket I've seen is .008/.010. Stock is .010/.012. Looser is safer. There's an old saying: "Quiet valves burn." I'd run it at the stock setting. If its really noisy, then bump it down to the .008/.010.

I don't have any vids to suggest, but this thread brought back a related experience from 15 years ago. I used to work in an industrial complex and one of the units was rented by a guy who used it to store Killer B rally cars. Every now and then he'd take one out and run it around the parking lot at insane speeds. I remember the Lancia Delta, the Renault R5 Turbo II, and the Ford RS200 Evo. He probably had 50 rally cars, but those were the only ones that I can positively identify as I was only 16 and didn't know anything about cars or rally racing at the time. He was washing the RS200 one time and a buddy and I went over to talk to him about it. He said that he had a Ferrari F40, but it wasn't fast enough so he bought this car. It kinda looked like a CRX on steroids, and had the biggest intercooler I've ever seen on the top. My memory tells me it was at least 8 inches thick and went all the way across the roof. They were rated at something like 500 hp in Killer B form, but he had "done a little work" on his and he was claiming 800. It also had a small stick shift looking lever next to the actual gear shifter. He said that was for switching from front wheel drive to all wheel drive to rear wheel drive. He claimed 0-60 in 1.8 seconds. The car was Ferrari yellow with black skull and crossbones on the doors and hood. It's been close to 15 years since I talked to that guy, and I can still achieve wood just thinking about that car.

I'm kinda partial to this one: http://www.fototime.com/ftweb/bin/ft.dll/detailfs?userid={7DC317B0-8EDB-4B2E-A837-F708D07C9769}&ndx=85&slideshow=0&AlbumId={3CEF2C28-3C52-4815-BB6C-C63C07278985}&GroupId={3509F541-ED66-4885-A9A5-19AFBC9720CA}&screenheight=768

This is the answer. There is a check valve in the vacuum hose to the booster. If it is leaking, then you get no booster effect when the car is turned off. Also if the diaphragm inside the booster is leaking this will occur. Usually you can hear a blown diaphragm because it will make a whistling noise when you step on the brakes as the air rushes through the hole in the diaphragm to fill the vacuum. Without the booster the pedal is rock hard. If you jump in any car with power brakes and pump the brake pedal with the engine off, it will feel normal for a couple pumps, then it will get rock hard just like yours. Start the car and you can feel the pedal lower just like yours. I believe there is a law for car manufacturers that a car is supposed to have a certain number of good power assisted stops with the engine completely off so that if the engine suddenly cuts out you can stop the car with the power assist.

1:30.927, no juice. I also pulled a 6:53 on the Ring with juice. Been spending most of my time on the game just running whatever car I want to drive on the Ring just because the track is so cool.

Better hurry!!!

I think you should buy the 73, and then bid on my early carbs on ebay. ;-) http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1,1&item=4555800082&sspagename=STRK%3AMESE%3AIT

Thanks for the clarification. Never heard of that description before.

HLS30-04396 with a build date of 5/70. Can't say I ever had a problem with the float chambers, FWIW.

I'm getting rid of a few items that are taking up too much space. It's all going on ebay. I had to set up a new ebay account so my feedback is 0, but I think a few of the hybridz guys I've bought and sold from are here and can vouch for me. Auxilary bought my old roll bar, 280Zone sold me a 4.11 R200, Clifton sold me a set of calipers. Here are the auctions: 4 screw SU's http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=4555800082&sspagename=ADME%3AB%3ALC%3AMT%3A1 Toyota 4x4 Calipers (solid rotor): http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=4555800854&sspagename=ADME%3AB%3ALC%3AMT%3A1 240Z NEW smog rail: http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=4555801766&sspagename=ADME%3AB%3ALC%3AMT%3A1 240Z tail light panels: http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=4555802227&sspagename=ADME%3AB%3ALC%3AMT%3A1 Help me keep my project rolling!!! Thanks! Jon

Practice every time you get in the car. Apex corners on the way to the grocery store. Heel and toe every downshift. Put a piece of tape at 12 o' clock on the steering wheel, and try to drive so that the tape moves as little as possible. The less input you have on the steering wheel the faster you'll go. Start consciously trying to get around turns while only moving the steering wheel once. If you turn in, then have to turn more in the middle of the turn, then your first movement on the steering wheel was probably too early or not sharp enough--or its a decreasing radius turn. Start double apexing multiple turns. If there are two left hand turns in front of you see if you can turn the wheel once and get all the way around both turns in the road. You don't have to break any laws to practice autox. When you go to the autox find the fastest driver in the fastest car you can and see if you can walk the course with him. Ask him to explain the line to you. Some places will let you ride along. See if he'll ride with you and point out your mistakes. Ask to ride with him for one run. Attend an autox school. My old club used to have 2 per year. Read books about driving (I liked "Driving Faster") or buy some autox videos. Watch road racing or better yet rally racing on TV and analyze the line the guys are driving.

Nevermind, that wasn't directed at me... Larry's link works fine for me, but I'm a member at hybridz.org.

I got part of that video uploaded at Hybridz. Wouldn't work here, I guess the limit is 2 megs. Here it is: http://album.hybridz.org/showphoto.php?photo=2832.

My L6 has displacement AND boost envy...