John Coffey

FYI... this JB Weld repair on my intake manifold worked fine for 4 short racing sessions but begain to soften after a long 45 minute track session.

I use Devcon Titanium Putty for repairs. Good to 350F degrees and is machinable. http://www.devcon.com/devconfamilyproduct.cfm?familyid=124&catid=34

Good guy to deal with.

From what I understand (having had a R192 rebuilt a few years ago) that diff will only work with the R190 ring and pinion. It won't work in an R180 or an R200. You'll need to find an R190 to put that LSD in. Be aware that one of the bearings used in the R190 is NLA. It took me weeks of searching, help from Alan Thomas and a contact in Japan, before I was able to find that NLA bearing in someone's stash on a shelf. After all that work, I ended up not using the R192 and sold it to Ron Carter.

Two guys can remove and install a 240Z R180 diff in 30 minutes. One person can do it in 45 minutes to an hour. I've done it many times between sessions at a race track. Just sucks to have a hot diff laying on your chest as you wiggle out from under the car.

Guys, you must not solidly mount a radiator to the core support on a 240Z. The core support flexes and, over time, will slowly tear any radiator apart. Use a Lord mount or some other small rubber isolator.

Kinda gives credit to the unsung OEM engineers that designed the cars. Its very hard to "improve" a car without making it: 1. Less reliable. 2. Less safe. 3. Slower. And always remember, the term "Tuner" is synonymous with "Idiot."

I've gotten a few diffs really hot and it doesn't leave a varnish or a peelable layer. The fluid is generally dark and watery and you might see some bluing on the ring gear.

I'm one of the skeptics based on some testing I saw years ago. Javier at JG Engine Dynamics built a triple SU manifold and put 6 EGT sensors in the exhaust header. On the dyno it was pretty obvious that cylinders 1, 2, 5, and 6 were running lean above 5,000 rpm compared to 3 and 4. Changing the needles on the first and third SU helped at high rpm but those cylinders ended up being rich under load at lower rpms. The issue appeared to be reversion in the intake manifold on those 4 cylinders and a strobe light shown on the first and third SUs actually showed pulses of the air/fuel mixture standing out of the carb throats until the engine went past about 5,000 rpm. Even then, the piston could be seen pulsing up and down with the strobe light on one and three while the piston on SU number two was rock steady. Looking at the firing order and cylinder pairing shows why there would be reversion in the first and third SU. I'm not saying that this won't work and it probably will feel great on a street car. But if you're trying to extract the last bit of power you'll have some mixture issues to work through.

Before tearing the car a part, get a four wheel alignment and have the tech print out the numbers for you. That will give you much better idea of where to look.

Here in the USA our various race sanctioning organizations (SCCA, NHRA, NASCAR, NASA, etc.) specifiy tubing material type, OD, and wall thickness. We generally don't have a big selection to choose from if we want to race on a track somewhere. And given the half-century of experience those same racing organizations have with accidents, roll overs, etc. their recommendations are correct. As someone who builds roll cages in race cars for a living, I would be reluctant to experiment with my customer's lives by trying alternative materials. In the past, Porsche experimented with aluminum tubing (6061T6 2" OD .135 wall) in their roll cage construction on 934s, 935s, and 936s. They found that the cages worked well on the first impact but tended to fail on subsequent hits.

Buy a 10' stick of 3/4" conduit and a bender. Measure and bend that as a template for your main hoop.

Les and MSA (Sal) are both good folk to deal with. I've always had good experiences with both - except Sal will stop talking for a second to take a breath. Les, once he's rolling, seems to be able to talk for minutes at a time without breathing...

Any SF or higher rated multi-viscocity oil is fine for a street driven L6 engine. http://www.pennzoil.com/autosmarts/carsmarts_story.asp?storyid=ccr20030901og

Correct. The cars that I've had on rotisseries for customers have not had any driveline components or interiors. They are generally on rotisseriers for rust repair, installing roll bars and/or cages, suspension upgrades, and racing fuel cells.

That's cool! I've built four rotisserie's for working on customer cars and don't own any of them. Every time the customer comes to pick up their car they insist on buying the rotisseries its on. I should just stop working on cars and make rotisseries...

Just my opinion, take it for what its worth... No header ever made is a bolt on part. They all require some level of port matching and fitting to get all the benefits headers are supposed to provide. Even the Stahl header requires some port matching to the gasket and head and its the best that's available short of something custom. Every header I've ever installed on an L6 (Stahl, Nissan Comp, MSA 6/2 6/1) has required work with a carbide bit and I never buy them chromed or coated because of this. After I get the part fitted I send it out for a proper finish.

I'm an admin over at HybridZ and I'm not aware of any problems between HZ and CZC. Some members take issue with a Datsun/Nissan purist way of thinking and that's what got Owen and Pete to start HybridZ way back in the 1990s. Both were doing a V8 swap and they got a lot of flack from local clubs and some of the existing Z related message boards. HZ is a Hot Rod site for Datsun Zs and its philosophy is different from this site. Both phlisophies are fine within the context of their own sites and I've built stock and Hot Rod 240Zs over the years. Ultimatetly its your car and you can do with it as you see fit. Problems occur when people start telling others what to do with their cars.

There's no way I can top the ride Erik Messley gave you in my old 240Z. He's seconds per lap faster around a race track them I am. Remember, you were lapping WSIR in the 1:27s and beating that GrandAm 350Z. With me driving you'll be just barely beating the GrandMa 350Zs. :laugh:

That's funny! From "October? I don't plan anything that far ahead" to "He's coming..." is quite a jump. I'll give it a definate maybe because I would love to run a car at Daytona and Sebring.

Every header I've installed on a L6 (about a dozen for myslef and my customers) except for one required some work to fit and flow correctly. That includes MSA 6 into 1 and 6 into 2, Nissan Motorsports 6 into 2 (both 1 5/8" and 1 3/4" primaries) and an old JDM BRE style header. The only one that did not require any fitment or port matching was a Stahl header. Remember, anytime any vendor tells you that a part is "bolt on", know that you'll need a $10,000 mill and a $5,000 lather to make it "bolt on."

It also depends on how fast you drive. They do offer a useful drag reduction at speeds over 100mph.

Its pretty simple, you size the alternator based on a calculation of your greastest expected load. Anything more then that is added weight, parasitic drag, and cost. For my BSP 240Z I ran a 35 amp alternator. For the Rusty Old Datsun I ran a 65 amp alternator because of amp requirements of the fuel injectors, Motec M48, Bosch fuel pump, etc. Lets say we have a CD player that has a resistance of 40 ohms. Using Ohm's Law we know that it takes .3 amps to power that particular electronic device. Continue this calcualtion with the other electronic devices in your car and you can come up with how many amps the alternator needs to supply to keep from draining the batttery.

A 200 amp alternator in a 240Z? Why? My Fleetwood Fiesta motorhome has a 160 amp alternator. I can't possibly figure out how the electrical load in your 240Z is 25% greater then a 30 ft. motorhome...

The top ITS 2.4L L6 engines ("stock" engine internals, stock SUs) make around 205hp at the crank and are very streetable. The EP 2.4L engines make around 250hp with SUs, 12:1CR, .500 lift cam, etc. They are fairly streetable if you run the right fuel.