Jeff G 78

Wheel fitment is tricky. I have a set of 14" wheels that fit fine with the vented Toyota setup and yet other 14" or even 15" wheels do not fit. It all depends on the shape of the face/spokes of the wheel. I found that 15x7 ET zero Konig Rewinds will clear front vented Toyota calipers as well as Mustang GT500 rear calipers. Discount Tire Direct sells them at a very reasonable price and has sales a few times per year with a $100 rebate. I bought mine a few years ago for $360/set delivered after rebate.

No, the drums are fine for most applications. Most rear disc upgrades provide no additional stopping performance over well functioning drums.

No, this is not quite correct. The spacer does go outside the rotor, but it goes BEHIND the hub and only moves the shallower Toyota rotor inboard to align with the caliper. The spacers do nothing to the wheel/tire position.

I had to file/sand my crank snout after my stock damper's bolt came loose and messed up my crank. I then bought the BHJ and took the crank and new damper to my machine shop and told them to check the crank for straightness and cracks plus adjust the fit to the proper interference that BHJ recommends. The crank checked fine and the fit was right where BHJ spec'd it. When I installed it, I was a bit nervous about the key moving, but it stayed in place and the damper pulled right in using the bolt and only minimal torque. I'd guess it took less than 15 ft-lbs. of torque to draw it in.

I had a lash pad pop out during a race. The engine was down on power and had an idle miss, but otherwise ran okay. Unless it gets wedged somewhere - then it will make a LOT of noise and cause damage. I simply popped the cover and put it back on in a matter of about a minute. It was likely due to a n over-rev.

According to the chart, he could have one of three 1980 distributors. Total advance could be between 42° and 52°. Chances are good though, it's 47°. Distributor Type Static Timing (BTDC) Centrifugal Advance (Degrees) Vacuum Advance (Degrees) Total Advance (BTDC) Engine Speed for Total Advance (RPM) Full Throttle Advance at rated speed [No Vacuum](Degrees) Transmission type (Manual/ Auto) Model Year (280ZX) Country or special location/ designation D606-52 17 12 11 40 2000 29 M D609-56 10 18 15 43 2400 28 M D609-56A 10 18 15 43 2400 28 M/A D6F3-01 7 23 12 42 3200 30 M D6F3-02 8 23 12 43 3200 31 A D6F4-01 7 20 15 42 2720 27 M D6F4-02 7 20 11 38 2720 27 A D6F4-03 10 17 15 42 2500 27 M/A California D6K8-02 10 17 18 45 2500 27 M 1979 D6K8-03 10 17 10 37 2500 27 A 1979 D6K8-05 10 17 20 47 2500 27 M 1979 D6K8-06 10 17 15 42 2500 27 A 1979 D6K8-07 10 17 18 45 2500 27 M/A 1979 Canada D6K8-22 10 17 30 57 2500 27 M/A 1980 California D6K9-09 10 17 15 42 2500 27 A 1980 D6K9-14 10 17 20 47 2500 27 M 1980 D6K9-02 10 17 25 52 2500 27 M/A 1980 Canada D6K80-03 8 17 30 55 2800 25 M/A 1981 Non-Turbo D6K9-02 10 17 25 52 2500 27 M/A 1981 Canada Non-Turbo D6K81-01 8 17 30 55 2800 25 M/A 1982 Non-Turbo D6K82-01 8 17 30 55 2800 25 M/A 1983 Non-Turbo

Cliff, my street engine is a N47 with flat top pistons and it does fine on 93 pump gas. I did the rheostat mod to add some fuel, but otherwise, it's stock EFI and cam. I run a AZC 6-1 header on that car. Slap the flat top pistons in with the N42 and call it a day. Just make sure the head hasn't been milled at all. Even a shallow clean-up cut will put you over 10:1 and it won't like pump gas.

Sounds like a plan. That should be similar to my street engine. That engine does run well, though my race engine pulls harder and has a broad powerband. It pulls hard to 7,000RPM. It's a little hard to quantify since the race car isn't street legal, they are hard to directly compare to each other. I think the light flywheel helps as well. The only time you'd have to change the eccentric if you stick with the stock cam is to adjust for chain stretch. That will not happen anytime soon though.

I would suggest NOT doing that. The bushing actually needs to be easy to slide in and out from the front so you can swap different sizes in and out as well as rotate them a bit as needed to get the hole in the right orientation for assembly onto the dowel. The eccentric bushings work great, but they are easiest to install after the gear is on. You pick a bushing that you think will be right and then slide it into the large gear hole and over the dowel at the same time while you rotate the cam into the right position to line everything up. The offset is very small in some cases and it is almost improssible to line up exactly if you try to make it a tight fit in the gear. It also has to be installed from the front as you will need to swap them in and out to get the cam degreed in. As I found, the cam will be a degree or so off on either the intake or the exhaust. Unlike a dual cam, you have to work with what you have. I'm not sure why mine was like that, but I'm guessing it's normal. I never tried to degree a stock cam to see if it is a tad off too. Are you running the stock cam? If not, you will get frustrated very quickly if you attempt to use the stock FI system. I tried numerous times to use this same cam with FI in a different L28 and it sucked. The stock EFI hates low vacuum which is what you will get with any mild duration cam. It made no power and idled like crap. No amount of tuning will change the L-Jet's need for vacuum. That's when I gave up and put the cam on a shelf for 10 years until I built this motor with SU's. My 10:1 street Z still runs the stock cam and EFI for this reason. This motor at 9.5:1 is way better. Good luck and feel free to throw ideas at me. I'm happy to share my good and bad experiences.

Wait, are the springs and rockers on or off? If the rockers are not yet on, then yes, is should have zero resistance to spinning or longitudinal movement. If the rockers are on, then it will have enough friction to not easily slide fore-aft.

When I modified my gear for the eccentric bushings, I leterally just used my drill press and punched the #2 hole the right size. There is almost no meat left on the inboard side of the hole, but it does fit. One thing I forgot to mention was that I had to cut a piece of 3/8" stock and use it as a plug once the eccentric was in place. The cam gear is about 1/2" thick and the eccentric bushings as well as the cam dowel are only about 1/4", so the bushing could walk off the end of the dowel with the bolt and washer in place. The plug keeps the eccentric bushing in place once you set your timing. From what I recall, I ended up with about 9.5:1 CR. I don't have my calc sheet handly. You will see a bit less with 0.040" cut off, but it should still make good power. The guides were super easy to modify with a small burr and a file. I wouldn't be afraid of taking 0.050". I spent almost nothing building that engine. The hot tanking of all engine parts, measuring everything, crank polishing, head milling and valve job was $500. I bought a quality made in USA timing set, new oil pump, new bearings, rings, and gaskets and then had my stock flywheel lightened by about 10 lbs. The whole build was about $1,200. I use a distributor from an '82 ZX which has a lot of advance, but it has no issues with 93 pump gas. I already had the cam (Web Racing #91) and the header was given to me by a friend. It was beat up and needed some work. I added an O2 bung so I can keep an eye on the AFR. With a bigger budget, I'd opt for the Kameari tensioner and cam gear, but those two components cost the same as the rest of my build. I did add a BHJ damper and Kameari bolt kit this time around after failing my stock damper and chewing up a bunch of parts in the process. What are you doing for fuel delivery? My SU's with SM needles do a good job. I had to ditch the stock fuel rail though for racing. It created terrible vapor lock on the track.

Agreed, the cam is just slid back. Look at the back end of the cam. It should be flush with the rear tower and yours likely sticks out the back. The retainer only keeps it from sliding too far forward. The gear and accompanying bolt keep it from sliding rearward.

Okay, I'll admit that I didn't read every word, but it sounds like you have a very good grasp of the tension, timing, and chain position as it glides over the guides and tensioner block. I slotted the slack side guide holes much more than stock so that I could move them closer to the chain and get the slack right. I loctited the chain guide bolts in, but others who have done the mod drilled them bigger to use a larger bolt. I chose not to do that as I could get more movement with the smaller bolt. I'm not sure I could get the guide in the right location had I shaved more than 0.050" off the head. If I were to do it today, I would get the Kameari tensioner kit and a real adjustable gear to make everything easier. Here are a few pics of my build from about six years ago. I had the engine apart recently and dialed the timing back in using a different eccentric washer after the chain had about 20 race hours on it. As you can see from one of my pics, I had to straddle the actual timing compared to the spec sheet that comes with the cam.

Hey guys, sorry I missed the tag until now. I've been super busy lately and haven't been on here. Give me some time to read the six pages to figure out what the discussion is about and I'll chime in. ? I do see that it's about the F54/P79 and yes, that's what I run. I run the stock valves and did not shim the towers after shaving 0.050" off the head. I modified the slack side chain guide a bit and use the stock cam gear modified per the "How to Modify..." book to use a Chevy V8 eccentric washer kit to dial in the timing. It runs great and makes good power with a mild cam, header and SU's. Now let me go back and read for a bit to get caught up...

I have the tool (KD-3087) siteunseen showed and I have used both rope and rubber hose to hold the valves closed. I like rope better as it doesn't have as much give as the rubber hose. The valves will stay completely closed with the rope. That said, the tool went out of production quite a few years ago, but you can probably find a used one. It works okay with stock valve springs, but I found that performance springs and retainers make it difficult to use. The tool doesn't fit well on the springs close to the towers and stiffer springs cause the tool to flex and slip off the valve retainers.

Wow, that’s disappointing. I guess I will try to clear lacquer mine before I run it.

I got around to installing the BHJ damper today. It went on great using the crank bolt to draw it in. The 0.001" interference fit made it tighter than a stock damper, but it pulled in very easily with the bolt. The Kameari bolt and washer were just the right length. The only thing I need to do now is fabricate a new pointer as the scale on the damper it forward of the pulley rather than behind it like the stock damper. Since the whole reason for the engine teardown and new damper was a loose crank bolt, I used red Loctitie this time around. ?

I also ended up with the Kameari bolt and washer.

I love the roads around Jerome. Were you in that area?

I run 20 weight.

Thanks, I'll grab a pair. I have always struggled with the float heights. Several years ago, I posted my method which involved using a clear water bottle as a surrogate bowl so I could set the floats and not have to take the bowls off and reinstall them over than over. It worked okay, but it still wasn't super accurate. The banjo bolt setup should yield much better results.

I like the banjo bolt idea! I will use that. Do you have the banjo specs handy?

I've been using this site for years. It's a great quick reference.

There must be some other factor at work that we are missing. I guess as long as you found a solution, all is good.

Great find. It's odd that my F54 with a shaved P79 endurance race engine has near perfect AFR with SM needles. I have a Web #91 cam and a header, but it's otherwise a pretty simple build.