Jeff G 78

I am gathering components to upgrade my brake system. I have the Z31 vented front rotors, Toyota 4X4 S12-W calipers, T3 spacers, Mustang GT rear vented rotors, Mustang GT rear calipers and Silvermine Stage 4 caliper brackets. I still need a Wilwood 1" master cylinder, front race pads, and the fasteners for the rear brackets. With any luck, I will start in a few weeks. I will also make a jig to re-drill the rear rotors for the 4x114.3 bolt circle. With a simple jig, I can easily replace the rotors with only a cordless drill and a few bits.

EBC Yellowstuff are copper-free linings. There is a reason that every good brake pad uses copper and it's because it is better. The reason for copper-free is because the great state of California, as always, is pushing to ban copper in brake linings. They claim that it is harming some sort of creature as they always do. Guess what, famers all over California and every other state spray copper on their fields and will continue to do so. I would ditch the yellowstuff pads and either go with Redstuff, Orangestuff, Bluestuff or RP-1 if you want to stick with EBC, or go with a one of the other pads I recommended. Go with either Motul 600, SRF, or Ate brake fluid. They are all good track fluids. Ate is the least expensive and has worked well for me. As for tires, I run 225/50R16" tires on my street Z and there are several things I dislike about them. They are the same diameter as stock, but because of the width and stock diameter, they rub front and rear. I had to do a lot of work to make them fit. I can also feel the rotating mass compared to smaller and lighter wheels/tires. The smaller tires accelerate better, stop better, fit better, and have shorter sidewalls for better handling on the track. They are too small for street use, but work great on track. There are tons of tires in that size as most BMW's and Miatas are on the same track tires.

Your problem is that you selected the wrong pads. Pads and fluid are the two most important components in a brake setup. I have raced my Z for years with no fade using stock front and rear hardware other than the pads, fluid and SS flex hoses. I use Ate Super Gold fluid and Porterfield R4-E pads (I endurance race and the R4-E is an endurance pads). I do run brake ducts, but only added them recently. I also have a 2.8L high compression engine, light flywheel and 195/60R14 Falken RT615K tires. That said, I am now in the middle of a major upgrade. I am switching to the vented front setup using Z31 rotors, S12-W calipers and T3 spacers. In the back, I am going to Mustang GT calipers and vented rotors using the Silvermine caliper brackets. The hydraulics will be handled by a Wilwood 1" bore MC and an adjustable prop valve. Pads will be Porterfield R4-E up front and stock GT500 rear pads which are track capable. I might or might not need to upgrade the rear pads to Porterfield. The new brakes will be paired with 15" Konig Rewind wheels and 225/45R15 Hankook RS4 tires. There are tons of great brake pads out there for track use. I like Porterfield, but Carbotech, Hawk, and others make good stuff as well. Spend 10 minutes on either Porterfield's website or Carbotech's website looking at their compound descriptions. Both go into great detail expailing the temperature ranges of each compound and their intended usage. If you are upgrading the fronts, you can either stick with the stock drums, or go with a disc swap. Keep in mind that most disc swaps, while easy to service, provide LESS stopping power than the drums. Most people stuggle to get enough rear stopping power. The adjustable prop valve will only reduce rear pressure and is no use with an undersized rear swap.

I don’t pretend to look anything like Christian Bale, but there is a photo of me getting ready to go on track that many have thought to be similar to his portrayal of Ken Miles ?

We finally saw the movie today in a private Ford Performance showing. I had heard good reviews from friends and I'll admit I was in a theater full of Ford employees so I was a bit biased, but the movie was beyond what I expected. It will appeal to pretty much anybody who sees it and the story holds up even if you are not a gearhead. I was surprised to see that it wasn't so much Ford V Ferrari, but rather a story about Shelby V Ford middle management. All I can say is some things never change...

Another thing that was available at Nissan was the fusible link covers. They were a few bucks at the dealer and about four times that on eBay. Pretty much every Z that has fusible links needs new ones after they all cracked from age.

That's what I run in my racecar. It has worked great.

My Top End Performance 18 lb. flywheel is on my racecar, so I can't say how it is on hills, but I have never had any issues with loading the car on a trailer or driving it around the pits at low speeds.

I believe mine is 18 lbs.

I run a TEP flywheel in my racecar. They took 10 lbs. off and it works great. They must have started lightening them again. For quite a while, they had to stop after the one guy who did their machin work died and apparently was the only one who knew the cut plans for all the various make and model flywheels they lightened.

Of course! I promise I won't spoil the ending either.

Hopefully it's good, but I just can't picture him as a convincing Carroll Shelby since he looks nothing like him. We are getting a private screening a few days before it comes out, so if it's crap, at least I won't waste any money.

No worries. I figured you must have just read the question wrong as I knew you wouldn't steer him wrong. I just wanted to get the right info out there.

No, but just call Livermore Performance Inc. They don't show a P/N for that application, but can supply anything you need. They are super easy to work with and a top notch company. I've bought Porterfield pads many times from them for my endurance racer Z and they are very helpful. http://www.livermoreperformance.com/

Trust me, the wheel does not move out. The rotor bolts to the back side of the hub rather than the front of the hub, so the spacer has zero effect on the hub face. It simply positions the rotor. There are about a thousand google images online showing the upgrade. EDIT: Here is a link to one of the many conversion kits. Scroll through the pics where you can clearly see where the spacer goes. https://www.silverminemotors.com/datsun/datsun-280z/brake-upgrades/front-big-brake-kit-stage-4

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.