2ManyZs

I'm not an "engine guru" in any way, shape or form. If you do a good valve adjustment, run it a couple weeks and take the valve cover off again and check the wear again on the cam lobes. If it still looks odd and not even across the cam lobes, that will be a good indication that the lash pads are bad. They can be ground at a good machine shop to give them a nice flat contact surface, unless there is too much wear. If they are worn beyond a certain point they will need to be replaced as they won't be thick enough, and will be in danger of failure.

Anything under 10.5:1 would be reasonable for a street engine, although if you go over 10:1 you may need to use 93 octane to keep it from detonating. I'd say 9.6 would be just about as good as you could ask for. You could possibly even use 91 octane gas and not have to worry about detonation at all.

Before you take any more material out of the head, have you checked out the compression ratio and such with a different head gasket? There are the 1mm and 2mm headgaskets as well as the stock thickness available. This might make up the difference you are looking for. Just thought I'd ask in case you haven't thought about it yet.

Well, it would probably be more of a "ticking" noise if the valves are to loose, which I suspect they are by the looks of the cam. It might be a good idea to take the lash pads out for a "look-see" too. It may be the main problem is worn out lash pads, and this is what is causing the worst of the problem, the wear pattern on the cam isn't what it should be. You might be looking at more than just a valve adjustment, you might need lash pads replaced before you can get the adjustment right. If you notice the one cam lobe seems to be showing most of its wear on the very tip of the lobe, which indicates to me that the valve adjustment is so far off it is barely touching the lash pad and the valve therefore is not opening as soon or as much as it should. I think it might be in your best interest to remove the head and take it to a competant machine shop for a thorough check over. It might be a good idea to replace the valve stem seals, and perhaps the valve seats (if you don't already have hardened seats) and have them check the lash pads to see if they need to be ground or replaced. If it has run like this for a long period of time, the cam has probably worn the lash pad in such a way that it will be impossible to get a correct valve adjustment without replacing or at least grinding the lash pad. Sorry, but the more I look at the pics, the more I suspect there may be some damage done that needs to be addressed soon. Wait a day and see what other opinions you get here, mine aren't always right.

They may be stock, but they look to have been re-covered at one time or another. The covering doesn't look to be all original, nor does the extra trim. I don't think any Z door panels had mor than the single trim piece running across the top. The U shaped trim piece looks to have been added on.

Impossible to identify a cam by just looking at it. You would have to either have some sort of markings on it if it is an aftermarket cam or you would have to measure the cam lobes. As far as the difference in the wear patterns on the cam lobes, it looks to me like you have valves that are too loose. The wear patterns look pretty good on a few, but you definately need a good valve adjustment done on the ones that show little wear. If the valve adjustments were within spec they should all look nearly the same. Either that or the cam followers are shot on a couple valves, leaving you with too much valve lash.

First thing to do would be to take off the filler cap while it is running to make sure you have oil flow at all. Second thing to do would be to verify the oil level. Third thing is to get a new oil pressure sending unit. Hopefully it will be one of these things, that is if the engine isn't knocking like crazy. If it is, well, you should know the rest of that story.:tapemouth

Why does someone want to see my reply? I have no ideas! I will say I think Royce probably covered nearly everything that is possibly wrong, now it's just a matter of finding out which one out of the list may be the culprit. I suspect the control arm bushings may have something to do with it, either they were in bad shape when you put the tires on, and have since left you for someone else, or there is a serious suspension failure somewhere. That would contribute to the tire rubbing problem. As far as the sudden loss of "altitude"? You live near the Snake river? Or does Evel Knievel live in your neighborhood? To be honest, I have no idea. Unless the spring perches were so rusted from all the accumulated road garbage that lays in them and they have fallen off, I'd have to say this may have been a more progressive sort of thing that you didn't really notice.

82 200sx had the same also, not sure how long they had the same bolt pattern.

Well, I'm no expert but the obvious question to ask next is this. Have you checked to see if you have a spark? Take one plug out, and lay it on the top of the valve cover and turn it over. If you have no spark then the problem could be internal to the distributor, or you might have a loose or corroded connection somewhere either in the coil or distributor wiring. Of course the odd cause could be an ignition switch that has failed. If you are getting gas into the cylinders (wet plugs) then the problem has to be electrical (ignition somewhere) so don't give up yet. It may be something really simple, could you have forgotten a wire connection? Or possibly it is loose? Don't shoot it whatever you do. I sold one of mine, so I have room for another one.:cheeky: :devious: Take your time, sit back and just look at, sometimes the answer will come to you when you aren't concentrating so hard on all the possibilities. Well, it's obvious I'm a slower typist than Mike is.:tapemouth

So Mike, you conned her into it huh? Bet they won't be the type of pics you were thinking about will they? :devious:

There is no outer sleeve with the poly bushings. Ths stock ones only have one because they are made that way. The rubber is bonded to the outer and inner sleeves on the stock bushings. They are a one piece bushing, unlike the urethane replacements. Just be sure to clean up the mounting area so there isn't any corrosion or nicks in the metal, and grease the outside of the bushing well. I greased the bushings inside and out, plus I greased the sleeve for the mounting bolt inside and out so there is less chance for any squeaking of the bushings.

Just as an FYI. There are quite a few SCCA regions that are now hosting road rally events. These are merely timed events on public roads in street cars. No speeding, no modified full out race cars, everything is done in a street legal car. It might be one way to find out just how tough a timed event really is and how well you can work as a team. Just take your every day driver out and go for a nice Sunday drive. With a stop watch of course. Kinda like a Track Day at your local road course, no real racing, just a way to get a feel for the type of event in a safe and controlled environment. The SCCA does hold numerous rally events, but these are not historic events, these are usually Pro series events. All the best new vehicles against one another, I don't think they have any classes that a modified Z would fit into.

Here's another place to find them. www.diecast18.com/ They offer secure online line ordering and nearly every diecast manufacturer as well. You name it, they got it. BTW, if you haven't seen the Kyosho die cast Z cars, take a look, you'll be surprised by the detail work that goes into them. The prices reflect this, but they are the best I've seen yet.

Now Jeremiah, you know darn well anyone that could lose their way around the Glen with all that blue guardrail to keep them on the track, needs something more than GPS. Won't say what that might be.................:stupid:

Well, at least they gave us the identity of the person responsible for the "love-it-or-hate-it" styling. While I'm here, I just wonder, who wants a navigation system on a supposed "Track" model? Sounds kinda stupid to me. Seems to me a car called a "Track" model should have all the go-fast goodies they can find, and get rid of all the superfluous junk that isn't really neede to a "real" driver! Ah, that feels better.:devious:

Street racing is not only a good way to hurt someone, it's also a good way to lose your car! If caught you can be subject to having your car impounded and sold at auction in most areas of the country. Hard to buy it back if you are sitting in a jail cell awaiting trial for vehicular manslaughter if your are involved in an accident. TAKE IT TO THE TRACK, NOT THE STREET!

An R-180 is not strong enough to hold up to the stress of a V-8 conversion for long on the street, don't try it if you plan on drag racing. Use the R-200 at the very least.

Ed, the problem you describe could be a couple possibilities. It could be the synchronizer is nearing the end of its life span, but more than likely it is an shift fork or rail problem. It may be the roll pin is bent holding the shift fork on the rail and it is binding it up. I would check it out soon. If it breaks completely you will be left with only one or two gears to choose from, usually 3rd or 4th which could make it hard to get it home. "Banging" a hard 1-2 shift is the easiest way to shear a roll pin off, they will take only so much and then it's time to replace. You can drill them out and fit a slightly larger roll pin or just find a hardened pin of the same diameter. Some racers even go so far as to double pin them. One or two seconds to complete a shift is not normal, although they are not the fastest shifters in the world, they are still very good considering the age of the cars. They won't be as quick as some of today's cars, but they are much better than most. If you have already replaced the shifter bushings the problem is almost certainly in the shift rail/fork area.

Yes, you may put the flat top pistons in your block in place of the dished pistons. It is one of the best improvements to an L-28 you can do. It will put your compression up around 9.5:1 to 10:1 depending on whether your head has been shaved, and which head gasket you use. With the mods you have now, it ought to really wake up the motor. I think you will see a huge improvement with the mods you have now, as you probably aren't gaining as much benefit from them as you would with more compression. Go for it!

Whew, every idea we come up with has already been taken care of it seems. One other item, when they rebuilt the diff did they replace or have you since replaced and/or checked the front diff mount?

So much for those ideas. Sounds like the only other things would be either a main shaft bearing (probably input) or a bad synchronizer. I'd suspect the input shaft bearing first. If there is any play in the input shaft up and down or side to side this would indicate a bearing gone south. It's also possible it could be one of the center bearings. Being that it is not as loud in the higher gears, it could be the input shaft bearing as the input shafts rpms would drop as you get into the higher gears. Is there any vibration through the shifter while driving? If there is, it will more than likely be an internal problem. If not, then it could be just the input shaft bearing. Still not good, but it does require less work to replace as you won't have to dissasemble the entire trans to get to it.

75-78 doors are all the same too, might be easier to find one if you broaden your search a little. 240 doors would work too, only they do not have the "safety" door bar and are therefore a little lighter.

MRMoonshineMan, the first thing you need to do is verify the clutch slave cylinder is operating correctly. Have someone step on the clutch and check to see if you are getting enough travel on the rod. Check your fluid level in the master cylinder too. You could try to bleed the system, however, if this does not help you may need to figure out if the problem is hydraulic or if the clutch itself is shot. If the clutch is fairly new, I would try to replace the slave cylinder first, then the master cylinder. The slave cylinder and master cylinder for the clutch are fairly inexpensive compared to a new clutch.

Given that the vibration is worse in a right hand turn it pretty much rules out a driveline vibration. It is more than likely a suspension problem or possibly steering related. I'd have another shop take a look see. Never hurts to have a second opinion. Is it possible you may have a wheel that is bent? Or possibly a tire out of round? Have you tried to rotate the tires to see if it makes any difference? My first assumption would be a bad bushing somewhere in the suspension. Since it is worse on a right hand turn the first place to look is the left front , since you are loading that the most in a right hand turn. I'd check the wheel bearings, tie rod ends, T/C rod bushings, ball joints, wheel bearings, rotor and caliper (possibly warped rotor?)wheel and tire on that corner first. Also check the inner tie rod end and steering rack bushings. Then if the problem still persists, go to the left rear corner and check everything there. Work your way around the car one corner at a time and hopefully you will discover the problem.