Jacob's Goon Build - Now L19 powered.

[DRIVEN]

I should try some different oil in them.  But what I am most interested in is needles. I get terrible mileage on the freeway, but pretty awesome mileage in the city, compared to my weber. Also, I have noticed that high RPM quick shifts, results in a big puff of black smoke, often resulting in the car behind me changing lanes. Other than that, I have no colored smoke out the tail pipe.

A CA swap should solve all those problems.

[CorAce]

 

I should try some different oil in them.  But what I am most interested in is needles. I get terrible mileage on the freeway, but pretty awesome mileage in the city, compared to my weber. Also, I have noticed that high RPM quick shifts, results in a big puff of black smoke, often resulting in the car behind me changing lanes. Other than that, I have no colored smoke out the tail pipe.

 

I got really tired of the guessing game and installed an air/fuel Gauge in my car. But before that I got pretty good at tuning by sound. It sounds like your running rich at WOT, the fore-mentioned books talk about how to adjust your own needles to meet your needs. Any idea what needles your running now?

[Laecaon]

A CA swap should solve all those problems.

 

I need to talk to a friend, but I have an idea right now. But thats it at current.

 

I got really tired of the guessing game and installed an air/fuel Gauge in my car. But before that I got pretty good at tuning by sound. It sounds like your running rich at WOT, the fore-mentioned books talk about how to adjust your own needles to meet your needs. Any idea what needles your running now?

 

 

I want a Wideband. I almost bought one a while back.

 

No idea on needles, But Im thinking I should figure it out.

[hobbes_the_cat]

A Wideband will make tuning a lot easier. I love mine. I spent days trying to get my webers tuned right, once they gauge was hooked up I had it running great in 30min. Well worth the $175.

[CorAce]

A Wideband will make tuning a lot easier. I love mine. I spent days trying to get my webers tuned right, once they gauge was hooked up I had it running great in 30min. Well worth the $175.

 

Ditto, I don't know how I ever did without it.

[Laecaon]

Alrighty guys, I know what I want (http://www.ebay.com/itm/Innovate-LC1-Wideband-DB-52mm-Kit-O2-BLUE-LC-1-3795-/270904657477?pt=Motors_Car_Truck_Parts_Accessories&hash=item3f132d0645&vxp=mtr)

 

But, not sure if I am going to get it yet or not. I really need to talk to one of my friends, to determine whether I am saving money for something or not...

 

Anyways, I checked my oil, still near the high mark. So thats good. I then checked how many turns Out my idle nuts where... 4 3/4... Holy big number Batman!

 

I dont even remember turning them that far out. I need to re-tune my carbs. I dont even under stand how I get any gas mileage, or no smoke out the tail pipe at 4 and 3/4 turns.

[wayno]

Alrighty guys, I know what I want (http://www.ebay.com/itm/Innovate-LC1-Wideband-DB-52mm-Kit-O2-BLUE-LC-1-3795-/270904657477?pt=Motors_Car_Truck_Parts_Accessories&hash=item3f132d0645&vxp=mtr)

 

But, not sure if I am going to get it yet or not. I really need to talk to one of my friends, to determine whether I am saving money for something or not...

 

Anyways, I checked my oil, still near the high mark. So thats good. I then checked how many turns Out my idle nuts where... 4 3/4... Holy big number Batman!

 

I dont even remember turning them that far out. I need to re-tune my carbs. I dont even under stand how I get any gas mileage, or no smoke out the tail pipe at 4 and 3/4 turns.

 

Are you talking about the fuel mixture adjustment?

The idle adjustment is done on top of the carbs(SUs) with a flow meter, the big nut on the bottom is fuel mixture, sometimes used SUs get to the point of not being serviceable anymore, meaning they are wore out and need to be rebuilt.

I have a up coming rebuild on my set in the work truck, I am almost to the point where I can close my fuel mixture on the back carb all the way, and then when I disable the front carb, the engine almost doesn't die, when I won't die, meaning it is still getting fuel with the fuel mixture closed, then it is not serviceable anymore.

Dialing in serviceable SUs is not that hard, I had my SUs rebuilt by "Ztherepy" adjusted in 5 minutes on my roadster.

I use the chiltons or haynes service manual method, there is a reason "Nissan" put the carb disable mechanism on the bottom of each SU.

If you really want to get the mixture right on, you need to pull the plugs and look at the color, then you adjust lean/rich as needed.

[Laecaon]

Are you talking about the Idle adjustment nut? But really all the literature I find calls it that, so thats what I shall call it.

 

My carbs were easy to tune, really easy, and every little turn of a nut or screw really changed things, making it easy to find the right spot. Finicky isnt quite the right word, Sensitive would be better. I would say these carbs have a lot of life left in them.

 

 

I primarily use this as my source of information and tuning. http://www.teglerizer.com/sucarbs/techtip6.htm

[wayno]

As I said, you get them close enough to run decent using what you/they are calling the idle adjustment screws, and then adjust accordingly by checking spark plug color till it is dialed in.

As you can see in the photo below, the right/rear carb idle adjustment nut is almost closed on my set of SUs, it's getting close to rebuild time, but they have been daily driven for 16/17 years now, I bought them from nissan new back in about 1996.

[wayno]

I see they say nothing in your SU adjustment guide about disabling the front or rear carb while adjusting the other, nissan put them carb disable pins on the carbs for a reason, I just don't see how one can adjust the front carb while the back carb is in operation.

[Laecaon]

Well it works well... And I'm not comfortable disabling a carb while the engine is running

[wayno]

All disabling a carb consists of is lifting the suction piston enough to stop that carb from having any vacuum, if it has no vacuum, it cannot suck fuel out of the bowl, therefore disabling that carb, nissan put a pin on the bottom of the carbs to accomplish that, when the front carb is disabled, the back carb can be adjusted properly without the front carb influencing it, and vice versa.

It's in the manuals, well at least the manuals I have, they even describe step by step on how to rebuild a transmission and other such things.

 

EDIT

Do you know that they have a jig down at Ztherapy to mount the needle in the suction piston perfectly centered, if you remove the needle, there is a standard way of aligning that needle when mounted in the suction piston, if it is not correct, you will not be able to adjust your SUs correctly.

You can also bend them needles just picking them up improperly, they are very precisely made parts.

[DRIVEN]

How's that rear window deflector been working out?

[skyblue]

hey man it was good to meet you at canby. your dime is pretty sweet in person. I'm particularly jealous of your headlights. I want some! lol.

[Laecaon]

How's that rear window deflector been working out?

 

Its awesome, besides now looking like crap (but thats my fault).

 

Rear of the car stays clean, rear window is fairly dry when driving in the rain, including down pours, and I would argue I have a bit of increased fuel economy with it.

 

I think 2-3 other wagons at Canby had them... But theirs were all earlier versions with thicker fiberglass...

 

hey man it was good to meet you at canby. your dime is pretty sweet in person. I'm particularly jealous of your headlights. I want some! lol.

 

Thanks man! good to meet you too! Yea I kinda like my headlights, I am tinkering a bit with them at the moment.

[Laecaon]

So I have ordered a few things. I get another box of parts tomorrow. Already got others.

 

Anyways, new brake pads! I hated whatever was on my car, I managed to get them to fade, and they havent felt the same since. I was trying to find a decent pad, was looking at Hawk(no pads for 280zx), Porterfield(Ceramic), KVR(semi metallics), and then I noticed the Wagner Thermoquiets everyone seems to be getting. Amazon had them for $12, done.

 

 

Car in the air:

 

New pads:

 

Grey in color:

 

Backside:

 

Me working on the car, it started raining a bit, so on went the jacket.:

 

And back on the ground:

 

This is the old pad, looks hardly used. It went on in November, with new rotors.:

 

So what do I think? I think these pads are silky smooth. The car simply stops. I need to break them in a bit more, but right now the breaking doesnt seem quite linear. It goes from moderate breaking, to full lock, skipping heavy breaking. Idk, Time will tell.

 

And a few parts:

 

A new carb sync tool, and a float bowl gasket, Thanks Adam!:

 

A new Center Link from Autozone. Part #DS849. My discount at Autozone made it less than half of the Troy Ermish one. Yes this one is serviceable despite what their site says.:

[metalmonkey47]

 

A new Center Link from Autozone. Part #DS849. My discount at Autozone made it less than half of the Troy Ermish one. Yes this one is serviceable despite what their site says.:

 

 

Car is coming along quite well man. Keep it up.

 

 

For future reference, the AZ steering/suspension stuff is actually pretty great. Made by Federal Mogul, which is the parent company of Moog. They told me over the phone one day when i called for some product info that It's literally identical to the Moog line. 

[I'm BLUE]

I did much the same on comparison of brake pads...

the wagner's made sense ...

cheap enough to fling off and replace in a heartbeat for a different set if need be , and too good to not try for the price !

 

That's CHEAP :thumbup:

I think mine were $18.99 shipped off Amazon .. so probably close to the same lol. Which is super cheap lol.

LOVE.... them. I use to pay at least $45+ for the pads of "somewhat similiar quality".

I gave up at one point and started using the Raysbestos PG Plus stuff for years.. (good pads realistically , but not like these ceramic's to me at least lol)

 

Good job advocating Amazon :thumbup:

 

cool z

[Eagle_Adam]

im really liking the wagner ceramic pads i put on the truck man! and you EARNED that sync tool ;) thanx for all your help with both sets of SU's man!! 

[jrock4224]

that syncing tool is one of the best things i ever purchased...glad your back...those old pads look still new

[Laecaon]

So I went over to Corace's house yesterday...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

First off, this grill is awesome! Disregard the all black appearance, that was solely to keep the plastic protected from UV. I will be breaking up the monotony of the all black soon enough. What you are looking at in the final pictures is a piece of my chrome vinyl wrap I have. I dont think im going to do much more right now. But do notice how you can almost make out the letters on my cameras lens on the second to last picture.

[converted_to_datsun]

Holy crap! That grille looks awesome... Even all blacked out it looks great

[Laecaon]

So, went on a beer trip, my alt light came on. Go home, pulled the alt, swapped pulleys with my CA18 alt, put the CA alt in, get it wired, and fired up in an hour and 10 minutes. There was more modifications than I am letting on, I'll go onto more details. But yea 90amps!

[converted_to_datsun]

Hmm i need to see this! My 35 seems inferior...

[Laecaon]

Well I had written a long post last night, then I accidentally clicked out of the page...

 

These pictures were gonna be included.

 

Notice, oil light is off, but charge is on....

 

Yay for lighted multimeters! Yep, not really charging.

 

Ah thats better.

 

 

I need to tinker around with it a bit. My charge light no longer comes on at all. Im missing a bolt... And I need a different pulley!