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--- Black 81'zxt --- (In progress)


I'm BLUE

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The L28ET with a full 3" exhaust all the way back get so much better flow and better turbo response and of course less turbo lag. They sound great and it's probably one of the main upgrades to a zxt!

 

Awesome ! Thanks for the elaboration ArchetypeDatsun :thumbup: . I guess I haven't really been a turbo owner until recently ;) , so I wouldn't have a good "base" of what is what really. Looks like I'll be scouring for moar research on Hybridz !

 

Well how Archtype is saying, better exhaust flow leaving the engine for more to come in quicker. Arch hit it right on the nail for me lol.

Have you considered an intercooler setup?

Well the misfire happens under load about at 2 grandish. My dad was fiddling with the dist. so it wouldnt stumble as much, but it had the misfire way before he was messsing with it. 

And the coil also doesn't belong to this car, so i need a replacement one of those. 

 

 

Well datsun tho right?

 

lol Awesome thanks for the tips Prime and Arche :thumbup: I appreciate that.

Intercooler.. I have been looking at those , but not entirely sure where I can stick it. I have the radiator , A/C condensor , and Oil Cooler off the side , so wondering if I need a smaller unit if I were to go that way ? ( or a longer rectangular design that is not that tall and won't interfere with the Radiator as much ? IDK )

I have been scouring craigslist a bit for one , but without measurement's I kinda end up twittling my thumbs..

 

I'd check your fuel pressure and spray around carefully for vacuum leaks :)

Make sure your rotor/cap isn't all crapped up inside either and I'd take a hard look at your fuel injector connectors , read them with a multi-meter (about 3-3.5 volts if I remember correctly ?) Be warned as soon as you touch them... they will crumble ... lol (cereal).

 

You're probably on the right path with the timing !

Just a thought .. as I've found  leaky cracked vacuum hoses and some bad air-intake boots on the zx stuff across a few cars (behind the AFM) ripped or cracked (check that boot for sure ! spray it carefully while it's running.)

 

Yeah you're smart on verifying that coil

 

Sorry outta +1's for the day.. doh !!

 

it is a nustad

I sold one of those cats to a scrapper not too long ago. He gave me $80. Moar datto $. You don't have to smog that beast up there, do you?

 

Wow.. that translates to 500 mc-nuggets ftmfw ! (for me). That's good money and thanks for the tip Bro :thumbup:

I would have guess $20-$30 less , and happy to be wrong :D :lol:

 

Yeah... un-fortunately DEQ has a death grip in Multnomah County :-/ ... but I have absolutely to whine about ... Tags are good til 04/14 :ninja: !

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------------  o2 sensor check yepperz ----------

 

I decided to measure the O2 sensor's voltage for Lean/Rich mixture today as well as clean the connections (simply forgot those ! doh !! )

 

Looking down the heat-shield by the brake booster on drivers-side is the O2 connector to the harness/sensor.

1368754924_zps8a9a32e9.jpg

Next..Pop it out of the clamp

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O2 connecter sensor side (dirty)

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Next hookup multi-meter to the sensor side with the harness out ...(this just gives a "rough" generalization of what is what.. from what I understand)

1368754749_zps71f71a7f.jpg

Static idle reading of about .01 volts

1368754796_zpsec1bbb9f.jpg

After raising the rpm's through the range ,,, then letting the engine come-back to idle achieved these readings..

It was hard to take a picture of each reading since the mult-meter moves faster than the camera can capture.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

-0.08v (blip)

-0.05v

-0.04v

-0.03v

-0.01v (static idle mostly)

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

1368754775_zps4d11f920.jpg

 

1368754823_zps732f7b21.jpg

 

1368754867_zps3adf8676.jpg

 

 

 

(Another reply for hamuck)

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------------ Back to the cooling system VI >>>>> ----------

 

Today's temperature ... a relatively cool 65 degree's F and some slight rain.

weatherpicforbuildthread_zps765c1945.png

 

Today was the day ... I decided to attack the cooling system again.

I was planning on just simply pulling the radiator and taking it to the radiator shop.

While trolling around my cart of oil , cleaners etc ...

I had found a bottle of this stuff...  and completely forgot I had it.

1368754980_zpsb41c806a.jpg

I was scepticle , but was planning on flushing the engine cooling passages anyways while it was out

I then thought to myself this "Why the hell not ?"

So I then drained the required amount of coolant from the system and poured this bottle of liquid that I thought wouldn't do anything into the radiator to top it all up.

Next.. I proceeded to run the car to operating temperature for 10-15 minutes (per instructions), then let cool and flush the stuff from the system with water. Instructions said to then drain and fill with water again ,,, run at operating temp for 10-15 minutes ,,, drain and fill with Green liquid gold 50/50 mix.

Used an oven-timer to help out ... Hot-point baby !

1368755068_zpseacd66f7.jpg

Once the car cooled down I wen't to town on moar flushing radiator and the engine cooling passages (as best I can).

1368755003_zps37b65bb1.jpg

Hard to see but there was indeed some more "flow" rate ,,, of water coming through the radiator in the final cleansing...

I'll be damned !!

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At this point instead of wasting anti-freeze/contaminating it ... I opted to use water while finishing testing (then immediately put proper 50/50 Prestone anti-freeze in thereafter.)

 

Wow... I couldn't believe it ! The car runs "that" much cooler... and no slow-rising rate temperature.

Remembering... I don't have a thermostat in while I'm flushing/testing... it was still slow-rising rate temp WITHOUT a thermostat in before using this chemical flush. It was only 65F today as well.

After 15-20 minutes of idle , some revving , some "load" driving around the block ... more revving ,,, idle ,,, driving etc ...

1368755108_zps232176bb.jpg

 

I put my hand on the intake manifold , valve cover , engine block , and radiator.

Sure enough she was running cooler !

I couldn't help myself ... so I added another bottle of the "cooling flush" stuff that was lying around,,,, and did the process yet again ! :lol:

1368755157_zps05a8e167.jpg

 

I wanted to verify one more way if it was possible.

My bro was cool enough to let me borrow is infrared temp sensing gun (broke mine).

1368755177_zps735efe33.jpg

Ground is 62.6F at time of testing

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Now some of these next pictures are a little mixed up in time and temperatures... (phone uploaded randomly at different spots to PB)

At the time ... I was looking more for consistency and a range of temp at different spots of the radiator.

Again keeping in mind humidity is higher today , 65F outside , and engine is running WATER (not coolant) with NO thermostat.

Temperature was somewhere around here or possibly slightly colder/warmer ... I had turned off the car in between using this gun !! DOH !!!!

1368755548_zps501330e8.jpg

 

Trying to shoot towards center of radiator..

1368755323_zps54b4b4a5.jpg

Just to the right of the center of radiator through fan ... :lol:

1368755350_zps00dab427.jpg

Radiator neck temp

1368755371_zpsd9a4da94.jpg

Intake manifold reading

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Exhaust manifold temp

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(more oics in a sec)

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Cylinder head reading out..

1368755439_zps355699eb.jpg

Passengers side Radiator top tank

1368755458_zps9c8e1d13.jpg

Radiator - bottom right corner core area reading

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Cylinder head temp

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Radiator - Top tank

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(EDIT: Doh !!! Will have to come-back to fill in title once I remember what I was pointing at ... lol )

1368755530_zps689c9c78.jpg

Radiator - Towards center (warming up)

1368755568_zps987a8d25.jpg

Radiator - Top Tank (warming up)

1368755590_zps2cfba4c5.jpg

Radiator - center core (trying through fan again,..)

1368755625_zpsf4605a89.jpg

Turbo - 325 degree's F ... Oh mai !

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Intake Manifold (coolant runs through this portiion though !)

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Fuel Injector readout

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Turbo J-pipe temp

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Cylinder head...

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Oil Cooler Line hoses ... hot ! ,,, not even a warm day or lots of driving under-load.. :blink:

1368755820_zpsdb13e72b.jpg

 

 

 

Conclusion: ---- All and all I'm pretty surprised that chemical stuff worked this well this time. I've used it in the past a few times with mix-results and this has to be on the possible top "tier" if it cools just as well with the thermostat back in. I'm sure it will be just fine either-way. I at least have THIS issue narrowed down to the idea if the problem persists at all past this point ... even a little ... I'll just have the radiator rodded out , boiled and re-sealed. I can also buy a new aluminum radiator as well for more cooling. I do like the old school metal radiators though and always have in many cars.

Sure ! I could have some cold-spots left in the center area of the radiator (keep an eye) , and More importantly it's a minor issue over-all to fix :thumbup:

 

BUT...Why am I worrying that much.. though ya know ? My car is sitting at this temp after running/driving a bit ... no T-stat in it ,,, water only (anti-freeze fast thereafter) ,,, not driving too much ,,,, colder day ,,, etc etc etc :)

1368755129_zps2819e833.jpg

 

Thanks for reading long reply with many random oics of heat-gun ... :lol:

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Intercooler set up to the rescue :D, this 280zxt is also an 81 so all pipping should be easy to figure. This is the best pictures most I could find for a zxt intercooler set up I've had these on my phone for years. I'll have to scour HBZ and see if I can find this same car to get measurements and what not.

 

585216B9-1380-4C91-89BB-A14BBFC1B942-385

417F3377-4D5A-4ADA-8F03-D25F5DCD1B93-385

C7AC5ACD-94F6-402F-A04F-00258FED1C96-385

73D5643C-0A88-4077-8EB0-A2C952A043D5-385

911E36E1-F04F-4707-98C5-64629A37DD91-385

BF2F1FB6-AEEC-4984-8F17-6424E132A675-385

81A3F755-1720-429D-A452-E48A05A1FAC3-385

CA02E91C-D3EE-428F-8B81-2FDEBC21E78E-385

104EFF13-6987-4FE5-94CE-3CAD530948CF-385

186617D0-E0A9-4882-8A28-AF158BBB8A3A-385

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^^^ Pretty clean looking stuff right there. Nice pics Arche that def helps.

errrr crap electric radiator fan looks slightly required .. :lol: (been fearing that lol)

Guess I'll have to look for a different spot for a different shape trans cooler (maybe a smaller unit , but I like the bigger units with more rows !)

 

 

 

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One good intercooler is the isuzu npr intercooler pretty cheap and good size perfect for the S130. Starion/Conquest intercoolers there smaller but they hold good amount of boost.

I saw that mentioned on Hybridz a bit ago and forgot about that completely until you said that :thumbup:

Good to know about the Starion/Conquest intercoolers.

I guess it only makes sense to purchase the largest available one I can find/afford ... when the time is right or when/if I choose to down the line :sneaky:.

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------- More small stuff ----------

 

( yes yes the re-taining clip is indeed off in the first pic )

 

Decided to take look at my CHTS today !

(Cylinder Head Temperature Sensor = responsible for mixture as well as warm-up assignment.. )

What might prompt this you say ?

I noticed a couple of some-what harder.. (not hard) starts at different/random occurences. ( In between starting and running/driving the car multiple times of course.)

 

I don't want this sensor running lean either.

 

After looking up the FSM specs for testing ... I decided I couldn't get a good read on the sensor's prongs themselves(dirty) and would just pull the sucker out instead to clean first then test !

 

The sensor itself is screwed into the head , towards the back , between cylinders #5 and #6 , on the passengers side with a Bosch EV-1 standard connector plugged straight in.

(New connector leading to it)

1369401972_zps9a7b14fb.jpg

 

19mm wrench or socket does the trick

1369402028_zps90f07b24.jpg

 

I then Proceeded to clean with several different methods , and tested the sensor like Nissan states to (Multi-meter)

Test of CHTS = showed to be good..

 

I then decided to go-ahead and put in a "Known Good/Tested" CHTS in the cylinder head (Could be a better sensor than the NEW stuff on the shelf...)

I then simply took and filled a dixie cup full room temperature water , plugged in the old CHTS , submerged the probe end into the water itself with the engine running on a cold start.(most for my verification).

The engine reacted fairly promptly and adjusted exactly like it should!

Sensor is good (at least after the cleaning it is verified good.)

1369402055_zps5fe0a981.jpg

 

Next..  I decided to leave the "Known Good Sensor" in cylinder head/engine for now.

Simply plugged in the connector to the "Known Good Sensor" tested it on a seperate Cold Start up as well.

It passed with flying colors.

(yes I'm going to re-use a pic .. lol )

1369401972_zps9a7b14fb.jpg

 

Long-Story short.

Had I not cleaned the connections on the sensor..

I might have been doing this little task down the road anyway I split it.

Trying to avoid da lean run-o-death whever possible.

I suspected the sensor to be fine and the prongs to be ... well ... not fine.

Good thing I already put in a new harness connection as well huh ? ;)

 

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I was tracing/checking some wires on the interior.

Aslo was trying to clean up/tuck some small wiring and cosmetic issues with the car from previous owners.

 

I also had some spare new relay's to put in , and thought "why not... better now than on the side of the road."

Replace some relay's up underneath the dash on the passengers side behind and above the kick-panel..

(1) of them is the Fuel Pump Relay...

I've always wanted to EXTEND the relay recepticles and re-locate them somewhere a bit more accessible for emergency's/diagnosis (in general with these cars.)

 

Have to get access to items first though.

Pulled off the trim panel to access the kick panel

1369433562_zps549920d3.jpg

 

Popped off the fuse-box cover and un-screwing the kick panel.

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------------

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Just above the fuse box (lower part of dash area passengers side)  is this electrical junction relay area ...

This is in the way of access to the relay's.

Don't these wires just look welcoming.. ?

1369433602_zps1a79f84c.jpg

Pulled off all those connectors ... all connector pins look good/not loose. None of them are burnt or have evidence of being warm ! :cool:

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Connection junction box has to be un-bolted and gently pushed aside even for the smallest woman's hand to fit to access those relay's...

The (3) relay's are still ABOVE this junction connection area .... so this has to be out of the way ...

1369433834_zps28ebf0a7.jpg

I then reached up and with a bit of fuss (with my sausage link like fingers) I was able to pull the rebel scum out of their receptors (ocassionally they are stuck pretty good in their moutings..)

(Hard to see the connectors in this pic... (3) of them)

1369440851_zpsf48ac772.jpg[/url

 

Bottom (3) are the New Relay's.

Top (3) are the Old Relay's.

1369440484_zps7c6f2cc9.jpg

 

I also cleaned this 4th Relay..

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Yum right ?

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A very fine and precise tool for some item specific electrical cleaning.

1369433718_zps9d52d408.jpg

 

 

Back in new relay's go !

1369440526_zps4cd8a4e0.jpg

 

On the fly inspect the back of the fuse-box while I was tending to the other party-o-relay stuff.

It would be foolish not to at this point no ? (french accent)

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1369433944_zps2612e783.jpg

 

Looks pretty good to me !

1369440370_zps7efafda8.jpg

 

I do realize some zguys prefer to obtain access through the back of the glove box area , but that wouldn't allow me the opportunity to look at everything along the way and defer judgement on electrical condition ;)

 

That's it for this update of small crap.. yet again lol

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I have been following this thread too.

 

I used to have a '82 turbo. I put in a 4 spd auto behind it. It was great for a long trip. .686 od was nice.

 

I sold it last your to a friends' kid. He was a little skittish at first and driving like a granny. I told him to hit the boost, huge smile. When he wasn't letting off the gas, i looked over at the speedo then over my shoulder, back at him and said "you might want to let off the gas, there's a cop right beside you." Obviously there wasn't, but that didn't keep the blood from draining out of his face. :devil:

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I have been following this thread too.

 

I used to have a '82 turbo. I put in a 4 spd auto behind it. It was great for a long trip. .686 od was nice.

 

I sold it last your to a friends' kid. He was a little skittish at first and driving like a granny. I told him to hit the boost, huge smile. When he wasn't letting off the gas, i looked over at the speedo then over my shoulder, back at him and said "you might want to let off the gas, there's a cop right beside you." Obviously there wasn't, but that didn't keep the blood from draining out of his face. :devil:

 

:thumbup:

 

I bet that was great for a long trip :blink: :cool: ,,,,, and holy crap !!! .686 OD ratio ...

That musta been the best of both worlds right there !!

3.70 , 3.90 or 4.11 ?'s :devil:

I'd LOVE Kill ... to be able to put the right 4spd auto behind this one...

That's amazing the OD is .686 ... boggle's my mind !!

 

:rofl: ... just had to make the kid turn ghost white didn't you ! :ninja:

 

 

I've been reading about the 4spd swap here and there a little bit.

Obviously I need to read-up and educate myself..  :cool:

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Judging by your other builds, the 4 spd auto would be cake.

 

I did put a 3.9 rearend in it when I did the swap, but it's best to keep the stock 3.54. With the 3.9 I got about 24 mpg, which was on a 4200 mile trip, the same trip with the stock tranny and rearend I avg 19.

 

On your cat, I didn't see anything other than rust bits from other parts of the converter. But I might have not seen the whole thing.

 

I had 3" put on, the shop used my same cat and cut and welded the flanges to the cat. Magnaflow 3" in 2 2.5" out, great sounding muffler even with the stock cat.

 

If you do swap the 4 spd auto in, get everything from the donor car, '83-84 maxima, cooling lines and brackets, flex plate, TC. The shift lever you can get from a late 80's maxima, cut down to fit, drill and tap to fasten. It has the button in the handle for OD.

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Judging by your other builds, the 4 spd auto would be cake.

 

I did put a 3.9 rearend in it when I did the swap, but it's best to keep the stock 3.54. With the 3.9 I got about 24 mpg, which was on a 4200 mile trip, the same trip with the stock tranny and rearend I avg 19.

 

On your cat, I didn't see anything other than rust bits from other parts of the converter. But I might have not seen the whole thing.

 

I had 3" put on, the shop used my same cat and cut and welded the flanges to the cat. Magnaflow 3" in 2 2.5" out, great sounding muffler even with the stock cat.

 

If you do swap the 4 spd auto in, get everything from the donor car, '83-84 maxima, cooling lines and brackets, flex plate, TC. The shift lever you can get from a late 80's maxima, cut down to fit, drill and tap to fasten. It has the button in the handle for OD.

 

:thumbup: appreciate that man.

 

yes ! a 3.90 diff !!.

That's not bad mileage at all... and a 4200 mile round trip ? wow ! musta been fun in the zxt ! . 5mpg gallon is quite the increase with all things considered !!

Best to stick with the 3.54 gears ... I will def keep that one in mind and appreciate the tip darrel ! :cool:

 

Yeah the cat did have a lot of rust-bits in it.

The only thing I can tell you about the cat and muffler per my experience was this ....

*Hacking off the muffler then driving around the block = no difference in shift-points , power , and the exhaust noise wasn't much different .. subtly , but nothing drastic , uh-oh... (literally).

*Then hacking off the cat and driving around the block = shift-points allowed trans to kick down , boost longer , power was smoother/slight increase , and noise was ,,, well ... very noisy ... :lol:

Holding it up to the light ... you could "barely" see through it !?!?! ,,, not much light coming through though !!! doh !!!! lol

^^^^ All that being said and done I just haven't had the full understanding of what is what ... or normal ,,,, for turbo cars/exhausts/etc until others have chimed in :)

 

I've had a non-turbo zx cat CLOG big time on me when I purchased one car ...

and that was really no sweat .... just cut out and re-weld new one in ya know :)

That car wouldn't be able to 20mph going down-hill if it had to though ... :rofl:

 

NICE !!!! sounds like you have a good exhaust shop if they're willing to accommodate and weld in flanges for the cat on your new 3" exhaust :cool:

Love magnaflow... good choice of brand !!

3" in and (2) 2.5" pipes out ? ... holy crap :hyper: ... makes me smile :D

 

Thanks for the tips on 4 spd auto swap!

I Had no idea the shift lever from a late 80's maxima could be modified to fit ... plenty of those around here... neat !

Having the entire car would be pretty sweet as well , but it seems kinda hard to snag one these days at the right time and price... hmmmm

I'll have to look for the right type of package deal per your suggestion as well :thumbup:

or be the first into the junkyard when one gets put into the system... :ninja: :lol:

 

 

The older I get ... I kinda ponder at all I DON'T know about cars ,,, which FAR surpasses what I "do" know ... :rofl:

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So, what are you gonna do when you get bored with this one? I suggest a large diesel just cause...

 

twin_turbo_diesel_civic.jpg

 

 

 

:fu:

 

Sorry bro, I'm just jelly :(

 

:rofl: ... I actually like that engine setup ... don't know what it is but looks cool ... :lol:

 

you're not sorry ! ... , but you maybe jelly :)

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shift lever- mounting holes are different, the stalk is round on the zx but the maxima has a square, but it's only to hide the wires. It fits over the auto stalk. Cut to length and redrill and tap for mounting holes.

ftm005.jpg

 

 

You have enough fabbing experience to make your own brackets. I used a removable mullion from panic exit hardware to make my brackets. On the interior I used 1/8" plate and through bolted them through the tunnel. Someone else left the trans tunnel mounts in and fabricated a different bracket.

4spdauto.jpg

 

Oregon coast, notice the magnaflow muffler

oregoncoastzxtmist.jpg

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ahhhh I see on the Maxima shifter ! Good tip :thumbup: and seems straight-forward enough !

(not sure I would have ever thought of that on my own haha)

 

Your brackets look clean on the trans conversion and Thankyou for sharing that !

 

I like that... Nice ZXT :cool: and that's a GOOD shot of the Oregon Coast !

ahhh yes the Magnaflow makes me :D  LOOKS GOOD !!!!

Oregon has a beautiful coast !

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