LeonV

You're going to have that problem on pretty much any long-primary header in an S30 (Stahl, Nissan Motorsports). As long as all of your mounts are good (engine, trans, etc.) and the exhaust is mounted properly, the header should not contact the floor. You might get some taps now and then, and even then only when driving hard. That's based off of my experience with the Nissan Motorsports header. As far as "cooking' the floor, will you be tracking it? Otherwise, I wouldn't give it a second thought. The easy way to go about getting good clamping on differing flange thicknesses (this will happen with any header) is to grind down the thick washers at the shared studs so that they become stepped, in order to accompany both thicknesses.

Making great progress! Keep up the hard work, Tom!

Not a problem. Enjoy!

You should be able to see it by employing some optical trickery. If you don't have a small mirror handy, grab your wife's/girlfriend's make-up mirror. You'll have to be discrete. This tool comes in handy sometimes: http://www.northernautotools.com/specialty-tools/engine/fan-clutch/performance-tool-w1259-telescoping-mirror-large.html

Regarding where to find the cam mark, here is a perfect example from Blue's Tech Tips: http://atlanticz.ca/zclub/techtips/cam/index.htm

Valve lash is the same. Sounds like someone put in a 260Z longblock and attached the '72 carbs to it. There's a very good chance that if the back of your cam is stamped with a "C" it is a 260Z E88 head. If that is the case, go off of 260Z timing specs. The reason for this being that the combustion chamber shape and cam profile slightly differs from the L24 and thus needs a different advance curve. Since the 260Z head is open-chambered, I would expect it to require a bit more advance than a '72 L24.

I'm not sure if you've read the contents of this thread?

Wherever the certain measurement is spec'd from. I would think from bottom to cam tower mating surface, or to valve cover mating surface. I haven't checked myself. Looks like stock height is around 4.25".

Sounds like the filter is overly restrictive, at least moreso than the regulator was.

Go to a machine shop and have them cut some shims out of spring steel. McmasterCarr has shim stock if the machine shop doesn't. Measure the thickness of the head to find out how much was milled, the stock numbers are somewhere on the interwebs.

Technically speaking, flow is what matters. It doesn't matter if you have 0.5psi or 3.5psi, as long as enough fuel gets in the bowls. Don't worry about pressure (unless you have zero), just drive the car and see what happens. Uphill highway pulls will probably be the most revealing test of whether you're getting enough fuel or not.

Timing is likely out, verify with a timing light. Also check the firing order, to make sure it's correct and counter-clockwise when looking at the distributor.

(1) Fix the rich condition. (2) Drive around. (3) Report back on how many quarts of oil were burned after driving 1000-3000 miles.

Quarter-mile, two furlongs, 440 yards, 1320 feet, 15840 inches. Bah!!! An engineer would want everything in the metric system, but that takes some getting used to for the general populus.

How much oil does it burn, and have you done a compression test? Running rich is a separate issue, however a constantly excessive rich mixture may cause premature ring failure. There is no logical reason to discard an engine without fully diagnosing the issue(s).

How did you diagnose "bad piston rings"?

I'll pretend I didn't hear that.

Yesterday, saw a (actually my fiancee spotted it!) bluish-greyish 280Z sitting in someone's driveway in a rural community in the SC Mountains. Looked like it hadn't moved in a while. On the way back home, spotted a really clean looking silver 280Z crossing Skyline while on Woodside Road/Hwy 84 (4-corners).

Extrudabody sells kits. You'd need to add an engine management system, EFI fuel pump, baffled fuel tank, and injectors. Also, search on hybridz.org.

Get the calipers rebuilt, or buy fresh ones and get some quality tires. These two things will get you all the stopping you need. There is no way to get "50% more braking" by upgrading the system. It's not physically possible. Braking force depends on your tires. A properly maintained stock system can lock them up, i.e. the brakes can overwhelm the tires. It's not the other way around. Bigger calipers and vented disks are just buying you more heat-capacity, which is only necessary on the track. Plus, by messing with the brake balance you have the chance to not only make stopping distances worse but also to make the car dangerous to drive if not set up for variable conditions (i.e. set brake balance for highest grip case).

Do the spark plug wires clip into the spark plugs tightly, or are they loose? I ask as I had a rough-running after valve adjustment issue and it was because somehow one spark plug wire became very loose. I close up the crimp and was was good to go.

Nice pics, Walter! I now realize what those mystery holes in my floor behind the seat were for!

Great job! It must have been a pain to get around those headers!

You are welcome!

Don't drop anything into the intake (seal up the holes with something, e.g. tape) and get new gaskets while you're at it.