madkaw

So I’m still helping this young lad with his 81zx. Those familiar know that the inlet for the water pump has an extra fitting to run around to the TB and EGR stuff . Well he wasn’t using that stuff and decided to use an early inlet that has the heater hose fitting only . The problem was that the early fitting would cause the clearance between the alternator and hose to diminish and not allow the alternator to slide close to the engine to install the belt . Looking at it I see the ZX inlet is made with a sharp bend vs the early fitting . I never noticed this before but I’ve mostly dealt with early Z’s. So is the later model alternator a bigger diameter which causes the rubbing ? It doesn’t make sense to me because many - including me - have done swaps to later alternator on an early Z . Maybe I was in to much of a rush yesterday to carefully look at this . Trying to figure out what I missed . The one on the left is what came off his engine . I’ve never seen one like that . The one on the right is the later ones I’ve seen . I have not tried the one on the right l but we tried one without the extra hose .

Heavy loading as in going up a hill can also put a strain on your ignition coil . Maybe another thing to check

So you would do half a K turn and block traffic while your carb refilled - lol

Sweet home Alabama! Maybe by fall next year the Covid issue will no longer be an issue . Still a long ways for me , but could do it in one day . I’m in the “ hope my back is well enough” club. I’m working on that issue . There’s some MN heads down there to grab too!

I can't help much with gear boxes except to say that sending the tailshaft to Australia and getting rid of the monkey motion was the best thing that ever could happen to the A box. I couldn't believe the difference and how precise the shifts were. The owner was over the moon with the rebuild. Lou Mondello is the man. He has a machinist that makes the magic striker rod .

Not everyone understands the geometry of the valve train so don't feel bad if it seems over your head. What we are wondering is what exactly was done to the head. If it was warped bad enough that the machinist had to take material off the top and bottom of the head -it will change the geometry of the valve train. If so, the camshaft is now closer to the valves and one would need smaller lashpads . There is also the possibility that the valves were sunk too deep into the seats during the valve job which would raise the height of the stem and put it closer to the camshaft. That would not be good. Just ask for an explanation of what was done and let us know

That really doesn't make sense. 120 is close to stock. What did he do to the head?

I order all my hardware there ! Fast service

Continued on with the dual exhaust fab . I now have pipe from front to back - but nothing solidly welded yet.

Wow - did you look the definition up ? Symantecs.

It's a poor design and should be discontinued. I guarantee there have been many more failures , but some customers don't even realize it -until maybe their car rolls away. A partial fail won't be noticed until its too late. It should NOT be a 2 piece design for an emergency brake cable .

Maybe they use to sell those . The one I got was once piece ends . I actually emailed Ryan at ZCD to ask before I ordered

That looks like a MSA version , not a ZCD .

I ran into this - yes they are junk . What pissed me off more was it took MSA weeks to decide whether to refund my money AFTER I sent it back . I guess only one person can make that decision . I ordered one from ZCD . One piece ends - shouldn’t fail . I can’t believe MSA still sells parts like this . Do they test the parts ?

Well I ran out of argon which forced me to go back to my spool gun . Figured out it’s issue ( operator error ), but live and learn . It’s sooooooo much faster with MIG ! This is my initial attempt , but I might redo it . I was hoping for a bit more spacing between the pipes . I could have gained a bit more clearance by get the pipes side by side sooner . It will be a trick , but I have lots of mandrel bends to use . The back half will be the easy part .

Always impressed with the guys on this site. Your work is spot on!

It’s an interesting dynamic watching dual widebands with these plenums. Mixture varies with vacuum changes . I don’t use a dedicated grinder either . I might get serious and buy one just for that . Maybe a mini that sits on the welding table. I’ve got enough strokes against with skill level, so maybe clean consumables might help me . Burned a quarter inch hole already and was able to refill it - lol. The tig is slower , but is better if I can get it done .

Well this is going to be a slower process then anticipated. My spool gun is giving me fits and has forced me to actually learn how to TIG . I guess no time like the present to teach an old dog a new trick . I have played around with TIG, but I’m a rookie for sure . With a bad back I couldn’t refill my CO2 tank and the Argon tank was about full, so.... Almost have the first legs of the exhaust to the cat done ,which was going to be the hard part . I think I gained about an inch in ground clearance or maybe more . Got to get this right , because this will be the last time

Been running two Lamba’s . The cat is for smell, convenient packaging for two pipes .

It’s a Magna flow I think - not many choices 2” 2 in&out .

Finally going to redo my exhaust to gain clearance - remove resonators , add performance cat , and all new pipe from to back to front Besides the awkward and painful positions to do exhausts without a 6ft lift , I kind of enjoy crafting an exhaust system . I just buy and bunch of mandrel bends and pie cut what I need . Dual 2” gets tight :-0 Starting the first leg getting to the cat . Might challenge myself to TIG it

Be careful? As you can see from my pics I had to take the seats apart to do this. Don't remember melting anything . I've slept too many days to remember specifics

They know their stuff there . I am truly impressed by their CV axles . That’s size should work . The +11 helps the tire clear in the rear wheel arch

I believe it’s just a bit bigger