KasbeKZ

good stuff. you'd better clean them up well! i see a little too much stuff on there. i'd keep it wraped in plastic

Fast240Z

The engine is already assembled and in the car. I blew out the cylinders with an air compressor, hit it with a shop vac, and wiped it clean with a lint free cloth. Made sure not to wipe any assembly lube off of the walls though.

lostforawhile

yea fram is bad news,they also have a plastic bypass valve that will open by pushing on it with your finger, one of the prelude sites took apart a whole bunch of different filters and compared them. best was the bosch, the stp is identical inside to the bosch, and is a couple of bucks cheaper, i noticed on the two filters for my car that they even had the same stamping numbers on the base plate. bosch probably makes the stp one. but stay away from the fram, the extra guard one that comes in the little 5 dollar extra can, is identical to the cheap fram except for some sort of gooey crap all over the filter. and confirming the rumors,i have taken frams apart and found strings hanging in them from assembly.

BoulderZ

For oil filters, I've been using Amsoil filters for about 12 years on various cars and have never had a problem. I've used a few Wix filters here and there, too. The other suggestions on here are good, too.
Dave

Fast240Z

I made a video today, check it out and let me know what you think...

Link to video

I feel like I was talking stupid, I didn't know what to say half the time

snwbrderphat540

damn DC poster children

jk my entire snowboard setup (pants jacket boots) are DC great company for that, never been a fan of how their shoes fit though.

no headers? boooo!!!!, get a new intake lol, and a new oil filter. double lol. i think you need to re-adjust your valves to they sound a bit clanky. definatly a classic sounding exhaust bit raspy but the header will fix that fo sho.

Fast240Z

man, I'm the opposite. I really like DC shoes, and all of my friends are now fans because of me...

Yeah, she sounds raspy on the video, but sounds better in person. The exhaust fools people, and makes them think that it's got more in it than it does. I once told a honda kid I was running a supercharged v8, and he believed me. I told him the truth afterwards though.

I know I need another oil filter, probably get another one in a few hundred miles more. Going to change the oil again for good measure.

Valves do need to be adjusted. They were ticking louder in the video than they do in person, but that's next on the project list, maybe do that tomorrow.

BoulderZ

Thanks for posting the video! I think yours has a little more of a higher tone in it than mine. Did you say you haven't done the header or cam yet?
Now I'm going home to start mine, maybe take a quick illegal around-the-block lap, and get the insurance lined up.
Dave

Fast240Z

I have not done the header or cam yet, that's next on the build. I was considering a cam when I did the initial build, but ended up not doing it because I didn't want to be too broke by the time I got everything together. I plan on buying the MSA 6-1 header and premium exhaust package, maybe pick that up when I go down for the MSA show.

You'll have to shoot a video of yours too, kind of curious how your build sounds.

thxone

Werd!!!!!!!!!!!

WildmaN

Your Z sounds sweet man! It really has a nice roadster tone to it. And pretty quick for an n/a. Good job man, keep up the great work.

snwbrderphat540

word of advise, MSA paints their headers with **** PAINT!!!!!!!!!! it was all smooth and nice im like cool i woulda rather had a more polished look and watch the color changes occure but black is cool, yeah drove it to full operating temp poped the hood, its now white and flaking! i couldnt have been more pissed, but now ill just have to heat wrap it i guess.

Fast240Z

I appreciate all of the compliments guys! It's one thing to think that something is nice, but it's a totally different feeling when other people feel the same.

The glasspack has it's novelty, but is just a little too loud for me. If you're trying to have a conversation while cruising down the road, it's a little hard because of how loud the glasspack is.

Thanks for the heads up on the header paint issue. I'll probably end up getting the paint stripped off if that's the case, and see if I can get one of the local shops to ceramic coat it. Does anyone know if powder coating will wear off with heat? I've got a hook up for cheap powder coating, which might be an idea.

EDIT: The paint issue just reminded me of what happened when I got the car fired on. James and I went crazy painting and detailing the engine, and no part went uncleaned. I spent at least 30 minutes with a wire wheel and grinder cleaning the rust off of the stock exhaust manifold, and James took a long time painting the manifold black for me. The engine looked positively beautiful, especially with the black exhaust manifold. First time firing it up, I noticed smoke coming from below the intake. I was freaking out, thinking that the exhaust must not have sealed right. Upon closer inspection, I noticed that the paint was burning right off of the manifold. I checked the can, and it was Duplicolor car paint, but not heat rated. I felt like such an *** because James took at least 2 hours painting it just right.

snwbrderphat540

well powder coating is applied using heat, and i know it holds up on engine blocks, for headers though i have no definitive answer, i would imagine ti would, but then i could also see under the extreme conditions it cracking or something. so idk....

thxone

If you heat wrap it you will cut the life of that header in half! Take it off the car and goto the store, buy some sandpaper...steel wool or whatever to get the paint off and smooth it out...take it to a ceramic coater and coat it...it's not expensive...I know the shop down the street here can do it in matte black, gloss black or polished for like 50 dollars. Each color had a different temp rating though, but is still more than enough for headers.

DatsunKid

What kind of muffler are you running. I know its a glasspack but any specific brand? Cherrybomb?

Ratfink

I second that. The wrap will rust them out fast. A good ceramic coating is the way to go.

Fast240Z

I'm not sure what type it is. My dad put the muffler on there when he got the car, and then he gave it to me. I want to say its a Cherrybomb though, but with his special touches. He took the muffler, poured oil inside of it, and let it sit for a little while, for it to coat the fiberglass. He then hit the outside of it with a oxy/acetylene torch to melt the fiberglass out. This made a very loud glasspack. I've tried the same on my friend's 280zx, and definitely made it sound a lot louder.

theramz

I posted this about 3 years ago, the MSA 6-2-1 header comes very close to the front intake manifold (1/16"). I changed to a N36 intake and it gave a little more room. I checked the temp with a digital thermometer and the rear manifold was 240 deg, the front was 270, on the top! The paint was coming off right out of the box, I think they use radiator paint. If I had it to do over I would get it ceramic coated and wrap the first 6 inches of it. The ceramic should keep it from burning out. I painted the header with high heat silver- two coats. The second coat is peeling off but the first is still good. You can see by the arrow, #2 exhaust to close at #3 intake.

Fast240Z

I was told that MSA recently redesigned their headers for better fitment, can anyone verify this?

snwbrderphat540

mine was still pretty close. the manifold flanges that is they were stock so close together i barely got my intake mani on. the headers are a bit close to the intake runners though themselve, thats why i want to heat wrap them at least part ways.

BoulderZ

I have the MSA 6:1 header, one of the first of the new re-design (just lucky timing when I ordered it), and their premium exhaust package. The main difference is the flange is much thicker, matching nicely with the intake manifold's height for the studs, convex washers, and nuts. It also makes it stiffer, so it stays straighter and less prone to leaking. I installed mine to torque, started and drove it some, and thought I had a leak. I was concerned, as everyone used to complain about that. Turned out it was just the rear-most hardware was loose. I re-torqued it and it's been fine since. Note that I have only about 2 hours of time on the engine, and a lot of that is just in run-in and tuning in the driveway. So, it's not like I can vouch for any sort of hard-use testing yet. Hopefully that'll be this summer.
I went with the ceramic coating directly from MSA, as no one close to me does that; and I didn't need yet another thing for UPS or FedEx to mess up and cost me more time, if I could avoid it. If you have someone close to you that can do the ceramic coating, it's probably cheaper. Just wasn't an option for me. So far, it looks awesome. It dulls slightly and you can smell whatever polish burn off in the first few minutes, but that's it.
All paint burns off headers, it's not just MSA's. It's just there mostly for shipping/corrosion protection. Even that rattle-can header paint turns color and burns off, it just takes more time. If you mean to keep the header for any length of time, definitely get it ceramic coated, even (or perhaps especially) if you're going to use a header wrap. The other guys are right that a bare metal or painted header will corrode in short order under a header wrap.
Regular powdercoating won't work, either. I did ask my powdercoat guy, who was doing all my suspension pieces, if he could do headers. He said he had neither the materials nor the tools, as it is actually a different process, and that powdercoat would burn off just like paint, only a little more slowly. Oh well.
Snw's right that the headers get super toasty, and they are right under your intake. Be sure you keep your under-intake heat shield(s)! As an extra bonus, I sent all my heat shields to an outfit in Seattle to get them ceramic coated with a silver/metallic/reflective finish specifically for that application. I think they're called Performance Coatings, but I can check if you're interested. Again, I don't have local options for heat coatings. It was actually fairly inexpensive, dressed up the engine bay nicely, and does keep the heat problems to a minimum. Headers are just plain going to run warmer than a stock manifold though, for the most part.
MSA's premium exhaust package is pretty darn nice. I think it hangs kinda low at the muffler (the rest is fine), and I may look to change that. I wouldn't say it's super quiet, as it doesn't have a resonator/pre-muffler. But, I do also have the 6:1 header, and a Web 94a regrind of my cam, so it wasn't exactly set up to be quiet. It's a lower, more rumble, less growl note than what you have, judging from the video. It must not be too awfully loud or annoying; my neighbors still smile and wave.
Darrel (on here) warned me that in any setup, a no-pre-muffler system will have a cruising-revs drone to it that might make conversation in the car a little more difficult. I think he's right, with what I've heard so far in mine. On the other hand, creature comfort was only *a* consideration for me on this build, not the top priority.
I don't have a video camera, but I can get my neighbor to get a couple of clips of it when he's around.
keep up the nice work!
Dave

Fast240Z

Thanks for the info! I did hear about the drone, and I read a thread on how to locate and fix the drone with a small resonator.

My friend knows of a shop around here that does an awesome job with ceramic coating, and are fairly reasonable on price. Once I get the exhaust package, first thing I'm doing is getting that header ceramic coated

KasbeKZ

i can attest to the header paint buring off. high rated manifold and header paint burnt of my dads TR6 in ten minutes. it looks like crap now