In another thread .. Installing Motordyne spacer without torque wrench? - there was a lot of confusion regarding the placement of the stock gasket and the new ISO thermal gasket.

Apparently ... both gaskets are needed. We need better instructions.

Questions ...

1/ Here is your instruction manual. Can you show with better pictures where the stock gasket is .. and where the new ISO gasket is supposed to go ?

http://www.motordyneengineering.com/manual.pdf

2/ I don't know where the Nissan standard gasket is located (the non-MotorDyne gasket) .. can you show this to all of us ?

 

On page for it explains this.

On page 5 it explains this.

 

Robert,
i dont know what instruction manual you are lookin at, butit does NOT mention those steps in the pages you mentioned.

 

On pg. 4 Also there are 3 pictures from the manual (The link that is provided) explaining this.
And on page 5 look at the big red arrow. Now if you are wondering about the second gasket that go on top of the sapcer you need to buy toit or go to your local car parts store and as for the gasket replacement sealant.

 

ok, i think you are interpreting it wrong. On page 4, the aramid gasket is the one that goes around the 6 holes. On page 5, the big red arrow is pointing to the gasket on top of the spacer. But you are suupose to put the stock gasket (the one that is in the shape of the spacer) onto the lower collector before putting the spacer on top. Then, you place the provided gasket ontop of the spacer then the upper plenum. But it doesnt relly state this in the manual.

 

To me its a common sense thing. Maybe I'm not understanding his question than.

 

The stock gasket that goes between the below the lower collector and manifold is removed, discarded and replaced by the new Iso Thermal gasket. The Iso thermal gasket is the long gasket with 6 holes in it.

The stock gasket in your plenum stays in place. You simply put the plenum spacer on top of it and then put the supplied gasket on top of the spacer. Bolt your upper plenum on and its finished.

Let me know if you have any questions. I'll also see if I can further clairify the instructions.

Tony

 

Tony,

Is it advisable to re-oil the Iso Thermal gasket when the manifold is removed ?

Thx.

 

Its not necessary but you can if you want.

 

+1

I definitely have 0 problems with Tony's instructions.. they were
crystal clear, but i indeed had some problems with removing the lower plenum. But well, I got them done anyways!

 

That's it!

 

Maybe I am a little slow (most likely) ... or problems with the English language ..

1/ 8 strut bar spacers .. each one of the provided spacers goes into the 4 screws for the spacer bar (4 left and 4 right hand side) - right ?

2/ 10 piece strut bar washers .. where do these go ? On the instructions, it states .. "the 4 extra strut bar washers provided" .. I understand this. Where do the other 6 strut bar washers go ??

Thanks, Tony.

 

1) Correct.

2) 6 of the washers are used with the 6 extra long strut bar bolts provided. The remaining 4 washers are used only if you need to raise the right side of the strut bar bracket a little more. It is very rare that they are needed though so you probably won't require them.

Tony

 

Tony .. thanks, as always. One more question from me (like mc350z) ...

1/ The new bolts ( O ) with the washers go here, correct ? X is the stock one used .. but with the nut on top, correct ? There is no change to X before and after installation, correct ?

O X
O O

2/ The 6 new washers go topside .. directly underneath the head of the 6 new bolts -- as shown above in 1/ , correct ?

3/ Then .. the six O bolts are torqued 24 ft lbs and the two X nuts are torqued 20 ft lbs, correct ?

Thanks again.

 

Tony,
This is Matt, the guy who called you three times on Friday. Thanks for all your help, I installed your copper isothermal plenum spacer sucessfully today. Reading this thread makes me want to ask a question though: Was the plenum spacer itself supposed to come with a seperate gasket for it? I didnt have a seperate gasket in the shape of the plenum spacer in the kit you sent me- My spacer had one shiny metal side and one side that looked like a gasket material on it, so I thought you guys glued the gasket on the spacer... I have no leaks and no check engine light on, plus the motor is running great...

Also the fat replacement bolts you sent for the strut bar are too wide to fit into the holes on my z. Those bolts were for the strut bar, correct? I had to reuse the stock strut bar bolts, and Im a bit leary about that because with the spacers under the strut bar I doubt they are in very deep.

 

That's it.

No. In some cases it can, but rarely.

No.

 

Exactly. But keep in mind the strut bar brackets are mirror images of eachother so the opposite side will be
X O
O O

Yes.

Yes.

 

Although we are not up to full production rate on the new line yet, we will soon have a full release of an improved Iso Thermal plenum spacer with a new plenum gasket material. Rather than modifying a stock gasket (which is made of metal) we will now include a thermally non conductive plenum gasket which will reduce upper plenum temperatures even further. The gasket you have is the new Iso Thermal Plenum gasket.

So now the Iso Thermal kit has three levels of thermal isolation built in.
1) The Aramid gasket that goes between the manifold and the lower plenum.
2) The new Iso Thermal plenum gasket that is applied directly to the plenum spacer.
3) The Copper throttle body heater which isolates your plenum from hot engine coolant flowing through it.

End result will be even lower plenum temperatures!

I found that often times, the Australian, Canadian and 2002 American Z's use M8 strut bar bolts rather than the M10 bolts that are used on all other domestic Z's. If your Z was built in 2002, you have the M8 bolts. You can replace them with 6 30mm M8 bolts from the hardware store.