birdmayne said:preach (fs) said:birdmayne said:My current plan is to completely disregard the coolant gauge and continue to enjoy the car until it blows up.
This is the Way.
So, this is a thing...
[shrugs]
Anybody care for a milkshake? I'll scoop out as much as you want.
Well that cam was rusty from just sitting but I'd bet checking the head for flatness, a new gasket, and getting a stock cam for $50 would have this running fine again. L series are really hard to hurt. But I get this engine was destined to be blown up and pulled.
I also have a spare L28 on a stand that I can slap out a rebuild on. This L24 is not a numbers match to the chassis, so I never cared about it.
Now I get to pull this engine and build a higher compression engine with the E88 head and F54 block! Sweet!
My brother had a '73 240Z, as did a couple of his friends in the late '70s. Their 'hot' setup back then to get a L28 block and 5-speed trans. Put a '71 L24 head on the L28 block with some minor porting and a skim on the head to bump the compression a bit.
Also, it was considered cool to have the 280 hood because vents.
Dumped the coolant and engine oil last night. Got less than a gallon out of the radiator drain plug. Figuring that the remaining coolant was in the engine block, I grabbed two 5 quart catch pans and pulled the oil drain plug. Roughly two quarts of water followed by another 6 or so quarts of nasty oil/water mud mix came flowing out.
I'll get the head off soon and tear it down for cleaning / inspection. If the head is salvageable and not cracked, it will get some minor porting and tossed on my L28 block.
I'm setting up a Needs / wants list in order to enjoy the car this summer.
NEEDS
New engine. Brakes that work. Suspension bushings. Springs and struts / coilovers. Tires. fuel tank and lines cleaned.
WANTS
New seats. Manual swap. Flares installed. Stereo.
Been making slow progress on this car. Taking apart the interior one piece at a time. So far, no rust holes just minor surface corrosion on the floors. I did get the stock Hitachi radio removed and on a countertop. Posted a progress picture in S30 Life on FB and got multiple offers to buy the radio in 10 minutes. Did not expect that.
I need to rework my shelving to have a safe place to stash windows, doors, hood, hatch, etc. I've decide full tear down is the only logical option at this point.
Fingers crossed the "team with no name racing" Z sates my S30 craving while mine is in a billion pieces. Guess we'll find out soon enough
Those stock radios get crazy dollars. $750-$1000?
birdmayne said:I've decide full tear down is the only logical option at this point.
Are your plans still fender flares, front air dam (possibly widebody), interior refresh, hidden Bluetooth stereo in dash, coilovers, bracing and chassis stiffeners?
Watching with excitement. I had forgotten how much I liked the mid 70s Z cars.
In reply to RandolphCarter :
That's my aim, yes. My hope was to fix enough of it to enjoy it this summer but the more I look, the more I find. I'd rather fix it once instead of fixing half of it and starting over.
I am a glutton for punishment.
Three times now I've purchased an engine to build for this car. Three times those plans have stalled and been given up.
So naturally, I bought a fourth engine to build! It really did seem like a good idea at the time... the price was right and it's the coolest of the L series engines. But it's definitely not without its own series of issues. This is the highly sought after P90 head, renowned for its heart shaped combustion chambers and impressive flow rates (for a non crossover head).
As you can see, it has some corrosion on the mating surface. If I was a wizard like MKE, I'd clean it up really well and weld some more aluminum in there to fill it back up. Alas, I am but a mere mortal, so I will need to farm this work out.
That is, if the hive agrees that I need to fill these spots before running 12 - 15 psi of boost through it.
Shortblock is in excellent shape. I'm fairly confident its been rebuilt not long ago.
Also, can we take a minute to celebrate the many uses of cheap HF wooden dollies? An engine, a car, and an air compressor are all rocking these in my shop
The plan in its current iteration is to repair this head, drop it on my NA shortblock with flat top pistons (reported 8.4:1 CR with this combo), stock NA cam (longer duration than turbo cam), L28ET distributor with signal wheel for megasquirt, individual coils, sequential fueling, GT30 or GT35 sized turbo, debating factory or aftermarket intake and exhaust manifold, and a large intercooler.
Also manual swap, coilovers and better brakes, etc.
oldeskewltoy said:birdmayne said:preach (fs) said:birdmayne said:My current plan is to completely disregard the coolant gauge and continue to enjoy the car until it blows up.
This is the Way.
So, this is a thing...
[shrugs]
Anybody care for a milkshake? I'll scoop out as much as you want.
Sooo you said it would blow up did ya? To me it looks like these Datsun engines are as tough as nails! They sound way cool running (heard one at a Coffee & Car get together recently). Rusty cam and still drove it around, enjoying it. Buy all the parts to rebuild it but first clean up that cam and drive it. LOL
Just received the build sheet grom the guy I bought it from.
I need to start doing some research and math. I might not use the flat top piston block after all!
Because excess is never enough, I started stripping and cleaning the three different heads that I have (on my workbench) for this engine. The one on the left will be my cam and rocker and lifter donor. The one in the rear is the pitted one for before and will be my guide for porting / polishing.
I intend to use the cam donor head (P79) as practice for: PnP work, a head cooling mod involving drilling and tapping the water jacket, a hand built fuel rail, etc.
This is the fun stuff for me, tearing in to an engine and making it better, hopefully.
Are you going to do the cylinder 5 and 6 cooling mod?
mikeatrpi said:Are you going to do the cylinder 5 and 6 cooling mod?
Yessir. I didn't care about the L24 but I definitely want this L28ET to last.
birdmayne said:
I intend to use the cam donor head (P79) as practice for: PnP work, a head cooling mod involving drilling and tapping the water jacket, a hand built fuel rail, etc.
This is the fun stuff for me, tearing in to an engine and making it better, hopefully.
best of luck...... 
I'd crate it all up and send it to Rebello Racing with an $8500 cashiers check. Okay, this is one of my dreams.
In reply to oldeskewltoy :
Thank you! I figure I should give it a try. If I screw up the practice head, I can still send the good head to somebody who knows what they're doing. I even have a guy in mind...
Rebello is nowhere near in the budget, but my next Z will either be a high compression 3L stroker, possibly with a Datsunworks KN20 head.
This looks to be a good resource for showing port work on Datsun/Nissan inline 6 heads......
http://www.atlanticz.ca/zclub/techtips/headporting/index.htm
For posterity. And also because I find it hilarious.
Cylinder 2 was thirsty and damn near all of the coolant passages are clogged. Tons of corrosion on the head, fairly confident its junk.
Guess I get to have fun with this one too!
*cough* LS swap *cough*
In other news, the rear hatch deck is stripped and ready for a wire wheel then POR15. I'll add some sound insulation panels ie Dynamat after that. Then I'll do the same up front. One section at a time
Will need to find new interior plastics as they all came out in pieces.
birdmayne said: One section at a time... Right. About that.
I've officially lost control of the situation.
The intent was to fix a few little things and get the car back on the road for next summer.
At this point, it will be a multi year project before this thing sees the light of day again.
Curiosity / ADHD got the better of me and now I have what feels like 10 different projects going on at the same time.
1) Full sequential fuel / ignition with standalone and new harness.
2) Turbo setup with custom intake, etc.
3) Clean up / tuck and shave engine bay
4) Body repairs / paint prep
5) suspension overhaul
6) interior overhaul with new electrical harness
7) Frame rail replacement / chassis stiffening
8) Paint color decisions
9) Dash rebuild
10) manual swap
11) everything else
Every now and then I feel overwhelmed while tinkering in the shop, but then I just lock in on a specific project and just keep plugging away.
The problem(s) I continue to run into is space. I haven't pulled the stock L24 shortblock yet because I have nowhere to put it. Same with trans and rear diff.
Once I decide where to stash that stuff I'll drop those out and get the car lifted high enough to work under.
The stock L24 is not a numbers matching engine, so I'm not concerned about keeping it. Or the automatic trans.
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