Hot Street L28 build

[Enzo]

Hi Guys,

          It seems that a lot of people are building new engines at the moment, so I thought that I would share my plans. I have been sourcing parts from various suppliers in Australia, Japan and the USA over the last couple of months. I still have a few purchases to make and some parts are in transit at the moment. It will still be a few months for completion, but I'm in no hurry.

          I initially came across the Datsun Spirit web site (Eiji Hosomi) after reading about his car on Auszcar. I sent some emails and things started to progress, I ran him for a chat. I liked what he had to say and this gave me a starting point for the new engine. This is the plan.

 

L28 N42 block.

Forged 88mm short skirt 29mm pin height pistons.

Forged "H" beam 139.5mm conrods with std L28 crank. (This gives a 1.77:1 rod/stroke ratio).

BHJ Damper with lightened 12lb Forged Chromoly flywheel and 240mm Carbon/Kevlar clutch.

Block will be ultrasonic tested, oil gallery plugs drilled and tapped, all machine surfaces radiused and block interior smoothed. (usual stuff). All rotating assembly balanced and blue-printed.

N42 Head.

Polished /ported/ Chambers welded. (James Flett.)

Datsun Spirit Proprietary camshaft. ( .560" lift -300 Duration )

Big Valves ( Longer for the high lift cam)

Rockers, valve springs and chromoly spring retainers.

Kameari twin idler gear.

Kameari timing gear.

Kameari hi-volume oil pump.

Kameari Damper bolt.

ARP Mains, Head and crank bolts.

Mallory Unilite Distributor

Mallory Coil

MSD leads made for the Distributor

    This will give you an idea of my plans. As it progresses I will post some pictures.

Cheers

David.

 

 

[Scoota G]

Top Notch. Love it!!

[dat2kman]

What has been the cost so far?

 

Almost same as my Group S spec engine, except i went P90 with a very heavy cut, i was chading better airflow after porting.

 

[Enzo]

Up to about $9500 at the moment in new parts. Still have to pay for the head work and block machining to be done. The head should be arriving at Mia Engines in Sydney in the next few days and the block work will be done in Perth in June. I will be doing the block prep work myself before I take it to the machine shop. It only started out as a spare engine rebuild with flat top cast pistons, but it's like chocolate cake. Once you have had the first slice, you want more. It's getting bigger than Ben Hur,and the piggy bank is starting to squeal, but I may as well do it right the first time. I've sold a few things off to cover costs. I just call it a re-allocation of funds. Lol.

Cheers

David

[gav240z]

Is the Datsun spirit cam. A Schneider rebranded cam?

[Enzo]

Hi Gavin,

            Same valve lift (.560') and duration (300 degrees) as the cam that you have but the lobe separation is narrower on the intake and exhaust. These have been altered for better response at lower rpm's. This has been ground for Eiji's Datsun Spirit customers. He states that it is a good cam to use with the valves, pistons and rods as supplied by him and gives very smooth acceleration from low rpm all the way up to 8000 rpm. Compression ratio needs to be at a minimum of 11.0:1 or higher. I am using the Schneider springs as recommended for the high lift cam.

Cheers

David

[C.A.R.]

There are a few issues from what I can see in your build plan David, but IMHO - by far - you should piss all the Mallory / MSD stuff off. It's US junk & fails quite regularly.

 

Get a proper re-manufactured electronic Distributor (from Performance Ignition or the like) & Bosch coil - it's all an L-series needs.

[dat2kman]

Those dollars are about right.

By time i have the engine all together, in, and running right, about $15,000

I worked on the Murphy principle,,,,, i had two f them done, the second is in Ready To Assemble stage, in case the first lets go.

It hasn't!

It did get a full top end Les Collins/Pete Mac refresh.

(I got two sets of the Spirit rods, very good quality)

[gav240z]

How far will you go with the port work on the N42? Has James said what kind of CFM to expect? I hate to ask - because it's not about peak HP etc.. but what are you shooting for in terms of torque / usable HP etc..?

 

I'm going to be watching this with eager anticipation as I'm weighing up my options right now and if I modify my motor I'd want to get 250+ HP out of it, but I know getting up to about 300HP is going to be expensive to do it right, then you need a heavy duty clutch and supporting drivetrain etc..and I already have an LD28 crank and Triple Mikuni's etc.. and they are 2 of the expensive bits lol...

 

Have you decided on the induction side of things what you'll use?

 

What is the main benefit of the Kameari timing gear? Does it remove the slack in the chain and give you more accurate camshaft timing?

 

 

[dat2kman]

The timing chain setup, gets rid of the curved slack side guide, which wears, and loses hp.

It utilises two idler sprockets, the bottom is oiled via the gallery feed to the plunger assy.

Their vernier adjustable cam pulley gives very fine adjustment.

Very easy to remove slack due to chain stretch, via the top external adjuster.

 

[Enzo]

Hi Guys,

          Thanks for the input Lurch. I knew that you wouldn't be far away. Since I already have the Mallory/MSD parts so I will use them and if they fail then I will consider other options. I realise that the cam is big for street use but this is a dual purpose engine. Street/ Hill climbs, sprints etc. I'll just wait and see what happens. By the way. I always enjoy your posts.

          Gavin, James knows what is going into the engine and what I want it for, so will do whatever is necessary. I'm not interested in chasing HP or torque figures. They are just numbers to impress people or sell engines. For street use it doesn't matter much and as long as the engine does what I want, I will be happy. I actually didn't know James existed until I got an email from Peter Mac saying he was not doing any more work. After a bit of research and a few phone calls to James I decided he was the man for the job.

            Jason is spot on about the twin idler setup plus the cool factor. Would have bought local, but got a good deal out of Japan.

            Gavin, As for induction, that will be something different and will be shown at the completion of the build.( That's if it works)

Cheers

David.

 

         

[dat2kman]

I have raced many times alongside James, and know very well his attention to detail, and his capability.

You could not be in better hands.

Just don't come Group S Historic racing, we don't need anymore quick ones!

 

[Roberto]

What induction and size will you be using?

[Enzo]

Roberto,

            Shhh.  It's something a bit different in style and size to what is currently being used at the moment by the majority car owners. If it works I will post pictures once it has been dyno tested. If not, then I won't have embarrassed myself in front of the fellow members. Then I will change to something more conventional. I will say however, that a few guys in the USA are using them on race cars with success.

David

[ZED83]

That Cam should be fine for street! I have a reground Schneider Cam 590lift 300d 7700rev limit. Also running all the Kameari gear you have including Ld28crank/rods. 3.2 stroker streeter. 

[d3c0y]

You also have a lot more capacity, that will change the way the cam behaves a lot too.

[Riceburner]

Roberto,

            Shhh.  It's something a bit different in style and size to what is currently being used at the moment by the majority car owners. If it works I will post pictures once it has been dyno tested. If not, then I won't have embarrassed myself in front of the fellow members. Then I will change to something more conventional. I will say however, that a few guys in the USA are using them on race cars with success.

David

 

Is it Mikuni HSR's?

 

Look foward to seeing the progress on this.

[gav240z]

Is it Mikuni HSR's?

 

You got me looking into this now..

http://www.v-performance.com/products/air_fuel.html

 

That appears to be what Eiji is using .

[Enzo]

Hi Gav,

          I had looked at the Vintage Performance web site and mentioned it to Eiji. Apparently they have used a picture of his setup without his permission and he was not happy, as he had never heard of that company. If you decide to go this way with your engine speak to Eiji first as he can supply anything you want.

David.

[dat2kman]

Interesting read on their dyno testing of MGB's

They had as stock, 1 1/2" carbs, ie 38mm

The HSR's fitted were 42mm. Naturally airflow increase will give good figures.

 

This is what irritates the period correct guys, and those that have to race in period correct.

MGB's are allowed to use a single 45 mm dcow weber, in place of the stock twin 38's they came with.

 

If anyone was to substitute a 13/4" Hitachi/SU as fitted to 240/260Z with the corresponding % throttle bore increase as permitted for MGB's, ie a HS8 over a HS6, they would be dragged over the coals.

 

And yes, it has been tried, and yes they were vehemently protested against, a number of times.

Who won that fight? Group British of course, the MGB brigade.

 

Absolutely Off Topic, but relevance is the big. % gains discussed in the dyno testing.

Not "like for like"

[peter t]

David is a Holly man. 8)

[Enzo]

Hi Peter,

            Yes I like Holley, Weber, Blondes, Mikuni, Brunettes, Dellorto, OER and even Fuel injection. 

  Some more parts arrived this week while I was away with work. Today I started to remove the oil gallery plugs and tapping 1/4 NPT threads. When I can find my air grinder I will start prepping the block with removing any casting ridges etc.

David

[gav240z]

Hey David,

Is that a slide hammer you're using to remove the oil gallery plug? I'm still not clear on why we thread and tap the oil gallery plug? Could you not just install another plug like you do with the coolant galleries? Or is there some other benefit?

 

 

[HKSZ]

Two benefits are you can remove the plugs for cleaning each time the motor is rebuilt and a threaded plug is less likely to blow out when using a HP oil pump

[Enzo]

Hi Gavin,

            KKSZ is on the money. 40 year old engines collect a bit of crap in the galleries especially if they have been sitting for years like this block. When hot tanked all of the residual rubbish should come out.  ( Page 13 of How to Modify your Nissan and Datsun OHC Engine). The slide hammer makes life easier. Drill and tap with a 6mm thread, attach the slide hammer and Bobs your uncle. The 1/4 NPT plugs that I bought are 10mm long, which is perfect because it is approx. 12mm from the front of the block to the No1 main Bearing oil passage.

Cheers

David.