'77 260z 2+2 My "Christine "

[modular9]

Thought i might put up a members journal about my Z  " Christine  ".

 

Bought sight unseen on ebay in NSW. Went down and drove 900 km in one day to get back up to brisbane. Didnt miss a beat. If this is z ownership then bring it on!

 

Since then I have changed the su's out to triple dellorto's ( thanks for the help Mick ) , taken the aircon out ( dont need it up here! ) , Converted to electronic ignition , installed the noisiest holley blue fuel pump ever!! , installed a thermo electric fan and got rid of the siezed noisy engine fan, and got a new head ( thanks Jake ) for the sick tappetty valve guide stem seal leaky E88 head.

 

So what is in the future?

 

2 1/4 inch exhaust system

1.5 inch lowering job

Rota RB-R wheels

Manualising the drive train.

Tachometer changing or reconfiguring

Stop looking at 300z twin turbos.

 

Maybe not in that order.

 

 

[tbscobraZ]

Great car jealousy the lot i just hope my happy ever after story will be as good as that.

[modular9]

it will . There is something about zeds they seem to get better on their own ( hence the name christine for me )!

 

Youtube video finally uploaded on my ghetto internet !!

 

 

 

 

 

[modular9]

Pre engine buildup dyno run ( cos i dont really need that new stereo system ! ) with a known sick engine.

 

Ok for what it is worth

weather was 23 degrees and 50 % humidity and overcast 

 

heres what i am running

L24 engine  E88 head 3 speed auto !

1. A buggered piston ring on cylinder 6 with blowby and gummed up sparkplug ( didnt know about this one )

2. Valve seal gone on cylinder 4 ( knew about this one ) gummed up sparkplug

3. 280 zx electronic ignition

4. triple dellortos ( more about those in sulios triples thread ) Tuned apparently 

5. Standard exhaust ( 1.5 inches of pure power ! )

6. Leaky automatic 3 speed.

 

At 5850 rpms  ( and a lot of smoke ) the above engine made 105 hp at the wheels and then I think it died! As the car is basically undrivable now.

 

I have a n42 head that i stripped down to its bare essentials that is going off to be cleaned ( remarkably good condition though ) and hopefully a l28 bottom end from d3c0y coming.

 

Yep I get to build an engine again to my specs. Piccies of how anally retentive i am in number valves , springs etc coming.

[modular9]

Jake and paul from Zbits came through with all the good stuff i needed plus extras!

 

so I got the engine decked cleaned and bored etc plus with a 2+2 i got all this in the boot of my car !!

 

 

I also got it fully balanced bottom end ( worth it as a balanced engine is a very nice thing to have )

 

 

and a lightened flywheel

 

 

So a quick rundown on what has happened.

 

N42 head :

-Tuft rided hardened valves and seats

-A slight opening of the quench area

-I decided against getting the injection notches done. Primarily as i havent made my mind up on the use of dellortos on a very daily driver . And if i do ditch the dellortos then EFI is the only other way to go

- decked the head straight didnt shave anything off as my plans might/should/will include a turbo application.

- Complete clean

- A wee little weld job on the end where the welsch plug goes in .

 

F54 block

- bored 40 thou

- cleaned out

- checked for straighteness that aint a word but i am still feeling weird after licking my flywheel !

 

Everything else

- balanced crank

- balanced rods and pistons

- pistons are not flat tops. turbo application might be in the books and with fuel being the way it is and may will be the stock-ish CR is fine for me.

- Lightened and balanced flywheel.

- new bits !!!!!

 

So that is it. Time for build is probably about 3 weeks from now . Work is kicking my butt and i really like to take a week to build engines. ( last time i did an engine it took me 30 minutes per piston to put in ) I also want to put in the exhaust system and a few other little things before whipping out the l24.

 

You know that smell from bakerys of new bread and so forth well antirust oil and wd40 does it for me

 

 

 

[C.A.R.]

Sounding good mate.

 

BTW, who owns the AH Sprite/MG Midget?

[modular9]

you got a good eye mate !

 

My dad's mk1 MG midget that he's selling off.

 

Got no room at home so all engine work being done at my parents place. which is good they've got all the engine lifting and aircompressor stuff. and a big fridge with beer in it !

 

[C.A.R.]

He's selling it? That's a shame

He wasn't at Warwick at Easter with it, was he?

Good eye indeed - between my Dad & myself we have 5 Bugeye's & a Mk2 Midget

 

Parents garage & tools are great - I do the exact same thing!

[modular9]

Warwick ? for the Sprite 50 yr celebration ? Was a little exy to enter so i think he let it slide.

dad had a bugeye sold it on for the midget and now? well he is wanting an american MGA <shakes head >

 

or we got talking to the guys who did my block and they think they could get 1300 odd cc's out of the a series so he is thinking of doing a stage 3 to it or something.

 

Or put in my old L24 !! ;D

[modular9]

Finally got some money and time to get some goodies. So I got a new timing chain and gear set , water pump and oil pump. Also had some time to crinkle finish a rocker cover. Engine build to start this weekend. My job is getting real busy so I gotta get it done in the next few weekends.

 

 

 

and the timing set. The timing chain guides i had were rather bad. And i didnt have a spring for the tensioner.

 

[modular9]

Ok the weekend is over and i have got the bottom end done. Took 10 hours all up to get all the pistons in. Sounds like a lot but I am super anal when it comes to miking things and measuring. The Mahle piston rings were really good I only had to fine file 2 bottom rings and 1 top ring to the right gaps.

After building a few engines before, I have to say the nissan is a real eye opener. The flaming side oil seals in the rear bearing cap were a $%^ to get in but will work better than the rope style on a cleveland.

 

The other cool thing:  had the radio on and they played sweet child of mine-GNR and midlife crisis-faith no more which seem to get played every engine buildup i have done so the omens are good.

 

Before the side seals.

 

What the sump sees

 

Finished

 

And the obligatory piston down a hole shot.

 

 

 

[Zedman240®]

Nice work there!!...Four thumbs up! .Just a question, how much was the timing chain kit? I think I need one for my L24 that I want to put back together. Its in bits now, till I finish the RB25 saga.

[modular9]

Timing chain was from ringwood parts in victoria  and here are the prices i was quoted

 

Timing kit  without gears is $75 AUD

Timing kit with gears is $129 AUD

 

I bought a water pump off them on Ebay.com.au and then asked if they had the oil pump (yes ) and timing set ( yes ) shipped all at once So the postage was less and arrived in 3 days.

 

Much better than the ones on US ebay.com which had enormous shipping on them. I went for the latter with gears version. I now have 3 spare cam gears and 2 spare crank gears but new parts are always a good thing.

 

Finish the rb25. Nuff said !

 

Mike

 

[modular9]

Last weekend I replaced the holley blue fuel pump from hell for a vl commodore pump. Not only is the vl commodore pump quiet it also can reach the staggering amount of 15 psi!! ( i just wanted to see what it could do I normally run around 4 psi )...

 

youtube link ( quality is shis Must fix it ) but you get the idea

 

http://au.youtube.com/watch?v=8Ltc9eP8Rhk

 

well this weekend is over and the old engine is out. first of all after working on mg midgets and v8 falcons the datsun engine removal is SUHWEETLY easy. Room to move easy to get to everything. If anyone is coming from other engine removals or whatever the datsun has to be the easiest i have ever seen

 

 

Then first surprise :

 

Seriously lightened flywheel. This flywheel weighs 2.1 kg and makes my other 600 dollar lightened flywheel ( 8.1 kg ) porky.

 

 

So you can guess that the 2.1kg one is going back into my car that is for sure. And lastly this is an odd shot but it is the engine upside down with an aftermarket oil stick in it. I was wondering if this seems right. First the stick does not go as far as the oil scraper. Should it ?

 

 

Injuries so far :

-ripped the thumbnail off my left thumb.

- dropped a bloody heavy torque wrench on my foot

- I headbutted the f54 block while retrieving a bolt on the ground.

 

Car 3

Mike 0

 

[RBZ 260]

Last weekend I replaced the holley blue fuel pump from hell for a vl commodore pump. Not only is the vl commodore pump quiet it also can reach the staggering amount of 15 psi!! ( i just wanted to see what it could do I normally run around 4 psi )...

 

 

 

Injuries so far :

-ripped the thumbnail off my left thumb.

- dropped a bloody heavy torque wrench on my foot

- I headbutted the f54 block while retrieving a bolt on the ground.

 

Car 3

Mike 0

 

 

nice build looking very good the wrinkle paint on the cover looks wicked. also black is best colour. red and blue go ugly and dirty after a while but black just looks clean.

 

i had a holley blue noisy aswell. also didnt  flow well even with rebuild kit as it was Second hand bought from evilbay and was starving the VL turbo secondary pump. (no surge tank)

 

got rid of holley blue and got a brand new holley red. lot quiter and no more hicups for the VL turbo pump feeding the engine.

 

as for injuries:

 

LOL been there done that but i think the end score was

 

260z: 20    me: 0   

 

lost thumb nail x2

Burnt hands and legs x5 (mig welding upside down absolute hell)

burnt fingers lost count (touching welded parts while still hot)

lots of cuts headbuts and drops.

 

 

its all fun. now its my time to give it pain. but somehow i think the car will end up wining. if i break something i got to fix it 

 

i kinda miss the good old resto project. getting sick of accident damaged cars.

 

cant wait to get into it again.

 

 

[Scoota G]

Dude i'm trying to understand why that fly wheel looks like a flexplate. Can flywheels get that thin?

[modular9]

rbz260 : I see however that your fleet of cars is awesome. Every car you have is a car i would have. Funny thing about the holley blue  is that i had one in my v8 and it was fine. No noise perfectly good. Also apparently it is the gun fuel pump to have !? Either way It might have to go back in if i efi+turbo the engine later on.

 

Nice to hear that someone else keeps a score on injuries. I thought i was the only one!

 

Scootag : mate to be completely honest i am a little worried about this "flexplate-flywheel- starter ring" . The differences between the lightened wheel and this "starter ring " are massive. I dont want to be having to tear down the engine again because it fails but the other side of the coin is that extra few horses available because of its weight. ... Also makes me wonder what else is in the little L24. I'll probably tear down the L24 and find flatop pistons and a ld28 crank ... Yeh sure ..

[C.A.R.]

Get us a better photo of the flywheel, please?

 

Other than that - it's looking good mate

[RBZ 260]

rbz260 : I see however that your fleet of cars is awesome. Every car you have is a car i would have..

 

cheers but only two of them are in drivable state. the others are awaiting their turn for nip and tuck and heart transplants.

 

now kinda suffering fixing a 1993 and 2003 cars. but soon as they out of the way going back to my old school stuff.

 

so at the moment im enjoying reading other ppls fun with their their cars and preparing the master plan for mine. luckily occasionaly get time to work on the 260z to finish some stuff i didnt get around to.

 

looking forwad to next set of pics on your project. keep it up.

[Scando]

Funny thing about the holley blue  is that i had one in my v8 and it was fine. No noise perfectly good. Also apparently it is the gun fuel pump to have !? Either way It might have to go back in if i efi+turbo the engine later on.

 

I run a Holley Blue.  Only problem I've had with it was it started leaking real bad around the gasket a couple of years ago.  A dodgey homemade cardboard gasket fixed the problem and has been there since.............should really do something about that!  Mine is very noisy though.  I think it'd drive me nuts if it was in a road car.

[DaveDimo]

gday mate. i read in your first post that you ripped out the ac in the car.

do you still have the set up or is it all gone to sale.?

 

dave

[modular9]

The AC is staying with the car when i sell her. Sorry. Give zbitz (paul) a call he may have some stuff for you... I seen inside his shed! 

[modular9]

took a day off work to play with the zed so got the engine all sorted and torqued up and also two images of the flexplate to get an idea as to how thin the plate is ( 3mm )

 

 

Previous owner has put rubber bushes on the passenger side and urethane on the other side !  Anyway so it looks like the rack is coming off. And what about some lowering  at the same time  ;D

[modular9]

An update. Put some tea on i get lyrical here !

 

December 30 th of 2008 decided that the engine should go in. 2 days later it was in ( I dont believe in New years day call me a heathen ! )

 

So I decided to lower the car at the same time ( using kings springs low ) ( beer is only there to show how low it is  Shot after the engine was in. ) then hooked up the new engine to the hoist and wacked it in. No problems.   I have done a few engine rebuilds and swaps and the nissan has been the easiest. Hooked up the twin SU's ( for running in only ). Re connected the fuel pump and kicked the engine over. OK normally this is when you sacrifice a goat and do other sort of weird cult things. Well It started after 2 seconds of cranking! Hooked outside gauges and all were in the green. No leaks, good oil pressure, excellent fuel pressure and even the water temps were in the normal.

 

Fast forward 500 km , 2 oil changes and 1 coolant change and I  have just put on the triple dellortos. ( specs and so forth in the triple carb section ). In the boot is a set of 6-2-1 extractors with 2.5 inch outlet which is waiting for me to get the rest of the exhaust done.

 

Last pic is because you hardly see a shot of this part of the z.

So all in all whole job took about 2 months ( faster if I had more time ) around $3500 ( less all the nolathane bushes and lowered springs and EFI ) and both thumbnails and a nice little scar from an exhaust stud gouging into my arm.

 

Things to do :

 

- Exhaust

- Work on the stock mags and if my idea sucks then ...

- 15 inch RB's or speedmax xxr's  ( I got my reasons for the 15's )

- Going to try  to make a fibreglass cold air intake.

 

[modular9]

well more work done ...

 

First of all I finally got rid of the wheezy exhaust. 1.75 inch + stock manifold + holes bigger than a dogs arse on a thundery night...

 

Old one --> New one --->

 

6 into 2 into 1 headers into a full 2.5inch system . I have a str muffler ( looking through the muffler it looks like a very stretched s ) and a resonator at the end with a slash cut end to it. NO chrome! 

 

I also got the exhaust fellas to flatten the exhaust over the diff area and the exhaust is in fact closer to the body than the 1.75 incher.

 

At this point i'd like to say that the service/speed/install at "bowen hills exhaust and car care" on abbotsford rd Brisbane was top notch. Plus the price was very very good. ( no I dont work for them !)

 

Vid of the exhaust note to come soon . And yes the triples are running a wee bit rich.