Leaderboard

1. XR500 pistons were popular here in Australia in rally 4 cylinder engines back in the 80's. I knew a few guys that ran them, have no idea what they used for rods or how they made them work though. 2. Depends on the thickness of the piston crown for both options. Depending on your setup (valve sizes, cam lift, etc) you may need both. Ideally you'd mock it up and check valve to piston clearance. I run L28 flat tops in an L18 and would have had just enough clearance with a 72 degree cam, but I put valve reliefs in the pistons anyway in case I moved to a higher lift cam at any stage. 3. See point 2, depends on specs for piston 4. Should do 5. Ultrasonic tester is cheap from China. Mine set me back $60 or so, and they were Australian $$ so not many USD at all. Or strip it down and take it to a machine shop to get measured up. I'd do this first, before buying pistons (or anything really....). I've seen people say they needed to go thru a stack of blocks to find one that would go that big. 6. Can't see why it would be. Will .25mm be enough (depending on whether its a press fit pin or fully floating) to allow for any misalignment / movement. Of course, depends on the rod itself and how easy it would be to remove metal. I can have a look if you want, have a set of Maxpeeding FJ20 rods in the shed. Keep in mind for your budgeting that you'll almost certainly need to buy 2 sets of FJ20 rods, doubt you'll be able to buy just 2 to make a set of 6. Plus I'm not sure where you get FJ20 rods with 21mm small end ? I still reckon its a lot of messing around for not a lot of benefit given your engine goals when L28 rods and flat tops would do the trick. I understand what you're trying to achieve, I love tinkering and messing round, just trying to be devil's advocate

Thought i'd jump on this. I've often wondered how a modified/chopped 280zx 2+2 would look (Makes me sad the 2-seater wasn't sold here...). In the end i think it would make more sense to just import a 2 seater. I did have a go at photoshopping a 260 2+2 though . I haven't put the extensive thought that RBZ 260 has in to his, but I'm sure with enough time & money you could manage it . Mod List: - Modified roofline - Lowered - Deleted rear bumper - Custom front spoiler - Tinted windows - Awesome lense flare Thanks to RBZ for the source image.

I have read that post and a few others and i am split between working on my L24 or going out a buying a L28 and modifying that. I really want to retain the stock look with the SU carbs. If i can find a L28 for a reasonable price I want to build the long rod bottom end that I can then build off of down the road. This year i want to build the bottom end and get it in the car running and on a dyno with my cleaned up SU carbs and a head that i port myself. If i get to 200hp then i have achieved success on my own. If i get 150hp i will be happy, but after a year or two send the carbs to Z therapy, or send the head out to get rebuild, new cam, port and polish. Right now i am looking for advice / info to build the bottom end. 1) Does anyone have experience running XR500 pistons or FJ20 Rods, what did they do and how did they do it? 2) Do i need to cut valve reliefs in the piston or will turning them down to 28.5mm compression height work? 3) Is the top land thick enough for this, or go with a thicker head gasket? 4) Will the standard XR500 piston rings work? 5) Is it really that hard to bore out the F54 block to 89mm and still have a cylinder wall thickness of 3mm (0.120")? 6) Is it hard to remove 0.25mm from each side of the small end of the con rod to make them fit into the XR500 Pistons? These are the pistons and rods i want to purchase. https://www.cmsnl.com/honda-xl500s-1980-a-usa_model1145/piston-kit-std-non_06131429003p/ https://www.maxpeedingrods.com/product/steel-engine-connecting-rods-conrods-for-nissan-fj20-21mm-pin.html?search=fj20 The car currently has the Subaru STI R180 Diff with CV joints, 1983 280ZX turbo Trans, a 123 ignition distributer, a lumpy cam in the E88 head of unknown specs. I did all of this over the year by myself even though I have mostly stuck to small engines like dirt bikes, snowmobiles, and am looking for a new challenge. I also need to install new engine mounts as I have a tone of rear wheal hop, any recommendation?