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Hi guys, Sorry, I'm sure this has been done but I'm having no luck finding the info here or via google. Simple question with hopefully a simple answer. How do I tell if an L28 is an N42 or F54 block (are there other possibilities)? I assume/hope it's cast into the block but where? Thanks.

What a difference a couple of weeks make. I'm feeling much more positive about this poject now. I still can't do anything for about 6 months as I'm about to buy a new daily driver (current lease is up in 8 weeks and I'm not re leasing but buying new outright. On the upside the new car will be capable of towing the 240Z around to have work/paint done). I think I may have been approaching this wrong. I initially wanted to do the VH41 swap as I've never own a V8 and at 36 years young this is likely to be my last project car and hence last chance. The RTA rules and regs have thrown that out the window, it's not impossible but too much work and anguish for too little gain IMO. So I naturally turned to an RB swap. Reliability and power, modernise a few other things and I'd have a 240Z like Nissan should made instead of the 350Z (I owned a 350Z when they were first released, sold it as I wanted a sports car). The 240Z will never be a daily driver for me, just a weekend cruiser and track car so why not just have some fun? I've got time to ponder things before I start but I'm thinking why do an engine swap at all? Why not build up a hot streetable L6? The RB engine, freshen up, box, mods, engineering etc was easily going to run me $10k. That'd build a fine little L series, maybe even a 3.1 stroker. Nice lumpy cam, nothing too crazy, triple carbs, real old school build. Possibly best of all, far less engineering hassle. My car before the 350Z was an MX-5 with a custom turbo putting out 165 kw at the wheels. The weight was around the same as the 240Z should be and it was a lot of fun. I think similar power should be possible from a built L series? I've also got a second one of those Jada 1:24 models so I have one on my desk at home and one on my desk here at work now. Serves as a little reminder of what I have waiting to be done.

Yeah I'm keeping it. I've decided that every time I spend a dollar on something other than necessities I'm going to put the same amount into a savings account for the Zed. That should help with the money side of things. As for being drivable, she is, That's the only thing that I've done since getting her. Bit of minor work and getting her registered. I am thinking about adding an electric fuel pump. I driver her so infrequently that the fuel in the line evaporates and the mechanical pump needs a lot of engine cranking to draw the fuel back up to the carbs. Hopefully an electirc pump feeding the mechanical one will help with that and give me easier starts. I might then driver her a bit more. Think I'll go and watch Mull's videos again. They're always inspriational

Buying one already done isn't an option as I know there'll be one and probably several little things that'll annoy me as they're not how I wanted or how I would've done it etc. mrp69 I'll let you know but don't hold your breath just yet. I don't think I'll be selling. Just need to get this project at work finished then look at regrouping and tackling this head on. I think I'll just start collecting the parts I know I'll need for the rebuild. Once the weather warms up I'll look at driving her to work a few days a week as well.

Therein lies part of my problem. I don't want to just fix this bit and this bit, I want to do a complete ground up rebuild and driveline swap. There's very little that I could do that that wouldn't be a waste of time and/or money in the long term as I'd end up redoing it. To do it right IMO (and I've never done it before. Past cars have been a bit at a time upgrade) I need to fully pull it down to a shell. Fix any rust and straighten out the dings. Swap in the new driveline (Was going to go VH41 but it's looking way too dificult to get a manual box bolted up and the engine mounted without chassis mods that would pass an engineer and RTA rules so I'm looking at the easier RB26 swap) so the mods and strengthening and stiffening can all be finished before painting etc. Replace/retrim interior. Rewire all electrics. Put new driveline in again. Upgrade suspension and brakes. All the other little bits and pieces. A loan isn't a bad idea (well it is but you kow what I mean) but I know I can't get the time ATM. Maybe by Xmas but I also have an 8 week road trip scheduled for around this time next year so need to save as much leave as possible for that. Hopefully once this project is out of the way things will be calmer at work and I'll find a way. I know I'll hate myself if I sell now. It took 2 months of daily searching to find in the first place so it's unlikely I'll find another easily or in the same condition. Prices have also gone up in the 2 years since I bought her. I think it's just a case of the tunnel being so long I can't see any light at the end with the added pressure of work being so hard ATM. I won't give up yet.

Don't mind me, just venting really. Coming up to 2 years of Zed ownership at the end of Oct. Original plan was to be wrapping up the project about then yet I haven't even started. In fact I rearely even get to driver her. Took her out today but that was just to drive to work and back and that was the first time in maybe 3 months. Works been hard the past couple of years. A year ago I was looking at losing my job during a takeover but I was kept on. Since then however work has been flat out as the new owners invest in the buiness and get things progressing again. That's great both for myself and the business but it's left me with no time to commit to the project and no time has meant no motivation which has made it difficult to put money aside for a project that I can't see happening yet and maybe at all. So the last few months I've been sitting here thinking about the money I have tied up in the car that I could be using elsewhere, wondering if I've bit off more than I can chew and questioning if I should sell and forget about it. Of course then I look at the beautiful lines of the car or see a pic of one looking like what I know mine could end up like and I decide to carry on. Anyway just had to drop by and vent a bit. We'll see what time brings.

OK Zedman, all yours if you want it. PM me and we'll work it out.

If Jimbo isn't interested I don't have a problem. I don't need it so if someone can put it to use then great.

Not a great pic but you get the idea:

OK, so today I dropped the oil. It doesn't appear to have water in it but it did have a little something in it so the flush won't hurt. The oil was from the workshop and was something I hadn't used before. Can't recall the brand now, starts with an H? Don't like it's appearence or consistency so won't use that again. Also cleaned up the mess and then took her for a run out to Windsor and back. No problem at all. No signs of any leaks, drips or sprays and fuel economy is much improved LOL. Hopefully that's it. I'll take her for another run tomorrow if I get a chance, if not I might driver her to work through the week. The stop start traffic would be a good test for the cooling system etc anyway. EDIT: Oh and thanks to all for your ideas and suggestions.

No worries. May not get to it until the weekend, having a busy week

No it doesn't. I have a theory but won't be able to prove it. Regardless I'm going to change the oil and monitor it. Hopefully it's all OK.

Don't know why I didn't think of this myself. Speaing to a mate this morning and he believes the reason it's sticky and black is the fuel has stripped some of the under bonnet sprayed on insulator away. You can see where it's white in one of the pics. It had a missing patch before so I can't say how much it's changed but the theory is this stuff is old and likely to be bituman based. Fuel sprays onto it and softens/strips it. It then gets blown around and drips down etc looking like oil. Also explains why it's sticky. I'm feeling better about this not being such a major issue.

Thanks Zedman240, I'll check the carb size on the weekend but as it runs OK and I'll be swapping the engine long term I don't think I'll bother changing them at this stage. So what's the normal size for an L26? nat0_240_chevZ, I'll chek that out, thanks. I'm going to degrease the whole thing this weekend anyway. Thanks for the tip about the baby powder. Nice idea

I haven't but my mate may have as signs of an oil leak aren't something you want during blue slip inspection. There was a leak around the oil pressure switch which is near the dipstick so he may have hit the area to clean it up after it was fixed. I'll have to check. If it's not that shouldn't the water level in the rad drop or show signs of oil? Mini carbs hey? Stupid question probably but 1.5" where? I'm more of a EFI guy. Runs OK IMO but the only other Zeds I've been in were either modified or in pretty bad shape (those that ran at all) when I was shopping around for mine so maybe it should be better.

Well the whole car smells a bit like fuel ATM so it's hard to tell. It's certainly not like what oil looks/feels like out of the sump. I initially thought oil because what's been thrown around is black but as I said earlier it's sticky and was right from the start, but fuel evaporates and it could be just leaving behind what it's collected. The only thing worrying me here is that there's no residue on the fan or belt. That could be because my theory is wrong or it could be because the fuel was thrown off and the rest had evaporated by the time I thought of it. My other concern is that the disptick shows a thin light grey oil, not brown or gold or black like I'd expect. It looks like water contamination to me but I'm no expert. I should be able to tell for sure once I dump it.

Yeah I know. Everything looks OK but I'll check all bolts etc. I'll also run some hose from that barb on the float chamber to the air cleaner. There's a port on the cleaner which isn't connected so this must be where it's supposed to connect to. Going to speak to a few people through the week and if anyone has any further suggestions I'd appreciate it. At this stage my plan is to next weekend, drop the oil and refill with fresh so that I know it's at the right level and also check if there is any contamination as I still think it's consistency is too watery. Complete degrease to help spot any leaks then do laps of the neighbourhood to get it up to temp and basically see what happens. I'm thinking that maybe something warps once it's at full temp and then starts to leak hence it not leaking with it just running for a minute while cold. The fuel leak was significant and most of it would've ended up down on the pulleys and with the direction they rotate would've been thrown up and to the left so I'm hoping that's "all" it is. Does fuel pressure rise with revs on carb engines or is it static? if it does increase, given the maount that it was leaking at idle it would've been a fountain at driving speed. I'm probably a bit lucky. Thanks for the suggestions so far.

OK, so I put a couple of litres of oil in and started her up. No sign of oil leaking or spraying anywhere that I could find but didn't want to run her for too long without knowing what's going on. Also no bubbles in the rad. I did find a fairly significant fuel leak however and fixed that so at least that's something. Hmmm. just thought of something. This fuel leak was right at the front of the engine, just after what I assume is the regulator so it was squirting onto the front of the engine and down on to the belt etc. Is it possible that what I'm seeing is actually fuel that's collected dirt/grease/oil from the front of the engine then been thrown around the engine bay by the belt/fan? It is really sticky as opposed to just slimy. The fuel leak might also explain the engine dieing suddenly if pressure dropped enough right?

I have one, at least I think it's one. Problem is the top plastic shift pattern has multiple cracks in it so it's not very good condition. If you think you might be interested regardless let me know and I'll grab some pics.

OK, pics are up. I won't insert them here as I've left them largish so things can be made out so I'll provide links instead. Left side of the engine. Fairly stock AFAIK. Right side of the engine. You can see the left hand front corner and how dirty it is from the oil. Under the bonnet. You can see how the oil is at the front and left side. Left side guard. It used to be fairly clean. Another angle of the mess at the front left. Left side of the firewall. You cans ee the oil has even made it back here. Outside front left corner of the bonnet. I'd started to clean it up already here but you get the picture. How does oil end up here? This pic I will insert. Should either of these barbs go anywhere? They're the only ones that don't have hose on them but as they're to do with the carbs I don't think they could be related to this issue. BTW Can anyone ID the type of carb?

I've just been out having another look and can't ID the source. For it to be up under the bonnet etc it has to be a leak up high right and not down around the block right? Breather isn't blocked off, it feeds to the stock air cleaner and disptick is in place (but that's the other side of the engine bay anyway). No oil in rad BUT oil level has dropped a lot (no surprise really) but what's left appears very watery in appearence (water level in rad hasn't dropped). All fluids and filters were replaced this past week so any contamination is a symptom of the problem. At this stage my next step unless someone has other ideas is to top up the oil and start the engine as it's clearly only coming out under pressure (there's drip trays under it and they're dry). Issue there is I don't think it's a problem that will appear quickly. I'll check if the radiator bubbles while it's running (sign of a head/gasket issue right?). I grabbed some pics earlier so Ill resize those and get them up as well.

1 day into being registered and first problem. Decided I'd take the 240Z out for a little run this morning just to check for any problems as she hasn't been driving other than to or from the workshop. So headed out, all well, then after cruising along in 5th at an indicated 80km/h for about 15min the engine dies. First sign of trouble. Restarted while still rolling with no trouble and all gauges are reading normal. I immediately turn around and head for home just in case and I'm glad I did. There's clearly been an oil spray under the bonnet but I can't see a source. There's oil over a lot of the passenger side inside fender and underneath the bonnet itself. Few other spots but clearly where it's dripped down from being on the bonnet. Weird thing is (maybe not, don't know much about aerodynamics) is that there's oil starting from the very front left corner of the bonnet all the way back to the firewall. Even some on the outside. Whereever it's come from it must be in front of the engine or at least pointing forward as it's only hit the bonnet at that point, ie nothing over the engine itself. I've only driven her 3 times before this and there's been no issues so I'm thinking it's related to the sustained cruining speed. I'm waiting for her to cool down and I'll check for oil in the rad but I'd appreciate any suggestions of where and what to look for as engines really aren't my thing past maintenance and theory on how it all works. Thanks.

I'm in Sydney, Hills District. Just got my 240Z registered this morning. I'd be interested in meeting up but my schedule usually works against me but if I see something I can make, I will.

I haven't been around here all that much but 16.5 months ago I bought a '73 complied 240Z with an L26 in it. I was and still am planning a full rebuild and engine/driveline swap but so far time and money haven't aligned themselves. So week before last while I was on leave I decided to at least get her on the road the way she is so I can get to enjoy driving her until I'm ready to start the big project. So after a bit of a clean up, new battery, fresh fuel, couple of new tyres, rear springs (they'd been cut and wouldn't have pased) and all new fluids and filters she passed blue slip first go and this morning I registered her Won't be a daily driver but the occasional weekend run should help remind me why I bought her and get me motivated to get the real project underway. No doubt I'll be around more now, probably with some stupid noob questions as I'm not familiar with Datsuns or older cars all that much, but I love the way she looks and I'm sure I'll enjoy having a sports car again.

Thanks all, I'll sort it out soon. Won't have to take it out again for a while now anyway. BTW I was surprised to find that it's a LSD and not an open diff as I expected. Perhaps it's not a R180? I might grab a pic and get some opinions later. All went to plan this morning so she's now registered and wearing plates. I'll go for a run early tomorrow morning to make sure she's reliable before I sit in peak hour traffic.