ukcats07 Posted December 9, 2013 Share Posted December 9, 2013 So the last motor I had in the Z cracked due to my stupidity. I thought that I had drained all the water out of the block before last winter and well that was a dumb assumption. I should have just filled the entire system with anti-freeze and left it until I was ready to work on it again. Six freeze plugs on the floor later...Oh well, live and learn the hard way. I went ahead and purchased a 1975 mexican longblock through S&J engines out of Seattle (through O'reilly for the warranty and military discount) and a T5 as well. Worked through the thanksgiving break to get the motor back together and back in the Z and broke in the cam this past week. Here's a video of me driving around the block. First time in the 7 years I've owned the car that I've been able to drive it! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
samwise2009 Posted December 9, 2013 Share Posted December 9, 2013 That's awesome! I'm thinking about getting a 240z and want to put a 302 or bigger in it Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thedarkie Posted December 11, 2013 Share Posted December 11, 2013 Good job! Did you hook up the speedo yet, or have any plans on tackling that? Its the only thing in my car that doesn't work... 302 with a T5 also. I have the speedo pickup blocked off so oil doesnt gush out. Was thinking about just going with a GPS speedometer... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ukcats07 Posted December 11, 2013 Author Share Posted December 11, 2013 Good job! Did you hook up the speedo yet, or have any plans on tackling that? Its the only thing in my car that doesn't work... 302 with a T5 also. I have the speedo pickup blocked off so oil doesnt gush out. Was thinking about just going with a GPS speedometer... Actually around 0:45 to 0:55 I'm testing out the speedo. It works. I combined the Ford end and the Datsun end for my cable, but I have heard that a straight datsun cable will work. I didn't really check it against a GPS speedo but it seemed about the right speed driving around base housing. It's -6 outside, with snow on the ground, and has been in the teens during the daytime the past week so I haven't been able to drive around at all. I'm also working out a pretty good exhaust leak on the driver's side header. I went ahead and had the driver's side header milled flat and I'm now awaiting a set of Percy's dead soft aluminum gaskets before I reinstall. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ukcats07 Posted December 11, 2013 Author Share Posted December 11, 2013 Here's some more engine porn before I started her up....I'll post a video of it as soon as I get the exhaust leak fixed and the snow is off the ground. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ukcats07 Posted December 12, 2013 Author Share Posted December 12, 2013 Well the snow isn't gone yet, but I went ahead and took it around the block anyway. Header gasket arrived and between that and the header being milled, I fixed the exhaust leak. Unfortunately my thermostat housing has sprung a leak....never fails, fix one thing and another problem springs up. Here's the video of idle in the driveway. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ask92 Posted December 12, 2013 Share Posted December 12, 2013 Wow looks very clean! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thedarkie Posted December 13, 2013 Share Posted December 13, 2013 (edited) Looks great man, gonna be a chore to keep that white engine bay clean though haha mine is dark blue but I already wish it were black. I couldn't tell from the quick glimpse in the video but that shifter looks like mine. Here's a tip: use thread-lock on the shift stops… my 4th gear stop worked itself loose and forward one day, locking me into 3rd. It was an interesting drive back home! So is the pickup on your T5 speedo mechanical or electrical? I have no idea what parts I need to get, gonna need to research it… right now its just an empty hole on the top of the trans. Edited December 13, 2013 by thedarkie Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ukcats07 Posted December 14, 2013 Author Share Posted December 14, 2013 Trust me, I immediately regretted painting the bay white. I was just trying out the rustoleum appliance epoxy and it looked so good I kept it. I also sprayed some spraymax 2k clear coat on top of the epoxy. It's not perfect but looks okay from 8-10 feet lol. I wish you had given me the tip about the Loctite like three days ago lol. I already siliconed the rubber boot on and there's no way I'm pulling that off until I have to. Oh well I'll cross that bridge when I have to. I guess I got lucky with the thermostat housing, the bolts were just a little loose. Tightened them up and no leaks after warm-up. Now I just need to figure out the carb as I'm running a little rich atm. Haven't tried a baseline tune yet, so I'll be starting there first. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ukcats07 Posted January 2, 2014 Author Share Posted January 2, 2014 Well I'm just going to keep posting in this thread because it's easy and I'm too lazy to start a build thread right now. Here's an update on the car and motor for those that care: Carb was flooding the motor. After sitting for so long I'm pretty sure the gaskets in the Holley 4160 shrunk and were letting gas through. The leak was internal and I could not see it on the manifold and it took me a little bit to realize the oil smelled like fuel. The clues were there, I just didn't put it together for a few days. Changed the oil and put some ATF in the cylinders---I really hope I didn't jack up my cylinder walls with the fuel washing them down. It runs pretty darn good though, so I'm not too worried right now. Took it out today and tried to get the rings seated. Man this thing is quick! Had some fun in first through third up to 60mph or so on an Idaho back road...otherwise known as the main road here. She ran awesome. Some surging at the end of the run, but I'll chock that up to the idle mixture screws not being turned out the same number of turns on each side. More of a reason for me to buy the AFR meter I've been wanting.. Here's a video of my buddy driving the car while I nervously sat in the passenger seat..jk Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ukcats07 Posted January 31, 2014 Author Share Posted January 31, 2014 Here are a few updates since the last time I posted. -Added another fuel filter after the pressure gauge and before the carb inlet. Looks a lot cleaner and the clear filter gives me peace of mind. -Had both headers milled flat and ceramic coated. A local guy here in Mountain Home did them for me for $100...a steal really. -I wasn't satisfied with the non-adjustable rail style rocker arms I have so I purchased the comp cams 4610 kit. This kit is basically a thick washer and locknut that allows the non-adjustable rocker arms to be fully adjustable. I cut up an old set of valve covers and adjusted the valves while the engine was running. Man did this make a difference! Vacuum steadied out considerably and is now fairly stable around 16in (I'm at 3000ft elevation so the vacuum makes sense for my location). -Cut out the towncar-esque muffler and put in a summit street-strip muffler. The audio in the video below doesn't do this muffler justice. The exhaust note is EXACTLY what I wanted and sounds great in person. -thedarkie you jinxed me with the shifter! I had the 2nd and 4th stop come loose and lock me out of the bottom gears. Luckily you warned me of this and I didn't really freak out thinking my new T5 was trash. -Made the motor purdy. Put some new valve covers and an 11" K&N filter setup on the car. -Even with Brian Laine's TachMatch setup, I still needed a 470ohm resistor inline from the Tach output on the HEI distributor to the tachmatch input. I used a potentiometer to determine the lowest resistor value needed to keep the tach from bouncing around. I found that anything between 2500 and 470ohm gave the desired results. Anything above 2500 caused the tach needle to be way less than the actual RPM. Oh and here's some pics and a video for your viewing pleasure! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thedarkie Posted February 10, 2014 Share Posted February 10, 2014 I guess the shift stops working loose is more common than I thought!! I shat my pants when it happened The swap looks awesome man. Question: what kinda oil pan are you using? Mine is dual sump and the front sump drain bolt is virtually up against the support frame and inaccessible. Im toying with the idea of changing pans but don't know what would fit... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thedarkie Posted February 10, 2014 Share Posted February 10, 2014 Oh and BTW keep us updated on the tach. Mine bounces occasionally with the tachmatch installed, but it seems so sporadic. Works fine 85% of the time...then while driving it just goes bonkers. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ukcats07 Posted August 2, 2014 Author Share Posted August 2, 2014 Oh and BTW keep us updated on the tach. Mine bounces occasionally with the tachmatch installed, but it seems so sporadic. Works fine 85% of the time...then while driving it just goes bonkers. Will do. Life has somewhat gotten in the way for the past few months. I had a one month and then two month long training course that pulled me away from the car and then a move to Texas. Since being here though I've been able to strip the interior and POR-15 the floor pan, put new sound deadener down and home depot carpet. Turned out better than I thought it would. I plan on daily driving this car within the next month...can't wait! I've owned the car for the past 8 years and I've only driven it two or three times. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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