Jump to content
HybridZ

RyanT67's 240Z


Recommended Posts

Yeah, I asked around a fair bit and the two shops I am choosing between this time are the real deal.  After the headache last time I wasn't taking any chances - I'm still sore about the work they did, and their terrible attitude.  

I've actually been toying with just having the whole car repainted while these guys are at it.  I could make it easy for them my removing the fenders, hood, cowl, hatch, lights, weatherstripping, etc, then just put it all back together myself afterwards.  The prep work on the rest of the car probably wouldn't be too labour intensive, so maybe I'd be looking at an extra $3-4k.  I'm not sure it's worth it though, and I'm not exactly flush with cash.  

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I agree with what Madkaw said. I've read on here that the rear panel available is apparently flat side to side, while the original is curved. No good. Your rear panel isn't that bad anyway. I would think a decent body guy could hammer that out, and custom make whatever is needed for the exhaust cutout.

 

Is blending the new paint with the old an option vs repainting the whole rear end? I wouldn't think it would be too hard with your color. But then again, I know nothing about painting.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Things are working through with insurance, and the body shop I'll be using seems game for me to do as much prep as possible and give me a good price on painting the rest of the car while they are at it.  We'll see how things pan out, but fingers crossed.  The plan is basically for me to remove all the lights, trim, bumpers, windows, etc, and then tow the car up to them and drop off all the loose panels fenders, air dam, etc.  Then they can easily do the prep work on the loose panels, then hang and paint them.  The body paint is pretty much limited to the roof and rear quarters, which would be required by the repair, and thus covered under insurance.  

In other news, my fuel pump crapped out today.  The Holley Red pump I put in when I bought the car lasted me a little under 5 years - to be expected I suppose, since it's dead headed at the carbs.  Hoping I can easily source another one locally and be up and running asap.  Worst case scenario, I just grab one off Amazon or Summit and pay for the 2 day shipping.  

I'll be heading to the Armdrop Drag Racing event in Picton, Ontario next weekend, weather permitting.  They'll have a dyno there on-site, so I might throw the car on and see how it performs - be nice to have a baseline before I do my head and camshaft swap :)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 4 weeks later...

Got the go ahead from insurance and I'm just waiting for the body shop to give me a shout when they are ready to do the work. Enjoying driving the car in the meantime anyway.

 

Didn't make it to the Armdrop event, so no dyno run. That said, there will be a mobile dyno at the local track this Friday, so it might happen then.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Got my E88 head back from the machine shop and the flow data isn't quite as good as I was hoping for, but it's still decent.

 

I had the shop flow test the ported E88 and also an unported E88 I happened to also have laying around. This way I could compare the numbers on the ported head against a (mostly) stock head. The unported E88 has been modified with the same L28 size valves as the ported head though, so it's flow figures are probably a bit above stock, which could potentially make the ported flow increase look a little smaller.

 

Keep in mind that the flow figures were measured at 25", so they will seem a bit lower than what you typically see, since most places measure at 28". At .550 it looks like a gain of 12% on the intake and 15% on the exhaust. Nothing huge.

 

I'm now torn between a few choices:

 

A] Call the ported E88 good enough, set it up with the new camshaft and run it. Sell the Whitehead Performance ported N42 that's on the engine right now.

 

B] Stick with the Whitehead Performance ported N42 that's on the engine right now and swap the new camshaft into it. Sell the E88.

 

C] Send one of my stock heads (or even the ported E88) to Slover's or Rebello and have them work their magic. Sell what I have to help fund this work.

 

My horsepower goals aren't crazy though, 225whp would be nice. Anything above that is a bonus. What I already have might be capable of that much.

 

Anyway, that's enough rambling for now... :P

 

The attached images are of the ported E88, its flow figures, and I threw in a couple showing a felpro L28 head gasket laying on it - looks like it's been opened up right out to the ring.

post-29570-0-01992300-1496601522_thumb.jpg

post-29570-0-16959900-1496601565_thumb.jpg

post-29570-0-83831100-1496601742_thumb.jpg

post-29570-0-70353900-1496601758_thumb.jpg

post-29570-0-58117000-1496601776_thumb.jpg

post-29570-0-04399400-1496601790_thumb.jpg

post-29570-0-74964200-1496601817_thumb.jpg

post-29570-0-87169700-1496601848_thumb.jpg

post-29570-0-98492700-1496601865_thumb.jpg

post-29570-0-11215900-1496601884_thumb.jpg

post-29570-0-80060900-1496601912_thumb.jpg

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Yeah, there is nothing to lose by at least seeing what the N42 is capable of. After all, I could always swap the cam, rocker arms and such over to another head if the N42 isn't cutting it.

 

Pity about that E88 though, it looked like such a nice head!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Not sure, as it's an engine I bought from a fellow Z car club member, who bought it from another Z car club member. It popped up for sale a couple of years back right when my old engine spun a bearing, so it was as quick way to get the 240Z back on the road.

 

I have no paperwork for it, and neither does the guy I bought it from. That said, he did indicate that it was running at 10:1 compression and he had some pinging that he couldn't tune out, so he swapped out the 1mm head gasket for a 1.5mm Kameari one to get it down to around 9.5:1 compression. So I would suspect it's about the stock N42 cc, 44.6, or maybe a teeny bit more. I'd rather not pull the head solely to examine the combustion chamber when it has that expensive head gasket on there and cylinder compression tests great.

 

Apparently this engine put down 188hp at the wheels while running SU carbs. I've seen the dyno sheet for that. All I know from my own personal experience is that I'm running high 14s/low 15s in the quarter mile with it, and that suggests I'm not putting down too much power - or I'm a truly terribly driver.

 

I emailed Whitehead Performance in Toronto, who put the engine together for its original owner, and they suggested that their ported heads generally see flow increases of around 25% on the intake side and 40% on the exhaust. That seems pretty optimistic. I like the guys at Whitehead, but they generally strike me as one of those shops that make outlandish claims.

 

It currently has a .460 lift Crane camshaft in it, with 262 272 duration. The camshaft I have will be .535 lift and around 270-280 duration I think.

 

Wish I had the income to just write a check to Rebello and be done with it. It would save a lot of this farting around with used parts I'm doing. Haha, but I guess I'm learning in the process.

Edited by ryant67
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Have you considered getting another short block and putting together another motor and just swapping. Short blocks are usually very usable regardless of miles and a cheapy felpro gasket . It's probably the same amount of work or less to swap an entire motor than a head swap.

Another thought, if the 42 head is still open(chambers not welded up), then you might get away with a bit more on the the semi open e88. Run the e88 with a bigger cam and less timing and might be better off.

Decisions!!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Have you considered getting another short block and putting together another motor and just swapping. Short blocks are usually very usable regardless of miles and a cheapy felpro gasket . It's probably the same amount of work or less to swap an entire motor than a head swap.

Another thought, if the 42 head is still open(chambers not welded up), then you might get away with a bit more on the the semi open e88. Run the e88 with a bigger cam and less timing and might be better off.

Decisions!!

 

I dunno about that, swapping heads is pretty damn easy on these things!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Ryan, one of the only reasons I could justify paying so much for that 1.5mm Kameari head gasket was that it is steel and I was assured that it can be re used multiple times with no sealing problems.

Pop the head off and measure it otherwise it's just guessing.

 

I'm the fellow Z club member who sold Ryan the engine, I still regret it.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Good to know, Chris. Thanks! Did they suggest any prep work before reusing it?

 

If I could get the shop that measured the other two heads to measure the N42 quickly, it would be good. He's crazy busy though, and it took him 6 weeks to get around to measuring last time. I guess I could just wait until the off season, then it wouldn't mean losing drive time. Or find a different shop that can test all three heads with a quick turn around time. If neither the N42 or E88 seem particularly strong, then give Slover's a call.

 

On the positive side of things, the weather looks like it will be great on Friday, so I should be able to dyno the car as it sits while at the track that night :)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Whitehead said to put a smear of Permetex Black Ultra on both sides of the HG, now I was taught to never ever use anything on a HG but this was the first all steel one I had used so you will find sealant on both sides, Scotchbrite should take it off.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Got bored today and had a little free time, so I whipped up a simple shroud to cover the wiring underneath my fuse/relay box. I just used some spare aluminium sheet metal I had laying around, cutting to size and bending into shape on my coffee table, haha. Reckon it tidies up the look of the engine bay a little, so not bad for $0 and a half hour of time :)

 

Before, after, and some extra shots of the shroud.

post-29570-0-39651900-1496977505_thumb.jpg

post-29570-0-98056400-1496977530_thumb.jpg

post-29570-0-83582000-1496977562_thumb.jpg

post-29570-0-50950300-1496977610_thumb.jpg

post-29570-0-60994700-1496977635_thumb.jpg

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...

I wasn't entirely happy with how I had my triple carb air filter set up, so I reworked it today.

 

Issues with the old setup:

1] Filter was 65mm internal height, and thus too deep to remove from the car without also removing the air horns. PITA!

2] I wasn't cleaning it as often as needed due to the above.

3] It was mounted solely on grommets, which were secured to the air horns. It would often shimmy its way down the air horns and then I wouldn't have the proper clearance over the air horn mouth - ITG states an absolute minimum of 19mm.

 

I thought about ordering one of the carbon fibre "trumpet trays" from Reverie in the UK, but ultimately decided against it - too snug at the base where the air horns mount, I didn't want CF in my engine bay, and it hid the gorgeous air horns a little too much for my liking.

 

So it was do-it-yourself time again. My solution was to stick with the grommet mounting solution, but to develop it a bit further. I created an additional plate that mounts onto the carbs, onto which standoffs are attached. These standoffs in turn hold the ITG filter backplate 60mm from the carbs. The air horns are 75mm long, so the ITG backplate being held 60mm from the carbs means that only 15mm of the air horn protrudes into the air filter. I have switched from the 65mm internal height filter to the 40mm one, so this leaves me with 25mm clearance between the mouth of the air horns and the filter itself. That works!

 

The ITG backplate pushes against the standoffs with enough pressure to hold it quite rigid as well, so there is next to no movement of the filter, and zero chance of it shimmying down the air horns.

 

The additional materials are all aluminum as well, so the added weight was maybe 100g total.

 

With the shallower air filter I can now remove the filter in about 2 minutes, with most of the time required being the removal of the strut brace.

 

Not bad at all :)

post-29570-0-85441900-1497926234_thumb.jpg

post-29570-0-31762500-1497926238_thumb.jpg

post-29570-0-62323200-1497926242_thumb.jpg

post-29570-0-91324000-1497926246_thumb.jpg

post-29570-0-46844800-1497926251_thumb.jpg

post-29570-0-64925500-1497926255_thumb.jpg

post-29570-0-98606300-1497926259_thumb.jpg

post-29570-0-26047000-1497926264_thumb.jpg

post-29570-0-89367800-1497926268_thumb.jpg

Edited by ryant67
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

×
×
  • Create New...