HizAndHerz

First, thanks for the help so for. My brain has tuned to mush over this. Now I am assuming that the optimum piston to head clearance is 0.030" to 0.040". That works out perfectly with milled KA24E pistons with 33.5mm pin height and a 1mm head gasket. Please check my data above and tell me if this is all reasonable. Paul, from what I've seen, there's at least 3 L28 engine calculators out there. All of them seem to use data from "How To Modify..." which I think contains errors. The programs aren't bad, just the data. I've seen the stock L28 rod length specified as 130.2, 130.35 and 130.4 in different sources. I modified one of the online calculators with the data from here: http://zhome.com/ZCMnL/tech/128combo.html I'm going to go through the calculations by hand and see if it matches my modified code. EDIT: I can't come up with 0.020" deck height calcualting it by hand or with the online calculator. Can anyone spot erroneous data? By hand, here's what I calculate: Deck Height = Pin Height + Rod Length + Stroke/2 - Block Height 0.0031" = 0.08mm = 38.1 + 130.35 + (79/2) - 207.87 My version of the online calculator comes up with the same result for a flattops + Maxima N47 + 1mm gasket engine:

Wow, right. I need a thinner headgasket. I deal with numbers everyday as a EE, you'd think I could wrap my head around this. Here's the data:

I knew I was going to make a big boo-boo with all those numbers in that post. Actually, I'm going for 0.8mm piston to head clearance (0.031"). With a 1mm head gasket, that would require -0.13mm deck height. I edited my post to reflect that.

I need some info I haven't found by searching and I'm trying to get my stroker block put together this week. EDIT: I managed to get myself totally confused by reading too many posts and articles with conficting data. I think I am on the right track with the following: I'm going for ~0.8mm piston to head clearance (0.031") with a 1mm head gasket. Deck height with KA24E pistons shaved flat (0.5mm) is 0.13mm. With a 1mm head gasket, the clearance should be 0.87mm (0.0343"). Questions: Does this amount of clearance reasonable? Does the clearance need to be smaller to optimize quench? After assembling the engine and measuring the actual deck height, what is the best way to adjust piston clearance? Getting the block milled or using a thicker or thinner head gasket? What are my head gasket options? Do Kameari and Tomei still make gaskets in 0.1mm increments? I believe that Kameari also make a 0.8mm gasket. This is a N/A street car so a $250 gasket is overkill, IMO. Who sells HKS headgaskets? I realize that these questions could be answered by the machine shop, but I don't have much experience in dealing with them. Better to go in a little more educated, yes? BTW, the build is for a N/A street car: F54 bored to 89mm V07 crank with L24 rods w/9mm bolts KA24E cast pistons shaved to 33.5mm (no dish) Unshaved P90 head (mild port and polish) .450/280/280 cam (for now) 6-2-1 headers to 2.5" exhaust JSK rail with 330cc/min injectors Ported intake w/60mm TB Thanks in advance for your expertise!

An update to this old post. I replaced the alternator/fan belt today and decided to go with a slightly smaller belt since the alternator was only 1/4" away from the outer end of the adjustment bracket. Instead of using the Gates 9350 (listed as stock replacement on a 1976 280z), I used the 9345 which is 1/2" shorter. It wasn't as easy to get on, but it left 3/4" adjustment either way.

Wow, then it is a good deal. Thanks for that information, Dan. And it makes sense due to the markups that Black Dragon does on so many of their parts. It is probably a good idea to email the seller before buying to make sure that they are really selling the ITM pistons. I did not get my 3 sets from this Ebay seller so it looks like I may be the only one getting stuck with Nakamoto's Oh, well they haven't flown apart... yet.

I was trying to imply that the cheap pistons I bought look like "real" pistons but its hard for the untrained eye to tell if they're junk. ITM pistons only cost $60 more than those Nakamoto pistons on Ebay. There's plenty of info out there on ITM while there's almost zilch on Nakamoto or Evergreen. Even though I have a set of the cheap pistons in one of my Z's, I have no basis for recommending them. If I didn't get mine for almost nothing, I would have gone with the ITM's from Black Dragon.

Those are great videos. I bought the whole series so my sons and I could watch them before hitting the paint and body work on our Z's. Check them out at http://www.autobody101.com/videos/. The forums at that site are a great resource too. BTW, it probably isn't legal for those videos to be up on YouTube. They may disappear.

I've had a little experience with those inexpensive "piston-shaped objects". They look very similar to L-series pistons: metalic, shiny, cylinder shaped and all that. Sarcastic humor aside, they seem to be okay. I only have a few hundred miles on one set of Nakamoto pistons in my daily driver. No problems, but this is a stock L28 that rarely even sees the highway. I bought 3 sets of pistons as a surplus deal. $75 for all three sets. One was Nakamoto Industries, the other two were Evergreen Engine Parts. A google search revealed almost no info on either company. No reviews to be found. I'll have my machine shop look at them and give me their opinion next time I'm in.

That's what I have found too. I had one of my boys sift it using a window screen. When we use up the 200 lbs we have, I'll look for something better. The pressure washer has turned out to be a great tool. The only trouble is being able to use it without the neighbors seeing.

Yep, the long I6 manifold tends to warp over time. You can check the exhaust manifold with a straight edge and you'll probably find it is warped. A machine will charge $25 to $40 to mill it.

I was just reading through Bryan's site last night: http://www.datsunzgarage.com/p79/ Classic HybridZ stuff there. Informative and entertaining!

When I first brought up MS-II, I set it up for spark control with the stock 280z dizzy. To lock out the mechanical advance, you can drill a hole through the "rotor shaft assembly" (#9 below) and put a roll pin through the entire shaft. Block off the hole for the vacuum canister to keep crud from getting in. I had trouble getting the car to run well at first, so I decided to take the ignition out of the equation by going fuel-only with a 280zx N/A dizzy. Once I got a decent fuel table, I didn't go back to spark control with the stock dizzy but went all-out with EDIS and a WB02. So, I'm pretty sure that my early problems were all fuel related. The car did run and the ignition events from the VR sensor were reliable. I'm setting up another one of our Z's using the VR dizzy this week. I'll post here if I run into any trouble.

It's a 2700psi/2.5GPM pressure washer. No waves detected on the fender. I'll be doing another fender "for real" tomorrow before I shoot some primer on it. I'll report back with the results.

The head I have was rebuilt by a local reputable shop before the previous owner blew the engine. I did a home port job on it and sent the cam out for a mild regrind (.450-280-280 but I've got other more aggressive camshafts to swap in later). Will my head perform anything like your Rebello head? Not a chance! But then my stroker will only be used for Z-club group rides and track days and maybe the occasional "quick trip" to the corner store for bread and milk

Mark, you and I are in definately in the same boat with the same goals and pretty much the same parts built up. I'm starting with a ported stock intake with 60mm TB and some jy headers. Once the motor is running with MS-II and EDIS, then it will be time to look at a custom intake and exhaust. With three Z's to maintain, I have to take things in stages. All this talk motivated me to get off my rear and make an appointment with the machine shop. Hopefully next week I'll have my block bored out. By being patient and shopping smart, here's what I've invested so far: F54 Block with burned up crank -free with parts car Rebuilt P90 head - free with parts car Used V07 crank and 9mm 240 rods - $150 New cast KA24 flattop pistons - $85 New turbo oil pump - $65 New water pump - $35 MS-II Kit w/LC-1 WBO2 - $500 EDIS setup from junkyard - $35 Nisson gasket and seals set - $45 New Nismo cam gear - $60 Rebuilt damper - $110 Timing set - $40 Used JSK fuel rail - $60 Intake manifold from '75 280z - $15 60mm throttle body - $15 I still need bearings ($110). Machine shop estimate is around $500. Even with $400 reserved for incidentals, that's around $2500. So, that's a pretty cheap stroker build! Considering the purpose of the engine, I think this is a pretty good balance.

If there is anyone out there that has done a budget stroker build, sucessfully or otherwise, I'd sure wish they would chime in. In all my searching, I haven't been able to find anyone on the forum who built a budget stroker. I would like to believe that the same method could be applied to a stroker. You'll often read on the forum that for the bang for the buck, there's no comparison between a stroker and going turbo. Phil did a lot of the work himself and used throw-away blocks but he's blown his engine at least twice. He's okay with that since his goal was to get all the externals working and use a low-budget bottom end to have some fun. That's very different than pouring all the money into the internals and having major machine work done for a stroker. So, what really are the extra machining costs involved over a standard engine build? Boring the cylinders over .120 and having the flywheel, crank, rods, pistons balanced individually, then as a whole? If so, assembling the bottom end is not a DIY job.

I've had the V07 crank, 9mm L24 rods, cast KA24 pistons, F54 block, Nismo timing set, new oil pump, new water pump, rebuilt damper, ported/rebuilt P90 head, ported intake with 60mm throttle body, MegaSquirt-II all sitting in my garage for almost a year. I haven't done anything with them because I'm under the impression from reading the forums that it'll still cost another $3000 in gaskets, bearings and machine work, even if I assemble it myself. It just ain't worth it. I'm pretty sure I'm about to give up on the whole idea even though it seems I have 95% of it staring me in the face. Very depressing

I did buy 200lbs of leveling sand for around $8. Then I wet sandblasted another old fender and some suspension parts. No warping that I could detect on the fender. I like the way everything turned out and how fast it was. Not mindblowing - just another option for small to medium rust removal jobs.

btw, Jim, I printed out your restoration tips webpage. Good stuff there. Thanks for sharing that.

This is wet sandblasting. You'd have to snort the slurry off the ground to get silica/sand up your nose. Still a good idea to use a mask.

A few weeks ago, I saw a segment on SpikeTV's Musclecar show where they "wet sandblasted" the rusty frame from a Pontiac LeMans. Basically, a $100 attachment turns a pressure washer into a wet sandblaster. They showed how wet sandblasting took the frame down to clean, shiny metal without the nasty cloud of sand particles in the air. That was enough for me. Since my wife had been wanting a pressure washer for cleaning the patio and driveways, it was an easy sell. I shopped around and found a decent sized one on sale at Sears. Then, I found that Northern Tool had this wet sandblasting attachment for around $60. Elsewhere, they seem to go for $90 to $150. I've only had an hour or so to use it, but it worked great at removing rust from an old crossmember and blasting off the old liner from inside a fender. Then I cleaned a grease-caked transmission housing in no time by pressure washing it with degreaser and then wet sandblasting it. Wet sandblasting doesn't seem to be as tough on old paint as the dry sandblasting we've done, but the advantages are awesome. I started using Black Beauty abrasive, but the process goes through the media pretty fast. I Googled and found that some people use playground sand that can be had for less than $3.50 for a 50lb bag. I'll be tracking some down later today. So, has anyone else had any experiences with this?

I don't know how I ever got the heatshield off the bottom of the intake manifold without them.

I agree with OTM. I've looked hard for an 810 or '84 Maxima to put an L28ET in, but haven't found one in decent shape. The swap should be fairly simple, but I think there might be less room on the driver's side of the engine bay than the 280ZX.

An easy thing to do is re-use the harness from a junkyard Ford. I pulled the harness from a '94 Aerostar van. It's got 2 shielded cables: one for the ECU signals including PIP and SAW, and another for the VR signals. Another thing you could use is shielded audio cable. The trouble is finding audio cable rated for the temperatures it might be exposed to. Just a couple of options.