seattlejester

My driveshaft was 300 or so from drivelines NW. If you send them the flanges and the measurements they can whip it up pretty easy. For the CX racing mounts, how did you bolt the pieces together? Can you slip a wrench behind the plate to tighten it once you have everything set or do you have to disassemble it and tighten it all then re-install it? I'm wondering if I will have to leave the engine on the crane while I pull everything apart to tighten the bolt/nut. I think it is also stainless which is nice, on mine it definitely looked like someone mis-drilled a hole and filled it in and drilled another, quality isn't the best, but for ease it is hard to beat.

Interesting, I didn't like the fact the AZC does not tell you what shock they run, good for them because if yours blow you have to send them in, bad because you don't really know what you are running. Haven't met anyone who is unhappy with them, just interesting they don't share that. The Koni Race dampers might be where some of the extra is, a quick google search shows $150-250 per strut, I think given the shorter body it is more likely the single adjustable $250 per strut, that means $500 in shock hardware + $220 for the GC setup + $200 to strip strut, reinforce, cut, weld, assemble is pretty affordable. Then you can send in your struts as cores for $100 credit so technically only $100 more to get a fully assembled setup. If you are using cheaper shocks then the gap becomes bigger, but I guess the extra you get is a higher performance shock potentially depending on application, and the ease of just pulling parts off and sticking new stuff in.

I was having weird problems with uploading photos, but managed to have a little time and work that out. Back on track. For those that do not visit the toyota section, I decided to go with a 2jz. I'll keep this post in regards to the car as a whole, the specifics are going into a conglomerate post for someone looking to do the same. After multiple sessions of pricing and such it seemed silly to put money into a motor that could at any time go on me and would not be unexpected. I called the machine shop after I decided it might be time to move on. I was worried that I would be fairly in the hole as they had already cleaned, inspected my block, possibly ordered a new crank, and pulled the rods from another set. To my surprise, the machine shop was very happy for me, told me that it would be a "much much much much better swap" to go with the 2jz, and that they would be much happier with me spending my money on that motor, he told me he had yet to get the parts shipped so the crank order would be canceled. I went back to pickup my block in hopes of passing it off to someone who needed a rebuild. The employee helping me retrieve the block asked what I was going to do, and I told him about my 240z and the 2jz. He turned out to be the owner of the 240z I had seen earlier at the shop which had a V8, and told me that a friend of his had the full works done to his 7m and ended up regretting it in the long run. With further bolster I retrieved the block only to find out that it had some micro fractures along the water jacket near the deck. So even better news I would save on having to spend money on getting that welded. I ended up leaving the block with them for scrap, and the owner turned me away from paying anything, saying that he hopes I would come back for work on the 2jz. That is the second time a shop has refused my money in exchange for repeat business, and I can't wait to go back to them. I found an ad on craigslist for a 2jz that seemed to fit my tastes, relatively low miles, new belts, new accessories, recent service, and it was recently running. Better start then a regular junkyard motor and the gentleman offered to deliver as well for gas money. I worked out another deal to swap pans for the ones we need for our car a rear sump, so after I got the motor, I quickly tore it apart to free the lower pan, upper pan, baffle, pickup, and dipstick to trade. With the new pan acquired I could take stock of what I had. Something I noticed was quite a bit of silicone oozing out of some sealing surfaces, that was good in one way as that meant he did truly pull the parts in question at some point, but bad in others as the excess amount of silicone meant I really needed to dive in to see how it was. What I found wasn't good, the excess silicone was enough that it was leaving long strips on the inside of the motor just waiting to break loose and block the pickup tube. That prompted me to visit other places that had been mentioned in his post, such as the timing belt and such. I pulled the timing cover off to find the area was quite filthy, but was pleased to find a new standard replacement belt. However I was dismayed when I found out that the idler pulley was pitted fairly badly, just waiting to chew up the belt over time. Also I was confused when looking at diagrams as it seemed I was also missing the timing belt guide washer that keeps the belt from moving forward and rubbing against the cover. Made me doubly glad I had taken the effort to look through things. So after discovery I placed a couple orders for replacement parts still trying to keep it on a budget. Eventually this will probably be rebuilt, but I would like to get a few miles out of it as is. From all reports these 2jz motors are very reliable and long lasting so replacing parts just because seems a bit wasteful. Also on the list was to lower the compression. In NA spec the 2jz-ge non vvti has a healthy 10:1 compression ratio, while that is good in NA spec my thoughts of turbocharging the setup meant I would be best off lowering that to start. That meant a thicker headgasket and while I was in there would be a good time to replace the notoriously strippable head bolts to ARP head studs. The head came off and I was very pleased to find the cross hatching still in tact. There was a fair amount of sooty looking deposit on the piston tops, but I found that was most likely introduced through the EGR route and a simple wipe of the tops and some very light brushing yielded a very clean surface. Unbrushed piston in the middle, two cleaned pistons top and bottom. Given I was waiting for parts I decided that I would use the big sink at my work to try and clean the pans. It was absolutely filthy, I looked up a few products that people recommended, and even asked the parts store. The parts store guy suggested I just go to a self serve car wash and blast it with hot water, but I only know of one in the area and that one has cameras with signs that say strictly not to do that. He settled on recommending some products and I scooped them up to give them a shot. None of them really worked, I had a parts cleaning aerosol, a spray on degreaser and neither worked well and both smelled awful. Given this was a work sink, I decided I should find another solution that would work while not smelling awful. I ended up finding a recommendation for mineral spirits, some videos online showed that it should work so I gave it a shot. Wow that made a difference, it took a few cleaning sessions, but I imagine with a good pressure washer it would be cake walk. I found a spray bottle was really useful for applying to a wide area, I tried brushing it on first, but that seemed not to do as well. With the pan cleaned, I drilled the hole for the oil return and started wideining the holes to secure the flange for the drain fitting. Most of my parts have arrived, so next is figuring out the exact lengths I want for the bell housing bolts and getting the block ready to be bolted into the car.

An NA 2jz-ge might fit the bill pretty nicely, although I am not sure how you would work out the transmission portion, possibly a stock w58 or the automatic would be the easiest. 220ish rated crank hp. Although people struggle to put these together with much bigger budgets and such, not sure if feasible realistically. Realistically though given the nature of the difficulty of the swap I would just go for the turbo "swap." You can manually crank up the boost and run extra fuel pressure to compensate if you were trying to squeeze every drop out of it. Or just run it as is with an intercooler to cool the charge and make the motor happier.

If I remember that tank is prohibitively expensive. And size wise is a bit awkward unless you plan on cutting out the wheel well.

Minor considerations, again work in progress. EGR: So it is a simple system, dirty up the incoming air to reduce emissions. Problem is that it is fairly bulky, and when changing to a FFIM the port no longer faces a correct direction. It also introduces an absolutely massive amount of carbon and grime into the intake tract which in turn makes its way to the head and combustion chamber. Really they need to have implemented a catch can system, but hind sight I suppose. The premise is exhaust is routed back behind the cylinder head, cooled by a the EGR cooler, then passed through the side of the head and up to the intake port. In the 7m, the common practice is to block off the EGR cooler port in the back of the head. Thus preventing the hot gas from entering the cooler and needlessly heating up the rear. The same manufacturer who makes the block off plate for the rear in the 7m and a former forum member ARZ, strangely only makes it for the side leaving the exhaust gasses to pool on the 2jz. I am not sure as to why thechange. Dexter72 has followed the 7m mantra and drilled out the port that introduces the exhaust in the EGR cooler and blocked it with a pipe thread plug. I believe I will be using a block off plate with copper gasket material. Heater core bypass: Despite the weather being miserable most of the year, I have survived without a heater. Without a radio or comfortable seats this car isn't really useful for me in the colder months, so it was not a challenge. The engine has provisions to hook up heat via the rear of the head and a conveniently supplied pipe on the passenger side, but for the moment I do not have plans to use it. Two schools of thought are present here. School A: says to loop the coolant like we do on the L series. That allows for another passage to cool off the rear of the head if my circulation path is correct. School B: says to block it off at the head and at the water pump. This ends up looking much cleaner, and as far as I have noticed had no problem when I did this on my 7m. Also using the FSM a user found that the stock heater valve does essentially the same thing, it does not bypass coolant through the heater core even if the heat is not on, it in fact blocks it via a valve until heat is asked for. Personally I do want to put in a universal heater as 280zex did to make my car more functional at least in clearing up the windshield and thus I plan on going with School A so that I can clip the hose and run a universal heater core when the time comes. For now the plan will be to employ a gates # 19193 hose to loop the system. Oil Pump and FMS: So from what people say you have to use toyota seals for the cam, FMS and RMS. I bought a kit from an after market vendor so I will be comparing the size of the seals to see if there is a difference, experience tells me there may not be, but I will save my judgement till the seals arrive. Those 4 seals cost $70 from toyota, my entire gasket set from the aftermarket vendor cost $70 (valve stem seals, valve gasket seals, spark cover valley seals, all intake, exhaust seals, water pump seal, o-rings, head gasket etc etc etc). The reason for this obsession seems to stem not only from the time consuming nature of getting at the seal, but also the tendency for the seal to pop out. The timing belt pulley sits right in front of it, but in theory the seal could move forward enough to be destroyed by friction if it interacts with the pulley. The theory behind this seems to be sludgey oil or poor vacuum source for the crank vent causes excess oil pressure/crank case pressure causing the seal to fail. The solutions include a modification to the factory oil pump via a larger relief hole and some porting as well as some more extreme versions calling for screw heads to capture the seal from any movement. One thing I notice is that the FSM calls for MP grease both on the outside and inside of the seal. Looking at other makes and using some logic I think I will be using a form in place gasket on the outside of the seal cementing and holding it in place, while employing the MP grease on the inside for lubrication against the crank. Additionally I will be routing the crank vent to a catch can which will then draw from the intake pipe feeding the turbo for constant vacuum. 3 seals acquired. First is the stock toyota seal NOK BH4513F, this is the factory toyota seal it has a depth of 6.4mm Second turns out my engine had the upgraded NOK BH4513E seal, this is the one that has the teeth marks. In theory this helps keep the seal a little taller so away from the drain hole, it is 6.6mm depth and 7mm at the teeth, while it has more depth and more sealing area, if you follow the manual and seat it flush with the pump you will end up pushing it in further which defeats the goal of the teeth Third is a Lok 46631, this came in a generic kit, it measures 6.2mm depth The oil drain hole starts at ~5.2mm inside the orifice and extends down to 10.2mm or so, making it seem like a 5mm hole. If one were to push in the seal a little too much it can easily be seen how that would end up blocking off quite a bit of the hole as it already is blocking off 1.X mm depending on your seal if you push it in to the recommended point. Also one needs to make sure that the grease and FIPG go on the seal with no room for excess to be swiped under the seal as a small glob could plug the drain hole in no time flat.

Prepare for a long answer. First off, passion is good, and your acknowledgement of your lack of effort and reading the forum guidelines on your first post is a very good start. Second knowledge is the answer. If you don't know how to differentiate between a well sorted car and a poorly sorted one then you are going to have to find a buyer who can do that for you. These are good cars to learn on, but only if you take your time and understand the concepts behind it. Playing around with the carbs for instance is dangerous as the fuel system sits right over the exhaust. Playing around with the wiring can be hazardous as the wiring is old and one wrong connection and your harness can go up in smoke. If you are a bit concerned or scared then that is my intention. Chances are unless it is a full restoration you are going to run into problems that the PO took short cuts on depending on your level of concern. If you cannot identify them then maybe you need to slow your roll and figure out how to see when something is done poorly and when it is not. I know people who don't mind a swapped junkyard engine as long as it runs, and I know others that get mad at a shop if they leave tool marks on one of their bolts. Without knowing your quality of "good" which you determine on your own it is hard to say what to look out for. A bit of a rant, but I don't know why, but people really like using that word with cars. Unique is a specific word with a specific definition. You can search any forum and there is always someone wanting a unique mass produced car. That is an oxymoron you really cannot have a one of a kind mass production car. This unique qualifier is going to get you burned. Many would argue that the design is taken from other famous cars of the era like an E-type or a ferrari, therefor already not as unique as you hope. Unique means one of a kind so if you saw one other car on any day at any point that would mean you have already failed that criteria, there are hundreds of thousands of these cars, a lot have perished, but still there are a ton out there and people have done a lot of things to them. Really if you want unique go find unique animal, the last of its kind collect the feces and smear that all over your car. Your car will be the only datsun with that animal's crap all over it therefor unique. Practically on another forum I saw someone piss away 15k on a custom supercharger install because they wanted to be unique, not because they wanted the power curve or response that a super charger provides over a turbocharger, not because of something like they like the sound of the belt or the cosmetics of the supercharger, they did it just because they wanted to be unique. Don't do things for bad reasons. /rant That leads to the most important part of your project. It is YOUR project. YOU have to decide what YOU want because it is YOURS. If you have a specific question as to an aspect of the car, for example what other air dams are available other then the stock and the J-spec (shows you did some searching and is specific enough that we can reply with a list), we can say, the BRE Spook, Xenon poly urethane, MSA II etc, but at the end you shouldn't have someone tell you what to do with YOUR car, take suggestions process and figure that aspect out yourself. It should be a decision that YOU make and can justify. Should you spend 2000 on authentic Work wheels? If that is what YOU really want, and you like the style, then sure. On the flip side should you spend 2000 on wheels and run around on 40 year old bushings? Probably not a good set of priorities. A decision that you make should be explainable it could be something silly like you really like the look of it, but when presented with a counter you should be able to account for your decision. Should you spend that 2k on wheels over bushings and brakes? Maybe not, but if it really gets you motivated to finish then maybe it is worth it. Granted if someone takes a look under your car and says your car NEEDS brakes then you should be able to walk away from the wheels. Priorities will be what is important for you. Do you want a cruiser? Do you want a racer? You mentioned sunday drives, and you also mentioned stiffening up the body. Elaborate. Sunday drives around town or sunday drives through canyons and back roads? Stiffening up the body with simple bolt ons? Or stiffeining up the body by reinforcing key structural weak points? Certain things means you should probably start your project in certain ways, like if you plan on swapping a monster motor into the car, or running high spring rates to keep it planted on turns then you are probably going to want to start with a shell to weld reinforcements into the car and a roll cage to fit the racing body you will be racing with. If you just plan on putting around town then you probably want a fairly stock example that has had a lot of refurbishment. So depending on what YOU want out of YOUR car will determine, what you look for, how much you should spend, and what aspect you should start on first. Race car with a certain sanctioned body? Start looking for shells with cages for the appropriate body that you can slap some fiberglass panels on. Cruiser with an engine swap? Look for cars for sale and hunt down the build thread and see if it seems like they took their time on all the aspects you are concerned on.

I think Stunt is saying he cut it from one face, so technically it is still supported by other faces. I don't think that was a good idea. It is boxed in and you cut out one side of the box and glued it back, JB weld is good for somethings, but really not adequate for others. Especially if you are gluing edge to edge.

Progress, slow but steady!

^There you go, the 3 or 4 guides I have seen and the dozen or so cars I have seen don't seem to bother with them. I have always wondered about the edge left over, that is a pretty elegant solution.

What power level are you aiming for? What is a "performance" engine to you? It seems like you are set on getting a higher compression motor, but depending on your goals, I bet you could do better with fuel injection or head work.

Dude make an effort. This is a really lazy post. Also goes against forum rules. If you are looking for street legal then you are going to be in a hard place. Legally you cannot change the size of your muffler, and like most states I believe it is illegal to modify your exhaust. That means whatever engine you run has to run through the stock sized system. Legally you cannot use any part that is listed as "for off road or racing use" which is a huge majority of after market parts. EPA also says any engine switch has to maintain all emission devices which include a stock ECU showing no CEL codes. The only commercially available swap that is kosher is the E-rod LS swap. Given that it is illegal to modify the exhaust though I don't know how you legally can swap an engine in. Fact of the matter is there is plenty of grey stuff. If you upset a LEO and he feels like it every little change can be written up. Your requirement of street legal needs elaboration. The newest car in your search range is 43 years old. Many components on a car are not supposed to last anywhere near that value. Reliability is a result of the weakest link that means a complete overhaul of all items, new bulbs, new sockets, new plugs, new wires, new gauges, new switches. Price? Given that you seem to do no research and the shop would have to do everything for you and you want it "professionally done" I think $100,000 would be a pretty good place to start. We had a forum member do that, had the best parts money could buy and had some of the best builders in the country put his car together.

I am pretty sure adding the flare adds rigidity back into it. I haven't seen anyone add anything under the fronts.

Ah you are using an unshaved P90 and a stock nissan head gasket. Based off of OP's desire for higher CR I would guess an NA build is in mind, so a shaved P90, or E31 would be preferable, even an N42 with a fel pro and flat KA24 pistons would net 9.2CR.

Perhaps you forgot to factor in the L24 rods? 133mm vs 130mm http://atlanticz.ca/zclub/techtips/calcs/engine%20builder/index.html

The spindle pin is going to be a massive pain in the ass without a puller. Stub axle can also give you quite a bit of trouble if you are replacing bearings or when you strip it to be welded for the coilovers. Frankly all of these bolts are going to be old. I would be pretty wary. I replaced most of my bolts when I took my rear apart. One of the bigger vendors sells a complete bolt kit for the rear I think. The half shaft nut and bolt are a bit unique, the nuts are thinner and in J-spec so if you round one you may have a lot of difficulty finding a replacement. The bolts are also shouldered, but short. They aren't under much torque, but if you strip one you will have to get replacements from nissan dealership or another datsun.

I think you are mistaken. Should be around high 8.X to mid 9.x depending on if you go with flat pistons, the ones with valve reliefs, head gasket thickness, and head. Usually people run an E31 or a shaved P90, so pretty much in the 9.X category.

If you gave him a heads up then it seems you may have caught him at a time of turmoil. It is true people with more personal junk yards usually have grand plans for things they have and end up with just too many projects. Some feel like someone's offer to buy something is an affront to their ability to finish the project. If it really is spare pickings you might want to get a friend to pick it up for you, granted with all the things you may have to replace it might be just as affordable to buy a used turbo manifold, rebuild your motor for lower compression and pickup a new turbo.

Your options are to drop the whole assembly or to pull the spindle pin either or lol. If you are pulling the spindle pin... Disconnect parking brake cable Disconnect hydraulic brake cable Disconnect half shaft (do this before you disconnect the brakes) Undo sway bar bushing Pull spindle pin Remove three nuts at the top If you are pulling the assembly... Undo front diff cross member Disconnect parking brake cable Disconnect hydraulic brake cable Disconnect half shaft (do this before you disconnect the brakes) Undo sway bar bushing Undo the rear LCA capture clamps The diff will hang if I remember this bit correctly, so best support it prior to removing the front diff crossmember AtlanticZ has some pretty good guides, I have the rear disassembly to some extent in the video series above.

Really sounds like a faulty rebuild. When mine went out I got a rebuilt one, it died after a week. Took it back and they handed me a new one, they put it on their machine and it popped a fuse trying to get the motor to kick out and engage. The new one worked fine. Just a gamble you end up taking, it is either that or learn to rebuild them yourself or take it to a starter rebuild specialist. Unfortunately short of getting one NOS or from a japanese manufacturer you are going to have to deal with rebuilt options. Sometimes you get a couple duds in a row. Unless you enjoy the quirkiness of having a car that doesn't start all the time, fix it. The starting circuit for the starter motor is pretty simple to diagnose.

Playing devil's advocate I wonder what a "little late" is. Last guy I dealt with texted me with running a "little late" two hours into our meet time, took another 4 to show up. You might want to third party this if you are set on the motor. Although I am not finding the immediate appeal here. Low mileage might be ok, but without an inspection, comp test, oil condition etc it could have a hole in the bore for all you know.

Hmm interesting. I'm sure Aaron knows and you have probably done your fact checking. Seems like it will be a race between us! Keep the pictures coming.

You're back on track! I'm pretty sure the L series weighs less then the 1jz lol. Are you sure on the W58 flywheel? When I looked into it, I was told to source a 1jz R154 flywheel or the depth wouldn't match.

If it isn't kicking the gear out it sounds faulty. Take it back and have it warrantied out. Usually they will test it to see if there are problems while they get you the new one.

Ooh exciting! I imagine the AEM system has a test mode. Would be a matter of finding out if all the outputs are working, then it is a matter of finding out if all the outputs are working at the right time. Is the ECU on during cranking? I know that the way I had my car wired when I bypassed the ballast resistor the first time I was basically spinning up the motor to speed and then the ignition would kick in after I was letting go of the cranking key. Took a while to figure that one out.