Wagz

I agree with the other responses. But, for the sake of answering your question, I'll assume your current motor is in need of a rebuild or you wouldn't be asking the question. Given your age, I'll assume your on a tight budget and that you aren't a professional mechanic or have access to a well outfitted shop. With all those assumptions, I'd say your best bet is to rebuild the stock L28. It'll much less expensive than swapping in a small block or RB motor (and much less confusing/frustrating in the RB case). You could find and L28ET and attempt that swap. It's well documented, but it will still cause you some frustration and could cost you more that a stock rebuild. Buy a factory service manual and the "How to rebuild your Datsun OHC" book and go for it. It will give you some solid engine rebuilding experience to build on and you can make performance mods based on a solid rebuilt motor. Of course, if your already familiar with rebuilds that point is moot. One of the guys asked about whether you can afford for the car to be out of service for a while. If it's your only mode of transportation, a rebuild may be time consuming and you may want to swap another stock motor or go ahead and go for the turbo swap if you've got the complete turbo setup with ecu, harness, downpipe, etc, etc, etc. Not trying to steer you away from a performance swap, but I know how tight money was when I was in high school and I didn't have a lot of the know-how I have now (or in some cases, "know-who") Keep searching the archives for information and ask questions when you need to. Good luck!

Larry, I'll bet you and I are the only ones on this board that have been to flea markets in the Ukraine. I was in Kharkov the summer of '90 and the only parts I ran across in the flea markets were for Ladas, Volgas and old Fiats...

Jim Williams used Kawasaki Ninja mirrors on his Velo Rossa. He used motorcycle mirrors because the longer arms allowed him to see over/past the huge rear flairs on the VR. Here's link to the write-up: http://www.kitcarmag.com/featuredvehicles/142_0307_velorossa/index.html Here's a pic showing the mirror:

Reaction Research: www.ztrix.com (280YZ, 940Z) Beta Motorsports: www.betamotorsports.com

Timely (re)post. I own both a plate and a leveler. I've never used the plate. I'm getting close to dropping my SBC with T56 attached into my car and I've had exactly that concern over the plate. I've seen plenty of pictures of engines being held by the plates bolted into aluminum intakes and I've never heard of one breaking and dropping the motor, but I've been worrying about damaging my aluminum intake or worse. I think I'll stick with the leveler and the mounts on the heads...

I'm assuming your looking for engine rebuild kits? Not sure you'll get a whole lotta info here regarding Z31 rebuilds. You might get more response if you posted at z31.com

Amazing. Chances are one in a million. I'd go right out and buy a lottery ticket!

Here's a shot of mine. Unfortunately, I just put the radiator back in a few nights ago and couldn't get a better angle. It does look like your pointer is reversed from what I have. The problem with my car is that it's been bastardized. 260 chassis, 280 motor and 240 intake/carbs. So, I can't say for sure where my pointer came from.

Careful. That statement will rub a bunch of people the wrong way and, in my opinion, is completely untrue. This site is full of extremely helpful people that are always willing to help out. That being said, we all prefer that everyone use the search function liberally before posting because many questions have been asked and answered before. On to the question: Assuming the head and the block are original to each other, the engine is likely an '81 or '82. The block casing code will likely be F54 (look under the exhaust manifold, behind the motor mount for the code). If the head were stamped P90a it would be an '83. If the block is an N42, you don't have an original head/block combo so, it'll be hard to say what year it is. There is some info on castings/years at: Datsun Z Garage You might get more information at classicZcars.com or (I hesitate to suggest) zcar.com

I used a Summit 20gal cell with GM sender:

What a 'tard. http://home.comcast.net/~webshare6/fireshot.gif

Yeah, I think my wife faked her celebration...

Wheelman, We have traded PMs a few times a while back. My wife and I are both born and raised Tri-Citians. Me=Kennewick. Her=Richland. We still own a house (rental) in Richland. I get up there fairly regularly for business and for family visits. I need to get this 260 running and drive it up this summer and arrange to catch up with you and see your Z and buy you a beer. I got the 260 from a guy in Vancouver. He's native to the area here. I'm pretty pleased with the car. I pulled the motor although, I didn't have to. I wanted to cleanup and paint the motor and put in a new pan gasket while I was at it. It didn't seem to have any leaks, but I figured this is the best time to take all the precautions. I'm probably going to put a new clutch in it while I've got the motor out, too. I finished up scrubbing and cleaning up the engine bay today. I just need to sand and paint around the battery tray where there is some surface rust. I'll have the motor back in it sometime later this week. I have a business trip to the Tri-Cities (Hanford Site) on Tuesday and Wednesday. I won't let the Velo Rossa get too jealous. I have a new flywheel and clutch for it so, I can finally mate the V8 to that nice, heavy T56 and get them set in the engine bay. I hope to have the motor/tranny in the car by the end of May.

Congrats on the show win and the raffle win! Nothing like getting a nice, new bump stick for 10 bucks. Where was the show?

Very nice. I like it.

So, what do you do if you've had a Z project sitting unfinished in your garage for a couple of years? Some people would eventually find the motivation and "get 'er done" or eventually sell the project. Me? I could be like Pete P. and make this a 10 year + project, but I decided to "be like Mike" (ON3GO, that is) and buy ANOTHER project! --Sorry, Mike. Just had to give you some crap about about the unfinished Hulk... I'm nowhere near finishing my Velo Rossa project. However, I have finally purchased a flywheel and clutch and will be getting the engine/tranny into the car in the next few weeks (or months, or...) For about 6 months I've been looking for another S30 to turn into a semi-daily driver. I've got a pretty tight budget and have driven about 8 cars. All of them have been near terminal cancer victims (damn Northwest rain). Anyway, I came across a late 260 a few weeks ago. It's been sitting for damn near 10 years. It's the least desireable Z in my book and I figured it would be a rust bucket too. But for $800, I figured it was worth a look. Well, it is one one of the most rust-free S30s I've seen in the Northwest. The battery tray has minimal surface rust. Pans and rails are pretty straight and only some surface rust (I scraped undercoating underneath and checked extensively under the carpet, hatch, rockers, etc. It's in pretty good shape. The headgasket was blown years ago and the owner had the head completely reworked/milled while it was off the car. It's a later L28 motor. He got the head back on and then never finished putting the rest back together. It needs a lot of work, but I got boxes of extra parts he had collected over the years. The extra parts include: New, never installed Mallory dual-point dizzy Electronic 280 dizzy with all necessary parts to install Unused stock replacement seat cover kits from MSA Unused complete carpet kit from MSA 2 complete sets of round-top SUs (3 bolt set and 4 bolt set) Complete set of manuals including the 260Z FSM Tons of other misc stuff (oil pumps, intakes, etc.) Best of all, I talked him into taking $600 for it. So, it looks like the VR won't be getting all of my attention (not that it was getting that much attention anyway). Here it is after rolling off the trailer: http://marcsgarage.net/albums/260Z/IMG_1019.sized.jpg Here it is 24 hours later: http://marcsgarage.net/albums/260Z/IMG_1027.sized.jpg I should have it running in the next few weeks.

I built a square tube frame to mount my cell in. The cell has mounting tabs on the bottom of the tank. So, the tank slides up into the frame from underneath the car and attaches with bolts at four corners. All I have to do is detach fuel, return and vent lines, unbolt it and drop it out the bottom. Here are some pictures: http://marcsgarage.net/gallery/FuelCell If you look at the shot with the sump peeking out the rear of the car, you can just see two of the four mounting ears. Hope this is helpful.

My fuel cell is centered in the car as well. Unfortunately, the 20 gal. Summit cell is so large, I couldn't do a recessed tray either. I'm planning on doing a surface mount tray in the trunk similar to how Fiat Spiders have them. I'm also not planning on carrying a spare. Take a look at the size specs on the Odyssey batteries. You can probably fit one in one of the storage boxes behind the seats with some modifications like Mike was talking about.

Yup. What Mike and Tim said. I completely removed the tray on my VR project and am relocating to what will be the trunk compartment. I'm also planning on using a nice, compact Odyssey battery.

Personally, I'd recommend picking up the exact year FSM you need on CD-ROM. I have them for my '71 and for my '87. They are great because they are searchable and each chapter is in its own .pdf file. You can print the chapter or just the page you need. And, when you cover the pages in dirt and grease or tear them, you can just reprint them. Take a look here: http://www.courtesyparts.com/Merchant2/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Store_Code=CP&Product_Code=CD24073A

He didn't write it. He're a quote from snopes: http://www.snopes.com/politics/soapbox/paradox.asp

Nawww, with Bill's invention your box will let you know: [the voice of HAL] "Tim, you've left the torque wrench on the parts washer again..."

Yeah, Snap-On needs to build in a USB interface to their boxes so I can plug in my laptop which will run your SQL/web based application... I wonder if Larry Ellison and Bill Gates are car guys?... Maybe they'll invest.

MTenneZ, I believe you are correct. .083 or 14g was what I used. Pete used the same for his subframe connectors (I followed his plans verbatim). Pete used .093 for the frame rails in the engine compartment. The .120 is the way to go. The weight gain is nominal.

I used .085 mild steel for my connectors. My personal feeling was that if I was going through the trouble to build the SF connectors, I didn't want to take the chance of using something too light. .065 is probably ok, but I would opt for the thicker stuff.