Mack

Find a Maxima N47, bolt it on and go. you may have to notch the tops of the bores for the bigger exhaust valve. thats about it.

And your compression will be REALLY low, like less than 8:1. Which, if you are running a turbo, not so bad, but NA with carbs? It's going to be slow. Your best bet is to find a maxima N47, or as it is commonly referred to around here an MN47. that will actually bump your compression up and has dual bolt patterns for carb or FI intakes.

All this talk about RB heads, KA heads, Goerz Paeco heads, laser printing and all this...... Start off with a merc 104 head. bore spacing and head bolt spacing are dead on. all you would need to figure out would be the chain drive, coolant passages and oil. What ever happened to MAG58 anyway?

where is 1 fast z when you need him?

No VG33Es then I take it? Are you allowed to use later VG30Es with the bigger crank snouts and better heads? Or are you strictly limited to Z31 stuff? http://www.race-cars.com/engsold/other/1146616613/1146616613ss.htm This might be a good place to start snooping, seeing as how they are in your back yard practically. I know the parts are sold, but perhaps they could put you in touch with the cats who bought them?

What do you mean by "later than a VG30ET?" as in an engine that was introduced after the introduction of the VG30ET? or one that was produced after production of the VG30ET ceased? Are there displacement restrictions? number of valves/cylinder restrictions? number of cylinder restrictions? Just curious. Its not cheating unless there is a rule specifically against it.

Go with MS over SDS. I believe there to be a LOT more support out there for MS, and free support at that. As long as you follow instructions properly, you should have no problems getting MS running, and running right. I have MSed a few vehicles, including my own 280ZX. I also MSed a 2jzgte into a mkIII supra, with all stock sensors. Fired the first time, but wouldnt stay running for more than a minute. I came to find out that the shop NEVER FILLED THE CRANKCASE WITH OIL. they filled it and drove it onto the trailer with nothing more than a generated base map. I had a minor issue with the vb921 coil driver (remember those? ha ha) and switched to a nissan coil driver and havent looked back. Plus, MS will support MAF, which I believe would eliminate a LOT of tuning issues with a turbo and ITBs. The MS community is strong, especially for L series stuff. LOTS of know how and help available.

I would suggest looking at the CHTS, not the coolant temp sensor. The CHTSm if you have one, should be on the spark plug side of the head between cyls 5 & 6, I think. Towards the firewall for sure. sounds like the connection could have been disturbed while changing spark plugs. What year is your car?

has this engine ever ran? did you rebuild it? with numbers fairly close but low, maybe check your cam timing>?

have you looked into a L to VG adapter plate? I am pretty sure the Z32 5spd transmission are a bit ahead of the WC t5 and you can pick them up dirt cheap ANYWHERE.

The difference in compression between turbo (P90 and P90a heads) and non turbo (P79) motors is due to the pistons. P79 headed motors have flat tops. Turbo motots as well as N/A engines that came with N series heads (N42 and N47) have dished pistons. .

Megasquirt. done and done. I took my stock harness and lopped off the ECU plug and just used the wires to re-pin to the megasquirt connector. It took a day with a soldering iron and a wiring diagram. I used the AFM wires for a turbo CAS "distributor" and then ran ign coil control for timing and dwell. works great and looks almost stock.

I am running stock 280ZX turbo CV shafts right now. I have a 280zx and I realize this is the model specific section, but I thought I would chime in anyway. It seems as though the CV axles will handle a boatload of power. There are a few people running them with slicks and 500lbs/ft plus v8 swaps.

I am running a stock Z31 CLSD, but installed into an infiniti M30 3.9 pumpkin. I haven't messed with any of the shimming or any of that crap yet. It is nice for autoX though.

I am pretty sure 810/maxima stuff is the exact same as 280ZX stuff, and 200SX (S12) is the same as 300ZX as well as infiniti M30. the control arms can swapped between all of them though. S12, 280ZX, 300zx, 810 and M30 variants. the offsets will be weird though.

I weighed my 1980 280ZX with AC, 5spd, no t tops (slicktop!), but PW, PL and PS and it came in at 2960 with me in it (around 180, at the time) and couple of P90s in the hatch as well as tools to pull said P90s and a 1/4 tank of gas. these old 280zx "PIGS" are not nearly as porky as people think. I have since swapped to a manual steering rack, taken the heads, tools, spare, jack and some other things out, but I my self have put on 20lbs. One of these days I will make it out and re-weigh it with nothing in it.

I have often though about doing the LD block with wet liners and now grabbing a mercedes M103, 104 or OM606 crank, but alas, I have too many projects on my docket right now. As far as the whole L-KA conversion sprocket, there is a toyota crankshaft gear with an 18 tooth count that just needs to be bored a few thousandths to fit over an L series crank snout.

that is an MN47 for sure! that will be good for around 11:1 on a stock L28 flat top block with a felpro head gasket.

From how you describe the ring land breaking, it sounds like too many RPMs on a cast piston, so I and several others were wrong about the detonation, but still.... I know my cries are falling on deaf ears here, but for the price of that MSD box new at least, you could get a full EFI set up and be done with it. megasquirt for 180, an EFI manifold for 50, a fuel pump for 100 and various sensors and crap from the junkyard for probably another 100. then you could run COP and tune your spark AND fuel curves how you see fit. You could probably pick up a few HP and a lot of mpg. I am "just saying"

I have read up on the subject and from what I have read, I don't think I would ever attempt it unless I was running webers or mikunis or some other IR side draft set up. A lot of the older barrel manifolds produced for the L series engines had problems delivering consistent mixtures to each cylinder, especially the end ones according to what I have researched, not to mention fuel puddling issues. There are people pushing the stock short blocks to over 400rwhp, and that's with cast pistons, but with EFI. I am still trying to wrap my head around buying a completely forged lower end, with a Kameri crankshaft and then going "old skool" with what some would argue is the most important part of the engine. I too will be anxiously awaiting pics. Megasquirt ain't that hard.

and what do yo have your timing set at? I am sorry, but a blow through holley carb in this day and age is kind of primitive, especially with options available that could give you full standalone control for under $1000. Building a forged engine then running a blwo through turbo set up seems kind of contradictory.

I picked one up once as part of a complete head. It was on a 260Z motor and there was also a maxima in the same yard. i put the E88 C stamp cam, towers and rockers onto the MN47 head and left the junkyard with it for like $40. I don't know if it was worth the effort and time it took to swap it or not.

all it had done to it was a 2.5" mandrel bent where the cat is supposed to be back exhaust, a 60mm tb, cleaned up the bumps out of the ends of the intake runners, minor bowl blending on the head and gasket matching on the intake/exhaust manifolds and head and a 260Z "C" stamp camshaft. future plans before an engine swap include a set of 40MM itbs and maybe a COP set-up and a delta re-grind pushing the limits of the stock springs as far as lift goes and a healthy bump in duration.

The MN47 is pretty sweet. I was/am running one on an L28 with flat tops and a felpro head gasket. The compression ends up being somewhere around 11.7:1. which is about the limit for street gas. I am running megasquirt and some mild head porting with some bowl blending and a few other things. I did have to pull some timing, but with the high quench, it doesn't need all that extra timing anyway because it is less distance for the flame front to travel. My claim to fame was the one time I had the sucker dyno'd (while running stock injection and a very faulty E1280 that only let it run up to 4500rpm) and I was hitting around 140rwhp @ 4200rpm. Not too bad for an engine slapped together in the car. I wouldn't bother with removing the liners. Unless you are going FULL race, it really won't make that much of a difference.

I have yet to see ANY import inline 6 under say, 4.0l or so go above 2000hp, custom built or not. I would love to see a dyno chart or something on these miracle engines. Hell, show me a dyno chart for ANY automotive inline 6 over 2000hp.