Dershum

I had a 350z for about 6 years and absolutely loved it. Got the base model, but the only thing that it really needed was an LSD. Quaife fixed that about 2 years in, and it was a beautiful thing to drive. I absolutely loved the fact that it was (relatively) inexpensive compared to the higher-level trim models, but was a great performer. I'd love to get into a 370, but I made the switch to a WRX 5-door about a year ago, and I love the performance/utility of having 4 seats, 5 doors and AWD. I'm curious...why the not-so-much-love for the 350z? I can understand that the higher-trim models just weren't cost effective, but the base/enthusiast models were really well priced, and you got a lot for your money. I loved the styling (I think the 370 is a little over-styled), and how can you beat daytona blue?

Just had to share...master engine kit, ARP main/rod bolts, head studs, MSA headers, and other misc goodies.

I'll keep looking around, but I came across this one at Sears (Craftsman) that seems to have pretty good reviews, and does both gas and gasless. Looks like a really good deal. http://www.sears.com/shc/s/p_10153_12605_00920569000P?prdNo=1&blockNo=1&blockType=G1

Aww...how cute. I had no idea they made mini tanks. Now I just need a shark with a frickin laser on it's head. Guess I'll start looking then! Thanks again!

Some of the welders I've been looking at are MIG welders that also just use flux-core wire, which doesn't require the gas. I'd kind of like to stay away from needing a large gas tank and cart for a few reasons. One, space as at a premium in my garage...it's a shared garage with my upstairs neighbor. It's a pretty big space (think three car garage but with just 2 doors), but with shelving for parts, workbench, and mostly-disassembled-Z, I'm kind of tight on space. Plus I need to keep a certain amount of open pathway so my neighbor can get to her car Also I'm not sure how the Apt complex would feel about a big gas cylinder in the garage. I realize it's inert gas, but I don't want some maintenance idiot wandering by, seeing it and thinking it's a giant cylinder of something like oxygen or acetylene, and raising some sort of stupid fuss over it. However, being able to grow into a setup that I can add a tank to later would be perfectly fine. Are these sorts of units generally of good quality? For example, this is the unit he was showing me in his grizzly catalog: http://www.grizzly.com/products/110V-MIG-Welder/H8155

I'm looking for an inexpensive welder for simple body work, and possibly welding in a set of bad dog frame rails as I work along on my Z. Yes, I'm a newbie at welding, but I asked my grandfather (remotely) what he would recommend (since he's been welding longer than I've been alive) and he gave me a few ideas of what to look for. In looking around, I ran across this one and was hoping someone might be able to tell me if this would be OK for what I'm trying to do: http://www.grizzly.c...lder-115v/H6951 Thanks much!

Along these same lines, I've always wondered why folks intentionally remove the bumpers (usually the front) but don't seem to clean up the scalloping under the headlight buckets where the bumper used to connect to the body. Is it so they can be put back on to pass inspection later?

How noxious is the SEM stuff to spray? I live in a condo/apt with a garage downstairs, so I'd prefer to not gas myself out of the building.

I'm really liking that shade of red...what color did you use?

I'm looking through the ARP catalog to get the correct part number for new rod bolts, and it has two part numbers. One for "Early" L24 and one for "Late" L24. The block I'm having rebuilt is a P30 with a serial # of 034668. I'm not quite sure what constitutes an "early" or "late" L24, so I was hoping someone could enlighten me so I can make sure to order the right part. Thanks much!

I've been considering this for mine, but I was wondering how much difference the powdercoat would make in terms of the fit of the belt. Is there enough "give" there that it wouldn't matter with the additional thickness of the powdercoat? Or would I have to switch to a smaller (thinner?) belt?

I had the same thought (about the heater) on mine since it's not working anyway, but there have been a couple times when it would have been nice to have just to defrost the windshield. Also, there have been a couple times that the temp dropped quite a bit after dark and I wish I had it. As for the radiator, I picked up the MSA unit along with the electric fan kit and shroud...if you're going to swap out the radiator, I'd highly recommend this at the same time. Made an enormous difference in cooling, plus got rid of all the extra rotational mass of the fan on the front of the motor.

According to what we're seeing, it's been ported before in the past, so we'll probably only need to do a polish. Going to replace the valve seats and such as well, but otherwise the head is in pretty good shape.

Thanks for the good info. It's actually a 4 speed, but if I get the gist of what you're saying, as long as the clutch/flywheel are matched I'm fine. Also, I was already looking at the single-slot damper from MSA: http://www.thezstore.com/page/TZS/PROD/10-2139 The car came with "factory" A/C, but I pulled it off since it was far beyond dead and I don't really have a need for A/C, nor do I want the additional weight. I think the bracket alone weighed 20 pounds. Damned thing was made with battleship armor. Since we're on the topic, aside from the engine work, lightened flywheel and lighter damper, any other suggestions of what I might want to look since it's already being rebuilt? I have a lot of faith in the engine/machine shop (he's done a lot of work on Z motors over the years), so not much more has come up, but I'm always open to ideas. Right now we're planning on the following: New camshaft, internally oiled (going to ditch the spray bar that was on there) Bore out the block New pistons/bearings/internals (keeping the crankshaft and rods), with everything balanced Usual head work (he's going to get me the specifics early next week) New timing set Lightened flywheel & new clutch Performance damper Replacing mechanical fuel pump with electrical one

After pulling the L24 from my 71 240 and sending it off to the machine shop, it looks like I'm going to need to have it bored, so I figured since we're doing it anyway, we may as well take it out to 2.6 (or so) while we're at it. We're also planning a mild street cam as well (haven't decided on the specifics yet, and I'm not an expert on cams, so I won't begin to try to act like one). Anyway, the shop said to go ahead and bring in the clutch and flywheel so the flywheel can be balanced with everything else during the rebuild. So I wasn't originally planning to do much over stock with the motor, so I was hoping to get a little direction on the clutch/flywheel (the original flywheel is shot). After reading around quite a bit, it looks like the Fidanza aluminum flywheel is a pretty good unit, and inexpensive (comparably) to the other options out there. http://thmotorsports...1/i-165495.aspx However, after reading around it seems like there are two different sized flywheels running around out there that "fit"...a 225mm and a 240mm. If I'm understanding correctly, the 240mm is from the heaver 2+2 cars though...is this correct? The reason I ask is that I want to make sure the clutch I get is correct for the flywheel. Again, after reading around, it looks like clutch masters is regarded as good quality and good performance, so I was looking at this unit: http://thmotorsports...0/i-147619.aspx So I'm hoping that someone who's been there will let me know if this is a good direction for where I'm going, or if I'm completely wrong. Also, aside from the clutch/flywheel, are there any other parts I should be picking up now so they can be installed on the long block when the clutch/flywheel are installed?

Wow...lots of good feedback, thanks much! I've been keeping everything really organized in the tear down. Everything is separately bagged and tagged as to where it came from, the pistons were all pulled out individually, and I kept the bolts and bearings all in the correct places as I pulled them out. In terms of markings on the pistons, what should I be looking for? I assume they'd be on the top, but I'm not sure what I'd look for vs. a stock piston. I've been running premium only in it since I got it, but no idea what was done before that. The PO wasn't terribly good to it...basically kept it running (barely), but didn't do things like check the timing, fix the wiring issues, or much else. The oil that came out of it when I first got it was the nastiest stuff I've ever dealt with when changing engine oil, and the stuff after about a thousand miles or so wasn't any where near as bad...so no idea how often it was changed or even looked at. In the beginning I didn't hear any detonation, but it started to knock near the end, so I didn't drive it much at that point. I tried to richen out the mix on the rear carb as much as I could, but it wasn't flowing as well. I definitely need a rebuild there, and I'm planning to go with Ztherapy. According to the head stamping, it's an E31, but the block is a P30. If I'm reading right (http://datsunzgarage.com/engine/) it's not a stock pairing. The block (at least) isn't original, since the serial number doesn't match the VIN of the car. Thanks again for all the guidance, I really appreciate it! I'm hoping to get the rest of the block and head torn down this weekend, and (depending on this freak snowstorm we're supposed to get) going to take the head, block, and a few other bits to the local carwash to pressure wash them off before looking around for a machine shop.

Thought I'd add a little update. I managed to break down most of the rest of the short block, and got the timing cover, chain, etc., off, and also pulled out the pistons. Of particular concern was that when #1, #3, and #5 came out, the top compression ring was broken. They literally fell off as I slid the pistons out. Something tells me that's not a terribly good thing, but I took a good close look at the cylinder bores and I don't see any scoring or gouges...they're all smooth as a baby's butt and I can still see the cross-hatching from when they were either re-honed, or originally honed at the factory (no idea if it's ever been rebuilt). Finally, in the category of "things I'd prefer to not find in the oil pan", check out the attached pic.

Xnke, that's exactly what I plan to do. For now I really want to take it back to stock (or close to it) without trying to do anything terribly performance related. I'm really still learning about engine rebuilding, and I figure if I'm going to do break something or do something wrong, I'd rather do it with stock components. That way I at least have a good point of reference as far as what the stock specs should be. Plus then I'm not breaking an expensive performance part by not knowing what I'm doing wrong. I'm looking around now in the area to see what kind of machine shops are available. There's a 1/4 mile track near here (Island Raceway) so there are a few performance shops around, but I'd imagine they cater mostly to the domestic market...taking them an inline six out of a Datsun/Nissan will probably get me laughed out of the shop. Any recommendations on what I should look for or avoid in selecting a machine shop to do the work?

I was planning to go ahead and replace just about everything. Pistons, valves, springs, cam, timing components, etc. Should I still save the valves for reasons other than diagnosing possible problems with the head/block? I wasn't planning to re-use them, especially if I just get a master engine rebuild kit from rpmrons.

I was planning to at least take the block to be honed and checked, and I was also thinking about having the head inspected and a valve job done. What I'm wondering is if the bores are OK, would they measure them and let me know if I need oversized rings or not? I'm not terribly familiar with re-ringing pistons, but I'm guessing that if the bores are OK and just need to be honed, I would just need replacement stock-size rings, or possible _slightly_ oversized ones to compensate for any wear? I was also looking at the rpmrons site a few times, but it seems like $614 for a full rebuild kit (pistons, rings, camshaft, rockers, springs, valves, timing set, etc) seems too good to be true. Is there something I'm missing, or is it really the deal of the century?

I'm working on tearing down the L24 out of my 71 240, and was hoping some of the more experienced folks (which is just about everyone here) might be able to give me their opinions. In looking at the head, it's pretty clear the rear 3 cylinders are running way too hot. The rear carb was definitely not flowing enough fuel, but I didn't think it was quite this bad. I'm planning to replace the valves/springs/seals, but I'm not sure of the condition of the cam. There's no obvious damage to the toes of each lobe, and I'm assuming that the polished centers with darker bands on the sides is simply from the pads on the rockers keeping the lobes polished on the inside. There's no grooving/scrape marks, and no other damage I can see, however on the cam itself there are pretty big scrapes that look like they were just from the original casting, but I'm not sure if that's supposed to be the case, or if at some point something was loose in the head and scratched the surfaces. On the block side of things, I'm pretty sure a full replacement set of pistons is in order, along with new rings, but I don't see any damage to the bores as of yet. I need to pull the pistons out before I can see everything, but other than the (massive?) carbon buildup/scoring on the tops of the pistons, nothing's jumping out at me saying "omg, the block needs replacing". Thanks for any help in advance, and please be kind..it's my first time

I know that in my 71 when I was digging thru the wiring there was a straight-shot line from the front-left turn signal all the way back to the tail lights. I'm not sure this is "stock" but it was run straight through the cabin and I had to re-route it because my foot kept catching on it. My point is you might just want to make sure there's not a crimp or break in that line. Also, on mine, there were three wires in the bundle, but only the positive was connected. I did a voltage test on the other two but they were either grounds or not connected to anything up front. I capped them off and moved on. My point is this, I _think_ you only need one positive line from the turn signals up front to the rear, and the turn signals in the rear are in serial so you should be able to trace it relatively easily. Just my 2 cents.

Not the turbo, it's 71 240z...it's also not the original motor or at least the ID number on the block doesn't match the VIN, but it's an L24. I also can't vouch 100% for the compression gauge (I got it from harbor freight on sale), but at least it tells me that something is going on with cylinder #3 over and above the other five. I'm definitely going to pull the head and inspect everything, and at minimum replace the head gasket. We'll see how it goes from there I guess.

I kind of thought the shaft/nut area was aluminum or something else that wouldn't rust...that's why I didn't really think rust to begin with. Thanks for the diagnosis! That last cylinder (it's the plug from #6) is is a little strange. I (finally) did a compression test last night, and while cylinders 1, 2, 4, and 5 are reading around 120 psi (except 3 which is at 100...I'm guessing new rings are in order), that one is at 130 psi. I'm guessing that the lean condition is related to the fact that cylinder is performing "better" in relation to the overall air/fuel mix in the other two cylinders, but I've got the mixture fully enriched on that carb. I know the carbs need a rebuild, but I'm also wondering if there's something I might be able to do in the mean time (short of a rebuild) to get a little more fuel flowing through that carb.

I'll be the first to admit I'm a newbie on reading plugs, but this one's got me. Take a look at the right-hand plug...I'm going to go with way too lean, but why would the brown "crud" move that far down the plug?