dan5138

I recently parted out my 260Z, unibody was FUBAR b/c of all the cancer. I kept the L26 however, with the intention of rebuilding it. To make a long story short I started tearing it down, and the damn thing looked brand new inside. Pistons had only a tiny bit of carbon on them, bearings looked like new, so i just mic'ed everything and put it back together. Heres the weird part: it had flat top pistons with no overbore marking or aftermarket markings on them. I thought the l26 came with dished pistons? I also kept the E88 head and cut the injector ports in and had to make a couple new bolt holes for the EFI manifold. With this setup i should have ~ 9.5 CR (according the OZ engine calc I was using anyway) Anyway I got it into my 76 280z and have had it started, just need to hook up the EGR line, and finish the exhaust. A few questions on this: Is that calc right about my CR ~9.5? If so this should give this motor a little more 'kick' Where did those flat top pistons come from? How much should I lean the AFM out if any? (I may just adjust the idle mix and call it good) I did drive the 260 some before i found the cancer... it did seem to have a little more umph even with the SUs out of tune (the run on was pretty annoying) Any input, suggestions w/e are appreciated!

I'm not against timing chains, its just if you dont have have a good set of guides and a good tensioner, theyre about as much trouble as a belt. Depending on what you are doing its just as easy to snap a chain too. Over engineer anything that may be a weak point rather than wait for it to fail. Would be sick to see a gear driven VH though. Not sure how much more parasitic a gear drive setup would be : /. Yea i knew the honda Vtec is solenoid.My friends preludewould just kinda scoot along until it hit that vtec... then it took off like a raped ape lol. Im sure with all the open source support MegaSquirt ECMs have it would be hard to set it up to trigger the VVT. As fa as that goes adjust how much it advances timing as well as when it kicks in to better suit your application. Lots of possibilities for the UZ or VH.

I wasnt trying to knock the LS1... its a great engine and all. Just out of my price range. Not to mention putting american parts in a jap car is just bleh... If i was going to put an LS1 in anything I'd scrounge up an old camaro. As far as the VH goes, they are dirt cheap. I can buy a whole '90 to '93 Q45 for right around 1k where I live. I get the engine, all the wires, the nice viscous LSD, and a slushbox if I wanted it. The VH is kinda ugly, but hey I would be changing the intake and take all the plastic "cosmetic" BS off anyway. The only real shortcoming I can see with the VH is the timing chain, But there may be a way to replace the guides / tensioner with idler sprockets. Similar to the set up kaminari (spelling) makes for the L28. That setup should be good for a few more RPMs. And does anyone know what operates VVT on the VH? I'm asuming some sort of solenoid or something. Hopefully something that won't be hard to code into a MS2.

The VH45 seems to be as much of a unsung hero as the 1UZ. Just looked up the stats on the VH, it sounds like a very stout engine, same price range, alum block etc. What gets me is apparently it has timing chains instead of belts? but 20+ more hp from 500cc sounds like a good tradeoff. I'm think thinking this would be the way to go, since I didn't know about the VH previously. Not to mention the VH is more aesthetically pleasing, using nissan parts for the entire car and all. Ill probably get flamed for this but... anything would be better than a 350. Anything that still uses pushrods is a boatanchor imo. Ive also heard the LSD diff from a Q45 almost bolts directly into s30's (minus the difference in drivshaft flange) anyone have experience with this?

What transmissions do the 300zx's use anyway, hopefully not some variation of the borg werner like some of Z's have. As far as displacement goes, I like how the smaller, higher revving V8s sound as opposed the larger displacement engines. You get pretty tired of hearing chevy's with flowmasters when that is all anyone drives around here. Though Ill do some research on the VH too, sounds interesting

Well just got the darn thing medium blasted... and there isnt too much left. Aparently this car has had rust problems before and someone undercoated right over the top of it. The frame rails look like swiss cheese in places :/. Body cancer was just bondoed over in a lot of places and the paint was on there THICK so it didnt show up until after blasting. What i get for buying a 3/4 complete car for $300 i guess ><. Fortunately I haven't bought an engine or anything yet... anyone interested in a full set of 260 glass? lol. I may be better off with a '75 280 chasis, I believe the are a little stiffer/heavily built than a 240 / 260? The only thing that makes me unhappy about the 280 is ride hieght. Looking at my finished 280 (stock height) even a 1" drop would leave me sitting kinda high imo. Does anyone have any examples/experience with 1" drop springs on a 280?. As far as electronics go it would be money well spent to buy a Mega Squirt 2 to control a 1UZ rather than spend a lot of time looking for the correct stock harness/ecm. I would also redo the chassis wireing (Nothing bugs me more than opening a hood and seeing a bunch of wires and vacuum lines). But until I can come up with a decent chasis, this is on a hold. As far as fitting a 1UZ goes, it has to be one from a sc400 (rear sump). Taking quick measurements (there is a nice diagram of a 1UZ in lextremes.com forums) it's a tight fit in some spots. Hood clearance and having the engine Fairly close to the firewall seem to be the only real issues. Building engine mounts and bolting them to the frame rails seems about the safest bet as well. I can just picture the welded mounts cracking because of chasis flex.

Well I'm thinking seriously about swaping a 1UZFE into the 260Z thats been sitting in my backyard. Just finished a 280z (mostly stock), it packs a good punch. But hey almost 2x the power and less weight is always better right? Another one of my goals here is to make it a budget build, kinda a rat rod sorta deal. Scrounginging up parts and fabricating what can't be found just adds to the uniqueness of the build imo. Ive also done quite a bit of research on this engine transplant (though nothing specific to Z's unfortunately). Anyway if anyone has any input or advice, let me know. Ill be updating with pictures of the car shell later.