AKWIKZ

The head gasket Nissan carries is indeed an HKS. There were two Nismo head gaskets for the L28. One was an O-ring type that are now NLA from everything I have found. If anyone is interested, the part number is 11044-E4621 for the gasket and 11045-N3120 for the O rings. Then, there is a .6mm gasket with a part number of 11044-E4623. There is still a Nismo head gasket for the L24/L26 though. The part number for this is 11044-E4620. Nissan Motorsports carries the HKS gaskets and lists them in a Nissan part number. I ordered three a few years back and they all came in a Nissan bag but were HKS units. These are 91mm bore. Here are the part numbers for them. The 1mm is 11044-91MM1. The 2mm is 11044-91MM2. I have managed to build a decent collection of Nissan literature and this includes Nissan Motorsports catalogs all the way back to the early '80's (when they were still called Datsun Competition). I'd be happy to look up numbers for anyone. Also, my personal experience has been to go directly through Nissan ans avoid MSA completely. I also get a 20% discount at my local Nissan if anyone needs a part. Hope this helps some. Brian

Thanks guys. Yes, it was cool to meet Kenny and get his input on the engine. As for Keith, he was more of a "supervisor" I guess. You know, over there......now, over there......now, how about here...... Actually it was noce to have some extra help to push the car around. One of these days hopefully I'll actually get to drive the car. Well, drive it under it's own power, without two guys pushing me. In the meantime I'll just make engine noises and dream. Brian

It's been a while since I posted any info on my progress, so here goes. Everything has been assembled and disassembled multiple times now. I now have the car in it's final configuration. Some of you had seen the car at the car show last year, but it is now much more complete with most of the detail work finished. All that is really left to do is get the RB rebuilt with the new internals. A few weeks ago I was contacted by a crew from a Japanese magazine called "Lightening". They were doing a special edition on classic Japanese cars in the U.S., more specifically ones that have been modified. I explained to them that the car was not running, but they asked if I could put it back together for a photo shoot. So I did and last weekend they came down for the inteview/shoot. Kieth (Zhadman) and his friend Kenny from RBMotoring came down to help out along with my friend Tim. Here are some pics. (bear with me as I'm not good at posting pics). These are all pics Tim took during the shoot. I am expecting the professional ones will be even more impressive. The first couple are from inside my shop, the next are at a parking lot near by. I included one of my new tow vehicle as well. This was the first time I have used the Armada for towing and it was stellar. Hardly even noticed the trailer at all.

As far as importing per order, most people don't seem too keen on waiting. I have not found anyone serious when it came down to it. They seem to want it right away. I can't say I blame them, it's hard to hand over that kind of cash to someone you don't know. But again, I want to say that I don't think my car will be going anywhere. No one has responded after hearing what I want for it. HakosukaJD, I never got the chance to compliment you on your car. I'm happy to see you were able to get it. And in my color, no less. I think I may take you up on your offer for parts as I really want to get a chin spoiler for my car and a couple bits I need as well. I will let everyone know how things go with the auction. Brian

First off, I guess I should apologize for not listing it here first. I listed it on e-bay to try to get the maximum exposure to see how much it might go for. But to be honest, I'm really hoping it does not reach my reserve. I have listed it for a couple of reasons. I do actually have an opportunity that requires a big chunk of money. And this is the easiest and quickest way to get it. Secondly, I am trying to gauging interest in these cars. I have a couple more that have been offered to me but I am sceptical of sinking money into something I am not sure wil bring a return. So far, I am not convinced that the American market is ready to pay for high end, high dollar classic Japanese cars. I've even had a couple of 510 guys, (well known ones even), try to convince me that my car is only worth $5000. And they were rather rude in the way they went about it. But, then again, I guess that's why the 510 crowd has been labeled "cheap" for so long now. As it is listed right now, I am looking for the best offer over $30k. If I were to keep the RB drivetrain, it's best offer over $20k. If I can't get that much, there is no point in selling my car. If someone does meet the reserve, so be it. If all goes according to plan, I'll just buy another one later. I don't want to sound casual about this. It is very difficult for me to consider losing my car. As you all know I have spent the last year working on it. But, chances are that it will not be going anywhere. We are talking about a lot of money here, especially considering more will need to be spent to finish it. I'm not sure people are ready to drop that kind of coin. A bit ironic though. If you see any RB swapped cars in Japan they are all going for a minimum of $50k, and this is for normally aspirated RB25's and such. I wonder what mine would be worth when it's finished? Anyhow, that's the story guys. Brian

I happen to have just gotten both of those seals. Here are the numbers: oil pump seal: 13510-19V00 crank seal: 12279-5L310 As for the oil pan. I don't remember the pan having any gasket at all. Just that sealant glue stuff. It was the same on the SR20 I pulled apart too. Brian

This is where I look around and just shrug. Do you actually believe any of my last comments to be serious? Did you really think I was going to write my congressman too? It was a joke. It was done as a spoof on this whole situation. I am amazed that you thought I was at all referring to reality here. I think this subject has gone too far and people have now taken too much of a personal interest in it. I think we have all had our say and now we are just bantering back and forth. I wanted to make people a little less jaded on thi situation with a little levity. But apparently even that hit a sore spot. Lighten up here. It is called irony. I turned the argument around to show just how dumb we are all being about a car none of us have any stake in. So please, ease up a bit here. Brian

I find this funny. Because this is exactly how all the domestic guys are looking at this. That doing this is an attack on America. That this swap is somehow a slap in the face. You would almost think from the way people are acting that the Japanese Government themselves are behind a secret conspiracy to insult America. Everyone here, whether they care to admit it or not, knows deep inside that the real insult here is not in the RB being installed into the Mustang, it's that this poor RB26 has to be surrounded by a POS car now. I mean, who did that motor piss off to be burdened with such a sentence? I'm sure that somewhere in International Law there has to be a regulation against such cruel and unusual punishment. Just picture how happy that RB was. Sitting confortably inside of one of the most technology laden vehicles ever produced. Revving to 8k, taking turns a 1.0g, launching at 7k. Then it is ripped from this automotive paradise and placed under the hood of THAT. It..... just........ brings a tear to my eye. And who nows how long it will be incarcerated. I hope it's not a life sentence. Maybe we should petition the Governor. Let's all chant; "FREE THE RB" "FREE THE RB". I'm going to write my congressman now. Brian

Thanks. I'm glad you were able to make it out. It's rare that any of us have the time to just sit around and B/S any more. I apologize as I completely forgot that you said you would be interested in the set. If you want it for sure I have no problem holding onto it for a little while. Just let me know. Brian

I know this should probably be in the classifieds, but wanted you guys to get first crack at it before I go to E-bay. I have a Tomei 1.0mm metal head set. This has the head gasket, intake and exhaust manifold gaskets, and the replacement oil restrictor and a few other bits. It is the standard 87mm bore. I have decided to go with an 88mm overbore so this will not work for my application. It is still brand new of course. I paid $360 for it. This is how much I'm asking delivered to your door, inside the continental U.S. of course. Thanks Brian

This is bound to get me into trouble here, but I've never been any good at keeping my mouth shut. For anyone, especially anyone on this site, to have a problem with this proves a complete double standard along with an unfair and unfounded slant against Japanese machinery. So many have referred to putting an American V8 into a Z as an "improvement". There are always plenty of psudo rationales for this thrown about, most of which I sincerely question. But all of a sudden the idea of putting a Japanese motor, not just any Japanese motor either, into a second string American car, that's right I said SECOND STRING, becomes blasphemy. Am I the only one missing the punchline to this joke? If anyone here that has preached the benefits of a V8 swap would apply their logic to this situation they would find no leg to stand on. What I think they will find is complete emotion controlling their arguments. And don't go telling me about the inflated HP per dollar available in a V8, I can't tell you how tired I am of that argument. On a somewhat related note, I remember just a little while back someone discussing with me the idea of getting a Hakosuka Skyline and putting an American V8 into it. Now, you want to talk about blasphemy. This, in my humble opinion, begs for the Car Gods to strike someone down. But I don't recall anyone here having a problem with that idea. Mutilate a classic Skyline, hey great idea, swap a Japanes motor into a Mustang and the sky is falling. Now I'll step down from my soapbox.Brian

Already checked on that one. They are not the same. Nor are the VG30 ones. Thanks for the suggestion though. I may end up having to buy that combo set and try to sell my other set unless I find something. I'm just waiting on my pistons at the moment, but would like to have all the other items on hand once those show up.