Watson

Engine update:

Wow, good work! I'm sure my floor pans will not look this good when I chop them up tomorrow. I know this isn't your finest work but it's still pretty decent stuff; there's actually thought put into it.

I finally got the intake manifold all buttoned up and was getting ready to finish the engine when I realized I don't have gaskets for the exhaust side of the turbo. Piss.... Well, I guess I'll knock out the differential and floor pans until they come in. Tomorrow I'll start on that and I'll do another video. I think I'll do weekly video updates with pictures in between. As far as the rocker cover goes, I started sanding it to prep it for painting but then I decided it looks pretty cool like this. It has an interesting vintage look. I think I'll keep it this way.

Awesome! My floor pans are about to look like frankenstein as well. Good work, especially for such a small budget!

It's not going to clean itself. I had to port the manifold to better suit the new 60mm throttle body. I'm no professional but at least it has a better chance at life now. Finished building the board for the ECU. Just got to make a few tweaks.

Got some more bits installed on the engine and after adjusting the valve lash, I thought it was time for a hefeweizen. I'm about sick of having to do this. This engine likes to eat bolts and force me to drill and tap new threads. It's coming along.

I finally started doing the video thing. First posted edited.

I got a little bit of engine work done today. I had to take a field trip to a buddy's house to borrow a torque wrench since I loaned my out 15 minutes before I needed to use it. He was in the process of rebuilding an RX-8. I ran into some fitment issues with the timing cover and the new timing chain guides so I will have to hash that out tomorrow.

I spent the morning scraping gasket (ughhh) and I got a new 35mm lens. Fun!

Got the bottom end put together. All new bearings, rings, and ARP hardware.

Fixed! Sorry about that. On to more pictures with still no background information. I spend so much time working on the car (in addition to my day job) that I just haven't done an intro yet... The day started with cleaning the block and internals. I managed to recruit the help of some neighbors. Thanks, neighbors. Before painting. After painting. I decided on a nice neon-vomit green. The pizza cart was put to good use. The cylinders were honed. The oil pan was cleaned, tapped for oil return, and painted. I began work on the ECU until the rod/main bearings come in for the engine.

Intro: Got the engine pulled. While disassembling it, I broke a couple of bolts and they were essential just rods of rust bonded to the cover so... ...I had to pry it off. Guts all over the floor.

Hey CaptainJoe, do you know what spring rate your front and rear coil overs are? With those springs, are you still getting a lot of squat under acceleration? Thanks.

How fast is the swap? About as fast as you are with searching the internet for solutions to swaps, how much general mechanical knowledge you posses, as well as how fast you are with do this kind of work. How fast is this stuff for me? Not very fast. I'm an IT guy by day that works on cars in his spare time. I scour the internet, read books on the subject at hand, and take my time with this type of work. As far as I'm concerned, you can make any car faster than any other car, with the right tools, parts, and know-how of course. If you "see little in the way of numbers" then maybe you need to develop your own numbers; just go forth with the build. Its not like having a L28ET in a S30 is going to suck... Or you could be like everyone else that gets excited about a project car, asks ridiculous questions, and then never follows through with their plan and leaves another bitter taste within the community that is the internet car forums. Its your call. Just remember to do your research and read books on the subject at hand. Modifying a Datsun OHC engine: http://www.amazon.com/Modify-Your-Nissan-Datsun-Engine/dp/1931128049 Rebuilding a Datsun OHC engine: http://www.amazon.com/Rebuild-Your-Nissan-Datsun-Engine-ebook/dp/B006VUICHG EFI tuning: http://www.amazon.com/Performance-Fuel-Injection-Systems-HP1557/dp/1557885575 You may need to read those books to help you get to your 270-300 WHP figure. As far as a guide on swaps -- that just take due diligence and good set of tools.

I'm well aware of the differences between the heads. I'm also not just doing a direct swap but again, thanks for the heads up. I bought the N42 head from dat280z. Thanks for the help. Build thread to come once I return home.

I'm looking for a head to replace my cracked/warped N47 head. I'd like an N42 or P90 head that isn't warped. It doesn't have to be fully restored, just as long as it isn't warped or cracked, and I don't mind if it is just the head and no valvetrain. -Lucas

Well I know you wanted a bolt in option, but here's an idea that involves some welding. For $20 I picked up a set of S14 seats that had some fire damage. The bolstering was still good though. So I used the covers as templates and made my own covers with fabric that looked factory. I sewed everything up and welded them to the floor. Done! They're not showcar material but I like them, it was my first time upholstering anything, and this is a "resource minded" drift car, so imperfections are okay.

Well this is the internet. No personal interaction voids any sort of personal touch as every interaction is up for individual interpretation. My apologies. As a quick summary the cylinder walls are butter smooth and I was not burning oil so with my minimal knowledge, I can only assume the bottom end is good. I do however need to replace the rear main seal. I have discovered the head is warped. I would feel better just buying a new head than trying to fix it. The manifolds were still on because it's damn near impossible to access the bolts that the two manifolds share with the head in place. Removing the manifolds with the head off was a cakewalk and no damage was taken to any part as they were removed. Again, horsepower is not a goal of mine. I want the engine to have a quick, fluid, responsive feel. I realize the run of the mill L28E is not a power house and that's okay, but a N/A well flowing engine is enough satisfaction for me. That's why I posted no horsepower goal, otherwise I would have everybody saying "get a turbo or you're wasting your money". Although it is not mentioned in my original post, I will be using a Megasquirt ECU. I don't know who purepontiackid is so I hope you can understand where I made no connection to a differential recommendation assisting my bottom end building question. I do appreciate your in-depth input though. That's one of the best responses I've seen on the internet yet and it does give me some insight on my errors prior to head removal. For what it's worth, none of my cars, past or present, have ever, nor will they ever see a welded differential. I don't think I will be rebuilding the bottom end...

That's what I'm afraid of. I hope that's not the case as I have a N42 head and would like to keep it, but if it's cracked or warped.. Unfortunately I did not do a compression test before removing the head and it has 180,000 miles on it. I really don't mean to come off as a jerk but this response is sort of why I stay out of forums and other groups. This is completely irrelevant to the question at hand and I'm fully aware of the issues that a welded diff create. That's why my 240 has a 1.5 way differential. That, I did rebuild and install and until tearing apart this engine, that was the biggest project I have tackled.

Wow! Great work! Your build is very inspiring. I wish there were hills to climb in Florida...

...that is the question. Hey everybody. I know I'm not very active here but I usually just lurk around, get the information I need and leave. Well I've started a 280ZX project a little while ago and today I pulled the head and have the intention on rebuilding it but I was wondering, should I rebuild the bottom end? Let me first define my goals: I don't care how much horsepower I'm making, I just want the car to feel good. It will do two things; drift and autocross. My initial intention was to fully build the head, e.g. port and polish, valvetrain, bigger cam, and also do headers (with full exhaust) and possibly a different intake manifold. Now with that said, I know the L28s are stout engines and I'm no expert but when I pulled the head, everything looked decent. I'll attach a video so you can get a small idea of the condition of the bottom end. I pulled the head because coolant was getting into the exhaust so I thought it was a blown head gasket. I didn't see anything wrong but again, I'm no professional. TL;DR I'm rebuilding the head, should I rebuild the bottom end on an already factory stout L28E?

Looks great! It's also got me thinking of doing a conversion of sorts my self. Well done.