inline6

Today, I turned my attention to mounting the oil tank. Like the radiator, getting it to fit is quite a challenge. When placed against the firewall, the mounting brackets interfere with the brake and clutch hard lines, and the raised "ribs" in the firewall panel. I could space it out from the firewall, and still mount it there, but I came up with an alternative that I like. It will allow me to mount the tank far enough from the firewall to avoid wiring and hard lines and "ribs". I will be fabricating a mounting bracket which will connect diagonally from the firewall to the right inner fender. The final location of the tank will be just low enough to keep the filler cap from hitting the hood, and the drain will be located a couple of inches above the frame rail. Additionally, I purchased a Braille battery which is much smaller than the original. I will make and weld in a steel platform for it that will be similar to how it was done originally by Nissan. It will be a smaller platform, of course, but I will weld it to the inner fender in two locations and not to the firewall. At the top and bottom of the oil tank mounting bracket, I will put a 90 degree bend to add rigidity. I have some 1/8" thick 6061 aluminum I will use. Additionally, I have some aluminum angle. I may reinforce the top edge of the mounting plate with some of that. The bracket will be mounting to the firewall with two bolts (a reinforcement plate will be on the backside of the firewall), and to the front inner fender with two bolts. I may tie into the top edge of the oil mounting bracket in some way... to secure the battery in place. I want to be able to remove the battery without having to dismount the tank. So, that will be guiding my design effort for what I come up with to secure the battery in place.

Another weekend of work has gone by, with my efforts spent on mounting the radiator. Time spent thinking of bracket design was more than I would have preferred. However, I did come up with something that will work well. Had I to do it again from scratch, I would use thicker sheet metal. What I have done here instead is fabricate up some brackets using some .032" (.8 mm) sheet. After test fitting them, I found it necessary to double up the part that bolts to the lower box channel of the radiator support. For the lower bolt hole in the bracket, I installed a rivet nut in the frame. For the upper hole (drilled after mounting the brackets using a bolt in the lower hole), I drilled through where the back face of the lower frame is spot welded to the front U section and used 6 mm x 1 mm bolts, washers and nuts. Being two layers thick at that part of the original frame box, it is pretty solid there. The lower brackets will handle the weight of a full radiator as well as g forces from bumps and braking. The rubber cushions support the radiator from the underside. To keep the radiator from shifting forward and back, or left and right, I came up with the idea to attach these brackets with holes that positively locate on the rubber mounts. Even with a lot of care when taking measurements, I ended up with holes needing to be offset toward the front instead of centered. Oh well. With this set of pictures showing the single top mount bracket, you can see a bit better how this design works. The bracket with the hole is 1/8" thick aluminum. That is riveted to the U channel at the top of the radiator. Another bracket which will bolt to the radiator support using an already existing welded in nut (7 mm with 1 mm thread), has a third rubber bumper bolted to it. This bumper positively locates the radiator via the hole in the bracket which is riveted to the radiator. The bumper in this upper bracket sandwiches the radiator (between the two lower bumpers and the upper bumper). I have also made the upper bracket with a rear, downturned flange. I will glue a piece of rubber insulator inside the back lip of this upper bracket. This will prevent the radiator from moving backward, as it might otherwise when the car is at high speed and air is pressing hard against the front of the radiator. I may need to come up with a similar type of flange to add at the bottom of the radiator for the same functionality. My clearances are so tight at between the fans and the front of the engine, that I need to ensure no rearward movement of the radiator can occur.

Progress today was slow because I ran into some further complications with adding a shroud along with the fans and radiator. Adding a shroud to my plan has made things more difficult. After much thought, I measured out and bent up a custom shroud. At the top, the shroud is spaced 1" from the fins. At the bottom, it is spaced only 1/4" from the fins. This was done to get a bit more clearance. So, it angles a bit from top to bottom. Additionally, I had to offset the fans so the top edge of them sits above the top edge of the shroud. This allowed me to get clearance at the oil pump belt. To cover the area where the fan extends above the shroud, I made a little aluminum extension. I plan to weld it to the shroud at the top. I will make another for the second fan and weld it in as well. At the lower part of the shroud, I will install some rubber flaps of some sort so that area will not just be a wall where air can't get through the radiator. I am going to replace the studs in the water pump (that hold on the pulley) with bolts instead. That will add about 3/16" more clearance to the fan. Additionally, I think I will need to put a strap on the inside of the shroud to strengthen it at the middle - this will be my attempt to keep it from getting pushed back (flexing) at high speed, and moving the fans closer to the rotating parts of the engine.

After lots of measuring and thinking, I ordered another Griffin radiator and two 10" Spal fans. This radiator is a bit wider and the same height as the other Griffin I bought years ago. However, the core has two 1" wide tubes instead of the two 1.25" wide tubes. Thus, the core is a bit thinner and that helps provide a bit more room for the fans. Being a bit wider, the two 10" fans fit better as well. Here are some pics: I will mount the fans at the top as shown. This will put the fans above the oil pump shaft and crankshaft dampener bolt. I will probably shorten the oil pump shaft, as the extra length is not needed for this application. The bottom edge of the radiator aligns with the bottom edge of this blue painter's tape. The side tanks fit just inside the stock radiator mount bolt locations: I am very pleased with this combination from a fit standpoint. Each fan is rated at 802 CFM. I repeatedly came across information where the CFM was higher when they were used in pairs in combination with shrouding. So, I plan to add some shrouding as well as some directing panels on the front to improve total CFM. I won't be able to measure it, but I think bumping the total up to 2000, an amount that should be good for a 6 cylinder engine, should be possible. Next, I will figure out how to mount the radiator, and wire up the fans.

I put the engine in the car last weekend. This weekend I am doing a lot of staring at it and thinking. I need to figure out how and where to route all of the oiling lines. And I need to figure out what to do for a radiator and cooling fan as the Griffin I bought is 3" thick and is awfully close to the crank dampener bolt. Those are the immediate concerns. I still have to wire up and install a set of Speedhut gauges, drain and flush the gas tank and lines, and a bunch of other stuff before I can attempt to start the new engine. Going to put the tank about here: Have to cut sheet metal here to get the tank low enough to fit under the hood: Pump and custom mount: There is a good amount of space under the pan. I will route the two pan scavenge lines under here to the bottom two fitting on the pump. I can clock the bottom of the tank about 90 degrees to get the bottom fitting pointed towards the left side, and then I might be able to run a line from there, across the top of the transmission bell housing to the left side of the engine compartment, and run it along the frame rail to the front of the pump. Radiator situation - Griffin set in place in first pic is very close to the crank and oil pump shaft. The Stealth Conversions radiator is much thinner, but even some the 14" Spal would be a tight fit. And when I was last at the track with this radiator, the temp gauge indicated slightly elevated temperatures from normal. So, I'd prefer not to put that radiator back in this car for that reason. It was fine though for all use except track sessions in the August heat in Atlanta. I had no shrouding and a stock clutch fan (plastic) when it was last installed.

I have finally switched my focus to getting this car running again. This weekend I painted the engine block of the new replacement engine. I was hoping to get it in the car, but various things slowed down my progress. I thought I had a pilot bushing on hand, but couldn't find it. So, a trip to the store for that... Couldn't find the torque spec for the ARP flywheel bolts and wasted time looking for that. Little things like that eat time. Anyway, a few pics: With the back plate, flywheel, disc, and pressure plate now on, I am about ready to put the engine in. I think I will strip and repaint the motor mounts first. Then, I'll put the engine in and start the work to mount the oil tank for the dry sump. I will likely need to cut some of the inner fender well on the right side. I don't like going that route on my "early" Z, but I dislike blown motors more.

I think I can get it finished by the end of March. We shall see. I pretty much underestimate the amount of time to do anything by a lot.

Well done! I like "After tireless and borderline obsessive searching..." That describes me more days of a week than not. I haven't been very active on Hybridz.org for several years, but have been restoring a 240z for 5 years now and that has required a lot of tireless and borderline obsessive searching.

Damn. That is not a happy diff at the moment. Perhaps the debris hasn't caused insurmountable damage. I am hoping for the best.

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Bizarre. So, assembly lube inside the bolt holes... (e.g. mains and rods), causing hydro-lock. Yeah, hadn't thought of that.

I found a few minutes to mock up fitment of the new radiator. This one is made by Griffin. It is three inches thick with 2 rows (1.25 wide each I think) in the core. Size-wise, it is a pretty good fit. This will be replacing the JTR setup I had in the car previously. Before the engine blew up in August of 2015, I recall seeing the temperature needle on the stock temp gauge going slightly above its normal position. This radiator should achieve an improvement with regard to that issue.

Thanks Rossman. Work I plan to do before I start this engine: Installation and hookup of a full set of Speed Hut gauges Installation of a larger capacity aluminum radiator Installation of an electric engine cooling fan to replace the clutch driven cooling fan Installation of a dry sump oil tank Making and installing all of the lines associated with the dry sump system Installation of a smaller battery (perhaps lithium) to facilitate the installation of the dry sump oil tank in the engine compartment I've kept busy for the last five years with a 240z restoration project which I have been posting about over at www.classiczcars.com. That one is currently awaiting paint - literally, as in nothing left to do but spray it. My Z project cup runneth over.

Nearly 8 years later, I have a replacement engine, which I received today. Not much to see, but here are some pics: I have a lot of work to do before it can be fired up in the car. So, it will be a while before that happens. This motor is very similar to the one I destroyed. Changes are 89 mm bore, (now a 3.0 liter vs. 2.9 before), Intake valves are titanium (vs. stainless before), crankshaft this time is not lightened and knife-edged, and this engine will utilize a dry sump oiling system. I have shelved plans for a 3.4 liter. May never get back to that. If I had it to do over again, I'd go with something much more "standard" and pay one of the L-series specialists to do it per their recommendation. If this engine blows up, I will pay one of the well known L-series specialists to build a reliable replacement engine. Here's hoping this one doesn't go boom.

Sorry for the delay. I will pm you and we'll figure out final price with shipping.

I still have them.

Sorry, the fender was sold.

Cam SOLD

Hi Rich, Just seeing this. I still have the cam. Let me know.

Anyone have a set of 6 titanium valves for an L-28? Let me know.

Did I get back to you on this? I don't think I did. Fender is still available.

Bump - edited to remove rear sway bar which is sold. Reduced price on the Porterfield brakes.

Resurrecting this one and reducing price to $200. I have a stock cam which is in excellent condition - different than the one in the pics above. I used the one in the pics - I sent it to Isky and had it reground. Price is $50 - I can ship directly to your cam regrinder. Let me know if you want pics.

Bump - and status update: Hood #2 is still available $300 Headlight housings (metal left and right) are still available - reduced to $80 each Fender still available $250 - see update pictures with sandblasted lower corner. Sold one hatch and I am holding onto the other one for now (I may need it after all). I have had pretty good luck shipping large items via Greyhound - much cheaper than FedEx or UPS.

Hood #2 is still available.