PalmettoZ

My car is a 75 280Z. His kit is perfect for it. I tried to use the stock 5.0 wiring harness but gave up on reading schematics. Just didn't have the patience. Ended up buying a Ron Francis wiring harness. Worked great. Get his tach converter too to convert the V8 signal to the stock tach-

I bought new ones (front) from my local Nissan dealer about 3 years ago, don't know for sure but they might still be available. I paid about 450.00 each.

Yeah he makes great stuff. I bought his cradle motor mount kit and it fit perfectly.

Brian Laine sells a box that will convert your 4 cylinder tach signal to the Datsun 6 set up. It's a quality piece and he is great to work with. I bought one from him for my Ford 5.0 conversion that I'm working on right now. He has some posts here under the Ford V8 forum. Here is his link: http://www.technoversions.com/

Your correct, you would need to at least pull the oil pan off to confirm if it is a V07 crankshaft. Also measure the bore diameter, 89mm will give you 3.1L with the stroker crank. Your can't see it from the outside of the motor-

That sucks, no doubt. All that work and then this. You wouldn't think it would have seized up that quickly. My grandmother once had a car that a service station changed that oil in, and forgot to put the new oil in... She actually drove it home before it overheated and seized. If it were me I would first pull the head off and see if the cylinder walls are scratched up and galled. Hopefully not. If they are OK, then it might just be the main and rod bearings that would need replacing. Check that cam too for galling if it ran dry. Of course you need to find out what failed caused the drop in oil pressure, maybe a plug came out of the crankshaft or the block, or the oil pump failed. Many possibilities on that one. Sorry to hear about it, for what its worth I still have a 1975 280 motor that you can have if you want, just need to pick it up. I went V8 and had this one as a spare. I think its an N42.

Its difficult to get that large a bit with a hand drill to enlarge the hole without vibrating like crazy and ruining the hole. If you can mount the manifold in a large drill press vise at the correct angle, you would be better off using that. Not easy. If you can get the Benz injectors I would use those, no chance of ruining the manifold.

Try to measure the stock LCA's to get a basic measurement from center to center? That would get you started. Then I would try putting the car on the ground (wheels under load) with a 2x4 next to each rear wheel at hub level horizontally (a paint can gets it very close to the middle). Then you can align the wheel using the board to be parallel to the body which will get you really close.

Unfortunately, there is not much friendly advice given on this website. It would seem that with so few Z's on the road that it would not be this way, but invariably most of the time newbie's are told to "search, its all been discussed before", which to me is really rude. Normally this turns off someone who is new to the Z scene. This might be why there are so few posts anymore here compared to a couple of years ago when I first started working on my Z. I think that the main reason people post on this site is for the social experience of interaction with other people who own the same car. Otherwise what's the point of having the site? Yes, a lot of info has been discussed before, no doubt, and there is a huge collection of knowledge here with the group. So with all that said, this will probably get moved to the "tool shed". As for what you posted about your vibration, it can be any number of things, including what you mentioned about the converter being out of balance. Another possibility would be that the motor might not be balanced, or balanced to a flywheel/clutch set-up. Do you know the history on who put the motor together? Check the angle on the driveshaft by disconnecting the transmission mounts and moving it up / down or left to right. Check and see what the angle is with a magnetic bubble angle prior to disconnection and then see if lowering it makes it straighter. The straighter the driveshaft is from the transmission to the rear-end the better. Plus the more the rear end pinion points towards the transmission the better. Verify that the driveshaft is balanced as well, could be the issue. Check the half shaft joints too, if they are worn out they can vibrate too. Hope you figure it out, start checking and figure it out by process of elimination. Good luck-

Very nice conversion. Nice work with the ECU. Do you have any before and after data from the manifold change? Looks like you would get alot more horsepower with that manifold, but lose some torque.

Hey Spoony- How will you get the car thru the TUV? Are you going to pay for that special inspection since it has a different motor? Or is there some other way since it is an older car?

Fuel going thru the lines can create static electricity, which is why its there. If it were me I would go ahead and attach that strap to the car body somewhere since you have one. BTW, do you have a return line set up with your fuel pump? If not the pump will make alot of noise due to cavitation. Looks like your doing a really good job on the build-

I would go to the local hardware store and get some grade 8 bolts and lock washers that have the correct length, and make sure that you use new grade 8 lock washers. If they backed out before use some locktite to install the new ones. Make sure that your torqued to 80 foot lbs and not 80 inch pounds. Scott

Hey- I did put an adjustable fuel pressure regulator on my car, Summit has one made by Bosch really cheap, and I got a liquid filled gauge from Charleston Rubber and gasket in North Chuck. I think that the regulator was about 30.00 or so and the gauge was about 15.00. I am still quite away's from getting the motor started though, still need to do the wiring and clean up the loose ends such as exhaust and the steering linkage. Its been so hot lately that I can't get out in it to work in my garage. Plus work is keeping me really busy at the moment. I'll take some photos shortly and post them. Later-

We must have been typing at the same time.

The smaller 1/4 inch line is for the fuel vent, just like you said. And yes, it went to a charcoal canister that was on the left side of the car next to the strut housing. As far as the fuel lines go, I think that your lines are too close to your headers which will really heat the fuel up. I am in the process now of re-routing all of the lines since I have the same issues. I will have the lines routed on the outside of the frame rail and then into the fender near the strut to avoid the heat from the exhaust. Also try to set up a return line for your carb so that it is always routing fresh fuel thru the lines. This will keep it much cooler.

Hey Andy- I had a lighter Aluminum flywheel on my 3.1L and liked it. It gives the motor the feeling that it has more torque since it allows it to spin up faster. Off the line is a little more touchy, since the inertia is gone from the heavier stock flywheel. I had triple Mikuni's and a long duration cam so that probably added to that touchy feeling as well. Once I got used to it I could drive it without any problems. I found my aluminum one used and in good shape for 200.00 bucks on Ebay, it was a centerforce. All in all it was worth it.

How close are you to assy and firing it up? Looks great. Are you planning to get it going with the carbs and then switch over to ITB's?

There is a guy here on this forum that makes some emblems that are stickers that are really nice and look like the real thing. great prices too. I ordered some a couple of months ago. Do a search under vendors for Vinyl stickers by "One Tuff Z".

Yes, custom pistons will get you the lower pin height which will give you flush pistons with the top of the block. JE can make you a set. But like Tony says, they are expensive and the 2mm gasket is the other cheaper option. That being said, I think that those larger 91mm head gaskets are getting harder to find now. Tyler031734, your right, its not good to get the top ring that close to the top of the block. As a compromise I would recommend filing the top ring with a little more clearance for additional expansion due to heat. Or coat the top of the pistons with a ceramic coating to help keep the heat off of the piston. I know that this is a common problem for the stroker 5.0 Ford motors due to the really high pin height. Keith Black pistons recommends the additional clearance on the top ring of the pistons they sell for this combo.

I think that normally the goal would be to have the pistons at TDC flush with the block, not protruding out of it. The 2mm gasket is a solution to that problem. When I bought my 90mm diameter gasket it was just 1mm thick, and over priced at whatever it was that I paid for it (225.00 or so?) from Motorsport auto. The 2mm thick one is just 2 of those riveted together. My cylinder pressure was 200 psi at that point, not sure what that equates to in terms of compression ratio. My pistons were ITM as well, and I think they are good quality for the money. Having built a 3.1 I have to say that for a 6 cylinder its a great motor, but it's not cheap and a PITA to get all the (used) parts together to build one. Unless you want to spend big bucks and order all new stuff off the internet from Kamarei. It's a motor for the Datsun purist who wants to retain the straight 6.

I put those same pistons in my 3.1L build and they are plenty stout. Although you will need to do some machine work to them, since with the combo that you have, they will exceed the block by about 2mm's. You can put the pistons in a lathe and turn that amount off the top. It worked great for me. Pistons were flush with the top of the block at that point.

Where the linkage attaches to the firewall has a ball that rotates quite a bit. Just try it like Tony suggested and if it doesn't work then just relocate that ball assy. Alot easier than going thru the deal with the cable set up in my opinion. See the photo from my car since I moved it on the firewall. Scott