MagicsMan Posted January 21, 2012 Share Posted January 21, 2012 (edited) Hey guys, I'm new here and this looks like a very promising forum about Z's. So we have 78 280z thats been in my family for as long as I can remember and had the engine rebuilt a couple years ago to get it running after 15 years of sitting if I remember correctly. So after we got it running, my brother used it as a daily driver till as far as I can tell, he blew up the motor. My brother neglected the motor by, more often then not, running it ridiculously low on oil. As far as i can tell, this lead to overheating issues, which lead to a compromised head gasket, which lead to hydro-locking the motor to the point where something in the block broke. I say this because aside from radiator fluid coming outta the engine somewhere, i saw moisture coming from the head gasket. I took the plugs out to see if the motor cranked, but it cranked for less then a sec and locked up. So considering that something went wrong in the block, and i don't have the technical prowess to rebuild the motor, I figured I'd just get another block and swap everything to it. Aside from any other suggestions regarding my situation, I'm wondering which block to use considering that if it has it's stock N47 Head. From reading around on this form, i see people saying that if i use a "Flat Top" block that my Compression goes up a lot with the N47 Head. Again this is a daily driver car running pump CA gas. I haven't seen to much talk about the different blocks aside from dish top and flat top, but a lot about the heads. What are the pros and cons between them and is it big enough to consider getting the P79/P90 Head with the motor. I'm on a budget and unless you guys have suggestions where to buy a motor on the internet or in SoCal, I'm planning to hit up the junkyards to find the motor and any suggestions would be fantastic. Edited January 21, 2012 by MagicsMan Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rossman Posted January 21, 2012 Share Posted January 21, 2012 (edited) This has been discussed over and over on this forum. You're just not using the right search terms. Take a look at the Datsun/Nissan L-series Cylinder Head Timline page. There is a good chance the cam and valve train is toast too if the engine was run low on oil. Pull the valve cover and inspect. I bet you will find scoring on the cam Get a stock piston/head combination if you are planning to reuse the stock FI. IMO, higher compression requires better engine management. Good luck. Edited January 21, 2012 by rossman Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RebekahsZ Posted January 21, 2012 Share Posted January 21, 2012 (edited) If you are on a budget, just get any old running COMPLETE L-series motor you can and swap it in. The cheaper the better. And stock, they all make about the same power, roughly speaking. Be careful buying something with an unknown history because you can either buy another broken motor, or a really nice one, for the same amount of money. Sorry, I recently GAVE a good one away. Snoop around the forum where guys have recently put V8s in their cars and you might find a motor just collecting dust in somebody's garage that they would part with. You should be looking at $1000 or less for a complete used stock engine. Rebuilding what you have will cost at least $600, depending on what is broken. Once we cut out our transmission mounts for the V8, we can't use an L-series motor anymore, anyway. They aren't worth that much money, so we shouldn't ask much. Put an add in our PARTS WANTED forum and you might get lucky and find somebody sympathetic in your area. Edited January 21, 2012 by RebekahsZ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gollum Posted January 24, 2012 Share Posted January 24, 2012 If you are on a budget, just get any old running COMPLETE L-series motor you can and swap it in. The cheaper the better. And stock, they all make about the same power, roughly speaking. Be careful buying something with an unknown history because you can either buy another broken motor, or a really nice one, for the same amount of money. Sorry, I recently GAVE a good one away. Snoop around the forum where guys have recently put V8s in their cars and you might find a motor just collecting dust in somebody's garage that they would part with. You should be looking at $1000 or less for a complete used stock engine. Rebuilding what you have will cost at least $600, depending on what is broken. Once we cut out our transmission mounts for the V8, we can't use an L-series motor anymore, anyway. They aren't worth that much money, so we shouldn't ask much. Put an add in our PARTS WANTED forum and you might get lucky and find somebody sympathetic in your area. +1,000,000 No reason to over think this. Just get a running longblock and throw it in. Shouldn't cost more than $500imo Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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