Jump to content
HybridZ

Leon's Other 260Z


Recommended Posts

Well I had a crazy last few days...

 

Yesterday consisted of 3-4 hours of driving around various motorcycle, fabrication, and engine shops, and even the Nissan dealer trying to figure out my correct lash pad thickness. I had no luck and instead came home, removed a spring and retainer, and used a combination of a stock lash pad and feeler gauges to try and replicate a thicker lash pad. This was more trouble than it was worth and the results were inconclusive at best. I came out of it estimating the correct size to be .180".

 

Today was a change of pace. I decided to give Rebello a call and explained my situation. Dave was nice to talk to and said they could help out, so I packed the head and various bits into the S2000 and set off to Rebello Racing. Luckily it's just over an hour away from my place. I bold the word "luckily" because I'm very lucky that these guys came through for me, in a big way. I came in, quickly ogled the L28 with triple Mikunis and Kameari header, and then proceeded to explain my situation to one of the engine guys, who already had an N42 on his workbench at the time. Soon, we had my P90 head on the workbench with a very well-versed L-series expert looking over it. Long story short, I needed .200" pads on the intake and .240" on the exhaust.

 

However, there was another revelation and it involved the rocker arms. Delta did a great job, over 50% of them were good! All kidding aside, 5 of the 12 rocker arms were ground poorly, i.e. the cam surface was not parallel to the valve surface. Others have noticed this recently as well, in various threads. Had I known of this earlier, I would've never sent them to Delta. So as a note to others, DO NOT send your rockers to get reground at Delta. They will ruin perfectly good rocker arms. I ended up getting 6 prepped rockers from Rebello as well. I bet this saved me a lot of hearache (right, Jim? :D).

 

Plus, once we were done, we chowed down on some pizza. I really couldn't have asked for a better experience! Standing over the shoulder of an expert L-series builder while he played with my head (who's going to make the first joke?) was a delight. :2thumbs:

 

I'm taking a food break right now. I've got the head installed and the next step is to time the cam. Once that's done I'll check valve-to-piston clearance. If everything is good, I'll break it down and finally work on assembling the engine. Looks like having the engine in the car this weekend may still be a possibility.

Edited by Leon
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Just did the clearance check, tore it back down, and then installed the Isky springs and cam for final assembly.

 

I used the Silly Putty again for my valve-to-piston clearance and came up with approximately .080" for exhaust and (with .012" lash at valve) .100" for the intake (.010" lash at valve). Works for me. :)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Leon.

 

What a find!  Sounds like everything is going together great (as long as you are using cast pistons).

 

Have fun putting the motor together.

 

I'm finally doing final assembly, typing this during dinner/dessert break. The head is on but I screwed up indicator reading during head install so I couldn't get a good gasket crush number, unfortunately. I'm using a Nissan gasket on a block decked by .004"/0.1mm so I'm not super worried about clearance there. When I did the P/V clearance check, I remeasured piston-to-head clearance and it was about .027" as given by the not superbly accurate silly putty. I am using cast pistons as well so expansion should be same as stock. I can't count how many rockers I've removed today and how many valves I adjusted, over and over and over...

 

Must be nice to be just down the street from rebello.

 

You're telling me! I'd still be searching or waiting for lash pads right now if it weren't for them, not to mention that those poorly done rockers would've probably made very bad noises at the very least.

Edited by Leon
Link to comment
Share on other sites

This is about as far as I got today, and yes it's 3am here...

 

DSCN2242_zps98fee752.jpg

 

I did way more gasket and fastener hunting than I would like, but it is what it is as far as getting an engine in pieces and trying to rebuild it. I've got a few things on my checklist for tomorrow morning, or rather later in the morning. Gotta grab some fasteners, a gasket, and plugs/wires/coil when the stores open. Goal is to have this in the car by the end of Sunday. Time to get a little sleep...

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The scene on Saturday morning, lone head and block...

 

DSCN2222_zpsc56049b5.jpg

 

DSCN2226_zps8076de4c.jpg

 

Mockup from Sunday morning:

 

DSCN2244_zps35fab1ce.jpg

 

The crew getting ready for some perilous maneuvering:

 

DSCN2246_zps2751dad3.jpg

 

And... it's in! Big thanks to all the awesome people who helped out, especially Yoshi and Leo. We had some hairy moments but it was a fantastic conclusion to a long, sleep-deprived weekend. :)

 

DSCN2247_zps64cd8445.jpg

 

DSCN2248_zpsc6c993d8.jpg

 

My goal is to have the engine running by the end of Monday, but I have a lot of stuff going on starting at 2pm so we'll see if that happens. Tuesday should be the latest for first crank. Fingers crossed...

Edited by Leon
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Well, Monday turned into a throw-away day as far as car work goes. Just had too much stuff going on. As for today, I suppose I've underestimated what it takes to put a car together! We're close but no fire yet. It's gotta happen Wednesday or Thursday, because otherwise it's not happening until mid-September when we get back from the honeymoon.

 

The guys came by again today and were a huge help. Things definitely get done quicker when there are 3 people working on the car at once, instead of just me. Here's where we're at, it's just a bunch of little things that are slowing me down right now, but I have a list and will try to get through it all tomorrow.

 

DSCN2252_zpsa24274ea.jpg

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 3 weeks later...

Alright, I guess I should give an update...

 

I worked my ass off during the last week of August, with the help of some friends and my dad. Long story short, we got as far as filling all the fluids, sealing leaks, and turning over the engine with the plugs out, using the starter. Hooray for no piston-valve contact (at least none that I heard)! We were not able to start the engine so unfortunately the car didn't make it to the wedding. With that said, we had a blast working on the car. A lot of late nights and little sleep, as well as 9pm runs to O'Reilly's all made it memorable. Plus, the wedding was a blast and the honeymoon was fantastically relaxing. :)
 

Here's where we ended up:

 

DSCN2262_zps9ce3c1d7.jpg

 

The two stupid things that stopped me from starting the car were (1) a dead fuel pump and (2) the lack of a complete exhaust system. It was such a time-crunch that these two things killed any chance I had of the car running before 8/30. We found a suitable fuel pump, using one of my buddy's detective skills, the night before the deadline. That was in and pumping fuel the next morning. I would've liked to at least start and break-in the engine, but when cranking it over there was no sight of oil from the cam lobes, even having primed the oil system. The plan here is to take off the valve cover and apply some more moly lube to the lobes.

 

During the honeymoon, I was able to plan out a new fuel system so I'll be re-plumbing the mess that's in there now. The parts had arrived by the time I got back, this past Wednesday, so they're on hand. At this point, the only thing I'm waiting on is for some hardware to get re-plated (I stopped by a local metal finishing shop yesterday) and the wideband O2 sensor that I ordered. Once it's all together, I'm hoping to break it in and then drive to my exhaust shop to put together a suitable exhaust system.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

you picked the car up in SLO?  I went to school there.  Do you know if Z unlimited is still open there?  I have parts to get rid of.

 

Yep, the car belonged to a former college prof of mine. I think all the Z shops are all closed up, although you can sell parts here on this site by becoming a donating member ($20). I'd be interested in what you have.

 

Are you from Odessa? I was born in Moscow. :)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Born in tokyo, wife lives in Odessa. I picked up a gto project. Came with a 260z. So I stripped it. All the glass all the wiring and instruments. Everything. Came with a 240 motor. Supposedly hi-comp, big cam, all the right valve train and a triple dellorto set up, lighten fly wheel and 2 trans. Contemplating getting rid of all if it.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

×
×
  • Create New...