Jesse OBrien Posted April 14, 2013 Author Share Posted April 14, 2013 3 weeks in, and things are moving along smoothly. I just got back from meeting up with John from Bad Dog, and picked up a few pieces from him to complete the build. Engine The l28c is coming along pretty well. I just picked up a rack of carbs with a manifold and the crossover tube, along with some misc. little bits I had been missing, like a water pump gasket. I ordered a pile of stainless bolts and studs to replace the crusty old ones that had held the manifolds and water pump on, so I'm waiting on those for final assembly. Still needs: Exhaust manifold - The stock l28e manifold weighs about 2 tons and I'm not excited about re-using it. This can wait 'till the engine is installed in the car. Oil filter - I know it's an inconsequential cost and job, but every little holdup counts in a 10-week build. Carb tune - The carb manifold says 'e88' so I can only assume it came off an e88 head. I'm not sure if these carbs even came with the manifold, but I'm guessing they'll need a coarse tune then fine tuning to get everything running properly. Throttle linkage missing pieces - I'm going to have to hunt around a little to figure out what I'm even missing, but this should be easy. Misc nuts and bolts - Already ordered, but I'll still have to make sure they're the right parts. I don't appear to have water pump pulley nuts, so if anyone knows the part number right off the top of your head, I'd appreciate it. Alternator and Water Pump belt - I don't have one, it just needs to be ordered. Fuel lines - I'll probably just use new rubber lines. They'll last through the season, without any major complaints. Fuel pump - Will a mechanical l24 pump fit on an n42 head? Transmission The 4speed I have is in reasonably good shape, but I've noticed that the slave cylinder that's on it is not what I'm used to seeing. I'll get some photos this week to illustrate what I'm talking about, but it appears to be an adjustable-type slave cylinder. I have two 'standard' 240z slave cylinders, which should be just fine on it, but I'll have to make sure they work with the throwout bearing. It looks like the trans crossmembers are completely different between the auto and manual transmissions, so i'll have to do a bit more reading on that. I'll also have to measure out the driveshaft to see if it's different, I haven't found a definitive answer on it yet. As for the clutch, I'm looking for first-hand feedback. On a semi-stock l28 (let's be very optimistic and say 150-200chp) and a stock flywheel, what's the going recommendation? Body I was lucky enough to score a fiberglass 280z air dam, which will end up on the car as soon as it's ready for assembly. It wasn't exactly something I was planning to pick up, but I'm certainly not going to complain about it. Again, photos to come soon. I also got the correct pedal set from John, so I'll be able to get those in and start reassembly of the interior. I still haven't made a final decision on seats, but I'm leaning toward a Kirkey drag seat for now, then move that to the passenger side when I decide on a final driver's seat (probably just a Kirkey road race or similar). I don't have a brake booster or working master cylinder, so I'll have to start that parts-hunt soon as well. After that, I get to run all the necessary lines to all 4 corners. I've also just discovered that a good friend of mine is a welder at a local fabrication company, and lives right down the street. It looks like she'll be happy to help me out with the body welding, roll cage, control arm relocation, and whatever else I need. All I have to do is help her find a first motorbike and to give her a hand if it breaks down on her. More updates to come this week. I just sold my camera and haven't received the new one yet, and I don't know where I left my phone last (it's not a very important item in my life, overall). As soon as I have a photo capture device again, expect an update with visuals! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jesse OBrien Posted April 21, 2013 Author Share Posted April 21, 2013 Still no photos. I'm a little concerned that my phone may be gone forever now. Last night I realized that I had ordered the stud/bolt kit for an EFI n42 (bolt for the intake and studs for the exhaust) rather than for a CARB n42 (studs for the intake AND exhaust). I found that out halfway through installation of the studs, then found that the other (rearward) half of the studs were seized. I had ordered a drill from Harbor Freight but it won't be here 'till mid-week, so I headed down to Lowe's to get a propane torch. After an hour of heating the seized studs, spraying with PB Blaster, tapping with a hammer, and twisting with vise grips, I finally got them all out. I decided that I didn't want to go through that again, and chased all the external threads in the head with a tap. After that, I started eyeing the e88 head that was slumped in the corner, and went through the same process with it. I suppose my plan is to build the e88 head a bit more seriously while I'm driving around on the n42 head. When that's finished, I'll take a weekend to refresh the n42 block (new rings, hone, and probably bearings) or source a second l28 block and pop the 'built' e88 head on that. Coming up today: Replace the carb boots on my Yamaha xs650 (there's a vac leak somewhere, and they look pretty crusty anyway) Install the new pedal set Install the transmission on the l28? - Where can I source pressure plate bolts? Are they shared with any other more-common vehicles? I'm considering ordering an Exedy clutch with a Fidanza flywheel, although that would definitely put me over budget. I'd much rather not have to worry about the well-worn clutch falling apart or tearing off any small bits and having them foul the input shaft of the transmission. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jesse OBrien Posted April 26, 2013 Author Share Posted April 26, 2013 This weekend will be the beginning of Week 5, which is my halfway point to getting this thing to move around on the road legally. A few things have happened, other things are making good progress, and a handful of things aren't happening. I'm going to start with transmission-related progress, because that's all that's holding me up from getting the engine into the bay. The flywheels I have are rustier than I'd like, and the clutch is pretty badly worn, so I ordered a cheap 240sx XTD clutch/flywheel combo, along with a set of ARP Ford Mod v8 pressure plate bolts (I have flywheel bolts, and couldn't find pressure plate specific replacements, so I just ordered the same pitch/thread/length ... which happened to be Ford v8). The flywheel says it's an 11lb, and the whole thing was only $220, and what's the worst that could happen? ... I guess it could come loose and cut off my legs. That's probably the worst-case scenario. Oh well, I accept it. The clutch master I have is from an s130, which means the holes are in all the wrong places. I might just end up ordering the right one rather than drilling more holes through an already-flimsy firewall. I've been down this road before, and have multiple ways I could solve the problem. I'm not worried about it. The slave cylinder is something I haven't seen before. The 11/16 rod is about 2" longer and is threaded, so it's adjustable. That slave cylinder is completely seized, and I couldn't get it to wriggle loose, but that threaded/adjustable plunger is interesting. The problem I can see with this is that I'm not sure the newer 3/4 slave cylinder is long enough to actuate the throwout bearing. Is there a longer throwout bearing I should be looking for? I swapped in my automatic transmission crossmember for the manual transmission crossmember, but I wasn't sure if the mounting plate is supposed to lean toward the front of the transmission or the rear. I'll find out this weekend, when I try mocking it up to ensure that the driveshaft is the correct length. I also received my new shift knob, which was surprisingly inexpensive ... and came with a freebie keychain that has kind of made my week: Back on the engine, I think I mentioned that I picked up some round-top SU's from John at Bad Dog. I've decided not to tear them down completely since I don't have any replacement jets/needles/gaskets in case I break/strip/shear anything, but I pulled the tops off and cleaned the slides. After the car is running I hope to give them a more thorough rebuild/cleaning, but they're in good shape for now. Unfortunately, it doesn't look like the 3-hole airbox I have will fit these 4-hole carbs, unless I'm missing something. I imagine I could tap some new holes, but I don't know where all the air/fuel channels run in these. I'm also missing a chunk of throttle linkage on my firewall, so I may need to convert to a throttle cable. Lastly, I ordered the wrong manifold gasket (I bought a round-port instead of a square-port). Oops! Speaking of throttle linkage, I have the other end of the throttle assembly in now. Thanks again to John at Bad Dog for setting me up with the right pedal set for an s30. The e88 head is all disassembled and packed up until I have time, money, and the need to send it out to a head builder. It seems like there are quite a few reputable, experienced head builders, and it's going to be difficult deciding who to throw my money at when the time comes. The n42 head (which is on top of the n42 block, which is going in the car in the immediate future) has nicely tapped manifold holes, and because I ordered an l28e bolt/stud kit before buying the proper l24/l26 stud-only kit, I ended up with a bunch of spare studs. I decided to break all the rules and replace the brittle old thermostat housing bolts with new stainless studs, and I'll keep a close eye on them to see if/when they fall apart. It's really nice to have all these studs go in by hand cleanly and snugly, now that the threads are thoroughly cleaned. In other news, I went out and picked up a second piston oiler, these things are amazing. I've talked about how much money you save by buying wd-40 in bulk before, but these oilers just work a lot better than aerosol cans, and i can really get the oil right where I want it. I picked up the second one for PB Blaster specifically, so now the taller one is full of WD-40 and the shorter one is PB Blaster. If you're considering going this route, I highly recommend getting one with the thumb-plunger over the trigger-plunger. I believe I picked up the trigger-plunger one at Lowe's very inexpensively (it's not very well put together, and leaks a lot) and the thumb-plunger one at Advance Auto. Neither was more than $10. I also just restocked on safety gear, received my ultrasonic cleaner (my results have been lackluster thus far, but more on that later), and picked up some drill bits to replace the ones that were missing. These all get rolled into the budget for this car, even though I'm sure they'll see lots and lots of use other than that. I'm making good progress, and I think I'm still on schedule to finish all of this within the proposed 10-week timeframe. I am not going to stay under $2500, though. I'm not willing to sacrifice the quality/safety of the build that much. I'm still fighting the urge to replace all the bushings ... because that's a fast road down the 'while im in there' path, and I just want to keep my head down and get it done. I'll be happy to see it running/driving, then I can start working toward the next phase of making it fun. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jesse OBrien Posted April 29, 2013 Author Share Posted April 29, 2013 I'm back, documenting progress from the weekend. Very little actually got finished, since I'm waiting on the clutch to install the transmission to install the engine. I can't install the carb manifold until I have the manifold gaskets, and I can't do any kind of tuning 'till it's all installed. As it turns out, the OEM Nissan flywheel bolts are re-usable, but I ordered some ARP toyota 3sgte flywheel bolts that should fit the new pressure plate that's en route to me now. I spent the majority of the weekend cleaning and organizing the garage. I definitely need to build some shelves or some similar storage solution. I have far too many parts. Since it's high time to start cleaning up the excess, I'm selling off all the interior panels, all the efi bits, and any other non-essentials that someone else might consider to be worth money. With some luck, that engine will be installed next weekend. It'll still need some small things, like crank case ventilation, fuel lines, fresh vac lines, water pump pulley nuts, a vbelt, etc ... but the broad strokes will be complete by then. I sourced some seats and small electrical parts from a local on Craigslist who's prepping a 280z for 24 hours of lemons (I've always been intrigued by 24 hours of lemons). We're planning to meet up at the next Mt Ascutney event, 3 weeks away. That works out for me for a few reasons: I finally get to see a hillclimb event in person, which is the end goal for this car (not on the 10-week budget, of course) I get inexpensive seats that'll work for now I get to meet someone who sounds pretty damn interesting Keep an eye on the parts-for-sale section for the stuff I'm planning to offload. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jesse OBrien Posted April 30, 2013 Author Share Posted April 30, 2013 (edited) I got home from work today excited to find that my clutch/flywheel combo was being delivered. Overall, the quality wasn't terrible, and everything bolted up fine. The Ford Mod v8 bolts don't fit anything on the Datsun, as far as I can tell, but Chevy LS* camshaft bolts could be a match? We'll see, since I ordered some. I never think to go to dealerships, maybe I should start doing that. I also ordered some 3s-gte flywheel bolts, since they're reputed to be the same as the Nissan flywheel bolts. We'll see when they arrive. In the meantime, my Datsun/Nissan l-series rebuild book states that OEM Nissan flywheel bolts are re-usable, so that's the plan. Unfortunately, I only have 3 pressure plate bolts, so this is essentially just a mock-up until the new bolts come in. I'm willing to bet that the assembly will need to be balanced anyway, but I'll get to that after I know I have a full car worth of parts that I can assemble at will. Right now I'm essentially stuck in the mock-up phase, but constant progress is keeping me excited about it. Here's the stock n42 l28 flywheel, the 280zx flywheel that came with my s130 manual conversion package, and the lightened '11lb' XTD flywheel, side-by-side. You may also notice some wheels beneath those flywheels. Those aren't technically anything special, but they came off my first 240z I had ever owned, and Gollum was nice enough to hang on to them for me when I fled California, and even took the time to ship them out to me (I highly recommend Greyhound if you aren't on a strict time budget). They're just 14x7 (or 14x7.5, perhaps?) aluminum meshes, but I'd say they look perfect on an s30, and tires are obscenely cheap for them. I haven't decided what I'm planning exactly, but right now I think repainting them black with a polished lip would be superb. For right now, they're on the backburner. Nathan Gollum also shipped out my old turbo from my l28et build, a lunky Turbonetics t3/t04e hybrid and a few accessories I had picked up to go along with it. I don't have any immediate plans for it, and it might go up for sale ... or I might start building my next engine with this attached. I have a bit more research to do regarding the throwout bearing (it looks like I have an early-series 4speed, but a late-model slave cylinder, and it looks like I'll have to find a way to fit them together) and I'm waiting on the rest of the pressure plate bolts, so I can get the powertrain installed. Edited April 30, 2013 by Jesse OBrien Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jesse OBrien Posted May 2, 2013 Author Share Posted May 2, 2013 During the n42 carb mockup, I noticed that the n42 exhaust manifold interferes with the 240z intake manifold toward the front of the engine. That may mean that I need to switch to a proper exhaust manifold (tubular header), which would only be a disappointment because it would push the timeframe back even more. ARP camshaft bolts for a Chevy LS* fill the role of Nissan pressure plate bolts, and ARP flywheel bolts for a Toyota 3sGTE fill the role of flywheel bolts. After this, they got a bit of blue loctite and a healthy bit of work with the torque wrench: They're slightly shorter on both counts, but that's really just reducing overpenetration: I also received a second shift knob, but haven't decided which to use yet. I'm favoring the 4speed one right now It's a little taller, but I'm not going to complain about that: More transmission woes. The early 4spd clutch fork had a hole for a return spring and an entirely different throw than the newer 4spd and 5spd fork, but my early-4spd slave cylinder was seized and rusted from a few years of living in a snowbank. I decided to use the later 280zx slave cylinder I had and either find a newer shift fork or modify the early one I have. However, I ran into a bit of a problem mounting the newer slave cylinder: Back to square one. Here's what I'm working with, and I'm open to suggestions for a slave cylinder that'll work: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tamo3 Posted May 2, 2013 Share Posted May 2, 2013 Why not to get 280zx tranny? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jesse OBrien Posted May 2, 2013 Author Share Posted May 2, 2013 I don't want to pay $250 to ship a $100 transmission. New England is totally different from the bay area, parts-wise: http://nh.craigslist.org/search/pta?query=datsun Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gollum Posted May 2, 2013 Share Posted May 2, 2013 Sorry I haven't been reachable lately. Just got back into town. Glad to see the wheels and turbo made it! Packaging didn't get too tore up did it? I was semi-worried that due to the weight it'd get a bit abused by the gorillas. And I see a flywheel bolted up, woohoo! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jesse OBrien Posted May 12, 2013 Author Share Posted May 12, 2013 This is the beginning of week 8, and this happened yesterday: It was an awesome adventure for a $200 engine/transmission combo. I had asked around to see if any friends had a truck and would be willing to drive ~2 hours (each way) to pick up some car stuff, and Laurie got back to me saying that her friend Nate was willing to loan his truck to her. I had no idea what a fantastic piece of crap the truck would be, but I fell in love with it. As it turns out, this is his rallycross truck, and it has seen many days of hard driving. It doesn't have luxury features like 2nd-gear-syncros or suspension on the front-left corner, but it has a bed and enough power to haul an engine, and he just let us drive off with it. I think I've made a new friend for life out of this deal. The pickup Once we were on the road, I found that the differential was welded and the throttle pedal gets stuck after it's been turned off for a few minutes. It also sounds like a diesel engine that's having sex with a sewing machine in an echo-y bathroom. In short, it's my favorite pile of crap I've ever driven. The organ donor We finally got down into the southern end of Mass, and I got to meet another Nate, who had taken on an awesome ambitious project. It seems straightforward in theory (sr20det into an s30) but the car's previous owner was not ... was ... well, they're the sort of person who probably shouldn't own cars. It had molded flares, a bunch of riveted-on galvanized steel with a few lbs of bondo putty layered on top to repair rust, and the floors ... they were quite bad. His sr20det build looked like it was coming along very nicely though, and I'm excited to see how he finishes his project. The engine It was everything Nate had described. I can believe that it had moved onto a trailer of its own free will. I don't believe that it was capable of running correctly, or that it had done much more than idling and sputtering around parking lots in the past year or three. However, for a $200 engine, I was still getting a steal. We loaded it up, exchanged some money, and Laurie and I got back on the road. That and unloading the engine in the rainy mud ate up what was left of my day, but I looked the engine over a bit better this morning. I didn't get any great pictures of it, but the intake manifold had been window-welded to the head. I blame this on the PO2 (the previous owner's previous owner), so the manifolds had to come off first and foremost. The manifold studs all came out easily, and chasing the head's threads was a breeze. It turned out that the PO2 didn't even remove the intake manifolds before applying the window weld. A new gasket and studs should be all it really needs to get back to ship-shape condition. The carb slides were completely seized in the closed position. I took the caps off, pulled the slides, ran everything in the ultrasonic cleaner a few times, carb cleaner'd them, wiped them down a few more times with a tack cloth, and reassembled the top halves. Now they seem happy as well. While I was at it, I decided to clean one of the sets of my motorbike carbs as well, and the other SU's are still on the first l28. The next genius move the PO2 left as his legacy was the airbox. I had dismissed modifying my airbox, since round holes and square holes just don't line up properly. Any 2nd grader knows that. I'll give him points for determination, but I'm thoroughly disappointed in the end result. I also noted that the distributor was a little different on this l28 compared to the other l28 I have. The mount is totally different, and the adjuster screw is accessed from the BOTTOM, not the TOP (which is how the other l28 distributor works). It's a curious distinction, and I'll have to do some research to determine what the consequences of using one vs the other would be. So now there are two near-complete n42 l28's with carbs in my garage, and I couldn't be happier. My immediate-needs shopping list: Round-port airbox (I've PM'd a few sellers, but asked them to hold off until I knew if this airbox would be acceptable ... so I'll be back in touch with them this week ... I need TWO round-port airboxes) Carb manifold stud kit (I really like the stainless kit I bought on eBay last time, and will likely do the same thing again this time) Square-exhaust-port manifold gasket Square-port header - I now have two OEM top-half manifolds, and am unimpressed with both. They're heavy, clunky, and ugly. I may just get some tubing and have Laurie weld it together for me, which would be fun ... but I wouldn't have time to do it justice, engineering-wise. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jesse OBrien Posted May 15, 2013 Author Share Posted May 15, 2013 Did some more carb rebuilding yesterday Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jesse OBrien Posted May 21, 2013 Author Share Posted May 21, 2013 Week 9 is quickly approaching, and I'm behind schedule as well as over budget. I don't have either engine in the car, as the transmission bolts I thought would work are too long for the first l28, and I'm waiting on manifold studs, a gasket, new distributor components, and an exhaust manifold before I can plop the second combo in. I ordered some motor mounts and a transmission mount as well, but those won't be in until after next week. I had some seats that I was hoping to pick up this weekend, but I had to postpone that drive 'till this coming weekend (they're out in VT, which is a bit of a hike), so the interior still isn't complete either. On top of that, I'm completely out of space in the garage and the 'workbench' that the previous owner had built (really, it was just a shelf that had been crappily taped to the wall) finally came down and I need to build/buy a new workbench. I think this build is getting pushed back a month, judging by the way things have been going. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jesse OBrien Posted May 22, 2013 Author Share Posted May 22, 2013 I was waiting for parts today, and this started happening: I'll give more detals in due time, but let's just say that I'm excited about where this could go, after the build is finished. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Onion Posted May 22, 2013 Share Posted May 22, 2013 I won't ruin the surprise, but I will say I'm excited to see how these carbs turn out. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jesse OBrien Posted May 23, 2013 Author Share Posted May 23, 2013 The rack assembly bolts that came with those carbs are only long enough for 4 carbs, so I just ordered some threaded rod and nuts to go along with them to turn a rack of 4 into a rack of 6. It may not serve especially well as a permanent solution, but should be perfectly adequate for mockups-and probably a few test runs. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jesse OBrien Posted August 25, 2013 Author Share Posted August 25, 2013 Once Week 10 came up, I felt defeated enough that I gave up on the project altogether. Then I read 'Snow Crash' last week, and decided that I'm obligated to build the 'deliverator' and was inspired enough to get back into the garage with a newfound fury: The Deliverator's car has enough potential energy packed into its batteries to fire a pound of bacon into the Asteroid Belt. Unlike a bimbo box or a Burb beater, the Deliverator's car unloads that power through gaping, gleaming, polished sphincters. When the Deliverator puts the hammer down, shit happens. You want to talk contact patches? Your car's tires have tiny contact patches, talk to the asphalt in four places the size of your tongue. The Deliverator's car has big sticky tires with contact patches the size of a fat lady's thighs. The Deliverator is in touch with the road, starts like a bad day, stops on a peseta. I'll get some new photos tomorrow and give a more complete update, but that's the general idea of where it's headed. First thing's first, I need to make an updated shopping list, as if i just bought this project from someone else instead of inheriting it from 3-months-ago-me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jesse OBrien Posted August 27, 2013 Author Share Posted August 27, 2013 Very minor update, this happened last night: I had already installed the transmission before trying to line it up with the output shaft, so the driveshaft had to come off the differential to be able to install it. It's an automatic driveshaft and an automatic transmission crossmember (shouldn't matter) on a 4spd transmission, and I haven't confirmed that the auto driveshaft is the right length for the 4spd conversion. I'll definitely have to cut the shifter hole a bit, but I'll just take care of that when I fix the floors (riveted sheet metal). I have a big old shopping list of parts to pick up, but I think I'm on hold 'till John gets back to the States. He has a magical treasure trove of nearly everything I could need. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jesse OBrien Posted September 7, 2013 Author Share Posted September 7, 2013 (edited) I've finished quite a bit, and without giving too many details away pre-emptively, I just received a few parts: installed the transmission/driveshaft (both fit nicely, with the automatic driveshaft and transmission crossmember) after I cut the shifter hole a little): ... picked up a spare n42 l28 with round-top SU's: ... cleaned up one of the engines and installed it: ...and have been wrestling with this stupid door jamb/latch thing. Those Phillips screws must be welded in by a master welder or something. They don't wiggle at all. I'm waiting for my exhaust manifold to arrive so I can finish assembly of the engine: Then I need to sort out the barely-doesnt-fit pedal box location and missing throttle linkage piece: Once that's done, I get to tackle wiring and hard line routing, and see if I can get the thing to start. Once it starts and moves, all I really need is a seat, and I'm good to make it my daily. As an aside, I wanted to share my review of my current daily throughout this project (the Yaris is waiting 'till snowfall to take over daily driver duties): http://drivendaily.org/humble-honda-cl360/ Edited September 7, 2013 by Jesse OBrien Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gollum Posted September 7, 2013 Share Posted September 7, 2013 ...and have been wrestling with this stupid door jamb/latch thing. Those Phillips screws must be welded in by a master welder or something. They don't wiggle at all. An impact driver like this can be your best friend when it comes to this kind of stuff. Probably the best $20 you can spend on a tool in so many ways. I've NEVER found a stubborn screw that my impact driver can't wrestle loose, as long as there's space to get the tool and a hammer in there. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jesse OBrien Posted September 7, 2013 Author Share Posted September 7, 2013 An impact driver like this can be your best friend when it comes to this kind of stuff. Probably the best $20 you can spend on a tool in so many ways. I've NEVER found a stubborn screw that my impact driver can't wrestle loose, as long as there's space to get the tool and a hammer in there. An impact driver was what finally stripped the head. I blame Phillips. Phillips sucks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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