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E88 head question?


S30Stig

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Hello! I'm new to the forum and Z ownership. I have a fairly clean '72 240Z that's having some engine issues. It's had a very noticeable valve train tap since I brought her home about three months ago. I decided to pull off the valve cover last week to discover the camshaft is being rounded out. Fortunately I put less than a hundred miles on it since I acquired the car and now have the engine bay most of the way apart. The previous owner claims that the top end had been rebuilt a little while back, but then the engine smoked so he later had the bottom end rebuilt. Unfortunately the previous owner has since passed away and I have no records of what or where the work was done. My suspicion is that the top end of the engine was not rebuilt correctly. All the pictures of E88 heads that I've seen have externally oiled cams with oil squirting rails on them. When I pulled off my E88 head I found an internally oiled cam and shiny new bolts where the oil rail should be. Does it make sense that there should be an oil supply rail there? If so does anyone know where I can find a new one?

 

Also, if I end up going for a complete overhaul and decide not to do it myself, what's the best option as far as well known Zcar engine shops go? I'm definitely attracted to Rebello and DatsunSpirit. Unfortunately I can't seem to find anyone on the east coast.

 

Thanks in advance!

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I've been reading on this site for months and I believe you can remove the oil rail as long as the cam towers are blocked off where they connect. All the oil then is routed to the cam and the lobes are lubricated directly through the holes.

 

This is the approach I am taking, as my aftermarket camshaft is internally lubricated and I also have an early E88 head with the spray bar.

Edited by BJSZED
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. I decided to pull off the valve cover last week to discover the camshaft is being rounded out. Fortunately I put less than a hundred miles on it since I acquired the car and now have the engine bay most of the way apart. The previous owner claims that the top end had been rebuilt a little while back, but then the engine smoked so he later had the bottom end rebuilt. Unfortunately the previous owner has since passed away and I have no records of what or where the work was done. My suspicion is that the top end of the engine was not rebuilt correctly. 

Unfortunately it's not uncommon for a new cam to get damaged/destroyed.  A few people on this forum have had brand new cams get flattened.  there's general knowledge and there's some tricks but it seems to come out of nowhere for some people.  You can install an internally oiled cam in a previously externally oiled cam head.  The oiling depends on the cam, not the head.

 

From my perspective DatsunSpirit is East Coast. 

Edited by NewZed
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Thanks for the info guys. Definitely comforting to know the internally oiled cam was just a good alternative. Looks like I'll be shopping for a machine shop to get this head rebuilt. Datsun spirit is close enough but it's a shame I haven't found any reputable Datsun shops in NJ yet. Really slim pickings here in general.

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IF they put an internally oiled cam in, and just put bolts in the spray bar mounting holes, the oil feed holes will still be open. You need to either swap the cam towers from an L28, or make some block off plates for the oil holes. Motorsport has them too.

 

NJ has a pretty active club, with lots of knowledgeable Z owners: http://www.njzclub.com/

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  • 2 weeks later...

Thank you all for the information. I think this was just an unfortunate case of a new cam being rounded out. I've decided to do a complete overhaul/rebuild with Eiji at Datsun Spirit and will be posting a hopefully lengthy thread about it after it's all done.

 

IF they put an internally oiled cam in, and just put bolts in the spray bar mounting holes, the oil feed holes will still be open. You need to either swap the cam towers from an L28, or make some block off plates for the oil holes. Motorsport has them too.

 

NJ has a pretty active club, with lots of knowledgeable Z owners: http://www.njzclub.com/

And thank you z-ya. I can't wait to drop into one of their events when the cars all finished!

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  • 3 weeks later...

^^^just a hint, the time to visit your local Z-Club is BEFORE you spend all the money!

Since my last post I ended up with a Datsun Spirit STR Stage I engine (based on an l24 block rather than an l28) with some extra goodies. I feel like it'll suit me pretty well for where I am and the driving I'll be doing with it. I did have a budget which I went slightly over for the engine, but I'm still plenty well enough under my overall budget for the car. There's nothing left I can't handle now and hope to have the car back on the road in two or three weeks.

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