JonRHD Posted January 12, 2010 Share Posted January 12, 2010 I have recently purchased a 73 fairlady with the stock l20 and what not... Does anyone have a diagram of the distributor that shows the firing order on the cap and the position of the distributor in relation to the motor? All I can find is info for the l24 and up when I search. Thanks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jester Posted January 12, 2010 Share Posted January 12, 2010 John, The L20 was a 4 cyl like in my Datsun pickup. Your Z, if stock, would have the L24 6 cyl. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
280zjoel Posted January 12, 2010 Share Posted January 12, 2010 John, The L20 was a 4 cyl like in my Datsun pickup. Your Z, if stock, would have the L24 6 cyl. Fairlady Z's came with 2.0 liter engines, they were also known as L20 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JonRHD Posted January 12, 2010 Author Share Posted January 12, 2010 I am having trouble getting it to run correctly. First I thought it might be a carb problem (it was bogging down hard under part throttle)...got those synched up and working...then I thought it might be a timing issue... When we put a timing light on the motor it was very wierd. When the dizzy was 100% advanced the timing mark was at TDC. This motor calls for 10 degrees at 550rpm I beileve. Which made us think that maybe the distributor was 180 off or the oil pump was not in time. Then a buddy of mine thought that the firing order looked a little weird, which might affect the whole shabang, so we changed that to what it is on his l28 thinking it would be the same and now it wont even start. I'm close to just dropping in a L28 with fuel injection and being done lol Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
greenmonster80 Posted January 12, 2010 Share Posted January 12, 2010 Drop a L28 in it definitely. Keep the L20A sitting around in the corner if you can. The crank, rods and head can all be reused in different build combinations. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JonRHD Posted January 12, 2010 Author Share Posted January 12, 2010 lol yeah I need to... I just want the car to run for a little while so I can drive it around before tearing into it... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wigenOut-S30 Posted January 12, 2010 Share Posted January 12, 2010 Hey Eric, I'm glad you Chimed in. the Z is at my house and I know zilch about carbs. It really is a nice fairlady John picked up. I think time permitting we are going to check to see if the oil pump is 180 out. We put the plug fireing order like on my Z and now she wont even crank.. I bet it is something simple.. just going to take some playing around with it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kiwi303 Posted January 12, 2010 Share Posted January 12, 2010 http://forums.hybridz.org/showthread.php?t=143481 a little clip from inside that thread: "I have a datsun rebuild book, a reprint of quite an older manual, it has firing order for L20A which apparently was not sold in the states, it did not however have anything on the L20E or L20et engines. Im wondering if they are slightly different setup." You might be able to PM the grinch, or it may pay to ask on http://www.zclub.org.nz and see if any of the other NZ crew have a 2.0 Fairlady manual. I just have a Haynes 2.8 manual. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JonRHD Posted January 12, 2010 Author Share Posted January 12, 2010 I just sent Grench a PM. Thanks for the info! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daeron Posted January 12, 2010 Share Posted January 12, 2010 Firing order should be the same on every L6 engine, even the diesel (joke. The part about the diesel; every gasser L6 oughta have the same timing. that part was serious.) Pull the spark plugs, make sure you're on the compression stroke (it is ALWAYS good to go all the way back to basics, especially if you have never seen this engine run) and get the rotor to point at a terminal on the dizzy cap. Use that terminal as cylinder 1 and go from there. There IS a chance that it is set up with a front cover or dizzy piece from a USDM L6 and that somehow, timing marks were changed, and something is odd with the timing when you set it with a light. Pieces are different, and L6 motors have had timing issues before because of odd hardware mixups like this. If you try this and it doesn't work, at least you have ruled out the possibility. And incidentally, I want that crankshaft. Not cash-in-hand "want", at the moment, but I want it. If you're in Mobile, then you are closer to me than any other L20A crank I know of. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JonRHD Posted January 12, 2010 Author Share Posted January 12, 2010 Thanks for the info! As soon as I get the time and what not I am going to give that a try... At least that way it will crank and we only have to worry about the timing again Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jester Posted January 12, 2010 Share Posted January 12, 2010 Fairlady Z's came with 2.0 liter engines, they were also known as L20 John, The L20 was a 4 cyl like in my Datsun pickup. Your Z, if stock, would have the L24 6 cyl. Uuuuhhhh, my bad. I'll just rack that one up to something learned. Keep your mouth shut unless you know for sure. Even though I thought I had that one. Sorry guys. I'll try not to let that happen again. Bad info sucks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JonRHD Posted January 12, 2010 Author Share Posted January 12, 2010 Hey man it's all good....I'm learning too. Fir a couple of days I thought the same thing and that the motor was really a 2.4 lol Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daeron Posted January 12, 2010 Share Posted January 12, 2010 Uuuuhhhh, my bad. I'll just rack that one up to something learned. Keep your mouth shut unless you know for sure. Even though I thought I had that one. Sorry guys. I'll try not to let that happen again. Bad info sucks! Hey, everyone gets a mulligan on the L20A versus L20B. Besides, I am the king of Foot-In-Mouth here are hybridZ, and despite that I STILL regurgitate much much useful information. Modesty to admit when one might not be right, and humility to say "Duh, I was Wrong!" are the important parts. Noone is right all the time and at least you were trying to help. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tony D Posted January 12, 2010 Share Posted January 12, 2010 How about a "Daeron Mulligan" regarding the L20, L20A, and L20B. You see, FIRST there was the L20. Theromstat housing was on the other side, and valve cover was way different (More Mercedes-Like with hold down bolts in the center). THEN came the L20A... THEN, well later in 4 cylinder L Engine development came the L20B, and even later the LZ20. I figured I wasn't going to parse the semantics when he called it an L20, which was NEVER offered in any S30 Platform. It was started with the offering of the L20A. At least nobody claimed a 'four cylinder Z' they say they personally saw way back when in some guys barn that 'came from the factory that way, all original' (substitute 'Corvair' and the same urban myth exists...) Semantics? Semantics anyone? And L20 is not an L20A. And I'm sure Alan T. has some photos to prove that one. I know he does! LOL Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daeron Posted January 13, 2010 Share Posted January 13, 2010 How about a "Daeron Mulligan" regarding the L20, L20A, and L20B. You see, FIRST there was the L20. Theromstat housing was on the other side, and valve cover was way different (More Mercedes-Like with hold down bolts in the center). THEN came the L20A... THEN, well later in 4 cylinder L Engine development came the L20B, and even later the LZ20. I figured I wasn't going to parse the semantics when he called it an L20, which was NEVER offered in any S30 Platform. It was started with the offering of the L20A. At least nobody claimed a 'four cylinder Z' they say they personally saw way back when in some guys barn that 'came from the factory that way, all original' (substitute 'Corvair' and the same urban myth exists...) Semantics? Semantics anyone? And L20 is not an L20A. And I'm sure Alan T. has some photos to prove that one. I know he does! LOL Oh gawd, I wasn't even considering the Prince motor... Leave me alone Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JonRHD Posted January 14, 2010 Author Share Posted January 14, 2010 It LIVES!!!!!! thanks for all the help!!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NATURALLYASPIRATED Posted January 18, 2010 Share Posted January 18, 2010 Tony can i buy your knowledge? Where did you come across the car? was it imported? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.