240Z restoration & car life
Unfortunately, I’m still at a stand-still with my engine, as some of my parts are still missing. Something I have, though, is this unknown intake manifold. It has got “Datsun 240Z” cast into it, but nothing else to identify it. Runners are 40mm carb side, and 35mm cylinder head side. 130mm runner length. Now, I’m just missing some Mikunis… Edit: Todd from Wolfcreekracing confirmed to me that this is a Cannon manifold.
But I’m glad I’ve discovered it at this point. This means a bit more work before paint, but it’s best to do it properly the first time. Looks like the car may have had some front end damage at some point in it’s life. So gentlemen, make sure you check the seams. See the pics, and you’ll understand.
Made some nice progress today, by removing the engine from the car. Left the gearbox in for now. As I removed stuff from around the engine bay, I found a lot of crappy work from previous owners. Thanks to my buddy for helping me out today, couldn’t have managed to remove the engine all by myself. I also weighed all the air condition parts. Radiator, brackets, pump etc, including the EGR pump, totaled up to 28kg / 61 lbs!
I finally got around to to do some work on the white Z. Started by removing the air conditioner and EGR pump. Both will be permanently removed from the car, to save weight and keep the engine bay clean. Our summers are never warm enough to require an AC anyway, and the reduced weight is good for handling and performance. These things weigh a lot! Will get a scale and see how much they weigh some day later. Don’t worry about the sorry state of the engine bay, the plan is to remove everything, repaint the bay in white, and install a freshly built engine. Stay tuned.
This is how my engine and bay looks like right now. Hopefully, in a few months, it’ll be a lot cleaner! If only the mail service hadn’t misplaced 3/4s of the engine parts I ordered. Kinda hard to start rebuilding withouth a crank, pistons, cam etc.
Moved the “ladies” into the workshop. Time to prepare for the winter’s projects.
Slowly gathering parts for the engine rebuild. This is what I’ve got so far: Eagle rods Timing chain kit Nismo adjustable cam gear Oil pump Water pump Gasket kit Still waiting for my new crank, pistons, valves, camshaft and some other things. Wonder why it’s taking so long..
Brought this old girl home yesterday. A 71 model, previously a Cali car.
Finally placed the order for rebuild parts for the engine. Finally figured out what I wanted to do, so super excited about that. Will probably be a few weeks before the parts arrive, but it’ll be worth the wait. In the meantime I have to get around to clean up the cylinder block and head, so it’s ready to recieve new parts. As every post should have a picture of something to make it interesting, I’ll post this L-series exploded view.
Ask 5 different people for advice, and you’ll get 5 different answers… Not knowing a whole lot about the L-series myself, I have to rely on advice from experienced people. As I get more advice, I get more uncertain about which way to go with the engine rebuild. Right now I’m debating about wether to go with stock crank/rods and high comp pistons, or to go for a 2,5 stroker kit, long rods and higher compression. Either way, I’m hoping to only rebuild this engine once, so I want to get it right the first time. Descisions, descisions… What would you do?