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I think that the poor painting is probably becuase they are rebuilt engines. It's interesting that there is so little on the WORLD WIDE WEB OF DATA about ATK. Not even a Wikipedia blurb. https://atkvege.com/about-atkvege/ https://www.lkqcorp.com/?s=atk https://www.lkqcorp.com/blog/2011/12/14/atk-vege-engines-yamato/

yup, that is what I am thinking. 12.3 volts while running is telling me my alternator is clearly not working. Well that is what I am thinking.

A good battery will be about 12.6-12.8 volts; 12.2 is very low and indicates it might not hold a charge. A good alternator will read 14-14.5 volts.

That's good info. The OP was in Lithuania. I wonder if Tony D's explanation was half right except that maybe Nissan produced modified castings for sale to rebuilders or for their own rebuilds. Tony D suggested that the ports were welded and machined but the casting sprue suggests that they were cast that way. I'm no expert but I don't think that you could cast molten aluminum over old castings and get a good bond, besides trying to match properties and the post-machining involved.

Greetings friends!!! Been a while and I have been having lots of fun with kids and fishing and what not. But the Z car has been on a roll lately. I replaced the carbs with more carbs. and I finally have it back to running like a champ. In fact it is running and revving like it used to. Happy days! The peasants were happy! Having said that. I took her for a spin the other day to keep fresh fuel running through the system and just generally keeping it running. Old cars hate to sit. As you all know. Important factoid: I keep my cars on a battery tender any time they are not running to preserve the batteries. I pulled back into the drive way and light footed it and stalled it. After a bit of laughter, I tried to start it and had the annoying clicking of a dead battery. Which is strange as I keep the car on a battery tender all the time. I hooked up the charger for about 2 hours and then the car started fine and I Pulled it in. Now the plot thickens. So something was up. My thoughts are that the battery is about 5-6 years old and it is not unusual for a battery to be DOA after 5 years in the Houston heat. I left it on the battery tender all night and in the morning I disconnected it and it read 12.2 volts. Which seemed a tad low. But maybe not. So as I am oft to do, I started overthinking the issue and that leads to, (more times than not), spending money. Since I was using the original starter that came with the car still (it had never let me down), I talked myself into thinking that the solenoid may be going bad (even though those are usually working, or not, no clicking issue), so now would be a rather handy time to replace that old grimy and dirty Z starter for a shiny new gear reduction starter :) And since I bought a new starter I decided to go ahead and buy a new battery as well while I was at it. Surely that would solve the issue. Well a week later and both were procured and installed. First let me say the gear reduction starter is the coolest sounding starter EVER. Sounds like you are about to start a 1000HP Big block Chevy. LOVE it. Car ran beautifully and started each time. Fast forward to today. I was going to drive in to work in the old gal to bless those in the NASA area with something besides a black or grey SUV to look at. Again this morning I disconnected the batter tender and it started just peachy. But I started to think about many things. There was no reason for my battery to really die before. I had replaced everything BUT the alternator. So just to verify, with the car running, I whipped out my multimeter and checked the voltage of the battery. (I checked it by attaching the multimeter to the positive post and the negative post) With the car at a rock steady 900 rpm, the battery read 12.3 volts. When I revved the engine it read 12.3 volts. It would flicker to 12.4 volts. Now I am thinking my alternator may not be charging. It is my belief that a running car should put out north of 13 volts from the alternator. I am running an old MSA 60 amp alternator kit. My plans going forward are to start up the roadster and see what its alternator puts out while running as a sanity check. Any comments?

Over on hybridz there's a thread of an N42 with round ports and the bung on the plug side of the head. The thread does mention ATK which this engine has a ATK sticker on it. HybridZIdentify this N42 head - round port???Alright L series engine gurus - need help. identify this head! Its a N42 head, but it has external oil squirters for cam and ROUND ports! And one bracket on the side that is not common on L series...

Its been about 4 days and it still keeps time, so I guess it was the bad cap on the working one that didn't keep time.

Any recommendations for quality parts: 160 degrees F thermostat maybe Mishimoto brand Alternator belt. Mechanic says the one installed could be sliding and i should get a tighter fit. Pcv valve

Yes it is. 918 Orange is the new Black. Lol

Awesome. Thanks!! And your prolific use of pics and documentation has helped me on numerous occasions. Keep up the good work!! I'm currently working on a set of carb air cleaner attachment hardware stuff based on a sketch of yours from years ago. 😊

Colour matching is really important.😎

Hey CO, #6521 did originally have a condenser in all four locations listed above. Funny that two of your four pics above are of my car. The pic above with no condenser on the alternator, was from about 10 years ago when I pulled it to do some engine detailing. Prior to the detailing it did have a condenser there, but it was not connected. At the time I just left if off when I re-assembled alternator. Here's a before & after pic. Mystery solved, Lol.

ALSO, the original painted block has no paint on the waterplugs! (AND many other contact points, see pic in above reply) Who sees more differences.. (Besides the sensor welded stud near the sparkplug 5 hole.)

I asked myself if it's normal that there is paint within the oilfilter cavity, but my 1979 N42 has it also.. BUT.. There should NOT be any paint on the contact surface of the oilcardridge !! 😀 so that new engine is a fake?? Blue paintwork also does not look as if it's 40+ years old! (I got a new painted block in my garage under a cover and was painted new in 1990.. it does not look that fresh! AND It was under a thick cover all these years! )

Here a pic of my euro N42 head and N42 engineblock.. (Year is 1979.) @Zed Head I often see those gasket and oilseal sets for the L24-L28 engines, they have round, square and diamond shaped exhaust outlets so i'm not surprised to see those round ones. (The diamond called one is a hexagonal exhaustport.)

Looks like N42 to me. I might be incorrect

I don't understand what's weird about the exhaust ports? I thought they went round with the 280Z where earlier cars had rectangular exhaust ports.

Went to Cars & Coffee in Steveston BC this morning, and met up with about a dozen members of the local Zed club I belong to. It was110 km from my house, so it was a great drive too. After the cars & coffee we did a scenic group drive for breakfast to a local Pub for the $5.99 special. Lol. Sadly this the last weekend they will be open, as they are closing after 130 years of service. Sometimes "progress" sucks, the Buck & Ear will be missed. On the way home I also stopped at my favorite, close to me, craft brewery. For some reason I was attracted to this six pack? I think this Dutch Pale Ale is my new go to beer. Lol. And it tastes good too.

North South it’s still Carolina!!😂

Well that's no fun!

I believe they're in North Carolina and Oklahoma. My last header was done in OK

A few months ago, I created a differential cover to go with the KAAZ LSD I installed last year. I finally got around to installing the cover and as fast as I filled it, the gear lube leaked out. I'll pull the cover and see if I can figure out what I did wrong but for now, I'm going back to the original cover for now. I'm guessing there is a problem with the mating surface. I'm not necessarily posting for advise as much as I need to vent. Hopefully my other little projects worked out better so I can get my Z back on the road. Other projects I'm finishing up include a freshly rebuilt 5-speed, oil pan gasket to stop the oil leaks (I hope), DIY engine splash shield, and fabricating plastic inner fender covers.

Car was tested and leak down test was accomplished. Drove 30 minutes with no pcv valve connected and no thermostat to avoid engine temperature rising got stucked in short traffic. Car still got some rough idle when getting out of traffic until temperature went back to normal. Parked the car and all plugs were burning ok. So this could be a vapor lock or percolation problem. Leak down and compression test got good results. Do you still think i need to take the head out? He did blocked the fuel return line as i have an airtex 8012S electric pump installed and says no need to have that line opened.

Jet Hot coatings in SC.

Thanks @Patcon I had not seen that before. It's on order. If heat is a problem maybe we can get a 2fer😃