i bought a 72 240 last christmas. the motor is not that good anymore. so i am thinking of rebuilding one.

i heard somebody said that a maxima diesel crankshaft is good. i want to know why(please), what year maxima, what are the other parts that should go with it, how will i know if the crank is from a diesel if the block is not there anymore(taking the motor out in the junk yard is very laborious). So i am thinking hunting for it at the swapmeet.

i am no mechanic, nor engine builder, But... i can tell you that there is an article in the new SportZ magazine on the very subject. Just got it yesterday, and haven't read it, but i know its a 3.1 stroker that uses the diesel maxima crank. FWIW..

as a side note, anyone who loves Z cars should have a subscription- my favorite (and only) magazine!

Unless this is something you "just have to have" I would advise you to find plenty of money and a darn good engine shop. This is not just a bolt in job. It is very involved with the machine work needed( and it needs to be done right) and the price of the engine will soon be in the thousands.

A professionally built stroker (3.1) will cost in the neighborhood of $7,500. The author of the article in Sport Z did it for under $4,000. This was a "budget build-up", so as you can see it may be nice, but is it worth it to you??

A good remanufactured L-28 will cost you about $2,000 and will give you a significant increase in power over a stock L-24. Then you can modify the L-28 as your budget dictates and still save a lot of money over a 3.1 stroker. In my opinion this is the best option.

To make use The crank you are going to need the following:

L-28 block from 280ZXT

E-31 or E-88 or E-90 head

9mm rods out of L-24 block

special pistons (see note)

Special head gasket

The best machine shop you can find.

Lots of money and luck.

High pressure oil pump

New cam

Head porting and poishing

Engine blueprinted and balanced

Are you going to use carbs or turbos? If you go turbo get the complete engine out of a 280ZXT (wiring harness to). Check out the following sites:

ZDriver.com

Zcar.com

Zhome.com

HybridZ.org

use the sites to get all of the info you can on this stroker motor. If you go carbs try to use 3 side drafts (like Weber DCOE) on it.

note: Depending on what you find out at the web sites. You have to decide what size piston you will use (they will give you several choices to pick from) (depending on what piston you go with they will also tell you what size head gasket you will need).

It is going to take you a lot of time and money to make it work. It will give you more horsepower and torque to play with if done properly. An overbored L-28 is cheaper and almost as much horsepower. Good Luck, Rich.

i think u r right.

Unless this is something you "just have to have" I would advise you to find plenty of money and a darn good engine shop. This is not just a bolt in job. It is very involved with the machine work needed( and it needs to be done right) and the price of the engine will soon be in the thousands.

A professionally built stroker (3.1) will cost in the neighborhood of $7,500. The author of the article in Sport Z did it for under $4,000. This was a "budget build-up", so as you can see it may be nice, but is it worth it to you??

A good remanufactured L-28 will cost you about $2,000 and will give you a significant increase in power over a stock L-24. Then you can modify the L-28 as your budget dictates and still save a lot of money over a 3.1 stroker. In my opinion this is the best option.

So, hf240z, how's the Z coming along after about three years? I pulled a couple of diesel cranks from the junkyard a couple of year's back. I never considered building a stroker myself but I got these for people that were willing to pay me $250 each for them! There was a lot of work involved just getting those motors out of the maxima to get the crank out of them. I doubt if I would ever do it again but I don't see them much anymore in the junkyards.

right now, my 240z is a daily driver, bread winner. monday to friday office worker, and a finance analyst on the weekend, when i am lucky i got a chance to frequent the junk-yard near by to look at old z's (not too many anymore) if i can find any thing that i might need. right now i have a stock 280/ f54 block/p90 head/5spd t5/ 89LSD, painted mustang blue. my only problem is the smoke smell. i am thinking of installing a diesel motor(complete motor in the backyard). Gas is 3.08/gallon. i drive about 4 hours everyday round trip. and it probably make it different from the next z.

Ummmm....I'm running a stroker crank in a '75 engine block (3.2L) and it runs real, real strong w/44mm Mikunis.

Any Block Will Accomodate the LD28 Crank. It's just commonly done in the L28 block as it maximizes displacement. And from a longevity standpoint, the EARLIER N42 Blocks from the 280Z are prefereable if you are overboring, as the F54 blocks are not as amenable (casting wall thickness) to the radical overbores many people want to accomplish.

In the 80's, the JDM preference was to use the older N42 blocks for this reason, and today that still holds true. The N42's take big boring better.

The day after I made that post (#6), I went to the junkyard in San Bernardino and found another LD28 crank. I paid $45 for it! Like I said, I had sold a couple of them for $250 ea but that one I've kept. It's still in the corner of my garage along with an N42 block but that's as far as I've gotten. It's not for sale however as eventually I'll will get around to compiling the rest of the parts for that project.

Ummmm....I'm running a stroker crank in a '75 engine block (3.2L) and it runs real, real strong w/44mm Mikunis.

What did you do to get it to 3.2?

On 10/24/2007 at 7:22 PM, zpizzaman20 said:

What did you do to get it to 3.2?

he most likely has a 91mm bore with a diesel crank as mentioned

 

If he still have it 12 years later ?