Cylinder head question.

[MrMarcDude]

There is a guy that is selling me a cylinder head. He has a E88 and he wants 100 bux for it. It has everything, but the cam is really fubar'd (rust). I have a 78' fuel injected N42 L28 engine. Would this be a good cylinder head? Im looking at porting, and polishing it, and getting a mild cam. BTW, my car has dished pistons. Thanks a bunch He also has a N42 for 150. What do you reccomend? Thanks

[Ed]

If I remember correctly, (someone correct me if I'm wrong) I'm going by memory here . The E88 and the N42 have similar chamber CC's I think there is 2-3 cc's differance. But the advantage of a N42 over the E88 is the larger valve's in the N42.

[JEFF]

I would port the N42 head if you really want one ported. It has the

bigger valves as ED mentioned - with bigger valves and porting it will

flow better ( In & Out ) than the E88 ever would.

- Jeff

[MrMarcDude]

will the E88 be able to work with fuel injection?

[e_racer1999]

^^ah, a good question... you would have to notch the head for the injectors, and i don't even think it has holes for the injection manifold. i think that getting the E88 to flow as well as the N42 (with bigger valves, plumbing for FI) would be more work for you than port/polishing the N42. if i were you i'd save up to get the flattop pistons... that would give you a higher CR and you wouldn't have to worry about the extra headwork.... JMHO

[webdawg1]

I have a small document that I found comparing various Z heads. It might be of some help as far as making an informed decision. Never hurts to have too much data...IMHO

webdawg1

Z Car Cylinder Head Reference.doc

[sblake01]

After viewing what's been said here, and assuming that you are planning to keep the FI, use an FI head. I don't know if anyone has ever modified a E88 head for the factory FI but it sounds costly.

[240ZMan]

Keep in mind there are two versions of the E88. The later ones from 73 have a larger combusition chamber and hence a lower CR. They're not bad, but not necessarily desirable either.

So I have to ask why you want to switch your N42 head to an E88? While there's nothing wrong with an E88, the N42 has larger valves and about the same combusition chamber size as the better of the E88s. If you're planning to rebuld a head and add a cam, I'd suggest you keep your N42 and use the money you were going to spend replacing it towards that project.

BTW, I just put an N42 head on my L28 dished pistons with a mild cam. Much improved high end power and almost no loss of low RPM torque. I replaced a stock E31, FWIW.

[beandip]

MrMarkDude here is a good page to look at that will answer a lot of your questions and there is a ton of good info. geocities.com/row4navy/head2.html another one is geocities.com/zgarage.2001/engine.html

[e_racer1999]

also, i thought i read somewhere that the N42/N47 heads had some of the best shapes of the combustion chamber, allowing a better combustion

[texasz]

BTW, I just put an N42 head on my L28 dished pistons with a mild cam. Much improved high end power and almost no loss of low RPM torque. I replaced a stock E31, FWIW.

What???

The L28 didn't have an E31 head...ever. That head was only available on the '70 and very early '71 240Z which all have an L24 block.

[240ZMan]

texasz, you're right. When I put the L28 in my '73 240, I switched the head to the E31 from my old L24 engine (which had replaced the stock E88 if you're still with me). But even with a header, 2 1/2" exhaust, I wan't making any power at higher revs. The "new" head solved that.