This engine,That engine...

[7240z]

Hi everyone,

I've been reading around some magazines,books and been looking around the site and I noticed that some 240z owners have swapped or changed their engines for a 260z,280z and even a ZX. From what I've gathered, the L24 was the best among the bloodlines but are the others better? I know the 260 and the 280 had bigger dissplacement then the 240 but due to fuel restrictions they were slower. I understand the rebore bit to 3.1L but can anyone tell me why they would do this? Could it be the 260 and 280 were less problematic? Or should I dare say it...stronger?

Thanks everyone.If you guys can fix this curiosity for me that would be great!

Ezra Pages

[sblake01]

Where did you pick up the notion that a L28 is slower than an L24?

[gogriz91]

I'm not sure he's implying that.

Don't the numbers say that Datsun never built a faster quarter mile Z than the 240 until they put a turbo on the ZX?

[xray]

Bigger displacement is almost always better---unless it's accompanied by parasitic smog pumps, beefier bumpers, fat luxurious seats and other unnecessaries that make the car heavier (and therefore slower.) There are also issues with gearing to make the car better for highway driving that may adversely impact performance. Off the top of my head, there is NO disadvantage (performance-wise) to putting a bigger displacement engine into the lighter 240 body.

Some folks transplant the fuel injection also, but that can be problematic unless you know FI well and are attentive to details.... It's very easy to put carbs and NA intake on an L28 block and head, and you've got near-instantaneous 30% increase in power (150-ish to 180-ish)

If you have the means, I highly recommend picking up one....(apologies to Ferris)

Steve

[Fun_in_my_z]

What about a turbo with carbies? How hard is it to run on a l28?

[7240z]

Where did you pick up the notion that a L28 is slower than an L24?

gogriz91 is right. I wasn't implying that the L28 is a slower block than the L24. But I got this from every single book I have about the Datsun Z cars. Let me quote something from Car Collector "In an effort to cheat ever tightening emission restrictions, Nissan bumped displacement to 2.6 L in '74 and 2.8 L in '75" (DUH) If I'm not mistaken, this is what killed the muscle car and this is one of the many factors why the Z became such a phenomenon aside from being such a brilliant car ( again DUH) Another example was from Classic Cars which talked about "the bullet proof straight six that gave all the right sounds but later models were hit by restricted emissions in the late 70's. I'm not trying to start an argument with which block was the better of the three but I was just wondering why people swapped their L24's with the later when most of the writer's and critics are more or less saying the same thing.

Ez

[7240z]

Bigger displacement is almost always better---unless it's accompanied by parasitic smog pumps, beefier bumpers, fat luxurious seats and other unnecessaries that make the car heavier (and therefore slower.) There are also issues with gearing to make the car better for highway driving that may adversely impact performance. Off the top of my head, there is NO disadvantage (performance-wise) to putting a bigger displacement engine into the lighter 240 body.

Steve

xray could also be right. Maybe this was one of the reasons why the 260 and 280z's were slower than the 240z.

[7240z]

What about a turbo with carbies? How hard is it to run on a l28?

As xray said..."It's very easy to put carbs and NA intake on an L28 block and head, and you've got near-instantaneous 30% increase in power (150-ish to 180-ish)" But I'm not sure if you can do the turbo setup with carbs. I'm guessing you'll have to revamp your fuel management system( SH*T I sound like ricer...dammit) I honestly wouldn't know if you could do such a setup.

Ez

[Fun_in_my_z]

I want to build a 3.1 turbo stroker motor. It sounds bad arse, but i dont know if it is possible

[gogriz91]

Is there such a thing as an L-28ETT as in Wangan Midnight? I know there are a ton of single turbos out there but is there a twin turbo of the L-28?

[Walter Moore]

I want to build a 3.1 turbo stroker motor. It sounds bad arse, but i dont know if it is possible

Pushing air through a carb doesn't work well at all. That is why the drag cars always have a pair of four barrels sitting ON TOP of the blower. You always have to PULL air through a carb.

But putting the carbarator ahead of the turbo is problematic. Carbs tend to run the fuel mixture from rich to lean as you work the throttle. A tendency that is made worse by the shifting on a manual transmission. Ford tried running the 79 Mustang turbo with a Webber ahead of a turbo, and they had trouble with intake explosions on the autobahn. (or so I have read...) When you lift off the throttle to shift, the mixture leans out for a split second, and then when you floor the gas peddle after the shift it goes rich for a similar time. If you have been running at high speed for a long time before the shift the hot turbocharger can ignite the fuel air mixture. (That is a bad thing...)

There have been very few successful implementations of a turbocharger on a carburator equipped car.

Turbos and fuel injection tend to be a natural fit.

[Fun_in_my_z]

say a build a fI motor and put it in my car. Do i have to have a ecu? I dont want the comp crap to deal with.

Im going to have a shop build my engine but im trying to learn what i can.

A 3.1 stroker with a 5 speed and maybe a different gear would be big plenty. But i want to know all my possabilties.

I really dont know anything about FI. And not much about carbs eather for that matter

This is all way down the line. Im not doing anything to my motor (exept a new oil pump) untill it starts giving me trouble.