I think you should just run the shims. The only hiccup you might find is the need to run longer bolts.

A lot of people do a mod to the P heads where they shave .080 and run 5 sets of shims stacked up, and it causes no problems. Here's a writeup on that: http://www.geocities.com/zgarage2001/head.html

Just stack em, get some longer bolts, and call it good.

That is the same site I was just looking at about the P79 mod! thats crazy, but yeah If I cant find another head for cheaper I will go with the shimming. My longer head bolts are 6/16" longer than the shorter bolts so it would work for shimming it, I am just worried about how long the cam tower dowels will go up?

I think you'd have to try it and see if the longer bolts are long enough. The cam towers only get torqued to something like 12 ft/lbs so it's not like you really need to crank down on them, but if only the first 2 threads engage, then you'll need longer bolts.

I am thinking about doing it but I wanted to see if I can find a head for cheaper thats in good shape. I alsofound this place that has different size shims available.

http://www.datsunparts.com/Engine

I think those are all Roadster parts. Part number 1152 is for a U20 engine not an L series engine.

oops, I didnt see that, I will keep looking though. Thanks

Got back from Danny's, he has several N47s, at least one bare head that are shaved (but not as much as yours) that he said he could make you a good deal. Email him at dannye@mcsi.net

Or if you want to wait until I get my spare motor rebuilt, I'll make you a deal on my P79. But I don't think I'll be ready for several months.

That P79 of Arne's with a dished piston bottom end is going to be 7.3:1 compression or whatever the turbo engine is. Not enough for a NA engine. Forget about P heads unless you just end up getting a whole engine from a NA ZX that has the flat top pistons and the P head. Go for either the N42 or N47, but stay away from the P79 or P90 unless you put a different block in the car (or different pistons in the block).

Thanks for the info jmortenson, I didnt know that good to know. Arne I think I may have found one from 240zman. But I will email Danny and see how much he wants. Is it totally bare, it does have valve guides and cam towers on it?

The one I saw (and he has several) had guides, but I don't think it had towers. Had the head thickness marked on it by each cylinder. The were all in the 4.23 range, as I recall.

That sounds good to me. I already emailed him and am waiting for a reply, I'll see what happens. Thanks arne