Years ago I owned a L28R engine that was purchased from a bloke who had imported it into Australia in a 2 door R30 Skyline from South Africa. It became clear that this was no ordinary engine.

I asked Nissan’s Head Office if I could get the specifications and possibly a manual for my L28R engine. This was when it got interesting; They said they have never heard of such a beastie. I asked them to follow it up further. Two months past when they returned with an answer, well actually, it was a question: Where Did You Get This Motor From? I explained the history, to which there was a long silence at the other end.

The Engineer at Nissan Australia’s Head Office explained that this engine was in fact a racing motor and that’s what the extra R in it’s number meant. It was a limited release and should not be in the country. Yes, they were release in South Africa as there laws were more relaxed.

Apparently, the engine had the larger spec’d head, a fully balanced crank, larger bearings and flat top pistons producing 10.5:1 compression.

Just out of interest, has anyone else heard of, or experienced a L28R? I would like to know more about their origins, were they were release as Nissan Australia really didn’t want to talk about it.

Unfortunately, The engine and car have long since passed.

Hi Eiji........Hope your shoulder is getting better.....salt should be off the roads soon. Time to do something with the Virginia Z's. Regards. Guy

incorrectly posted here. my apologies.

Edited February 27, 201114 yr by jirospy

Eiji, Thanks. I personally called them (i have no affiliation) and they were able to make a match with my engine number to an R30 Nissan Skyline. Is that a shared engine with the 280z? I am very amateur at this stuff... so please forgive my ignorance.

sblake01: First verify if a new user is for real before you call them a SPYBOT.

Edited February 27, 201114 yr by jirospy

I'll stand by the reasoning I used to arrive at that conclusion. You're new, you revived a dead thread, and many 'bots, not just on this site, use Partstrain as their SEO link.

sblake01: No worries - you were trying to protect the forum and I appreciate that.

In South Africa , there been build localy homlogation specials from different manufacturers , for example BMW build a 7 series with a with a 24 valve 6 cil M5/6 engine , Chevrolet build on a Vauxhall Firenza a V8 302ci car called a Chevy CanAm , Alfa Romeo build a GTV 6 3.0l engine , All these cars a 100 each , where localy build as homolgation specials for South Africa , Is it possible Nissan did the same with the Skyline ?

no it is not the case

Yeah, that was pretty much the conclision roughly 2 1/2 prior to this thread's reawakening......

I personally called them (i have no affiliation) and they were able to make a match with my engine number to an R30 Nissan Skyline.

I didn't notice this statement before. You're saying that you called Parts Train and someone threre was able to, by using the engine number, match it up to a particular vehicle type? I'm afraid the flag will have to come out on that one:

I didn't notice this statement before. You're saying that you called Parts Train and someone threre was able to, by using the engine number, match it up to a particular vehicle type? I'm afraid the flag will have to come out on that one:

sblake01: Since you have so much time on your hands reading my old posts and re-evaluating your immediate dismissal by erroneously thinking I am a "SPYBOT" and today come back with additional useless and offensive language ... it would be best that you put your energy into calling that parts company to verify my comment rather than continue posting negative comments in this forum. Also, thanks for such a warm welcome into this forum.

I told you why said what I said and you (apparently) were okay with the explaination (post #29-30). I'm also telling you that somewhere in your communication with Parts Train, you've been misinformed. Why would you take that as a knock against you rather than against Parts Train? As far as a need for me to call them? I've spoken to them in the past and personally, I wouldn't use them to verify anything based on my experiences with them. Oh, and warm welcomes are my specailty.:kiss: But, seriously, ease up and quit taking it personally, it's the internet.

Edited March 2, 201114 yr by sblake01

I just purchased a 1971 240z (12/70) fitted with a 2.8L Nissan engine number L28R902644X. The database at partstrain.com says my engine comes from a Nissan Skyline R30.

Can you take a photo of your engine number pad, and post it here? I'm interested to see it, as I've never seen one before. Also interested to see the oil pan / sump position ( front sump, or rear sump ) and the oil dipstick position in the block.

But I don't see how your engine number could have been identified as having come from an R30 Skyline. What system would be used to track such things from the engine number? L28-engined R30-series Skylines are fairly rare beasts, too........

Engine blocks with "R" and "X" stamped on the engine block # area are factory rebuilt bare engines, sold by Nissan parts department as replacement engines, rather than engines that were used in certain model/market/spec cars.

I know this for sure because I have two factory remanufacturerd engines stamped this way. Nothing special otherwise, no "racing" bullshit or anything like that. I would guess that the "R" means "Remanufactured" or Rebuilt or mayeven be Recalled (?) or something of that nature.

Makes sense to me. The 'R' could then be stamped in the gap between the 'L28' stamping and the block serial number at time of Remanufacture, and the 'X' on the end would preclude anyone from changing the number by adding to it ( same as Nissan did with body serial numbers in certain markets, to conform with local regulations ).

Cheers,

Alan T.