Either you aren't looking hard enough at the Data Plate on the Strut Tower.... or someone has cut it down to only the VIN... and the entire top part of the Data Plate is missing...

Take a pencil and piece of paper with you - and maybe a flash light... The Data Tag on the car should look a lot like the one pictured below ... As you can clearly see - the ENGINE NUMBER 001482 is listed just above the VIN.... HLS30 200207

There are TWO little pads cast into the block - it would seem you took the 254234 number off the second one, and failed to see the L28 stamped into the first pad (first being the one on the left). Go look again...

BTW - it would help of you stated what the VIN on the car is...

FWIW,

Carl B.

Thanks. The VIN is HLS30451125, and you are correct, there is a L28 on the first pad.

Attached is a shot of the plate. It looks a lot different than yours. Is it a replacement? All it says is engine type.

Thanks.

C

OK - now were at least making progress...

I'm not sure exactly when Nissan stopped putting the original engine serial numbers on the Data Plates. I was thinking it was with the begining of the 280ZX's ... but it would seem that the 78's are quite different than the 75's.

As you can see from the Data Tag I posted a picture of

VIN HLS30 200207 had Engine Number L28-001482

As the VIN's on the 280Z's started with HLS30 200001 - the car above was the 207th one built.

Given the VIN on your Z - of HLS30 451125, we would expect to see an engine number about 251xxx higher (451125 minus 200001 = 251124) ... and sure enough you have 254234. (they don't run in exact numerical sequence).

Also - HLS30 452525 has L28 259635 as it's original engine...

So I would say it is most likely the original engine in your Z.

FWIW,

Carl B.

There's no engine number on the data tag of my 5/78. The engine number is 275875.

Thank you for all the info. Very interesting.

This morning I went through the pile of stuff that came with the car, and found the original warranty book. Has the original owners info, as well as VIN and serial numbers that match what is on the car. So more confirmation.

Thanks.