General engine rebuilld questions

[bpilati]

Have any of you rebuilt and L24 that was in generally good condition (i.e., not smoking, decent compression)? How much better did the engine run after doing any overhaul. By overhaul I mean boring the engine, new pistons, bearings, head work, etc.... Do these engines usually need some kind of balancing work and blueprinting?

[Project Z]

I am interested in finding out more info on this as well.

[rtaylor]

Bryan. I had mine rebuilt because of sticking rings. I did the whole thing, pistons bored 40 over, head, timing chain, bearings, etc. Used Nissan parts for the rebuild., except for the valve guides Also at the same time all new clutch components as well including master & slave cylinders. Kind of the wiai thing...Compression checked afterwards at 190/- 3 across the board...

It runs perfectly. Revs up to 6500, no smoke, fires up quickly, no hesitation anywhere in the power band. My mechanic tells me it runs better than if it was new. Had to break it in for 1,000 miles.

I was hesitant at first to go comletely thru it, but I am extremely pleased with the results. Not cheap though.

[sblake01]

I know you said L24 but I'll chime in here anyway. When I got my 78 back in 1997 I set out to 'refresh' the engine, even though the car had under 42K when I got it. It had been sitting for almost 5 years. WIAI struck me! By the time I was done I have new pistons, rings, bearings, .040 overbore, a performance valve job, balance and blueprint, etc. not to mention a 83 ZX 5 speed and 2+2/Turbo clutch. Do they 'need' balancing and blueprinting? Probably not for a street car but I do love the way it runs and at nearly 100K now, it still feels new. But, like Randy said, not cheap. Even with all of the assembly being done by myself I ran up a pretty hefty parts and machine shop bill. Different approach on the 810. It ran good when I got it so I basically left it alone. (for now)