tired 260Z motor, what would you do?

[ozconnection]

The 260 engine has the same stroke as the 280 so personally I would bore the block to 86mm (260 is 83mm), fit flat top pistons which will give an approximate compression of 9.5 to 1 and overall a reasonable increase in HP. This assumes the rest of the engine is good.

Be careful with information like this.

The L26 engine has a bore size of 83mm's The L28 has a bore size of 86mm's. A 120 thou or 3 mm rebore is too much.

I have an L26 engine in my shed that's been bored to 85.5mm's, so it's almost L28 capacity. The problem with such a large overbore is that the cylinder walls are very very thin. Risky business.

As already suggested to you, an L28 may be the better option to begin with.

[madkaw]

Sorry for the mispost-didn't see the key word "if":stupid:

I would definetly do the compression test. You might have a valve stuck open because the shim on top of the valve spring is turned sideways.

Good thing is that the car is already set-up for any L6 motor, so you should be able to find a decent engine at a reasonable price to plop in!

[Healey Z]

Thank you for all the replies.

I would definetly do the compression test. You might have a valve stuck open because the shim on top of the valve spring is turned sideways.

This is what I am hoping to find! I checked that there was spark to every cylinder. The car doesn't smoke, the owner says it doesn't consume oil or water. There is no oil in water, water in oil. You can smell unburnt gas at idle. The owner did mention something about a fouled plug (not sure why I didn't pursue this statement more). This sure sounds like it could be an intake valve staying open.

I can't wait to drag this thing home next Saturday.