engine rebuilding

[grannyknot]

The 240z I just got has a the original 2.4L engine in it. Obviously I would get more power if I dropped a rebuilt L28 but was wondering if I did a full rebuild on the L24, stroked it, port&polish the head, mild cam and the rest of the bells and whistles, how much shy of the L28 would it be in HP and torque?

Thanks,

Chris

[LeonV]

The 240z I just got has a the original 2.4L engine in it. Obviously I would get more power if I dropped a rebuilt L28 but was wondering if I did a full rebuild on the L24, stroked it, port&polish the head, mild cam and the rest of the bells and whistles, how much shy of the L28 would it be in HP and torque?

Thanks,

Chris

Does it matter? If you're set on staying with the L24, then it seems like you're not going for all out performance. Keeping the original L24 would be more of an emotional decision and not necessarily a rational one, i.e. if you were to only go by the numbers. A similarly-built L28 will have more power and torque. When it comes down to it, an L28 will have more but a well-tuned L24 will have plenty to have fun with. Nobody can predict the difference between some hypothetical L28 and L24.

[Zedyone_kenobi]

I was faced with the exact same issue as you. I pride myself on my cars originality, but take some advice. Build the car you want to drive. Do not let the car own you. Make it what you want and drive it and enjoy

[Bruce Palmer]

Why do you want more power? It's a whole lot easier to go 100 up there than down here.......nyuck nyuck

[Oiluj]

Kinda depends on what you want to do with the car. If it's a daily driver or "weekend" car, the L24 is a good engine "as-is". If you want more power, dropping in a stock L28 is less expensive than building-up an L24, and has more upside potential.

I went with a Rebello 2.7 upgrade of my L24 because I wanted to keep the matching #'s. Bored, stroked & head work yielded 212 HP @ 200 Ft-lbs at the crank.

One thing to keep in-mind: with today's gas prices, based on my experience, an equivalent set-up L28 will typically get 1-2 fewer miles per gallon than an L24.

[grannyknot]

Thanks guys, I have all season to think about this before the teardown season starts. I just took the car out yesterday for my first 200 mile round trip, lots of hwys and twisties. Got to say I was quite surprised by just how responsive and quick was, and this is a bone stock engine with 155K miles. I found elsewhere on this site a post that dynoed a similar engine at 105 hp at the rear wheels so mine is probably somewhere in the ballpark. I may just end up working on the original engine.

Oiluj, I like the idea of the Rebello stroker kit. Lots of possibilities.

[olzed]

I too have a 240, bone stock. She's just starting to loosen up at 125,000:)

Not too much wrong with a stock 240 tuned well. Don't have so much torque as a 280, but can still hoof it.

Yours at 150,000 will go well, and on a twisty road can be a lot of fun.

I had a 1987 1300 Corolla years ago. A blast around the twisties was a hoot. Less power. more fun.

[madkaw]

Well my L24 just dynoed at 150lbs of torque. That's just a mild build, so if you think 105 is fun, then your L24 is just fine. The sum of parts and how much you tune will be the determining factor - not .4 liters

[Zedyone_kenobi]

I do agree with you

A well tuned engine is more important than peak numbers

[Willoughby Z]

"It's not the size of the weapon but the fury of the attack..."

[olzed]

"It's not the size of the weapon but the fury of the attack..."

:laugh:

Well put.

[Carl Beck]

The 240z I just got has a the original 2.4L engine in it. Obviously I would get more power if I dropped a rebuilt L28 but was wondering if I did a full rebuild on the L24, stroked it, port&polish the head, mild cam and the rest of the bells and whistles, how much shy of the L28 would it be in HP and torque?

Thanks,

Chris

If Rebello or Sunbelt built your original L24 - to reasonable "street car" spec.'s {they could stroke it to L26 spec.'s and bore it to wind up between L26 and L28 spec} -- that engine would be far better in terms of torque and HP than any L28 put together by the average mechanic. Complete it might cost between $6K and $8K, but you would only have to do it once. Add an 83 5spd and 3.9 rear or even a 3.7 rear and you'd be in great shape - with a pure stock looking engine bay.

Or you can have all that done for half as much money - and wind up with 65% of the power and a poorly running street engine. I've had lots of them...

FWIW,

Carl B.