My Datsun Spirit L28 Build.

[Zedyone_kenobi]

My great rally adventure in my Z would not be complete without a healthy dose of drivable HP. When I decided to rebuild my engine, I had originally planned on doing it myself. I have build up many engines, but none of the 'L' variety. I had vast experience with V8's, but the L was a bit different. And there were some finesse items I had read about in all the rebuild books. I called around and not many people had experience near me in doing high quality L series head work and I just did not want to trust my original L24 to anybody.

So I took this opportunity to call around and find out who was who when it came to rebuilding L series engines. I started with Rebello of course, and the was all to happy to build me a 2.7, but what he really wanted to build me was a stroker. After several calls to Rebello, I ended up having a great phone conversation with Diseazd. (you remember the one) Well as hard as he tried to talk me into building it myself, he also pointed me to give this guy name Eiji a call at Datsun spirit. Now I had seen www.datsunspirit.com before, and was never that impressed with his website, but I kept it saved. I gave Eiji a call, and immediately we had a great conversation with him doing quite a lot of listening and not much talking. Then he made some generalizations about what he thought I had said. And we agreed on two very important things that every customer/engine builder need to understand:

1) He understood exactly what I wanted out of my engine

2) He understood exactly what my budget was

With those two things firmly established, he set out to make a couple of options that would fit my needs. He took he time to write me some VERY long emails describing his suggestions and how they fit within my established plans. Each part he recommended (and more importantly many he did not recommend) kept me on the tract to have the EXACT engine I first described. I discovered very quickly that Eiji was not out to retire on the profit he would make on building me an engine. He was out to make me a happy customer.

The result:

We decided on an L28 versus modifying my original L24. Bang for the buck the L28 would be the choice for me.

Why: What I wanted was a completely drivable engine that had a big fat meaty midrange torque curve. I wanted it to have a healthy smooth idle and not be temperamental beast. It had to survive houston heat and run on 91 to 93 octane. I wanted the engine to make usable power up to 7000 rpm, but have so much mid range that you would rarely need to go there. Most of all, I wanted an engine that could be driven 300 miles to an event. Then rack up 1000 miles of vintage road rally work, then drive 300 miles home. I wanted peak reliability over peak power. We did not even talk HP numbers, as I really do not care. I wanted drivability and mid range. The HP can fall where it does. Makes me no difference if the car feels right. I always thought my L24 felt pretty good, so any healthy L28 will be great.

It began with this:

N42 block standard bore.

Well from here the process began. Eiji did a meticulous job of cleaning and inspecting the bores. He found an issue with one of them. It had some pitting that could be seen by not felt after a light hone. I am sure some builders would have just let this go and never told the customer, but Eiji was not happy with this. He cleaned and inspected three more L28's he had, and all had issues. We then decided to look for some overbore pistons and then machine the block for these. Well no OEM overbore pistons were readily available. We made the decision to go with ROSS forged pistons sold by MSA.

The block was prepared and the pistons were assembled onto a set of OEM L28 rods that were cleaned and checked for weight. Here is the block honed and with the pistons installed:

I want to point something out at this time. Every single time Eiji was about to install something, he took the time to photograph the part in the bag (so you could read the NISSAN part label with part number), the part out of the back and the part being installed in the engine itself. It is this level of detail that separates Eiji from any other vendor I have ever even heard of. His commitment to keeping me involved with the engine build was staggering.

You may be asking about the head. Well we talked and for my purposes an N42 head was selected. This is the head after assembly but before installation:

This is the head after installation:

When Eiji installed the cam we had an issue with it touching the pistons, which may have stuck out a bit more than other flat tops, but he told me he had to get the cam reground a slight lower lift. That has been done and he spent a couple of days examining the wipe patterns of each lobe on the rockers:

I needed custom lash pads for the new 274 cam, so he ordered them from Japan and installed them. Next he test filled the engine with oil and water and looked for leaks. Then he emailed me and asked what oil I wanted to use so he could buy some and prime the oil pump for me (I used Valvoline VR1 10w-30)

Latesly Eiji helped me find a good shipper. My engine is complete and ready to run. I will need to add my triple webers and a dizzy, but other than that, it is ready. Here she is ready to be shipped. (note 9 lb flywheel is not shown) :

Note the cad plated NEW hardware on every connection in the engine. Eiji used NEW NISSAN bolts, washers, nuts, etc throughout and photo documented every single time he measured anything.

I honestly feel better knowing he built this engine than if I had built it. I have never seen such attention to detail and caring about what MY opinion was.

I have only included a few of my pictures. But he set up a photo bucket account for my build if you want to take a look: It is amazingly thorough:

http://s905.photobucket.com/albums/ac257/datsunspirit/Stephen%20L28/?start=all

I am crazy excited to see this thing and start bolting on parts to it. I will put on my polished valve cover when it gets here, but I an extremely happy customer. I will document all my installation in this thread, and I will link this thread to my master TEXAS 1000 vintage rally thread.

Hope you enjoyed the read!

Edited June 10, 2012 by Zedyone_kenobi

[Diseazd]

Sounds like a story book tale with a happy ending!

[26th-Z]

Best of luck with the engine. I have known Eiji for years and I'm not surprised with your praise. Love your valve cover. Polish off the raised lettering :-)

[Travel'n Man]

Looks great - what block did you use and did you change out the cam? I believe anybody doing this should not get caught up in those big horsepower numbers but more so on the torque numbers - be gentle with your break in and change out the oil frequently..............you're goin' to love this!

[Zedyone_kenobi]

N42/N42 block/head

Eiji said he has a recommended break in procedure, and assuredly I will follow that to the letter.

Yes, I am running a custom grind cam, but all I know now is the 274 number. That sounds more like a duration than a lift, but I will get all the specifics from Eiji with the engine. I am trusting him to pick a cam that will perform in the rpm band I am looking for.

[Lazeum]

It looks great!

I had to rebuild mine also with the same goals as yours in mind. I did it by myself at the end, it is a very long and precise process.

You're talking about budget, I'm surprised to see Ross forged pistons, Nissan hardware also on the engine. Those are pricey items. I went with ITM cast pistons & good 8.8 zinc plated bolts everywhere ($15 for hardware), the money went in the head instead.

I had a L28 10.5:1 cr, flat top pistons, N42 head and 274° cam by Schneider (MSA stage 2). The combo was full of fun but it was difficult to avoid ping

Edited June 10, 2012 by Lazeum

[Zedyone_kenobi]

I did not intend to use forged pistons, as I think it is overkill, but could not find the right oversize at the time.

Eiji chose to use OEM NISSAN bolts, which I was thrilled with of course. He has exceeded my expectations throughout this process.

Best part is I have spent well below what a Rebello stroker would have cost and I truly believe I got the perfect engine FOR ME. Which is all anybody can ask

[240260280z]

Did you consider a P90 head? If so, what made you go with the N42?

[Travel'n Man]

Pistons look like flat tops.........hard to tell from the pics?

Edited June 11, 2012 by Travel'n Man

[Carl Beck]

The picture of the pistons in the block - look like flat tops to me.

[Lazeum]

The goal is to enjoy the process as well.

I know how much an engine could cost to build right. I'm glad if you're happy. Now you'll see how good the builder is with the miles you'll be able to do with it

One piece of advice, Change you first oil quick. I've run my engine 10 minutes first, flushed the oil & I removed the oil pan. I found a lot of metal chips in the pan afterwards.

I've done 400 miles so far, I expect to redo the same operation for next oil change.

[Zedyone_kenobi]

Blue I read many articles on the N42 and P90, and both seem to have great size valves but the P90 seems to have a larger combustion chamber. Eiji recommended an N42 to me, as he has an N42block/N42head combo in one of his current cars and was able to tell me exactly how it would work on todays fuels and ignitions.

The N42 is drilled for both carburated and injected engines, and that will bolt to my current triples manifold with ease. I have nothing against the P90 head, and really the biggest reason for going N42 was simply the availability of a good condition core to start the build.

Those are flattops? Did I say something to confuse that? I apologize if I did. They are ROSS forged flat tops from MSA.