Barefootdan's 280z Build

[Barefootdan]

Mods, delete if not allowed.

I have starting piling up parts I know I wont need in the future. Feel free to make me an offer on these. I would keep them but I dont have the room to hold them inside the garage and they will ultimately rot outside. Classified

[Barefootdan]

Ah, engine build day is finally here! All these months of preparation and cleaning all come down to this.

The block was hot tanked, honed, and decked. I first started with a cleaning and removing the original expansion plugs. There was a heavy amount of rust within the coolant passages and some left over crud from their cleaning. I let the water run through these until no more particles were coming out. I ran a bristle brush back through to loosen anything up and another wash. I'm sure I missed the deepest corners and crevasses but I will just plan on an early coolant flush.

All taped up and ready for paint! I had back and forth's on which color I wanted to go. Blue, black, silver, iron, or something wild like an orange. Ultimately I went with Iron to keep things simple. Sorry purists!  

After a few coats of primer and paint, things are looking much better. New expansion plugs really look good 😍 My kit from Rockauto was 2 plugs too short. So I had to swing by and get 2 extra 35mm plugs.

Up next was bearings, crank, rings, and pistons. I did this late at night and realized I didnt even take photos until everything was in! Anyways, it went extremely smooth and the only hiccup was my dummy head rushing into it. I put the wrong sized main bearing onto the rear cap. Not until I got to the last two caps did I realize my mistake. Luckily I found this mistake and was able to correct it. 

Everything is turning smoothly and feels great. Ah, the sounds of fresh rings is the best. The friction of the fresh rings is perfect. Up next was the ARP head studs. Its so odd that they are hand tight for the studs themselves. I get how the clamping force works...but it feels so wrong!

Slapped on the fresh head. So glad to get this thing off my workbench! I ran into my first roadblock here as I needed a deep 12mm 12 point socket. So that was all for day 2. 

Day 3 started with a quick trip to grab a new socket and get those head bolts torqued. Installed a new timing set. Seems almost too easy to time compared to DOHC cars Im used to! This photo was taken right after placing all the guides, but I didn't notice until placing my gaskets that my slack side was a bit off. So I repositioned it for a smoother transition.

Covers were next on the agenda. Things are moving fast now!

Lastly was the oil pan, oil pump, water pump and pulley, thermostat house (ITS SO GROSS 🤢) and the manifolds. I had to take a shot of just the exhaust as it looked so good! Installing the oil pan gasket was a a pain. Im not sure if the kit I ordered was wrong, but the gasket looked small. It was flexible so I thought that maybe it just need stretch to fit. I had 3 corners locked in place but could not get it stretch enough for the fourth. Not sure what the deal was but it ended up tearing. I picked up a Fel Pro gasket and it fit much better. I feel way better about it now.

Not picture is that I also had the intake manifold installed. I am still needing a few misc plugs and I need to create a block off plate for my cold start valve. That thermostat housing...just needs replacing. I hate it. Tomorrow I will move my attention to the transmission. I am waiting on the input seal to arrive so I am at a standstill until then. The anticipation is growing!!! Let just take a moment to remember where we started with this crusty piece 🙂 

[Barefootdan]

I will be getting the last of my gaskets and seals today for the transmission. I am doing the two front input shaft seals to be safe while it is out. Do I need any RTV on the gasket for the cover on this? I found little information online so far with my searching. 

[Barefootdan]

I went with no RTV. I inspected the original gasket fairly closely and did not see any signs of RTV. Fingers crossed theres no leaks! I started by getting the engine off the stand so I can work on the rear. I was able to torque the flywheel bolts fairly easy with the use of a pry bar on the dowel and flywheel teeth. Unfortuneatly I realized that I forgot to install the back plate! 😤 Well, off with the flywheel again! I think this was actually a blessing in disguise as I noticed I didnt swap the manual transmission specific pilot bushing. I made quick work of the old one with a hammer and chisel. The new one went in nice and smooth. Flywheel goes back and followed by the new clutch and pressure plate. Things are looking good!! 

I tossed the transmission up on my floor jack for easy alignment. Took probably 4-5 times of fiddling until the shaft lined up nicely. 

From there it was all excitement! Doing this solo wasnt as hard as I was anticipating. Alot of back and forth to make sure nothing was binding or jammed. Lower an inch, walk around, tilt a few degrees, walk around, etc. Now that I'm looking at this picture...why didnt I put my starter on while it was so easy to access?! 

I left all the mounts loose and was able to get the driver side in nice and quick. The shape of the mounts is a bit wide spread so trying to finagle the passenger side was a bit of a headache. I ended up removing the mount from the block, placing it in the frame mount, then lining back up to the block. This worked so much better. And with that...shes finally home again! I can't wait to get back out there and hook up the remaining lines, wires, and driveshaft. 

 

[Freez74]

Great work!  You won't have much trouble installing the starter after the engine is in place.

[Barefootdan]

It’s Alive!!!! 
 

so excited to hear it run again. This was only the second time starting (I didn’t even think it would start on the first crank so I didn’t record it!) 

 

a couple things to note, I need to check the oil pressure gauge is function or if I have 0 pressure. I need to rent a timing light to adjust timing. And there are a couple open vacuum ports still on the manifold for the high idle. 
 

BUT ITS RUNNING!

 

[SteveJ]

Go ahead an buy a timing light. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B000EVYGV4/?th=1 (Note, there is also a more expensive one with dwell if you think you might ever deal with points.)

[Barefootdan]

5 minutes ago, SteveJ said:

Go ahead an buy a timing light. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B000EVYGV4/?th=1 (Note, there is also a more expensive one with dwell if you think you might ever deal with points.)

Ordered! Thank you

[siteunseen]

EDIT: After looking over the spreadsheet I realized I told you wrong. Sorry and you'll see my mistakes if you look at the sheet.

I have that timing light too. After setting the timing I mostly use it for the engine RPMs now. It puts a tach outside the cabin which is very useful when you get to fine tuning. You can also do total advance timing with it. My car has two 17 weights in the distributor so you double that to 34 then run the motor up to to 3,500rpm and the light will read 0 when it's at max advance. I have an excel spreadsheet on my laptop with all the distributors and their info. Thank you for doing that @Walter Moore

I found it. Post #3.

 

Edited September 16, 2021 by siteunseen

[Barefootdan]

That’s great thank you @siteunseen

I’ll aim for the cold and warm values to start. Do I need to unplug my vacuum advance to get an accurate reading? 
 

another thought I had while rewatching the video. Any particular reason why it sounds so lopey? Not that I don’t like it, but I want to make sure all is okay! Possibly due to the vacuum leaks? I’ll check spark for each cylinder just to be safe as well. I can’t imagine my ignition timing being within spec either as is. 

[siteunseen]

I pull the vacuum advance hose off the distributor and pug it with a golf tee.

From my experience these cars run good with more advance. I have my distributor turned all the way, max advance. One off smarter members, @zKars, even made a plate allowing farther advance.

 

[Barefootdan]

2 minutes ago, siteunseen said:

I pull the vacuum advance hose off the distributor and pug it with a golf tee.

From my experience these cars run good with more advance. I have my distributor turned all the way, max advance. One off smarter members, @zKars, even made a plate allowing farther advance.

 

You read my mind for my next question of “what happens if max advance isn’t enough” 😂