bajcsi

So, hey. I’m at a point in my life where I’m thinking about getting out of the game. Life marches on and I don't have the time, space, or inclination as much anymore. After 25 years or so, I’m kicking around the idea of selling my (early) 1977 Datsun 280Z and am trying to figure out how to price it. A lot of work has been done, but I still have paint and body to do. See below… Any insight? Heck, any serious interest? I'm in the Richmond, VA area. I've put around 3k on the motor as it's mostly been a weekend driver / day trip car. Thanks, Bajcsi ---- Motor: Dyno’ed at 220rwhp/222rwtq; retarded to about 26 BTDC all in timing on 93 + NOS Brand octane booster. Sunoco GT 100 or 104 additional advance would be a significant improvement. L28 stroked/bored to 3.1L. Everything was race prepped/balanced/etc by H&M Machine (previously on summit ave) ~12:1 compression ratio LD28 Crank L24 connecting rods with 9mm ARP bolts JE Pistons (custom; spec sheet available) L31 head) with significant flow work, oversize valves, arp head bolts, hks 1mm gasket Schneider cam Triple DCOE40-151 w/ port matched intakes, ITG filters. (I did all the tuning and have a decent supply of chokes and jets.) Electromotiv HPX crank triggered ignition (deleted distributor and machined custom oil shaft end / bearing)) Motorsport Auto 6->1 jethot coated header with wide band 02 sensor installed BHJ Crank Damper with trigger wheel Oil Cooler 2.5” Exhaust Drivetrain/suspension: 83 280XZ 5 speed, rebuilt 3.70:1 Nissan Limited Slip (’89 300zx); Ron Tyler Mount Upgrade CV Shaft Upgrade Tokiko shocks (blue) / springs Urethane bushing upgrades Suspension Techniques Front camber adjustment Rear strut bar Rota RB-R 16x8 wheels w/ Hankook rubber Brakes: Front: Toyota 4 piston upgrade, 300zx vented rotors Rear:240sx caliper/disc conversion, functional e-brake Adjustable proportioning valve Interior: Refreshed carpet, seats Original door cards, clean Dash cap Autometer Speedo, Tach, and O2 Senor Knock Sensor Light New seatbelts Body: Rust/Dent free hood and fenders Rust free doors New full rear quarters ready to weld in Replaced floor pans/frame rails Rear deck replacement metal (NLA) Extra stuff that could be negotiated: Replacement interior parts All seals for post-paint/body work Modified Bell housing / crank shaft for 240SX 5 speed transmission conversion (KA24) Tons of misc. parts

Dang, that's a good catch. I hadn't thought about that. I need to check out all the links and also ask the shop about replacement. It's been a crazy day at work so I'll take a look at those tonight.

But I so enjoy taking this motor apart Actually, I enjoy driving my car more. It's a joy and quite peppy. I was NOT able to do a leak down test tonight. Family duties called and by the time I could, the time was getting on to where I would both the household if not neighborhood with the noise of warming up the car. I did take all the pictures though. It looks to me like the threads on the plug are basically clean. The plugs themselves, including on #3, show no signs of fouling. The red tint, from what I have read of people complaining about the stuff, is because of the octane booster I run when I don't have access to higher octane gas. Specifically: NOS 12010 Racing Formula Octane Booster - 12 oz. : Amazon.com : Automotive... Don't laugh, it does make a difference in how much my knock sense does or better yet, doesn't go off. Anyway, apparently the MMT will do that. I run pretty conservative timing when using this combination. Here are the pics. I took #3 plug by itself, 1-3, 4-6, 2 pictures of the thread repair and 2 more of the other cylinders. Also, you'll see a little oil or whatever it is where the block meets the head. This looks to come from #3 because before i wipe it up, I can see where it runs down from #3 onto the block/head mating and runs along it. The other pics are interesting. It looks like they have a little something there but that with the better seal they don't leak. Finally - I checked my oil. After 700 miles, my level has not dropped below the full mark on the dipstick (or at all, for that matter). Brett

Howdy AJ, I'll be able to dig into the motor a bit tonight. I'll get the additional pics, run the leak down, etc. As for the repair, it's not a helicoil. I BELIEVE it's a timesert (++ TIME-SERT Threaded inserts for stripped threads, threaded inserts, thread repair stripped sparkplug's, Ford sparkplug blowouts, threaded inserts threaded, repair stripped threads, stripped threads, inserts threaded inserts, Ford spark plug repair,) but can't say for sure without checking with the machine shop again. Regardless, I'll get the pics, check the threads, etc. Thanks for all the good feedback and suggestions. Brett

Oh, there is usually a bit more. I had wiped it the other night and didn't run the motor this morning before taking a photo.

Hey guys, I did check the plugs, and they don't appear oily. I'll have to pull again tonight and take a picture. Regarding the thread repair, I farmed it out to a second machine shop port matching my intake to my head. Per the suggestions, I'll see if I can determine if it appears to be more of a thread/plug sealing issue which I imagine I could check by seeing of the ID of the timesert shows signs of the same substance as is leaking. If not, then I guess that means it's coming from the OD where it seals to the head. See the below attached photo. I'm very confident it's not coming from my head gasket. My engine is pretty clean (other than this issue) and I would have noticed that... probably... maybe. I built the engine with a 1mm headgasket in mind, but did the initial tuning with the 2mm in place. I have done compression tests although not since installing the 1mm gasket, I'll do another to make sure nothing has changed. But my last numbers when I still had the 2MM headgasket on it were: #1 230 #2 230 #3 215 #4 240 #5 240 #6 230 I had to dig those up and looking at those it does support Zed Head's thought that I have a small compression leak, and given the cylinder and symptoms probably due to the thread repair. Does the oily substance look like oil to you guys or just general combustion byproduct/unburned gass/etc? I appreciate everyone's input on this. I wasn't able to dig into this last night - I have twin 1 year olds, my time is tight! But I should be able to dig in and start checking everything. I'll redo the compression test and do a leakdown test as well. Thanks, Brett

To echo everyone, thank you very much for your efforts!

Hello all, I'm having a frustrating problem and I wanted to get some opinions. I've searched quite a bit but haven't found anything that either I haven't tried or was relevant. That back story: I have a built 3.1L stroker (not done on the cheap) with E31 head running somewhere north of 11:1 compression. The most runs well with good compression across all cylinders. The head has had a sigfnificant amount of work done. Another piece of infromation is that it has a timesert in sparkplug hole number 3 due to an issue with the head that predates me. I'm running triple webers and Electromotive HPX ignition. I AM running PCV, as using advice from Tony D I created a vacuum log with a restrictor on one end for the PCV valve (mounted to a grommet which is mounted where the pipe once was all pressure fit). So I THINK I'm exacuating pressure from the crankcase. I have no other leaks that I know of. Engine mileage is 1200. Onto the issue: Symptom #1: On cylinder number 3, I have a small amount of oil coming out of the spark plug hole while the engine runs. As I drive, it slowly works it's way down the side of the block and makes a mess of things. Symptom #2: When the engine starts after sitting for more than a few hours, I get a greyish smoke while I idle. Once I drive off into the sunset, the smoke dies off and doesn't reappear until the car has been off for several hours. Things I have checked: Valve Cover Gasket - it doesn't leak and the oil clearly originates from the spark plug hole. Spark Plug Torque: It's well torqued, but even it if it wasn't, you would expect something other than oil to escape. Valve Seals - I replaced them last night and the problem persists. Ignition - the plug is firing correctly, so I wouldn't think it's unspent fuel coming out. I'm not running overly rich either, 12.5 at idle. 13ish -.13.8 at WOT on the idle/progression circuits and 13.0ish on the main circuit. And now on to what's left for my theories: Head cracked - Lord, I hope not. Oil passage nicked - Along the above lines, do the oil passages run anywhere close to the spark plug holes that a timesert may have affected. Oil passage nicked - I assume there is way too much metal in the combustion chamber that the machine shop doing the head work could have gotten close to oil passages? Bad oil control rings - If I had a bad oil control ring, would I not be BURNING oil consistently rather than for a few moments at startup (aka like when you have bad valve stem seals)? Also, would it be possible for oil to find it's way all the way up the cylinder wall and out a spark plug hole? Bad head gasket - I have an HKS 1mm head gasket on now. The problem existed with an HKS 2mm head gasket as well. Using ARP studs torqued to spec. Of all those, I would prefer one of the last two to be the case even though I don't relish pulling the engine anytime soon. The oil comes out clean with no antifreeze or anything else in it when drained. The antifreeze looks good. Thanks, Brett

Hey Lazeum, I finally got away from my 8 month old twins long enough to install my MAP sensor and Knock Sense (Engine knock detection and indication for all vehicles)... I reset my timing and went with the following: 8 degrees initial +18 @ 3000 (26 total) +2 @ 8000 (28 total). The MAP sensor allows the HPX to adjust the timing a maximum +15 degrees at idle/no load cruising. Still pretty conservative and there is room to play. One thing I don't like is that I'm not able to configure how much MAX timing at idle. That's why I went so low with initial because with adding 15 degrees, that's still 23 degrees at idle. I'm going to lower it a little more and then bump up what is added @3000 so that I can get down closer to 18 degrees at idle. When the car first starts, it idles fine around 1100. After driving around, it sits at 1800 for a minute or so before dropping back down. I've got no knocking so far although I need to adjust the sensitivity my knock sensor a bit more. With no load around 3000 it starts flashing like crazy. I have a hard time believing there is any knocking because I can't hear it and I drove next to a jersey wall both at full load and no load and didn't hear anything remotely like pinging. I had to mount the knock sensor on the head so it could be picking up drive train noise. My valves REALLY need readjusting - I can hear them rolling down the road. Ooops... I'd really like to get an Electromotive XDI2. I've been running Dynolicious v3 on an iPhone 5 (glorified butt dyno) to monitor performance changes after my tuning changes. I know the numbers aren't entirely accurate, but it's still good for showing performance trends. On September 5, I pulled multiple 150 RWHP runs. Last night after the changes were made, I pulled a 189 and a 191 RWHP with a best 0-60 of 6.01 and best 1/4 of 14.62…. I recognize those will vary by a couple percent in either direction from reality, but the ~25% improvement isn't too shabby at all. I feel there is still quite a bit of room to play. I've got timing, fuel AF/r, valve timing and general valve adjustment to start really digging into. I'm also running a pretty conservative cam - one of the MSA (Schneider 270-80F - 270/280 .460" lift)... Relative to this thread by the way, my car runs ~12.5:1 on 93 with the NOS Octane booster (which appears to be of limited use)... Also, thanks a bunch for the link to your timing discussion on the other board. It helped alot. Thanks, Bajcsi

Hey Lazeum -> I guess I should have been a little more forth coming. I'm running an unshaved E31 head with larger valves cut and a bit of headwork. My pistons are set of JE Pistons that I had them build to my spec. They are flat tops with valve reliefs. I'm running distributorless with an Electromotive HPX. I am currently running it without the MAP sensor though it's absolutely on my list of things to do in the near term. DCOE 40-151 carbs. Regarding timing, I've erroring on the side of extreme caution until I had the motor broken in as I don't really have a lot experience in that department. That combined with not having a knocksensor yet, I didn't feel comfortable with upping it much more. I'd like to plumb for the map sensor in the next week or two. With the HPX, I know you can hookup a multimeter to a couple of pins to get the current timing. Any suggestions on monitoring in car while driving? I'd like to have more of an understanding of how the MAP sensor is affecting timing at given load and RPM. Thanks!

I would definitely like to see the dyno results as well, Zedyone... My engine build is a little silly in that I'm at about 12.5:1 compression according to the calculations but it might be a little less. They look something like below (when using the calculator posted above). Unfortunately, I also have DCOE 40's which most say will be fairly limiting with my motor. I'd actually prefer to run ITB's but that's not really in the budget just now. Anyhow, I have yet to get it on a dyno as I'm just finishing the break in process also. I run 93 oct + the NOS Octane Booster in every tank. As for timing, I'm running around 15 @ 1100 and 33 @ 3k. I had to dial it back a little bit because of pinging but right now the engine seems pretty content with that - at least from the perspective of detonation. I've ordered a Knocksense so that I can get a better handle on it as well. Block Height= 207.87 mm Deck Height= 0.63 mm Chamber Volume= 42.4 cc Cylinder Volume= 516.35 cc Gasket Volume= 6.5 cc Dish Volume= 0 cc Deck Volume= -3.92 cc Uncompressed Volume= 565.26 cc Compressed Volume= 44.98 cc Compression ratio= 12.57:1 Total displacement= 3098.13 cc

Each valve lines up with the appropriate port on the head. So just look across the head at the intake and exhaust header and you'll see which valve is which.

I buttoned up my stroker, installed it and hooked most everything up. Tomorrow is carbs and test drive.

I just opened up the box yesterday and the part looks GREAT! Thanks Dave... Bajcsi

You would be MUCH better served getting your hands the proper manifold. You could probably bolt it up but truth is your car wouldn't run worth a darn. Bajcsi