Lazeum

The debris in my engine probably came from the cam & the rockers. They got damaged because of oil, this is why I've been able to find many debris in my oil pan. We don't know however why: my oil pressure has always been good according to my oil pressure gage (stock unit, we know how reliable it could be ). I wanted to do an oil change right after the weekend when the issue occurred (2 days too early) so it could also be a clogged oil filter that opened the bypass valve getting bad oil contaminating the rest of the engine but the oil was looking okay. Other assumption is a worn out oil pump already in bad shape, that's something I've never checked before. The Z however is a toy, it costs me a little bit of money but nothing too dramatic (3000€ in 2 years?) and I've learned a lot in the process: the only things I haven't touched in the Z is dashboard & the seats.

It's off topic a little but I'll answer anyway Engine failure was not related to Glenn either The car is doing good (soon to be back on the roads, target is spring), Glenn is following up btw; we exchanged emails no later than last week. I've redone the full suspension setup since then (sanded/painted, poly bushings, brakes, brake lines, bolts, top mounts, bearings, etc.), steering also and this winter the whole engine. (for the exprienced users, hook for the hoist is the wrong one, engine mounts are reversed - I've corrected it since then) The only thing I've removed from before was the head (too much compression with ping & dieseling) & the wheels. And if you'd like to follow the build, here's the link (it's in French but there're pictures) I would most likely never get a Z if you would have bought it back since Z's in France are expensive cars, especially in this shape

Same thing happened to me in the past, pump was shot with debris going into it resulting in cam, rockers failure with crankshaft scoring (aside from cranksaft & pistons bearings being shot) => HBZ - Is my Oil pump dead? I would check where those debris on your pump could come from: cam, rockers? but they would be magnetic or pistons, head for aluminum? Dirt from an oil change? Jeff, it happened actually on your old car but it wasn't your engine. On my side, I ended up with a full rebuild with Melling M111 turbo pump, oil retrictor increased & dual lube on the cam (internal + spray bar)

This is my setup, RB in 15x7 et+4 with BF Goodridge G-sport tires in 225/50. Setup is great with no rubbing. Clearance with spring perch is 5-7mm.

Dave made an engine for a friend (Rebello 3.2L engine) dyno'ed at 310 crank HP which is quite torquey with mild cam. The head used for this engine is a E31. Speech from my friend is that head looks quite stock (but it isn't of course), modifications looks quite subtle. As far as I'm concerned, my head was made by Rusch Motorsport (Braap on HBZ), overall cost is around 2k with very good support. Cost includes new valves, new Rebello cam made specifically for my head work, new springs, new lash pads, new retainers, dual lubrification (cam + spray bar), milling/port/polish operations, cam tower shimmed, etc Regarding timing, I would choose the MSD 6AL2 box since it could be setup very easily with a computer instead of the mallory unilite that needs some more work to be setup right.

Your combo has been discussed a lot of time with very knowledgeable people on many forums. It was also my setup some years ago, I've changed it and I'm not looking backward Car was running ok but at the cost of low timing to avoid ping. I have a adjustable distributor so it was possible to change initial & total advance but hardly transition (it's a Mallory Unilite). I could have avoided ping by having a bigger cam to ease things up or by changing ignition system to get a more versatile setup (MSD 6AL-2 or Megajolt could be the answers). So bottom line is that it can be run but you have to be careful about the setup as a whole, otherwise it would ping. I support the advice about calling Rebello to plan ahead for a proper setup & to avoid potential frustrations. I went with P79 head, ported/polished/unshrouded, milled a bit with appropriate cam & springs, the car is a lot more powerful than it was with the N42.

We had a short topic about branch resonator on hybridZ. It looks promising, look on google and you'll find some good solution I believe. I have a 3-2 header coated with the turbo muffler. Sound is nice but loud especially at cruising rpm. Fitting is quite good.

The suspension bolts are all fine thread pitch, they are not standard ones. Even in Europe, it is difficult to get. On the ones with nuts, you can get regular threaded bolts with matching nuts but for the ones that goes on the body, you won't have much choice... Torque on the bolts would have to be adjusted to match their new properties.

Thanks for the link, I wanted to put it (hence the last two lines on my previous post) but I wasn't able to edit the message You're right we should say class for metric, not grade. I've already got this discussion somewhere

Check for size BUT also for grades! I've taken bolt in 10.9 form & nuts in grade 10. I went thru the process last year, 100% of my suspension bolts are new. I wouldn't use also old bolts if you have the choice I did my own researchs to gather all the data, did a group buy locally (in France) to spread the cost with high volume, full suspension kit came up at 50€ total per person See attached the file that should be helpful for everyones Credits are also for z240 on Hybridz who help me making this list => Suspension Bolts

Can you locate the noise more precisely? Have you also adjusted the rack bearing clearance (the one with the large nut with screw in it?) From what you're saying, I can see the failure coming from something rubbing the intermediate shaft somewhere or the pinion/rack connection inside the rack.

There's a specific procedure in the service manual. You should tighten the nut to 30-35 Nm (21-25 ft.lbs), turn the wheel CW & CCW several times. It should be tight. Retorque to spec the nut since bearing might have sit, turn the wheel again. Then, you should loosen the nut by 60°. if hole for pin is not well located, you can untighten the nut by 15° more. You should be good with that. If you're not, inspect parts, something is wrong.

You should also try to lift the car and see if noise still occurs. You could try afterwards to locate better the noise. Check also to make sure everything is tight.

You should also check in Europe. Just in France most of us are changing our R180 with R200 So you should check on zclub.net, datsun-france.com, etc. you will find "locally" a diff, I'm quite sure! First reason is to get "better" ratio, the other one is that it is much easier to fix a R200 since most of the parts are still easily available.

I've posted some pictures some days ago about how I blasted my aluminum parts. Glass bead to clean them up followed by glass balls. the last operation bring the shiny finish. Part looks really good. Best Solution for Aluminum Parts Glass-ball supplier adviced me to use plastic media for paint removal & aluminum oxides for non cosmetic areas.

For reference, this is how aluminum parts were after glass bead process, they all came back with the same finish as the intake (except the water pump pulley of course, which was painted)

I've tried to glass bead them first to remove any oxidation. It leaves the part mat with no shine. Then I've used some glass-ball to blast the part to give a good finish. According to the size of the glass balls you can choose the finish but it will not be polished. Here is how my triple carbs intake came back after the process. It looks to be painted but it is only pure aluminum. finish in person looks great with no areas ignored, quite neat. For info ball size was 200-300µm.

The link is a good start. Do not forget the oil pump & chain assembly. Those are cheap insurance for reliability. I'm going to use Felpro gasket set, you can have them for around 140$ together I believe: one for the top of the engine, one for the bottom end. Do not forget also the paint, lubes, towels, crankshaft seals, brake cleaner, etc... I'm redoing mine, besides machining work, I'm close to 600€ just for the rebuild part.

You're not going to like my story I had basically the same failure mode on my head (port & polished with Rebello cam). You should check first if all the rockers are shot with black burnt oil to control if the issue is isolated to cam lobe #1 or not. On my engine, I found burrs in the pan from the cam. So I checked oil pump and it was shot (the root cause on my engine). You should disassemble yours and check it also. If the issue happened once then you've changed the cam and it happened again then the answer is quite simple: you haven't found the root cause yet. Changing cam again is having a very rate of failure again. To finish my story, I've torn the whole engine apart, crank was damaged and all bearings had to be changed, since metal chips went everywhere. I also had to clean the block, meaning I had to remove the oil plugs on the block and give a real good clean up. If you want to fix the issue, you should do it right, now. This is what I've done and for 1,5 year the car is in the garage; I grab the "while I'm in it" syndrome, I've restored the whole suspension and steering waiting for funds for the engine. Good luck

I picked up the block, pistons and the crank from the machine shop today I know what to do the next weekends to come

You could also check the link below. I've changed all the suspension bolts on my Z, so the dimensions are known to be accurate (except for strut nuts) http://forums.hybridz.org/index.php/topic/98751-suspension-bolts-inventory

On my side, I clean my un-cracked dash with soap & a brush. I remove the soap with a microfiber rag afterwards. It was greyish instead of black some time ago. I've tried many products with no success. I ended up with polish cream in black. Cream is not as greasy as regular polish & it costs 4$. My dash looks new again for the last 18 months (for how long still ? )

The car looks amazing!!! I was chatting no later than yesterday about classic car in Poland with colleagues - I was in Tychy & Krakow this week So it's good to see some Classic Z around!

You should try it! worst case scenario, you could always purchase the parts required to solve the potential issue.

I fully understand you're point of view. It is the other way around for me... Time but no money (mortgage) My point is you might never be able to get your engine running well without detonating with your current setup; either it will run very poor at idle because of advance too low or it will ping at higher rpm. One easy way to overcome this would be to use an MSD 6AL-2 unit but it you could keep your vacuum advance effective it would be a big plus. DIS systems are the best but you would need an ECU to manage that. If you choose one, you'll be able to tune your engine for new cam, fuel and so on, so making your engine well shouldn't not be a problem anymore.