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Good news! I went to my Dad's machinist and he knew exactly what I was talking about. He told me I may need tower shims to get the wipe perfect. I have an extra 2.4 block that I'll do the notching to and keep the numbers matching motor OE, rebuild it later on. When I walked in he slid his glasses down on his nose and says "well I'll be damn, there's Marvelous Jr." my Dad's name is Marvin, I haven't seen that man in at least 20 years. Another funny thing he said was "I thought all those old L heads were scrapped by now". One more thing Steve"madkaw" brought up that he knew about was notching blocks. He said he makes templates out of cardboard with the HG when he notches blocks so he doesn't ruin the HG. So YES, other blocks need notching too, thank you Steve. Looks like I'm following in your footsteps I feel so much better now I'm going to have a couple of beers and run over the dog poo and onions in my yard, with my mower of course. I'll get back to the motor removal tomorrow, the weather is going to turn cold again. Thanks again guys, y'all are the best!

That's a good looking car. The first 240 I've seen with 280 hubcaps.

I'll have to share this with you guys and see what you all think. I'd thought I found a L series machine shop in North Georgia. The late John Williams had his shop located behind theirs, or vice versa, they built a shop in front of Mr Williams's place. It's all up around Road Atlanta race track. Two guys but only one talks on the phone, he says you need to talk to the other guy but he's never there or in the bathroom or on the roof, blah blah blah. I called Monday to ask if they would notch my block for me. The phone guy says that sounds crazy as hell but he'd ask the other guy and call me back. When he called back the other guy had said that I shouldn't have put larger valves into my E head, I told him it was a very common mod and that I had bought it that way. Then I remembered reading the 2.6 blocks were notched from the factory so that bothered me too. Then he say's I'll need .150" lash pads for proper geometry. Schneider told me that I would get .175" with my cam kit because they REMOVE material resulting in the need for thicker pads. So that's 3 things that got me to wondering how many L heads they do. I called my Dad for some reassurance, he's a simple kind of guy in the best way, love that man. He say's that getting the geometry right isn't as hard as I think and his favorite machinist could do it easily. I read where Madkaw notched his own block and looked at tons of pictures, I can do it myself. So the question is, I have chosen the cam and the cam company myself, they'll send everything I need, the head has new valves and stems already. I can get a local guy to take it apart and lube everything up (it's been in a bag for 5 years at least) put it back together with the new springs and retainers that are coming with the cam. New valve stem seals most likely, they've not had oil on them. Center the wipe pattern and give it a try. 15 minute drive compared to 2 1/2 hour drive. Telling my local shop what I want or having the out of state shop tell me what they want? If you read this THANK YOU for your time and your opinion. Cliff

After reading Dogmas procedure I decided that it's just as easy to replace the hoses and keep it as it was designed.

I've always thought the cam towers follow the cam.

Finally getting down to the motor. Hood is under one bed, radiator under another. Carbs are on an extra intake mounted to a wall. Everything is coming off pretty easy so far, exhaust manifold is going to be a booger. I'm getting a friend to come by today and suck the R12 out of my A/C, don't know if I'll be putting all that mess back on. MSA's got a free shipping deal through the 16th so I'll order my exhaust in the next couple of days. Oh my aching back!

I have a N42 head with only the internal oiling cam and towers. I bought it that way and was worried because there was no spray bar like all the other N42s I'd seen. Worried for no reason, that thing floods the valve train with oil. I cut the handle off a long screwdriver and chucked it into my drill to spin the oil pump. It was set to the higher speed and shot the oil out of the cam, beyond the cylinder head. I switched it to the lowest speed for this picture.

65 degrees here yesterday. I cleaned up and out my garage then drove the little car for the rest of the day. Those new 15x7s with 205-50s make all the difference in the world. Looks good and drives like it's on a rail. Anyway, all I did last night was pull the hood off. But today I'm filling up some boxes and baggies. DJ that book was crucial when I rebuilt my very 1st car engine, my '77 280. I'd only took the top end off dirt bikes then in the early 90s I learned how to work on outboard motors by working with a mechanic while I was healing after an ankle fusion surgery. He turned out to be a good friend that I'm still in touch with today, Dr Brown we call him. I had a 2.5 liter Mercury V6 with OMC carburetors that would turn 9,200 RPMs with a 24 pitch prop. 8,000 with a 26 or 28 prop (can't remember) was 102 MPH on a handheld GPS I had in a pouch on back of the driver's seat. 1,200 lb boat and motor I raced 1/4 mile side by side "run what you brung". It was a '83 Hydrostream Vector. Sorry about that, great memories from then. Anyway I have to do everything by myself and taking the engine apart piece by piece is the easiest way for me without banging the car up. After getting the top off I put 2 head bolts in the block and lifted it out with a hoist. It may take a little longer but I tend to make mistakes when I try to do too much at once. I let the 280 motor worry me to death, not going to happen with the 240. I've learned enough with Tom's book and the helpful members on here to have some confidence now, plus the 240 is so basic and simple I can hardly wait to tear into it. I'm going to take the block and head to the machinist in North Georgia. They're going to set up the valve train and notch my block for the exhaust valves. Port match and anything else I can afford. When I take it apart, if there's anything that looks suspect I'll have it checked out by my local machine shop.

Mine have the pull strap on the passenger's door only, as well as an armrest.

Sorry about you losing your Mom. Seems like these Datsuns last a long time, maybe you'll find one soon.

I'm a bit of a wino myself. I enjoy some Ripple and champagne mixed together, Champipple. Kidding aside, that's a great story.

That's something I've read before where they are talking about sanding them yourself. $36 plus shipping from the North West was only $50. I would spend that on sanding paper and beer, plus running my heater to keep warm. Anyways I'm hoping for the best out of the resurfaced pads but maybe will have to learn a hard lesson in a year or so of running the cam. $125 regrind with a component kit of $250 plus the $50 and the unknown set up price, $1,000 at least down the drain if the rockers don't have the "lanolin wipes".

I'm about to tear this motor out and then apart. It's kind of hard to do because it runs pretty good today but I can't trust a 43 year old motor's stamina, so here I go. I think updating this thread with the progression of the build will save my butt from mistakes with the help of the forum. My plan is to remove the carbs first then the head and then block and transmission. I know the basics, label and bag everything and clean, clean, clean. I did my 280 a couple of years ago with step by step instructions from Tom Monroe. I'm feeling a little sick knowing what I'm about to do but these beers are helping. Thanks, Cliff

Okay here you go, 9 and 3/4" between the two holes. That's the drivers side if it matters?

I've got a 240 driver's side armrest in my shed I can measure later today. I could get pretty close measuring the pulls on the passenger's side door, they have those plastic chrome covers on there and they're mounted in the cars.

Oh yeah they slide, they're universal so they don't fit very tight. Putting some kind of friction tape is a great idea, might do that myself. I always tuck the cover in before I get in the car. I put mine over white seats in a 240 I bought with white interior. I tend to get dirty when I work on cars and don't like changing clothes for a quick test drive. One day I'll be like my Dad and wear coveralls, but no time soon. Get you some Hello Kitty's until you can get them recovered. A guy on here, Hardway, recovered his with a kit off ebay. He did a good write up on the process. http://www.classiczcars.com/topic/44331-diy-how-to-recover-your-z-seats-lots-of-pictures/

Here's the intake gasket I bought a month or so ago, if you haven't sourced one yet. Nissan #14035-E4610

I called my Nissan parts guy and asked about your numbers, your right "none out there". He suggested Felpro 21157.

I bought some neoprene seat covers from a chain auto parts store or walmart one. They have the tube looking thing that goes between the seat and the back to keep them in place better. Also came with small bungee cords to keep the bottom tight.

So using a 280 HG on a worked E31 head on top of a 2.4 block, one could avoid these issues (other than the block notching)?

What did you do about the 6 that were bad? Did you send 6 more for proper coordination or buy new? I may have that same situation.

My orange one with the 280 radiator and shroud reads 176. I'll check the 280 tomorrow and let you know.

I've been thinking grinding off the stock cam would require thicker lash pads? Sounds bass ackwards now. The guy doing my geometry kept saying John Williams, R.I.P, got the last .150s they could find. Schneider guy says he'll send the ones I need with my cam component kit. The same cam kit MSA sales comes with .175"s.

Delta Cams received my original Nissan rocker arms last friday at 4 p.m. They called at 8:30 a.m PT and asked my card number for payment and shipping. 2 days and $3 each. That's a pretty good turnaround time and a helluva cheap price. He said they barely needed work, that they were in good shape to begin with. But Schneider requires new surfaces for their warranty on my cam regrind and professional installation. Not on Main Street Garage will set it all up for me as soon as I take my perfectly running motor apart and take them the head and intake manifold. I emailed them and asked for one more weekend of enjoyment, 60s here on Saturday. I'll get started on it Sunday.

I thought about it but didn't. Reading Blue's tips had me thinking that they would work with OE size rotors but I was just wanting to stop reasonably quick. here's his write up, http://atlanticz.ca/zclub/techtips/toyotabrakeupgrade/index.html here's what i bought from chain stores for around $200. Slotted and drilled rotors reman calipers and a can of red paint. Also bought the stainless hoses from the calipers to the hard lines.