rossiz

i agree w/the skepticism re: parting a z car. i haven't been able to sell a single part, and i've got plenty, all in good shape. heck, it's been hard to give the stuff away - i posted on the "pay it forward" thread and still have 95% of the stuff in my garage. when i was building ducatis, every nut and bolt was quickly snapped up on the used market and i could confidently estimate what i would get parting out a donor bike after i harvested the parts i needed to offset the build. with the z, i'm really surprised how nobody seems to want the stuff. maybe we all bought z cars because they are (or were) an inexpensive alternative to get into the sports car world and the z community is too cheap? i'm moving in a couple of months and may need to take a trailer load of parts to the dump.

i hear ya - i need ibuprofin from changing plugs! take care of the back, it sneaks up on you if abused. no fun!

stop in at your local mom-n-pop muffler shop, they'll have a catalog with plenty of options. i'd go with a longer resonator (looks like a small diameter, round muffler) at least 18" and have them weld new connections in. and avoid 3-bolt flanges if you can, they can be leaky. very simple work, not expensive and you will be much happier on the freeway. the longer resonator seems to help with drone in the 2-3K rpm range.

sounds mean - love to hear it under load ;}

schwing!!

when you "cheat" the load leveler to the front w/the chains, make sure you can still get the engine fairly level to start with - if the tranny is hanging down too low you have to lift it way high to get it over the front rad support and into the bay. i had to "cheat" my hoist and drill some extra holes to get more stick out of it - not exactly kosher for full load from a structural standpoint, but my math confirmed the engine wasn't anywhere near the limits of my hoist and it worked out just fine. be sure to sweep the floor well around where you'll be moving the hoist around - any debris caught in the casters can cause sudden stops or bumps that set the engine swinging. not a huge deal if you have a helper to hold the tranny tail while your moving, but makes for unnecessary excitement when you're alone. also have some wood wedges handy (as in, right next to the front wheels of the car so you can reach w/your foot when you need 'em) to chock the hoist casters so it doesn't walk on you while you walk around to adjust the load leveler and guide it into the hole, or when you go round to pull your rope sling up through the tranny tunnel. you may want to make an extension out of some pipe to operate the hydraulic release valve on your hoist so you can have one hand on the motor and be on the side of the bay looking/watching as you lower it down. kinda hard to see what's going on from behind the motor. the 3 "danger points" i found were top of rad support - impact w/tranny tail front bumper - impact w/hydraulic piston on hoist firewall - impact w/tranny tail once you get past those points it's pretty easy if you just take your time.

not sure the total finished weight of your aluminum flywheels, but i have a 2+2 setup (larger diameter) that i had lightened considerably and while i can definitely notice the motor spins up much more quickly i've never had a problem w/stalling. it idles nicely at 700rpm and on flat ground i can start off without my foot on the accelerator at all. this is, of course an L28 so maybe a bit more torque than the L24 i suppose...

should have read the OP more carefully - i thought he was asking if he should use washers that were called out. it's been a while since i removed/replaced my cam towers and while i remember what the bearing surface on the towers look like (i spent some time cleaning 'em) i forgot what the bolts looked like. at any rate, the bolt configuration is similar to a washer in that you wind up with a smooth bearing surface w/out the points of the hex cutting into the aluminum...

absolutely. aluminum is soft and will gall if you crank a fastener head down into it, which can give false torque readings as well as not properly distribute the load to an effective area of material. does this mean your engine will explode? not necessarily... but i'd use washers for sure - no point risking something so simple.

marvel mystery oil. not sure why you'd have a stuck ring on a motor this clean/new. usually rings stick from carbon or glazing/varnish. the best possible scenario would be the ring gaps lined up, which still requires pulling the piston (see my previous post). some tools you will need and want to have for this work and in general for L6 maintenance: crowsfoot spanner for valve lash adjust (cheap) feeler gauge for lash adjust (cheap) plastic slip-in tool to keep cam chain tensioner from popping when you remove the head (cheap) ring compressor (cheap) torque wrench (spend $$ here and get a really good one, it's an invaluable tool for all mechanics - get the kind that "click" vs. the ones that "flex") jack stands (always on a good concrete surface!!) so you can get underneath and pull the oil pan. don't risk your life w/cinder blocks or wood... "how to rebuild your nissan & datson OHC engine" by tom monroe - get it, read it and be liberated to do anything you need on this simple motor parts you'll need to do the work: head gasket (get a good one - lots of info here on this site) pan gasket ring set (maybe...) this can be a fun adventure in learning quite a bit about your engine and nothing involved is beyond the home mechanic if you get the tools and read the book.

i think it's a distorted reflection of the casting mark on the cam tower...

your head looks nice and clean - many would be envious. another way to turn the cam is with the lugs on the center of the camshaft. use a large crescent wrench and turn it ccw (pulling it towards you if working over the passenger side fender). this keeps the timing chain tight on the drive side, and is the same as turing the crank pulley cw (as in, both keep the timing chain tight on the drive side). i don't know why it would be hard to turn with the plugs out and tranny in neutral, usually it's a one-hand operation. i'm guessing the tranny wasn't really in neutral...

my uncle went to sacred heart w/joey pesci - very interesting family on my mother's side. i'm the only one who moved away...

never fun to put it back together with broken/missing fasteners - a bunch of work and then you get leaks. i would drill it out for the M10 then widen the manifold hole if needed. key is to not go too deep...

yeah, not a money-maker, just want it to go to someone on the forum if possible. issue is we are forced to move and i have to liquidate a whole mess of z parts - no storage at the new place.

not a single bite... not even a bump. hmmm...

if the comp changed after adding oil, i doubt it's valve related. the oil assists with sealing where the ring is failing. it's possible to re-ring #6 with the engine in the car - just a pain and messy. you'll need to pull the head, then jack it up, pull the oil pan, pull the big end rod bolts, push the piston up through the top, re-ring and reverse install. can be done in a day w/the right tools on hand. only thing is, if you have significant scoring from a broken ring you'll need to hone, possibly bore. you can hone with the engine in the car, but really need to be careful about masking off the rest of the engine from the grit and cleaning, cleaning, cleaning... these blocks are pretty tough so you may be lucky enough to get away w/just a re-ring, then it's cost of the ring set, new head/pan gasket and done.

indeed. you may be re-doing that...

been down that path, no luck it's so annoying having the clock constantly way off and it's such a pain to re-set (multiple submenus and fiddly/fussy controls) that i don't bother with it anymore - almost ready to put electrical tape over the display to make it go away - heck, i KNOW what my 5 preset stations are... the radio works, but other than that i'm unimpressed and wouldn't recommend it.

what he said. it's actually pretty easy to see the fuel level - when it gets up to the top of the jet, the meniscus (little concave section of liquid) inverts/flattens and is quite visible with a small flashlight. you can do it in the reverse order as well: start turning the nozzle down, counting the turns while watching for the fuel to hit the top of the nozzle - it should be exactly 10 turns (10mm). if it's less, you're rich/the float is set too high/too much fuel in the bowl, if it's more, you're lean/float is set too low/too little fuel in the bowl. sounds trickier than it is. hardest part (for me) is remembering how many turns i'm at w/the nozzle... i found this method to be very precise and it gives repeatable results. i do have an electric fuel pump, which makes it easier as you don't have to crank the engine to fill the bowls at the correct pressure.

not part of any club - but i drive it every day around here.

no love...

my MSA 6-2-1 header is very close to the TC rod connection and would probably interfere w/the steering rod as well during install - i put the header in first, lightly bolt to the downpipe flange to keep it in place, slip in the motor then bolt 'em all together. for me it's better to have more room in the "hole" and less things on the motor to get snagged/damaged on the install. putting the steering rod back together after the engine/header are in place seems like a pita for my fat hands...

love well-made diy tools! my grandfather was a typsetter (lead letters in wood boxes) and had all kinds of cool specialty tools that he made from various household items to perform tasks for which no tool was available at the time, and i have a few of them even though i have no real use for them - just cool to look at and know he figured out how to solve a problem and made his own devices. one of the tools that i actually have used many, many times is a chisel he made from a table knife - sounds goofy, but it's incredibly handy: the blade is cut square at the top and sharpened, the corners are beveled to blend the blade surface around the corner so it doesn't dig into the material and the back edge of the blade is ground flat as well as the butt of the handle so it can be used to scrape or chisel in either direction. not nearly the level of fabrication you completed, but it's kept in the toolbox and every so often i use it for some odd task and think of him

morning commute - getting on the freeway so i pass the 350 and pull up alongside the lovely 240, we exchange waves, i pull away w/a light stomp to let her sing, settle back down to 60 and flashing lights appear in the mirror. nice. fortunately the trooper was a good-natured individual and i escaped unscathed...