Nite_Grind

Thanks. This is my "low-budget" rebuild, so it will be rattle canned also.

My minions join daddy again. My lil man ( yes I know he's a cute boy ), and daddy's girl.

Some good info. I was schooled on another forum, which is great, that oil pump posted above is not high vol. I'll need to exchange that. I ordered a turbo pump, but guess what, wrong again. So I'll be ordering a KA24DE pump. As for the build, here's some goodies all cleaned up, and ready for paint. yes I plan to rebuild the original 4spd. It's all about the datsun experience. arrival of the achilles heal - ebay member shorted me a few, but is sending me another full pack. ( vandervell rods, clevite main. ) cough cough round tops have made its way into the build !!! Balance tube will be shaved and welded. Carbs will be rebuilt to compliment the engine. extras I received With the block and VC prepped at work I decided to tackle some stuff at home. 4 stages Rattle can enamel.

your welcome. Everything has been throughly cleaned. This machine shop is pretty on point. It's washed, beaded, washed again, and the air-blow the parts. I've yet to find media in anything they've done for us in the past. I do thank you for the heads up, it has happened before on a trans build I did some 9yrs ago. Keeping the impossible possible, put the respect/care back into perspective. one can save this knowledge for L31 build. Appreciated.

HAHAHA Thanks Duff. I love them at this age and younger. My 12yr old....driving me up the wall w/ boy talk. Thanks Bruce. I figured if I'm going to spend the same amount of time transferring pics from my iphone, I might as well use the same time and effort but w/ my DSLR ( rebel t3i ). If you have one, may I suggest some simple tips? pick a setting your comfortable with, ambient daylight is good - direct sunlight is not needed for things like this; and snap away. These were taken on a semi auto setting w/ flash cancel.

freeze plugs. - note do not buy this kit, can be ordered cheaper at your local parts store. When I bought my timing kit these were in it..... should have checked this part # 1st. set back #1 2.8L Rings.... ummm could have sworn I asked them for 2.6L! Grrr These will be going back for sure. Turbo Oil pump to keep oil psi up, I drive aggressive-ish so might come in handy, while I attack fwy on ramps pistons and rods cleaned up as well and of course I had to snap some pics of my pit crew ( 2of 3 ), they wouldn't have it any other way.

so I had sent my block out to my friends shop to get hot tanked and cleaned, I guess he's a stickler for properly maintaing the fluids, because all my parts came back dingy. EHHHH! GRRR! Some may say that's what you get for being cheap, but I assure you I wasn't. My intensions were good; to support a friends. Should have went with my first instinct. So in the right hands, and some media blast later WALLLLLAHHH! my old tattered spray bar that's now in a better place Block and crank return while waiting for the head to come back ( apparently it has a bent valve so I will order one up ) I ordered the basics. Timing Components Gasket Kit

I'm new to Datsuns, but I've seen something similar on Hondas. Usually it's a main relay. Especially if all the timing components are good/new/within spec. Please don't lash me for thinking out loud. Hope it helps, if not at least one less thing to worry about.

HAHAHA Thanks for the heads up Ross. Thanks RC. Sounds good to me!! It's a bummer surely but add one new part to the car and it's one less to go ! Sorry to hear that genuinely though. Bleeding brakes can sometimes be a PITA. Especially on AUDI, those cars are PILES IMO. I'll do my best Hud. Thanks. I'll post some more later tonight hopefully.

Thanks! I will definitely be hot tanking this block, head, oil pan, valve cover on top of getting the internals cleaned, crank polished etc. as for the headwork, I will be cleaning casting flaws / smoothening passages. Not going for an all out powerhouse, just a revised and refreshed L26. I know it's vital but for what I'm doing it'll suffice. I want to know what it meant to own an L26 260Z, understand it's essence, hence the reason I did not go for an L28 or overbore. All the fancy headwork will come later when I build a stroker using the L28 that was included with purchase of the car. as for Larry, I've tracked him down months ago hahaha. I started hunting for spray bars when I realized mine was in pcs. I actually tracked him down by searching this forum, got my spray bar ordered up already.

The building never ends. The more I stare at this machine the more extravagant I wish to be. A quick reality check, and back to earth, I press-on with the fundamentals. While the block is out for cleaning I decided I'd be sending the flywheel to be lightened and resurfaced, some before pics. Not into researching a performance clutch kit right now. Just stay within the realm of wholesome is what I'm after. letting my boys in on some L6 lovin - poppin freeze plugs sometimes when a man is lonely he gets a lil bit hone-y! 1st pass I ended up doing10fwd 10rev passes. Fly being sent out for resurface & lightening adding these to the parts to be cleaned pile; w/ the others seen above

Sounds good to me!

Hey RC, I live a few hours south, in fontana/pomona. There's a few Z's that have popped up and disappeared around here, can't wait to get mine on the road. This will be my daily driver. Will do JR thanks for checking it out.

I'm guessing a timing event. Only 1 & 6 seemed to have any sort of contact marks. I'll be having the head checked for bent valves. Pretty much honda/acura that's our speciality. I am co-owner of this lil mom & pop shop, it's owned by myself and 3 of my best friends, so it's approved .

paused for a brief moment to inspect cylinders before I continued disassembly. bearings cast away like my dreams fancy crank pose replaced the mains. I Plan to send the block out to get hot tanked, and prep mentally, physically, financially for a rebuild.

So with the bearings in good shape, I was in high hopes this would be easy, with just a gasket swap. So I pulled the head off. Quiet the carb build up. Front engine components removed - a lot of sludge, not bad for 30/40yrs of being on the road I guess. It was at this point, when removing carbon from the piston tops I realized, with my OCD I'd be digging a ditch. Yearning for a piece of mind would only mean one thing. REBUILD IT ALL. Houston we have contact. Piston to valve clearance was diminished for a moment in time. while I thought it out, I'd continue on to strip the block. I knew a proper rebuild would now be mandatory.

yes, I'm working on my powerpoint presentation. I'll explain pros, cons, efficiency, and benefit. but patience they will come. I've read the flats are great for top end, since I've only experienced driving round tops, I'm intent on recreating that drive that fueled this fire. As for the cam issue, I think the previous owner new something was up, but he still was forced to continue driving the car. The cam will be removed and sent out to get cleaned, inspected, and polished.

Oil pan off, I began removing rod caps to check the bearings. I only have 5 pics but all the bearings looked good; this might be an actual running engine I said to myself. So I was content on just reinstalling them and torquing them a few ft.lbs extra. All I'd need now is a HG and re-assemble. Of course the conservative way out. How could I explain anything less to the mrs.

Back to business, Just snapping some photos of components and condition of the longblock was in when I bought it. Due to time being of the essence, at least that is what I once though, I began to tear it down so I could inspect it asap and plan the next course of action. 1stly ripped off these flat tops next the N36 Manifolds, which I later sold with those items out of the way, next was the exh. manifold. Remember I mentioned earlier the honda guy thing, it did not hot me conceptually until teardown that the exh. and intake were on the same side. #mindblown smog equipment? BWHAHAHA I scorn thee More misc. goods I'm not sure I will reuse, also removed. They will be handy templates if I do not reuse them. Then it was time to take the pan off. If the bearings are/were good I'd just do a bearing slap and install the engine in my car. somewhere along the timeline I decided to remove the VC. Amongst all the sludge of poor maintenance I heard a hollow part drop...Hmmmm? that's what it was. A pc. of the oil spray bar

Sorry Zed, secret society.

HAHAHA. Well that's good news, because thats the book I ordered. Thank you, nothing to grand but it's going to do the trick hopefully when it's said and done. I definitely think rebuilding it myself is my core motivator for my datsun and I can't wait to get it done. Already feels good to know I'm in the right direction, because I do have that manual you both suggested.

Hey Guys my names Joel. I've been on the forum for a few months, browsing and reading a lot. Skimming topics. I've barely scratched the surface on what I wish to learn and things I need to learn, but all in all, tons of good info. around here. Cool stuff in the archive I can't wait to apply to my Datsun as things progress. Clearly I'm a bit reserved posting my personal things but I do document nearly everything. One day I might make an interesting thread; one day. For now I just wanted to share with you all a little bit and maybe inspire someone as I've been inspired. This will be a log covering my first engine rebuild ever. You see, I decided when I bought my Datsun to avoid as many setbacks as possible due to outsourcing, that I'd try to do as much as I could by myself or under watch of a pro. Buying a non-running Z made my step easy and 1st priority....building a reliable heart. So from scrap to key-on here we go!!!! Just a lil background. I bought my Z and it came with a L28 ( uninstalled ). Engine on a stand, with some quick pre-lim inspections I realized the motor was seized. "No Biggy" I thought to myself, because before I even bought the car I knew a 3.1L build was in the future and that would be the core. I set out on CL to find a replacement but the running engines were scarce and all seemed to be in norcal. The rest just had a sketchy w/ parts or rebuild w/ no receipts caption. I'll pass on those. Anyway, I ended up finding a local L26 w/ some extras for $140 I later when on to sell some spare parts for it netting me a positive $20. It was advertised as running, which I didn't believe that for a sec. but I figured at that price it was worth a gamble to me. Either way I needed an engine and I was prepared to rebuild an engine regardless of who I bought it from. Ready to get this thing underway and see where I stood, I hauled my newly found L26 down to our shop where my buddies and I wrench on Hondas to start my inspection. Off loaded and ready for teardown. I've read a lot of people suggesting to begin with this book so I ordered one up.

Looking good sir.

Welcome Luke. As Carl said, one drive = hooked for life! Welcome to the amazing journey.

I just seen Les over the wknd; bought some goodies for my Datsun. Being a newb to the community from what I see; Busy shop, tons of great goodies! Give him time he'll get back to you. Just leave a clear detailed message.