zmanoside

I just received emails this morning from the previous owner. Attached is info on the block that was put in by Eiji. Block number L28 614069. On the paper it says "Tims block" this was the dudes name that owned the block previously before Eiji bought it and sold it to Kelvin. This is not the same block that is in the car currently. I just looked. The block number for the car that is sitting in my garage is L28 641027....

How much for the purple shag shipped to 92081?

And I wanted to thank everyone on here for helping me identify the problems within this ordeal. I really do appreciate all of your experience and thoughts throughout this process. Im just stoked it got fixed within a reasonable amount of time and it didn't cost an arm and a leg. Thanks again for your help. --Zach

Oh I plan on enjoying the hell out of her. Taking her to a show first weekend of June!

now I have to admit my past with sports cars. I am cursed with them. Every single sports car I have ever bought something miserable happens shortly after I buy them, always within the first month. Brand new 2006 WRX, burglarized 1989 Maserati Biturbo, wrecked 2005 WRX STi, alternator shot on way home from dealership on day I bought it stranded on freeway for 3 hours 108 degrees outside. 2005 WRX STi #2 hit in rear quarter panel while parked, 6000$ in damage, hit and run. so on and so fourth....and I have owned many different sports cars all with horror stories after I bought them. I should be used to it by now. I've also owner a few trucks, never had a problem with them.

Glad I can be of some entertainment

Just got off the phone with the previous owner. Sounds like there is bad blood between him and Hosomi, but I think I got to the bottom of the mystery, kinda. To make a long story short, kelvin had a high compression build on the car E88 head with cam on a L24 block. The L24 block failed him. He shipped the car to hosomi, from what I gather hosomi sold him this F54 block that I have now that caused too high of compression with the E88 head with cam. This caused DETONATION. Kelvin shipped the car back to hosomi and hosomi put a metal head gasket in? And shipped it back. He told kelvin the blowby was normal. Kelvin didn't like how the car was running and bought a rebuilt P79 head from Zcar source Arizona...ran out of money and sold the car to me. Yay! Kelvin said he will send me receipts and emails to prove this correspondence between him and hosomi. Kelvin swears up and down he didn't touch the block after hosomi built it. The Pistons in there are the ones that hosomi put in, and they're not ITM as he says. To be honest I'm over it. The car is mine. Nothing is going to be done about any of this anyways. I ate the 1300$ that it cost to put new Pistons in it and I'm fine with that. I just hope that like someone else said, it's not too sloppy inside the cylinders after multiple honing done.

I texted the previous owner all of the pics of the Pistons along with me telling him that I spoke with hosomi on the phone and that there wasn't ITM Pistons in there. No response...

It would have been only a 3 day turn around if the shop owner knew how to use the Internet! The Pistons he originally ordered were dished Pistons. I had to get online for him and order them and have them shipped which took an additional 4 days. It was miserable for me though. I had sinus surgery and it got infected post op which sucked. I had to pick up the car with the worst headache I've ever had in my life!!!

And I was wrong. The mechanic said he absolutely checked the bore size, it is standard he said. He also said that thing would sound like $^!# if It wasn't!

Ya I drove it an hour home from the shop at 60mph on the freeway. Also just got back from picking up my son at school with it and had 4 people literally yell out of their car in traffic to tell me how sweet the car is. Runs perfect. Sounds great. No smoke. I don't hear any unusual sounds. Idles very smooth.

I don't know if he checked bore size. He probably didn't. I told him the previous owner had standard bore 86mm Pistons in it and that's what I ordered and that's what he put in. But now that I'm finding out after the fact that and the car is already back together and in my garage that the Pistons that we took out aren't the Pistons that Hosomi put in it would have made sense to check the bore on it....too late now... I guess I'll be big time SOL if the whole thing happens all over again and I'll have to get the RB25det early......and my wife will be SUPER PISSED. I'll call the mechanic that did the work and see if he measured bore size before he honed.

Ok, well just got off the phone with Eiji Hosomi. He confirmed that ITM Pistons were used when he built the bottom end. ITM Pistons were not in the car when I bought it. In the eBay ad, it clearly states "Engine block builder, Eiji Hosomi" so I'm obviously upset. Someone is lying here. The good thing is, as mad as I am about this, it doesn't bother me as much as it should. I got the car for a ridiculous price. Even with the money spent on labor and parts to get this fixed the car is worth almost 2x what I paid for it. Now if I paid a lot more money than I did when I bought it then I might pursue getting reimbursed from the seller..At this point it's not worth it. However, I did text the seller with ALL of the info uncovered.....The car is fixed, ITM Pistons are singing nicely in it. Here are more pics of the Pistons and broken skirts. Yes, the skirts were broken on the same side on each piston. I don't know what marks to look for, but the break in these are about as identical as you could get as you can see.

Wow, give that man a cigar! Well I'm going to call Mr. Hosomi tomorrow and get more details from him. I will text him the pictures of the Pistons and see what he says. The car is back together and in my garage. The Pistons that were installed into my car today were ITM Pistons. I'll clean up the broken Pistons and take more detailed pictures of them and the pieces of skirts that I have in the morning. I'm going to take my son for a leisurely drive down the coast with her in the morning. He's 4 and is IN LOVE with dads "race car". He is just as excited to have the car back in the garage as I am and I need to get another 450 break in miles on her... I'll post up pics in the AM.

I probably did mean ITM. I knew it was IT something...I looked at Datsun spirit website and saw a picture of there flat top Pistons they have for sale. The is a mark on top of the piston that say STD. This same mark is on each of the Pistons I have in the box.

Hosomi said they were ITB pistons

The skirts weren't cracked they were straight sheared off of 3 of the Pistons. The mechanic said he's been working on Datsuns for 40 years and never seen anything like it

Yes sir I understand that. The clutch assembly fits inside the transmission bell housing correct? I didn't know if the clutch, flywheel is different sized for either trans, i.e. Didn't know if it would fit in the bell housing the same...I have searched a lot and can't seem to find compatible years that the maxima 5 speed will work for the Z car...to answer the other question. The 4 speed trans is pretty...terrible..If I can pick up a 5 speed trans for dirt cheap that will soothe my irritability with this sloppy 4 speed I think it's worth it

Hey guys. So, I have the stock 4 speed in my '70z and it needs to go. I want to go the cheapest route possible for a 5 speed because I plan to to a RB25 engine and trans swap next year. I just found a 1980 maxima 5 speed on Craigslist for 350 OBO. And he keeps reposting. I could probably pick it up for 200 bucks. From what I read these are a direct bolt on? The only thing I need to do is cut out some metal to make room for the 5th gear throw is what I gather? Also, excuse my ignorance here, but can my clutch from and flywheel from the 4 speed be used with this 5speed or is that completely different? Thanks in advance.--Z

Previous owner sent me specs on his order with Eiji. 86mm flat top Pistons. Maybe he wanted Eiji to do the work because he's familiar with datsuns. That's the first thing I did when I knew that I didn't want to do it myself, I wanted a Datsun mechanic to do the work. The previous owner has been nothing but honest on every single thing from the beginning with this car and at this point I have absolutely zero reasons to not believe what he is telling me.

Will do. I called the mechanic today just to ask him not to throw the Pistons away and that I wanted them.....he says, oh ya, the Pistons I ordered are not the flat top Pistons you wanted, I can't find them anywhere, so, you get me some Pistons and I'll put them in for you.....so I got online and ordered some standard size 81-83 flat tops from zcar source of Arizona. The gent, Jeff that helped me on the phone was awesome and they will ship the Pistons to the shop, should be there Monday.....which takes me to, what is the PROPER way to break these new Pistons in guys...I have an hour drive home on the freeway...to do 65mph in this car will take me to around 35/3600 rpm...hopefully that is not too much for them...do I just need to stay below 5k? Or...

There is a small gap, very small, between the piston and the cylinder wall, but made bigger with a broken ring. The gap is probably bigger when the car is cold too. The broken ring fragments get wedged in between the the piston and the cylinder wall until it falls down below into the depths of the oil pan? It's probably more likely forced down through that gap on combustion. Just trying to answer your question with my limited knowledge of internals! I think I must be close to right!

Well so the mechanic called back. I discussed with him about making sure things were in spec and he pretty much said the head looks to be in flawless shape and he doesn't think anything above could have caused what he found. He said in his opinion it was one of two things: improper break in, someone hot roded it shortly after install or it was cheap cheap Pistons that were used. I dunno. I just told him to get er done. For everything it's gonna cost me a g to have her back on the road with new pistons. If she breaks again the engine will be ripped out with force and thrown in the dumpster to make way for the RB power plant Also, wanted to add, I just spoke with Eiji Hosomi from Datsun Spirit. What a stand up guy. In no way was I looking for compensation on his part for any of this, but he still offered to send a complete set of used "but in really good shape" pistons and rods for free for me to use in the process. He had no idea why this happened, he was actually speechless. He said this is unheard of. So, all I can do is wish for the best.