Ed

Agreed. Depending on how much sludge accumulation you have it's better to leave it alone. I made the mistake once (emphasis on the once) of trying to clean some of the sludge on an old Dodge I had. It was atleast 1/16" thick in some places of the valve cover. I scraped as much as I could. I even thought about using those "engine flush" products. I was carefull not to leave any pieces laying around but it was all for not. A couple of weeks later while taking my girls to the Zoo the engine oil pressure light came on. Then the valves started to chatter. To make a long messy story a little shorter, a little piece of sludge the size of a pencil eraser had made it's way into the oil pump and siezed it. The oil pump drive shaft snapped. When I was able to reach into the oil pan I pulled handfulls of sludge, in solid and semi solid form out of there. A true pain in the A$$! If the sludge is just a bit of discoloration on the engine components you can try using a high detergent oil. Start saving and buying parts for a rebuild is probably the best thing you can do besides leaving it alone.

Well, someone bought the image of the Virgin Mary on a grilled cheese sandwich a couple of months ago.

I just laid my front bumper on the ground and it layed flat. One side was up by maybe 1/2 an inch but I pressed on it and the bumper looked like it was touching along it's entire length. You should check your bumper mounts and your grill. Judging by the way the grill doesn't follow the lines of the hood it may just be that. There are two holes at the bottom center of the grill support. Try raising the center see if that helps.

Just curious as to which oil filters will work on the L series engine. I use a Fram PH8.

If your using an impact wrench leave the peening alone. It will come right off. If you dremmel the nut then you will distroy it and you will have to get a replacement (good luck). You can also use a small punch and knock the peening out to relieve some pressure. On mine it had some type of thread lock stuff in the threads. Not sure if it came from the factory with some kind of thread lock.

Yea! :classic: what he said.

Like already mentioned. Take the head and the block and have them checked to make sure both mating surfaces are flat. Also have the head pressure tested. You might have a crack that is unnoticeable. Tell the shop your taking this to that you have a coolant leak and that your blowing steam. If both check out o.k. then reassemble using a new gasket. Inspect the threaded holes in the block and make sure that the bolts go in all the way and that there is no binding to cause a false torque reading.

Gary, What is wrong with the turbo 280 ZX? Is it just a bad, or missing turbo? I think that if you did do the N/A thing somewhere down the road you will want to upgrade. More horsepower. More, more, more. If you have everything except the turbo then I would say go turbo. Most people would have upgraded the turbo or replaced it by now anyway. You could sell your N/A stuff from your car and use it to finance your rebuild. The new turbo will cost some $$ but if you save your pennies now it won't be such a shock. Go to the HybridZ.org site and search their forums. They have sooooo much engine info you will be reading for days.

It sounds as if you bought it. I hope you did! Congrats thats a nice car. I expecially like the way he did the headlight covers without any trim. Enjoy!!!!

I need a bigger yard. But then again my wife would kill me if I had another parts car.

I recently received a timing cover gasket set from Victoria British, part # 53-702 manufactured by ROL gaskets (hecho in Mexico). While I'm fairly pleased with the overall set there is one problem. On the gasket that goes on the left side of the timing cover (if your standing in front of the car looking at the front of the engine) there is a hole in the gasket for one of the oil gallery's the one I'm talking about is the one that goes from the pump to the filter. This hole is cut in the wrong place it is off by about 1/4 of an inch or 2 mm. Now this will probably not affect engine performance too much but it will restrict oil flow. I took a sharp knife and cut the gasket to fit.

Awesome! Thanks Alan

I'm just guessing here but, from the prices that you were quoted I'd guess that those were OEM or original Nissan seals. There are aftermarket seals available for half that price. Which one is better? OEM more than likely, but the aftermarket ones are pretty good copies. Your going to get different oppinions on this. Some will say that the aftermarket ones are junk others will say they have had no problems with them. I think a lot depends on how good of a job you do putting them on your car.

Sport Z did a write up on this kit a few issues back. The flexible S/S line is designed to bolt directly to the caliper (that's why it's so long). Like you said make sure you route the lines properly so they do not rub against anything or get a knik when your steering lock to lock.

Welcome to the club. That 73 looks real nice. Take care of that rust ASAP! You don't want that going through the metal. As far as how long an L series engine lasts, I've only blown one . It was on the original L24 in my 73 and she broke an exhaust valve. The odo read 140k (don't know if that was really 140 or 240) and she burned about 1qt every 3k. Ed

That's a real nice looking car. Take your check book with you on Friday.

Well put Ben.

The push button latches can be dissassembled and cleaned. You should be able to restore them to perfect working condition. As far as the belt material, I hate to say "do a search" but there was a topic a while ago that had a link to a company that would take your old belts and replace them with new material. And if you want a retractable set from a 260 or 280 2+2. I'd say call some junk yards. Try Zcarsource . Good luck.

What's the difference between a thermal flasher and an electronic flasher?