4381821

everyone, thanks for the insight on this. I took apart 3 L heads this weekend and I discovered why my 260's original E88 head sounded so loud before I transplanted in the L28...the very first valve was bent! I have enough heads laying around to make something work. I'm kinda looking forward to getting some street idle back too. But now I need to investigate this lack of oil problem.

Thanks for the input, and sorry about the picture quality - my camera is next to worthless for anything close up and the colors are terrible, hence the black and white. I definitely plan on doing this right now. The head had to be corrected when I took it in, but they said the amount shaved wasn't an issue. Regarding overheating, the vehicle did overheat between the rebuild and current situation. Perhaps that is partially to blame as well. I wasn't entirely comfortable taking the head to this shop since it's not something they normally work on (ie. not a Ford or Chevy), but I had little choice since I had virtually no experience at that point.

Background Info: I have a '74 260Z that I transplanted the block and head from a '81 280ZX into a few years back. Regarding the head, I took a new ISKY stage II cam (with matching springs and lash pads) down to my local NAPA machine shop, and had them clean and rebuild it. They said the rockers were in good condition, and there was no reason to get new ones.. After the first 1 or 2K miles, my head started making alot of noise, so I thought I should check the valve clearances. Cold and hot everything was fine. Then it starts gettting really loud. So loud that I don't even want to drive the car anymore, so I think maybe there's a stuck valve. I was in the process of rebuilding a MN47 to replace my P90, and got to a point where I could remove the live head. When I did so, and took off the cam towers, the wear on the rockers jumped out at me. The pattern is really pronouced on the rear cylinders, and almost vanishes towards the front. The lobes on my cam near the back are very sharp, whereas they are more rounded at the front. I'm guessing the rockers and cam are trashed now. Ideas or suggestions?

I took my car to 2 shops for estimates, but have yet to receive anything 1 week later. I didn't tell the shops that I already got a quote from the insurance agency either, hoping to get some kind of honest opinion from them. 1 flat out never got back to me. The other has been OK with the service, but called the insurance co and found out I already got a quote from them. Apparently, they have to go off of that one. This seems like a bad deal to me. Talking over the repairs with those guys, they're not going to repaint my entire hood, rather blend across the whole thing - same with my door / fender. Infact, they weren't going to replace the fender, rather fix/fill it. Seems like I'm at a dead end here.

Well, my Z got smacked the other day when it was parked on the street. Luckily, the driver STOPPED and notified me. The damage isn't too bad, basically the driver side fender was hit from the front, and slid back into my door. So the fender and the headlight bucket need to be replaced, and my hood and door will need some paint. I went to the other guy's insurance for a claim, and they checked out my car in their garage. After doing an itemized report on the damages, they handed me a check for $2,200. The quoted part prices seemed pretty spot on, so I think it seems reasonable. Now, I also can drop the car off at any one of their approved body places, and say "fix it" and they will pay for it. I just have to give the shop the claim number, and even if the bill is higher for some reason, it will get covered. So I went by 2 of the most expensive and better known shops in town for a quote, and they were scratching their heads looking at my car because it's so old ('74). I'm waiting on a call from one, and have an appointment with another tomorrow. They seemed hesitant about the deal, saying that parts might be a really big problem for them. My main concern here is on the blending of paint, since my car doesn't have an exactly stock color and was repainted within the last 10 years, and how bad the blending will look. I'm leaning towards keeping the check, and getting the car in workable shape for now, with intent of stripping it out and doing a REAL paint job this summer. Reason I say that, is there are little rust bubbles under the paint on certain parts of the body now - corner on the passenger door, one on a rocker panel, and maybe another one or two. So I know that they need to be fixed already. Any suggestions or advice here?

I emailed courtesy with the details of my setup and they said this: "The highest tooth count we have is offered is 19, 18, 17, 16 no 21 though."

I thought the 720's may have had it, but the dealership was telling me those ones came in a sleeve of sorts, and had some funky setup that involved a bolt running through the side of them? they could only find a 20 then either... but I'll check on those other models, thanks!

I do have a ZX 5 speed in there, and I'm having a hard time locating that speedo gear. Apparently my nissan dealer can only find up to a 19 tooth, which in all fairness I understand since that was the highest they really came with. anyone know of a place to get these? The 21 tooth gear that is.

Hello, I had a u-joint go bad in the rear, so in the process of replacing all of them, I came across 2 ring & pinion sets (3.54 & 4.375) for an insanely cheap amount. (one was less than $10!) I finally just got everything back together last night, w/ the 4.375, and took it for a spin. What a difference jumping from my 260z's stock 3.38 made!!! Staying with the r180 over the r200 option also saved me a ton of $$$, since there are none to be found in a junkyard within a 400mile radius, and I'd have to do alot of buying/shipping. One question I do have is, when I had the car up on jack stands, it seemed that only one tire was spinning under load while the other kinda just hung out - not spinning as fast as the other. On the road, I don't feel anything wierd like this...so is this just something that happens with an open diff?

just a note of caution, The cam I put into my L28 motor with Mikuni 44's was an ISKY Stage II cam. Now the motor has to rev up past 2000 rpm before it can get any real power. Although this could be a product of my diff ration beeing stock still... Keep this in mind if you are going to drive it on the street. The stock cams are better suited for the stop and go action of the streets.

I purchased the MSA 2 1/2" aluminum exhaust package, that includes a dynomax turbo muffler, to go with their 6-1 header and I was VERY disappointed with it. Even on my L28 motor, it sounds terrible. The ricer-rony drone had me wanting to pull my hair out every time I hit the acceleration a bit. I ended up taking it to a local shop, and he cut out a chunk of the mid and welded me in a resonator, which took the "drone" noise out in 2-3500 rpm range. I would go even smaller next time with 2 1/4" and a resonator. The HP tradeoff ( negligible ), is worthwhile if you drive the car alot. But there's no way I'd put the stock system back on, since the cast iron header was cracked and worthless. I'd say the 2.5" system is easily 2-3X louder than stock.

well just a little update, the driveshaft did crap out on me at school. Trying to leave at 12AM, and thunk. Not a good thing to happen, but luckily for me it was at 5mph. I got a ride back to my place, got a jack and some bolts, and by 1:30 was back at home with it in the garage for a real fix. I could only find one bolt stub where it broke, don't know when or where the other ones went...

I just recently got my 260 started after a long engine transplant, and its engine revs great to 5.5K, runs smooth. However, when I get it on the road and up to around 45, it starts to feel like by back end is going to vibrate apart the faster I try to go. I have new suspension all around as well as bushings. I've had an alignment on the wheels too. I also have a new exhaust too, which I'm suspecting could be the cause, since it seems to clang and hit the mid section when the idle is low, but that stops after the engine is over 1K rpm. Is there something else I should suspect or look into? I did swap the transmission to a 81ZX 5spd on the same driveshaft from before. The diff is still the same orignal one too.

alright, that wasn't that hard. Now the header has PLENTY of room, not too mention my carbs actually fit in the bay. I'm exicted, I'm actually gonna get this thing done...soon

ok, I'm retarded. The two brackets are different indeed. I just need the weather to get above freezing so I can try and fix it!!!