Gav240z

What engine do you have in your car currently mellow? The www.ztherapy.com website will tell you all the about how good the SU's are. The flat tops are no good from a performance point of view. http://www.geocities.com/zgarage2001/engine.html will tell you all about what mods you will need to make your Z go faster. The water manifold on the intake is to allow the engine to warm faster and was part of the emission regulations especially in the US. it's no big deal if there not connected but will improve warm up time. Hope that helps you. You should also try using the search feature under the forums tab you can find alot of this kinda stuff already discussed previously.

Do you know Zpeed he's a member on this board he was looking for a good Z project but I think he gave up on Z's for now apparently he bought a Sprinter. You could message him and tell him that Gavin said when he's finished with that silly Sprinter and wants a real car he can have yours . If your reading Nathan I'm just kidding the Sprinter is an O.K car but it's still no Z .

The whining noise could be the differential also there is a reason for them making that noise. When I was at Zworx the guy who does the Z31 Turbo half shaft conversion into the S30's told me he knew how to eliminate that noise. Apparently some holden diff Guru knew the solution to fix that noise and he was gonna do the Z31 half shaft conversion for me until I got broke . Still something I'd like to fix in future. If the gearbox is making excessive noise it could be the bearings have worn out.:disappoin .

Ok so now I'm aware of two types of caliper, S12 and S12W. The S12W sounds good and I'd need vented rotors from an 84 300zx do they come on any other 300zx(Z31) ? Is it hard to get a hold of parts to rebuild these calipers? Do you go through toyota as I'd like to rebuild anything I'll be placing on my Z. Only problem is I don't know what model the S12W comes on in the Australian market. :classic:

They are made to work because they are made by the same company as the Z brake calipers were. So they will just bolt on from the litreture I've read, I forget why you need the spacers though. I'd be interested if this was in Australia and I nearly have 1000 posts . However after my headgasket issue I don't have any money or Z . I've also been put off this conversion because of unsprung weight. How much more do these weigh over the stock ones? However the more I drive my Z daily the more I realise the brakes are not very good. By MC do you mean Master Cylinder if so what larger MC can you use? Is there antoher model datsun with a bigger one than the Z is it physically bigger or just better at pumping the fluid?

No problem I have been looking to do a turbo set up with my L28 I have already aquired a P90 head and F54 block . There's alot of Nissan parts out there but finding the correct ones for the job is the tricky bit. Ben is right I had forgotten that the L20A(Meaning L20 6 Cylinder). Had come in the C210 Skylines, what engine head did they have Ben? From what I know the ZX turbo had a different intake manifold and distributor to the stock L28E. At the moment though I don't have the funds to do the turbo set up I would like. Even a basic set up is gonna be too expensive at this stage. I'm looking at building a NA motor with the P90 head that should get good results and be a bit more reliable. There's alot for me to still learn and I've been into these cars a few years, I find Ben is very good with turbo information he's building a beast of an engine. Is it done Ben? Just ask us and we'll gladly help you out.

Yeah the turbo oil pump is great gives good oil pressure. My 260z gave low oil pressure should have tested it externally I guess but the engine felt pretty ordinary after a while. I thikn it was getting tired.

For what it's worth, I don't think $1195 is a good price. Based on what you've stated I think the L20 is not a great engine for turbo charging. It was never designed for it unlike the L28's. It's smaller capacity and I hope the parts on there are turbo parts. What I mean is the manifold is the ZX turbo manifold, the distributor airflow meter are ZX turbo ones. Are you buying it just for parts? If you are try offer a bit less. The best way to check a turbo is to check for play in the shaft. It will be hard to determine internal damage but one good way to see if the engine was running right would be to remove the turbo and see if the carbon is dark black to pale brown.' If it's pale brown the engines been running too lean(not good). if it's a darkish brown could be alright. Ben what's your thoughts?

Point taken I miss driving the Z .

The NGK's are cheap anyway how much money could you save on cheaper ones? Just curious really?:classic:

I hope you guys are wrong on this one. As for a can of hope might be good as a tempory solution but not permanent enough for me. I have the spare P90 and F54 block I think I'll be building a new engine I have a friend with a wicked setup that I wanted to build anyway now's my chance I guess. I won't give up on this engine just yet and I haven't really lost any water at all. Hmmm I just haven't got time yet to pull it apart what I shame I really wanna know the answer .

Yeah unfortunately my compression tester is busted and have to buy another. I have end of semester tests/exams coming up in the next 2 weeks so thinking about leaving it for my 2 week break. The car runs like normal but the smoke(blue) was only coming from the intake when trying to start after the initial break down. So far I've been able to start it like normal with the choke out and do get a watery spray from the exhaust. You could be right Steve as the noise I heard was one of those not good ones. I guess I'm really eger to know what went wrong but have to wait. Will keep you guys posted on the progress and thank you all for your input. The only real other dilemna was I was gonna use the P90 head for turboing the car at a later stage. To get the turbo set up happening I'm looking at more money than I have . I don't mind having the car off the road but I'm still planning to be a student for at least 2 years and possibly even longer if I choose to keep going further after that. (Should have become a doctor) . The current E88 F54 setup was great and I liked the way it drove Just not sure what to do with it. I guess first step is to do a compression test and pull the head go from there. Will keep you all posted.

Yeah pinging is quite a distinguishable noise you'll hear it going up hill in a tall gear as lance says. It's similar to the noise you hear when your about to stall the car.

Keep in mind if you go through the glove box and you own a 240z as you say you'll no doubt have the Cardboard Glove box and removing without damaging that is much harder than removing the heater control cluster in my opinion. Also you will have to remove the glove box door and there a bitch to align again. I hear some guys say you have to do it with the dash out of the car. Go through the heater .

It could be the timing but I also believe the gasket is gone due to the white smokey water out the exhaust. I will pull the plugs tonight and buy a compression tester soon to check. I also ruled out the valves when it started later and was quiet as before.

Exactly along the lines I was thinking just the monetary factor at the moment but thinking of going without a car for a few months while I save money and build this new engine. Because I have the spare P90 and block I was thinking of building the motor I had always wanted that a friend of mine built. However the E88 head I'm sure has plenty of potential and I don't see any reason that it's restricted in any sense from being as good as the P90 now that it has the bigger valves and port work done. It should blow good and have the advantage of no emission controls in it's design. The p90 I would like to build is the same as Brian Littles one at Zgarage. However what will I do with the old L28 E88 combo? Oh well time will tell I guess.

This is why I posted this . I heard a noise which to me sounded like some form of bang. I then was sure I could hear it again and again like a valve had broken into the cylinder and was getting wacked around by the piston. It's hard to recall exactly as 100 things were going through my mind. I felt the engine die and smoke belowed out the front of the car. White/Blue smoke which I later determined as coming from the intake area. It took a while to get her running again I cranked and cranked and cranked let go of the key about to give up and as I did it was as if the engine decided to start and blew out more blue smoke through the intake, I pulled the air box and played with the carbs a bit noticed that when I pulled the piston up in the carbie it almost dies but that could be because the tune was out. But this was the front carbie and where I suspect she's blown a gasket. Had constant trouble getting it to rev and would die when any throttle was applied. I had no tools on me so I couldn't pull anything apart yet. I have noticed a pool of water out the exhaust on 1 side only as the dual pipe seperates first 3 and last 3 cylinders it indicated that one of the cylinders had blown the gasket. My theory thus far is that it's possible the timing has gone funny and possibly run the engine backwards is this possible? Not sure if this caused the engine to blow the gasket or not was driving ok before. Could start again later and when i returned a few hours later to tow her home I fired her up with the choke and it seemed ok. I did manage to rev it up to 3500-4000 rpm but for some reason the engine will just stop like cut out. I have to do more diagnosis but I am confused to say the least. I think I should also mention that the engine oil was clean and the coolant looked fine and still fairly full mind you I didn't run the engine long. I also had very good oil pressure still but this would only indicate that the bottom end bearings were still good I guess. Also water tempreture seemed fine just below halfway as it usually is. I just hope it's not a combination of problems here.:disappoin

Sorry to hear that well I hope you make the right decision I understand how you feel I just blew the head gasket on my Z haven't been driving it hard just one of those things. I have to borrow my mum's car a Tarago of all things but i can live on public transport. How about a Nissan Pulsar as a daily driver? I might get my girlfriend one and my sister they both need cars . There pretty cheap too and lots of them around I think there good cars but you might not have that kinda budget I know i don't if I did I would myself .

After all that effort I'm curious why this is the one your selling. From someone who had a straight shell and sold it for a daily driver I would like to offer my experience which is please consider what your doing here. I sold my shell and still regret it my current Z is great although i just blew a head gasket today . What happened to the mirage?

Ok well this week I didn't drive my Z because I was gonna do work on it but having a need to use my car on Sunday i took it out and was being nice to it. So anyway I'm in traffic and trying to change lanes when i hear a bang. I see a bit of smoke and the engine stalls, great I think try to start her nothing crank crank crank she comes to life but I try to accelerate and it dies again. At first I thought a valve had given up but I managed to get it down a side street and start it up again at idle. Idles ok not great ok dies if you rev or try and move. Would not start then blows a heap of blue smoke through the intake. But it's running called a mate with a Z we have no idea I can't hear a valve making any noise. Sounds normal apart from a bit of miss here and there. Anyway later I discover water from the exhaust and a small puddle behind the car. Great head gasket but why the backfire through the carbs and the smoke. I put it down to poor tune and knocking from the high compression engine and electrical timing not quite right. So that sorted out I've been meaning to replace the valve stem seals for a while and since I'm taking the head off now's the time. But I'm thinking I should really rebuild the entire engine or build the L28 P90 I dunno if I can afford a turbo setup yet would be nice. I can try stuffing about with an L24 that hasn't run in 2 years ran ok before. But it's alot of mucking about and I only have a electronic distributor mapped to the L28's cam. If I go to the effort of rebuilding the head of the one in their already an e88 with a bit of engine work, 280zx valves, cam , port and polish etc.. I would like a bigger cam.. Hmm starting to feel a bit lost now the other alternative is to just replace the head gasket but hate the burning oil. Any suggestions? Guess I'll have to pull the engine head then sort things from there will keep you guys up to date .