Gav240z

http://zhome.com/History/432Z.htm I knew there was something Japanese about them :classic: . Zhome is a good resource for this kind of stuff.

Anyone know how to get a killer shine from your L series Engine? I've seen many great looking engine bays with polished up mirror like SU carbs and Valve covers that make me very jealous. Alot of people talk about using different grades of sand paper to get these that way but I'm not 100% on the procedure so i'm wondering what advice and things I can do to get a great shine from my engine. I have a spare set of British SU's I can practice on so I'm not fussed too much about making them look bad if something doesn't work out. I ask because I'm looking at a very sexy set for sale and considering buying. :classic:

Thanks Daniel I understand what your saying I will still give my ball joints a quick pump or two. Bambi is right about both situations being in AUS genuine Z parts are a bit expensive as we got less Z's here and I could have got the cheapies but I wanna build this car right and not have to replace parts again 6 months later because I skimped out and spent $40 less on each side. It's just not worth the hassle for me I find it difficult enough to get time to work on my baby . I would really like to spend more but if I'm not studying I'm at work if I'm not at work I'm relaxing oh well soon it will be over and I'll get a fulltime job :classic: . Probably won't get more time to work on the car one of life's wonderful things.

I use mine daily but to be 100% honest I'd rather not. It's reliable been driving it a year with nothing too major wrong some things required replacement but they were parts that have been in service for 20 odd years or more. The choke is not a problem if it's set up correctly. The problem is the centre consoles crack and then the choke isn't properly engadged. I do not have to warm my car up really but I do nancy her till she get's warm. Other annoyances are the car park at Uni has 5 levels and if I'm late I sometimes have to park on the top floor with the open roof and the sun rain etc.. all have there go at my car. (I hate this). I have alot of things to do to my car before I can be confident in the way it drives. Engine mounts , gearbox mounts, oil leaks. THe other thing is tuning the SU carbs they come out of adjustment all the time. I purchases a Unisyn recently to get it into tune but I plan on getting it on a dyno to set up fuel delivery etc.. once that's done i should be able to adjust them myself (hopefully). At the end of the day George is right you appreciate the car more when you drive it on special occassions but I do admit I still smile when i drive it everyday. I think it's the fact that my car is built for the pleasure of driving I haven't had a decent stereo in a year and truth be told I only sometimes miss it (usually when i'm in traffic).:classic:

240z I was gonna ask the same question. However I removed these on my 240z with no problems. The problem was nobody could supply me with the lower A arm bushings to install and this was on my Roadworthy list. I ended up just replacing the rubber circular item that goes over the pin and between the nut and washer. He didn't even know that I didn't replace them and I sure as hell wasn't gonna do it given that a RW check must be done again in 7 days. I did attempt to remove these at a junk yard once and out of the 4 I didn't get more than 1 out. I guess I was just lucky I lubed them back up to install them again. Try using the nut over the end as ben mentioned and give a good whack with a heavy hammer try not to damage it however and u did remove the pin halfway at the bottom didn't u?

http://www.classiczcars.com/photopost/showphoto.php?photo=284 This is a original Gnose with a nice front spoiler it's gotta be my favorite Fairlady Z I love the Wantanabe wheels. :classic:

Not a problem the topic of which head is best is a hot debate in the Z car world. You'll get many opinions but generally most agree the P90 head flows best. I have a friend with an N42 head on his turbo L28 he's getting 200+ kw at the rear wheels so it just proves that there all capable of big numbers with money. Cheers.

I tend to agree with Alan and believe that the original Gnose looks the best. From what he's told me and I've seen personally the original was of very good quality and I refuse to put a gnose on my car unless it's the original factory style 5 piece. I've seen alot of Z's here in Aus running around with fibreglass copies and there just not as good. check out www.geocities.com/spized1969/ for a look at what the real deal looks like. Or see Alan's gallery for the full ZG kit. I have a few in my gallery also that I believe are of factory standard. Of course your more than welcome to buy it just wouldn't want you to pay good money for something you won't be happy with :classic: .

If this is correct looks like I'll be getting one as a daily driver I've always wanted one but prefer the early Z's. I don't know about TT as they are gonna be a packet to maintain but a non-turbo would be a great car for everyday use. I have a friend at Uni who manged to get one for 8k and I haven't been over however it's pretty clean etc.. not sure about it's condition mechanically and I haven't had a look at the underbody for evidence of an accident but it sure looks nice on the outside.

Thanks Brett I was trying to answer questions where I wasn't 100% sure but looks as though I was nearly correct which is good :classic: . I have an early E88 on my car currently and I am pretty happy with it because there supposed to be almost indentical to the early E31's which had the high compression and good non emission controlled design that the later 260z especially heads had. The E31 is a great head once you mod it a bit it suffers from small valves and ports but my engine has had the larger ZX valves installed and been ported etc.. to suit the L28 bottom end. I would use my P90 for an N/A application but I would rather save it for a later Turbo project. It's a bit of an Um and ah decision to turbo my Z but the way I'm going I'll probably own 2 Z's again (Note I said again :classic: .) I currently only have 1 however and the spare engine isn't really in my way in the garage. I suggest TexasZ that if you really want to learn about the L-Engine you have a read of the site posted above and go through a book called "How To modify your L engine" forgot exact title and don't have book with me but it talks about the things you can do to the L engine heads and I for one haven't read the whole thing just bits and pieces. I've seen many different heads used for turbo Z applications even the E88 has been used with good results. I know of one Z putting out around 500HP with an E88 on it. What it really comes down to is budget. This owner decided to go with the E88 because he could get away with no emission controls in his state in the US if he had of used the P90 he would have to comply with the rules of that year of engine. Anyway I'll leave it there if you have any more questions I can answer by all means ask. :classic:

Alot of people don't actually want to change the head because they feel Nissan did alot of research on getting it right. You could increase the size of the exhaust ports give them a polish etc.. but the main problem is it's difficult to get the higher compression ratio as it was designed the be a low compression engine for the turbo. I'm hoping my P90 wasn't shaved to raise compression and that only the pistons were changed but even so it would only result in about 8:1 compression which I would believe as my high comp E88 feels alot different very torquey nice to rev. Anyway I'm not an expert on the science of Engine heads still a learner hopefully someone else can chime in and give you a bit more detail on the subject.:classic:

When I was gonna attempt this I was planning on getting a rotissorie can't spell it. You know what I'm on about :classic: .

From what I gather the P90(I have one aswell) is the best engine head in terms of the way the combustion chamber is designed and it flows the best. This is because it was the Turbo head apparently I've heard the P79 head is identical but the non turbo head. The P90A is the oddball because of the Hydraulic lifters that bleed and become useless because finding replacement through Nissan is near impossible especially here in AUS as we never got a Turbo ZX. The reason we recommend the N42 F54 combo is budget. Basically you can mod most of the L series heads and get great results but it all comes down to how much you spend on the head. The P90 is the best for turbo but it's hard to get higher compression without spending the big $$$. :classic:

hahahahahahahha well I've never had to grease nipples before. Touch , grab, fondle you name it but grease well never. It's a new concept to me but I think I've got the hang of it. Just don't suck on them and I should be right unless I like the taste of grease. :tapemouth

Basically the best way to get good compression from factory parts is to use the F54 engine block and the N42 head it gives you 10:1 compression roughly and you get the bigger valves and ports etc.. There is an engine calculator on this website under the download section if you can't find it I'll email it to you. My car is running early E88 head off a 72 240z and F54 block get's 10:1 compression and has had a mild cam installed with ZX valves etc.. It goes pretty well in tune previous owner claims it had over 200HP but he was running tripple mikuni's I'm planning on setting up mine on the SU's and having the car get onto a dyno at a fuel systems place to get it running just right. At the moment I get detonation on premium depending on if I open it up WOT and I try to avoid driving it in such a way that it will ping. Until i get her adjusted properly carbies wise anyway I believe it's running too lean. Anyway an electronic dizzy does wonders to the way the car drives trust me it's bliss. TexasZ if you don't run premium you will get pre-ignition as TKR mentioned which is basically when the spark is fired before the piston reaches TDC or just after. To get a car to fire on TDC is very hard btw, anyway this causes the car to basically work against itself and loose power not to mention it will destroy the pistons and could even put a hole in them. If anything I've said is incorrect don't hesitate to correct me guys. :classic:

I looked through your gallery looks like your doing a great job on her. I hope to do the same justice to mine one day but at the moment I need to be able to drive mine so it's not practical. When i finish my schooling I'll get a run around I saw your Mirage :classic: I had a corolla for the same purpose but it was costing too much. You won't believe how much better a Z is to drive once she's finished. Keep up the good work and it will all come together one day.

Thanks for pointing that out and thanks for the advice on parts. I feel going authentic OEM is the best solution in most cases. Let's face it they were made for the car and they have the best quality as far as I'm concerned paying a bit extra will not bother me if it means buying something that will last. I think that's half the problems with cars is that replacement parts that are used by some people are just not up to scratch. To me it's like buying a fake Rolex watch and a real one. Sure they look the same hell they do the same thing and even if the original is overpriced it's because of the cheap imitations and the fact that it has a reputation for making good quality products. END RANT . Cheers