2014 - The Year of the great Zed Rebuild

[rick240]

So, I've owned my 72 240z (HLS30 40871) since June of 1980. It was painted in '84, '89 and '98 with a couple of rebuilds and a used engine put into it along the way.

This year was the year for its biggest ever transformation.

Started with the body job in May, and September is the month for engine and drivetrain

The car was painted Maserati Grigio Argento in 1998, and it looked great



...but back in February, one of the young lads that rent the house where I rent the garage parked his truck in front of the garage, couldn't stop on the ice, hit the garge door, and went through and damaged my hood



So rather than try to match and then repaint in a few years (it was after all a 16 year old paint job), I decided to do the full body job; so it became Mercedes Iridium Silver



The neat additions on the body job are:

• carbon fiber bumpers from MSA
• clear and black front turn signals from Klearz
• stealth marker lights from MSA
• black mirrors from BRE

Engine discussion next

[siteunseen]

Looks really good!

[Blue]

Both are great colours! Nice taste.

[rick240]

Then started the process of engine and drivetrain rebuild - glad I did it this year as I discovered that new parts are getting harder to find.

So I started my search for a 81-83 5 speed (wanting the close ratio), and in the process learned that I would also really want a 3.90 differential. Pondered R180 vs R200 and ultimately decided that a Subaru R180 with the 3.90 CLSD was the choice, so that got added to the search list.

I spent a lot of time here, on Hybridz, and other sites trying to figure out what engine I would want. In the end I decided it would be a normally aspirated P90/F54 combo with oversized flat-top pistons; so those got added to the search list.

Details of the hunt in the next post...

[rick240]

So the first thing I found was a differential (back in May).

An R180 with a 3.90 CLSD out of a 2004 Subaru Imprezza STi with about 30,000km (19,000mi) from JDM Nagoya.

Add on stub axles from Wolf Creek, new seals and gaskets and all assembled at Jim Karst's (aka. zKars, you'll see his name a lot in this process - thanks Jim) garage.

It will finally be getting installed tonight

[rick240]

Next thing I found was the P90.

Then to start sourcing all new parts for it. Every part in the head is brand new, all of them OEM except:

• valves, they are stainless from Si Valves
• cam, I found a DLPE mild street cam; Krista Potter was selling of the final stock of what Don had made this spring; the cam is designed to give improved fuel mileage and a steady powerband between 1500 and 5500
• valve guides, even though I sourced OEM valve guides my machine shop insisted on building their own precision liners

Most of the parts came from Courtesy Nissan, although a few were from the local Nissan dealer and the last ones came from Partsouq.com in Dubai (if you've never used them you should check them out - great prices on OEM parts and fast shipping).

The rockers, although OEM, also have the Wolf Creek cryo treatment.

Machine work and valve assembly were done a D&W Custom Engines - great work.

[rick240]

Then I found my F54 - and locally too

Trying to find .040 oversize flat-tops was next to impossible, I looked everywhere. I finally managed to find a set of ITMs from Ryley at Lynchburg Nissan. Based on suggestions from here and hybridz I didn't use the ITM rings but managed to find a set of OEM ones, from you guessed it - Partsouq.

Machine work was again done at D&W, including balancing the crank and piston installation using Clevite77 bearings.

D&W also resurfaced the '84 Maxima flywheel I found.

D&W was concerned about the head clearance with the pistons protruding .025 from the block and my proposed Felpro head gasket. So I contacted Cometic to get a .051 MLS head gasket.

After retrieving the head and block from D&W, final engine assembly was again done at Jim's (zKars).

[siteunseen]

Is the Maxima flywheel a 225mm, or something better? Just curious.

[rick240]

Is the Maxima flywheel a 225mm, or something better? Just curious.

It's 225mm, which I felt was adequate for an essentially stock motor. I got a CenterforceII clutch to mate to it.

The benefit of the Maxima flywheel is that it is lighter than the z-car flywheels.

[siteunseen]

The benefit of the Maxima flywheel is that it is lighter than the z-car flywheels.

OK, learned something new today. Thanks

[rick240]

Next issue - carburation.

Almost 20 years ago I switched to a Holley 390cfm 4-barrel using the Arizona zCar manifold. I never really got it running perfectly.

The initial install entailed modifying the stock mechanical linkage to be a pull instead of a push. Four years ago I swapped to a cable that was supposed to make this smoother, etc., etc. I then departed on a cross country 50th birthday trip; the cable was too close to the valve cover and i experienced horrible cable ceasing and accelerator pedal bending/breaking

I changed the fuel delivery and cable again and that finally got that part smooth. But still not totally optimized. Then this spring I started to experience fuel delivery issues as the valve in the float bowl stuck. This resulted in fuel pouring into the barrels, overflowing onto the intaking manifold and then down onto the header

So I decided to go back to SUs, and ordered a set from zTherapy.

But I wanted to stick with the cable so that brought me to a thread on this site. A few PMs later and Chris (aka. grannyknot) was sending me his clean balance tube, Lokar cable and h-frame support.



I painted my fuel rail white, and powder coated the valve cover gun-metal grey. They all look awesome on the engine.



I also added the air horns from zGarage - sweet



That extra frame you see in the image is something Jim built to hold my cold air intake housing, something from Unique Z Products. Still have to route the piping to an air cleaner in front of the rad (another of tonight's projects).



I didn't end up using Chris' h-frame to attach the cable. We were concerned that it would get too close to the header. So Jim built an adapter to attach to the bottom of the air cleaner housing as close to the front of the car as possible.

[rick240]

Oh yeah, almost forgot the transmission. I actually found it before i found the head.

A 1982 5-speed (the coveted close ratio); I got it rebuilt with new syncros and also needed a new reverse idler gear. This work was done by Dan at zShop.ca.

[rick240]

So, Thursday night was finish putting the engine together, do initial valve clearance adjustments, and run it for 10 minutes. Everything went swimmingly

Then it was on to old differential removal. Not easy with the wheels on (lost lock nut key), but not impossible.



Last night was install the new diff project time. Getting the bracket with urethane bushing (the front strap replacement) to fit in a series 1 car was the toughest part - but we got done by 10pm.

This morning was final fluids, tighten bolts, final adjustments, etc. etc. as well as installing the cold air intake piping - pretty happy with how that turned out.



and then drive away at 2pm - the new engine is so tight, and having a 3.90 rear-end is awesome I can hardly wait til the break-in period is over.

A couple last shots of the new engine





And then ready to park after the first drive...



PS. The installation process of these last two weeks would not have been possible without the incredible efforts of Jim (zKars) - thanks so much.

[zKars]

My favorite part (always) is when they drive away smiling from ear to ear, or maybe when I listen to the sweet exhaust note fading into the distance, with their foot in it 'cause they can't resist... Glad to help you keep the dream alive.

[grannyknot]

Rick, it looks great! Your cable holder is much better than the one I hobbled together. Congrats.
Chris

[rossiz]

beautiful!

such a nice job - better avoid puddles on the way home to keep that baby clean!

[rick240]

Rick, it looks great! Your cable holder is much better than the one I hobbled together. Congrats.
Chris

Thanks, it's Jim's design - I can't take credit. He has fun fabricating (like the cold air intake box frame).

If the 2016 convention ends up in Toronto, maybe you'll see a bunch of Calgary cars - including Jim's and mine

[Patcon]

I would love to see some dyno numbers or some idea of what the engine makes. By the way, love those Euro taillights...
Charles

[rick240]

I would love to see some dyno numbers or some idea of what the engine makes. By the way, love those Euro taillights...
Charles

There's a lot of stroker 3.1s with triple Mikuni or Webers and big cams that would make much higher dyno numbers, as it's really just a slightly bored out stock engine. But it's new, with all new parts, tight and stronger than anything I've had - so i am very happy

The Euro taillights are also from Klearz

[Patcon]

Still love em. Seems like the way they should all be...
C

[2sixTZombii]

Wow, what a nice clean Z! That looks like it would just be a nice tight car to drive. Something, kinda rare for z cars, alot look nice but have ratty interiors, filthy engine bays, strange noises, don't get me wrong, I love my loud, scary, dirty Z, but its been heavily abused like most Zs, this car just looks well taken care of. BTW what front spoiler do you run? Looks good.

[rick240]

Wow, what a nice clean Z! That looks like it would just be a nice tight car to drive. Something, kinda rare for z cars, alot look nice but have ratty interiors, filthy engine bays, strange noises, don't get me wrong, I love my loud, scary, dirty Z, but its been heavily abused like most Zs, this car just looks well taken care of. BTW what front spoiler do you run? Looks good.

Thanks - but over the 34 I've owned it, this one has scene a bit of abuse and made more than its share of noises.

I bought that air dam 30 years ago, can't remember details - sorry.

[duffman]

Got the same cold air intake arrangement (sorry, cut off the front end in the pic!), works well down here in the hot southwest!! Looks great, Rick!