1978 Datsun 280Z

At the weekend I managed to sell the (new) but crude Twice Pipes system I had for pretty much what I bought it for.



And so today after hanging around forever for the DHL guy, a large box from Osaka, Japan turned up.







Oh yes! I remember now, I had ordered something.



Somewhere in there was this lot.









<3 TIG-welded stainless

and holy cow on a stick, this is a micro-tig weld. Robots?



That sits on top of the backbox, like so.



Photos don't do it justice, it is a modern work of art. I can't explain how happy and relieved I am it didn't get damaged during shipping. An update on the car coming tonight, it's looking pretty naked!

I have been busy as a bee stripping out the loom and reading the Service Manual like a fiend, it's funny how much you can learn just by doing that. As such I've made the decision to do away completely with the stock manifold and go down a ITB (Independent Throttle Bodies) route with a full EFI system using Megasquirt. I'd like to do away with the dizzy and use EDIS coilpack system - or potentially COPS (Coil on plugs) depending on budget and how the project progresses.

I'm also going to start making a point of making my posts more user friendly and share some of the accumulated knowledge I've built up over the past couple of years playing with these cars - I'm not saying it's gospel, but it helps. While I would like to just 'get on with it' it seems more fun to try and document it was well as possible.

Anyhow. As it stands, the car is almost completely stripped of parts, only the engine and box are left. This is so I can take it to be media blasted and start the welding.





So, without further ado, the state of the Datsun at present.



The interior minus dash, steering column, pedal box, fresh air vents (which oddly don't seem in anyway to be connected to fresh air), pretty much everything. Much of the non-engine loom is resting in the passenger footwell.



Dash loom safe and sound ready for cleaning and for me to strip out the JECO clock and associated wiring on the dash loom. These old Datsuns have a wonderful tick-tock clock that runs constantly, it also has a pesky habit of draining the battery when the car is left parked up for a week or so (usually if there is a bad earth), and in an effort to save weight...who needs a car clock when you have a watch or phone.



Which takes us to the windscreen wiper cubby. There wasn't anywhere near as much rust as I was expecting here, just some hazel nuts and leaves. I am looking to replace the wider motor with a Honda Accord/Civic unit, this will speed up the wiper considerably - it's totally inadequate in heavy rain) but it will lose me the 'wiper park' function. Still I figure a bit of rain-X on the screen in conjunction with this should make the car more suited as a daily driver. The alternative to using the Honda motor might be to use a citroen AX (single) unit which is just a single wiper, and obviously lighter than having a dual wiper linkage. Just a bit hard to find one over here.

Onto the engine.



Here is a rather lovely L28 Unit. I believe it is the original engine, I haven't checked the VIn stamp to see if it matches to the chassis yet. I have removed the AC system totally - it's gone to a good home, as well as the Master Brake Cylinder, Clutch, Intake and all the EFI garbage that was for emissions controls. The head is an N47 head which is good stock unit to make nice power without much work. Infact cleaned up and running megasquirt nicely on ITBS I'm not expecting to have to do very much to the engine for it to get close to 185-190hp. With all the weight removed, new header/exhaust working as a system and some degreasing action (possibly replacing the lash pads) I am hoping it'll be a bit happier and freer breathing. I will get it dynoed at the end. Looking a little empty in that engine bay.





^^ The head stamp.

The head with the valve cover off



Valve cover



Cap - sadly not the awesome wee elephant one, but I like it





These valve covers came in a whole miriad of different lettering font, size and content with some covers being 'more desirable' than others to certain engine pimps, I like mine just as it is, this car is to be functional, reliable and awesome, not a chromed engine bay.

The cam lobes have me a tiny bit worried, I'm not ultra familiar with how to 'check' cam tolerances, and there does seem to be some wear on the lobes, if anyone has a good pointer to some articles to check this I'd appreciate it. I've got a feeling that this engine may have (at one point) either been a bit oil starved, given how ridiculously clean the head was, or have worn lash pads/incorrect sized lash pads.









It's running an 'A' stamped cam which I can;t seem to find any info about on HybridZ - although I'm sure its in the FSM, I'm not looking to replace it (maybe in the future?), mearly get the engine running.



And the timing gear - this I may replace with an adjustable one to get the timing spot on.



Lastly more suspension pornography from T3 appeared in the post.

It's a Fujitsubo ewokracing check out RHDJapan.com and see if there is something available for your needs, search by chassis code.

I'll let you know how the wiper upgrade goes, and yeah, driving the Datsun in the rain was like wishing for death.

L28 Powah.



After taking the cylinder head bolts off in the right order - as per the full service manual, and loosening the camshaft towers AND by nothing short of a miracle, getting the cam pulley off without taking the crank pulley off or pulling the timing cover (magicians hands), I was left with this lot.



Bolts were bagged and numbered as I good them out, same as the cam towers. Contrary to what I thought originally, this lot is in mint condition, it's barely even broken in, the lobes on the cam are nigh on perfect, the head is in 'like new' condition but for a bit of carbon, and it can only be on it's second head gasket (it's an after market Felpro), so I'm guessing the milage is the original milage, 72000 miles. Brilliant!

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The honing on the cylinder wall is like it left the factory, like glass, I actually laughed hysterically for a bit, I couldn't quite believe just what good nick this block and head are in, they're dirty, but mint!

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The cross-hatching doesn't show up well but it's there, and it's excellent. Granted, there's alot of carbon build up, but judging by the state of the gunked up throttle body, this thing was running rich anyway, one of the injectors was also leaking. The block has even maintained its factory blue colour. Something I am going to replace in here (all the gaskets, and the cam pulley - nice shiny fully adjustable Tomei one is on its way) are the lash pads



As you can see, they are worn, as the rocker arms obviously spent billions of times hitting the wee things, and they each wear slightly differently. So as a matter of course I am going to replace them all back to OE spec which should help reduce any knocking as well as tighten things up. I am still weighing up if I will replace the rocker arms with gram-matched ones too, it's a fair chunk of change.





For anyone who wasn't sure what a lashpad was, it's the small circle above that has the trough cut through it. It sits atop the valve on the stem and collets and is what the rocker arm pushes down on when the camlobe moves the rocker arm. Like I say, they're a little worn likely as a result of the valves not being periodically adjusted.

The whole point of removing the head was to

1. Check condition and 2. Make getting the engine out easier.

Condition checked it's on to engine removal. The ceiling in my garage is very low, so long that getting an engine crane in to get the engine out is a faff, and I needed the engine to be as 'short' as possible to be able to get it out. Short to the point that I returned the leveller I'd bought as it was too tall to be able to get the engine out in the space I had, lacking the chains that come with a leveller. The stock seatbelts entered a bit of surgery.





Spotted some dull round objects hiding



$4.10. Profit.

I was pretty chuffed! Not only had the worthless seatbelts given up their lives to become engine cradle...but I am $4.10 richer. Well happy.



That'll do . All set to lift tomorrow.



Now., how to move the shell to the blasting place? A free pallet found round the back of the Beer Store, a walk to Home Depot for some castors, and some 2x4" from the garden (my Canadian friends are insistent that it is a 'yard' and I have no place calling it a garden) to shore it up.

And a very small sneak preview of future things to come.



These were snagged from an R34...any guesses on where the project is going? and no...I'm not dropping an RB lump in there.



and these are the highest quality ZG flares you can find, I was not happy with the fit of the ones I bought from MSA, the were warped and I imagine the mold is too. So a browse of RHDJapan and a two week wait Marugen Shokai ZG flares. Thanks Japan

If anyone missed the Import Monster posts I made in reply to scousers thread in the general forum...if you combine the trumpets with the ITBS and manifold in the previous post, and the header and exhaust above you get an idea of the direction the engine is going in . And people used to comment on this thread! So many gawkers with no-one telling me if I'm batshit or genius....sad and lonely times!

Thanks Rob!

I was going to send you a PM actually suggesting when you do get around to working on the shed, to track down a 280ZX engine, the parts for the L28 are FAR FAR easier to come by than the 240's L24 with many many more options of after market parts to spares like headgaskets, pistons, seals etc. . It'd be so much cheaper in the long run even if it does mean a change in engine size to 2800cc.

There are many more shiny parts...but they're tucked away until after I'm back from out West for a proper 'engine build' update

keep up the good work! here's a pic of a ZG to inspire you-

Looking forward to seeing the blasting results!


I have a JECO clock in my car. It's so loud you can hear it at idle! And it doesn't keep time anyway..