My winter project: L28 swap into my 240z

[gundee]

I see you have the Nissan single groove crank pulley as well. Nice.

I have one myself.

[Patcon]

You picked a hard part to drill. That is spring steel, wouldn't have been my first choice, most people mount to the sub-frame. The install looks good though

[blodi]

That looks great!

I get ten days off after tomorrow. Hope to get mine installed and driveable during the break.

Good luck! I wish I had my trans...i'd have this thing fired up too most likely by New Years. But shouldn't be much longer after that.

 

I see you have the Nissan single groove crank pulley as well. Nice.

I have one myself.

Yeah! I actually ordered a Performance Products version, only to realize later that there was already the Nisaan comp one on the engine. Bonus!

 

You picked a hard part to drill. That is spring steel, wouldn't have been my first choice, most people mount to the sub-frame. The install looks good though

Yes, yes I did. It was the ideal location for the fuel line routing and for the factory fuel pump wire hook up. But man, I didn't realize how hard that would be to drill through. I didn't want to put any holes through the subframe at all and try to figure out if I could get nut on the back of the attachements or worry about introducing a possible spot for rust to start since the whole underbody is rust-proofed.

[blodi]

Not much progress here...still waiting on my trans (detailed in the other thread)....and a couple other small parts for the manifold waterlines. I did install MSA's poly steering coupler though the other night. Then I looked down at my steering rack bushings and decided there is no better time than now to replace/upgrade them to poly. So I ordered those, stainless brake lines...and a JDM horn pad for good measure   Hoping to get the bushings in this weekend. I also want to open up the ports on the intake manifold and header a bit to match the new head. The intake ports have been opened up about ~3mm by my measurement. 

IMG_5861 by blodi, on Flickr

IMG_5862 by blodi, on Flickr

[blodi]

Been making a little progress on some stuff while I am still waiting to get my trans back. Installed poly steering rack bushings and cleaned up the whole rack. Then I opened up and cleaned up the intake manifold and header ports a bit to match the enlarged head ports. 

Hopefully getting my trans back this week...will install engine/trans then this weekend or next most likely. 

IMG_5975 by blodi, on Flickr

IMG_5970 by blodi, on Flickr

IMG_5974 by blodi, on Flickr

Soon!........

IMG_5976 by blodi, on Flickr

 

 

[blodi]

Finally got my trans back after taking forever to figure out the comp synchros. I expect to make big progress over the next week or so. 

 

 

[blodi]

Well,  a lot of progress this weekend but one major hangup...can't get it fired up...need suggestions on that. 

But, got the engine/trans/everything in! No major hiccups with installing everything. Went in smoothly. Had a few friends stop by throughout the day that gave a helping hand. 

We did it all on Saturday...about 6 hours of work. Finally we got the car down off the stands...pushed to towards the front of the garage and tried to fired it up...it wasn't even trying to fire. I looked at the dizzy and realized the timing was off for some reason. When I pulled the dizzy off the old engine, I just undid the two bottom bolts so that the timing would stay exactly where it was.  We called it a night as we were exhausted. I did a bit of research that night and realized the rotor was pointing in the right position with the engine at TDC...but for some reason, my plug wires needed to be all rotated one spot clockwise. My old engine must have had the timing shaft in the wrong spot and had the wires moved to compensate. Anyways, I got the plug wires put into the correct position and the car does now try to fire up with full choke and full throttle. But, still won't run on its own. So...it either still a bit of a timing issue, which I've tried moving the timing around to and it really only wants to try to fire with a decent amount of advance in it. Or, it could be a fuel issue. The new pump is working and filling up the filter, I can smell gas and even see a bit in the carb after all that cranking. I am getting spark, I pulled a plug and checked that. 

I think I'm going to check the float levels again and timing see if that yields anything. Other than that....what do you guys suggest?

 

Pics...

IMG_6103 by blodi, on Flickr

IMG_6102 by blodi, on Flickr

IMG_6083 by blodi, on Flickr

IMG_6104 by blodi, on Flickr

IMG_6100 by blodi, on Flickr

IMG_6101 by blodi, on Flickr

IMG_6086 by blodi, on Flickr

IMG_6087 by blodi, on Flickr

2016-02-22 (1) by blodi, on Flickr

IMG_6092 by blodi, on Flickr

2016-02-22 by blodi, on Flickr

IMG_6093 by blodi, on Flickr

2016-02-22 (2) by blodi, on Flickr

Edited February 22, 2016 by blodi

[siteunseen]

It's hard to follow but the #1 plug wire looks like it is at the backside of the cap?  It should be behind the radiator.

You say you had to go one spot clockwise, which would put it at the top.

[blodi]

The pics were before I rotated them clockwise. The #1 was going to the #5 position (just below the coil wire in my photo.) Now it looks like your photo. I could take a new pic to confirm.

EDIT:

Here is a photo from the cap in the old engine so you can see the #1 is going to lower spot...But, I just noticed in your photo how the the cap clip is between 1/5 and on mine its directly lined up to the #1 spot...odd...maybe I have a screwy distributor cap?  Which one would I need...looks like there are 3 different ones for 240/280 on MSA's site. 

Also FWIW, I have a pertronix ignition. 

IMG_5286 by blodi, on Flickr

Edited February 22, 2016 by blodi

[siteunseen]

I'm sorry but I know absolutely nothing about Petronix stuff.

The OE 240 caps are the smallest, 280s are a little bigger and the ZX is the biggest. They're not interchangeable as far as I know. If you have a Petronix dizzy wouldn't it have it's own specific cap? I know mine are all "keyed" to the distributors with a thick space on one side of the cap so you can't install backwards.

Hopefully someone familiar with your ignition can help?

Your car looks fantastic by the way. I'm really anxious to hear how that motor runs.

[blodi]

The pertronix doesn't use any different cap...same ol cap. I did replace the cap/rotor last summer just to have a fresh set on there...they must have gotten me an odd ball one..and I know I tossed the old one...wish I hadn't now. I ordered up a new 240 and 280 cap...even though I probably just need the 240...but just want to make sure. Hopefully it will be here in a couple days. I'm dying to hear this thing run too!

[Zed Head]

One way to set initial timing is to put the damper timing mark on about 10 degrees BTDC compression stroke, make sure the rotor is pointed at #1, then rotate the distributor to where the Pertronix trigger is triggering.  I think that might actually be the Pertronix instructions for initial installation.  That way you have the three important things all coordinated, for ~ 10 degrees static timing.

Actually, it looks like Pertronix instructions are pretty vague.  Might be Crane or one of the other guys.  Anyway, it should work.  

Don't forget that, apparently, the Pertronix units will burn up if the key is left on.

http://static.summitracing.com/global/images/instructions/pnx%20ignitor%20i%20tests.pdf

Edited February 22, 2016 by Zed Head