Zedyone_kenobi

Well I managed to get most of the work done. The entire engine is unhooked. Motormount bolts removed, and exhaust taken out. I think I will use this opportunity to replace my old header. It has always had a bad height difference compared to my manifold. And I have thoroughly HATED my smog ports since day one. So my next set will NOT have a set of smog ports. So far the list of parts to be replaced is growing. And the to be cleaned table is also getting filled.

Well had to take a brake from car stuff for a couple of days, just found out that my wife and I are expecting for the second time! :laugh: We are 7.5 weeks in and we have an ultrasound of a lima bean! HA HA So I am thrilled. Back to the less important topic of Datsun Z cars! Made some headway last night. I disconnected the starter and all the water lines from the passenger side of the engine, after making diagrams of where the wires go and bagging and tagging all the bolts. Then I removed the slave cylinder and just left it dangling. Next up was the distributor wiring, and then the carb fuel rail and the three webers. I managed to lose one of the springs for the carbs so I am going to order some replacements today. Next up is the O2 sensor and the driveshaft, and intake manifold. After that, just mounts and pull that bad boy. THIS IS CRAZY FUN! And now for the mystery. I found this on the floor after working on the passenger side of the engine. I am not sure what it is. It looks like a shim of some kind. Possibly from the slave cylinder? I do not really remember seeing it. Any ideas? IF you have any ideas that would be great. So the pull continues. I need to order some anciliaries today. New cap and rotor, new spark plugs, etc. After I get the engine out, I will have to start sanding and painting the engine bay. I mean you sort of have to do that when you have the engine out. I think it is a Datsun Law or something.

This is just freaking nuts. You sir are my new hero. Your attention to detail is epic. And your patience is being rewarded with every single part you assemble.

Okay we got down to business last night. I got the car up on jack stands and drained all the fluids. Then I drained the radiator, followed immediately by cussing and mopping up all the fluid that I completely overshot my bucket. 20 minutes of sweet smelling mopping later, I took pulled the radiator, and removed the alternator. Prior to doing all of this I took detailed photos and made drawings on the white board in the garage of where everything went. Naturally many sandwich baggies were used to collect parts, and a new bolt purchase list has been started to replace worn and tired looking nuts and bolts. But on to the pics! Before I removed anything: As she sits now: Old radiator. Debating if I should get it fixed or just source a new shiny aluminum one from MSA. The "to be cleaned" parts counter:

Well increasing the choke size will also decrease your throttle response. While the volume of air is unchanged, with a larger choke the air is moving slower through the intake. This effects fuel atomization and I would think transition from progression to main circuit. I currently run 30mm chokes in my webers, and plan to use those when I bolt them up to my L28 N42 head. If I start running out of juice at the high end, I will make appropriate corrections. I have a wide band, so if I start richening up at the top end, I know I have reached a flow limit. I personally think it will be fine. I would rather have throttle response over max HP.

You know blue, it is just scary how you knew I was fighting with this just 2 hours ago. I was going to go get some spacers at the hardware store to do just this. Update. Hood is off today and I am getting ready to get her up on jack stands. WAAAY up on jackstands. Pics to follow. I will get those pics of the wooden block and I will take some measurements for you Captain.

Well do not go by what I said verbatim. What he actually said was Datsun racing colors. I may have mistyped BRE in there to the fact that I am a BRE fanboy. HAHA But I love that magazine cover!

That is how Eiji does all his motors. He tells me that it is his tribute to the BRE racing colors for DATSUN. red/white/blue I am debating on if I will leave it on or put on my polished valve cover.

The engine has landed. Now the real fun begins. But before I do, I have many pictures to take and vids to make. I would really like to document this and dedicate it all to my dad who passed away this year. Pics for posterity:

Good luck keep us posted buddy

well that is a great picture, since I will be painting mine when I pull the engine soon. now I know exactly what to paint!

What is that key looking thing on the nose on the drivers side? Is that an arming switch for an alarm?

It looks just like yours buddy. Same exact part. You chose the more adult OEM finish with the blasting and it looks spot on perfect. I was far more lazy and just hit it with some aluminum polish and called it a day... You should be very proud of your work, it looks great!!! But like you, now that I have built one, think I could do it much better this time around. We always learn on our first attempt.

I will check that out, I have that issue sitting on my desk at home. I have not read that part yet. Curious to know Brocks take on it.

You know I love that car! Just amazing. But looking at the front end, I though the front of the radiator bracket was painted black from the factory. So when you look into the front grill, it was all black? Did that start with a later model year maybe, or was this car painted before.

That is a brilliant idea Jeff!

That is getting drained my friend. With the engine oil and radiator as well. Plan to keep the whole system empty. the only thing I am not sure of is how high off the ground does the car need to be to pull the engine/tranny as a unit.

Here is the same fuel rail used on my car. From the same manufacturer. I had to hook up one of those cheap holley fuel pressure regulators on the passenger firewall. Mine is dead headed, but both ends of the fuel rail are tapped just in case I want to run a return line. I have the rail drilled and tapped for a pressure regulator at the back.

The next chapter in this saga continues, as the engine is on a pallet set to arrive tomorrow! I went to northern tools and picked up a 2 ton hydraulic hoist which has a large reach. I will assemble that tonight after everybody goes to sleep. I think it is time to get the car up on jack stands and start unbolting things. The OEM L24 has been a great engine, does not smoke, and has run strong for 71000 miles. IT will be pulled and stored in a climate controlled storage unit until its services are needed again. I have decided to pull the engine/transmission together. I will remove the radiator and engine accessories first. Then look into getting it boiled out and cleaned. OR just replace it with a new 3 core aluminum one. NOt sure which I will do. I have time to decide I guess. Definitely do not want my new engine running hot.

Fantastic! Just fantastic... I bought that same 6 AN stock you did, (really great price, huh!). Stuff is VERY nice. Also, run some aluminum polish on it and it will shine like sparkling new chrome.

I can totally respect that, and in your defense some of the greatest cars ever were born from thinking waaay out side the box.

We can agree to disagree then LeonV. The fact that the Prototypes were built for an existing race with existing rules puts them in a whole other league than a technology demonstrator built to no rules at all. My point stands. Looks like we will just not see eye to eye on this one. That is okay by me. If everybody agreed on everything it would be a rather boring world.

Well we all have our biases. I have have mine for sure. No getting around that. I would not call my views narrow minded as much as I would call them realistic. Nothing I said was inaccurate. It may not be welcomed, but I am use to that. I do not embrace something different for the sake of being different. And I do not give credit unless it is earned. The DeltaWing did not prove anything to me. Yes, extremely light cars are easier on tires and fuel than cars that weight a lot. This is not news worthy. The only comment I made you can really translate to ANY car is the fact that all race cars are rolling sales pitches. Yes, that is completely true. I am sorry if you think that is narrow mined LeonV. But my biases are my own, cultivated over 39 years on this planet, forged from experiences and life lessons. Not something I can change overnight. I tend to wear down like a rock with water flowing over it. It just takes time. The Deltawing is what it is. A car in search of a place to race. Lapping at LeMans was very clever marketing. Clever enough for somebody to invent a series for it to race in. Time will tell.

I admire you for that. Your willingness to accept new things far exceeds mine. I am more resistant to change for the sake of change. My last comment is this. They built an amazing piece of engineering. Yes. I agree. But I would disagree to calling them solutions. In order for it to be a solution, there must first be a problem. What problems were they addressing (surely not efficiency)? There is nothing wrong with Cars as they are today. They built something out of the box for sure, but without a common metric to weigh it against, its performance is just a data point. Why wouldn't a 500kilo car with 300 HP be fast? They could have put more power or sure, but then the fuel economy they were bragging about would suffer. As far as the weight goes, where else would you put the weight? The weight bias in back was a necessity of the trike design to make it able to corner without picking up a rear wheel in the slightest corner under braking. I think the car has some cool attributes, but lets call it what it is. A rolling sales pitch. I would rather see Nissan take the fight to Audi with a full on LMP1 car, OR, bulid the deltawing to LMP rules and destroy Audi.

I understand the comments guys, well put. But to me green technology and racing do not go hand in hand. Or rather they should not. Green racing cars should be kept to green races. LeMans greatly benefits from improved efficiency, and that could be an advantage, but it is about outright speed and endurance. I understand it was an innovative car, but its efficiency is a meaningless metric when it runs in a class of one. If made to run in a actual class with the same rules as everybody else it would not fare so well. 1300 lbs with fuel is crazy light, and while that is noteworthy, not having to stick to any rules what so ever makes it little more of an exercise in material selection and design. Being fast and outside of the rules is quite a bit easier than being fast and staying within the rules. Trying to improve fuel efficiency of race cars to save gas for the environment is completely emotionally driven, and not at all realistic. Race cars use up a trivial amount of fuel. Further when race series become an exercise on who can get better mileage it starts to become boring. At least in shorter style races it does. At LeMans, fuel efficiency is a very important metric as you all know, but more so is speed. Thus the Audi Juggernaut with its diesels. Audi did not sacrifice speed for efficiency. They worked within the existing rules and made a blisteringly fast and fuel efficient car. The delta wing is a car in search of a race. A car built that right now nobody wants. The only people saying it is the future of racing are the inventors of the Delta wing. Saying people care about it because it is a green car is also a bit of a stretch. Most racing enthusiasts I know really could not care a bit about the fuel efficiency of a race car. They want speed. If the delta wing gets accepted, it will be in a spec race (like you mentioned it was designed for) against other delta wings. It will not be chosen because it is faster. I hate to sound contrary and argumentative, so please do not take it that way. While I can appreciate the work it took to make, what I see is a neat marketing toy vying for acceptance in a world that did not ask for it to begin with from people who are trying to make a lot of money building cars. It the answer to a question nobody was asking. The solution to a problem that did not exist. But, at the end of the day anything can be raced and can be entertaining. Speed is relative. Do people want to watch a bunch of delta wings in a spec race? Well they watch a bunch of miata's, a bunch of Sprint Cup cars, a bunch of Diesel Jettas, so why not. This to me is just another company looking to cash in on the 'green' marketing monster to make a buck.