Zed Head

Here's one spot. http://www.carpartsmanual.com/datsun/Z-1969-1978 You can @ people that you want to notify. @zed2. It doesn't always work though. I think if you do an @ but don't add a name it locks you out from any more @'s.

What year is your car? The 240Z's changed over the years, electrically.

Here's a link that seems to cover everything including a way to possibly get the wrong number. Looks like 108 mm is the number. Norm the 12 Second Dude was deep in to L series engines until he crashed his Z and sold it. http://www.zcar.com/forum/10-70-83-tech-discussion-forum/123994-stock-head-thickness.html

There is a dimension for the thickness of the head that you can measure. From top edge to bottom edge. 4" plus a little more if I remember right. I'll see if I can find it but somebody here might have it on the top of their head. You might just measure yours and post it, and somebody can verify, or even measure a head to compare. I have one in the garage. They're all the same across the years because the same cam timing gear, chain and sprockets, is used on all of them.

It does not seem you've done much at all besides, probably, turned some switches. It's not even clear that the engine runs or even that there's a battery in the car, and it's connected. No offense. You're new and all we have is the few words that you wrote. They don't tell much. I wouldn't want to travel all the way to your place just to find out the seller disconnected the battery to save it from discharging.

@sweatybetty is down that way.

I would check the control arm bushings also. Seems to fit your symptoms. The FSM is available in the site's download section. The picture is from the RA chapter. http://www.classiczcars.com/files/category/14-280zx/

C'est what?

Edit - apparently it is valve head diameter that you measure. It's not what I would want to know but it's what is done, apparently. So your valves are close to L28 size. Actually, it's hard to tell from the out edge measurements, which overlap the seat. I think that the number is actually the seat diameter. Where the flow happens. 1.74 and 1.375 are 44.196 and 34.925, so more likely 42 and 33, stock E88. A guess. Not large enough to be L28 though. I could be wrong. I forgot about the injector cutouts, so that's a consideration. I'd just get what's in there running well, drive the crap out of it and see if needs more of anything.

I just like looking at nice cars for sale. And people get on this forum all the time asking if the car that they're looking at is worth the money. So, big picture wise, my questions will probably help you make a sale. You didn't say why one picture shows a rectangular side mirror and one shows circular. I have those circular mirrors on my car, bought from MSA. Just wondering. If I wasn't asking, it would just be a silver 1975 car with nice paint, nice wheels, and early bumpers, and a lot of unknowns, for a relatively high price. Good luck!

People spend a lot of time, effort, and money to get the valves to stay open longer, via camshaft changes, for power increases. Chevrolet's performance engines used to come with 2.02" intake valves, over the normal 1.94" valves. That's like a 51 mm over a 49 mm valve. The 2.02"s had problems with cracking between the seats but Chevy kept using them. They mattered. I only know that because I had a Chevy engine back in high school and 2.02s were a big deal. You'll find all kinds of combinations and rationale for all of them. The basics of creating power don't change though. But, I actually backed off some of my power increasing efforts, via advancing timing, just to get back to nice solid dependable engine. Messing around is a lot of fun though. Measure the valves on your E88. It's fairly common for people to put the L28 valves in those heads. I think that one of them is already at L28 size. The MN47 valve info is out there somewhere.

Looks nice. Not to pick, but your picture from tomorrow shows a rectangular side mirror while the one in the first post has a round one. Just wondering. And you have a blue one in your avatar. More wonder. Is it the same one, with new silver paint?

Nice car. Any reason you can't put more info in your ad? Not much there. Is it an automatic? Good luck.

I don't know why it bothered me but it did. Isn't your second ring on upside down? I tried to find some pictures but so far I've just found a video on the Hastings web site. What happened to good old line drawings, everything has to be a video. Who knows maybe she's putting it on upside down or you're not using Hastings. Anyway.... https://www.hastingspistonrings.com/tech-tips-faqs/installation-of-compression-rings

That damper has had known issues for yeeeeeeaaaarrrrrsssss. I think it's always been bad, somebody got their specs wrong from the start. Jim is either ignorant or lying. I'd guess that because the Z market is small, that he's just ignorant. Edit - This is the sad part. Suggesting he's a new guy, new school, not-my-problem school. Old school would get information and try to make it right. "We do not have any facilities for machine work here so there is nothing we can do. My suggestion is to have a machine shop hone it out until it fits." Edit 2 - Just realized that "we do not have any facilities" probably means that it's made in Asia, under contract. They probably don't even make parts any more. Somebody bought the Powerforce name and is milking it.

Don't overtorque. It's hard to find a good reference, and there are different types of "anti-seize" out there but this references implies that 2/3 of normal is a good rule of thumb. http://www.alliedsystems.com/pdf/Wagner/Forms/80/80-1057.pdf I spent extra time torquing mine to just right but when I detected a small leak I went right back to crank it down until stops mode.

Yes. On an N42 block with the normal dished pistons it raises the CR to about where a ZX engine would be. But with smaller valves, so not the same power level as a ZX engine. People use them with flat top pistons to get an even higher CR. Your engine is probably in fine shape, just not achieving its potential. Gasket height is 1.25, if you want to play around with a calculator. Just pick any head and plug in 39 for volume. Late pistons are flat-tops, early or turbo are dished. http://www.ozdat.com/ozdatonline/enginedesign/

Yes, the block type number is by the driver's side motor mount. It will be either F54 or N42. But, it's looking like you have the MN47 head, as people like to call it. A smaller combustion chamber, giving higher compression ratio. But also smaller valves. More endless discussion about pros and cons... The 280ZX heads with the CHTS are P79 or P90, not N47.

The Maxima L24E head also uses a CHTS, on a head ID'ed as N47. It can get confusing. Engine size should be stamped on that flat spot right there under the CHTS. The block type will be cast in, not stamped, somewhere around the driver's side motor mount. I always have a hard time finding the cast numbers.

With the Datsuns it's the oil pump and distributor drive quill that is out of adjustment. Once the oil pump is installed the drive quill, or shaft, is locked in to place on the crankshaft gear that turns both the oil pump and the distributor. (Never really put the whole picture together before). The oil pump is below and the distributor above, but they both get their energy from that long spindly shaft. So what you're really seeing is a function of how many teeth off the the drive quill is, to the crankshaft drive gear. That's why people use vise-grips or rubber bands to hold it in proper spot , before matching the oil pump to it, to get the distributor right. The oil pump doesn't care, but the distributor does. Also why there's no "180 off". We could count the teeth on the gears and come up with the various points of "off". I'm surprised we haven't done that yet.

You might be okay with moving the plug wires one over. Worth a try. That's pretty far off but it looks close to 60 degrees, which would be one wire spot rotation. How do I learn to braid my distributor wires like that?

Apparently, from the writings of the infamous Tony D, running on #2 or #3 with a new chain drops the powerband down in the RPM range. You get a torquier engine feel. So if you're not looking for high revs and max power it's a good option. I've always been a "short shifter" myself so if I built an engine I might try that. site, do you remember where the notch was, relative to the groove, with your #3 hole setup? Av8's doesn't look terrible, I brought it up more as evidence that things aren't right. If you get enough not rights collected, things don't work.

I think that they stopped in 1977. I have a numbers matching 1976 car, but the engine is in the garage, not in the car. It has the engine from a 1978 car that did not have the engine number on the ID plate. But the engine has a number stamped on it. Short - my 76 has an engine serial number on the ID plate, my 78 parts car did not.

This is your future Av8...

I saw the too big blob also and wondered. Notice though, and I've wondered about this in the past, how five holes in your picture are lined up, except the second one doesn't have a hole. The're not in the same spot on every lobe, relative to the ramp, they are in a line so that they can be drilled efficiently. The second one is on the ramp so they didn't drill it. So, if there was a hole in the #1 lobe I'd expect it to be on the other side so that the next three can be drilled, off the ramps. Your picture looks way too clean. It's unnatural. But there is a lot of oil, as there should be.