Kevin McSweeney

It was a friend of a friends'. Sitting on a stand for a little while but not too worried as it'll be rebuilt anyway. For now I'll sit on it in case I need to harvest any parts for my original motor, which should be going back in within the next 2-3 weeks (I've been saying that for a while 😅).

Took a Sunday drive down PCH to pick up a second L28 - N42/N42 today. Plan is to build this into a 200hp+ NA motor in parallel with the build and in 12-18 months to upgrade to Megasquirt and drop this motor in. Most of the accessories (alternator, AC compressor, clutch fan, valve cover, flywheel, fuel rail, exhaust manifold, etc.) will be coming up for sale so if anybody needs anything let me know.

I've already taken the coating out of this area. Bushings are being pressed right now. Also got my new engine mount insulators bolted up, and for some reason I felt compelled to use some more of the foam I used on the fuel tank straps on the jacking point of the cross member. I guess in my head it's going to stay in this condition 😅

Cross member, control arms, TC rods, sway bar and some other parts freshly sandblasted and powder coated. Ready for new bushings tomorrow and hopefully get the front end reinstalled over the weekend.

Not entirely sure what to do with the ball joints and steering knuckle. They look in ok shape, so considering just giving them a quick clean up before putting everything back together. Any thoughts? They're not expensive so is it worth replacing since everything's apart anyway?

I also got the welds from yesterday cleaned up and painted. Not sure what the standard is here but I did a couple of coats of SEM self-etching primer followed by several coats of Rustoleum Flat Black Enamel. Should do the job!

Well I managed to get everything taken apart today and ready to be blasted and powder coated tomorrow.

Crossmember, lower control arms, TC rods and other suspension parts will be getting blasted and powder coated on Monday - if I can get everything separated tomorrow that is. Some of these bolts don't want to let go after 40 years...

Some progress today... Next week should see lots more!

Yes and no. It is from their next shipment, but has a few cosmetic flaws (will post some more pictures later when I get to it). I happened to be in the area yesterday so went and picked it up. The flaws are very minor and would need to be pointed out (to me at least) to be noticed.

So that is actually a full new dash - as opposed to a dash cap - courtesy of Vintage Dashes in Albany. That being said, I will definitely be giving the gauges a once over and replacing/upgrading all of the bulbs before it gets installed. I'm really thinking of fitting the dash to the frame, and then farming out the installation. I definitely like the feeling of doing as much of the work as possible myself, but there are certain areas that I just know are better handled by the professionals 😂

Agreed, I think I'll pick up that motor next weekend and work on it in parallel with the rest of the build. In other news, I managed to get myself another steal this morning.. 👀

No real updates at the moment, I've been so busy, but a few opportunities have presented themselves so looking for some opinions: First off, let me say that I'm putting the original stock motor and transmission back in the Z within the next month, and I do plan on driving it as is for at least a year once it's ready. I'm aiming to have it on the road early to mid 2020. Now, I have done lots of searching and reading and I'm aware of the facts and figures and advantages and disadvantages, so here I'm really just looking for subjective views. I've been offered 2 motors from different people so here are the options: 1. I was offered an L28 N42/N42 combo in good shape for just a couple hundred bucks. I'm considering buying this as a 'spare' and over time dropping flat top pistons and potentially some 240 rods in there to up compression, and farming the head out to be ported and polished, valves deshrouded, and have Isky or the like do me a light cam to work with the flow of the head. The aim would be to have a street motor with compression close to 10:1 that sounds great and is a blast to drive, even if it's not that powerful. I'd be sticking with FI so likely changing out to MS. 2. I was also offered an L28ET with turbo and downpipe. These are rare now from what I can gather so this is appealing, but it's not cheap. I'm looking at $1,500 and closer to $2,000 shipped to me. I would need to pick up a harness and ECU among other accessories so could end up being a sizeable investment. I'm leaning towards the first option because (a) I feel like it'd be more of an opportunity to dive into working on these motors (I'm mechanically inclined but not very experienced with engine building/rebuilding), (b) I just prefer the sound of an NA straight-six, and (c) the initial investment is much less which is important, given that I still have a lot of time and money to invest in the resto(mod). Anyway I'm rambling but interested to hear opinions. Again, to be clear, this is a side-project for the longer term. The aim is to have the original stock L28 up and running within the next month.

Makes sense. I'm replacing the rear main seal next week anyway so may leave it without the collar, for now at least.

Good question. Is it necessary? As far as I can see it would be a cut and weld which I'm not thrilled about..