Ownallday

Will do, most likely will be able to do Sunday or Monday with him that's when we planned to start it. I remember the chain not being tight for me when it came to installing the cam sprocket. I have a new chain on order but I typically get that stuff in two weeks and he needs the car gone by Wednesday.

Yeah the entire engine is put back together including the cover. Car is at my friend's house and he is in a rush to get it out of there but after comparing pictures the tensioner looks alarming. I remember trying to see if I was able to extend it more by hand and checking to make sure it would stay put and it seemed like it wasn't going anywhere. My cam sprocket is placed at #1. Should I adjust it to 3 or would that be difficult with the timing cover on?

I just did a rebuild on a L28 engine however I stupidly did not order a new timing chain or tensioner so I reused my old ones. Engine is already placed back into the vehicle but before turning keys just want others opinion on if this tensioner being extended this much is acceptable for a first start and break in? The chain has good tension and somewhat acceptable slack. Rotated the engine multiple times too didn't see signs of it being a problem at least by hand. Any insight would be appreciated.

Okay, for the most part all the ring gaps for the top compression ring measured at 0.45mm - 0.48mm while the bottom compression rings measured 0.4mm. According to the factory service manual, the rings are to be between 0.23-0.38mm so my compression rings from Hastings are slightly larger but after looking around on their website it's within spec for what they recommend with the ring diameter. Me and all my co workers think it'll run fine and won't go through oil. Anything can't be worse than how my previous engine was burning oil. Had to add a quart almost every 600-800 miles. I did take a engine building class years ago so I'd like to think I'm not that stupid to sand my walls down haha. My next step is to check the head after I get the rings installed. I'm missing one of those damn exhaust liners but supposedly it'll run fine.

So basically the rings are meant to fit without any gapping? They seem to be gapped slightly larger than what OEM recommends which I'm seeing is 0.015 or 0.016

I will get back with how the engine performs once it's complete. Made a lot of progress since. Measured everything and everything checked out. Crank was good, wall measurements were good, thrust was good, no warpage on the deck, everything was within spec. Recently checked with a plastic gauge with the new bearings and everything was pretty much perfect within spec. Crankshaft is back in the the block and installed. I am now stuck at the installation of the piston rings. I have a standard size set of rings from Hastings and can't seem to find information on ring gap size. Are aftermarket rings gapped differently than OEM? My top ring gap measures at 0.017 with a feeler gauge. Any insight would be appreciated on this part.

Yeah he used a ball hone. He went pretty dang fast if you ask me. I think a lot of it has to do with the camera making it look sharper than it really is because I see what you mean but in person looks different. Based on my eye though and trying to feel for scratches etc you can't feel anything. For now I'm going to take the chance with new rings, bearings etc and see how the car performs. Worst that can happen is I burn oil and have to pull engine again which I'm okay with. $3500-$4000 is a lot compared to $300 and for the price difference I'm willing to sacrifice some time and extra work if need be.

Just wanted to get back to you guys with some pictures. I went ahead and removed the pistons and cleaned them up. Crank looked pretty good overall. Went ahead and polished the crank by hand and looked even better, zero scoring that can be felt with the finger nail or thin plastic gauge. For the most part the journals seem to be even based on how my co worker measured it. Cylinder walls my co worker went ahead and honed it and if you ask me looks very good. Measured the bores and they are still at a perfect 86mm like when I measured before the hone. Going to take to a machine shop in a week or two to have them clean up and do some fiber measurements.

There is actually two Z specialty shops I will give em a call today if they are open otherwise I'll take a look at jasper too! Yes, actually one of my other co workers stated it's a high mileage engine by the looks of it. I had another engine before this one and it looked a lot worse inside and was burning oil like no tomorrow. My co workers have the tools for the measurements, so either today or next week I will respond with some measurements of the crank. One person responded to me that is selling an engine too, going to look at it on Tuesday with an endoscope and see what the walls look like the the pics he took of the block does not look promising and he told me he had overheating issues and low compression from a blown head gasket. I actually wanted to get the block decked. I wouldn't mind bumping compression closer to 9.1 if it wouldn't effect my chances of passing smog. I know, very thankful for the responses and quick help with this. Taking everything into consideration and looking into possibly just getting the entire engine bored and machine if the measurements don't look good. However my co worker still wants to try an just hone the walls to see what the results are, he thinks the verticle lines are not a big deal because we can't feel them at all even with a very thing plastic gauge. Haha, well my Z has been down for almost a year been saving up since then in hopes to get the car back on the road this year. I wish could say the same thing you do haha. I'm actually going to look at an engine next week however the guy said he had overheating issues and a blown head gasket. For some reason he rebuilt the head but not the block, outside of the block doesn't look nice so gives me concerns the block is not good, but I will bring my endoscope to check.

Well, whatever method they use to clean blocks I want to have done. The original place I called TopEndPerformance actually led me to another shop but the guy I talked to said he wants to bore then hone too. They have reman engines still? Where? Not without doing measurements, I got the bearings out. It won't let me post the pictures with my phone but the main bearings are down to the copper while the connecting rod bearings look good. Almost no scoring on the crankshaft, very very minor a polish will clean it up nicely by the looks of it. Tomorrow I'm going to get thrust measurements before removing crank. The engine won't be sitting, either it'll get the work done with or without the bore unless I get lucky soon with another engine. That is for L24 and L26 I believe though as they don't show for 280z. I did contact MSA and they said they don't have anything. I'll try zcardepot next week. That's not too bad of an idea, just would be scared on how much material can be removed from the top of the flattops and that would make the pistons weaker?

He does not, but he can source them or I can bring it to a machine shop, either way I want to get the engine into a hot tank so it's going to a machine shop one way or another.

Yeah I made sure pistons are which were my main concern are available. TopEndPerformance has 87mm forged pistons that can be made and rings are included. Main problem is forged pistons are overkill in my opinion and making the cost more than 1k. I went ahead and contacted three engines I see for sale, the blocks don't look promising though. After seeing everyone point it out, I see it better now, I though it was oil dripping. my nails are not able to dig into these lines however and feel very smooth. I am not exactly sure what it is either. It feels smooth to the touch. thanks for the heads up, I will remove the pistons and crank next week. My co worker said he wants to hone it and see what the results are. I did do that, all the parts that I need not including new pistons is easily obtainable and not expensive. Once we add the pistons, it gets up there for me as $1000+ for pistons is a lot. All the engines for sale around me the outsides of the blocks do not look promising. The pistons seem to be the main thing holding me back from wanting to do a bore. You have a good point actually, I contacted one shop that does Z engines but they said they only build race engines. I have the same feeling that will be the same with Rebello which is actually out of reach for me anyways. They might as well be in another state with how far they are haha. I will contact Z car garage see if they can give me any insight if they are willing to.

Okay, I will go ahead and see if my co worker is capable of doing that otherwise I will see what other machine shops can provide in terms of measuring. My fingernail does not catch any of it at all. I do believe it is a high mileage engine just unsure how many miles. I will call around some more and see if I can find someone who can do the measurements if my co worker doesn't have the proper tools to do it. I think they just mentioned thats what they want to do, not sure why or how. That was a typo, I meant dished pistons my bad. So more compression won't make any change power wise if I cant adjust afr?

Compression is something I wish I had the luxury of knowing but I bought the engine used and previous owner never got any readings. The only information I have based on the engine is it ran good. I wasn't able to find any info on people just doing a hone and getting good results so to hear that gives me some positive news. I posted some pictures hopefully they are good enough to get some insight on the walls conditions. They are perfectly 86mm btw according to the gauge at the top of the walls. Yeah I know I'm very limited since Im staying stock, there isn't really any information on how these engines perform with more compression, port, etc etc with stock EFI. The only thing I know I'd be able to tinker with is the afm, timing and could possibly get an adjustable fuel pressure regulator but that's about it. I already have shorter gearing trans and lightened flywheel and electric fans etc.. My bad that was a typo, dished is what I meant. For the most part I know the first guy only does work if he does everything according to my friend mainly because he is known for making good builds but I doubt he has touched an L series. For the most part a polish on the crank is what I had in mind but the shops I believe they only want to grind and not just polish but I have yet to see the condition of the crank. I know these blocks are very strong as I've almost never heard of one of someone running into serious major issues on a stock build at least. I supplied some pictures of the walls. If I could find 87mm pistons for less than $800 maybe I'd be willing to take the extra steps

Hello, basically what I'm fearing. What I thought would be a $500 job is turning into thousands 😔. To my eye it looks very slightly glazed. I know the engine was running prior as I bought the engine off a YouTuber and he had video of this engine running good. I will provide some pictures maybe you can give some insight based on the pictures. Have yet to remove the pistons so the measuring will have to wait another week or two depending on what happens. I have not done a compression test based on the fact that I recently bought the engine from someone but I just know it was running good based on what the guy showed me.

Hey guys, I have an L28 Engine, N42 block and N47 head. My goal was to rebuild the engine and make it a reliable engine that can last a long time. I want to avoid having to pull the engine anytime soon. Power is not my biggest concern however I would like to be above the stock power numbers minimum with this rebuild since it's going to gain a little weight with aftermarket AC. For the most part I will be sticking to the stock efi for smog reasons and would like whatever I do internally to not mess with my ability to pass smog. I have almost all refurbished or new parts for the intake manifold too which should be a big help. The condition of the block is the cylinder walls are polished, slightly glazed but overall look good with no major signs of scoring or anything. I got a couple of quotes from three machine shops in my area and not a single shop wants to do just a hone job. One shop quoted me $3500 because he wants to put all new parts in it and grind the crank (Which is insane if you ask me for a stock rebuild and does not sound necessary), the other shops quoted me closer to $600 with no parts. Every single shop wants to bore the block which means I need new pistons at 87mm (I think because of how old the car is or they trying to get more money out of me?). As most of you know, pistons are hard to come by for these cars especially domed pistons which I need because flattops will put me at a CR of 10.2 according to OZdat which is too high for California 91 and sounds too high for stock efi. The only 87mm domed pistons I see are forged (overkill) and will cost me more than $1500 (overkill). My question is can I just ball hone the cylinder walls myself (or one of my co workers with experience honing) and be okay or keep trying to find a shop that will do just a hone and not worry or is a Bore absolutely necessary? Also if possible can anyone chime in and let me know how the stock efi system will react to 9.1 compression ratio? Thinking of potentially decking the block just to raise it if it'll even be worth it? The N47 head has one exhaust liner missing and decided to just leave it as is since someone had one missing and didn't notice a performance decrease with it and without it. I didn't plan on doing anything to the head but I would like to ask would I see any benefit to porting the head and doing a port match with the intake manifold on the Stock EFI? The head and internals for the most part however look really good. Thank you!

Let me know overall how much and if Zelle or PayPal works I'd probably definitely consider it. Good point, didn't even think about checking the exhaust. I'll do that when I can. Unless one of the previous owners removed it in the past. I actually have a boring scope on hand.

That depends... I may consider it but how much and how much is shipping going to cost? I'm almost willing to just run the head I have how it is because I saw two people say their cars ran fine and they couldn't feel a difference with liners missing.

Exactly my point, don't wanna kill the compression and I remember how slow that setup was in the past. My cracked e88 head, n42 engine with a compression ratio of 100 and triple Weber's that weren't even tuned properly ran better than the combo with the P79 head. Not sure if it's worth it going through all that trouble but I'm going for mostly stock internals and stockish rebuild anyways. I believe they were in there, I'll post a picture sometime this weekend when I'm home. How would something like that be fixed?

Thanks for the explanation and breaking it down, I kept reading too many different responses to what these things are for etc. Hopefully the one missing liner does not get me into any trouble when I smog after the rebuild. I will leave it as is and run it with the missing liner. I did read one post someone ran their car like that and he said the car was very fast so shouldn't cause any big issues performance wise at least. I was considering a P79, but I would not want to loose the higher compression of the N47 since this is a mostly stock internals rebuild and I had a P79 in a previous build with an N42 block and it was definitely one of the slowest setups I've had. I already have an oil pump upgrade so hopefully 0 oil pressure won't be an issue because I had that in the past with my e88 head.

Would it be better to run the head as is with the one liner then? Basically LA county, 2500 and idle testing to my knowledge. Yes, I have two catalytic converters on hand to try, I'm also ordering a new EGR. No I do not have it. It was missing when me and my friend removed the manifold. Sorry bad wording.

Yeah the others seem pretty on there. I know people have ran without them and people have ran with some that are missing, however I haven't heard of anyone confirming if they can't pass smog or if the car runs better or worse with one or all of them gone. I can see the flow being ruined due to the shape of the ports without the liners so a lot of grinding would need to be done I know that much. Yeah, I did as much research as I could before posting but no one that has had them removed and ran their car with one missing or all of them missing have reported if it actually makes a difference to the way the car drives or if it'll effect smog etc... Trying to avoid getting another head as I haven't found any around me at the moment and money is tight.

Hello, I am rebuilding an L28. I have an N42 block with an N47 head that I bought a couple months ago. I noticed one of the exhaust liners on the head pretty much fell out. I am wondering if I will run into any issues if I go head and remove the rest of the exhaust liners and if that will effect passing smog in any way or if I will run into any issues with how the car performs.

Thank you for the response, I will look at my enkei wheels and see if I can find a similar issues. May just end up swapping with a friend see what changes in the coming month.

Seems like a lot of people have this problem with these cars yet there are those who can't find a solution and others that have completely different fixes. Let us know please what you find.