jonathanrussell

Clearly it is so the PO knew which chamber was #3 rather than #4. I am just hoping he/she counted right.?

I think you are doing the right thing...removing head and starting over. I install head gasket, manifold gasket, and valve cover dry. I install the oil pan dry except for a thin layer of black rtv along the join line where the block and front cover meet on both sides.

You could try eliminating the chassis fuel lines as a variables first. Might prove the tank is actually fine. Connect the tank out barb to an external fuel hose running to your now known to be working fuel pump. Does fuel pump to the pump outlet? Since you have a mechanical fuel pump it means you will need to buy a decent amount of fuel hose though. Or, might you have an electric fuel pump laying around. Just be careful working with the tank and lines and exposed fuel. Don't burn your car or more up.

All of the L series heads I have looked at have Teflon looking tape for these plugs. I am not sure though whether it is some sort of special tape that is resistant to oil or simply Teflon tape. I would like to know what others think or know abut this tape. Edit: Added photo of my E88 NOS head showing tape.

Awesome skill and creativity.

Another thought.... Does anyone make a thread repair insert (like time-sert) that is closed on the bottom of the inside? Another thought.... You could change this one fastener to a stud and thread lock it in then tighten that one with a nut. That way the water passage is sealed and you are not ever removing it.

What a bummer regarding the valve cover bolt hole. How do you think you are going to fix? Could have the hole welded up slowly so you don't warp the head, then drill, tap. I wonder if you re-tap and then seal the valve cover bolt threads does it matter....at least for a quick fix?

Agree about sliding the balls out using the x shaped piece. And, what I have seen get damaged are the plastic spacers. They get cut just a bit and then don't slide so well anymore unless you dress them up by trimming away the cut, sanding a bit, etc. Best of luck. Let us know how it goes with the new set.

@Reinier If you want to try one more thing with your shafts, try cleaning off all grease and spray everything with wd40 and put them together. Do they still bind? I had a difficult halfshaft set and ended up spraying everything lightly (but completely) with wd40 and adding grease at the end by using a needle attachment on my grease gun. End result was shafts that moved freely and have worked great. Will see whether there are any long term problems but.... Edit: I just found my notes on how I rebuilt my last set of shafts. For terminology, refer to the 1973 FSM page RA-10 figure RA-26 showing the shaft components. I capitalized part names from figure RA-26. 1) Clean everything...remove all grease. 2) Spray everything with WD40. 3) Install large washer and snap ring (neither are labeled in figure RA-26) that get installed on the Drive Shaft side of the Sleeve Yoke. This ends up in the middle of the assembly. With these two pieces installed, the Drive Shaft will still slide into the yoke. The purpose of the washer is to limit the spacers / balls from sliding out. 4) Install dust boot onto driveshaft. There are lots of ways to do this but I used wd40 and a socket clamped to a vice to get the boot started. Then, push the boot all the way in and inside out if you can so it is out of the way. 5) Slide the driveshaft into the yoke doing your best to keep the bearing slots aligned...making sure to orient the assembly in the right direction...see figure RA-26. 6) Here is the weird part. Start installing Ball Spacers and Drive Shaft Balls from the YOKE end. This seemed counter intuitive to me but others may think otherwise. Use liberal amount of WD40 (different from what I wrote earlier). Don't let the Drive Shaft move too far into the Yoke. You don't want it to move past the position where the assembly would be the shortest. If you do...Drive Shaft Balls and Ball Spacers fall out. Ask me how I know. I probably did this 10 times before I figured out that I needed to limit how far the Drive Shaft can insert into the Yoke. As I kept adding Drive Shaft Balls and Ball Spacers, I would periodically insert the Drive Shaft Stopper from the Yoke end to push the balls and spacers down farther into the Drive Shaft / Yoke assembly so that I could keep inserting additional Drive Shaft Balls and Ball Spacers. 7) Once all Drive Shaft Balls and Ball Spacers are installed, install the Drive Shaft Stopper (orient correctly) and Snap Ring (this one isn't labeled in figure RA-26). 8- Let WD40 drain. 9) Use the smallest needle attachment for your grease gun you can find and begin injecting grease into the bearing grooves that don't have balls. Move Drive Shaft in and out of the Yoke to distribute grease. Keep doing this until you think the assembly is nicely packed. 10) Pack center and boot with grease and fasten boot. 11) Install Sleeve Yoke Plug and Snap Ring. Hope this helps.

In the head I built last summer I used Sealed Power ST-2034 seals. Too recent to say how they will do long term but so far so good. I chose them because they are a viton seal. The seals I had sitting around that came in a few gasket kits just seemed kind of hard as a rock.

I have removed and reinstalled the handbrake cables several times and I don't recall the spring being that compressed. Can you think of something that would cause the cable to be in what looks more like the position it is in when the brake is engaged? Are the e-brake adjustment nuts / rods under the transmission tunnel too tight in terms of their adjustment?

You sure that you don't have the emergency brake lever pulled up / engaged?

So, I measured two heads, both of which I am pretty confident that they haven't been milled. Can't be 100% certain since I didn't buy either as the first owner. I will reference cam tower numbers and cam tower number 1 is closest to the sprocket. First, my new old stock in box E88. Nothing to clean here. 1=4.2474, 2=4.2471, 3=4.2475, 4=4.2478, 5=4.2479 Second, my N42 head from the 75 280z with 55k miles I am refreshing. N42 heads were generally used on 75 and 76 280z models and are the same as N47 except for shape of exhaust ports and liners in N47. I want to also mention that I only took two measurements because getting a stamp sized spot to be as clean as my new E88 head took a decent amount of time and effort. 2=4 2479, 4=4.2478 Bottom line, I think these two heads and CO's N47 head are uncut / unmilled. Hope this is helpful. It was an interesting exercise for me.

The narrow pitch side of the spring goes down against the head. Wide pitch side is up connecting to the retainer.

I will do some more measuring usint my 4-5" Mitutoyo mic. Will measure a few thought to be uncut heads tonight.

If I were trying to envision how to repair what you have, and I had never seen a proper T/C mount before live in 3 dimensions (not true with all of us), I think it would be really hard to figure this out. It might really help you to go see one on a junk yard car or donor / parts car on craig's list.

Someone correct me but...my recollection is that all L6 heads, well certainly in my mind the ones used with S30 cars have the same thickness measurement....uncut. Also, I have found it pretty difficult to get to this number without a perfectly clean head. 70 thou doesn't sound that unrealistic on a less than clean head.

I have a new in box, never been built E88 head...so it is perfectly clean. When I measure with my digital caliper, it reads 4.247. So, if you are getting a bit of a higher reading...due to cleanliness....I would say you have an uncut head. On page 55 of the Honsowetz book, he says 4.218 which is incorrect. I hand wrote in the book 4.248...which I probably found researching online. So, I would say my measurement is close. I may have been pressing a bit hard for the measurement. On further research, apparently I have the 1st edition of the How to Modify book. I see something that says the 2nd edition shows 4.248. FYI, I measured my "new" head again and 4.248 seems more correct- pressing too hard to get 4.247.

@Captain ObviousI have an A cam that I think was from an N47. I acquired it by itself without a head at some point though. It has oil holes in the lobes. Lobes are clean as are bearing surfaces. 2nd lobe from sprocket measures appx 1.585 which is the same as a low mileage n42 A cam I have on a head that I know has never been rebuilt, nor cam cut. So, if your cam is uncut and you have original lash pads, should slide right in...assuming you are able to sort out the cam tower mounting mess. If you would like to have this cam, message me with your address and I will ship it to you. See two photos.

And...when finding a cam...unless you want to fiddle with lash pads and geometry, you will want to find an uncut original cam with original base circle. This all assumes your cam is the original base circle and your lash pads are original. Is your cylinder head an N47?

Here is the Kameari kit. Kameari 2mm spacers and bolts

Did you design and fab the heat shield, or did you purchase?

@Mike...your wheels, tires, and stance all look great. Did you compare to Panasports? If so, how do you think the VTOs compare? Any feedback from the person who mounted the tires regarding how easy they were to balance?

Several vendors sell the fusible links. MSA does. Below is a link to ZCarDepot. ZCarDepot fusible links They also sell the two plastic covers missing from your photo.

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