keen to know who painted it for you and whether he does other 'cash' jobs???
paint looks great. My bro who owns a red zed said he thought the car looked good in the flesh.

cheers

Jamea

Let it be known that any part of an engine stand dropped from waist height exceeds the structural ratings of the human toe. On the plus side we have the E88 headed L24 out, and things are happening with the EFI conversion.

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$2000 challenge bluebird - no more.
RPS12 - 80s-o-rama. Currently dropping 200cc, gaining a cam and gaining a turbo.

Well, the EFi conversion is underway. Have removed the L24E and decapitated it, is sitting over at bob's now awaiting new valve seals etc.

Would have liked to get that aspect of it done this weekend, but the bloody gasket kit now won't be arriving until monday (%^$#!). But we'll still have plenty to do, getting the L26 out of the 260, disassembling it and cleaning it up. Bob is also building the fuel system, including a one-off custom designed and fabricated surge tank.

In the end we have decided to use the L26 bottom end with the L24E EFI head (I would have liked to swap the entire L24E over but the sump is in the wrong place, and not prepared to try and drill out the block).

Having eyeballed the inlet and exhaust manifolds, and other things, everything looks like it *should* bolt up, including the extractors, which is a relief. I may do a mini-write up here, in which case I'll flag any unexpected issues.

Will be interesting to do a side-by-side comparo of the two E88 heads.

Ouch! That's what you get for wearing safety thongs eh

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1971 Datsun P510 SR20DET 276 rwkW
2005 Mercedes AMG E55 350 kW
1969 Datsun P510 L20B EFI 95 rwkW
1975 Ford XB Fairmont GS Wagon 179rwhp
1980 Escort Van SR20DET unfinished
2002 Suzuki GSX1300R Hayabusa 185hp

That was through shoes, and it is still red!

_________________
$2000 challenge bluebird - no more.
RPS12 - 80s-o-rama. Currently dropping 200cc, gaining a cam and gaining a turbo.

Update on Andrews car. New motor is basically all bolted together. Hopefully by tomorrow evening we should have it sitting in the bay. Surge tank is nearly there, just have to weld the ends on it. Loom is sitting there ready to go into the car. Basically everything is coming along.

We did encounter something odd today when putting the timing chain on. The timing chain that was on Andrews old L26 motor only had one bright link on it, but the one from the L24 had the two bright links. We used the one with two bright links, but how do you set the head to be at TDC in the absence of the second bright link?

_________________
$2000 challenge bluebird - no more.
RPS12 - 80s-o-rama. Currently dropping 200cc, gaining a cam and gaining a turbo.

Oh - by the way thanks to the guys at Datsport for offering advice over the phone. Much appreciated.

_________________
$2000 challenge bluebird - no more.
RPS12 - 80s-o-rama. Currently dropping 200cc, gaining a cam and gaining a turbo.

OK, a lot of progress made in my week off work.

Basically, once the gasket kit arrived, we

-rebuilt the L24E head (new valve stems seals, cleaned and lapped-in the valves)
-removed, cleaned the L26E sump and refitted with new gasket and obscene amounts of sealant
-replaced rear main seal
-replaced all other gaskets (oil pump, water pump, etc etc)

Also, one of the welsch plugs was so corroded that a screwdriver peirced it like a piece of tinfoil. So I replaced all the welsch plugs too. Guess it was lucky the motor got pulled when it did, that would have been messy if it corroded through.

Pics:

In terms of putting the actual motor together, there's not a lot to it, so not much to say really. Couple of very minor things:

1) the water hoses from the 260 and the MR30 are a bit different (or at least they were on mine - I suspect the previous owner messed around with them though). The MR30 motor sits much closer to the firewall than the L26 in the 260. The MR30 head spigot came straight out of the head and was pointing at a 90 degree angle to the firewall, so I couldn't use normal hose or it kinked. I just mixed and matched spigots from the head etc so that it all matched up, (it's all interchangeable) and just used some off-the-shelf heater hoses rather than pre-formed items. All up cost about $1- - $15.

Have run new efi hose on the high-pressure side of the efi system, and dare I say not a moment too soon - some of the existing fuel lines were looking a bit brittle.

I also customised the fuel-filter mounting bracket to accept an efi fuel filter (read: zip-tie).

There will be a bit of customisation involved in getting the air intake fitted into the bay, the L24E airbox is not going to fit. Might see if any pod-filter adapters fit to the AFM.

cant wait 2 c it finishd, nice colour
glad that u decided 2 stik wiv an L engine
wot sounds better, a rb20 or a L series?? haha

Well, I've never owned an rb20, but I do have both an rb30 (r31) and an rb26dett (r32) so I'll line all the straight sixes up next to each other and let you know!

JK, this is going to be my daily driver, so I don't need to go extracting massive power out of it. Just wanted the EFI because, even though it doesn't sound as good, it's a bit easier to live with on a day to day basis. As it turned out, though, once the motor was on the stand, it was well overdue for a bit of maintenance. All those hoses look fine when they're in the engine bay, but once you pull them out you see how cracked and perished they are.

The old girl deserves some love now that I have the finances, she looked after me very well when I was a poor student.

looking good man, nice install.

should be a nice daily.

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120Y Coupe- longest build ever!

how different is the mr30 efi head to a 280zx efi head?
Asking because I just picked up a 280zx in case you need any parts

The MR head is a small chamber E88, I am pretty sure the 280 head is a different casting. Was that the 280 that Juls dad was selling?

We got the fuel setup basically finished this arvo, we were just thwarted by a lack of decent hose clamps. Should be ready to turn it over tomorrow.

_________________
$2000 challenge bluebird - no more.
RPS12 - 80s-o-rama. Currently dropping 200cc, gaining a cam and gaining a turbo.