1987_280z

Hey, I recently purchased a 78 280z and im new on this whole adventure but im working on freshening up the engine and working on restoring the car. my question was does anyone know a good rebuild kit for basic stock setup i want to keep the price down and go with a stock setup. Cylinders are in good condition i will hone them etc to freshen it all up so ide basically need bearings gaskets rings etc..

Any help is much appreciated!

rogerz

unless you know you have a bad cylinder or over 300K miles why bother. the L28 is a fairly bulletproof engine. plugs, wires, dizzy, filters. new fluids. my 83 had over 250K on it. compression good. running good.

1987_280z

I planned to take it apart to hone it because the previous owner had the head off due to snapping 2 spark plugs doing a tune up and ended up having it apart for awhile and slight flash rust developed, abandoned the project and I picked it up. I want to be sure there wont be any debris stuck in the cylinders from the head being off. I do have another head from a exact parts car I have owned for awhile but the motor is seized on that car from sitting over time. Would you think ide be able to tear down my existing block hone the cylinders clean it up and reinstall it with the original stuff aka bearings and what not? Then swap on the other head and let it roll?
Sorry don't know a whole lot about these motors

The motor and car has according to the owner 88,000 miles

rogerz

88k on an L28 is just nicely broken in unless it was abused. use the other head. spot in the valves with grinding compound and put in new valve seals. You could probably salvage the other engine too depending on why it is seized. Pretty bulletproof they were built to last. if worried about a little surface rust go in there with some fine steel wool and buff it off. if you don't touch the lower end you are better off unless you have a ton of experience replacing bearings and stuff. blow out the cylinders with compressed air when done. read up on how to wedge up the timing chain so it doesn't jump the tensioner otherwise tedious to get it back on. two small bolts at front of the head. Don't forget those.

here is my general boiler plate advice for new Zers:

Get your battery load tested. Be sure you have clean, tight corrosion free terminals on both ends of your battery cables. Be sure the ground (negative) cable goes to a bolt into the frame before going to the starter. grounding through the starter is not a reliable connection. Z's don't like low voltage. causes the electronics to act funny. it is possible to have enough amps to crank but not enough voltage to run the electronics. If you have one size fit all cheapo clamp on terminals they are a problem waiting to happen. Usually on a rainy night around Oh Dark Thirty.

Clean the connectors for the maf or afm, ecu and tps. Deoxit by CAIG is probably the best connector cleaner on the market. spray with CorrosionX after cleaning and before putting together this will help prevent any further corrosion. DON'T USE DIELECTRIC GREASE.

Replace outer tie rod ends, and ball joints. replace the bushings with poly (don't forget to lube them as directed unless you like squeaky things). New shocks. Get new boots for power steering. all those things will make you think you are driving a different car. doing them piece meal is a waste you won't see a great improvement until you do the complete job. You need to get the car realigned after messing with the front. Have your tires in good shape and rebalance. Rear bushings nice too but more work and you won't notice as great an improvement. Rear shocks also because if the fronts are gone so are the rears. if car squats when you jump on the gas the rears are gone. If you have the electro adjustable shocks they are DEFINITELY GONE.

1987_280z

Alright sweet That helps a bunch man I got just a couple more questions ha sorry newbie z owner over here. One would be I used wd40 to help clean away the rust and wiped it off good I don't know if that would hurt anything I read that's what some people recommend. It turns pretty dang smooth with just my hands turning the crank so I think ill go with redoing the head and shining it up all good while I have it out to paint the inner engine bay. Another question is on the side of my head it says n47 near the back two sparkplug holes does this mean its a different motor want to make sure were talking about the same one. Also what would you do to flush the coolant cavity's in the block looking down in there was a buildup of a powdery rustish substance guessing being exposed didn't help any of that buildup either...


MUCH appreciated
- As for timing the previous owner ziptied the timing chain to the plastic tensioner guides don't know if you would trust this to hold the chain in place crank has only been moved half a inch either direction though what are your thoughts on that?

Ill pull the whole motor and trans out of the parts one and save it never know parts for them around here are kinda hard to find.
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rogerz

you would have to do some research on the head. it will fit but there are some differences in compression. I'm more of a z31 guy so I don't follow that. I had a few of the L28 turbo and n/a but never did much engine work except to replace a blown headgasket. WD40 won't hurt anything. you will always see gunk in the coolant passages wouldn't worry about it unless there is a huge buildup. In fact I was gonna suggest just douse the cylinders with it and then turn the engine over a few times to get rid of the rust. back when I was a kid with a flathead Ford V8 we'd pull the oil drain plug, fill the cylinders with kerosene and turn the engine over to clean things up. the kerosene was light enough to seep down past the rings and out the drain hole.

1987_280z

Alright just double checking stuff want to get it right the first time defiantly alot different compared to my 302 ford motors. You've been a great help saved me quite a bit of time really appreciate it


I attached a pic of the car pretty good little barn find should be pretty nice when its done


Thanks again!