After alot of talk and questions and false hopes, I finally decided to take the plunge and get my lower end rebuilt. The original block I had in the car spun a rod bearing due to water and oil contamination. I was given another block which was said to be good, but I later found out that it had two bad oil control rings on the third and fourth cylinders, and would burn well over a quart of oil with any kind of spirited driving.

I saved up some money from my new job, and pulled the engine. I took the car to my friend James' house (without James, the engine rebuild never would have happened) and he was gracious enough to let me have his garage and driveway...for almost six months. We pulled the engine out, disassembled it down to just a bare block (pistons and crank still installed, per request of the machine shop) and took the engine down to a machine shop here in Sacramento called Cascar. They did an alright job on the engine, but I was slightly worried when I noticed they installed one of my pistons backwards. The rebuild came with a warranty, so I'm not too worried.

I had the shop do a once over, and then told me exactly what I needed. The block was in a little worse shape than I thought, I ended up needing a bore, so the engine has been bored .020 over, with new ITM flat top pistons installed, which have a fly cut for the valves on them, "new" crank due to old one having a worn keyshaft, cleaned up rods, new bearings and chrome rings, had the block decked and had the head lightly surfaced to ensure a perfect seal. They assembled the short block, and I installed everything else. I replaced all of the sprockets for the timing setup, new chain, guides, tensioner, the works.

Everything was put together, but when I went to turn it over, the motor would not start. I tried to troubleshoot the issue (fuel, spark, air) and just when I was about to give up, I noticed a spark coming from a wire on the coil. The positive wire on the ballast that went to the vehicle's wiring harness had frayed, and was not making a good connection. A minute and a new spade connector later, and the engine fired right up.

The new motor runs so incredibly nice that I can't even imagine how the poor car used to run. I've got about 500 miles on the rebuild, and the car has gobs of power. It throws me back in my seat, and it is more than I could ever wish for.

I've got some pictures, but I'll try to take some more later. I'm the shorter guy in all of the pics, if you couldn't tell. James is the other guy.

Pics aren't in any particular order, sorry. You can tell the before and after ones though. If the pics are too large, let me know and I'll resize them.

Sorry for such a long post...lol.

 

Wow. Nice engine. Makes me wanna rebuild mine. Alas, no shop, and no monies. And other stuff to fix first. Lookin forward to more pix.

 

what did the shop do exactly and what was the cost? and then what kinda pistons and the cost on that? cause i really wanna to a similare rebuild.

 

Shop bored cylinders .020 over, decked block, magnafluxed block, hot tank, paint, surfaced head, pressure tested head, sourced a new crank, crank regrind and micropolish, installed lower end, new crank and rod bearings, resized rods, assembled full lower end, and got me parts like a better oil pump, gaskets, pretty much everything I needed to get the engine together. I also had them resurface my flywheel, but I have a feeling that they may have taken too much off...but luckily I have a spare!

Pistons are ITM Pistons, flat tops, .020 larger than stock, and have fly cuts in them for the valves. Came with new wrist pins and rings. Here's their web site: www.itmengine.com.

I also replaced all other components like oil pressure sender, thermostat, temp sender, hoses, water pump, fan clutch, etc. I had bought a new radiator not too long before I did the rebuild, which helped out quite a bit with heat here in California.

I'm sure that there is more than I am missing, but if I remember I'll definitely mention it.

Cost wasn't too bad. I had originally planned on just doing a cylinder hone, crank micropolish, new rings and bearings, but when the shop told me that a rebuild would be the better idea for longevity I decided to just go for the full rebuild. The shop I went to gave me the standard cost according to some book that machine shops use for labor. I don't remember exactly what the book was, but the standard cost to have everything done, with my flywheel and head work thrown in was exactly $1305.84 (I went to Bank of America online and looked that up, lol).

Money well spent, in my opinion.

 

Hey Jeremy, I thought you gave up. Good to see you back. Nice work.

 

Nice work! Interesting to see your ITM pistons. I also did the 0.020 bore, ITM flattop conversion, but mine didn't have the valve relief cuts (didn't need 'em on mine), and mine came with moly rings. Glad to hear you're so happy with it's behavior on the road! I've only had mine around the neighborhood a few times at lower speeds while I finish up getting it legal for highways. Nice to know it'll be that fun on the highway!
Dave

 

ok there is something very wrong with this picture. who knows what it is?

 

My guesses:
1) Fram filter
2) Missing dipstick
3) Missing ignition wire guide
4) Missing hoist/cherrypicker attachment(s)
4) Basket-o-laundry within easy splat range of tools
5) What's the pink oversized tinker toy thing in the background?

 

1. Fram filter isn't too bad...I've been running the Tough Guard without any problems *knocks on wood*
2. Dipstick was out because I didn't want to bend it when pulling the engine out of the car, so it was in a bucket of parts
3. Ignition wire guide is indeed missing, but I did find a replacement
4. The hoist attachments are indeed missing...when I pulled the head off of the first motor when I was 16, I lost the attachment. The stupid things you do as a kid. I instead hoisted the engine by the engine mount bolts
5. Basket-o-laundry was just some misc stuff that James had laying around the garage, mostly pipe fitting books and stuff he uses for work (he's a pipe fitter)
6. The pink tinker toy is an electric wheelchair that his mom was using before she died a few years back. Know anyone who wants to buy it? James bought a Z and needs to get some money for parts, lol.

BTW, you have two #4's up above.

 

Tom, thanks for the compliment. How's things in Nevada? Still working on the Z, I hope.

 

The Z now screams on the highway, and has gobs of power. I didn't go with the fly cuts on purpose, but that was just what the machine shop decided to get. The guys were really into American Muscle down there, but there was one guy who actually knew his stuff about Z's.

I forgot how incredibly fast the Z's are, and when I first got onto the freeway, I look down and I'm pulling 100 mph easy. Now that was a wake up call.

 

Doh! Guilty!
That all makes sense to me, I wonder what snw's talkin' about then?
Is the wheelchair folded/collapsed for storage? Having trouble visualizing, and the picture is more interesting than what I'm working on today.

FWIW, when I pulled mine the rear engine hoist point was long gone, along with the bolt to hold the header, and the aluminum into which it should have threaded. The PO had just jammed an SAE bolt in there (!). Needless to say, I fixed all that.

 

Did they add the flycuts, or did they just come that way? Curious, as I ordered mine from BlackBritishVictorianDragons, and they didn't mention it as an option. In any case, yours looks fantastic, and I'm really eager to take mine out on the road now, with your description!
cheers,
Dave

 

I've heard of places you can sell wheelchairs, like local med supply outfits, and of course the usual eBay and Craigslist venues. But, if he doesn't want to mess with that, and hasn't filed his taxes yet, he could donate it for an itemized deduction (assuming he itemizes). He'd get a no-hassle $ break, and somebody'd get a good deal on a wheelchair they could use, and maybe couldn't otherwise afford. Just a thought.
Dave

 

Dave,

The machine shop bought the piston set from ITM locally, they have an office here in California, and they came casted with the fly cuts as far as I know. If you go to www.itmengine.com you can look at their catalog and most of their pistons come with fly cuts in them.

Thanks for the heads up on the wheelchair. It doesn't hold a charge, but looks brand new. We were planning on replacing the battery, cleaning it up, and putting it on Craigslist. Hopefully it ends up going to a good home. I'll have to mention the med supply outlet, I didn't even think of that.

I'll see if I can shoot a walk around/driving video of the engine. I was driving it and it seemed fast, but I switched seats with James and let him give it some juice. It's a completely different experience from the passenger seat.

 

Oh, forgot to mention head work. Not too much was done performance-wise on the head. Head was bead blasted, new valves, new seats, guides, seals, shaved and surfaced. I bought the head from a guy off of ebay already completed.

 

lol, dave got more than i noticed but the big one was fram, if you wana save some money i can stuff cardboard into an old gutted oil filter for you

 

Looking great man!

I really need to get a hold of a spare engine to start building. I just want to break out the die grinders, angle grinders, and dremel, and start work on a head.

 

I wasn't concerned with saving money when I bought the Fram, I just bought the name brand that sounded more common.

What would you recommend? I know that there is an oil filter thread around here, but I'm at work and too lazy to look, lol.

 

mobil1 or factory (aka nissan)


fram is notoriously known as the worst oil filter out there.

 

pistons look great

 

In most of the pictures they do..

Anyone spot the weird one?

 

Looks great there Jeremy. And I personally use Purolator oil filters. I wont use Fram either. Nice to hear you got your Z running sweet.

 

wow. one of them is turned around... i hope that's not a really bed mistake!

 

I caught it before I went any farther. The shop was trying to rush to get it back to me (I think they needed the money, lol) and just put one in backwards. I took it right back, and had them flip it around the right way.