Yeah... I guess I'll fix it. I'm dragging my feet right now.

 

That just became my sig.

 

Shady, it's a 4 speed with a 4.11 diff out back. Definitely not something that rpm friendly for driving. Sounds like B16 Honda except without the power. Pretty much it's my autocrossing car, but it's now my DD since my Z is down. Anyway, I get between 16 city and 20 mpg which isn't great for what I'm guessing is ~90hp to the wheels. My Z was getting ~23 around town and 29 highway which isn't bad considering it's boosted and has oversized injectors.

 

Crucial. As much as i would love to chime in and say keep it. . . dreams of having a Z are fleeting and becoming unrealistic for most folks. Gas prices and the falling economy have all but squashed my dreams of finishing my Z. What good is a car you cant even enjoy? Aside from financial issues, im hearing stories of DUI style "smog check points". Cops funnel traffic, pull you over, put you on a dyno, tow your **** or ticket you for mods and smog your car right then and there. Its almost too much. Cant drive without the fear of some sort of repercussions for having a custom car, if you can even afford to drive.

Fix it, Nismo. Keep her around for as long as you willing and able. Gas consuming cars like ours are a dying bread and will soon be something of a novelty

 

I heard that. I'm not kidding when I say, go electric.

 

im putting the 280 up for sale come tommorow. and doubt i'll be getting another Z for a while. why you ask? for this

http://chicago.craigslist.org/wcl/car/732114463.html

also, i came across the car in person on accident, drove it, love it. and the owner is a single almost 60 year old male so i know it wasnt abused by a kid.

oh however due to the title status im not going to give him 10k, though there is so much GOOD done to it.

 

Good for you! Go Mazda.

I'm going to sell my 350Z and buy a Toyota Prius

 

Welp... the motor is ready to be pulled. Just need to unbolt the tranny & motor mounts tonight... IF I don't decide to take an afternoon nap instead.

I'm leaning towards the nap....

 

OOOOH yeah, nap!!!!! That sound good.

 

I heard that Cali was getting harsh on the import drivers because of the street racing problems they're having. Seems like discrimination to me. There are a ton of domestic owners racing and killing each other too. And they have been doing it much longer. That's our gov't at work taking away more of our civil liberties. I feel for you man. Between gas and laws you guys can't enjoy driving at all. Plus you have some of the worlds best roads.

 

pft... a full night of dismantling and I still haven't found the prob. The #5 rod cap seems to have a lil more play in it than the rest, but there are no obvious scrapes, carnage, or metal shavings in the pan. Though there's almost a whole complete gasket in the oil pan... too bad I have no idea what it's from. Oh... and my Centerforce clutch is digging huge grooves in my flywheel bolts.

 

Well nismo, First things first. I can see from Idaho that you still have oil in those caps. That will make it almost impossible to see any movement in them. If number 5 is noticeably loose I suggest pulling it and getting out the digital calipers. Do a good visual inspection, take measurements, and see where you stand then. I would bet you cash money that if you took that cap off and dried up all the oil, then put it back on you would see a huge differnce in how much it moves. I bet it is not within acceptable tolerance. Silly nismo, you should know these things. As for the flywheel bolts, your on your own there.

 

I think I'm going to take the block to the machine shop & have them look at it as is.

 

check your oil pump and pump drive. all that lovely gray color is worn metal, so id say something isnt getting lubed. as for the clutch, looks o.k, but why the grooves. your rivets arent showing thru are they?

 

I'm with shady on this one. That looks really bad and the fact that you found the gasket material in there screams blocked oil passage somewhere. Hopefully the machine shop assembled it for you and you can hang it on them. Good Luck and I have that short block out if you need anything for the bottom half.

Did you pull the head to see if any of the pistons are slapping the head?

 

The most hilarious (note the sarcasm) thing about this whole issue is that I put that fresh head on last week (3 miles ago). I put the head on and still had a loud "Clack Clack Clack!" When rev'ing it.

I'll have the machine shop check it out, dip it, and prolly re-ring the pistons too (the motor blows a lot of blue smoke all the time), and get a new oil pump. Maybe I'll take it easy on the break in this time too.... Maybe....

 

no boost for 5000 miles on those new rings. Wire open your waste gate.

 

most torturous break in ever?

 

Probably... I had a hard enough time the first time around on stock electronics & boost. I've been driving my 54hp Geo for long enough now, so as soon as I feel some good power I can see myself turning into Dr Jekyll.

 

That "clack, clack, clack" is probably your rod slapping against the crank journal from all the play.

You're definitely grinding something away. That's one of the "sludgiest" oil pans I've seen in a long time.

 

I've never touched the internals of a block... good luck with that

 

lets just hope that is the bearing thats in that oil and nothing else eh? while its apart get ALL the block passages flushed out and get a new oil pump and shaft and look at the gears for the shaft make sure they arent shearing away then get all new bearings get your crank re-ground (might as well get a little work done on its while your at it) new rods and put her back together. thats a good week job (thanks to machine time) and probably only a few hundred dolla bills. thats what i would do.

 

Just got a call from the machine shop... rods are fine.

So the problem? The rod to piston pins on cyl 5 & 6 were loose, allowing the pistons to whack the cylinder wall. To fix the prob, new pins, and cyl 5 & 6 get sleeves. Cost (estimated at the moment) $500.

 

i say sell all the Z's im selling mine. im going to regret it later.... but for now, im kinda over it.

 

I can't sell it till I break into the 13's in the 1/4 mi.