L28 race engine

[240carsten]

So.. sitting here wondering about the L28 engine and who in the UK or Europe can and will build me a fast road/track day engine?

I cant be bothered with using american forums as their idea of a drivable car means that any sort of cam or grumpy idle is completely intolerable, so I thought I'd ask here.

if I want 250ish bhp what kind of setup do people recommend.. I want grumpy idle and sound like the dude in the petroliciuos video..
The car will be a '71 240z with coilovers, ZG flares, Atara rims, fibreglass hood and hatch and 4 point roll cage..but I have 2xL28 engines, a few heads and some other bits to use in building a grumpy fire spitting sod
triple carbs are a must, so thats a given!

who do I talk to about building an engine?

 

[status]

This has beem asked many times,so tell us how much money you have got to spend ,that way no one will get carried away with wot you can and cant do for yer money,Dave Jarmen is well known and also charlie down at burton performance,if you want his number i have it,he does mainly fords but a z engine wont be much of a challenge for him as he has done work for me in the past,know of somebody else if interested

 

[ben240z]

with the info that is available on this forum in various engine building threads and some mechanical knowledge and understanding, you could build it yourself, save a shed load of money, have that warm feeling when you drive down the road that "I built this" and not have to worry about chasing people (no one in particular inferred in this comment) to get the job finished. Also it is almost impossible to convey to another person what is in your mind in what exactly you want the engine to be like.

Expect to get loads of differing ideas and choices of builder.

Take your choice and pay the money.

Going back into the depths of the garage now to have some therapy work on the Z

 

[SKiddell]

Just a few points

You mention a race engine; then change to fast road/track day engine

Two very different setups and two very different budgets

Track day/fast road as mentioned can be done yourself and 250hp is achievable but dont expect to do it for peanuts plus it will require some reasearch and learning depending on your skill set.......if its like Status then get someone to do it for you

A race engine can cost many times more.

 

[tel240z]

bit of a journey to the west country from Copenhagen probably 900 miles

 

[status]

You are dead right stevie boy but then i can play the bass,keyboards and football better than you,its all your fault i spent loadsa dosh on an engine,it was worth it though also i dont have the knowledge to do that sort of stuff,not into it

 

[Sylv1]

Notting more to Tell except that you also have to consider the future of your wish

If you want your engine to be able to evolve in the future and get a FIA label for instance. In this case, you have to pay attention to Max allowed bore & stroke, normal aspirated, ignition & admission type...

For suppliers :
In uk, the others are more documented that i am

In France, you have Sean & Martin who work often together & can help : http://zstory.online.fr + www.ryland-classic.com
Also VAR in south of Paris

In NL, you have Ad at VA Motorsport in Nijnsel
...

 

[SKiddell]

You are dead right stevie boy but then i can play the bass,keyboards and football better than you,its all your fault i spent loadsa dosh on an engine,it was worth it though also i dont have the knowledge to do that sort of stuff,not into it

Now your just showing off you southern git :lol:

 

[vipergts]

The Petrolicious car was mine and that's a mild engine withe smelly triples on there and a huuuuge exhaust system which is well documented on here.

The car was very smelly as most are so my current build is having Throttle Bodies

I gained a lot of help here from a couple of very helpful chaps without whom I would have got nowhere as knowledge on these is thin on the ground in the UK....either that or secret service

 

[status]

Thought you was gonner call me a poof then Stevie darling,did i mention ,better not,think ive done me gearbox

 

[bluejon]

Carsten, how are you progressing with your research/plan on the L28? I might have some info to share .. pm me if you like

 

[zedhed]

I recently bought Datsun Spirit engine which I imported, and had installed in the UK. I was told with my budget it was either them or Rebello. So far I can confirm it's significantly more powerful than my previous L28 but I haven't explored it much yet. It is a handful to drive - compression is high and you need to keep on top of the cam to have fun with it. Not fully broken in yet and still going through the tuning and setup process so can't really comment more than that but I've learnt a lot... So it depends on your budget really and you need to have a shopping spec list in mind. I was given a list of options to choose from and narrowed it down from there. To be honest I didn't know what I'd end up with and I still don't - some kind o beast LOL

 

[SKiddell]

Not fully broken in yet

We ran the race engine in on the dyno rollers, too much myth surrounding "running in" there's a great article from a race engine builder regarding the fact that if its not broken in within 30 mins its never going to be (30 mins at 3500 rpm = 105000 cycles) he did back to back test with the "granddad "500 miles at 3000 then 500 miles at 4000" etc etc. versus a drive it like he stole it (after a short break in period) approach.....guess which one produced the best power and the best wear patterns.

Problem is people spend quiet a bit on engines so want to protect them, as such take a conservative approach which over the years gets progressively more gentle ......technology has moved on....... get out there and drive the damn thing.

 

[SeanDezart]

......technology has moved on....... get out there and drive the damn thing.

Agreed and although not in the same performance bracket (at all) I scream my new vans and gueuss whose pulls better with no smoke than his colleagues' cautious approach ?

The other myth is idling ages to warm up the engine before moving off - the worse thing that you can do !

 

[AliK]

The other myth is idling ages to warm up the engine before moving off - the worse thing that you can do !

Why? Is it to do with oil pressure being low at idle?

 

[SeanDezart]

Yep - get it all going around the engine asap ! Start the engine, drive off, take it easy 2-3k revs until the water temperature begins to rise (and oil if so blessed with more comprehensive gauges) and than drive it.

 

[SKiddell]

Why? Is it to do with oil pressure being low at idle?

Not just that.

Engine carburation is mainly setup for a warm engine, any cold or startup settings are "best guess" and are often slightly rich (choked) so slight bore wash and excessive carbon build up is on the cards, its beneficail to get it off choke and running at some reasonable RPMs asap, get the oil temp up and once there drive normally.....which for many people is straight to the nearest field where thay can get the Autosol out and polish chrome to their hearts content......

Injected setups can be fine tuned to improve this significantly, however its still not ideal.

 

[SKiddell]

So far I can confirm it's significantly more powerful than my previous L28

Surely you must have had it on a chasis dyno for the carburation to be setup and as such you should have some dyno plots giving you some power and torque numbers, if not then all you have to go by (to know if its more powerful than your previous L28) is your gut feel, which last time I checked wasnt an empirical test.

Dont you want to know if all that money you spent was worth it ?
At the end of the day its your engine and your money but I would certainly want to know that I had got what I paid for.

 

[SeanDezart]

Not just that.

Engine carburation is mainly setup for a warm engine, any cold or startup settings are "best guess" and are often slightly rich (choked) so slight bore wash and excessive carbon build up is on the cards, its beneficail to get it off choke and running at some reasonable RPMs asap, get the oil temp up and once there drive normally.....which for many people is straight to the nearest field where thay can get the Autosol out and polish chrome to their hearts content......

Injected setups can be fine tuned to improve this significantly, however its still not ideal.

Oh yeah - good point on the fuel set-up, thanks.

Mine'll be injected but I shall still start and drive - no hanging about.

Dont you want to know if all that money you spent was worth it ?

Ignorance is bliss cher Skidlet.

For example, have power graphs of a Rebello engine - one from the mans' test bank and another from a rolling road.....not exactly the same.

 

[SKiddell]

God I hate this, Sean and I agreeing on things.....euuuuwwwww