Project 630z - V8 powered Z32

[Bantambunny]

Gaskets have arrived!

Instead of the standard leaking 4 piece felt gasket i opted for a mr gasket rubber one piece affair. Fits like a dream but not cheap.

A test fitting of the sump shows everything matches up with is good news:

I've replaced the standard side mount pipe with an edelbrock banjo connector which means the air filter now sits on properly:

And ready in a box for the shows is the chrome edelbrock matching top (i'm such an edelbrock whore i really am! :lol: ):

Just transferred the crank over and measuring the bores to see if i need to gap the rings again before assembling. More news shortly

 

[Bantambunny]

With the move looming up this Friday and 4 weeks left of having a garage to work in I've been pushing on to finish the engine off and get it running before I left.

Unfortunately I've had a bit of bombshell which is going to stop the project for the foreseeable future and I can't warrant spending any more money or time on it for at least 6 months.

When I originally bought the car and parts I was told the pistons were 30 thou over and that's the figure I've always had in my head. When we found the original block was duff a replacement was found by the previous owner and I was just told to take the piston to check clearance.

At no point what i told the block was any particular size and good to their word the engine and block fitted perfectly together with perfect clearance and ran beautifully.

When it cracked I went out looking for, found and purchased a 4.030" bore block, crank clearance was spot on and then I decided to double check the bore.

On the new block i was getting a consistent figure of 4.030" as I'd expect whereas i was getting 4.038" on the old one. This puzzled me but i assumed the machining had been sloppy or there was some wear and all that was needed was the 16 rings reground and refitted and all would be well.

...until i measured the base of the pistons which turned out to be 4.037" and checking them against the bore bare they don't fit. After looking up the part number - what do they come up as? 4.040" bore pistons

So without £200-300 to get the block re-bored and the time to get it there, back and rebuilt ready to leave my current house I'm left with no other option but to shelve the project, tow it to the new house and stick it under a cover to rot.

The engine and parts will sit over at my gran's empty single garage until a point where I can get the block bored out and start the rebuild but without a garage big enough to pop it in the car and without a transporter to move it it's going to be close to impossible to finish until I've got at least another grand in my pocket.

I've just bought a house with my bro who's facing being laid off so I'd have to take on his half of the mortgage, I owe my dad over a grand for the Mondeo I've borrowed money to buy to replace the rover, I've spent every last penny I could lay my hands on to get all the parts in, I owe a few hundred to the inland revenue at the end of this month, £400 on solicitor's bills and i have to build a driveway which'll cost me a few hundred.

So sorry guys and gals that's the last you'll see on the 600zx thread until further notice

 

[STEVE BURNS]

oh no it isn't
listen and take notice of what you dad has told you you know it makes sense

 

[Bantambunny]

Well due to some generous people on the 300zx.co.uk site and a bit of encouragement i'm off to daventry today to drop the block off with Peter at Knight Racing Services in Daventry (i'm sure Mike will probably know him).

We're going to have to hone the block out by 8 thou to get the pistons to fit and it'll be ready to get building again.

The only problem is time, he says it's going to be 2-4 weeks to complete so by the time i get it back it could mean i have ot build the engine in 2 weeks flat and drag it straight over to the new house before my tenancy runs out and reconnect the pipes etc there.

Wish me luck!

 

[Steve Dodson]

All the best, keep us updated

 

[Bantambunny]

Thanks Steve Block is now sitting down at Knight Racing Services and ready to be honed over the next couple of week. More news as i get it

 

[racer]

You can do it mate. We need to see it at the Pod this year!

 

[Bantambunny]

I need to see it at the pod this year lol

It'd better win this year after all the work i've put in :lol:

 

[johnymd]

It's not about the winning, it's all about taking part..........then winning.

 

[JakTheRuby]

All the best dude. We know how much work you've put into this so it's just right that it should be 'carrying on'. At one of the summer meets last year I asked Dave Porter and one gnarly looking fellah who was affecting a Scottish accent how their long term builds were and if indeed they were nearing completion and they both agreed that you "never really finish a Z" so it's all good and I'm sure you'll always find enjoyment from your 'Vette anyway!

 

[Bantambunny]

lol, believe me if i'd done this again i would have done it in half the time and alot differently from how i've done it but i guess you live and learn!

I've sat a few times at pmac's over a cuppa and gone through where i'm heading with it:

Year 1: Get the bugs ironed out then possibly end of the season if it's not too close between everyone i'll be investing in a linelock/slicks/nitrous setup and trialing it for the final round on a low shot

Year 2: Tidy up the paintwork/new colour, uprated suspension and brakes plus weight saving including carbon seats and racing harnesses. Extensive shakedown, suspension tuning, etc. and aim for 500bhp. Personal target: learn to weld

Year 3 & 4: Build a garage, source a swb slicktop shell and strip it bare, weld in a tubular ally frame throughout the car then cut out everything that weighs anything, tub it, ford rear axel and ally panel the whole thing before chucking that engine or another engine in there. Hopefully by then i should be running at around the 1000kg mark, supercharger and nitrous on possibly a big block. Trailer only!

Year 5: GRP Shell, more engine mods and who knows what else!

 

[Bantambunny]

Okay first update in a while, i'm still awaiting the block to come back from the engineering shop so i've had to decide whether i'll have time to get it done and back in the car.

The answer is no unfortunately, i need at least 2 weeks to build the engine and get it in and the garage needs to be empty on the 28th so i'll have to resort to plan B. The engine parts are in the garage at my gran's with enough room to build the engine but not put it in the car so i'll crack on with that as soon as i get it back.

In the meantime i decided it was a good time to move the shell to the new house.

I borrowed a solid towbar off Slick Pete yesterday and got the car prepped to drag over to measham. Bearing in mind i've not driven the car on the road since October and i've completely reworked the subframe and suspension design so i had no idea how it was going to handle.

The other problem was steering alignment which i had no idea where the wheels were at, it was tipping it down with rain and the car was fogged up.

I have to say it was probably one of the least pleasant drives i've ever had in my life with being able to see about 3 foot in front of the car, the mondeo taking up all the view and hanging out the window like a dog in the summer being hit with crap off the road, gravel and hard rain.

The car handles brilliantly, steering is solid and there is absolutely 100% no bump steer so looks like my design worked spot on!

The car is now sitting on the driveway of my new house so in the meantime i'm going to crack on with rewiring and piping my engine bay as well as tidy it up in preparation for the engine coming back.

More to come as it gets done folks

 

[Rob Gaskin]

I have to say it was probably one of the least pleasant drives i've ever had in my life with being able to see about 3 foot in front of the car, the mondeo taking up all the view and hanging out the window like a dog in the summer being hit with crap off the road, gravel and hard rain.

Glad you got it moved Nick. Was your car legal on that solid bar then

I know someone recently who was towing on a solid bar and the bar came detached and the towed car ran into the back of the towing car (no brakes at all).

Not being a kill-joy, it's not as if I've never done anything like that, but just making sure folks understand. I think even if a car is on one of those dollies like the RAC use the car has to be 'legal'.

 

[Bantambunny]

Oh yes it's totally legal - brakes, work, lights, windscreen wipers, taxed, tested and insured so totally legit - just no engine!

I was hovering over the brake pedal in case it did break away but everything went fine.

We went round and tested everything before we set off just to make sure. and i secured all the pipes in the engine bay and underneath, removed the rear boxes and anything else that was loose.

I'm thinking i might invest in a short front wheel trailer and tow bar to take it to the pod later on this year so i can take some slicks with me but thats all money and time to invest but right now it's back to work

 

[Bantambunny]

Well long time, no update so thought i'd give you some good news! Problem after problem's plagued this build but light is at the end of the tunnel! Drag racing starts on the 16th and I "should" make it (I won't say "will" just yet!)

So what's been cracking off you may ask? Well i've been waiting till my replacement piston rings arrived for 3 weeks (after the new block was prepped i found they'd taken off a tiny amount more off the bore this time and the end gaps were over 0.025+ rather than 0.017 which is what they should be. I haven't thrown them away as i'll need them for when i fit nitrous later this year and i'll need a large ring gap)

I've also just moved house so been flat out fitting wall cupboards, shelves, digging gardens, building sheds and everything else inbetween.

The other half has gone to austria for 2 weeks so i thought it was perfect to get a couple of weeks straight on the car.

Rings arrived last monday, perfect fitment and the current bottom rings are spot on what they should be so i only need to swap out the top rings and we're there.

I spent all of friday night and saturday regrinding all the pathways for the rod bolts in the block then sunday mostly cleaning "everything" as i reassembled the engine.

I've just completed the bottom half of the build, the crank and cam are in. I've just placed the first complete piston in and ready to crack on tonight, wed/thursday in preparation for finishing work at 12 on Friday and working till it gets dark putting the engine and box back in.

Wish me luck and pictures to follow as it all happens!

 

[datsun dave]

Great update glad you can see the light at the end of the tunnel.

 

[racer]

Nice one Nick! Look forward to seeing you and all the guys on the 16th.

 

[Bantambunny]

Can't wait to hit the track now - i've been itching to get back on the 1/4 mile strip for a year and a half now!

 

[Bantambunny]

Well time for an update. I can't access facebook any more from work so haven't got time to reupload the photos but made some huge progress yesterday and i'm on track for getting the engine back in tomorrow morning.

The whole bottom end is now finished, sump is back on and torqued down. One of the problems i had previously was the incessant leaking from the sump i was getting seeping through the welds and out the back.

The original gasket was a 4 piece affair with felt on the sides and rubber front and back with a good dollop of silicon to fill in the gaps which didn't really work.

This time i'm completely degreased it prior to fitting and used a one piece rubber gasket with better bolts. Even the hole that cross threaded badly last time has been straightened and all torqued up.

I put the first head on last night to check for fitment and it's looking ace. Going to flat off and polish the front faces today before fitment then get the last bits done ready to go in tomorrow.

I'm off this afternoon again the same as yesterday so about 9 hours straight to get it finished off so unless i hit any more snags i should be hooking pipes and wires up tomorrow to give it a test start.

God it seems so long since i last got to drive it, I can't wait now! :hyper:

If i get time today i'll tidying up the paintwork in the engine bay seeing as the weather's so good and fitting my aerocatches and bonnet lift ready for tomorrow.

Really hoping I pull this off now, the weather's supposed to be amazing the next week so i'd at least like one day with the roof off and that beautiful V8 soundtrack humming away in the background

 

[Bantambunny]

Well after losing the headbolts on friday i thought all was lost again getting the engine in the car properly this weekend.

Amazing a stroke of luck occured, Saturday night i ran out of time to get the engine in so got a mate of mine to lock it up in his transit overnight and then drop it off first thing Sunday.

Sunday morning i got about jacking up the front end to get it ready to install the engine when it arrived, opened the bonnet and in the corner where the battery used to go what's poking out? A blue plastic bag with 17 headbolts and washers! No idea how it survived a 10 mile journey towed over bumpy roads and still didn't drop out but - phew! :hyper:

So torqued the heads up to spec, lashed all the valves outside of the engine bay (sooo much easier!) and set about putting the engine back in.

7pm i finally finished, engine back in, all mounts secured and ready to start refitting the exhaust tonight. More to come as it happens!