More to update on. I really should get a full time job. I would save a fortune..
This week I got the car back from its partial paint job. The trampoline has been removed from the roof panel and it has had new paint. Graham has done a great job and didn't charge the earth for it. I'm very happy. He put 32 hours in to it all told. The windscreen guy was happy to reuse the existing screen rubber as it was still in good shape. I showed him the Zcardepot replacement that I'd procured and he liked the look and quality of it considering it's a pattern part. We're going to save that for when it goes in for full paint in the future.
I've got my little injection project under way. The original carb and intake is off and I have started test fitting the 280Z stuff. As I have said before, this is just a temporary thing. I do eventually intend turning this car back to its original color and have every intention of going back to an L20 or at the least doing a nice new L28 build with some worthy upgrades. TBA. No rush.
The head on my L28 block is an E88 variant from a 260Z. I won't go into the pitfalls of that. It's what I've got to work with. The fundamental issue I have is that, unlike the later heads, the E88 wasn't destined to be used with EFi so doesn't have the top intake manifold bolt holes or crucially, the reliefs cut in for the fuel injectors. I decided the only way forward was to modify the head myself.
Here’s the side of the E88 with the intake and exhaust manifold removed.
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These are the first two reliefs which I cut. The blue dot is where one of the manifold bolts needed to be drilled
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I cut these freehand with a die grinder and TCT cutter and then brought them ‘up’ with 400 grit paper. The manifold was test fitted multiple times and I clearanced through the injector mount with a 9mm rod to ensure the angle was correct and that fuel atomisation wouldn’t be impaired into the head.
The four holes were then drilled and tapped with a primary and secondary blind tap. I used spare studs to eye the drilling to the correct angle. There was lots of measuring and careful attention being paid to drilling depth.
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After a final test fit I cleaned and painted the block and fitted the new AC compressor
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One nice find was that the cam towers still had residues of cam lube and the cam lobes have barely got any polish on them so clearly a rebuild was done quite recently.
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The exhaust system consists of a steel tubular manifold with a two pipe system front to back. The manifold flanges are slightly thinner than the old carb manifold so it had been blowing slightly across all six cylinders as they share the common mounting points. I’ve never had I properly up to temperature so hadn’t noticed it blowing. The 280Z manifold will cause the same issue so I’ll shim each flange washer individually. It’s not really possible to skim the 280Z manifold flanges to reduce them as this will cause clearance and alignment issues with the injectors.
The twin exhaust system also poses problems with mounting my O2 sensor. Ideally this should be fitted at the earliest point where all six pipes converge. Without some re-jigging this isn’t going to happen. Instead I will fit to a bank of three temporarily until the new exhaust is done at the end of May.