Project 630z - V8 powered Z32

[Bantambunny]

In some random act of fate I rang the previous owner to tell him what happened and he said "you do know I have a freshly machined 30thou overbore block ready cleaned and it's a four bolt main?"

Bloody hell! He only wants £450 for it so I'll pick it up next Friday and build the engine over the weekend.

Peeps were back in business!

 

[rhanagar]

Woop

 

[Throttleton]

450 quid might seem a lot but after all your time and money you've put in so far grab it and push on.
I can sense everyone is willing you on.....

 

[datsun dave]

In some random act of fate I rang the previous owner to tell him what happened and he said "you do know I have a freshly machined 30thou overbore block ready cleaned and it's a four bolt main?"

Bloody hell! He only wants £450 for it so I'll pick it up next Friday and build the engine over the weekend.

Peeps were back in business!

Thats great news mate PM me your email address and i will paypal you some money to help out.

 

[zpuppy]

Fantastic news man ! Glad to hear it ! Ive been following this thread for ages and really feel for you,, ive a hell of a lot of experience with american v8's and like Mr F my heart fell when I read about the frost plugs blowing,, but hey! all is well If I had any to spare ( and if i do hit the lotto) I'll send some loot yur way to help

 

[moggy240]

glad your bad news has turned to GOOD NEWS !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! still a pain in the bum but at least you can get it sorted now with the other engine

 

[Bantambunny]

Thanks for all your support guys, I've come this far and for my sanity I need to finish this lol

A lotto win would go down quite well but I'll sort my finances out one day soon!

 

[Bantambunny]

Okay a few things since my last post. I've found out that the block i'm buying is still a 2 piece rear seal which is a lifesaver as the crank is set up for 2 piece rear seals. I can re-use the studs on the new block and just use the bolts for the outside bolt holes which will save me 100+ quid.

So realistically all i need is a new set of head gaskets (£100) and i might just have enough left over gaskets that i don't need to buy in any new ones. Halfrauds sell black gloss enamel paint for £5.99 so i'll get some tonight on the way back with the new block.

Okay so progress? Well i've done quite a bit. Both heads are off, all the exhaust is disconnected and dropped, gearbox is drained, prop removed and everything slacked off and ready to pull the engine tonight.

Hoping to get the engine out tonight, the other one on the building stand and painted.

Plan is to remove the gearbox off the current one then suspend it in the air with the hoist, pull off the sump and remove the pistons, give them a wash off with the compressor and white spirit then oil them before wrapping them up in order. I'll blast the interior out with white spirit to remove any excess oil then flip the block over on its heads to remove the crank on the floor.

Still trying to work out in my head the best way to remove the flywheel and crank but might be able to just lift it on the crank because of the way it's attached.

More updates as i get any further but hope to have the whole bottom end of the new block built and sump back on by tomorrow but might have to buy a one piece rubber sump seal to combat the crappy oil leaks i was getting.

 

[Bantambunny]

Okay so yesterday i went to pick up the new block. It was in great condition, freshly bored and honed and ready to go. Checked everything (and i thought i meant everything).

Got it back, went to unload it and guess what - the dipstick's on the other side! :headvswal

So have to take the sump over the gelscoe motorsport and get them to cut and weld the relief into the other side. Luckily everything clears the bulge but have to cut my dipstick down in size to clear the sump correctly unfortunately (or buy the correct dipstick holder!)

And to get the engine in and out i've cut out the centre section so i can just bolt and unbolt it to gain access to everything alot easier.

Back to work!

 

[Bantambunny]

So i've removed the centre section of the top beam inbetween the lights for easy access. The fans will be attached to the rad directly and the original panel section will bolt back in again using the rad bracket. This meant that it was waaaay easier to get the tail end of the engine/box out and means it's actually worth painting the engine bay now.

While the sumps off at gelscoe it's having a 2" dipstick welded into the wing and a nut to bolt the temp sender in finally then 3 layers of black gloss enamel and bake it off.

More to come tomorrow:

 

[moggy240]

you make it sound and look soooooo easy !!!!!!!!!!!

 

[Bantambunny]

lol, if it wasn't for the fact i have a professional motorsport company at my beck and call to fabricate for me i'd be stuffed building this project!

Engine is out, pretty much finished stripping it down to the crank and cam. Just having some trouble removing the power steering pump bracket and finding my damper puller. I didn't get much time on it over the weekend.

Off to Gelscoe to get the sump welded up tonight then on with the build.

Should hopefully have the pistons and crank in tonight even if i don't have the rest done by the time i get to bed. After that it's a case of grinding in the reliefs for the bolt heads and we're ready to get the new sump on.

I'm aching all over like i've been through 5 rounds with mike tyson but i'll keep going till I get it done!

Plan is to reassemble the whole engine with heads on, spark plugs and manifolds in place, everything sealed and torqued up before it goes in.

I need to start tidying up the loom and see if i can get rid of the main thick wire that goes under the rad in some way if possible and reroute a few things to tidy up the look of it. If i get chance i'll try and tidy up the paintwork with some fresh paint before it all goes back.

More to come as it happens!

 

[Bantambunny]

Nearly finished stripping the old engine down, just the crank to go and we're ready to start building

The new block ready to go. Just needs a lick of paint and the grease cleaning out the bore

(un)Organised chaos!

And the finished sump, just one more side to paint and we're done!

 

[datsun dave]

Now thats quick work, glad you have got it all sorted it would have drove me to tears.

 

[Bantambunny]

Mate when you've had as many set backs as i have since i started it it was just water off a duck's back lol

Well i had a phone call from the solicitors yesterday to say we had an exchange date of the 28th (next friday!) so although i've got the bungalow rented till the end of february that only gives me 5 weeks to get the V8 on the road and the garage cleared(!) so no point moping around feeling sorry for myself.

I'm painting the block, water pump and intake manifold gloss black and polishing everything else up to match later this week then it's on to clearing the block for the stroker rods and assemble this weekend.

It's all pre measured so just need to double check the rings and bore but it's from the same machine shop overbored to the same spec so theoretically it should be pretty close.

More to come as i get there

 

[Bantambunny]

Bit more painting last night, just need to clean up the faces then i can start on the block:

 

[Bantambunny]

Finished stripping the engine last night and some good and bad news.

The crank is fine, it's stainless anyway so i wasn't expecting any problems but the cam suffered a bit with water droplets sitting on it and it's eaten through the surface of one set of lobes. Not bad enough to scrap the cam but it does mean i'll have to keep an eye on wear. Oh well, looks like i'll have to start saving for a bigger badder cam for next season and see how this one holds up.

Anyway so that's it now for parts off the old block, everything is cleaned and bagged up ready to be refitted now so i'll get the clearance of the new block done tonight and give it a first coat of enamel. I'll also roder my new gaskets to be delivered tomorrow.

I'm off friday, saturday and sunday and apart from a mortgage signing, a funeral and a band practice i've got the rest of the time to devote myself to the rebuild.

All being well the engine should be finished and lashed up by Sunday evening and ready to fit.

I did a bit more work on the inlet last night and refitted the shiny bits to see how it looked and tidy up any unpainted areas and it's looking good

More to come as i get there folks! :hyper:

 

[SKiddell]

The crank is fine, it's stainless anyway

Interesting choice of material, not often used in cranks

 

[johnymd]

Glad to see you've got the oven gloves ready, those intakes can get pretty hot!

 

[Bantambunny]

Flipping hot! So well worth painting in engine enamel, i have extreme heat matt black manifold paint for the manifolds to go on yet but that's for sunday

Interesting choice of material, not often used in cranks

Sorry i'm getting myself confused, it's forged not stainless! Luckily because the bearings have sealed it up no water has got in and destroyed anything yet.