Meticulous work and great video! Congrats on the progress so far. The mating surfaces look good. You'll probably be able to drive the car this winter on the warm dry days.
Just so you know with the felpro there is extra material on the edges so if the head gasket blows due to detonation it will typically do so into a coolant passage where as the stock gasket has less material on one side. When the felpro let's go it will hydro lock the motor.
Great to see you back. Something to try if you have not, "oops" sold at parts stores, comes in a metal can like cig lighter fluid (if that stuff is still around). If you have to clean gaskets that are paper based anyway (also great at for that permatex gasket maker). It has all the good nasty stuff (like toluene and others). Just put on the old gasket or old permatex, it will dissolved it and then use a single edged razor to scrap off.
+Dave WM happy to be back working on the car. Life got in the way for a bit (sickness, work got busy), but I'm back in the garage now. That's a good tip. I know I had a hell of a time trying to scrape away the distributor paper gasket which basically glued itself to the surface.
I have a white 75 silver hood and I just put a small block in it and I've got an 82 and I think I'm gonna put a small block in it to ...I love all original but the small block is just easier to find parts and more power especially with a bigger cam made my 75 freaking scream but cool video ....also the speedometer cable from a Chevy will screw right into place on a 280Z ,don't know about the ZX
I cannot in good conscience recommend that you order from California Datsun. I know the convenience and the price is tempting, but from my experience, you're much better off finding a head on eBay, Craigslist, or a junkyard and taking it to your local, well-reputed machine shop. Please check out episode 22's comment section if you haven't already. I'd try eBay if you don't mind paying a bit extra for convenience. You might also have some luck from posting on facebook groups or forums.
I would HIGHLY advise against this method of surface prep for a head gasket. I'm not overly finnicky about such things either... I once resurfaced a block for a new head while it was still in the engine bay, same as you've done here. I'm not against any method or practice, if it works consistently. The problem I see it with using a rotary to sand your block is that it's neither flat, nor large. It's going to be extremely easy to create low spots in the surface of your block using this method. If it worked here, good going by you then, I suppose. But I always err on the side of prudence with such a time consuming process, to the extent that I can (so as not to have to repeat it). The method I used, with which I've had good results, is as follows. Block off all the passages where debris can enter the block. oil, coolant, cylinders, as it appears you have. I use a flat razor blade to scrape off the old gasket, preferably in some sort of holder with a handle that is designed specifically to do exactly this. Home depot sells 4 inch razors; they're much longer than the little one inch jobbies that most of us think of when we think of straight razor blades. I like them, as the edges are rounded and less likely to dig into the surface at the corners of the blade. I then try to use a thick, flat piece of metal as a sanding block. Something that I know is truly flat. If I can't get that, a nice dense, rubber sanding block will do, so long as it's large enough to overhang both sides of the engine block, and still be at least 4 or 5 inches wide in the other dimension. I then sand in little circles, moving slowly from the front of the engine block to the back, and vice versa. The idea is to keep the pressure even across the surface of the sanding block, hot spotting the opening edges of the bores as little as possible. If the razors don't get it clean enough to sand, I'll sometimes use a scotch brite pad underneath a sanding block to get any remaining schmoo cleaned off. Then I go from 800 on up to about 2000, not stopping until I've got nearly a mirror finish. Afterwards I clean the block off with extreme care before removing whatever I've plugged the galleys and bores with. I want to stress again I'm not an authority, but I've had good luck with this method a few times, even though it is not the ideal way tor resurface it. I feel extremely confident it's superior to using any kind of rotary tool as demonstrated above. Far more forgiving, at the absolute minimum. Best of luck to all
Very much open to errors as you point out.Author is very detailed minded so would I suspect work well for him....but not everyone is that controlled...but what a overall great series...thank you. But it is a place for extra care I can just see it,scratching the surface using the rotary tool.....I personally could not do it that way as my eyes and hand coordination is not that good.
the 79ZX cars and some of the early early 80 models came with the 130mph speedo. of course due to some highway speed regulation or some other federal factors, the USDM cars later started coming with speedos maxing at 85. remember, years ago 65 miles an hour speed limits were the norm for highway and freeway driving. the ZX, was considered more luxerious than sporty, unlike its older S30 sister which was quite the opposite. still, the 280ZX is my favorite Z.
Meticulous work and great video! Congrats on the progress so far. The mating surfaces look good. You'll probably be able to drive the car this winter on the warm dry days.
+heymisterderp thank you as always for the words of encouragement! I'm hoping I can get this running in a couple of more weekends
How do you turn the crank to move the pistons around to clean them with the wedge in the timing chain?
Just so you know with the felpro there is extra material on the edges so if the head gasket blows due to detonation it will typically do so into a coolant passage where as the stock gasket has less material on one side. When the felpro let's go it will hydro lock the motor.
Great to see you back. Something to try if you have not, "oops" sold at parts stores, comes in a metal can like cig lighter fluid (if that stuff is still around). If you have to clean gaskets that are paper based anyway (also great at for that permatex gasket maker). It has all the good nasty stuff (like toluene and others). Just put on the old gasket or old permatex, it will dissolved it and then use a single edged razor to scrap off.
+Dave WM happy to be back working on the car. Life got in the way for a bit (sickness, work got busy), but I'm back in the garage now.
That's a good tip. I know I had a hell of a time trying to scrape away the distributor paper gasket which basically glued itself to the surface.
yea the oops is perfect for that. I used it on the trans where the seal was made using that grey permatex for oil locations.
Love the 70s jazz
I have a white 75 silver hood and I just put a small block in it and I've got an 82 and I think I'm gonna put a small block in it to ...I love all original but the small block is just easier to find parts and more power especially with a bigger cam made my 75 freaking scream but cool video ....also the speedometer cable from a Chevy will screw right into place on a 280Z ,don't know about the ZX
Did you end up using the head from California Datsun or not? Trying to find a head myself and not having much luck
I cannot in good conscience recommend that you order from California Datsun. I know the convenience and the price is tempting, but from my experience, you're much better off finding a head on eBay, Craigslist, or a junkyard and taking it to your local, well-reputed machine shop. Please check out episode 22's comment section if you haven't already.
I'd try eBay if you don't mind paying a bit extra for convenience. You might also have some luck from posting on facebook groups or forums.
Don't cleaner piston? 😕
You shud turbo that Z while it's apart
I would HIGHLY advise against this method of surface prep for a head gasket. I'm not overly finnicky about such things either... I once resurfaced a block for a new head while it was still in the engine bay, same as you've done here. I'm not against any method or practice, if it works consistently. The problem I see it with using a rotary to sand your block is that it's neither flat, nor large. It's going to be extremely easy to create low spots in the surface of your block using this method. If it worked here, good going by you then, I suppose. But I always err on the side of prudence with such a time consuming process, to the extent that I can (so as not to have to repeat it).
The method I used, with which I've had good results, is as follows.
Block off all the passages where debris can enter the block. oil, coolant, cylinders, as it appears you have. I use a flat razor blade to scrape off the old gasket, preferably in some sort of holder with a handle that is designed specifically to do exactly this. Home depot sells 4 inch razors; they're much longer than the little one inch jobbies that most of us think of when we think of straight razor blades. I like them, as the edges are rounded and less likely to dig into the surface at the corners of the blade.
I then try to use a thick, flat piece of metal as a sanding block. Something that I know is truly flat. If I can't get that, a nice dense, rubber sanding block will do, so long as it's large enough to overhang both sides of the engine block, and still be at least 4 or 5 inches wide in the other dimension. I then sand in little circles, moving slowly from the front of the engine block to the back, and vice versa. The idea is to keep the pressure even across the surface of the sanding block, hot spotting the opening edges of the bores as little as possible. If the razors don't get it clean enough to sand, I'll sometimes use a scotch brite pad underneath a sanding block to get any remaining schmoo cleaned off. Then I go from 800 on up to about 2000, not stopping until I've got nearly a mirror finish. Afterwards I clean the block off with extreme care before removing whatever I've plugged the galleys and bores with. I want to stress again I'm not an authority, but I've had good luck with this method a few times, even though it is not the ideal way tor resurface it. I feel extremely confident it's superior to using any kind of rotary tool as demonstrated above. Far more forgiving, at the absolute minimum.
Best of luck to all
Very much open to errors as you point out.Author is very detailed minded so would I suspect work well for him....but not everyone is that controlled...but what a overall great series...thank you. But it is a place for extra care I can just see it,scratching the surface using the rotary tool.....I personally could not do it that way as my eyes and hand coordination is not that good.
About the only thing I don't like about the 79 to 83 280ZX is the 85mph speedometer ,I mean 78 and older had 160mph so wtf
the 79ZX cars and some of the early early 80 models came with the 130mph speedo. of course due to some highway speed regulation or some other federal factors, the USDM cars later started coming with speedos maxing at 85. remember, years ago 65 miles an hour speed limits were the norm for highway and freeway driving. the ZX, was considered more luxerious than sporty, unlike its older S30 sister which was quite the opposite. still, the 280ZX is my favorite Z.
You can blame Jimmy Carter for taking speedo down to 85mph