1984

So I cleaned up the valve cover and head a little bit in preparation to take the valve cover off (first time taking a valve cover off any engine). I had read that the camshaft oil spray bar is destined to fail on the early L24 engines and sure enough it has. See pictures below. The short section of the spray bar on the radiator side of the engine is missing and I'm wondering where it might be. Did it fall into the timing chain void? I drained the oil and fished around through the drain plug with a magnet to no avail. Also went down the timing chain void with the magnet. My amateur eyes saw no damage to any of the springs or cams. But the spray bar is beyond repair and is not well designed so I plan to fabricate a new one that is failsafe. My question is: where did that 2-3" section of tubing from the camshaft oil spray bar end up? I'm a ways away from cranking the engine but I'd really like to find the missing piece.

I wish I would have saved this car sooner. While in highschool a friend drove it but when he went away for college he left it at his parents house. The water pump went out around this time and has just been sitting since. I assumed they had gotten rid of it until I saw it about a month ago. So anyway, I know a little bit about it's history and could possibly learn more. They said that the previous owner lowered it, who they are still in close contact with. I do know that they drove it as it is for years. I'll inspect things a little closer but I didn't notice any rubbing on the tires or anything else. And I'll have to pull a strut out for inspection. Thanks for your input, I hadn't thought about a chopped coil. Oh and good looking car. Did you black out the trim? If so, how'd you do it?

I agree. I read a post you made here about the close ratio transmission from the Maxima, which is a possibility, but it's more likely that it came from a 280zx. Especially since the previous owner said that the previous owner said that some parts came from a 280.

Here's some transmission pictures:

Yeah, I think it's from a 81-83 280zx. Must have been looking at the wrong part of the ratio chart. Those do look like cast iron brake drums. I'm guessing that they are just cheap replacements. I just did a quick search and aluminum drums are not only hard to get but they cost 4 times as much.

Oh so just the coils are shorter. Wouldn't the gas shock portion have to be shorter as well so they don't bottom out? There's some pictures. Those tires are 215/70 so 25.9".

Here's a screenshot of speeds at 5000rpm. Just now figuring out how to post pictures so bear with me. http:// As far as the engine goes, what I do know is that it ran well until the water pump went out. The previous owner noticed this while the engine was warming up in the driveway. For whatever reason they didn't replace the water pump and just let the car sit for a couple decades. The engine turned over easily by hand. Here's a picture of the rear suspension. Anyone know how it's been lowered? http://

That's good to hear. I plugged the ratios into a rpm/mph calculator and it seemed to be pretty good. The real test will be a drive. Congratulations! I bet yours has floor pans as well! Double bonus combo!

So I recently acquired a 1972 240z that has been sitting in a field for 20+ years. Here's what I've identified: -original L24 engine -E31 cylinder head -FS5W71B close ratio 5 speed transmission -R200 differential with 3.7 ratio The car has also been lowered. Any thoughts on this combination? I'll be posting on Z specific forums as well but I figured that I'd post here since I'm a member and there are some very knowledgeable people here. Thanks!

Hey so I wired things up as you described but the fuel pump wouldn't turn on. After a lot of fiddling and madness I found something that worked. I temporarily wired things up with twist connectors and drew up a diagram to try and make sense of things. I'm curious of your thoughts on it as it is baffling for me to think about. The oil pressure switch is on the - and the + is connected to the battery with a fuse. C is ignition and NC is the fuel pump. So the only thing different from what you said is the addition of ignition power. Does this make sense?

Hey thanks for the input. I tested the wires with a volt meter from the bottom of the relay box. With the ignition on, 3 of the 4 wires have battery voltage. That fourth wire has battery voltage when the pump is running. I think this means that there is no ground from the relay. On the diagram there's a ground at the pump. I really don't have a good understanding of electrical stuff so correct me if I'm wrong. I also unplugged the ECU and tried to start the truck. No voltage going to distributor from original wiring so no start. But if I ran a new ignition controlled wire to the distributor and have the fuel pump switched on by the oil pressure switch as recommended by datzenmike, then the ECU wouldn't be needed to run the truck. I think. Maybe...

Looks pretty nice. Does the stock wiring harness plug into that? Is the CAS in there? The one I got from performance distributors didn't come with the vacuum advance as advertised. The picture on their site for the distributor has the vacuum advance but it's pointing the wrong way. And also wasn't plug and play as advertised. Very expensive too. Here's a link if anyone wants to have a look: https://performancedistributors.com/product/nissan-vg30-dui-distributor/

Ok. Point taken. I appreciate the responses. I'll wire the pump through a safety relay. But I do find it interesting that wiring the CAS to the tach enables the fuel pump. I already ordered a diode so I'll do an experiment. Plus I'm interested in what the distributor company has to say on Monday when they get back to me. Thanks again

Thanks for the info. I really appreciate you spending time to get the diagram and describe it. Thinking about relays is confusing for me since I've never really done it so this makes it easy. But doesn't the CAS signal go to the ECU? And isn't a tach signal very close to what the CAS would normally be sending to the ECU? When the ECU receives the pulse from the CAS it knows the engine is running and switches on the fuel pump. Or am I thinking about this wrong? I'm not changing any of the wiring except for giving the CAS a pulsing signal from the distributor like it originally had. This pulse isn't making it to the fuel pump or relay is it? Wouldn't I hear the relay and/or pump pulsing if it were? And I tried both the 1 degree and 120 degrees wires separate and together with the same result. I think the ECU just wants a signal from the CAS so it's telling itself it's running.

Well now that I think about it it seems easier to put a diode on the CAS and connect it to the tach out on distributor. It will act as the safety switch for the pump. Any harm in doing this? The CAS worked with the old fuel injection which has been removed so it no longer does anything for engine performance? It's a 4wd. Looking at the wiring diagram it appears that a bunch of stuff goes through the ECU so I don't think I'll remove it. What do you guys think? Diode?