wayno's LZ22

[wayno]

22 hours ago, datzenmike said:

 

Mostly for others to read. A piece of broom handle works. 

 

I made this modification, simple fix as I am lazy.

 

[datzenmike]

Trump said he likes lazy people.... they find the fastest way to get the job done.

[banzai510(hainz)]

that spot will be a weak spot and leak later

[wayno]

2 hours ago, banzai510(hainz) said:

that spot will be a weak spot and leak later

 

It's not clamped tight, it might be leaking by a little, I had no interest in ruining the hose with vice grips.

[wayno]

I tried starting this LZ23 engine last night, it would not run properly, it acted like it was not getting enough fuel, I re-did that with a new setup and called the night, today I tried again and same issue, I checked the floats thru the SU bowl vents, they were both floating, it has fuel, so i checked my timing a few times without any success, so i went to my LZ20 engine still out where I can access it, removed the distributor, wires and put it in this engine pedestal and all in this LZ23, wired everything, hit the starter and it roared to life, I ran it only a few seconds and shut it down, I then added water to the radiator, checked for leaks, wired everything again and started it up without changing the timing as the other engine ran fine in that position, it ran great, but I did no revving, my bypass hose connected to the radiator drain tube works fine but when revved the water came out fast and started getting everywhere, I ran it at least an hour, I put an electric fan in place as the stock fan did not seem to keep it cool, the electric fan worked great, I was not able to rev it without water spraying out the loose radiator cap, I made a cap out of a stock cap by cutting off the end with the seal so the water coming from the bypass had a straight shot into the radiator, I found an O-ring that helped a lot but it is still leaking slightly, not so bad, just dripping fast.

 

I am happy how things turned out, I just need to figure out how to make the other distributor work properly.

[datzenmike]

Points distributor???

[wayno]

Just another matchbox distributor I had running the LZ20 long rod engine, it ran fine, so I took if off by the pedestal, this way the timing was not changed, it was timed at about 6 degrees when I checked, I was shooting for 0 degrees to get it started with the other matchbox, I think it was from a car.

 

It was a long time ago when I put together that long rod engine, the block was not marked, but I measured the rods.

Edited March 17 by wayno

[datzenmike]

Then the rotor and cap are the suspects. If you didn't swap the wires they are next and the old plugs.

 

87mm bore will increase the compression, but not by much. The Z22E piston dish is at lease 2cm smaller than a stock L20B but I wouldn't expect the compression overall would be that much higher. Not nearly enough to lower the ignition advance way down to 6. Maybe 8 or 10? 

[wayno]

The distributor I used on the LZ20 was from a truck, I took it off that engine and put it on this LZ23 and it fired right up, the other distributor I tried to use might have been from a car, I used extra wires from a drawer, a new cap and rotor, I mixed/matched the pedestal and timing plate, I might try using it one more time, number one was at 2am on this, distributor, it almost ran but I could not get it to spark with my timing light, so I took the easy way and took a distributor from a known running engine from 5 years ago.

 

Today I built a small gantry crane out of extra metal I had around, I had to weld two pieces together to make a piece long enough, I might shorten it, it is taller than I wanted, it is just wide enough to roll my engine stands under it, lift the engine and lower the engine on to the small engine stand I posted photos of, the LZ20 is on one in this photo, these little carts are so easy to use/move around.

 

[banzai510(hainz)]

remember there was 2 pedastals for the matchbox L20s and one if off like 15 degs or so. why they did this I dont know

 

to solve this just put to TDC look at spindal  11/28 or so then put the dist on and make sure its lined up to Number 1 and within the plate adjustment. usuallky when running you get down to Zero and up to 25deg BTDC is a lined up set up.   If cranked all one way to get in time then running it rund bsd uususlly mesnd off s tooth,

Edited March 19 by banzai510(hainz)

[wayno]

I got it running with this weird Matchbox distributor, I sat in front of the LZ20 distributor, loosened all the adjustment bolts, and started twisting the distributor around until I got to the point the trigger point was dead on, it was at 6 degrees before TDC on the crank which was just about as far as it would twist that way, I tightened everything up and removed it from that engine in my garage on its stand and put it in my LZ23 in the test stand, I got it installed and wired to run(already warm from running it earlier), I hit the starter and it came to life, this is set up with number one at about 8pm compared to 4pm stock, the only way I could ever get this to work at 4pm is to change the drive position between the distributor and the oil pump, I am not sure if it is the pedestal that is the problem, the vacuum advance and Matchbox plug connection are not in the normal position.

 

It ran fine but I used old spark plug wires from a drawer, plus the SUs had been unused for years, I replace them with Z Therapy SUs, I checked everything out and the shafts were tight, so I went with them.

 

I also piped the thermostat bypass hose in the stock configuration; it was nice not having coolant squirting out of the loose cap.

 

Well, this LZ23 block is ready to put back in the ex-work truck, head is repaired, block/head has been tested, since it is not a work truck now, I run 91 octane non-ethanol fuel and do not haul my heavy trailer anymore like I used to everyday, maybe it will not have the knocking/pinging issue anymore, it had a rolling weigh of 6000lbs to 8000lbs or more if it had wet moss in the flatbed, that is a lot to ask a Datsun to do, wet moss weighs a lot, shoveling wet moss into my truck kept me healthy for 30+ years!

Edited March 20 by wayno

[datzenmike]

On 3/18/2026 at 5:30 PM, wayno said:

The distributor I used on the LZ20 was from a truck, I took it off that engine and put it on this LZ23 and it fired right up, the other distributor I tried to use might have been from a car, I used extra wires from a drawer, a new cap and rotor, I mixed/matched the pedestal and timing plate, I might try using it one more time, number one was at 2am on this, distributor, it almost ran but I could not get it to spark with my timing light, so I took the easy way and took a distributor from a known running engine from 5 years ago.

 

Today I built a small gantry crane out of extra metal I had around, I had to weld two pieces together to make a piece long enough, I might shorten it, it is taller than I wanted, it is just wide enough to roll my engine stands under it, lift the engine and lower the engine on to the small engine stand I posted photos of, the LZ20 is on one in this photo, these little carts are so easy to use/move around.

 

 

So the limiting factor was you ran out of adjustment? A LOT of power is lost when timing is retarded. Had a ride in a 510 with an LZ23 and it friggin went!!! 

[Dguy210]

2 hours ago, datzenmike said:

 

So the limiting factor was you ran out of adjustment? A LOT of power is lost when timing is retarded. Had a ride in a 510 with an LZ23 and it friggin went!!! 

 

I actually designed a solution to help with that type of problem for the adjustment. Been too busy to do anything with them though.

[banzai510(hainz)]

Dguy210 that is the shit!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I was going to tell ICEHOUSE on here maybe he could design a universal one that would fir the L16 and the 2 L20 types so it could work with any datsun L series.

 

I think you got it but if you could slot for the L16 mounting hole the be perfect.

 

key is getting to fit those Doursin (chinese clone)distributors they not perfect fit when it comes to the plate fitting the mount tang as in photo here

[banzai510(hainz)]

make one half for L20s and the other half for L16s  , So a 360deg plate

[Dguy210]

3 minutes ago, banzai510(hainz) said:

make one half for L20s and the other half for L16s  , So a 360deg plate

Just flip the plate upside down and you get most of the other half of the range, or is the L16 hole offset compared to the other L engines?

While I could have made it nearly 360 it seemed like it would be unnecessary as you only need 1/2 that and you just flip the plate over (per the images). Let me know if I'm not parsing that correctly. 

I can pull the dist off my 521 L16 and doublecheck but it looked like it would work. Hmmm..

 

 

[wayno]

On 3/20/2026 at 8:05 PM, Dguy210 said:

 

I actually designed a solution to help with that type of problem for the adjustment. Been too busy to do anything with them though.

 

I believe I have the plate on the top right, I had to make the adjuster hole larger out as the screw hole was not centered in the adjustment hole, as I recall I tried it right side up and upside down, and found a spot after sitting in front of the engine one evening, I twisted the distributor until I was just able to get past the trigger point turning it clockwise, in my head I believe turning it counter clockwise advances it, but I could be wrong.

Also my post on the cap is at about 8pm, I am used to 4pm, but I got it running again with the good distributor and when I put it back in my work truck, I will likely use the distributor on that LZ23 engine for this better engine.

[wayno]

On 3/20/2026 at 5:44 PM, datzenmike said:

 

So the limiting factor was you ran out of adjustment? A LOT of power is lost when timing is retarded. Had a ride in a 510 with an LZ23 and it friggin went!!! 

 

The 2 plates I have were not working with this distributor, this is on a test engine(to see if they will run), normally once running I run them at idle of fast idle form an hour, I do not rev them and annoy the neighbors.

[wayno]

I forgot to ask, are Z24 distributor coils the same as Matchbox coils?

[datzenmike]

Very slightly higher primary resistance but will work. Everything after '77 was considered EI. 

[wayno]

I have moved onto an SD22 engine with a VE type injection pump that smokes bad when first started and cleans up after warmed up, I have timed the VE pump every direction without any success, I will check the valve clearances and if they are good I will put an inline injection pump on this engine as I know them better, I just want things to run properly when stored.

[wayno]

Well this SD22 engine was like before, it was hard to start and ran like shit until it warmed up, it was making me crazy, I put it back in the line of engines to work on, started it and back to normal, missing bad when running, and a lot of smoke, this time I shut it down right away and checked all the glow plugs, they all lit up fine(glowed bright yellow/Orange, I put it back together and checked to make sure I had power to all the glow plugs(one connection for 4 glow plugs, that wire going across to all the glow plugs was only giving power to the first glow plug, I was getting nit started with only one glow plug working, that it started at all was amazing.

 

I started it again this morning and it was back to smoking(not bad like before) when cold and it got better as time went by, but my 1969 Datsun 521 kingcab diesel engine does not smoke like this in the morning, the 720 does smoke a little but not like this, but it has an exhaust tube all the way to the back of the truck.

 

This is not running properly too me, this engine has less than 200 miles on the rebuild, but it sat after the 200 miles for 5+ years, the warmer the engine gets the cleaner the exhaust is, when warmed up it is clear/clean.

 

I was considering selling this if I could get it running properly, I suppose I could put it in my 1980 diesel with a turbocharger and driving it for a while to see if it gets better, it is only being revved to 2000rpms on the stand for only a couple seconds, mostly it is idling at high idle, as low idle is hardly even running(500/700rpms).

 

I need to take a photo of the small gantry crane I made, it makes it easy to move engines around.

[wayno]

I have run out of adjustment for the injection pump, so I moved the gear a tooth, I likely went the wrong way, I put it back to stock and I might try it a tooth the other way today, I am trying all options, I am just changing when the injection pump squirts the atomized fuel in the cylinder, I am retired now and am keeping busy.

 

I just cannot have it blowing that much smoke until warmed up, it starts easy enough now, I do not have another running engine with a VE type injection pump like I have with inline pumps, I know where to put an inline injection pump, I just measure my 521 kingcab diesel and put the fresh inline injection pump there, never had an issue, but I forgot to measure the one I took off this time, that was a mistake.

 

It's vinegar one uses to keep up old fuse blocks, is there a ratio or full strength?

[wayno]

I used vinegar 50 percent strength on the 1964 Datsun NL 320 fuse block, it did not have headlights or park lights, it worked great and I now have all my lights again, I alsom found a fuse cover in my parts stash.

 

I also did what I said I was going to do, I went the other way with the gear timing for the injection pump, first I think I advanced the timing, then I retarded the timing but I might be backwards on that, too many gears turning this and that way, it started up easily but made a lot of noise, I loosened the 3 nuts that hold the injection pump on and in place timing wise, dead center in the adjustment slot was the quietest, I warmed it up and shut it down till today, it was almost 50 degrees outside when I tried starting it, it would not run, then I realized I had not removed the plug in the intake to keep stuff out, I pulled if off and started it, no smoke and it idled at low rpms without an issue, when I stomped on it I got no puff of smoke like I was getting before after it warmed up, I called it good for now, I have one more engine to test fire(LZ20) and all will have been ran and warmed up.

 

I need to take a good photo of the small gantry crane I made, I need to put the wheels on it for the photo.

[wayno]

I made this gantry crane over the last week, it is made for my small engines, it is not wide enough to roll a car underneath it, never even thought about doing that, my universal engine test stand is under it with the radiator still in place.

 

 

The SD22 diesel engine with the VE type injection pump got put in its small cart and put in storage again, I started it up cold and it did not smoke, time to test run the LZ20, that is the last one that needs to be run, the rest are parts engines.

Edited March 27 by wayno