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Loren O's '72 521 -Found this out in the woods.


Loren O

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  • 2 weeks later...

Good news! My friend who's garage I've been waiting for space in,called me the other day. He wants to get going on my truck project,so he can get his next project going sooner. Now I just need to get the engine,trans,&weber carbs I bought from the gut I bought them from,& haul all of it & the.truck from outside Estacada/Colton over to Molalla.

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  • 1 month later...

Some of you have seen my status,& know my engine, transmission,& weber carbs were dropped (literally )off at my work last week. While they guy I bougjt them from was unloading them with his excavator,my transmission fell out of the bucket,&dropped about 4 feet ,onto the pavement. It flattened the dust shield & seal on the extension housing . It also broke the extemsion housing. I'm thinkin that the transmission is junk at this point.

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Plan B at the moment is to just leave the original 4-speed trans in the truck for now,swap the L20 in,do the leaf spring with lowering blocks swap, bring the front end down to match,&just drive the truck that way while I work on my goon.

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I'm sure I could find a tail housing somewhere. There are at least 4 620's up in Elwood where my truck is waiting. Damn,i gave away an old 620 5-speed a few years ago. It had stuck in 2nd gear,but it was good for parts( like the extension housing ). I haven't taken apart a transmission before,I thought it required special tools . I could just track down another transmission too. I'm trying to get this truck driveable before anything wears out on my goon. It needs struts/brakes, the right front wheel bearing is growling again,&i just replaced that last year,races & all. I had to choose between hitting a car that spun out in front of me in the snow,or a controlled slow slide into a curb,a few winters ago. Now my car is rough on that bearing. I'm going to do the 280zx struts/brakes swap. I already have a coilover set to go with them. The goon also needs exhaust work,& the 280z trans in it is noisy as hell,& some previous owner cross threaded it,rounded off the drain/fill plug. This is my daily driver,so I have to have the 521 to drive while the goon is having all that stuff done to it. The goon is part of the family,2 of our 5 kids came home from the hospital as babies in it. It was the maim family car,until the last one was born.

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  • 2 weeks later...
  • 3 weeks later...

Well,the work on my engine has begun. My friend who's garage i'm using got it on the engine stand ,getting it ready for cleaning & painting of the block,I'll either polish the timing cover,or leave it natural. when he pulled the pan & checked the pan things looked ok,but the main bearings could be in better condition. I was planning on replacing the timing set while the cover is off anyway,so it's looking like at least a light rebuild at this point. So much for my hundred dollar engine & transmission plan. I'm not that suprised,what could I really expect for $100?. Would've been nice if the transmission hadn't been dropped & trashed before I got it. Oh well,at least it should be a reliable engine when it's back together. Here's some pics of the engine semi torn down.20140102_190038.jpg

 

 

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Them are not round exhaust ports, them are square exhaust ports with a round port exhaust manifold that was used on it(reason for black circles), it would be interesting to see if it has the big valves and is a closed chamber(peanut head).

This is what a round exhaust port head looks like.

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This is what a peanut head chamber looks like.

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Here is the only open chamber W53 head I have ever seen, I bought it just because.

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just buy the stock size bearing . your fine !!!!!!!!!!!!

 

to keep it on the cheap just buy a new slack side guide and a new tensioner( as that one needed to be adjusted better by pushing the slack side guide at top pushing it more in so it pulled the tesioner IN more on the bottom.

 

these chains dont wear as much as people think.

 

bead blasting the front cover will make it look nice but not needed, ck the water pump area for cavitation and or holes.

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Just making sure, your going to keep the broken transmission around, right?

Yes,i'm hanging on to it until I find another 5.speed,or a replacement extension housing for this one. Until then I'm going to use the stock 4 speed.
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Just a reminder, the bellhousing is valuable, in the event you, or someone wants to convert an FS5W71C to fit the L series engine...

What transmission is that? What model did that transmission originally come in? I was looking for a new extension housing,or another 620 5 speed,but maybe the transmission you mentioned will work in my 521.

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The 71C trans is from the 240sx.  The tailhousing is longer, but the trans mount is in the same position as the 280zx trans....  I haven't read up on what trans mount the 521 needs for a 280zx swap, but otherwise, you would need a shortened driveshaft, and the shifter is further back, so if your using bucket seats, you'd be fine, but there may be issues with a bench.....

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My engine is all torn down now,&.I'll be taking it to the NAPA machine shop in Canby to have the block honed & cleaned,the crank polished, & the head resurfaced,new valve stem seals put it. should I have the valve seats & guides done? I heard something once from a friend ,about using Z valves in an l20 head, but he died suddenly last year,& I didn't get the chance to ask him more about that. What would the benefit be,& what needs to be done? Here are a couple pics of the head before it goes to the machine shop.

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I wasn't there when my friend removed the head &.took these pics. I posted them here,but on my phone the pics aren't big enough for me to tell if it's an open chamber, or closed chamber head. Can someone here tell from these pics?

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