What could be wrong with my L28

[Camshaft1]

dont mind the porting, worked and big mutha cam comment. i only read top question then go straight to post!! but still even.... 7500?? really?

[Patroldude]

This is true - continued revving at 7500 willl kill a motor but seeing as it cost me $350 it didn't worry me - we were not discussing engine power and torque figures and for all I know my tacho could have been wrong (doubt it though) but we were discussing red lines, not where the power was greatest or torque - just the redline - it probably lost power sure - but it sounded damn fat doin so in the mud.

I didn't care about the motor as it was one a mate of mine built for his tafe project and some of the work was aided by a guy that builds 1000++hp Chev motors for the drag scene but thats besides the points, I am not a fourby competition freak and it was my first ever 4x4 so I was not crawlin, it was just a fun toy to thrash to see if I liked wheelin.... I also wanted to see how much abuse the MK patrols could handle - turns out a lot is the answer - car had been thru a shop window locally when the owner smoked too much funny stuff and went driving with stock motor in the wet.... only had stractors n zorst but went ok.... then I put hte other motor in it.

Thanks for the pointer thought Camshaft1 - I should have specified the point. yes it did loose power and torque at that RPM but it managed to rev that high and sounded good in the mud pits at menai years ago....

Guzzled fuel worse than the white one I mentioned in an earlier post....

Cheers

Mk

[Screwy]

camshaft1,

the redline on these is 5500, so if u rev it harder, and it will actually rev that hard....
its not gunna gain anything extra after that.
ur correct. ( FOR A STD MOTOR )

if its worked its abit different.....

screwy

[V8Patrol]

7500RPM is one hell of a hole in the block when it all goes wrong

BUT having said that many std motors that have a "factory limit" of say 5500RPM can quite often reach much higher, upwards of 8000 is NOT all that common but it does happen from time to time.

A Sigma motor I had here some time ago would static rev to 8300RPM, yet after it was rebuilt it wouldnt pass 5700RPM.
The reason for this motors ease of revin was simply a "loose" motor that became tight after the carby was opened up...... some motors are indeed freakish at times.

Another example of weirdness comes from the m/cycle world......
2 identicle GPZ 900 Kwakas had a totally differant power output,performance,& ecconomy levels, yet they were only seperated by 1 month of "manafacturer's date" ??????
When they were striped down they both had identicle parts inside so why the differance in performance ????
It wasnt untill the micrometer & the scales came out that I found the differances, half a thou here....half a thou there, 1 gram here and another there ..... might not seem like much but it all adds up.

Back when I used to build performance motors we would get in 20 rods....measure and weigh each rod and select a group that were as close as possiable to each other, even the length between the main bearing and the gudgeon pin varys a great deal ( even more so these days with mass production ) ........ its called "BLUE PRINTING" a motor
Some factory motor builds some times fluke a set of near perfect bits, it doesnt happen often but it does happen.

There are 2 X L28's here and both rev to 6000 easily in 1st gear, I havent pushed em further as yet and dont intend to.... as I said at the start....

7500RPM is one hell of a hole in the block when it all goes wrong

[Patroldude]

I think people are a little sceptical about hte Lseries moptor - the yanks and japanese have been getting big power and reliabiity out of em for years....

Kingy - Yes - 7500 would leave a nice hole in the block but only if its not built right or abused too much.... agree with similar engines being different, we had 2 identical escort engines put together at the same time yet one had a tad more grunt than the other one... couldn't figure it out until it was stripped and as you said some of the clearences were a tad different.... amazing the sort of difference somethign so fine can make....


Cheers

Mk

[Camshaft1]

Fair enough dudes.

[Big Red Toy]

its not a constant 7500rpm, i can't afford that much petrol
just would be nice, in 2nd low when trying to bounce over stuff when out wheelin

[shakes]

the old L series starting from the super rare L14, the l16 l18 and l20b 4 pots to the l20, l24, and l28 6cyls are awesome motors with their only downside being that they are a non-x-flow engine. ran on the production line from 1967 - 1987 ?

Browse around some datsun forums and you`ll find out some amazing stuff about what some of the scary potentials of these motors are and the amount of abuse they can handle.

relatively cheap upgrades on these motors can make some crazy power increases

sorry for the rant i`m just an avid datsun man

Cheers

[Big Red Toy]

your an ass

[Sterlo]

well its been like that for a while, its still revs high but not high enough

The timing is right, plugs & leads are good, cap etc good, i just did the clearance's and improved a little, carby has been overhauled & still same. Its not a major problem as 5000rpm is high but 7500rpm is nicer
it a bit of a pain if i'm trying to get a run up at a ledge etc, as it gets restrictive, oh well i'll just supercharge it one day

mate u do know the red line in the manuel for the L28 is about 5000 rpm

Nuh i dunno ive had my MK L28 over 8000rpm, its stock, that was on a gas bench and the tacho isnt faulty. L24E injection, running VN commodore ECU with triple coil packs, intercooled supercharged coming very soon!!!!


if u got higher once maybe u got lucky, or ur tacho screwed itself

[Beastmavster]

They then introduced the L28 into the First of the Patrol Prototypes in 79, and introduced it officially late 79 / early 1980.

Finally about 1984 Nissan Brang out the Nissan 280 ZX
This lasted till the late 80's/ about 5 years and it was the last of the L28 motors. This motor hoever had a difference.

It was an L28E. It was fuel injected.

Screwy

280ZX's actually came out a lot earlier than 1984 by the way. Dunno exact dates but more like 1980 than 1984. A friend had a 1982 Targa for example and I think that was called a series 2.

The 280ZX died out by about 1985 and had a life of about 5 years.

All 280ZX's were EFI. In other markets EFI came earlier than aus - 260Z shape in the US ended up with 2.8 and EFI

Most of the cedrics were not called cedric here - it was called 260C/280C. Note that it's *not* identical to the Japanese Cedric and as such the name change wasn't just because cedric is a very Grimace name.

There was a cedric released here in australia - think it's when the L series 6 was still a 2000/2300 engine.

The engine was originally a 2 litre, then 2300 then stretched to 2400 for 240Z and 240K, then 260Z and 260C, then 2800 f0r 280Zx, skyline and Patrol.

It also shrunk back to 2400 for the newer injected skyline. Manifolds are interchangeable on all L24/26/28. Dunno if the L20T (6 cylinder skyline turbo version) is but they're so old who would bother..... there's RB20T's cheap.

240Z had the highest factory redline. The 2600 was a stroke job of the 2400 and the 2800 was a bore of the 2600.

The same principles and bits apply with the datto 1600/1800/2000 4 cylinders (1600/180B/200B).

200B pistons and rings are the same as L28. 1600/1800 and 2400/2600 pistons are same. 1600 and 2400 rods are the same but different to 1800/2600.

Carbys and manifolds are interchangeable within the 6 cyl and 4 cyl series, so L24E skyline injection will work fine on a patrol, and a L20B turbo 200B can be put on a 1600.

Cams for the passenger cars and are compatible and will give a lot more power.

Apparently there are differences in the oil galleys between L28 and L28E but I dunno. Easiest solution is use the EFI on yout block with the EFI cam. A carby 240Z cam would be better

[Beastmavster]

MY datto 240Z had a stock redline of 7000 that it used to love to ignore and the rev limiter cut in at 8000 rpm. On overrev due to a missed gear I'd seen it almost go completely round the clock (off the gauge at 8000 but would have been 9500 for sure).

It copped that kind of abuse for years with no dramas, but the L24 is obviously the most revvy of the lot. Mine was very well built too.

You wont get anything like that out of your stock dizzy and carb, but with electronic dizzy and some carby mods no reason why you can't do 7000-7500.

There are bits you can do due if you know which bits to use (slight varions in crank and pistol skirts) to enable reliable street tunes to 9000rpm. These days you wouldnt bother but in the 70's, 80's and early 90's it was pretty common stuff... now people just drop RB Turbos in them.

Race versions of the L series in zed cars regularly see 11,000rpm use and yeah are on the fun side of 300 horsies. Turboed L series 4 cylinders see over 300 from normally 2150cc (can go to about 2300 on petrol engine parts but not recommended with turbo).

Yes, they can also be stroked into some rather high CC engines using some diesel nissan parts too... an L28 can be taken out to nearly 4 litres, but the better bet is turboing hell out of it.

[Beastmavster]

Oh guys the ultimate carbies were the 1969-1971 or 1973 model 240Z twin SU's (not the 1972's) and the best was the pre 1974 red grind cam. These are interchangeable on any L24/L26/L28. I trialled quite a few cam grinds and nothing was better than the factory "red" cam grind.

best dizzys are the EFI one or the 240Z ones.

The 280ZX "green" cam deserves to go straight into a bin.

260Z twin carbies come in two types - bad and horrible. If it's the water operated choke version they belong in the bin too.

Holley 350 work ok on a L24/L26/L28 but not face issues with the fuel sloshing around for onroad use. Regret not fitting EFI to mine and going the holley, but it was way cheaper.

If I could have got a 5 speed MQ SWB with LSD instead of a GQ I woulda taken it purely to get more than a power band that you have to shift up at 3 grand. The L series are a damn good donk and I know them inside out.

The L series design originally came from a Mercedes engine made under licence by Nissan.

You can also bore the 2800 out to about 3.1 litres using toyota pistons if anyone is interested check out any of the 2150 blocks the datto 4 cyl crowd used to use.

[MARKx4]

With my L28E i rev it to 5000rpm no worries and its standard. I wouldnt like to rev it to 7000rpm. To much strain on a standard motor, if you want more power dont go higher in the rev range, put a what nissan call a number 2 ground cam and it will bring that power lower in the rev range and will save your motor.

[Screwy]

All of the info that i posted above, was all straight from repcos computer system with regards to the dates.
if there is a mistake in the dates, my bad but i read it off there computer screens and typed in in here

Mark is right about not reving her up that far. if ya wanted more power....... PUT HER IN SECOND

[MARKx4]

To get more power out of these engines so you dont have tp over rev the engine. To start find a ZX wreckers, all the one i have found are great blokes, get injection, not sure on price now but good value for money, put in 300zx injectors, air flow meter off a turbo version, air pod or snorkle, cam and exhurst and you wont belive the difference. If you want to go a little futher get the turbo injected setup and have fun. All parts off a 280zx is at good prices because out of all the eairly zx series they were the most common. Play a little and you will be suprised with the power you can get out of what is a slow POS that we all know and most hate.

[Beastmavster]

Even if you dont want to go to the effort of EFI a L28 skyline carby, cam and dizzy would bring it up to about 114kw from 88kw. Worth considering as well.

[bazzle]

Dont know what sort of 4 wheeler needs to rev a motor to 7500 to get over aa rock ledge

2500 to 3000 used to be more than enough in the right gear

600rpms and a 'bump' on the throttle works too. Finese.....

Bazzle