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Re: what kind of motor?????

To: "Roman Rist" <ristguitars@yahoo.com>,
Subject: Re: what kind of motor?????
From: Ronnie Day <ronday@home.com>
Date: Tue, 17 Apr 2001 14:24:28 -0500
>it has in it an odd motor (to me). No Nissan  markings on the valve
>cover, has the intake manifold on the left (passenger side), with two
>mikunis that look alot like solexes. he said they were 40MM. the head
>is sporting two plugs per cylinder.
>the thing sounded like it had some getup and go!

In an '85 it was probably a Z-24. Did it say NAP-Z? 2400cc with a 
crossflow 8 plug head designed for lower emissions rather than with any 
performance gains. I'd have to look to be absolutely sure, but I do think 
Nissan Comp offered a dual Solex/Weber manifold for it along with at 
least a couple of cams. The Z-motors (20/22/24) were basically 
evolutionary versions of the L-series, with the crossflow head. The Z-20 
and 22 share the same deck height as the L-20, which is 3/4 taller than 
the L-16/18 blocks. The Z-24 is another 3/4 taller yet. Engine mounts at 
a different angle than the L-series, too.

These bigger motors have been fairly popular swaps for the 510 since it 
really is pretty much a bolt-in. Most of the time the Z-head will be 
replaced with an L-head because even though it's crossflow, the Z-head 
wasn't designed for power or torque and there's not enough meat in the 
casting to allow this to be corrected. Also, since the Z-24 block is 
taller than the L-20/Z-20/Z-22, there's no off the shelf timing chain 
set. You have to make one, usually using a Mercedes chain with a master 
link. Then you have to deal with the hood clearance issue caused by the 
taller block. Consequently most use either the Z-22 with an L-head, or 
drop the Z-22 pistons/rods/crank combo into a bored L-20 or Z-20 block. 
This is the motor that I'll be building for our street 510. Basic idea is 
the same as replacing a 265 or 283 Chevy V-8 with either a 350 or a 383. 
Same external size with a bunch more cubes for torque.

For a really in depth discussion of all of this, check out the L-series 
specs on Jason Gray's site at:

http://home.att.net/~jason510/Motorspecs.htm

Jason has also put together a number of other very informative pages off 
of his <http://home.att.net/~jason510> main page. A couple of the pages 
on Webers and ignition are applicable with virtually no alteration to the 
R and U motors in the roadsters.

Because of the already mentioned height and complexity of using the Z-24 
block, most who want more than 2200cc motors are going to the KA-24 which 
offers the further advantage of EFI. There are at least a couple of 
really nice KA powered roadsters running around NorCal, AFAIK. I think 
Bill Kenyon had his for sale. Wonder if he did in fact sell it?

FWIW, Ron

Ronnie Day
ronday@home.com
Dallas/Ft. Worth
'71 510 2-dr (Prepared Class Autocrosser)
'73 510 2-dr (Street Toy)

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