Complete L26 Engine Rebuild

This is the video you've all been waiting for! Watch as I tear down my numbers matching L26 engine and rebuild it, putting new life into it. There will be a full driving video coming soon!

[@MetallicMedium]

Who else wanted a look at that transmission fluid? Great video!

[@nlcke3265]

First time to your channel. Editing is diamond. 👍🏻

[@thetoolman3]

It takes a lot of courage to dig into an engine rebuild. Well done!

[@ElItExMrE]

Thank you! I hope to take her on a road trip this summer to let her stretch the tires and rev her engine. ~SG#7

[@sbruce899]

Congratulations, I just installed an L28 that I just overhauled for my 73 240Z. I went old school and removed EFI system that came with the engine and installed 4 screw round tops that were on the L26 that was removed. very smooth, lots of power. it will be lots of fun once its broken in.

[@imsgoalie1]

If you milled the head, and then restored the combustion chamber volume with material removed from it as well, the effect on compression ratio should be negligible (technically zero if the combustion chamber volume was truly brought back to original spec, which seems difficult to do without removing a ton of material). Also, really cool job with the video editing. The time lapse shots of stuff screwing in and rotating is always kind of relaxing to watch in a weird way. Definitely appreciated that effort on your part!

[@ElItExMrE]

Thanks Ian, Those edits can take a while to make but they are worth all the time for the final product. Good catch, I did the math and my compression increased only .1. ~SG#7

[@johnnyg9248]

Why would someone thumbs down such a cool video. Keep it up Bro!

[@robwhite240z]

Good Job, nice , 10 to 1 comp ratio, 10 mm cut off exhaust guide and shape guide boss to 45 deg, long tube headers , 72 deg cam. and watch it come to life.

[@ElItExMrE]

Great idea on trimming the exhaust guides. I'm thinking about possibly porting and fuel injecting another later n42 head and swapping it to increase efficiency. ~SG#7

[@jgraham8248]

I have a late 74 260Z and love it! Thanks for sharing and I commend you on a job well done....ready for a couple of hundred thousand miles more!

[@alienpoker]

260Z engine with dome-top SU carbs and E88 head. Nice. I run that setup. Nice job on the home workshop engine rebuild. 👍🏼

[@ElItExMrE]

Thank you! Yeah it's running great, how many miles are on your Z? ~SG#7

[@noduh736]

A shop probably wouldn't have done as good and it would have been expensive good job I'm going to be attempting the same rebuild soon

[@sneugler]

Fantastic job, mate. This video was super enjoyable to watch

[@ElItExMrE]

Thank you, I love making edits like this. I've got to replace the rear suspension this summer so be on the look out for more videos really soon ~SG#7

[@sneugler]

Sybert's Garage Nice! My dream car has always been an old Z, but the prices skyrocketed right when I’d be able to buy one. In the meantime, I’m really looking forward to getting more repair guides. :)

[@alextepozteco3681]

Sick video reminds me of last year when I rebuilt my L28, I just finished modifying my L28 to NA-T with megasquirt and multi coil ignition last week

[@Mac-yu6tj]

まだ若いのにプライベーターの情熱を感じました！　凄い！

[@MindDezign]

Great great "EDIT" voice over dub is THE ONLY WAY to get work done and video record it. Good job. My only suggestion is the higher out put oil pumps were used because it feed a turbo and oil cooler. Since you live in the North Not really much need for the cooler . But your built for it .That will always help any motor. The added pressure / volume in a standard motor just makes the motor work a little harder than it needs to with no place to go, for the oil. Great build SO MANY have learn mechanical skills on a Z. It's a true Sports Car that is only going up in value. Enjoy your well researched work. I'm building 2 @ once. But I've built many in the past. Great job !

[@philbalon6992]

Great video that L engine is so fun to work on...all the new engines are Rubic’s cubes backed up with software...what a pain !

[@ElItExMrE]

Tell me about it, thank you for visiting!

[@kaedeschulz5422]

Awesome man! I hope to build up a Z one day... They're getting expensive.

[@TRUTH4U2NO]

Each valve rocker is to remated with its original position of the camshaft. Also always have a machine shop resurface the flywheel.

[@PGGM100]

Love it good job men.

[@TheUltimate65]

Nice work of a nice car...

[@loosebolts4537]

This was a good video I’m rebuilding my vg30dett. Will be posting a video soon, but this helps build the confidence before I tear it apart. 👌

[@ElItExMrE]

Engine rebuilds can definitely be daunting to start, but by making progress (albeit sometimes small progress) each day/week it will surely get done. I wish you the best of luck on the vd30dett!! I wish I had a turbo, I dream of bolting one to my L26. ~SG#7

[@benoitlevante7467]

Jolie travail

[@_..-.._..-.._]

I see you’re porting with a carbide burr, the one shown is more for steel and iron, the ones made for aluminum have fewer cutting edges so they “clean out” better.

[@jordancailes8383]

Good job

[@artllamas2242]

Inspirational

[@horaindarte2770]

fantastic

[@chefjono]

nice video

[@robertcabrera6232]

Please explain to me why you added shims that weren't originally present to the rocker towers? Because I don't understand. The L26 has an overhead cam engine, not pushrods. You decked the head surface facing the cylinders, so cam to rocker geometry wasn't changed by machining. In a pushrod engine machining either mating surface of the head or the block has the effect of lengthening the pushrods, thus changing the rocker to valve geometry, but this doesn't matter on overhead cam engines. Now if you had to take a bit of material out of the valve seats to get them to seal properly that would change geometry, because the valve stems would be sticking out further, but that has nothing to do with decking the head or the block.

[@kenzdubee3394]

what about the huge exhaust leak and the whiney differential after your rebuild

[@ElItExMrE]

Exhaust and muffler weren't installed in the first part of the video. Later on however, I welded the exhaust together to get rid of that sound. The differential is a project for WAYYY down the line, I'm not living near the Z anymore so it's hard to dump money into her.

[@VintzDesert]

Hey man this is an awesome vid! I’m hoping to buy and restore a 240-280z in the next 3-5 years and was wondering how you learned so much about its engine restoration? I’m not mechanically challenged or anything, but have very little knowledge of engines

[@JoePizzaGuy]

Awesome! My son and I are going to tackle a 280 this summer. What would you roughly estimate the over all cost of your rebuid?

[@JoePizzaGuy]

Found it in a earlier comment, thanks.

[@ElItExMrE]

Have fun with your rebuild, it will be an experience neither of you will forget.

[@PoofyPandaChris]

What did it cost to have the block machined?? Looks great!

[@ElItExMrE]

To deck the cylinder head then clean it and also clean the block was $225. Thank you!

[@scafatiguitars6894]

Did you buy a complete rebuild kit?

[@ElItExMrE]

I bought the parts individually. All except for a complete gasket kit.

[@bennickerson531]

I’ll be honest, I’ve never seen anyone crosshatch cylinders with soapy water, usually just engine oil. It seems like it would take away more material, faster. If anyone has done both and has seen a difference, please let me know.

[@101ted1]

damn how much did the rebuild cost? i wanna rebuild my 2.8L

[@ElItExMrE]

It has been a while so my memory is a bit foggy, I believe that the machine shop let alone was $200, so including the remaining parts I'd put it around $600-700. ~SG#7

[@DAT240Z72]

You don’t want high oil pressure. It robs performance.

[@alexrivas6813]

Did you replace the front crankshaft bolt and/or the camshaft bolt

[@ElItExMrE]

I kept the original front crankshaft and camshaft bolt. I thoroughly inspected the threads for damage. One thing I wish I replaced was the damper pulley. The rubber inbetween the pulley and shaft slipped and I no longer know what the timing is set at. Learn from my mistakes, thank you for viewing, Alex.

[@thetreblerebel]

Sometimes you cant pay somebody else to the work for you. You roll up your sleeves, put your man pants on, and rebuild the dang ole engine

[@ElItExMrE]

Damn right Stevie Jo!!! Couldn’t have said it better! Cheers ~SG#7

[@Tyler-qn4gn]

If your comfortable answering, around how much was the rebuild?

[@ElItExMrE]

It has been a while so my memory is a bit foggy, I believe that the machine shop let alone was $200, so including the remaining parts I'd put it around $600-700. ~SG#7

[@Tyler-qn4gn]

@@ElItExMrE Thanks for the reply!!

[@hudsondonnell444]

I would extrude hone the head instead.

[@wrotedog]

Same engine design as k24e

[@スベすべ]

悪魔のZ

[@mr.nubblets6856]

Amazing build you should lower it and space the wheels out 👍👍