About all I've really done lately is gotten ready to put the valvetrain back together and get the head cleaned up and reassembled. Removed body side moldings, and am going to remove the bumpers soon.
To remove the body side moldings, it was as simple as stripping away the rubber and then drilling out the pop rivets underneath. I didn't fill in the holes yet, I'll do that when I get closer to painting.
It's as simple as just taking a drill bit that's very slightly bigger than the hole in the center of the rivet and then progressively work your way up in size until the ring pops free and it's loose.
Here's a picture with the door shaved and the rear quarter panel still with the molding.
Once removed, it makes the look nice and smooth and sleek.
So, more on the Stroker set up:
The L28 is not the only 2.8 liter inline-6 L-series Nissan engine that was put into production. In the mid-80's, the Maxima had a diesel option that used an L28, commonly referred to as an "LD28." The stroke of the stock L28/L28E/L28ET crankshaft is about 79mm (Yes, I will refer to everything in metrics.). The stroke never changed in production of the early Z cars all the way through the 280ZX. The stroke was always 79mm. In the L28 blocks (The N and F blocks), the displacement of a stock engine is about 2.753 liters.
So, using an LD28 crank (It drops right in with a small bit of grinding on one part, and bolts to the original flywheel.), the stroke of a 280Z's L28 can be increased to about 83mm. The gain from stroking the engine is also defined by the bore of the block, which can be anywhere from 86-89, safely. Some people have managed 90mm, but it's a very risky bet on any of the older L28 blocks. All the 90mm bore ones I know of are the F-designated blocks from 280ZX turbos. All the rest of the internals are entirely at the builder's discretion, as long as they fit within the bore. Common pistons used are KA24E pistons, and the LZ22 pistons. Using KA24 pistons, about a 12% increase in displacement can be expected. Plus, the power band becomes much more smooth and the torque is down low. For more reading, you can use read this article about 3.0 and 3.1 Z Stroker setups.
Now to talk about my plan for a Stroker L28. I have an N47 block, so the 3.2 liter is just out of the question. But, I'm definitely aiming for 3.1 liters. I also have an N42 head. I'm going to track down an LD28 crankshaft at some point, and use 133mm length, 9mm bolt 240Z connecting rods that were used in the middle of 73. With that, I plan to use the dished KA24E pistons from Sealed Power, so the piston deck height is about 0.6mm above the block. With a regular gasket, the compression would be easily anywhere from 9:1 to 10:1. In order to avoid the valve hitting the top of the piston and not being able to use Regular pump gas, I plan to use a 1mm Kameari headgasket, which when all put together and using this wonderful compression ratio calculator, my compression ratio would be roughly 8.8:1. That's the stock compression ratio for a non-turbo 280ZX with the flat-top L28E pistons. In addition, as the article I posted says, a lighter flywheel is recommended. I plan to use a Competition Clutch Flywheel, that's about 10lbs, which is supposed to be perfect fit for a 3.1 stroker. In addition, I will have to have the rotating assembly balanced.
It may seem like a lot of work, but it will be worth it. The horsepower figures don't increase by much (Maybe a bit due to the bigger rod/stroke ratio and the slightly tighter compression), but in the end, it causes the L28 to have a much fatter power band with more torque down low, mainly below 4000 RPM's, and it keeps the same horsepower up top. Many people like to run this set up with about 9.5:1 compression ratios or higher, but I am still debating on forced induction or not, so trying to keep it close to a stock number.
This stroker idea is definitely something I want to do, but it probably won't happen for a while. It may end up happening after the car is restored and been driven for a while.
