I just looked at dimlight's sight and i love that engine!!! how much of a head ache was it if any to get that z20s in there???? did you get the ammount of power you were aiming for out of it? How much of the engine did you leave stock?

I just saw a datsun 1200 with l16 twin dellortos and all round disks for $800 but you should see how bad the crossmember was moded to fit the tall bastard and yet if he lowered it the sump would be a rock collector.
So Dimlight's must have a crazy split vcrossmember to sit that low with such a tall engine as the z20 is, then again it would have been worse with a z24! :))

I was harrassed into doing that engine swap. I've told this story before but here it is again. I pulled it out of a 1980 510 (A-10 Stanza for you guys across water) and dropped it straight into the 1200. Literally, it never touched the ground. I made up some motor and transmission mounts and started cutting the radiator support to fit a larger radiator. The pan did just touch the cross member and the water pump was a scant half an inch from the radiator. Hood clearance wasn't really an issue with the valve cover as the cam sits below the rockers on the NAPS-Z unlike the L-series. The carburetor was another issue entirely! I used to use the hood to seal the top of a K&N air filter. I later bought one of those foam dome type filters and a bitchin' set of air horns. Of course, I had to install the 300ZX hood scoop to clear those.
As for engine mods, it is a Z-20 bottom end bored, I think, .040" over. The head was totally remanufactured with new everything and shaved...um.. alot, I don't remember how much. The cam was, and I quote the dirt track engine builder who races NAPS-Z powered cars, "the biggest cam that will physically fit in the stock valvetrain without modification." I don't remember the specs, it's been a while since I built that engine. Weber 38/38 DGAS synchronous carb on a stock manifold. The header was my pride and joy! I spent almost a month building it.
We tried to run the thing on a dyno once but were having trouble with the computer. The dyno's computer that is. Every car we tested that day showed between 63 (my white $5 car) and 68 (the Chickenhawk) horsepower. But they all registered different NEGATIVE horsepower numbers! Taking the lowest negative number and the highest positive number I saw on a run, I claim 175 horsepower for that engine. Was it what I expected? I'd have to say yes, that is about where I was estimating/hoping it would be.
The thing had the most awsome idle and with the solid mototr mounts, the whole car would rock side to side! It went "Bruup bruup bruup bruup bah pippety pippety pipety pippety bruup bruup bruup..." and so on. Each "bruup" would rock the car and the "pippeties" would smooth out. I hesitate to use this analogy but I was once told it sounded like a Harley idling. I thought it sounded better than that but it gives some idea of the idle.
Damn, I sure do get long winded when I talk about that car. Don't I?

It's a story worth telling more than once! Thanks Tim, your stories continue to inspire. Don't stop talking about what is possible with our B110s.

does it really have that much power? Have you ever had it on the qtr mile?175bhp (est flywheel bhp I assume?) is alot with a single downdraght carb. Especially on the NAPS head which is not renowned for its performance potential.

I'm about to rebuild my L18 in search of a bit more power. Current specs that got 116bhp at the wheels, around 155-160 flywheel are:
*mildly ported SSS (219 casting) head, with shortened and tapered Inlet valve guides, and heavily reworked combustion chambers.
*10.2CR, longer rods (L16), balanced, lightened flywheel,
*82/42 47/77 304 adv dur .514" lift works cam,
*twin 45 Webers with 40mm chokes on a Datrally manifold,
*custom headers & 2.5" exhaust

some serious port work and a high lift cam (83/43 48/76 306adv dur .585" lift) should get me somewhere around 175-180bhp, so if a basically stock NAPS motor can do that with just a shaved head, single downdraught, and dirty great cam get the same results, you could just have saved me alot of time and effort porting what is supposed to be a superior head!

I forgot to mention I also need some trick Manley Inlet valves at $70 a peice for that kind of power

I have also had the same top end componenets on a couple of L20B bottom ends, one of which was modified to 2.1 litres with big flat tops and valve releifs 10.8 CR, and while I never put them on a dyno, the L18 is definitely faster. The L20's were a nicer street motor though.

To be perfectly honest, No, I cannot justify that horsepower claim. Like I said, I took the lowest negative and highest positive numbers from a run and added them to get that. It was more for "bench racing" than anything else.
I never did get that car to the drag strip either. Ok, fine! I'll admit it. I didn't really want to know what it would do at the strip so I wouldn't have to actually give solid numbers.