Datsun lz head type 2

[riaan140z]

Good day guys, 

 

i wondered if there is someone here that can assist me in some technical specs and parts availibility on these lz type 2 heads. 

 

please any assisitance in this regard will be greatly appreciated. 

 

thanks

[flatcat19]

LZ? The twin cam racing head?

[datzenmike]

Last I heard they were over $15K and unobtainable. In addition you would need the cam drive gears and housing.  You must mean something else.

[Stoffregen Motorsports]

Well the've got to be somewhere. If the OP has one, I'd love to see it.

[Lockleaf]

I hope he has one of them. I just did some reading on it. Nissan had that head developing some ridiculous power. I would love to see more about it.

 

I'm afraid parts availability is limited to whatever heads are still in existence though.

 

 

http://datsun1200.com/modules/mediawiki/index.php?title=LZ_engine

[Draker]

Likely limited to your wallet and choice of machinist. :)

[datzenmike]

Found this....

 

 

http://www.nissan-global.com/EN/HERITAGE/short_story/en_p22-01.html

 

  Pedigree of the LZ: The twin-cam engine that delivered a string of Nissan race & rally victories

Starring in the Japan GP, Safari Rally, and Super Silhouette Championship, the LZ was the motor sports engine behind Nissan’s formidable performance during the years when it had no twin-cam engine.

The LZ engine made its debut in the 1973 Japan GP (Fuji).

Good news - just in time to exact revenge
Designed for motor sports use, the LZ engine was a DOHC 4-valve engine that played a major role in races and rallies, both in Japan and overseas, during the period 1973-1983. The two letters "LZ" refer, respectively, to the L formation of the 4 cylinders and to the addition of a DOHC 4-valve head to what was originally a single-cam engine.
Of the three versions of the LZ engine - LZ14, LZ18, and LZ20B - the 1.6-liter LZ14 was the first to be developed. This engine powered the Sunny Excellent (KPB110) that won the Japan GP in 1973. And there is an interesting tale behind its development.
The story starts a year earlier, at the 1972 Japan GP. Nissan entered the Skyline GT-R and Sunny Excellent in this, the most popular touring car race. However, the GT-R (TS-b Class) was bettered by Mazda Savanna RX-3, while the Excellent (TS-a Class) was beaten by the combined forces of the Toyota Celica / Corolla Levin. It was an ignominious defeat for Nissan. The sudden ascent of the rotary-engine machines gave Nissan pause, and the GT-R was absent from the Japan GP in the following year.
This is why it was so important for Nissan that the Excellent should win. What had been planned for use in the 1973 Japan GP was the L14 (bored up to 1.6 liters), prepared to EGI specifications. However, with a single cam, the most output that could be expected was 180PS. There was thus no guarantee that it could beat the twin-cam Celica 1600GT, or the Corolla Levin / Sprinter Trueno.
Then in June 1972, the Vehicle Test Dept. engineers, who were searching for a solution to their engine problem, suddenly received some good news: from 1973 the FIA rules were to change and a DOHC head would be permitted as a bolt-on option. This was the answer! Adding a DOHC head would enable a considerable boost in power. This would give them a good chance of beating Toyota.
A project team was immediately formed and in September the plans were complete. It was a tight schedule, with the first prototype being tested in January 1973, and road tests planned for February. On February 28, JAF approval was obtained and they began to run the engine in properly at the Fuji Speedway.

The LZ head featured a narrow valve angle and shallow pent-roof combustion chamber.

LZ achieves debut win in ’73 Japan Grand Prix
Soon it was time for the 1973 Japan GP: May 3. The Nissan works team entered 9 Sunny Excellents equipped with the new LZ14 engine. The drivers were (1) K. Takahashi, (2) H. Kitano, (3) K. Tohira, (5) S. Suzuki, (6) S. Tsujimoto, (7) T. Teranishi, (8) T. Shinohara, (9) H. Yanagida, and (10) H. Kubota.
The race was dominated by Kitano in car No.2 (pole position, with a lead of 1 minute 31.17 seconds). Coming in 2nd and 3rd were also works Excellents. The LZ engine thus had managed a magnificent debut, taking the top three places with its unrivalled performance.
The LZ14 used in the 1973 Japan GP had a displacement of 1,598cc (bored up by 4.8mm to 87.8mm). Prepared to EGI specifications, maximum power was 200PS/9,400rpm, and maximum torque was 17.0kgm/6,800rpm. Instead of cast iron, the cylinder head was made from aluminum alloy, and the 16 intake and exhaust valves from titanium. It also featured a narrow valve angle of 34 degrees, an ideally shallow pent roof to the combustion chamber, and a compression ratio of 11.5~12.0. Each of the light-alloy pistons had a flat head with a deep valve recess, while the con rods were made from forged steel with mirror-ground edges. All the con rod/piston assemblies were carefully balanced to the same weight.
An innovative mechanism, using both gears and chains, was adopted to drive the camshaft: on the crank end was a 4-stage gear drive, while on the cam end there was a double roller chain. A special feature of the LZ engine was the thin housing for the cam drive. The head cover was rounded, unlike the flat type that was later used; it was finished with black crystal paint.
What made the development of the LZ engine special was the fact that, in a very short time, Nissan created a racing engine compact enough to fit into the engine room of a production vehicle, which offers little space, despite the fact that it had a narrow-angle valve layout (which tends to increase the overall height of an engine).

LZ20B

Major contender in overseas rallies
Later, owing to changes in race regulations, the LZ engine was mainly used for overseas rallies. The LZ18 was mounted in the Violet (710) and won the 1977 Southern Cross Rally in Australia. The LZ20B powered another Violet (A10) and dominated the Southern Cross Rally in 1979~1980 and the Safari Rally in 1981~1982. Prepared to rally specifications, the LZ18 (1,941cc) had a maximum power of 200PS/7,200rpm, while the LZ20B (1,952cc/1,975cc) generated 210~220PS/7,600rpm.
In Japan, at the 1978 Formula Pacific (FP1600) event that was started as a preparation for a Pan Pacific Championship, the LZ14 (1,598cc, over 225PS) made a long-awaited comeback, winning the 1978 JAF Grand Prix in Suzuka and the 1979 JAF Grand Prix in Fuji. In May 1978, it went on sale as an FP kit costing ¥2,040,000, available from Motorsport Supporting Office in Omori (now NISMO). No other domestic racing engine was as conspicuous as the LZ in so many arenas of automotive activity.
Bringing the history of the LZ engine to a glorious culmination was the LZ20B turbo (2,082cc). This engine was used in the Super Silhouette races (Group 5) from 1979 to 1983 and put out more power than F1 engines at that time: from the start its maximum output was 500PS, and this rose to 570PS (final specifications). The achievements of the mighty Nissan turbo machines - the Skyline (Masahiro Hasemi), Silvia (K. Hoshino), and Bluebird (H. Yanagida, ’80/’82 champion) - thrilled the Nissan fans at the races. And this track record paved the way for the later Group C cars that starred in All Japan Sports Prototype Championship Series (JSPC) endurance event.

 

 

AND...

 

http://lescollinsracing.com/engine/projects-engine/lz20b-rally

 

 

Datsun LZ20B - back from the brink

LZ18 Nissan engines first came to Australia for the 1975 Southern Cross International Rally powering two works Datsun Violet 710s - in some countries known as the Datsun 160J. The LZ is an interesting concoction from Nissan in that it was a custom built twin cam, 4-valve per cylinder head with quite a narrow valve angle, atop a modified L18B bottom end. Interestingly, the camshafts are driven by a chain of 7 gears plus 3 sprockets and a short double row chain at the top, and all this hardware produced a characteristic rattle at low revs in the rally version with its high lift valves but conservative timing. At first experience the rattle was rather disconcerting but became endearing to the many fans that followed the golden era of Australian rallying in which this engine played a leading role. 

There were only sufficient of these cylinder heads created to enable it to comply with FIA homologation rules, so now, 40 years on, they have become a rare beast and highly sought after.

As the Datsun Rally Team transitioned to the Datsun Stanza in 1978 and began the now famous, multi season battle with the Ford Motor Co. BDA Escorts, the 4-valve head was adapted to the L20B bottom end in an effort to match the output from the venerable BDA.

Competition in the forests around Australia in the early 80s was intense, fast and furious and the team was kept busy developing and maintaining two, and later, three cars. Engines were rebuilt almost continually with many parts being replaced - enough that an LZ20B engine was able to be assembled from discarded cracked and worn out parts, circa 1981. This inwardly tired but outwardly sparkling assemblage was crowned with a circular glass top and forced into duty as a coffee table - a task it performed silently for around 25 years.

When Neil Taylor acquired his 2-door 710 and began building it into a replica works rally car, the desire to complete it with an LZ engine was palpable. The story of the LZ20B coffee table was traced to its source and the engine was acquired for the project. 

Getting it to rediscover its voice, and then to get it to produce the 240bhp of its heyday was a whole other story…

*******

Though already 89mm and worn, it seemed imperative to retain the engine block as it carries the works war paint and serial no. We decided to bore it another .5mm after sonic testing confirmed it was safe. New pistons were made with an appropriate bowl size to give the required 10.5:1 compression ratio.

The lightweight steel, 8-bolt crankshaft and special con rods had come from a catastrophic engine failure back in the day and were beyond saving - we had to go hunting for replacements. Rods were found in sports sedan racer, Barry Bray's collection and very luckily, another mockup engine was discovered in Japan that had a good crank and also an excellent bare cylinder head and we were able to part them from its owner. Very fortunate indeed as the head from the coffee table had dropped a valve and was far from well.

Then things got difficult. One of the cast aluminium cam carriers was in a very sorry state with extensive damage from an exploded cam bucket. It had been sleeved and welded and was now bent and twisted and badly worn. Much work went into welding new sleeves in place and getting the unit re-aligned and usable - it would have been more cost effective to machine up a new one but we wanted the engine to be as faithful as possible to the original.

The next challenge was the cam drive gear train. We had about 5 sets of gears and housings available - all in rather poor condition, and ended feeling rather lucky again that we managed to make a good set after lots of crack testing, welding, machining and fitting new gear shafts, etc.

Our scouts also managed to track down an original works ignition CDI box so that we were able to use the full factory ignition system.

Everything was painstakingly checked and detailed but nothing over restored - everything looks exactly as it did when it was winning Australian Rally Championships against the Ford works BDA Escorts.

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After running in on the dyno it was tuned and tested and is now happily at home in Neil Taylor's works replica Datsun 710. Other work is now underway to make the whole car as faithful as possible to the real thing.

A most satisfying outcome for all concerned.

And yes, it makes 241 bhp at 7500 rpm!

[Burabuda]

@mike probably should credit the source somebody did a lot of research

[datzenmike]

Good idea.... and done

[Lockleaf]

Man that is a sexy engine. Look at that and compare it to a KADE. The kade is just kinda sad and frumpy looking.

[datzenmike]

But the DE idles well and gives good mileage. The LZ is a high maintenance girlfriend.

[Lockleaf]

I think you are completely right Mike, I just wish they had injected just a little more style into the newer motors is all.

[riaan140z]

Thanks for the response guys, 

 

I have two sets of lz type 2 heads. i know what i have and it is the real deal

 

i have the following spares:

 

2 heads

2 sets of intake manifolds

2 complete gear sets 1 for l14z and l20z

4 exhaust manifolds

 

going to build a 160u coupe sss rally replica and a b110 sunny excellent 1973 replica out of these two engines

 

i need a few parts on the second setup. 1 cam, a few valves.. 

 

that is why i need some more specs. 

[Lockleaf]

This is the contact for the guy in Australia from the story above. He would likely be one of the best people to start with.

 

http://lescollinsracing.com/contact

 

But please post some pics of what you have and keep us updated as you find info.

 

He is also on Facebook.

 

https://www.facebook.com/Les-Collins-Racing-1679339722300470/

[riaan140z]

Hi guys, 

 

i need some spares for my lz head setups. i need a set of cams, a water pipe housing on the carbs side. 

 

any information on what valve replacements can be put in ?

 

thanks guys

[datzenmike]

The CLASSIFIEDS in top of every page below the RATSUN.NET logo if looking or asking for parts. Forums are for discussion and information sharing..

 

 

The L and Z series heads only have one cam each.

 

An LZ engine is usually a mixture of L and Z series parts but always with an L head on top.

 

You said' LZ head setups'.... do you mean you have more than one LZ engine?

[flatcat19]

South Africa. Maybe he has a real LZ?

[Lockleaf]

Yeah, he's mentioned before that he has a couple of actual Nissan LZ motors.  I wish you the best of luck on your search, riaan.  I have never even seen parts for those heads for sale.

[riaan140z]

Good morning guys, sorry for the post then i did not think to place it there. 

 

Yes it is the lz twincam head setups i have. 

 

i have one complete setup and i need the parts as mentioned to make the second head complete. 

 

im uploading some pics now.

 

[Draker]

Well would you look at that... wow. Thanks for posting.

[riaan140z]

did you guys think i was talking crap?? hahaha 

[flatcat19]

I had faith. GL with your search.

[riaan140z]

thanks bud, damn these parts are hard to find. 

[Stoffregen Motorsports]

You'd probably have better luck bringing your head to a competent custom engine builder and having him source the parts or have them made. I know a custom cam grinder and he can make any cam you need, but he's here in the CA...not South Africa.

 

Cams and valves are all wear parts in a race engine so even if you can source them, it's likely they are going to need replacements anyway.

 

If you have a pic of the water pipe, it shouldn't be too hard to create one.

[Lockleaf]

Man those are cool looking.