Background:

I actually never turned a wrench prior to getting my first 510.  I was raised by parents who didn't know how to change their own oil, so my exposure to the inner workings of cars was pretty limited.  Mix my starting point of complete ignorance with a twinge of fickle, and you end up with a combination that usually results a 510 abandoned and left rotting in a field.  

My current dime was a stripped-bare rolling shell with an L/Z motor in pieces.  I have no recollection what the specific setup was; at the time, I didn't know anything about how engines worked, and I was in completely over my head.  Not really knowing what to do with it, I immediately put it up on the DQ classified and had someone offer to trade me a VG30ET for it.  Thinking that it shouldn't be too hard to stuff the V6 into the bay, I made the trade.  And then I did the research and realized that it was significantly beyond my skill level and budget, so I then traded the VG30ET for a Z22E.  I actually got this one into the car, but my complete ignorance around motors prevented me from ever driving it past my own neighborhood.  I knew nothing about the consequences of vacuum leaks, or whatever else plagued the car, so I yanked it from the engine bay and picked up an L18 from a friend and tossed that into the car, and finally was able to drive the car around.  Not very far, and not very fast.  The car billowed smoke of all colors out the tail, and I concluded that it wasn't going to work unless I rebuilt it... and if I was going to go through the trouble of rebuilding the engine, I might as well build something fun.

Date: September 2005
The project begins

The first thing I needed was an actual goal.  I knew from the start that I wanted a daily driver - not just something that I hotrodded on weekends.  However, I wanted it to have some oomph, but nothing too crazy.  I concluded that for me, "fast enough" was somewhere within the limits of pump gas and stock brakes.

The next step was figuring out how I wanted to get there.

I'm not sure why, but something about the L-series motors has appealed to me from the start.  I think that the interchangeability of the internals has a lot to do with it -- something about being able to scavenge from so many different Datsun engines resonates with the DIY side of me.  I decided that I was going to build a frankenmotor, using some of the engines sitting in my garage.  

After spending hours researching engine combinations and studying Jason Gray's engine data sheets, I determined that the 2.1L longrod motor combination was the most appealing.  Because I already owned the Z22E bottom end and A87 head with long duration cam (Shadbolt .510 lift/280 duration), the unstated goal of "inexpensive" would be pretty easy to meet.  I was also lucky enough to find a set of cheap 0.75mm-over Z22E pistons and rings on eBay, so I had a local machine shop bore out my Z22E block to match the pistons.  I traded out my Z22E crank for an L20b crank, and once I got all the miscellaneous bearings and gaskets, I began the assembly.

The actual build was pretty slow-going.   Having young children born during the project certainly slowed things down, and trying to juggle a full-time job, side-job welding (to pay for my 510 project), and the new changes to family life, I'm still surprised that I didn't abandon this project.  

In April of 2007 (a year and a half later!), I finally fired it up.  

The second most exciting thing about a first-time engine build is hearing it fire up for the first time.  Never mind that it didn't hold an idle yet, and that I didn't have any throttle linkages in the car to be able to actuate the throttle from inside the car.  The engine was breathing.  That's all that mattered.

The first most exciting thing, of course, is driving it for the first time.  However, it would still be another two years (during which I replaced the flywheel ring gear, master cylinders, starter, added SU carbs, fabricated my own throttle linkage, swapped out a leaking radiator, installed new brake pads, fabricated an exhaust, installed new seats, installed electronic distributor, etc., etc.) before the car was complete enough to drive safely and legally.  

That first drive (to the grocery store!) was amazing.  I took the longest route possible, taking the necessary steps to break in the motor.  It was also very loud; no interior, no sound dampening material, and leaks in my exhaust made for a rather ear-ringing experience.  But it was good.  Though it took more than 4 years to get here, I successfully built an engine and put together a 510 that I'm proud to drive.

This is an unlikely success story.  Folks on the Bluebird List and on the510realm.com forum prior to 2005 may recall my unfocused enthusiasm and off-the-wall ideas and pipe dreams to build a fantasy car, and anyone who knew me then would be shocked to discover that I actually finished any project, much less this full-engine build that I accomplished.  However, thanks to the willingness of folks to share information and the patience that they've shown to me and others like me, I've accomplished my goals.  And now it's on to the next project...

Specific things learned:

. Set a realistic goal.  That goal should take into account budget, time, and skills required.
. Do lots of searching, reading, and follow step by step instructions.  
. Determine your skill level, and your willingness to increase that skill level.  I have a friend who wants to learn to wrench on engines, so I recommended to him that he first rebuild a lawn mower to determine if he was really willing to be committed to an engine project.  If you can't rebuild a lawnmower engine, you probably shouldn't try rebuilding a car engine.
. Balance your time.  If you have a family, maybe waking up an hour early to work on the car before your family wakes up is a good way to both meet family obligations and have some uninterrupted time.
. Don't forget the fuel pump spacer.
. You can bleed brakes all day long, but if the master cylinder pushrod connector isn't backed out far enough to reach your brake pedal, you're never going to have good brakes.

My engine specifics:

Head: A87 with Shadbolt cam (.510 lift / 280 duration)
Bore size: 87.75mm (Z22E bored out .75mm) 
Stroke: 86mm (L20b crank) 
Stock Z22E rods
Oversized tall Z22E pistons, but shaved down a bit to fit
Twin 38mm SUs (which are probably too small for my engine)

Josh Culley
http://newprotest.org/510