A few pics, as promised:

Tearing down the motor:





Piston damage:

 

OEM valves:



Replacement valves:



Anyone know what this thing is for?

 

Last pic is a oil galley.

 

Gotcha...I figured it had something to do with lubrication.

Nice avatar, BTW...LOL!

 

so did you do like we were saying, and remove the rear head w/ the exhaust manifold still attached? or did you find an easy way to get the manifold off before pulling it?

 

Even with the manifolds attached, the heads really don't weigh that much. It is easier to remove / install them with a helper on the other end, but in a pinch it can be done by one person. The manifolds came out with the heads and will be bolted back on before the heads get reinstalled.

Right now the project is stalled while I wait on parts from Nissan. I removed the manifold studs that are screwed into the manifold to hold it to the y-pipe since they were old and had seen better days. I need to install the new ones before I can get to work reassembling the motor.

 

Update: The parts I needed came earlier this week while I was out of town. I will start reassembling the motor after work today. With a little luck I should have it running by the end of the weekend.

 

I will be reinstalling the heads tomorrow. When I was scraping off the old gasket, some small pieces of gasket material fell down the ports that surround the pistons in the block. Not sure which ones are oil vs. coolant ports, but would it be a good idea to fill the oil and coolant, run it for a short amount of time, then drain it and fill it again or should I even worry about it?

 

how large were the pieces?

Is your oil pan leaking at all?
If the pan is still sealed, don't touch it- it'll leak forever if you pull it off. grrrr.

Definitely drain the radiator and run the coolant through a screen filter. it should be plenty fresh since we just changed it when doing the timing belt (a year?? ago).
then again, the AF is $8 a bucket. not that much to worry about in the long run so you might just change it.

but try draining the block through the plugs on each side of the block. they're pipe plugs right about where the engine mount brackets are.

 

I drained the coolant and oil awhile back. What I think I will do is buy some cheap oil and let it flush anything that is in the oil pan, then refill it and run it 100 miles or so and change it. As for the coolant, I think I will fill it with 100% water, let the thermostat open and circulate, then drain and refill.

Does that sound like a good plan to you?

 

Got compressed air ? Just blow the air in the other passages and all that crap will come out(the large passages around the cylinder are coolant)( the small round ones are oil passages)! But yes I would install water first run it check for leaks....if everything is good... flush it and refill with new antifreeze, water pump lube, and maybe even some wet wetter additive....GL

 

Update: I am getting closer to having it running. Made a lot of progress over the weekend. I was putting on the second component of the intake manifold last night before I called it a day and ended up snapping one of the bolts that holds it on. Fortunately, I was able to back it out, but now I am thinking that those bolts may be fatigued and could stand to be replaced. We'll see how long it takes me to get more from the dealer...

 

Ben, sorry I didn't call you back yesterday. had the phone inside the house and was working outside all day on the barn, garage, truck, other truck, trailer, tractor, uhh mowed the lawn, etc. outside from 9am until 11pm last night. ugh. tired and sore.

anyway, if the dealer can't find them for you, I have a full set of those bolts at my place if you need some. They're in my random parts bin, but I'm pretty sure I haven't used any of them. you're welcome to bring what you need to my place and dig around in the bucket and find what you need. only have two 5 gal buckets full of metric bolts f/ various Nissans.
You can probably also order something equivalent from many of the metric parts houses locally. a socket head screw all run about the same diameter head so they shouldn't have a problem fitting in the OEM spots. a buck or ten a piece if you order them in stainless.

g'luck

 

d'oh! I just ordered a whole new set from Nissan - $27...
If they end up being the wrong size I will definitely come see you (it's happened before!)

Project is on hold till then, but it's OK since I won't have a way to get over there anyway. The 'Vette will be at the shop for the next two or three days. Two cars and can't drive either...lol

 

IT's okay. I have eight in the driveway now, and only 4 of them are running properly.

 

Yeah I know the feeling when there's too much on the plate or at least from other people's perspective....Once I totally finish the 3rd gen, I'll jump back on my Shelby Charger project..... in which I have 75% of the parts already and most are modded and waiting for assembly...4 vehicles 3 running, 1 under construction

 

i beat all of you

4 cars (90 max, 89 max, 85 z31, 04 Shiitvic) and only 1 runs well enough to be driven on public roads, and the one that does run is still a POS. Might be getting another one (bare z31 shell) soon.

 

Getting there...I hope I have enough daylight to finish it tomorrow. If not, definitely Wednesday. The moment of truth draws near!

 

Man I know you're gonna be happy! You'll feel that head job upon every take off!!!!

 

I made some progress yesterday, but am still wrestling with getting the Stage II LTB back on. It's slightly off center on one of the control arms and won't allow me to fit a socket into it over the nut.

 

Stick a jack under the center of the bar while you're pressing the socket in. somtimes they need a little 'persuasion'. it's a tight fit... especially after you've whacked it on a few potholes or roadkill.


Caped.. you don't come close.
As of Saturday, I had eight vehicles, two trailers, two riding mowers, and a tractor in my yard. (All but the tractor are mine)....
Sold off one of the trucks on Sat and will be selling another truck as soon as I get the title for it. one of the trailers and one riding lawnmower will go as well when I get a chance to clean it up and get it running right.
And all but one of the cars/trucks run. The eighth was running before I pulled the engine to build it for my race car.

 

not in total numbers but i win in terms of the highest percent of non-running ones but the wrecked 89 is going byebye this week, then after that i dunno. I'm gonna probably get a 4x4 V6 m/t truck as soon as the civic is paid for and subsequently sold. Which, given the new job i'm starting next week, should be, around June.

 

I have more non-running vehicles than you have total.
one 240 is wrecked. no engine
one truck is wrecked. bad rod knock
another truck is up on jack stands waiting on parts
Maxima has a blown radiator and no battery
one lawnmower hasn't started in two years. don't even know if the engine will turn over since it has no battery or key.

:P

 

Before I put the heads back on I was looking for the coolant plug on the back side of the block. Never found it...Can you be more specific where it is?

I did find the one on the front side tho.

 

this is with the z31 style plugs, and the z31 style oil filter attachment but it's still in the same location

 

Basically it's in the same place on the other side of the block. look at page LC-7 in the FSM for a diagram. it's directly in front of the inboard CV boot on the axle, below the engine mount bracket.

 

D'oh! The car is ready to start for all accounts and purposes except for one large vacuum hose I neglected to order. The one I have has a large crack in it, so off to the dealer I go...Unfortunately, I doubt they can get it to me by tomorrow.


Another question that popped into my head: how do you determine if the engine is on its compression stroke or not?

 

by the reference marks on the rear timing cover and cam sprockets or by the position of the distributor rotor (if it's pointing toward spark plug wire 1 (the post for it, not where the wire attaches... they criss cross inside the cap), then cyl 1 is under compression and ready to be ignited)

 

Ah, I see...Retarded question. I wasn't thinking about the cams being at TDC. What made me think of it was that after rotating the crank sprocket only once the distributor is 180 from TDC. Wasn't thinking clearly, LOL.

Oh, and the hose I need will be here either Saturday or Monday. Of course there are 5 at the dealers in Dallas, but none in Houston.

My mental tally is telling me that fixing the motor has cost me somewhere between $800 and 900...Ouch!

 

Next time you'll think twice before starting a half-assembled engine, eh?

 

That's still cheaper than the dealer's inflated price for fixing it....plus you did some extra stuff so that's really good....and you know what you've got!

 

the last part is the most important imo. every time i consider buying a car, they say "and we just did the ____ and the ____ and the _____" but i always wonder in the back of my mind "did they do it right? did they use decent-quality parts?"

 

QFT. It's best to buy cars that the owner doesn't want to mess with and sells to you for the cheapness.

Man, $900? You could have just bought good used heads from a wrecked Max at the JY and new gaskets.. That's quite a lot to spend just to get it running on all 6. Can't knock you for babying it with new parts though

 

It was $482 for a complete valve job + 2 new valves + a WHOLE gasket set. What really drove the price up is the ~$300 worth of dealer-only rubber hoses that needed replacing. They all cracked and / or broke when I removed them. Add in the cost of coolant, oil, a trip to the junkyard, and a few tools I bought along the way to make life easier and I am looking at the current numbers.

At the very least I will make sure the crank pulley is on and someone is in the drivers seat ready to shut it down.


The sad part is that I won't really get to enjoy it right away. The plan is to run a tank of gas through it (the gas that is in there has been there since last fall) then park it and drop the tranny for a new ISB. Only THEN will it be ready for daily use again.

 

You still got it done WAY cheaper than any mechanic would have done it, and you learned a lot in the process. can't ever take that away from you. (now let's just hope it starts!)

 

When you replace the ISB, go against your trend and don't buy it at the dealer. For one because they will charge you too much, but most of all because the OEM bearing is the one that is prone to exploding. Go to a bearing shop and buy an NSK brand or have them order it for you. I don't know the part code off hand but can go look at my outer race that I still have if you need. Should be about $25. I'm not saying an NSK won't blow up as well with time, but I'm going on over 3 years and 30k miles with mine and it's held up through all the hell i've put it through. OEM busted at 90k miles the first time I ever drove the car hard after I bought it.

 

I sure hope it does! I need to check to see if that hose will be in tomorrow. If it isn't, I suppose I can ghetto-rig the old one with electrical tape until the new one arrives on Monday. I just want to start it and see if runs...Maybe even take it for a drive. It's just the hose that goes from the IACV to the intake pipe right before it meets the upper intake manifold.

Hectic, please do let me know what brand that bearing is. I need to start shopping around for a tranny shop. The one place I had quote me said $500 parts and labor. Not too bad, but I would like to check with some other places first before pulling the trigger.

 

i just used unbent hoses from autozone and bent them to fit... some had to take wider courses to keep from kinking but they all worked in the end. i replaced every rubber hose under the hood other than PS/AC for like... $250-300 i think.

 

Well, a few more setbacks. The hose that I was told yesterday would be in today won't be here till Monday. And the middle piece (the plate) of the intake manifold assembly has stripped one of its threaded holes. (I was being gentle and still don't know how this happened.) So once it stops raining I need to go to the junkyard and see what I can get one off of them for. D'oh!

One other request: Can someone post a pic of that assembly with the two small vacuum hoses coming out of it that is bolted to the top middle of the firewall? Make sure it shows where those two vacuum hoses connect to, that's what I need to see...

 

I think you're talking about the water heater control valve. If you are then: