tonight I installed the aftermarket cams. I am thinking I need to turn the right head cams a little bit to get the dowl rods to little better. What do you guys think? Any comments? I plan on putting the timing equipment on next so that I can check the valve lash. Also, the red stuff is assembly lube

Those are 3.5 tensioners right?

yes. I never removed the cam chain tensioners from the engine. Does it matter which ones I use? I thought you could use either the 3.0 or the 3.5. The new main tensioner that I bought is for a 3.0.

How about the cams? Do I need to turn them before I put the chains on?

You're making great progress - nice job on the cleanup - and the new 3.0 chain tensioner is essential to a good startup. Make sure the tensioner cylinder has lots of oil in it.

As I recall: (it's been a while, but I've assembled two running motors)

Double-check with the FSM on cam locations - it shows how the lobes are positioned at TDC. I put the small gears and chains on first, on each head, then the two large timing gears, then string the long chain through its route. You will have to use a long wrench to slightly move the right-hand cams to align the timing marks for the long chain. Once the cams move with the crank, then put on the crank pully and bolt so you can rotate the engine with a breaker bar. Always rotate in the forward direction - the FSM shows which valves to measure as the engine is rotated. Then the fun begins...

I will throw the chain tensioner in my bucket of motor oil that my oil pump is soaking in.

I will try to make some time to read in the FSM tonight. I have just been walking though step by step but I have not read ahead. I am pretty sure the cams are in the right positions, because the two shorter ones go together, and the two longer ones go together in a head. The intake cams have a drill mark and the exhaust cams dont.

Once I am checking valve lash, do you do one at a time (i.e. if I find one out of spec do I stop everything, take the chains, and cams out to modify the one, then put it all back together)? Or will I be able to check all of them and then modify what is needed, with out taking the chains and cams off over and over again?

Read ahead - the FSM has good procedures that will save you time, once you figure out what it says. I meant rotational position - you can't get the wrong cams mounted if you know the difference between intake and exhaust.


Once all the chains are installed, to check the valves you rotate the engine to different lobe locations and measure several valves on both heads (FSM again) and you draw a map of each head and note the valve lash for each valve until complete. Then you decide what to do.

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how far are the dowel pins supposed to go in on the exhaust cams? For example, do they need to go in half way or or all the way flush?

Mine were flush

I put the inner timing chain cover on, but I have not done anything since last week. Re-building the front end of my f250 has been super time consuming

Meant to post this in here for you, about your concern of putting the cam gears on. No, the cams are not going to line up without adjustments. If you look back in my thread with the inner timing covers on, you will see how the dowels point upward, you want them to be perpendicular to the bottom of the cylinder head. The gold marks on the secondary chains line up with the marks on the cam sprockets. In order to get the secondary timing chain on you are going to have to manually move the intake/exhaust cams with I think a 21mm, 24mm wrench. This process is real easy with 2 people, although I managed to do it by myself, be careful when turning the cams, and don't leave a wrench on the cam b.c. valve might close, throwing the wrench downward into the cylinder head. BTW did you replace all your cam tensioners, guides, chains? If not, I suggest replacing them b.c. your already in there.
Nice build BTW. Good Luck!

DEF WATCHING this thread. Awesome build man!

does anyone have the valve lash procedure saved? I am not sure I printed that page out (I got the FSM on .pdf and I don't think I printed out that page, and I cannot find the disc right now). Any help is appreciated.

pm sent.

what cam bolts do you use on the hybrid swap? The 3.5's are too long and the 3.0 the fat washers hit on the studs on the cam spacers on the intake cams. Are you guys using the 3.0 bolts with the smaller 3.5 washers on the intake cams? What about on the exhaust? I have not tried those yet. thanks for the help.

**Edit

I think I am leaving out a step. I have not put the outer gears on the intake yet. I am guessing once I do that the cam adaptor stud will not stick out too far. Thats the thing with only being able to or an hour or so every few weeks you forget how you took things apart

Any updates Carson?

I rebuilt the front end of my truck and I have new tires and wheels on it

I have not worked on my engine since I posted last. I plan on at least putting a few hours in, in the next few days to check my valve lash. I still need to put the outer timing chain on before I can check anything though. I hope to be updating the thread soon...sorry for the slowness

No worries mang, take your time, believe me I did. Got mine up and running a few days ago (it's scary fast now; first gear is useless and the top of second can get hairy ). Feel free to give me a call if you run into any problems or questions.

Is yours running with the s/c now or just n/a? I got a bunch of maintence done last night on my vehicles so I should be able to do a little bit of "fun" work this weekend (read: working on my engine). I'll post back when I am working on it.

Today I fianally got to work on my engine a little bit. I put in the new water pump, thermostat, and oil pump. Then I put on the outer timing chain. Here is my tdc picture.



So I started to check valve clearance per the FSM. So when cylinder 1 is at TDC, on the right head I am checking the exhaust on #3 and the intake on #1. I need to know how I need to check with a feeler gauge properly. Does the blade need to be able to slide all the way though between the cam lobe and the lifter? Or does it just need to be able to go in enough to get stuck? I can rotate my engine by hand and I don't get any funny clanking noises but it is harder to turn than it was when every thing was stock. Thanks for any advice on using the feeler gauges.

When I was checking my valve clearance I liked the feeler gauge to be able to slide easily with no resistance. What are you doing as far as intake? I ported/gasket matched my LIM and UIM, but wasn't sure if to do the SSIM. Its coming together real good man, keep up the good work.
EDIT- BTW I have the same rims, what size drag radials are you running? Are those the front 8.0" or rear 8.5"?

Somehow missed this, but you already know the answer after our convo on the phone last week. Yeah, she's up and running with the SC'er. Need to get some bigger injectors though (440's should cover it - 600's would be more than adequate, but they cost almost 100 bucks more...).

Can't wait till you get yours up and running

Edit: Also, from looking at your timing chain, be sure you give the crank a slight turn CW to get rid of the slack up top and around the water pump so it doesn't shock the chain and possibly jump a tooth - very unlikely, but... You can do it by hand with the crank pulley and/or slightly rotating the cams. Without priming the tensioner (which will pressurize really quickly on start-up), IMO, it's better to have any slack on the tensioner side of things, since the spring in the tensioner will help with slack. Personally I just like to ensure the chain is tight across the pulled side of the chain - only done 2 swaps, but both started up great with no timing chain slap or noise. The motor rotates CW so tension should be set on the right side of the crank sprocket, not the other side, since you pull on a chain, you don't push it.

yeah that is what I figured. The first two that I checked did not have enough clearance so I was hoping I was wrong. Are all of the lifters the same (intake/exhaust)? I did not check them when I removed them, I just assumed they were all the same, so I did not check them when I put them back in.

I assume on the valves tha I do not have enough clearance I will need to grind down the nub on the lifter a little bit? What are you guys using to do this? Also what tool is recomended to measure the lifter clearance? I have a digital caliper, but that will not go inside of the lifter cup.

I assume you are talking about my z32 wheels? They are for sale if you want them They are tt rears 8.5" wide, and I am running a 255/50/16 drag radial.
Also just so you know the fronts are only 7.5" wide +45 offset, the rears are 8.5" wide +35 offset.

I took that picture as soon as I had everything together just to show TDC. Then I turned the engine by hand until it reached that point again. I think the yellow link had to pass the crank sprocket 6 or 7 times to get it back to that point. I just wanted to double check my alignment. But it sounds like I need to take measurements then take everything apart again...

pm me a price on the tt rims might be needing some winter rims for my G35c

so it seems that in order to correct valve lash problem you either need to grind the valve stem down or else get new lifters? Is this the case? I will report back on my findings once I have had a chance to check the clearance on all of them.

From the factory, there are about a bazillion different sizes of lifters. The factory cam install uses whatever size is need for each valve. The FSM shows all this, including the code numbers on the underneath of the lifters which show their size. If you scrambled the original lifter positions, you're hosed. You will have to find a few lifters that you can figure out, put them in and rebolt the cam in place and measure the gap, using a slip-fit. write it all down, and you will start to see what you need. This goes much faster if the heads are off the block. Yes, this is a pain, and each valve stem may be different. I see a list of the lifer specs in a 2003 Maxima FSM, EM section, in Service Data and Specifications. Valve Lifters. 27 different sizes.... Link: http://www.nicoclub.com/FSM/maxima/2003/em.pdf

I have ground down the "mushroom stems" on lifters using a Dremel tool with a small fine rotary stone. You can make them shorter and not longer...

jeez....thanks for the link. I wish I would have checked on this before I took them out.

is there any way to find out where they were orginally? I would assume the order would be the same on all of the vq35 (assuming all stock parts)...am I wrong? Would looking at my vq30 help out at all, I have never taken the cams out of it? Thanks for the help so far.

Slightly off course with the build here, but I have a Q about your cam brackets. Did you install them in the original positions? Mine read alphabetical like a book from cyl 1, (left to right, back to front, standing at 'front' of engine) but a few letters were excluded. Not sure on the importance considering it's a different camshaft and the wear pattern is altered, maybe someone can confirm.

yeah, look at the FSM it showes you where each letter is supposed to go. If you need anymore info on this just PM me.

Back on track, I ordered new head gaskets today (again), and I picked up a new breaker bar....I am going to take the heads back off to get the lash right

I was trying to be subtle. Look at your 'k' and look at 'k' in the FSM. You'll see what I mean. It should be (looking at the motor from the 'front' of the car):

a - b - c
d - e - f

g - j - k
l - m- p

Nope - the correct size is measured and inserted at the factory, but there is no pattern - each lifter may be different. If you had left the lifters in their original positions, when you installed new cams you probably would have needed to replace a bunch of the lifters anyway.

it's possible to measure them up and mix em around, flip the highs and lows to get them in spec, should reduce the amount of lifters needed to buy.

^^ I see what you are saying. I may need to look into that.

Well, I moved a bunch of steps backwards last night and the heads are off of the block again The part that I hate the most about this is having to re do the rtv on the inner timing chain cover. I made a few drawings, one for each head showing my valve lash as it is right now. I would love some opinions on where you guys think I need to swap cam buckets/lifters, thanks for the advice.

is there a method to this madness? I have two on each head that are out of factory specs, so a total of 4. All of them are too tight, none of them are over the factory specs on the high side. So what I am thinking is leaving all of the cam buckets in that are with in .02" of the low spec from the factory (i.e. intake .010-.011", exhaust .011-.012") and then messing with the rest. I am thinking for my first test I will pull out the 4 that failed and swap them with the 4 highest lash reading . I don't know if there is an exact way of doing this, but this make since to me. Input is welcome.

Also, when torquing the head bolts down, I have a question about the last two steps. For HR head bolts the tq angle should be 95 degrees. So for the second to last step I torque the bolt 95 degrees, and then in the final step I torque the bolt again an additional 95 degrees. Can any one confirm this?

Just moving liters around is a crap-shoot, because you don't know the length of the lifter until you look underneath. Go to this link and look down to Service Data and Specifications until you see the lifter height specs, and the code number which is found on the underneath side of each lifter. Record the actual height of each lifter next to your measured valve gap and this will make it easier to decide which ones you can move. Just because the lash is greater does not mean that the lifter is shorter than a tight one.

http://www.nicoclub.com/FSM/maxima/2002/EM.pdf

You are correct about the head bolt tightening procedure. That second 90* pull is exciting - as you wait for a bolt to snap. J/K..... Good luck - you are doing a great job so far.

okay I wrote all of the cam bucket/lifter numbers down tonight. I was able to swap a few around and mathmatically they should work (I have not bolted the cams back in, but if the number in the fsm are right then they should work). I still have two that I cannot make work with the lifters I have, so I am going to order a few new ones rather than having two of the valve stems ground down. I'll report back once I get them. When I look at the FSM on the lifter numbers mine match up what they show except they end with the letter "C" mine all end in with the letter "U"...does this matter? Are the still the same size?

Could be a different production year - as far as I know, the numbers mean the same thing.

I ordered the two lifters (822 and 820), there were only 2 left in the country of the 820 lifter I had those overnighted along with the head gaskets, so I hope to make more progress this weekend. I will try to get all of the rtv scraped tonight so I will have less hangups over the weekend.

here are a couple pictures of where I stand right now. Heads are on the floor and I am waiting for lifters





and what is this a freshly rebuilt vlsd by dgeesman from the .org

I need one of these in my live