i have the infamous puffing white smoke out of the exhaust, dunno know which side its coming from and really dont care i want to replace both side headgaskets.

Of course this means the Head has to come off. What im wondering does the whole timing assembly have to come off, to remove the head from the looks of things i will be doing this with the motor in the car. If it was out on a stand i wouldnt care.

 

Yes, you must remove the timing components to remove the head(s).

Have you done compression and leakdown tests to determine exactly what is going on?

Are you consuming coolant? Have you verified that the smoke has a coolant smell to it?

FWIW it'll be quicker and easier to just swap in another VQ (also quite possibly cheaper).

 

oh coolant has been going for quite some time now here is when i first started noticing symptoms:

http://forums.maxima.org/4th-generat...g-problem.html

the white smoke we confirmed to be coolant, but i can go outside and if my starter was working , it would start perfectly it still pulled strong, strong enough to put alot of cars to shame in my area i proved that too. But when u let the car idle it sounded like it was loping, as if it had a big cam, and the idle was a little rough @ ~500-700rpm was what the tach indicated, but of course according to it the rev limiter is at 6600


the problem is i was talking to somebody on the org about pulling the motor out since he has the tools to do so, money is tight and i need the car running by the end of the month, he hasnt responded to my PMs for the past 2 weeks so i have to atleast try

 

Drop a new motor in and call it good

 

3.5 Swap FTW!

 

i wouldn't bother with the head gaskets, drop that motor and put a new motor in (with low miles), these motors are not that expensive and you'll have the swap done in about a day. it'll most likely be cheaper too.

 

throw a de-k in that bish

 

i would opt for another DE, i have an SSIM with all the particulars on the way, since the DE has better cams

 

find a way to fit a 370z motor in there and call yourself good.... just figure out how to make the car rwd and you will be great! but seriously.. like all else stated. 3.5 call it a day.