BLOZ UP

[BLOZ UP]

Ok, this isn't so hard.

 

 

 

 

And that's just 10 mins with a Dremel. Luckily I don't need to open up the ports on the exhaust side at all since the 1-1/4" Sch. 10 pipe matches up with it almost exactly (~35mm), so I'm just removing casting marks and polishing it up. I may do some grinding near the valve, but I have a lot more reading up to do before I get there.

 

I think I might pick up that Harbor Freight flex shaft grinder (this thing). I could use air tools, but my compressor's really not up for it. I'll need it for the carbide bits but I think sanding and polishing will be more time efficient with the electric tool.

Edited February 16, 2014 by BLOZ UP

[BLOZ UP]

So my car laptop died and I picked up another one after a long while. It's ThinkPad T410, and so far everything is working great--despite an incredibly suspicious craigslist seller giving it to me for a suspiciously low price. Whatever. Yay 1440x900! I'm almost modern now! Also, the battery actually holds a charge. And everything pretty much "just works" in Linux, including the fingerprint reader--which is cool.

 

 

Transferring everything from my old laptop went smoothly (despite having to purchase an 2.5" IDE adapter). Now if only I had a working engine to try it out on. I'm getting real ansy to start tuning.

Edited March 2, 2014 by BLOZ UP

[BLOZ UP]

It was real nice out. It felt good to do some stuff, but I spent a lot of time looking for tools--and still can't find my large stepper bit that I need. Also got some goodies in the mail.

 

 

New cams and springs, as well as some new 8 and 10 gauge wire for relocating my battery and fusible links.

 

 

So I told someone on here that these holes are metal-covered. I was wrong. The battery and fusible links are going in the passenger side one.

 

 

Something like that, but with some padding and a aluminum bracket to hold it in place. I'm also looking at replacing the AGM fuse block with a maxi one.

 

 

So hopefully this mess will be gone. I didn't take a photo, but I've pulled all the main accessory power wires back through the firewall and toward the back. I also remove the giant white connector mounting bracket that really just takes up space, so it will be easier to mount the battery cable firewall lugs. Whoever designed that stupid block, I hate you.

 

 

These are some of the wires that are cleaned up. Also, no more battery means more space for my catch can and shit, which I probably won't get around to anytime soon.

 

 

Circuit Sports oil filter relocation kit (can't use OE 3.3L attachments, from my measurements). 3/8" NPT to -10 adapters for that, and then some fuel line and fittings to better route my fuel rails. Mounted 5 of my new 750cc injectors, but I need a new o-ring for the last one.

 

In other news, the oil pump from my VG33 is kind of whack, I think I'm going to get a new one to work with. I will need to drill and tap for the 3/8" NPT adapters, and I might as well port the interior while I'm at it. I couldn't get the old one to open--I stripped the screws. I also need to figure out what I'm going to do for lifters. I'm soaking the old ones now, but might get new ones. Also need a valve job on the heads whenever I get around to finishing the P&P on them.

 

Doesn't look like I'll make the late March or early April autocrosses. Damn.

Edited March 16, 2014 by BLOZ UP

[BLOZ UP]

Got a new oil pump (OEM--which was cheaper than aftermarket), plugs, wires, distributor cap and rotor on the way. Used a couple Advance Auto Parts codes for a total $40 off my order, and free shipping.

 

So, what else do I need to do to get it drivable?

1. Modify oil pump for remote filter, and install remote filter mount (medium)
2. Finish head work: Port heads, valve job, assemble heads (medium)
3. Modify oil pickup tube (medium)
4. Reassemble engine (easy)
5. Install engine (easy)
6. Get new injector oring and fix fuel lines (easy)
7. Wire up battery (easy, waiting on wiring supplies)
8. Tune it (fun! easy if nothing goes wrong)

So, it doesn't look like I'll make the first AutoX, or the second really (which is the weekend following the first one). Damn.

[BLOZ UP]

Well, ever done something on your Z you immediately regret? This is one of them:

 

 

 

 

On the other hand, I did get one hole drilled and a firewall pass-through installed for the battery cables:

 

 

It took an entire cordless drill battery and then some hand turning the last few steps of the step bit. My 12v Ryobi has pretty much had it. I had to get a new step bit from Harbor Freight. The one I can't find isn't big enough anyway. I stopped by Home Depot, but they wanted $60 for theirs. While it might last a bit longer, there's no way I'm spending that much on a single drill bit. I got 200 zip ties, a 1/2" ratcheting tap wrench, 2 stepper bits, and one more thing that escapes me for $50, including tax. The ratcheting tap wrench is actually really nice.

[BLOZ UP]

Now I'm really regretting it as I need a different switch so I don't blow up my alternator, if it's ever disconnected while running.

[BLOZ UP]

I'm waiting on some wire lugs so I can't finish the battery wiring. Worked on the heads some more. Will hopefully finish one side today. They are coming out great. I've been dreading using my 1/4" die grinder, but my polish kit only has 1/4" mandrels. I've been using soley a dremel with a 1/8" chuck so far, and these really nice (considering it was like $20 for a set of 10) 1/8" carbide burrs. So, I rigged up a wood screw to fit the polish kit's rolls on to. Works great! Just have to throw them away a bit early to prevent marking up the edge if the roll goes but I have more then plenty rolls for these heads.

 

I also cleaned painted lots of brackets and stuff. Touched up the welding on my alternator and motor mounts while I was at it. The passenger side mount's angle is also off by just a degree or two, so I ground off some material--I don't think it's enough but it should help.

 

 

While doing this I noticed how shitty my mounts were. I fixed up the alternator one a bit, but it is miserably poor. The engine ones aren't bad, just the passenger side is overkill. The driver side could use another hole to ease installation. After rewelding I took some of the sharp edges off before painting. First weld of 2014!

 

I'm going to try and rebuild the VG30 lifters. At least one of them ticked pretty bad. I have the VG33 ones but they look to be in worse condition due to sitting forever. I tried cleaning them and perhaps 2 or 3 might be salvageable. I also gathered the rest of the head parts, valves, retainers and whatnot. After head porting it's off to get a valve job. It looks like Nissan only used a 2 angle grind?

 

I also took off the pan of the VG30 and compared the oil pickup tubes. It's going to take a welding 2 or 3 sections up but it shouldn't be difficult.

 

 

The Frontier pickup goes way further down since it has a tiny sump pool way in the back. I can't use that pan as the Z31 pan sits as low as my frame rails.

 

After dissassembling the rest of my old VG30 I placed it outside. Free engine, who wants to come pick it up?

Edited March 23, 2014 by BLOZ UP

[78zstyle]

Loving the 300zx. 

[BLOZ UP]

I finished both heads yesterday. The first one took a day, the second only a few hours. I could have done better on the long side radius after the valves, but the bits I had just wouldn't work with the angles I could get at. Most of the work centered around the valve opening where the cast finish of the port met the machining of the valve seat. Most of that work was smoothing out the short side radius. Otherwise I just removed casting marks from the sides of each port, and cleaned up the entire port. There was, however, a kind of "lip" on the exhaust side of the chamber on one of my heads--it appeared to be a casting/machining flaw. It was pronounced on one head, and only just noticeable on the other. I removed both. I did not radius the lip to the quench area. I've read conflicting info for/against it but decided to play it safe and skip it for now.

 

After the carbide burrs, I used 80 grit on the entire head. Then for the compression chamber and exhaust I went to 120 grit (the finest my kit came with), then polishing rubs. I ended up destroying most of the polishing pieces and had to jerry-rig the rest to finish. It's hard to tell in the pics but the exhaust and chamber really polished up nicely. There's a few pits here and there but I think it's fine for my first P&P job. Also, the chamber on cylinder #6 (I think) polished up extremely shiney--I couldn't get the others quite like it. I must have been using a worn 120 grit roll on it or something. Whatever, can't tell by touching it.

 

I read that most of the gains are going to be around the valve opening, so that's what I focused on. It also seemed to be where most of the improvements could be made due to machining marks. So this work plus a 3 angle valve job should match up well with my cam and give me all my horsepowers.

 

Here are some pics. Some are in progress, think most of the last few are when it's done.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Now off to get a 3 angle valve job.

Edited March 24, 2014 by BLOZ UP

[BLOZ UP]

Ordered 3 2-5/8" Speedhut gauges during their 20% off march sale, to replace the center 3 stock gauges. Boost/vac, oil pressure and fuel pressure. Realized I'll need to get a water temperature gauge at some point in the future. Believe I still have a Prosport one sitting around somewhere--and the sender's still in my lower intake manifold, heh. That will work until my bank account recovers.

 

The other day I finish making the battery leads. I connected them to the bulkhead connectors and can actually connect a few systems to test now. I still need to wire in the fusible links--but I'm not sure I'm going to stick with the AGU fuses. Regardless, today I just planned out the battery holder. I'll be making it out of 1/8" aluminum sheet. It seems a bit on the thin side but I don't have enough 1/4" and 1/4" looks way to thick. Besides if I hit something hard enough to get the battery not only out of the holder, but out of the steel compartment--I'm likely dealing with much, much more important physics problems.

 

So I took this picture and then realized that I measured the height wrong. I didn't take a photo of my revisions.

 

 

It's going to be 5.5" tall, and as wide as the battery (7.25"). There sides extend further than the battery about 3/8" to allow for some padding against the uneven steel compartment. Then the ~1/2" mounting faces come 90 degrees of the end of each side where it will be bolted to the compartment. There's going to be a 1" lip on the bottom and a 2x3" or so tab on top to keep it in place (in addition to the steel lip of the compartment). I'll add some gussets/other reinforcements as I see fit. I see this as more structurally sound than the two fastener stock metal frame and J hook, but let me know if it sounds unsafe.

[BLOZ UP]

Did some more work. Heads should be ready this week, and hopefully I can reassemble them by this weekend. Then I just need to weld the oil pump relocation fittings on, and weld the oil pickup tube. Should be easy.

 

So I dissassembled my lifters to "rebuild" them, which is just a good cleaning. They ticked pretty bad on my VG30 so I've been soaking them for a while. I did a engine degreaser, carb cleaner, degreaser routine on all of them. One was pretty stuck, so it got treated overnight. I noticed that a couple of the rebuild instructions available online say to use a small pick, toothpick and a clamp. I found a slightly easier way using an angled pick and a tiny screwdriver, and a piece of welding wire. It took 3 seconds to get each c clip out once I got the hang of it.

 

 

First, I compressed the lifter using my large C clamp with a rag on each end. I compressed the lifter completely. At first I tried inserting the welding wire to "hold" it in place at this step, but then I found that once the pressure had been bled it could be compressed by hand outside the clamp easily. So you can rotate and squeeze much easier with your hand to get the stop, the filler rod in. I also didn't really understand the need for the stop in order to remove the c clip but I used it anyway in case parts might go flying. After removing the clip, i pulled out the top piston and then inserted my orange pick into the bottom to compress the spring. I mash it down a few times, compressing the spring, to get it loose. Some of them didn't want to come out otherwise. After that you compress the spring down, hold it, and press at an angle, then pull it out while pressing to the side.

 

 

All 12 are clean now. They need to be resurfaced (allegedly, not sure if this is true, esp. with new regrinds), and then washed off. Then that's all that's left other than reassembly for the heads.

 

I also cut out and welded my battery holder. It's kind of a disappointment but I'm not sure what I was expecting in the first place.

 

 

 

 

 

 

It all fits comfortably and the wires aren't being pinched. I did **** up and drill holes in the car wrong. I saw that coming though as this was the first time I was drilling into the unit body and although I measured 5 times it ended up being slightly off and I opted to drill a new hole rather than try and fix the old one.

 

Otherwise, it's in there. Just need to tighten it up and figure out a way to add retention to the top. I'm actually thinking of a simple strap around the whole thing rather than trying to weld anything additional to it.

 

The fusible links will be going up above and to the left of the original fuse box. This will require very little new wiring. Speaking of which, the battery is about 15 lbs lighter than the OE style one, the wire I ran is about 5 lbs total, so I'm at ~10 lbs weight savings, in addition to a smaller polar moment and slightly lower CG. More importantly, I have room to run some PCV and other stuff in the engine bay.

 

For the oil pump, I picked up some weld on fittings. It will be much, much easier to weld these on the new pump than trying to clean an old one up. Bonus: oil pump came with a new, already pressed in front main seal.

 

 

They need a little grinding to work though.

Edited April 3, 2014 by BLOZ UP

[BLOZ UP]

Got my heads back, finally. I can't really tell if it's "3 angles" or not, but it feels smoother than the stock setup. I think.

 

 

 

 

Started gathering all the parts to reassemble the heads (keepers are soaking, forgot to clean them). Put one valve assembly together. My $30 ebay spring compressor works well. Far better than the $20 spring-clamping type that scares the shit out of me.

 

 

Should have pretty much everything to reassembled the engine. Still need to weld the oil pickup tube and oil pump, but that can be done after the heads are assembled and installed. Oh, and I got my overpriced "boost connect" kit in the mail that was on back order and I was about to cancel. It's just push-to-connect fittings. It's a few feet of tube, 2 connectors and some junctions that I likely won't need. Pretty skimpy for 65 bucks. Will order any additional ones from McMaster-Carr or eBay or something.

[BLOZ UP]

Got one head assembled and torqued. So, the FSM specifically reminds you to put the inner valve spring seat on first, before putting the valve. I followed these instructions for the first 2 valves, but then promptly forgot them when I tried to go faster and assemble all of them at once. Surprisingly, the valve seals did not come off cleanly so now I need a new set. Luckily they are not that expensive. However, they will have to be shipped it looks like as I can't find any in stores. I might have to call.... the dealer.... as I want to get this motor installed this weekend.

 

 

My rocker arms were clean, but the rocker, uh, tube things, weren't. I did a quick clean up of the oil passages, they were pretty bad.

 

 

I'm realizing that I can install the valve and spring assemblies, then torque the head on the engine, then install the cam, lifters and rocker arms. It will be easier to torque the cam and easier to torque the head. I will do this for the driver side.

 

 

And there it sits. The headgaskets seem kind of cheap around the edges, but otherwise look OEM.

 

Total losses so far: 1 main bearing, 1 oil ring, 4 valve seals.

Edited April 4, 2014 by BLOZ UP

[78zstyle]

I might be more excited for your car than mine. 

[BLOZ UP]

Why is that?

[BLOZ UP]

It was simple. It was easy to reach. I cleaned the shit out of it. I hate cast.

 

 

 

Exploding molten aluminum hitting my mask. Char marks everywhere. Contaminated tungsten and weld (due to tungsten getting a bit too hot). Oh well, it's just an oil pump. What could possibly go wrong?

 

Much, much easier to torque the heads with the lifter and rockers out. I had to dissassemble the passenger side actually, since my socket's too wide to fit passed the rocker rod.

 

 

I'm using as few of the paper gaskets as possible, and using grey RTV. The old paper gasket on the block's oil pump mounting surface was a huge PITA to remove. Assembled as far as I can go! I forgot that my VG30 timing belt guide plates won't fit on a 3.3L crank. Oops. Have to order those now. Also, neither my new OEM oil pump or my aftermarket water pump came with the little rubber rods that go in between either of them. More silicone then! I could squeeze some welding rod and more silicone on top of that, but I figured this was good enough.

 

[78zstyle]

Why is that?

 

Because your engine has never really ran right, I'm interested to see how it goes. 

[BLOZ UP]

I'm making a bunch of changes. We'll see if they all work. Intercooler, injectors, valve job, cams... oh and +0.3L.

 

Not sure if the oil pump or the crank pulley are going to fit. One way to find out.

Edited April 6, 2014 by BLOZ UP

[BLOZ UP]

So, if you recall I had a oil pickup tube problem. The VG33 (Frontier, specifically) pickup tube is designed for a Frontier oil pan and oil pump. I have a Z31 oil pan, which uses the Z31 pickup tube, which expects a VG30 oil pump. I needed to combine the two.

 

 

First, I measured to see how much room I had to work with. You have about 3.5" from the splash guard or whatever it is, and 4.5" where the splash guard is cut out. It looks like I am SOL as it would be very complex to route it to where I wouldn't have to modify the oil pan. So, I just cut up the oil pickup tubes and tried to make them fit.

 

 

 

 

 

Well, it sort of fits:

 

 

After a couple of gentle pushes in the right direction, more welding. Pro-tip: Don't breathe these fumes.

 

 

Done! Only a couple small holes blew through. Once all the crap burned off the inside it welded a bit better. It's pretty thick metal.

 

Now I just need to leak test it and somehow clean the shit out of the interior.

Edited April 7, 2014 by BLOZ UP

[BLOZ UP]

• Cleaned and installed rear seal plate and rear seal.
• Tested oil pickup tube, had a small leak. Fixed it.
• Installed oil pan.
• Noticed oil pickup tube was still on welding table.
• Removed and cleaned oil pan
• Installed oil pickup tube
• Noticed oil pan doesn't fit
• Fixed oil pan
• Installed oil pan
• Noticed crank has a stupid dent in it preventing pilot bushing from going in, had to grind it away.
• Noticed pilot bushing doesn't fit, can't install flywheel
• Installed engine to fit engine
• VG33 (Frontier) crank pulley doesn't fit
• Remote oil filter hookups close to engine mount, need to order 45 or 90 degree fittings and possibly custom lines.

Stupid rear seal plate gasket was practically welded on. Chipped away all I could then just use a gasket remover with my die grinder on it.

 

 

 

 

 

Remote oil filter lines:

 

Harmonic balancer problems:

 

 

 

The valve covers are on the opposite sides they're supposed to be. I thought I could run the PCV lines this way. Doesn't look so good. Will try the right way around with the front crossover to see if that works. Then, the top vent currently to the left of the oil cap will go to my PCV catch can in the battery area. I think.

 

 

 

That's about it. Stuck until I get new crank timing plates and pilot bearing/bushing, and I figure out what crank balancer will work. There's hope: It looks like the Z32 balancer has the right pulley ODs, if it fits on this crank like I've been hearing it does I'm golden.

Edited April 14, 2014 by BLOZ UP