naviathan

If you don't mind me asking, where are you getting your gaskets from? I've been wanting to get a MLS 2mm head gasket, but I'm not sure where the best place to buy one is. MSA I think charges way too much.

You guys are great! Thanks for all the support. It's surprisingly a lot different around the military installations. < mod editted...> Wow, sorry, political rant. lol I really just meant to say thank you for giving us the support that those closest to the military don't seem to provide...Admins...Delete the rant if you want...Wasn't actually meant to be there...

I'm a contractor for the Combat Operations Center (COC/UOC) Marine Corps Project. As for the sock cooler trick, yeah I'm prior service so I knew about that one. It's the evaporation of the water off the sock that cools the bottle. Gotta love those little tricks of trade.

BRAAP...How did I miss this????? Now I understand why I couldn't get my car to run right and why it kept detonating!!!! When pulled my P-79 head off and it was horribly warped from overheating I decided to grab a head from the shop and get it cleaned up and throw it on the car. I pulled a N-42...Wow...I put an N42 head on a stock F54 N/A block with flat tops and the gas in the car was 87 octane with stock injectors. First time the valves impacted the pistons and I had a whole slew of non related problems. Second time everything was great except I couldn't get the damned thing to quit detonating and it finally blew the head gasket at the number 5 piston pouring coolant into the one piston. Wow...This thread has just opened my eyes A LOT. Thank you BRAAP.

That head is a one off piece constructed from a couple of KA24 heads with custom everything. That head is a beast and an incredible feat for any machinist. Beautiful work, I loved following along on this build and to now see it in action is just incredible.

Well the goal is to not be a target, but anything is possible over here. Thanks again guys.

I really appreciate all the thanks, but the real heroes out here are the troops. I'm just a contractor. I keep everything working in the rear so they can shoot move and communicate. I served my time and played soldier in the desert, now I'm just here to assist and make a little more money doing it.

Hahaha, I love those pics. Camel Spiders are supposedly harmless. Wouldn't want to test that theory, but I've actually never seen one in person...

WOW....WOW....He actually believes that will work? He's seems convinced of it....I'm still waiting for the punch line....He just keeps going though....Wow.....

Thanks for the support guys. This is just a chance to buy more parts for the Z. BTW anyone know the cheapest place to get a nice steel MLS head gasket?

I've tried, but they don't seem to be speaking my language...

Only until March? Sounds like plenty of time to me.

It is done. I'm in Iraq. Now for 6 months of desert relaxation and hadji courtesy....Wait...No that wouldn't be Iraq then...lol Just thought I'd update everyone. I'm in place and settled in for my 6 month tour of duty so to speak.

The cam has an alignment dowel on the end of it that lines up to one of three holes on the cam sprocket. The stock configuration is the #1 hole on the cam. No you don't need to take the chain off the crank.

Do NOT buy the chain tensioner tool from MSA. I did and it's not worth it. You get this slightly curved thin piece of plastic that says "Datsun Timing Chain Tool" on the side and it's useless. I ended up making mine out of wood just like everyone else, it's much more effective.

MaTTSuN- You have to zip the msq to upload it because they filter file types and only allow zip and image formats.

SWEET! Thank You! This will help a lot when I go for my 351W swap.

I think I had a cologne bottle shaped like that once....

Torque wrench is one a borrowed from a buddy that works at Ford. It's about a year old and it's a snap-on, I can't imagine it would be out of spec. Thought I can't honestly answer when it was last calibrated if ever. Seemed to be plenty of torque though.

Then what the hell happened? I pulled the valve cover three times and retorqued the head bolts and all three times random ones were loose.

Much much better. To think, of all those posts only 16 were really relevant.

Well, I did one thing different with the head bolts this time around as apposed to last time. I lubed the threads when I put them back in and I think they were continuously loosening up as the engine ran. I didn't think lubing the threads would make that big a difference and with as rough as some of them were I figured it would help to get a good solid torque on them. Guess that settles it for me, no lube on the head bolts....ever. Lesson learned, next year after I return I'm looking to do a simple engine swap. Ford 351W. Still debating on the mode of fuel. Carbs are simple, but injection is fun.

Well, after finally getting my car to run and trying to tune it I have no more time. I don't know if maybe one of my injectors was bad or what the problem was, but I could not get the car to stop leaning out under load. And to top it all off now number 5 is filling up with coolant and leaking like a sieve. I guess it was detonating really bad on that one cylinder because it just won't stop. I pulled the cover and retorqued the head bolts, readjusted all the valves hot and it's still leaking. I guess I was never meant to get this car running again before I went to Iraq. So, I'm through with it. It'll sit and rot until i get back and hopefully drop a 350 in it. The plus side is at least I know the MS works, I think I just had too many other unknown variables that could have been bad. I'm really disappointed, but things could be worse I suppose. Well, i'll still be around the forums so I'll see you guys around. NOTE: if anyone is interested I've attached my last maps in jpg. Maybe someone can see something I missed.

HAHAHAHAHAHAHA I love it.

Awesome, thanks moby.