Xnke

I've had stock, nissan-assembled engines with pistons 0.22" above the deck. They had run 100K+ miles at that point and my daily driver has pistons 0.022l above the deck as well. This was with E, N, and P prefix cylinder heads, never an issue. All heads run with fel-pro gaskets, or Ishino gaskets.

Take the bearing to any bearing house...they'll match it for you. The number etched into the bearing is the actual type number...you can google that type number and come up with a supplier.

Run the stock engine if it has no issues. The stock engine control computer can not handle very much at all as far as upgrades...to the point that I belive it's just not worth hot-rodding with the stock computer. It will not handle any cam worth the effort and work to install, and will not return optimal results with the cams that are "computer friendly". It does, however, do quite a fine job controlling the stock engine, with all the stock sensors, wires, vacuum lines, and injectors. Make sure all your connections are clean and tight and that everything is hooked up properly, and it'll reward you with a reliable, long-running, peppy car. If your engine had good bearing clearances and low leakdown test numbers, it'll be hard to re-build the engine to the same level of build quality it was when Nissan assembled it. If it was a solid engine before you tore it apart, you quite possibly didn't need a rebuild at all, even at 100,000 miles. It's hard to get matched sets of bearing shells to set the clearances as closely as Nissan did at the factory...they're available, but not easily anymore. Piston rings, too...I have used a number of sets of ITM pistons and rings...the rings are not bad but they are softer than the Nissan rings. ITM cast pistons are quite good and I've run them up much, much higher than I should in a few builds, with no major issues. Exhaust, fuel rail, all that dress-up bit will look nice, but realize that you already have a cold air intake if you're running the stock airbox, that the Hitachi/Nissan starter that came installed on your engine is the same part Tilton and other manufacturers sell today as a "performance" item, and that your stock P90 head was factory-fitted with stainless steel valves and a 3 angle valve job. The stock exhaust manifold is just as good as a header on a stock or stock-ish rebuild. If it's in good shape, it's quieter and more durable than any header. The 60MM KA throttle body is more to make it easy to fit a few different aftermarket engine management systems than it is for airflow...the stock engine won't see any power or performance benefit from it. The stock 50mm throttle can handle quite a lot, remember you are only feeding one cylinder at a time, and as long as the throttle can re-fill the plenum volume between intake events, then it is not a restriction. In short...if you're planning to run the stock computer, run a stock engine and all the stock equipment.

Exactly. I am SERIOUSLY contemplating picking up another shell and doing exactly this, even down to forcing myself to learn leading to get it right. It's coming along so well now!

um....there are no USDM RB engines??

...and have you looked at the bearings yet?

Sorry, but if you drove it home with a chirping camshaft... It's toast. Pull it down and plan on a full rebuild...that's a lot of hard cast iron powder run through the engine...

Agreed. Why did you spend the money on wide wheels when you're going to waste it on narrow-section-width tires with a severely compromised sidewall?

uhhh...2BTDC??? Yeah, that's going to run hot. Not enough ignition timing will make the engine and exhaust run very hot. You absolutely need to know where the ignition timing is. If you can't set the timing, then you need to stop and correct that before you try anything else. BASIC TUNE UP FIRST!

You can try dropping the pump and indexing the shaft as shown in the service manuals and the how-to books, but if that can't get the job done then you may have slipped the press-fit gear on the spindle, and it will either need to be re-indexed and pinned, or replaced. I'm betting the oil pump drive spindle has been incorrectly indexed when the pump was replaced at some point.

Check your ignition timing... The OEM dash gauge will lie to you. Without fail, it will lie to you. Replace it with a quality aftermarket gauge, and replace the clock with a quality oil pressure gauge, if you are at all concerned about those two data sources. Otherwise just temporary in some to get good numbers.

Well, you're looking at 600$ worth of pistons in that block, if they are undamaged. However...It's worth exactly what someone else is willing to pay for it. A good street head, with a good port job with complete flow testing numbers, is worth about what you mentioned. That does NOT include the cost of aftermarket valves, seat replacement, cam, valve springs, retainers, and lash pads...all of which need to be addressed.

Is it a stock camshaft or an aftermarket cam? The flat-top pistons SHOULD clear the valves once the cam is timed properly. Check your cam timing.

You can try it. Worst case you change the seal again. I've always done the seal from the inside of the timing cover out, but I don't see why it can't be changed on the car.

If you use a 4-speed bellhousing, you need to move the reverse switch forward. Some 5-speed bells have the switch moved up already, some do not. All 5 speed bells that I have seen have the boss for the forward-mounted switch, even if the switch is mounted in the rearmost boss.

Tony, the quench issue is only in play at low and moderate boost pressures. As manifold pressure rises, the importance of quench diminishes and pretty soon you will make more power from a "soft" chamber than the quench-chamber head will make. This is independant of flow rate or horsepower...it's purely related to manifold/cylinder pressure. This is coming from some of the local high-boost racers in my area; they're pushing 50lbs of boost through SBC's and are finding that the least compromise results in an open chamber aluminum head with a full-circle spherical dished piston, leaving the only quench pads as a circle above the top ring land. I'm told that at less than 30lbs of boost, it's a wash...and below 20lbs of boost you will get better results with the high-quench style combustion chamber. To the OP, to help we really need numbers. Saying high-flow fully ported head means absolutely nothing. In order to give good advice, we need to know the real numbers, for both intake and exhaust flow rates, combustion chamber diameter, valve sizes, cam events and lift, duration at 0.025" and 0.050", preferably duration at 0.200" lift as well. Need bore diameter, stroke length. Need intake manifold and exhaust manifold details. Give us real numbers, we can give you closer to real answers.

I'm not tooo terrribly sure that it matters at Lower Boost pressures...higher flow, lower boost...but when you have no option but crank the boost to it, then quench is less useful. Get the flow rate up as high as you can before you start working on boost alone.

Depends on how much boost you want to run, and if you are going to run methanol or not. Lots of extreme boost engine builders want what they call a "soft" chamber, with no quench other than a ring on the piston above the ring lands themselves. Others, for less extreme boost, want a dish matching the chamber, and yet there are others who want to split the two. In the end, it comes down to application. I would say you could get the required timing advance for NO boost down to about 28* with a flat-top piston or a piston with a matched dish in it, as in you do not need more timing to make more power...this could be helpful, it may not be. Talk to your tuner and ask him what your engine wants. You need real dyno data to be able to make good choices at this level.

Detonation. Pull the pistons and check for broken rings. Bore/stroke measurements?

And people look at me funny when I tell them life is too short not to run a solid-roller cam... (I've made it work, Tony!)

That sounds like an incorrect firing order...Double check that the firing order you are using is mapped to the same outputs!

Progress on the M90 front. Had to do a little sculpture to get the case in place. The old PCV tower had to come off, and be blended in. Now the snout was too long, so I mounted it up and turned it down to the proper length, and cut a new bearing recess. Nearly finished...need to replace that seal. It's got a big cut in it right across the lip; that isn't going to fly. Yes, that is the shaft from the M62...I am having a custom hub cut for an interchangeable pulley system, since the M62 keyed shaft is pretty much unsupported by anyone.

I've had exactly the same experiance, and I just live with it right now. I haven't had time to fool with it since I drive the car daily, keep your foot hard in it and it drives beautifully. Part-throttle...with the MS2 chip, it is pretty bad. With the MS1 chip, the same pulsewidths deliver smooth performance. It's got to be in the firmware settings somewhere, I've reloaded firmware, changed to new updated code, all that...no improvements. Until the MS2-Extra code reference and installation materials are completely updated to the current code...I'm just going to get it to the running well-enough stage and wait.

They're available brand new...it's the gland nuts that are difficult to locate.

I don't see why not, since you're running the combustion chamber as it was designed to run...I honestly think the P90 chamber with dished pistons was a kludge on Nissan's Parts Department's perogetive...it would have been "better" to run them with a dish that matched the chamber shape, but I guess it was not enough of a problem to be bothered to produce a special piston. It may come down to piston pricing and availability.