JCan Posted February 25, 2015 Share Posted February 25, 2015 NewZed. Thanks for the tip! I'll pull it apart this week. - Jim Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JCan Posted February 28, 2015 Share Posted February 28, 2015 It is time for an update! I disassembled the distributor and I have to say that Advanced Distributor did a great job restoring it. The only issue I found was the vacuum advance plate had some dirt or the oil got hard and it seemed a little bit sticky. However when I removed the distributor I tried turning the spindle (connected to the gear) and it has about 12-15 degrees of slop. I think this is my problem. I will source another spindle and key it as suggested above and see if that fixes our problem. Thanks to all for your input.. - jim Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JCan Posted February 28, 2015 Share Posted February 28, 2015 Now that I think about it, could it be the spindle or the drive gear..... Hum.... Next stop, remove the spindle! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NewZed Posted February 28, 2015 Share Posted February 28, 2015 I tried turning the spindle (connected to the gear) and it has about 12-15 degrees of slop. I think this is my problem. I will source another spindle and key it as suggested above and see if that fixes our problem. You mean you twisted the tip of the shaft that extends down through the cover to the oil pump drive gear, and it had that much play? That doesn't sound good. Someone from the recent past found that their drive gear had moved on the shaft. Search around and you might find the thread. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JCan Posted March 1, 2015 Share Posted March 1, 2015 That is this thread (previous page). Tomorrow we are going to remove the spindle and try to rotate it by itself. If we find play then we will pin it, if not we will purchase a new spindle and drive gear. Since we have restored the car, (it has been two years) we have identified issues and fixed them, one by one as prioritized by most annoying first.... WE are now working on much smaller issues and in general, the car is very reliable and runs great. We are getting ready to dyno the car to adjust air flow mixture of carbs and optimize engine timing. but we can't dyno the car till the timing is consistent. I find it interesting the esoteric problems we are finding - examples: rocker arm anti parallel, optimizing pressure plate force to keep car from jerking when engaging clutch, optimizing air flow through radiator in order to keep from over heating in summer, adding support to air dam to keep it from deforming at high speeds, moving to stage 1 cam for idle, adding small glasspack inline with exhaust pipe to keep exhaust noise at a tolerable level... and now we are playing with gear lash... to name a few.... Thanks for your help. - Jim Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NewZed Posted March 1, 2015 Share Posted March 1, 2015 There's another one. But it sounds like you have a plan so carry on. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JCan Posted May 30, 2015 Share Posted May 30, 2015 (edited) Update... WE removed the engine and are working on multiple minor issues, one being the 12 degree distributor timing variation. We removed the spindle gear and it has no slop! I next slided the spindle gear and held it in place with my finger (ensuring no vertical slop is allowed), unfortunately, the spindle still has 10-15 degrees of slop. I believe fixing the problem will be a difficult to debug due to the fact that the spindle bearings are located in the front cover and the gear rotating the spindle is located on the crank shaft. I wonder if the problem is the worm gear is loose on the crankshaft? maybe the worm gear is worn ? Maybe the spindle bearing is too loose. more tomorrow. Thanks! Edited May 31, 2015 by JCan Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Leon Posted May 31, 2015 Share Posted May 31, 2015 Jim, there is an allowance in the FSM for bushing play in the distributor drive shaft. There may also be checks for the gear drive but I'm not certain. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JCan Posted May 31, 2015 Share Posted May 31, 2015 (edited) Leon. Hi! It has been a long time since we talked. Both motor and transmission are out of the car right now. In addition to looking at the distributor gear we are: Transmission - we are putting in stock nissan 2nd and 3rd gear synchros then adding Redline MT90 oil hopefully this improves shiftability from 1st to 2nd. Engine - we are fixing the valve train by lapping the spring caps 0.020 to keep the rockers from hitting (hate the noise); Our new flywheel evidently didnt seat to the crank shaft, screws got loose and the two friction welded themselves together. I have to pull the crank and this week will have it re-surfaced then purchase a new flywheel (we are using 280z turbo flywheel plus ACT stage 1 pressure plate plus stock clutch disk - works great!) Getting back on topic... Regarding the distributor. I suspect that the performance I am hoping to get is just not available using this design. Our plan is to remove the front cover, do our best to improve the issue and run the car. If it is not good enough, maybe I have to bite the bullet and install an electronic pickup on the crankshaft. (harmonic balancer pulley mod?) then add electronic ignition to the complete motor - maybe overkill but after we get the electronic ignition installed then we will be FINALLY be able to dyno the car. I'll look to see if the slop we have is within nissan tolerances. Thanks for the heads up. Edited May 31, 2015 by JCan Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Leon Posted May 31, 2015 Share Posted May 31, 2015 Wow, sounds like you've got some good projects going there! Major bummer about the crank. I had a crank-trigger ignition setup in my previous Z, running Megajolt and Ford EDIS. It definitely worked very well and was very stable. Hope to see you at JCCS! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NewZed Posted May 31, 2015 Share Posted May 31, 2015 I have an engine sitting in the garage with distributor out, all stock parts, probably 150,000 original miles, and I can reach in and grab the tang that drives the distributor with a pair of pliers to give it a twist. I get ~ 1 degree of play if I don't let it move up and down. It has about 1.5 mm of play up and down, and twists about 1.5 degrees on the gear face as it moves. No noticeable bushing/bearing play. Surprisingly tight considering the mileage and condition of the rest of the engine. A point of reference for you. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JCan Posted May 31, 2015 Share Posted May 31, 2015 Clandestine... Good news! I should know shortly what our problem is, I seem to remember that the worm gear was loose when it sat on the crank shaft. I will check it when I pull the front cover off, that could be my problem. Thanks for your input. Leon. I'll buy tickets for JCCS at minimum and attempt to attend (it is on my wife's birthday... need to work my magic) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Leon Posted June 1, 2015 Share Posted June 1, 2015 Clandestine... Good news! I should know shortly what our problem is, I seem to remember that the worm gear was loose when it sat on the crank shaft. I will check it when I pull the front cover off, that could be my problem. Thanks for your input. Leon. I'll buy tickets for JCCS at minimum and attempt to attend (it is on my wife's birthday... need to work my magic) "Honey, let's go to Long Beach for your birthday!" Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JCan Posted June 9, 2015 Share Posted June 9, 2015 NewZed. Engine is fully disassembled now. During front cover assembly:, I am going to add some steel washer shims to minimize the vertical slop of the drive gear, additionally I am going to take a look at the worm gear slop when mating with the cotter key. Once this is done I will attempt to rotate the gear to ensure there is less than 1 degree of slop in the drive, afterwards I will look at the distributor closely. Thanks for your tips. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JCan Posted July 1, 2015 Share Posted July 1, 2015 (edited) Good news, I found the problem! Not sure I want to say exactly what it was to save face, but, for the good of the site, I will do it! Did you know that the worm gear is held in place with the front pulley bolt? As it turns out, my front pully bolt was loose which allowed the worm gear to move forward and backward which was enough to change timing. Doh! As this was a full engine & transmission rebulid we fixed lots of little things including: found (by accident) hairline crack between cylinder and water in head (drilled and welded and resurfaced head) Valve Spring Hats hit rocker arms (milled them down 0.020) for clearance. head freeze plug replaced due to corrosion and slight leakage aluminum Radiator had slight leakage, replaced with new one. welded an aluminum bung and added a 185/175 degree thermostat onto the head thermostat housing to control the electric fans. flywheel came loose and friction welded metal onto back end of crankshaft (new clutch, flywheel, balanced, back end of crankshaft re surfaced) transmission 2nd gear synchro not working (replaced 2nd and 3rd gear synchros with nissan oem synchros and refilled with MT-90 synthetic trans fluid The car is 90% reassembled now. should be on the road on thursday. Thanks everybody for your feedback! Edited July 1, 2015 by JCan Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Leon Posted July 2, 2015 Share Posted July 2, 2015 Good work Jim! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JCan Posted August 4, 2015 Share Posted August 4, 2015 That fixed the problem. The car is running very well now. Valves are quiet, car isnt loosing radiator fluid, fans are turning on and off at the right time, I was able to shift into second at 70mph. I'll try to attend JCCS. Leon are you going? Jim Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Leon Posted August 8, 2015 Share Posted August 8, 2015 Good find, Jim! Your car should be really sorted now. As for JCCS, we're still deciding. There's a lot of stuff going on that weekend but I really hope to make it out there! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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