rossman Posted May 25, 2012 Author Share Posted May 25, 2012 (edited) I decided to take the car to work this morning. Luckily I went around the block first...clunk, clunk, clunk coming from the front of the car. I quickly realized that I forgot to torque the front wheel spacers. No big deal. Pulled out the scissor jack. Jack no workie, threads are galled. Drove the Fit to work. Will try again tomorrow... Edited May 25, 2012 by rossman Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rossman Posted July 9, 2012 Author Share Posted July 9, 2012 Can't believe it's been over a month since last post. I did drive the car a little bit. Between the on-off 6 puck clutch, jumpy throttle and off-throttle dying (like coasting to a light) it was not pleasant to drive. Hopefully I'll get used to the clutch. If not, there is a new one standard disk sitting on my bench. I think the jumpy throttle was due to the throttle cable being too sort. Installed a new cable but haven't driven the car to verify that was the problem. The dying problem was tuned out by adding timing at low load/rpm in Wolf. Not sure if this is the best way but it worked. While I was driving there was a howling sound coming from the rear. It turned out to the the differential bearings. The side bearings and front pinion bearings were shot. I attempted to replace all the bearings myself until I realized that the side bearings are different widths than the original. Called Nissan and found out the the originals are NLA. So, off to the differential shop for shimming and assembly. Got it back and installed along will all the suspension and drive train this past weekend. Removed the oil pan this morning in order to fix the severely leaking gasket. I tried the method recommended in "How to Modify." Didn't work. Apparently the weatherstrip adhesive skinned over before the gasket was placed down and it didn't seal on the passenger side. Rather than risk that happening again I'm going to use my tried-and-true method of applying Hylomar on both flanges prior to installing the gasket. That stuff hasn't failed me yet. Things to-do before the next drive: 1) Reinstall the oil pan - major PITA I'm sure... 2) Finish installing the J&S Interceptor 3) Finish installing the Greddy Profec B Spec II boost controller (new to this build - Thanks Clive!) 4) Plumb the wastegate tube to the main exhaust pipe (hate the screamer pipe noise) 5) Re-shim the rear brakes - had to remove them to track down the differential noise That's it for now. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lazeum Posted July 10, 2012 Share Posted July 10, 2012 For the pan, I start to get use to it since I remove it each time I'm doing a oil change (because of engine freshly rebuilt) Mine was leaking because it was not flat anymore. I had to flatten it again with a piece of hard wood. I also put some very light coat of copper silicone on the gasket. It does not leak Mine is a stock piece, I can do it without being bothered by the engine block or the front cross member. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rossman Posted July 10, 2012 Author Share Posted July 10, 2012 (edited) Hi Lazeum - Thanks for commenting. I'm curious why you feel the need to remove the pan each time you change the oil. Are you cleaning out metal particles? Do you coat both sides of the gasket or just the pan side when you re-install the pan? I cleaned up both the pan and block flanges this morning. It appears that the block side was not leaking. I may try using anti-seize on the block side again. It sure makes clean-up a breeze. Definitely going to flatten the oil pan flange as best I can. The reservoir overhangs the flange making it difficult to access the bolt side on my NISMO style pan. Edited July 10, 2012 by rossman Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lazeum Posted July 10, 2012 Share Posted July 10, 2012 (edited) To break in the engine, I started with a first run for 5 minutes at 2000-3000 rpm. I then flushed the oil right away. I had a leak somewhere (it appeared to be the gearbox being overfilled) so I took off the pan to change the gasket I thought was defective. I saw a lot of particles in the pan I've removed in the process. this is what I got: those are iron/steel chips. I've always made sure everything was super clean during the assembly process! I believe that's a lot of burrs I did not expect. The oil pick up was also 30% clogged because of paper towel pieces I have missed during the rebuild (mostly on casting edges - not so visible when they are soaked with oil). So next oil change 300 miles later, I redid the same process to control oil & burrs since those did not come with warm oil the first time. Thankfully, no chips or burrs were in the oil anymore so I'm not going to repeat this process anymore but it was good to check at least once. Without removing the pan, those chips would still be in the pan or worse in the filter after being through the oil pump that could have been damaged. Regarding the gasket, I coated both sides but very lightly. I used a "cork" style gasket (what I have available here), it was just darker due to gasket coats laid with the tip of my finger. Obviously, I also put some at front cover edges & on rear main bearing cap edges. Edited July 10, 2012 by Lazeum Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rossman Posted July 17, 2012 Author Share Posted July 17, 2012 I found similar metal particles when i removed my oil pan. I cleaned them out by flushing the pan with degreaser and water, then re-coated the inner pan with fresh motor oil to prevent corrosion. I have one of MSA's comp gaskets gonna coat it with Permatex #2 form-a-gasket. I was going to use Hylomar but I almost forgot that it is meant for machined surfaces. Also, I had good luck with #2 on my first Z's oil pan back when I was in college. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rossman Posted July 17, 2012 Author Share Posted July 17, 2012 Here are some links to some of my other posts related to building and testing the car's fuel system. Building my stainless fuel lines: http://forums.hybridz.org/index.php/topic/99619-installing-custom-fuel-lines/page__p__933971__fromsearch__1#entry933971 Pressure testing the fuel system: http://forums.hybridz.org/index.php/topic/104364-pressure-testing-fuel-system-with-no-fuel/page__p__975912__hl__%2Btesting+%2Bno+%2Bfuel__fromsearch__1#entry975912 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rossman Posted July 17, 2012 Author Share Posted July 17, 2012 Up next is to fabricate a new 1.5 inch wastegate dump pipe that empties in the main exhaust pipe, My plan is to have it enter the main pipe down near the center of the gearbox. The down pipe is fabricated such that there is quite a bit of room between it an the gearbox. I will try to take pictures when I start fabrication. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lazeum Posted July 17, 2012 Share Posted July 17, 2012 I found similar metal particles when i removed my oil pan. I cleaned them out by flushing the pan with degreaser and water, then re-coated the inner pan with fresh motor oil to prevent corrosion. I have one of MSA's comp gaskets gonna coat it with Permatex #2 form-a-gasket. I was going to use Hylomar but I almost forgot that it is meant for machined surfaces. Also, I had good luck with #2 on my first Z's oil pan back when I was in college. Good to hear first that I'm not the only one I haven't got any during the next oil change but it shows why it is critical to flush the oil quite after a small run to don't let the particles drop at the bottom of the pan. Good also to hear that my advice to drop the pan was probably helpful. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rossman Posted July 17, 2012 Author Share Posted July 17, 2012 Good also to hear that my advice to drop the pan was probably helpful. Yep and I had to drop it to fix a leak. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rossman Posted October 27, 2012 Author Share Posted October 27, 2012 (edited) Long time no post. Life has gotten in the way of the project. It's not dead, just on the back burner for a while. The exhaust system, including the wastegate dump tube is complete. I'll post up some pictures...when I find them. I think they are on my old LG G2X phone. I purchased a new Galaxy Nexus, hands down the best phone I've ever owned. The oil pan is back in. Hopefully the leak is fixed. Half installed new throttle cable, since, like a dumb azz, I cut the first one too short causing the throttle to be way too jumpy. Yesterday, I started installing my Speed Hut GPS speedo and tach. Unfortunately the dash has to come out . The dash cap blocks the stock gauges from sliding out the front. Soooo, I got the dash most of the way out but got distracted when a neighbor popped over with beer and BS. I received a replacement half shaft from M2 Differentials. The original set were not the correct length. So, Jon, being the stand up guy that he is, had new shafts made and replaced them at no charge. So, the short term "git 'er runnin'" to-do list includes: 1) Finish installing the throttle cable 2) Swap out the half shafts 3) Finish installing the gauges/dash 4) Fill her full of oil No too much left but I imagine it will take me several months to complete... Edited October 27, 2012 by rossman 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rossman Posted May 24, 2013 Author Share Posted May 24, 2013 (edited) It's hard to believe that it's been since October when I last posted. The project is still on hold until I get my life back in order. I should be back in my house/garage sometime in July. Divorce sux...I don't recommend it. Edited May 24, 2013 by rossman Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RJ280ZX Posted May 24, 2013 Share Posted May 24, 2013 Looking forward to it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Administrators RTz Posted May 24, 2013 Administrators Share Posted May 24, 2013 Divorce sux...I don't recommend it. Wow. Sorry man. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Leon Posted May 24, 2013 Share Posted May 24, 2013 Sucks to hear Ross, hope you get back to "normalcy" soon. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rossman Posted November 8, 2013 Author Share Posted November 8, 2013 (edited) Ok, I've got a new normalcy...better than the old normalcy...waaaaaay better . I've done a little work. I pulled the dash and installed Speed Hut speedo and tach gauges. Here are a couple of pics. I still need to wire them up. Hopefully that will happen this weekend. Its a 4 day weekend for me. Edited November 8, 2013 by rossman Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PLATA Posted November 8, 2013 Share Posted November 8, 2013 That Z when done will be a KILLER Z Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lazeum Posted November 9, 2013 Share Posted November 9, 2013 just curious (and maybe lazy :/ ) how do you intend to get your speedo working? are you going to use stock system or do you add somewhere an extra device to read speed? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rossman Posted November 10, 2013 Author Share Posted November 10, 2013 PLATA - Thanks I hope to have it on the road this spring. Lazeum - The speedo uses a GPS sensor. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lazeum Posted November 11, 2013 Share Posted November 11, 2013 I see, much easier this way then. thanks for the reply! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.