valve timing

[robb1971]

Hi guys . is there an easy way to check valve timing while i have the front cover off.. I decided to pull the front cover to check the state of the chain guides , it all came apart too damm easy, the internals were cleaner than any other tear down i have seen... but then i saw a big chunk of guide sitting on the oil pump chain next to the crank shaft.... @##@ only the one guide had failed though.. I am worried that the chain might have skipped a tooth and thrown the timing out, i can manually turn the engine over without any thing binding which i suppose is a good sign.. i will order a set of guides off infinityparts as i was quoted NZ$1000 through the NZ nissan supplier... wankers

[redhat-z]

You might be able to see through the spark plug holes and check TDC with the vale covers off but if there is any question, I would pull the heads.

[maxnix]

Look at the FSM.

[elwesso]

now onto some useful info.

If you look in the FSM, you'll see where you can see the gold links on the chain line up in certain places. Its all spelled out very completely...

You might as well pull the upper front covers because i believe thats the only way to do it.

[robb1971]

Hi, thanks for the advice, i was kind of hoping there was some nice easy trick that some one had found , but now i shall follow the manual and start pulling the crap out of the valve cover its a real shame that nissan dropped the ball so badly on an otherwise well engineered engine.. my engine has done a genuine 35000 k and its amazing that it had a major failure at those kms... is there any other drama's that i should be checking out before i start putting in the engine in the next few weeks..thanks Robb

[Q45tech]

Yeah, shame that Nissan copied the V8 guide designs of MB in 1988 and ended up with a Mercedes problem. Ford V8 got around to copying in the late 90's and ended up with the same 90-93 problem Nissan fixed in 1994.

[robb1971]

It took me 8 seconds to make sure the 2 silver and 1 gold links were aligned with the sprocket marks correctly... but it took about 2 hours to remove the valve cover so i could see them... am expecting to spend another 3 hours to clean covers and re-install... can anyone say RUBBER gaskets... One other failing seems to be the vacuum hoses, they seem to fly apart as soon as they are breathed on.. all in all I am very happy with the state of the engine and cant wait to get it running.... will have to drop the oil pan first though as i am missing huge sections of the chain guides

[darinz]

I bought the guides of Nissan for less than $200. It can't have been too much as I don't even remember the exact amount. This was a trade price but it was still from an NZ Nissan dealer and normally they do require you to bend over for payment!!!!!! This was for the steel guides and bolts.

[robb1971]

Mate, the price I got from nissan in lower hutt was $280 each for the tension guides and $120 each for the slack side guides... plus freight, even when i told them how much i could get the parts from the usa for they didnt even blink... Infinityusa have just sent me an email asking me to scan both sides of my credit card and email it to a totally different address for some reason... will have to give them a ring and see what gives, what dealership did you use, would be interesting to have a price comparison for the bits locally

[darinz]

I got mine from IC Motors in Whangarei. I know there is a huge difference between retail and trade. I know the guys in there pretty well and they look after me. The joys of driving something that most people think is totally insane!!!!!! Do you have any local contacts as that would be the way to get them alot cheaper. The other thing you need to remember is depending on how the bits are sent to you, you may have to pay GST as well as freight. ie GST is payable on everything you bring in but quite often if sent direct you can get away without paying it.