My timing chain install went very wrong. The exhaust cam 24mm hex built into the cam to hold it still rounded off. The exhaust sprocket is permanently stuck to both exhaust cams. I was using my 1" impact and needless to say the cam hex head gave before the the exhaust cam sprocke bolt. I spun the cam around before i could pull the socket off and broke the #1 exhaust valve in half. Great now add another 8 hours to remove the engine due to how hard the the transmission bolts are to get. Along with the passenger side manifold to convertor connection, it was not an easy task. Well i get the engine out and flex plate off and get the engine mounted to the stand. Here i start finding problems. i find black exhaust soot around the back of the block starting from the back rear portion of the exhaust manifold. no cracks so im guessing bad gasket. Leaking rear main seal. severely torn motor mounts. and the drivers side catalytic converter has what looks like a perfect ice cream scoop out of the center of the catalyst. All 6 soark plugs were covered in soot except for #4, which was white and severely degraded which i attribute to detonation.

While im still at tdc and the cams removed i run a leak down test on cylinder 4 and its at 60% loss and all the air is escaping into the oil pan... Now i know my one quart every 500 miles is due to bad rings. so i begin to remove the cylinder head knowing im going for a full engine tear down. I knew the combustion chambers were going to be dirty but i still wasnt ready for what came out. when i removed the passenger head.


It was worse on the other side. SO i get the heads off and then work on the oil pan. Get the oil pan off and the tarnish was absolutely disheartening.


with the pistons removed there was light scratching on the main and rod bearings. the piston rings were completely frozen in the pistons with carbon. I had the timing covers, block, rods, and pistons sent to be hot tanked and and inspected. Although the ring ridge wouldnt catch on my finger, the machinist said that if he has to ream the ridge he'd bore it .020" over. I told him no, to ridge ream it and hone it and check the clearances

So heres the question should i stick with oem nissan rings for almost 170$ or go with another brand like npr or ???

Wow! That's a little shocking.

I don't know what you're looking to spend, but with what you're going through I certainly wouldn't skimp. Outside of OEM rings the ones that came to mind were the JE ProSeal rings that the Brian Crower piston sets ship with.

Good luck, and keep us posted! Can't wait to see progress shots on during assembly of the new & shiny!

thanks for the reply. I am going to look towards those rings. i know that its practically the same engine but this vq is from an 03 pathfinder. I owned a 07 350Z and figured this bunch would be alot more familiar with engine tear downs than the pathfinder crew. Ill post plastigauge pics and other short block assembly practices.

One quick question after looking up the main codes on the crank and block my main bearings are going to be 3, 5, 34, 45. should i be worried about the 2 offset bearings?

machine shop cross hatch


and journal micro polish

Is that even the same engine? Seriously though, that didn't take long at all to get done.

Looking forward to the progress shots!

So no real new updates except DONT EVER BUY VICTOR REINZ HEAD BOLTS. !4 out of 16 were curved brand new out of box. some couldnt even be turned 5-8 turns before seizing.

Upgrade to the 350z VQ35HR head bolt. SAme everything except 3mm longer and 3 extra threads for grip.

Got all bearings in and plastigauge. mains ranged from .0014-.0016 which is right in the .0014-.0018" clearances. Rods were between .0015-.0017 which is well within the .0013-.0021" range.

The vq35de REV UP oil pump also went on without a hitch.

Waiting on the head bolts and then torquing the cylinder heads on and timing cover should go smoothly with timing components.