Enolja's NA z32 Thread.

[enolja]

First off, you've really been busy...nice! You remind me of when I started all of this years ago, once it got going it was like a freight train.

1. Wiring Specialties is a vendor here at Nico, and has a superior product. I'd look to them for your EFI harness, or more if you need that and I'd discuss your situation with him as well for solutions. Personally I stay WAY the hell away from electrical stuff other than connectors and bolt-ons though, NOT my bag.

2. Scotchbrite and some clearcoat or otherwise would be my choice, changing them out would be a PITA.

3. Deleting is a semi-common thing for the Z32, but the full delete is pretty time consuming but doable...full delete as in all but the interior box, which requires dash removal IIRC. When mine got damaged I repaired the lines and components damaged, but have never had the upgrade to the new refrigerant which is ridiculously expensive, especially considering as you said that our weather isn't really hot enough often enough for AC.

Thanks man, having encouragement is really awesome. Maybe we will see each other at a Nissan meetup or something, that would be cool! I think I've basically put together a full service garage at this point, I've spent more money then I care to think about on tools over the past week, almost $1,000

I'll get in touch with Wiring Specialties before I order anything, I think the first thing on my list at this point is the get the engine broken down and rebuilt, then I can worry about getting the car moving again. I have some other good news, I was able to get all 4 wheels off, I found an extra lug-lock in my toolbox, don't ask me how I got it or where, I have no idea - but it was like a sign from the Nissan gods. I also got the engine out of my carport and into my garage with the help of my brother. Still a massive PITA.

Today I got the engine a little more disassembled.

• I removed the intake manifold and stripped it down. Throttle bodies are off as well as some kind of device on the back of it - I took lots of pictures.
  I removed the EGR system completely, and set it aside. Then I ordered the EGR delete kit from CZP.
  I removed the AIV system.
  I removed the "fuel gallery" that surrounds the spark plug housing.
  I removed the coil/plug housings.
  I removed the 2 inner valve covers and exposed some cam shaft goodness.
  Removed both upper timing belt covers. One of them had a "custom bolt" that was nearly impossible to remove. All of the 6mm allen sockets needed to be degreased so I could get the actual wrench tip inside them, once I figured that out it was easy.
  Still need to find a way to remove the crank bolt. I torqued on it a bit with my breaker bar but I was lifting the engine almost and it still wasn't turning. Might need to buy an impact tool.

Here are some pictures.

AIV System



Throttle bodies.


Finally all 4 wheels off.


The dungeon


No pictures, but I built a cool rig to hang all of my interior trim pieces so they don't get messed up while I work in the garage. Just some steel twine and string / nails hanging from a beam. The garage feels like a real garage now.

[DCaff300ZX]

Looking good, congrats with the garage and progress!
We'll definitely have to hook up some time when we both get done, and hopefully with some more local Nico guys too.

[enolja]

Okay removed the exhaust crank covers, just gotta pound on them a bit with a mallet. Also got the timing belt removed, the belt tensioner removed, the water pump is out, the crank bolt came off with about 5 min of rattling with a rented electric impact. Also took off the cam timing gears and the internal rubber hoses for the coolant pipe. Engine is almost totally broken down. I'll need to save up a little cash to get the machine work done but it's all lined up at least. I also got a 2nd NA engine from my cousin so I'll pick that up soon.

Today I'm going to get some cleaner, gloves, and plastic bins and start cleaning the 1/4inch of grime off all the parts. They're seriously filthy.





Can gear cover

[enolja]

I started cleaning and jesus.. there has got to be a better alternative than using engine degreaser. The stuff is 7 dollars a can and there is just too much s*** to degrease. I have heard kerosene works, and maybe acetone? I think those are cheaper.

I think I'll need to replace my alternator, it worked before but it's totally covered in muck, I suppose I could try to clean it up but I don't want to hurt myself, does it hold a charge statically or anything?

While researching I've discovered that ignition coils are expensive as f*** on the z32. I do have a digital multimeter so I'll check out the Ohms rating at least, and make sure that is at ~12. I hope I don't need to replace them, but they're not in great shape so I do need to clean them at least.

The rusty hole under the battery has been completely cut out. I had to remove a lot of metal. The hole is literally the same size as the battery base. I'm going to need to rent a welder or find someone who knows how to weld and buy them some beer. For the time being I removed all the rust I could, and sprayed rust-dissolver on it, and tomorrow i'll paint the area and maybe put some caulk/silicone whatever on there to seal it from the elements.

[enolja]

I am in need of some advice regarding the rebuild.

There are a lot of rebuild kits online at CZP and Z1, and some other places. They're all around 1300-1800 dollars. Before I drop that kind of money, I need to know if it's worth it.

I don't think I need ARP studs, I'm not planning on making this car fast at all. So OEM should be good right? I do need to replace them because my exhaust manifold studs are all rusted over. I've heard you need to replace the head bolts if you remove the head regardless so the torque values are correct.

Do I need new pistons? If my head is warped and needs to be bored and honed, then the answer is yes, correct?

Do I need new rods? I figure mine have 200K on them, so maybe they're starting to weaken a bit anyway right?

I will be getting an OEM gasket kit at a minimum, but the pistons and rods are expensive as hell.

[NolimitZ32]

For a basic NA rebuild
- you don't need any ARP hardware
- you will need to replace the head bolts as they are torque to yield
- you will only need pistons if you are forced to bore, if only doing a hone which is usually all that's required you can go with a larger ring, be mindful if your engine is already at the largest spec you may end up needing to bore and replace pistons to get proper clearances, READ the FSM section covering this, everything is explained in detail.
- you will NOT need new rods unless yours are physically damaged due to hydrolock or knock, Nissan used the same exact rods for the NA and TT from the factory, this means your rods are forged and strong as hell, unless you have or are planning to run a 300 shot of laughing gas your rods will be just fine even with 200k miles on them.
- though not necessary it is an extremely good idea to replace your rod and main bearings, these are sized/graded from the factory, this as well is covered in the engine mechanical section in the FSM
- My final suggestion is that you pull the engine apart, gauge the bores, or better yet have a machine shop THAT KNOWS VG30DEs do it, figure out the grades of bearings, rings, etc. that you need and buy an OEM or better rebuild kit. Though you may be able to get away with getting an aftermarket kit from a number of retailers I would suggest you save money by eating Ramen for the next 2 months rather than saving it by buying inferior parts.

[enolja]

1 head bolt will not come out. My electric impact is not strong enough. Definately a blown head gasket, there was coolant in 2 cylinders.

Not sure how to proceed now, I can't get this f*** bolt to come loose. Stupid bolt.

[enolja]

For a basic NA rebuild
- you don't need any ARP hardware
- you will need to replace the head bolts as they are torque to yield
- you will only need pistons if you are forced to bore, if only doing a hone which is usually all that's required you can go with a larger ring, be mindful if your engine is already at the largest spec you may end up needing to bore and replace pistons to get proper clearances, READ the FSM section covering this, everything is explained in detail.
- you will NOT need new rods unless yours are physically damaged due to hydrolock or knock, Nissan used the same exact rods for the NA and TT from the factory, this means your rods are forged and strong as hell, unless you have or are planning to run a 300 shot of laughing gas your rods will be just fine even with 200k miles on them.
- though not necessary it is an extremely good idea to replace your rod and main bearings, these are sized/graded from the factory, this as well is covered in the engine mechanical section in the FSM
- My final suggestion is that you pull the engine apart, gauge the bores, or better yet have a machine shop THAT KNOWS VG30DEs do it, figure out the grades of bearings, rings, etc. that you need and buy an OEM or better rebuild kit. Though you may be able to get away with getting an aftermarket kit from a number of retailers I would suggest you save money by eating Ramen for the next 2 months rather than saving it by buying inferior parts.

Thanks for all of the info, I will be getting a complete kit for sure just not sure if I needed some of this fancy pants 500rwhp hardware, or if rods/pistons just need replacing regardless.

The engine is almost completely disassembled. I have a date with the machine shop so hopefully it isn't warped at all.

[enolja]

Victory is mine!

Both heads are off!

Now I just have to figure out a good way to remove the oil pan and oil pump while the engine is on a stand... or maybe I'll drop it onto a pallet at this point. The mounts and the flywheel are in the way of the oil pan removal.

[NolimitZ32]

Oil pan comes right off just flip the engine over and remove the 12 or so bolts, then use a scraper or thin chisel to separate from the block as it is sealed with RTV and will not want to just let go. The oil pump comes of the same way, remove all the bolts and gently pry it off. Everything is easily done with the engine on the stand. I didn't realize you were going for a 500hp build, I must have missed that, you still don't need APR hardware but it a nice to have when going turbo and pistons are an obvious requirement in you are gong TT.

[enolja]

Oil pan comes right off just flip the engine over and remove the 12 or so bolts, then use a scraper or thin chisel to separate from the block as it is sealed with RTV and will not want to just let go. The oil pump comes of the same way, remove all the bolts and gently pry it off. Everything is easily done with the engine on the stand. I didn't realize you were going for a 500hp build, I must have missed that, you still don't need APR hardware but it a nice to have when going turbo and pistons are an obvious requirement in you are gong TT.

Sorry I mis-typed, I'm NOT going for a HP build, mostly just stock with some bolt-ons. I have to get a completely new exhaust system manifold to muffler so I'll get a nice one. Some other stuff I'll upgrade where I can afford to. This will be a multi-year project.

[enolja]

I have been doing some seraching but havne't found anything yet.

I can't seem to get the sprocket/gear off the end of the crank. You can see it in the bottom of the last pic I posted. There is a small half-moon key in the front of it I removed (and put in a safe place). I can remove the gear up and over the key slot but can't actually remove it from the crank shaft.

Also, is there any risk to using an under-drive pulley system? An extra 10 HP for a bolt-on sounds pretty good, but if there is risk of damaging the engine I've put 20 hours into so far I don't think I want to do it.

[enolja]

Some more progress...


This is the bottom end without the oil pan. I don't want to disassemble this. It's pretty scary looking.




The heads, hopefully I wont need to replace any of these valves, they're 30 bucks each.



So I've got a date with the machine shop now, hopefully they will accept the pieces as is, and not make me disassemble the crank, because that scares me I don't know why.

[NolimitZ32]

More than likely the crank will need to come out for them to go any work, its really not that scary but I am sure the machine shop will do it for a small fee or maybe even for free. If there was no piston to valve contact your valves will be fine. What all are you having the machine shop do?

As for the UD pulleys, you will never gain 10hp from UD pulleys, what it does is lightens your rotating assembly and frees up power down low so you get a quicker rev up, this is much more noticeable with a LW Flywheel.

[DCaff300ZX]

Wow, awesome progress!
As NoLimit said you will have the crank out either way, when I did my big block Ford when a kid I did mine and I've got to say, do it- it's a really cool look at the most important link to making power. Setting up the bearings is also fun with the plastigage, and you really get the feel for what you have and the knowledge you had your hands on and the specs to EVERYTHING in your engine when done...good or bad!

As for power and making more with our engines, you definitely need to look at things a bit differently with a "tuner" motor versus "old school" and may others- quite often and up to a certain point, power is made by removing restrictions and/or easing the engine's load via rotating mass weight loss and/or brute weight loss via removing car parts. Especially with an NA, which is already operating at nearly most of it's potential without serious changes to the architecture, such as bore/stroke changes and opening up both intake and exhaust tracts some. Even then about 80 WHP is the most you can get reliably and without race grade gas and setup that probably won't work so well on the street, or wallet via gas mileage and/or income to afford to do all of that expensive work.

[enolja]

Thanks for the input guys, I'm not set on making big gains or anything like that, I just read somewhere you can get about 10hp from an underdrive pully change. But I think I'm more interested in the lightweight flywheel because that already needs replacing (It's missing one of the 3 studs on it, somehow... I don't know lol)

At this point, I spoke with the machine shop, they said to do a FULL workup on the block and the heads, valves, rods, and the crank shaft, it's going to be about 1500 dollars. Does that sound about right with you?

That is a pretty big set back, considering I think I need about that much to get the car running OUTSIDE of the engine (New wiring harness, and some parts).

I guess I'll be saving up for a little bit. No pictures today but I've just been deep cleaning some of the non-moving parts of the car with degreaser and mr.clean. The cover plates for the timing belt, etc.

[DCaff300ZX]

Sounds about right with the price for rework, these engines and the rest of the car for that matter aren't cheap as they have proprietary parts so you can't go to cheaper solutions for anything really- OEM or better is the rule. I've spent 10 grand+ without going into the crankcase, but that included a lot of other labor work as well but not far from what you are talking about for your overall project...I'd be thinking 10-15 grand for your complete project rebuild costs when all is said and done, less for any labor you do and are not charged for, but also perhaps added back as you decide "well, while I'm here..." and "Damn, those things are cool looking so while I'm here..." along the way
My personal weakness!
Also, Doug and Eric at Fairlady are a great source of info for "is this really necessary?" and "are there other solutions?" type questions regarding the internals and other bits and pieces you will handling along the way, and often have access to those parts. He also has some solutions for things that traditionally cost more such as porting the exhaust manifolds on a TT instead of costly aftermarket MSP manifolds and the like that can help with costs some while safely allowing you to still upgrade in performance as well.
Along those lines, be sure that your machine shop is knowledgeable about clearing the #6 water passage for the known flashing problem that will help cooling, and any other VG things to make sure that your reworked block is in top form for the future. I assume this shop was recommended by Doug?

[enolja]

Yeah Doug said he sends his stuff there to be worked, and the owner of Pacific Engine And Machine said he has owned some Z's in his day. As long as that price seems about right I am comfortable moving forward, I don't know why but I was expecting more like 500-1000 for the job

[z32loverboy]

I ran into basically the same thing back a few years ago, which I posted on here. I got the "while I'm at it.." fever and ended up doing major engine work. I had it bored, added wiesco pistons, ferrera 1mm over valves, and had head work done. Honestly, I should've done what you're doing and keep it all stock with maybe some head work. When it's all said and done you'll eventually want more power, that's how Z fever works lol. My machine work was around $1800 so what you're looking at sounds about right. Basically if you want more power, buy a TT like they've all said. Looks like you're headed in the right direction and got a very good head start on it. I did all my work out of a half car garage and the car sitting in the driveway. I'm a little jealous of basically anyone with a garage now. Good luck and keep it up!

[enolja]

So I got the pistons and crank removed and the engine is now completely disassembled. I don't think I can remove anything else except the oil dipstick tube. Wedding is in 2.5 weeks so I'm not allowed to spend any money on stuff right now. I'll be saving up 1500 as soon as I can though which should be about 3 months then it's on with the machine work. After that should just need to get some electrical done and maybe I'll be operational.

[NolimitZ32]

Oh so you are getting the wife mod, this will make upgrading your vehicle more difficult for sure

[enolja]

I feel like it's been forever.

I just want my car to work

Putting some money away every week though...

[enolja]

Well....

My wife is sick of the car. My son was born a month ago, and it looks like my other baby has to go away. Two kids fulltime job, and a stay at home wife who stares at the monstrosity in the garage has finally won the war.

I'm going to be selling this car for parts if anyone is interested in anything specific please let me know. This thread is full of pictures. The car is not working at all. The engine is in pieces, but the car DID work (blown head gasket), before I took it apart. So I assume most of the equipment is in working order. The exterior is in decent shape for 200K miles.

[jbracy7]

Man sad end to a story that had me hooked, good luck with the sale,have u posted in the classified section yet