My car is dead.

[stickgoat]

Long story short.... Yesterday I, with the aid of a couple friends, dropped an Altima intake cam and '91 S13 exhaust cam into my '96.

Thought all was well, save for a bit of tapping at idle. Revved past 2k, my car was smooth as could be. Didn't balk at being driven...power gains were immediately noticeable and VERY nice.

So I drove about 20 or so minutes down the road to the BF's place of employment to show him my car had made it thus far. The plan from there was to head to the arcade til BF got off work.

So I followed my friend out, and about 2 miles down the road, as I put it into second, there was a big "WOOSH", and my car died. I made attempts to crank it back up to no avail. Dead.

Luckily it died right next to an empty church parking lot, and my buddy had a couple of toolboxes in the back of his S13. We rounded up the other guy that had helped us out, and started taking things apart right there.

Got the valve cover off to discover that the bolts holding the cams in place had actually vibrated loose. Loose enough to where the pin for the intake cam had wiggled almost entirely out. The exhaust cam wasn't so lucky, as both the end of the cam and the gear were chewed the hell up.

So we put the '96 exhaust cam back in the car to see how things would go. Hooked up the compression tester, NOTHING. Tried messing with the timing as we'd ran into this problem earlier.

Absolutely no compression whatsoever in cylinder 1. Decided to give it a try on #2, hmm...read pressure.

So, my valves are evidently bent.

The car is now sitting at a Nissan dealership/service department so they can tear it down and look at it. I'm not going to let them do anything, I just want to find out what the actual damage is. If it's just a "simple" matter of replacing the head, we can do that ourselves. If the entire engine is screwed...well.... I'm not quite sure what I'm going to do.

So I now have a non-running car that I still owe about $950 on. Not fun.

I'm really, really not happy right now. I miss my car.

[240_Keyy]

not to be a vulture or anything, but I will give you $950 for it

sux about the bent valves

[Anand]

I am sooo sorry to hear that... but you can look at it this way.. if your engine is done for... you have a swap coming up.. why rebuild it.. just frop a SR into it... that is really sad that another S14 bites the dust.. but it's ok.. look at the bright side.. atleast you didn't crash it or anything.. you still have the car!!

[Anand]

not to be a vulture or anything, but I will give you $950 for it

sux about the bent valves

$950...I'll sell you my working engine for that.. i'll even throw in a transmission with it!

[Dano]

that sucks!!! i hope u get everything worked out soon, ull figure out wat to do somehow....man, sorry to hear about that:(

-Dan

[Meantime]

I'm sorry Summer...I hope it's just the head and nothing more serious. If worse comes to worse, rebuilt KA's aren't too expensive, although I know that's not much consolation for you right now.

[red240ne]

Awww.. that was a really sexy s14. sorry to hear that summer. KA's are plentiful though, put another one in there and start her back up!! let us know if you need any advice.

[BuudWeizErr]

$950...I'll sell you my working engine for that.. i'll even throw in a transmission with it!

he meant give her $950 for the car.

[Anand]

yea, I know...... it was wishfull thinking...

[stickgoat]

Thanks everyone.

I don't have money for an SR right now, nor do I have 1-2 months to wait for one to come in from Japan....so that option is most likely out.

And I'm gonna have to decline the $950 offer on the car. It's worth too much to me to let it go for that, not to mention I'd be entirely without car and without any sort of money to help me get a new one. I need at least an extra $2000 to put towards something else if I'm selling it, and somehow I doubt anyone would want to give me $3k for my car as is.

Anyway, I'll find out Monday what the extent of the damage is, and go from there. Hopefully it'll just be the head, and I have plenty of sources for those.

[DSM91]

I know all about dead cars. My car has had more down time in the last six months than up time. It will be back together before you know it, and running better than ever

Did you torque the cam bolts down to spec? It is odd that they should vibrate loose if correctly torqued.

[stickgoat]

Nope, I think that's the problem. We were using the Nissan service manual for a '93, and no torque specs were given for cam components. Pretty ridiculous, actually.

BTW, I like your car combo. I've got the S14, and the BF has the '92 TSI.

[Rockenreno]

Poor stickgoat. You have an awesome car, sad to see it in pain! Hopefully it'll be up and running again soon. 240's are strong cars

[DSM91]

That would be the problem. Cam bolts NEED the proper torque specs. As much as one ft lb too little and they come loose. A ft lb. too much and they can damage the bearing. Sorry to hear about the problem. That really sucks. Good luck with it! If the FSM doesn't have the torque specs, get a Chiltons. That will, though I find it crazy that the FSM doesn't have the proper specs.

[stickgoat]

Well, three of us looked through the book repeatedly and did not find cam torque specs, so either we're all bloody idiots or they're just flat not in there.

At any rate, that's what happened. Definitely just too loose.

[krazy skwerel]

Seems odd to hear about an s14 giving problems. I'm so used to seeing posts about s13's. Hope i works out for the best. :batman

[UncleBen]

Oh man Summer, sorry to hear about your car I hope everything works out alright and you get her up and running soon without having to dish out too much cash.

[96_S14_SE]

You know summer I felt bad till you said you couldnt find the torque specs and thus didnt torque them.... I DID OFFER to get them for you out of my fsm, with images, in the previous thread

[quote=" 96_S14_SE from here edit: if you need a picture (might be a bit dirty though )of the cam install from the 96 fsm with specs, let me know and Ill host if for a cpl of days.[/quote]

All you had to do was ask.....

[stickgoat]

Damn, I must have missed that post entirely. That would have been highly appreciated.

[creophus]

not to be a vulture or anything, but I will give you $950 for it

sux about the bent valves

Too late, you're a vulture!

Seriously though, it sucks that your car died. Hopefully it will be cheap to get it fixed. One good thing is that the KA is pretty cheap to replace and find parts for.

[Aspec0002]

if you need money you can always sell me the altima and s13 cams.

[96_S14_SE]

if you need money you can always sell me the altima and s13 cams.

I wouldnt!!! I mean yeah the engine is toast, but to drop in a new head (or even block) then just settle for stock screams defeat... I myself wouldnt let a cam swap defeat me, and havent before when I had issues, running on 36 hours without sleep and at 2:30 am, and still got the non pinned 248-232 to work... The first time, I busted a bolt in the head (240-248 swap) and still didnt give up...

That sucks that you missed it summer. I am sorry to hear that. While this doesnt help, we only truely learn from our most expensive (mentally, phisically and last... costly) mistakes.... Chaulk this one up as a learning experience and nothing more.

WHEN you decide to put the cams into the other head engine, if they are salvageable, email me and Ill get you those specs...

[stickgoat]

The Altima cam is just fine. The '91 exhaust cam is shot, but I can locate another one with no problems....

I'll definitely email you for those specs. I should find out tomorrow what the verdict is going to be..

[SRdS14]

ohhhhh summmmmmmmer.....i have an sr for you seeing as my car is totaled (possibly) and you live in SC.. its all up to you if u want a FAST as **** sr20det. i'll hook u up. Scott

[stickgoat]

I'm VERY interested. Very.

How much would you want for it?

Go ahead and email me and we'll talk.... [email protected]

[Stock-S13]

oh no, summer iam so sorry to hear that.. but as said previously Ka's are a dime a dozen. Hope you get that fixed.

SRd' man you wrecked your S14? Dude thats horrible, how and when? i havent been here for a while and the cars are being crashed and broken, and rolled over.. Crazy.. Best of luck to both of you guys.

Edgar