My trip to the junk yard...

[Sleepy_Steve]

OK, so even though its gona rain all week. I began looking around for local junk yards today. (first part is what i did and found... questions are in bold )

I found one and looked around for anything that might be of use to me.

What i found that was of any interest to me were an 85 300zx and a 96 altima.

Now i was thinking about pulling the VLSD from the 300z - but sadly its a turbo, and im almost certain that means that the gear ratio in that dif would prolly make my car go slower.

As for the altima - slightly less discouraging.The engine seemed to be non tampered - so maybe there are some cams still living in there. Confirmed that its a 2.4l 16 valve motor. So maybe i can get that on the cheap. But two questions on this... 1) Did i indeed find a proper doner cam to retrofit into my s14? 2) If / When i pull the cam... how do i tell if its condition has not been compromised from sitting out in the junkyard or its use while in the altima?

Second thing. It still had the altima radiator and the dual electric fans. I think i have seen some people on this forum puting altima fans onto thier 240's KA's in place of the single belt driven clutch fan and massive fan shroud. What gain is there from doing this?Is it simply to clean up the engine bay? Or does it offer some preformance gain by decreasing the load on the pully system on the motor? <- but that makes little sense as the load should (i think) simply be transfered from the belt to the alternator??

Ooh yeah, and they had a few 15'' 5 lug dounuts lying around, i could use one of those as well.

So anyway that was the more funest part of my day... looking at rust buckets in the rain... but anyway please lend a hand on those questions so i know if its worth the effort to go back.

[smdrcr_9]

was this brandywine.. if so there gonna charge you 80 for the fans and its worth it imo but up to you.. i got fans from bwine for 30 cuz the shroud was broken up and i bs'ed the guy into saying it was worthless

[Sleepy_Steve]

I think it was B&B auto salvage... 301S to central ave. towards davidsonvile, i dont know of brandywine, but i havent been looking too long. What are the benifits to the altima fans? or did i list them already in the origional post.

how about the cam? Before i go back there - i'd like to know:

A) if its the right find.B) ways to tell if the cams have been compromised.

[cdlong]

but that makes little sense as the load should (i think) simply be transfered from the belt to the alternator??

you're right, assuming it's running all the time. actually it's a higher load since you are transfering mechanical energy to electricity back to mechanical, with losses at each transfer. but if you wire it to come on only when the car gets too hot then it will help. when you are cruising down the highway, a fan isn't going to add much airflow. only when you are sitting in traffic will it be necessary, assuming your car is mostly stock.

ways to tell if the cams have been compromised.

if it's still shiny and not scored, it's fine. i don't know if it's the right one or not.

[Sleepy_Steve]

Im fairly certain it is the right set of cams. I cant see any score marks after pulling it today. But as it was a core motor, there is a lot of evidence of the engines demise. Hopefully it will clean up to still be shiny. If it turns out to be crap, i can still return it i think. But on the bright side it was ****ing cheap as all hell. (what do brand new cams cost anyway?)

[DjPantsSpecR]

there is too much work involved in ptting an altima cam in a 240. check out tloof's recent cam post to read the specifics. I think you might be able to get the intake cam to work with less work however. you might not need to cutt the back off and move in the oil plug.

so if that doesnt sound hard, then grab the altima cam, but still read tloofs post, adn if its over your head dont use the 248. i would consider using just the intake side if its possible adn youll have 240/232 which is a nice combo

And a mechanical fan takes away crank horsepower. However it is a very minimal amount. THe only reason i removed mine are because i work on my cars ALL THE TIME and its nice to always have that stuff outta the way.

now back to your question: the alternator load is always produced. depending on what model you have, im sure you have 80-90 amps. thats plenty over amperage to run a fan without having to worry about losing ignition.

A little electrical load like this cant not even be compared to the rotational mass removed from the crank. buy those fans. and if youre still worried. wire one of the fans up to the stock ac, adn wire the other fan to a thermoswitch available at your local autoparts store

[Sleepy_Steve]

Blast - compression check came back, and two of my cylinders are low on compression. Looks like new rings will be needed. (that involves a rebuild of the motor right?)

Frustrating... makes me wana things.... Not because it cant be fixed, but because the added work of doing the rings makes me wana bite the bullet and buy a second KA motor and have it rebuild and put the cams in that instead. -- However then i start to run out of time left before i go back to school... and the biudget required grows large rather quickly as well.

What ill prolly end up doing is putting the cams in knowing full well the engine aint running 100% - as sick as that makes me - and leave getting a built KA for next summer.

[nismopu]

the 84-86 300zx's turbo and n/a never came with a VLSD, the only model to come with one is the 1988 SS model(1000made). The 87-89's turbo 300zx's came with a clutch type LSD and are super rare to find. peace.

[Sleepy_Steve]

Yeah, I'm getting a vlsd from a slightly different source. But I'll bet its still out of a junk yard.

[DjPantsSpecR]

if two adjacent cylinders are low on compression, its possible you have a blown headgasket.

Or maybe a cam timing problem, but not likely

it could be rings, but when its two right next to each other i tent to lean on a headgasket, which is a much easier job. you didnt overheat it did you?

[Sleepy_Steve]

Engine does not overheat in the least. But I'll look into the headgasket issue.