My 720 Resto

[720inOlyWa]

The engine parts all went to the machine shop today. That was a blast, mapping out our rebuild strategy. Thanks to the posters who gave me advice on that score. This being my birthday week and all, I decided to give my back a break from the worst of the heavy lifting by scoring a lift cart from Harbor Freights. It paid for itself the first time I used it to take motor bits to the shop. It actually lifts up to 500lbs. all the way up to the height of my 4x4 tailgate. All is good.

 

[Charlie69]

Damn, do you want to clean my transmission?

[720inOlyWa]

Oh, it gets worse than that, Charlie. Cleaning is one job where I always feel totally confident in what I am doing, so I do a good job! I say it gets worse because I have discovered GM trunk paint. Not only will m tranny (and engine) be clean going back in, I am going to strip the underside of the tunnel and the engine bay clean and paint it with GM Trunk paint, so it will shed grime in the future and clean up nice as you please with a garden hose or a soft rag. Cleaning, man. Detail work. I may be shaky in other areas, but I am really solid in my cleaning and detailing. IN the end, the Fudcicle wins!

[Charlie69]

Please post some information on the GM Truck Paint.

[84720FourWheel]

That's the spackle paint right? http://duplicolor.com/product/trunk-paint

[Lockleaf]

I love the look of that stuff.

[720inOlyWa]

I‘ve never used it before, only seen the results. And I like them a lot. GM trunk paint goes on with a little but of texture to it, sets up hard as a rock. I have seen dark grey, specked, black, and medium grey speckle. the reason I like it so much is that you can spill anything on it and it wipes off neatly with a paper towel.  Oil and road grime will wash right off with garden hose pressure. I will buy the black for the tranny tunnel and of course I will post my results. If I get crazy ambitious, I may even shoot it some in the engine bay too, down low.

 

Years ago, I saw a race car with a crinkle paint finish under the hood. It looked cool as hell, but was the exact opposite from slippery trunk paint in terms of cleanability. In other words, a nightmare. Trunk paint is a cleaners dream. Like everyone else, I got the idea from an episode of Jay Leno’s Garage, the one where he checks out a Dime. You can sort of see it there.

 

 

[Lockleaf]

That is also where I first saw it.

[720inOlyWa]

I made an interesting discovery today. Maybe someone else can profit from my mistake, so I will gladly embarrass myself here for a moment or two. 

 

I have noticed that my turn signal lever was sticking, and resisting when I indicated a left turn. It felt like a pall was worn out in there, so I took off the wheel to check the situation. The plastic switch itself is a rather ingenious design and I admired it as I cleaned away a modest amount of accumulated grime and re-lubed the surfaces. (Does anyone know what kind of lubricant is appropriate for the turns signal switch?) It didn’t matter that I re-lubed it, I had noticed that it worked fine as soon as the steering wheel was in my lap. In fact, it seemed super smooth, even in the pre-cleaned state.     Huh.    Makes you think, don’t it?

 

I had over-titghtened the steering wheel, just a little bit, and it was hanging up the switch play. The resistance in the turn signal came from the back plate of the steering wheel.  Now, I didn’t reef it on there. But I tightened it. Now, of course, I realize that a moderate snugging is plenty enough to do the job.

 

My reward for figuring out this self inflicted wound was to rotate my all black ST wheel with the original sewn cover, restored, into the Fudgecicle for a while...  Lesson learned.

 

[720inOlyWa]

While on the topic of poser work, consider my recycled black carpet set, removed from my organ donor truck. One of the incentives for buying that truck was the black carpet set. But man, it was gross! I don’t want to bum out your day by recalling my speculations about what was coming out of that piling, but it was real, real bad. I am so cheap, and I believe in the power of elbow grease so much, I gambled that I could bring it back enough to install it in the 4x4. Could it be cleaned up, or was it shot?

 

One never knows, until out comes the garden hose!

 

The drivers side was almost a deal breaker. It seemed like I was never going to get all of the dirt and gunk loose. Every high pressure pass with a focused beam roiled up the worst brown water imaginable. Clearly, this was satans 720 carpet set. I did gag, yes. Aweful. So I gave it a pretty good cleaning on Friday and let it drip dry on the hood of the 4x4 after I used a shop vac to suck out more filth and tobacco juice. 

 

Today, I dragged it off the hood and started all over again. This time, I used a car washing broom, with soft bristles, and hot soapy water and I scrubbed for 30 minutes before giving another garden hose rinse. I did the same to the rear section, which was only- and simply- filthy.

 

The results look promising. I got all of the dirt out of the pile and it looks like it will bounce back nicely. well, at least nice enough to replace the totally wrong blue speckle carpeting that is already in there. As you can see from my previous post, I use a black carpeted mat on top of the carpeting anyway.

 

 

[720inOlyWa]

I am usually the last person to find the cool stuff, so you may have seen this already. If so, all apologies for the re-run. Myself, I just found it, enjoyed it, and posted it here. I like both of these vehicles, actually, so it is sort of a bifecta.  Just sayin’. Also keeps me a little jacked on my 86 4x4 project.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4DcWfR08fN0

 

 

On a related note, those carpets you see above have had a week or to to dry on the hood of that truck. Flipping them back over revealed a whole bunch of sand left on the hood. Clean sand, but sand. So, back to step one and we will wash them all over again.

[Kennyt]

Havent read the entire thread but curious ifnur truck had an ECU? If so what needed to be done to putbon the weber if anything. Thanks

[720inOlyWa]

Havent read the entire thread but curious ifnur truck had an ECU? If so what needed to be done to putbon the weber if anything. Thanks

 

My truck was originally a carb equipped truck  with the typical ECU under the drivers seat and a regular, lower pressure fuel pump (not FI). I removed the Hitachi carb and replaced it with a Weber 32/36. I didn’t mess with the ECU at all.  I struggled a bit to get the mixture settings right and the idle and choke to be set up correctly, but this was just my natural learning curve. There are excellent resources online for setting up and adjusting your Weber carb and I found that when I broke down and read them, things began to fall in place.

 

Having said this, there are things I do not like about the Weber. The air cleaners are for shit and look like crap. It still doesn’t return to an 850 RMP idle reliably and I think it has a burr in the works somewhere. It still isn’t dead nuts perfect, and that bugs me. It bugs me enough that I am starting to wonder what was so bad about the Hitachi carb that we all shit-canned them for Webers. I saved a rebuilt Hitachi and I may experiment with it a bit at some point in the future...

[720inOlyWa]

Christmas in August!

The machine shop called. My short block and head will be ready to pick up tomorrow. How the hell am I gonna get to sleep tonight?!?

[Charlie69]

Do not try to sleep, go clean your engine compartment and accessories so it is ready for the engine!  Therapy  LOL

[720inOlyWa]

So, like all Christmas events, a slightly  flawed experience. No bad news, mind you, just that it will be Monday (tomorrow) when my little Z24 will be ready to pick up. As you might imagine, my little parts stripper bucket (we all have one- or something somewhat better) has been working overtime on all the little segregated cups of nuts and bolts, returning all to mint condition. If the parts cleaner doesn’t get it done, I introduce the bits to Mr. Soft Brass Wheel.

 

Which reminds me:

1. What is a good sealant for the bolts that go through the water jacket on the timing chain cover? Is a little black goo on the treads good enough?

 

2. I didn’t notice thread lock on the threads of the flywheel or clutch plate bolts. Is it wise to use it in these places, or not?

 

3. What is your high temp Anti-Seize thread lubricant policy? Is it ill advised to use it anywhere specifically?

 

The organ donor truck looked to have been on its first clutch. It was evenly worn, but nearly worn out. That is, at the end of its useful service life. All of the clutch and flywheel bolts went into the pot as gunky as gunky can be. Now they are like new, clean as a whistle, sorted back into their marked latte cups, ready to go. I find something tremendously satisfying about this kind of ‘small ball‘ restorative work. 

 

A great old friend recently gifted me a 1/4 drive torque wrench. Up to this point, I have been using a 1/2 drive click wrench and I had never given a thought to using anything else. Now I wonder how the heck I got along without this little gem! It just seems to stay in my hands. What a dandy idea!

[84720FourWheel]

I always use thread sealant. If you go to an auto parts store they should know what you mean. Otherwise it's by all the adhesives.

 

A little blue loctite never hurt anyone

 

Exhaust bolts, if you want to remove them at some point. I wouldn't put it on the manifold bolts. I've had issues with them backing out. Almost lost one the other day.

[720inOlyWa]

Well, Christmas came in August this year. I got the call to bring my lift cart down to Johnson‘s Machine & Performance and pick up my newly rebuilt Z24 motor! As usual, the king of grumpy, ‘Junior‘ met me at the front door, looking for a chicken jerky bribe...

 

 

 

I just love this grumpy old boxer. He’s a perfect machine shop guardian. Despite bringing him treats three times, he is still very skeptical about me. I appreciate a discerning canine.

 

Onto business! I am sure this is old news to most of you, but this is the first engine rebuild I have done in over 35 years- and I am having a lot of fun with it.  Here is my rebuilt Z24 short block and head, ready for masking and paint.

 

 

Aint she sweet?!?

 

 

Now to figure out what color to paint the block. Nisan blue would be preferable, but I cant find it. Any ideas?

 

Total cost for everything was $1350. That includes all the machining and parts, re-assembly of the short block, rebuilding the head, Block deck resurfacing, pressure plate resurfacing and shaving the timing cover to match the block deck. Also included was the new timing chain, tensioners and gears and a full engine gasket kit. I am very pleased with the price, the work, and the result.

[Charlie69]

That is a decent price for the work and parts.  Is it new pistons and new bore?

[720inOlyWa]

New pistons, rings, wrist pins, timing chain and tensioners, main and rod bearings, seals, oil pump and complete engine gasket kit. The machining included total head rebuild, clean up bore, block deck leveling, flywheel turned,  crank polished, build up short block. Considering that I just have to put parts back on, I think it was a totally fair price. These guys are way into dragsters and hot rod work, and my subaru mechanic swears by thm. Good enough for me. Everything about how I was handled as a customer was first rate. That, and I dig their dog. I had purchased a head through them, which is in the Fudgecicle right now. I also had them rebuild the head in my 4x4. So I’ve had good experiences all along.

 

Plus, I dig hanging out at a machine shop. So does every other guy who brings in some engine parts for work. They are all as excited to get it done as I was and they want to talk, talk talk- just like me. These poor people must get very tired of talking about engines.

 

Tonight, I put the oil scavenger and oil pan back on, taped the block, and shot two coats of VHT primer and one coat of Pontiac Blue paint. This paint offers a reasonable facimile of Nissan/Datsun blue without the $26.00 per can price tag of ‘factory match’ paint. It is a  bit lighter, but I like it. It looks great!  Once all the shit gets hung back on there, te block paint is all but hidden anyway. Tomorrow, I will finish up the painting and pull the tape. Of course there will be pictures- are you kidding me? It’s fun to show and tell this part of the project. 

 

[720inOlyWa]

End of Day 1 of reassembly. Timing chain is on (and fipple checked- that is, checked five times). Cover is on, pan and head are buttoned up. I just dug out my valve cover from this engine, and it is a beater. I wonder if one can get replacement mylar Nissan Z stickers? If so, I would re-enamel it. In the mean time, I will keep an eye out  for a nice one. They are getting a bit scarce these days. Nice ones, that is.

 

I better get back to it- my supervisor is coming! It looks like she has some demands.

 

[Draker]

Nice work man!

[Charlie69]

It is going to run like a top!

[720inOlyWa]

Bit by bit, day  by day... I discovered that I left the oil thrower washer of the end of the crankshaft- after I had installed the timing chain cover. There is a couple of hours that I will never get back. But, lesson learned: I am slowing down even more than the snail’s pace I was previously employing. The process is to drag a part out of the dirty part box, clean it, assess it, fix it (or replace it) and install it. Some parts clean right up, others take hours, of course.

 

 

I am using my neat little super magnet on as stick tool to hold the distributor shaft in place as I prepare to install the oil pump.

 

 

With the oil pump and distributor timed up correctly, I installed those two items and called it a day. 

 

[Charlie69]

Looking good!  We learn best by making mistakes!  I have done the very same thing twice so do not feel bad.