mmitchell57 Posted October 1, 2014 Report Share Posted October 1, 2014 Yep, going to start a topic on mine. I've been focusing on mechanical integrity. I have most the engine working good but I believe I have a blown head gasket. It's not code red yet, but i'm sure I'll get there. Current pictures of the engine bay. Done a ton of work with it and cleared out most the crap that was non-operational anymore. the Webber 38/38 is pretty bad assed. Acceleration is pretty fun now. I removed all the carbon canister stuff from the engine bay. Cleaned up all the xtra hoses that were not needed. Made a quick mount to put the coils on. There's a ton of small things done to make it run much better. The most obvious change is the carb. However, hoses and sensors have been removed. Tons of vacuum plungers (not sure the right name) and all the control crap. I'm getting this thing down to a functional engine and making all the room I can. A picture from another view. Current picture of the truck. Ton of body work is needed. But i'm focusing on the mechanical at this time. Original engine bay pic for reference. I'm posting pics as I find them. 1 Quote Link to comment
_chiefjt Posted October 1, 2014 Report Share Posted October 1, 2014 Nice. I noticed you got rid of those 2 vacuum hard lines that go in front of the engine. I have done the same also. Looks a lot better. Your bay is pretty much the same as mine except I have a/c and a windshield reservoir. It doesn't even work, I just keep it in to look stock. lol Now all you gotta do is scrub the engine bay and your solid. :thumbup: 1 Quote Link to comment
xsdg Posted October 1, 2014 Report Share Posted October 1, 2014 What kind of toolbox is that? I've been looking for one forever, and I'm still looking. Quote Link to comment
mmitchell57 Posted October 1, 2014 Author Report Share Posted October 1, 2014 Nice. I noticed you got rid of those 2 vacuum hard lines that go in front of the engine. I have done the same also. Looks a lot better. Your bay is pretty much the same as mine except I have a/c and a windshield reservoir. It doesn't even work, I just keep it in to look stock. lol Now all you gotta do is scrub the engine bay and your solid. :thumbup: Thanks man. That engine bay is a PITA to clean in some areas. What you see in the current pictures is after a couple scrub downs with car wash mix and one with brake cleaner. The hardest area to get to is under the brake booster. I may just buy a dish washing brush and see if that makes it easier. Quote Link to comment
mmitchell57 Posted October 1, 2014 Author Report Share Posted October 1, 2014 What kind of toolbox is that? I've been looking for one forever, and I'm still looking. Funny story about that box. My neighbor bought a early 90's toyota truck and this box was attached to it. I thought about offering him some cash for it but decided to wait. A week later it was sitting by the road next to his trash can. I walked over, picked it up, cleaned it up a bit, and boom.... Done.... No clue who makes it, the manufacture plate was removed, but I can measure it for you if you think that would help. Quote Link to comment
_chiefjt Posted October 3, 2014 Report Share Posted October 3, 2014 What I used was Purple Power and a nylon brush. I'm sure a green brillow pad will work good too. The purple power worked great, the only thing is that once it drys it turns white and drys out whatever it's on. What I use to get rid of it is detail the whole engine bay with a 2 light coats of wd-40. Looks super clean! 1 Quote Link to comment
mmitchell57 Posted October 3, 2014 Author Report Share Posted October 3, 2014 Figured i'd put my engine settings here as I know them. Good reference. Valve Clearance: Intake: .008 Exhaust: .009 BTDC: 5 degrees without vacuum advance Weber 38/38 Syncronous Settings Mixture: 2 1/2 turns Warm Idle: 900 Rpm Fast Idle: 1800 Rpm Can't think of anything else right now. I did put in some engine restore to see if it'd help with the precipitation that is spat our on fire up. It's a mix of water and oil. Might be a blown head gasket, not entire sure yet. If it is blow, it's near the rear of the engine on cylinder 4. I torque the heads a while ago, but I think I was too late. Next things in line are the rest of the mechanical. I think i need to check out the transmission to make sure it's good. Then the rear diff. From there, suspension. Quote Link to comment
datzenmike Posted October 3, 2014 Report Share Posted October 3, 2014 Z24 hot valve clearance is 0.12" for both sides. If you suspect the head gasket get it fixed. Running lie that risks over heating and warping the head. The blown out area can also erode a low spot that will need milling flat so it doesn't blow the next week after the new gasket is put on. Fix now = less problems later. DO NOT remove the cam sprocket before finding out how and why to secure the timing chain. Failure to know and do this will result in 6 hours or difficult and unnecessary work added to the gasket change. Quote Link to comment
mmitchell57 Posted October 4, 2014 Author Report Share Posted October 4, 2014 Mike, you are right for hot valves. I adjust w/ cold and based on the info in the maintenance manual. Also, didn't realize the issues that could result from a bad head gasket. I'll start checking thing out and make sure it's the case and get a plan together. Thanks for the heads up. Might do more engine work before I look at other things. Quote Link to comment
mmitchell57 Posted October 13, 2014 Author Report Share Posted October 13, 2014 Well, ended up pulling the front clip off for some serious cleaning and rust control. Seems that the truck was in a wreck at some point in the past. No bother. i'll get the rust straight and end up paining all the under stuff black. Not sure about the rest. cleaning regardless. 2 Quote Link to comment
xsdg Posted October 13, 2014 Report Share Posted October 13, 2014 Funny story about that box. My neighbor bought a early 90's toyota truck and this box was attached to it. I thought about offering him some cash for it but decided to wait. A week later it was sitting by the road next to his trash can. I walked over, picked it up, cleaned it up a bit, and boom.... Done.... No clue who makes it, the manufacture plate was removed, but I can measure it for you if you think that would help. Measurements aren't what I'm looking for, but it's probably a reasonable place to start. So yeah, I'd appreciate it. My challenge is finding a box that has a decent amount of space, but doesn't bump into the fronts of the wheel wells. So actually, just a picture looking forward from the right-rear or left-rear corner of the bed would be really useful, just to show how much space is left around the wheel wells. 1 Quote Link to comment
mmitchell57 Posted October 13, 2014 Author Report Share Posted October 13, 2014 XSDG, roger man. I'll grab you one when it's light out. Easy game. Quote Link to comment
mmitchell57 Posted October 13, 2014 Author Report Share Posted October 13, 2014 XSDG, here you go. Let me know if you need another view. 1 Quote Link to comment
mmitchell57 Posted October 13, 2014 Author Report Share Posted October 13, 2014 First layer of love on the front clip. Figured black was easy to secure and plentiful. 1 Quote Link to comment
xsdg Posted October 14, 2014 Report Share Posted October 14, 2014 mmitchell: Rockin'. Thanks! Now I know to pay more attention to the depth (height) than the length when I look up measurements online. 1 Quote Link to comment
mmitchell57 Posted October 14, 2014 Author Report Share Posted October 14, 2014 NP man. Easy stuff. Did a follow up on the front clip paint. Hit a couple parts I missed earlier and let it sit for the night. Going take another shot at it again today. I'm going to look at doing the engine bay soon. Question for debate which I have not searched on yet but will: Have you done a battery relocation? What's required? Quote Link to comment
xsdg Posted October 15, 2014 Report Share Posted October 15, 2014 Battery relocation should be easy. If you're looking to do a tuck, it'll be a little more work, though, because some of the small-gauge positive wires don't have much length until they get wrapped into the harness. The main things are that you've got the main positive cable that goes to the starter, and the negative needs to have a solid connection to the body and a solid connection to the intake manifold. And don't forget that if you add much length to either of those cables, you may need to switch to a heavier gauge to keep the voltage drop in check. 1 Quote Link to comment
mmitchell57 Posted October 16, 2014 Author Report Share Posted October 16, 2014 Good tips and easy to work with. When I get closer I'll post pics of what I'm doing. I have some bad ideas in mind that might work out well. Quote Link to comment
mmitchell57 Posted November 4, 2014 Author Report Share Posted November 4, 2014 So... I've been messing around with the truck more. I've come to loving call it the Sh*tbox. I was working the front clip and still am. There's a ton of work to get knocked out and I've not been rushing to get it cleared up. The main part i've been focused on lately is the wiring in the engine bay. Hate how it was ran previously directly across the top of the radiator support. Also you will notice I pulled out the condenser. First up, engine bay pics... You can see the block i am using for ground for all things that need to ground to the harness. When splitting up the wiring harness the biggest issue I had was the negative grounds for everything went back to one main ground that then ground out against the wheel well. So, cleaned it up, rewired the grounds to the block, and split the circuits. Also, you will notice all the extra wires that are cut short... No use for any of those. Been running 4 months w/o them connected to anything and no negative side effects. On this one you can see all the crap I pulled out from the fender well. I made a basic mount for the coils to clean up that entire area. I still need to clean it up quite a bit but overall it's a ton better. Next couple of pics are the front sub frame ???..... not sure what to call it at this time. You can see how it's been painted black all the way around. What you can't see is all the small work i've done. Cleaning up rust, sealing, and all that some such. While down there, I filled in all the grease fittings with new grease. Mostly the steering components. Then I started the basics of body work. Got the panels off and did the initial knock down of crap on the fenders, some serious scrubbing and still more to do. Crazy how quick vinegar cuts through grime. I intend to do some light metal work on the fenders and lower spoiler. I saw some things done in a couple other threads that will find their way into mine. I'm thinking about doing a roll on the fenders and loosing the front bumper and meshing the openings after cleaning the openings up a bit. The fun part, never done this before so it's all new to me. I have a cheapo hammer/dolley set to get started. I screwed around with it Sunday and I think I need to find some good tutorials on youtube and do a little at t time to get the concept straight before I go nuts with it. Any people with experience with recommendations are appreciated. Quote Link to comment
mmitchell57 Posted November 12, 2014 Author Report Share Posted November 12, 2014 Finally making some noticable progress. Probably nothing obvious to you guys through the pictures, but it it's something. :) I've got more to upload, but you get the general idea. I liked the concept of the front lower spoiler but hated how it was executed in OEM. Had a hammer and dolly set so I've rolled all the edges on the two major openings. It's really made it look nicer to me and make the peice much more solid. The next part is to steal an idea from another forum member and tack in some expanded steal behind it to give it a bit of depth. I hope if I clean it up enough, I can go without the front bumper, but we'll see how things progress. Also, took out some ugly dents and dings as well as smoothed out the lower lip. I still have a lot of final work to do, but it's about 80% there with exception of the expanded metal. More pics. Fender back on for fitment. I ended up flattening out the bumper mount on the fender. Not a big fan of how it looked. We'll see where it leads and if the overall plan works out. Quote Link to comment
mmitchell57 Posted November 12, 2014 Author Report Share Posted November 12, 2014 Pics of my old 86 toyota pickup... Loved that thing. I lost it in a wreck about 3 years ago. A KLR650 that I loved to drive but ended up selling after a couple years. The 62 Ford Fairlane I sold to buy the current Nissan I have. Love this car, but didn't make sense at the time. This was my favorite care of them all. It answered to the redneck in me but was about 12 years ago. This was after a wreck I got into and started putting it back together. Had the 305 TPI and was stupid fun. Which I never got rid of it. This doesn't cover the other motorcycles, trucks, and cars i've owned and enjoyed. Quote Link to comment
mmitchell57 Posted November 13, 2014 Author Report Share Posted November 13, 2014 Found pics of my SV1k. I had replaced the front suspension to a suspension from a GSXR750 with radial brakes.. Damn thing handled way better when I was done. Got the GIVI bags on there and it was a dream. In one of the pics you can see my flat black truck in the background. Loved that truck too. :) I'll see if I can find pics of it hooked up. Quote Link to comment
mmitchell57 Posted November 13, 2014 Author Report Share Posted November 13, 2014 I don't why i'm compled to post these, but what the hell, I'll keep going. Found pics of my big ugly truck that was unstoppable . The nissan sentra SER SpecV... This car was nuts... Absolutely loved it also. My old Acura Integra GSR, got it for free as it was totaled. I put it back together after getting the subframe straightened as much as possible. I drove it for four years. It was a very fun car as well. If I find better pics i'll post em later. Quote Link to comment
mmitchell57 Posted November 15, 2014 Author Report Share Posted November 15, 2014 I'm going to try and get all the wiring cleaned up today and have it back online. Another pic of the lower spoiler. you can see how some of the edges have been rolled back to clean it up. Engine bay is getting closer to being done. I still have the battery relocation on the mind, but now is not the best time. I need to clean up the bed and finalize a couple things before I move forward on the reloc. The only problem I am having right now is I don't know what to do with all the wired used for ignition. There's a bulk just for the coils and distributor. Any ideas no how to make this look clean? Quote Link to comment
_chiefjt Posted November 15, 2014 Report Share Posted November 15, 2014 You'd be suprised how good that coolant resovior would clean up. All that brown is probably from the inside and you can try and clean it with a brush, some purple power and a magic eraser. lol At least that's what I did. Also, you can remove the a/c idle up vacuum valve on the top right of your engine bay. I removed it and have 0 problems with my a/c. And I have a brand new system too and once the compressor broke in it drops the idle by 200 rpms and I have mine set at 1k rpms. That is, if your still running a/c which I don't see. Quote Link to comment
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