Blown Head

[coupe72001]

This week I blew the head on my car. Not doing anything dumb, just cruising along. The block/head was honed and a new head gasket fitted less than 2 years ago.

I thought I would make a quick list of things that I have blown up or had to repair or replace just driving around in the last two years. No races, drifting or drags, just one short-lived but spectacularly destructive burnout... in the wet... on grass.

Here goes:

Blown head, exploded r180 LSD, exploded 240k 5spd, all old rubbery bits, shocks and springs, sad alternator, electronic ignition/distributor, fouled 260z carbs, rebuilt SU carbs, deceased headlight combination switch, suicidal harmonic balancer, nasty coil, condensor, welsh plugs, one stolen stereo speakers with related damaged interior and door locks and door, one malfunctioning stereo, one more malfunctioning stereo, dead battery, cracked extractors, extractor gasket (2), crunchy brakes on rear, broken side mirror, leaky radiator filler neck, damaged rear bumper and rear quarter from P plater, damaged rear bumper from ex, bent front bumper from me in a car park... assorted rust holes!

That's all I can think of right now. Does that seem normal to you? Has anyone else had similar woes? Anyway, I feel a lot better now for getting that off my chest.

When I get it fixed I'm thinking about racing it. There's nothing left to go wrong.

D

[coupe72001]

Oh yeah, I forgot...

Im going to shoot the next person that snaps off my aerial. It's not funny anymore.

[Factory 5]

dude!

youve certainly had some shit go bad with your car!

maybe time for an upgrade?

[skybt1]

maybe you should race, drift and drag more. At least then when you break stuff its all the worth while. At least its good too see you hanging in there. Most people would have given up by now. Keep it up!

[coupe72001]

Thanks for the support fellas.

I have decided to replace the head all by myself. First time, so this should be hilarious. If anyone has some tips for me I'd love to hear them.

Importantly I'd like to know; will a standard aftermarket head gasket suffice, or should I be shelling out for a pricier copper gasket, or something else altogether? Its an L26 by the way.

Also, if the head is really cracked/warped nastily, I may be in the market for another head. I know its been touched on before, but can anyone remind me of the finest of all the naturally aspirated heads that will suit? (Mines a ported E88 from memory)

Thanks.

[aarc240]

Stay with the 'normal' head gasket unless you have some serious compression increase.

Is the engine actually an L26 (ie has the larger bore)?

If yes then an N42 head from either a late 260Z or an early 280ZX will be all you need.

Ported?? Why?? A standard N42 will flow all your twin SU's can supply even with a lumpy cam.

At most get in there with a coarse sanding roll or drum and just knock off the daggie bits. No reshaping, just smooth the rough spots down some.

btw, I hope you have a factory service manual (and NOT a Haynes or Scientific Publications piece of sh*t).

[coupe72001]

Stay with the 'normal' head gasket unless you have some serious compression increase.

Is the engine actually an L26 (ie has the larger bore)?

If yes then an N42 head from either a late 260Z or an early 280ZX will be all you need.

Ported?? Why?? A standard N42 will flow all your twin SU's can supply even with a lumpy cam.

At most get in there with a coarse sanding roll or drum and just knock off the daggie bits. No reshaping, just smooth the rough spots down some.

btw, I hope you have a factory service manual (and NOT a Haynes or Scientific Publications piece of sh*t).

Hi mate, really good to hear from you,

It turns out that I swapped my stock L24 for a modified L26 (with a ton of receipts) that came out of a smashed up rally car that I purchased. The current head is an E88, and the block an L26 for sure, with all the head-work commissioned by the previous owner. My original L24 has long since been sold (for next to nothing!)

My car is running twin SU's and a bumpy cam. I don't actually know if it runs flat-top pistons... if there is an easy way to find out I'd be happy to hear about it. It's naturally aspirated at any rate.

I'm not planning any further mod's to the engine, Im just looking for reliability... if an expensive copper head-gasket will make any difference then I'd be prepared to pay for one!

Which would you recommend if it comes down to re-welding my E88 or purchasing a second-hand but undamaged head? I'm yet to deliver the head to the local machine shop.

For the record I have a factory manual and "How to rebuild your Nissan and Datsun OHC engine" by Tom Monroe... a combination that I highly recommend to fellow novices.

Cheers,

D

[Factory 5]

i have a spare N47 in good condition, which is almost the same to a N42 but it has smaller exhaust valves, and high quench desgin lus a few other lil things.

N47 doesnt flow as well as a N42, but N42 is getting harder to find, around $200(for the head) plus deckin/checking from a rally shop

[coupe72001]

i have a spare N47 in good condition, which is almost the same to a N42 but it has smaller exhaust valves, and high quench desgin lus a few other lil things.

N47 doesnt flow as well as a N42, but N42 is getting harder to find, around $200(for the head) plus deckin/checking from a rally shop

Thanks mate,

Ill let you know once I hear how nasty the damage is...

D

[aarc240]

Here you go:

http://cgi.ebay.com.au/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vi...=ADME:B:SS:AU:1

Doesn't matter about the FI cutouts as the carb manifold with either FI or earlier gasket will seal them. A FI head will be drilled/tapped already for both FI and carb manifolds too.

$200 for a head?!? Ouch! I normally get a complete L28 motor for $300 or maybe a little more!

[coupe72001]

Here you go:

http://cgi.ebay.com.au/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vi...=ADME:B:SS:AU:1

Doesn't matter about the FI cutouts as the carb manifold with either FI or earlier gasket will seal them. A FI head will be drilled/tapped already for both FI and carb manifolds too.

$200 for a head?!? Ouch! I normally get a complete L28 motor for $300 or maybe a little more!

Mate $200 is just for the copper gasket! There are standard kits available very cheap from the states though.

Anyway, I pulled the head off today and my head-gasket was undamaged! There was no obvious damage to the head either. Ill get it crack-tested in the morning anyway. Possibly the previous owner failed to retension the head bolts before selling it to me.

Has anyone else had copious amount water leak into the engine from anything other than blown/cracked head?

D

[coupe72001]

The Machine shop says that there are small cracks between the valves, but they are not leaking under pressure - so the head should be right to go back on once its decked and tidied up... The nasty business was caused by the head gasket, that had started to seperate in places (rather than breaking between cylinders).

They recommended a standard gasket set, as the copper ones do not provide much benefit to low-compression engines, and the block/head requires more machining for them to seat just right anyway.

All going well Ill be back on the road sometime soon for a reasonable outlay.

I forgot to add my deceased Toiko 15/16 brake master cylinder to the list of busted parts.

[coupe72001]

and a cracked hotdog... how could I forget - that one nearly landed me a defect notice!

[TurboX]

This was out in my street and I was thinking it may be good to ask the owner if he wanted to sell it, but after your list of woes, just as well I didn't!

Did look nice and original though!

[rsx84]

you can't beat a genuine Nissan head gasket, how much of the busted stuff did you transfer over from the rally car??

Edited July 10, 2007 by rsx84

[coupe72001]

you can't beat a genuine Nissan head gasket, how much of the busted stuff did you transfer over from the rally car??

Sigh... when the car was a completely original car with a clunky 3spd auto nothing went wrong. It was just really slow. Then I got a hole in the exhausted and made my first mistake - attaching twin carbies, extractors/exhaust and a 240k 5spd - they all blew up good... (on a trip from NSW to Vic I lost 2nd, 3rd and 5th gear!)

Then theives damaged the locks and stereo and a kid went up the back of it writing the car off (financially - it was only a dent!)

I got the mushy mushy suspension sorted at pedders, and that has held up really well.

I bought the rally car with the idea to poach the tricked 5 spd box and sell the rest, but then I just went silly and swapped EVERYTHING into my car - (the squeaky/leaky) big brakes, the (since blown up) L26, the great gearbox, suspension bits, wheels, (the since blown up) diff, round taillights... The only thing I didn't do was the rollcage! (I like my interior too much to cut it up.)

Now the car FLIES, then it breaks down, then it FLIES, then it breaks down... No exageration, it really does hammer along when it isn't being repaired - which is about 50% of the time.

[rsx84]

maybe time to back to basics with this one, maybe even source an l20et engine and matching box, ask around at some of the import places that offer warrentys for parts, have you thought of an FJ swap.

if everything is fine with the engine and its only a crap head gasket go the Nissan item, $90 + install, or do it yourself but do it right, clean the block and head surfaces maybe even get them machined. if your box is broke look for an l20et box, go back to a single spinner diff untill you can afford the LSD, 9 times out of 10 its the pads that make your brake noisy, get new pads, fluid and the rotors machined, see if the r30 booster and master cylinder fit as they are cheap maybe even look for a MR30 hatch for parts i'd say no more than $200 for one, if you pedders suspension is good leave it alone....

Edited July 11, 2007 by rsx84

[coupe72001]

Honestly, anytime someone recommends another car or engine I just cant justify it financially. I have already sunk a small fortune into this one, and cant help but fantasizing that its at least getting close to sorted. I mean, what's next, throwing a rod through the block?

At the moment I am running an open-single spinner diff. My new subaru LSD centre just arrived in the post, and Ill so some mixing and matching with the busted LSD to make it accept my driveshafts. Brake pads are also in the post.

Anyway... got my cleaned and machined head and a gasket kit late last week and decided to fit it myself. Things went really well till I needed to refit the timing chain sprocket. I let the chain go slack and the spring-loaded timing-chain tensioner popped out. To pop it back in I needed to remove the engine front cover. Ill spare you the details, but 10 hours later, knee deep in car parts, I removed the engine front cover and put the tensioner back in it's home. Here's the punchline - as I removed the engine front cover I tore the sump gasket... and as far as I can tell, there is no replacing it without lifting the engine out. If anyone can help me out of this jam Ill buy them a pony.

On the positive side I made an awesome crank-pulley-puller out of a piece of 2 by 4 with one large and 2 small holes drilled in it and a couple of 4 inch by 1/4 inch bolts. It looks like this:

[oOo]

you put the 1/4 inch bolts through the small holes and screw them into the pulley. You remove the pulley bolt with a socket that you insert through the really big hole. This will stop the pulley turning as you undo the bolt. Banzai!

[wardie]

When I had to replace my front timing cover due to a pin hole in the back of the water pump area i was scared that this would be an issue. My local "L" expert told me if this happened to get a new sump gasket, clean off the old gasket around the area that matches the timing cover, cut the new gasket to fit that area and then use "high temp copper silicon" to seal the join between the old and new gasket. Don't use a lot just enough to fill the join. He also suggested that I loosen the sump bolts prior to doing this so the silicon could squeeze in better. Then tighten the bolts once the silicon had set thus you don't squeeze the silicon out before it's set and sealed.

Hope that this helps

Wardie

[coupe72001]

When I had to replace my front timing cover due to a pin hole in the back of the water pump area i was scared that this would be an issue. My local "L" expert told me if this happened to get a new sump gasket, clean off the old gasket around the area that matches the timing cover, cut the new gasket to fit that area and then use "high temp copper silicon" to seal the join between the old and new gasket. Don't use a lot just enough to fill the join. He also suggested that I loosen the sump bolts prior to doing this so the silicon could squeeze in better. Then tighten the bolts once the silicon had set thus you don't squeeze the silicon out before it's set and sealed.

Hope that this helps

Wardie

Thanks for the tip wardie. I have followed your suggestion and your pony is in the post. Im yet to fill it up with oil and fire it up yet, but Ill let you know how it goes. I actually made a bit of a mess of the gasket initially when I tried to get the sump all the way off before it clicked that it was fouling the oil pick up.