Valentine

[jon521]

mmm fresh head....

[mrbigtanker]

i would like some head.

[skyblue]

head is good

[skyblue]

so made a little progress today.

 

took old gasket off and cleaned the block surface. Threw on the new gasket.

 

dropped the head on.

 

Torqued it down and put the cover on temporarily to keep out dust cause i still have to set the valve clearances.

 

I do have one concern though. When I took it apart initially it was in the no.1 position the dimple on the cam sprocket lined up with the oblong mark on cam. but when i put it on today the oblong mark is to the left of the dimple, area inside red circle

 

and when i tried the other pin holes (2 and 3) they all lined up the same. to the left. what gives? I know it has to do with chain stretch, but this part of the sprocket always confused me. any insight would be great.

[wayno]

I have gotten to the point that I usually mark my chain and cam sprocket, but when I put it back together, I am at TDC, and the cam lobes on #1 cylinder are at 10am and 2pm, not 10:30am and 2:30pm.

If I get lost, and being to lazy to remove the front timing chain cover to count links, I just put the cam at 10am and 2pm, and use #2 dowel, and put it together, and it's never been wrong yet.

[skyblue]

marking it would have been a smart move. i totally spaced.

 

I was just reading my haynes manual and it says if the oblong dash is still to the left at the #3 dowel it means the chain is too stretched and must be replaced. how bad is it to drive with a stretched chain? will it pop off and Fuck shit up?

 

I will try your advice wayno. I'd hate to have to replace the chain. taking the front cover off is such a pain in the ass.

[wayno]

How loose do you figure the chain is?

How old is it?

I have never replaced a timing chain because of it being stretched, but I did put a new timing chain kit on my LZ23 build.

Are you sure you put it back together the way you took it apart, or could you have put it on one tooth off, in my head I see turning the cam shaft counter clock wise one tooth would line up the marks, put the cam lobes at 10am and 2pm, as they look 10:30 and 2:30 in the photos to me, but photos of this subject are sometimes not sufficient, and sometimes out right deceiving, I would need to be there looking at it, to tell for sure, sometimes I have to look at it for a while before I decide that it is in reality messed up, the last time the LZ23 went back together, I was off a tooth, and a night went by before I decided it was wrong.

[skyblue]

How loose do you figure the chain is?

How old is it?

I have never replaced a timing chain because of it being stretched, but I did put a new timing chain kit on my LZ23 build.

Are you sure you put it back together the way you took it apart, or could you have put it on one tooth off, in my head I see turning the cam shaft counter clock wise one tooth would line up the marks, put the cam lobes at 10am and 2pm, as they look 10:30 and 2:30 in the photos to me, but photos of this subject are sometimes not sufficient, and sometimes out right deceiving, I would need to be there looking at it, to tell for sure, sometimes I have to look at it for a while before I decide that it is in reality messed up, the last time the LZ23 went back together, I was off a tooth, and a night went by before I decided it was wrong.

 

well the age is hard to say. the PO said the motor had 30k on a rebuild when i bought it back in january of 2011. so who knows if they replaced the chain or not. i was in such a hurry to get the head off in the disassembly that i didnt pay much attention to things other than having it be at TDC. also the head looked to be at the correct position when i got it back from the machine shop but that may wrong too. I will turn the cam counter clockwise like you said and hopefully that will line things up. How do you turn the cam with the front bolt off?

[wayno]

well the age is hard to say. the PO said the motor had 30k on a rebuild when i bought it back in january of 2011. so who knows if they replaced the chain or not. i was in such a hurry to get the head off in the disassembly that i didnt pay much attention to things other than having it be at TDC. also the head looked to be at the correct position when i got it back from the machine shop but that may wrong too. I will turn the cam counter clockwise like you said and hopefully that will line things up. How do you turn the cam with the front bolt off?

 

 

I don't know if it is supposed to be turned this way, but there is a couple tangs/tabs that stick out in the middle of the cam, I usually use channel locks or a crescent wrench on them tabs.

You need to be carefull when turning a cam bolted on to a block that is at TDC, but you only need to move it one tooth.

The correct way to do this is to remove the front cover and count 44 links I beleave, but that would mean you have to lossen the oilpan also, I am comfortable doing it the way I do it, but since I am not there, it is your risk, be very carefull, don't force the cam, if it stops, there is a reason, you can bend a valve fairly easy.

[skyblue]

channel locks. check.

and i will be very careful. believe me after what i paid for that head i better not f it up.

[skyblue]

ok i got it timed. it was a tooth off. just had to to do like wayno said and turned the cam very carefully with some channel locks. the hard part is done. now i just have to put everything else on ad she should be back on the road soon.

 

thanks again wayno and hainz for your help.

[mrbigtanker]

good job

[wayno]

Now I am worried, so when you turned the cam one tooth, the engine was at TDC, the cam lobes on #1 cylinder are now pointed at 10am and 2pm, and the rotor is pointed at about 4pm.

What I basicly mean about the cam lobes is that they basicly point at the same angle up, but opposite directions.

[skyblue]

yes that is correct. the cam lobes were at the 10:30 2:30 before. but they are now at the correct position. why worried?

[wayno]

Cause I am giving advice while I am not there to catch something I didn't think about while giving the advice.

As I said before, mine was off a tooth, and I slept overnight on it before I fixed it, as I looked at it several times, rechecking everything several times before I did anything about it.

[skyblue]

well it worked . thanks

[jon521]

Sweeet man i bet your happy to hear it run again!

[Busta Nut]

well its actually not fully assembled yet. he spun the motor by hand and it spun smooth.

[jon521]

whoops :) misread. well, all the same, i bet it was nice to turn it by hand and not have anything lock up on ya

[skyblue]

so i broke my camera yesterday, therefore my updates will be pic-less till i can buy a new one. :mad:

 

but i did make some progress on her tonight.

 

-exhaust manifold is on

-intake and carb is on

-thermostat housing is on

 

a lot, if not all the nuts and bolts are pretty toast so i'll probably get new ones before i torque everything down.

 

things left to do:

-install fuel pump

-hook up fuel line

-get new fuel filter

-get new oil filter

-change thermostat gasket

-hook up heater/radiator hoses

-set valve lash

-change oil

-top off radiator

-torque everything down

-charge battery

-replace old nuts and bolts

-bolt up exhaust flange

 

working too much and living in a stupid homeowners community leaves little time to get her back together. but damn it i'll get it done!

[Busta Nut]

Baby steps... :baby:

[skyblue]

Baby steps... :baby:

indeed. i gotta speed things up tho cause i have the gadamn HOA on my back.

[wayno]

I couldn't live in a neighborhood like that, but I work for the people that live in them almost every day.

Places like that have rules like no parking outside in there driveway at night. :confused:

I park my work truck on the road in front of my house every night, the HOA would never leave me alone till they ran me off. :poke:

I guess if you want to live in structured communities like that, you cannot have a hobby like restoring cars, unless you park and work on them inside your garage, and I can see the looks on their faces everytime you pull your datsun 521 out of the garage, it would likely look like this. :sick:

[skyblue]

yea i hate living here. it was supposed to be temporary but life is a bitch. they don't even let u wash your car. wtf! shoot i wish i had a garage. all i get is a carport. so i've had to work on it little by little past 9pm when not too many people are around to snitch on me. although i got a notice today reminding me of the rules about no repairs aloud. F'em! I gotta get a new place, especially now that i have 510.

[Busta Nut]

What happens if you just keep working on your shit?