Duncan's 71 "Oz" Goon

[KELMO]

OEM is NLA..part # 15255-U9600.

My dumb ass didn't think to look and see if the seal was available.

 

EDIT: Same story on the seal...surprise, surprise.

Edited May 17, 2020 by KELMO

[rosso]

Hey Duncan, why bother with a search - Crashtd gave you the link and you most likely will not find one elsewhere. If you want to just surf the net then surf the datnissparts.com site. If you do not find any parts you need, it's a great resource for what the original parts looked like.  just sayin.

[Duncan]

5 hours ago, rosso said:

Hey Duncan, why bother with a search - Crashtd gave you the link and you most likely will not find one elsewhere. If you want to just surf the net then surf the datnissparts.com site. If you do not find any parts you need, it's a great resource for what the original parts looked like.  just sayin.

 

I was hoping to find one and just buy one with "normal" online buying.  The Lynchburg Nissan page says that part can only be bought through email.  I'm going to check my caps today and make sure it's what they describe on their website. 

 

 

 

[Crashtd420]

1 hour ago, Duncan said:

 

I was hoping to find one and just buy one with "normal" online buying.  The Lynchburg Nissan page says that part can only be bought through email.  I'm going to check my caps today and make sure it's what they describe on their website. 

 

 

 

It is a bit weird but the guy that does the sales is cool and straight up.... I had no issue and I know hainz and few others have ordered from him also....

I can send you a couple pics of my cap and the seal if that helps at all...

[Duncan]

1 hour ago, Crashtd420 said:

It is a bit weird but the guy that does the sales is cool and straight up.... I had no issue and I know hainz and few others have ordered from him also....

I can send you a couple pics of my cap and the seal if that helps at all...

 

I'm sure it's okay to order and they're legit.  Was just hoping to get something going a bit faster.  The two caps I have both use that rubber seal, and both are missing.  MY old valve cover didn't leak, but the painted one does.  It just seeps a little bit, and it can wait until I get the seal. 

 

Thanks again to all that helped!

 

 

[datsunfreak]

Why not just get an aftermarket cap? They usually have built in seals. 

[Duncan]

12 hours ago, datsunfreak said:

Why not just get an aftermarket cap? They usually have built in seals. 

 

I've seen those and probably will buy one.  I thought the seal might be easier.  The email I sent to that dealer bounced twice now...

 

So much for easy 🙂

 

 

[datsunfreak]

1 hour ago, Duncan said:

 

I've seen those and probably will buy one.

 

There's literally a million of them on ebay of all different flavors. Since you have the later valve cover, any cap that fits a Honda, fits that.  😁

[rosso]

Duncan,

 

I emailed Riley at Lynchburg Nissan and got a reply within an hour or so. He says he has lots of emails and has been slow to respond, but they should not bounce.

 

He said he would check his inbox but I did not know your email address to give to him. As you said, so much for easy.

 

The Nismo caps are an attractive alternative. Either way your car will still look great!

[Duncan]

21 hours ago, rosso said:

I emailed Riley at Lynchburg Nissan and got a reply within an hour or so. He says he has lots of emails and has been slow to respond, but they should not bounce.

 

I literally cut and pasted the email address off of that page. My email got sent out, no problem.  5 minutes later, it returned as undeliverable.

 

I ended up ordering a cap off ebay, so all is good.

 

 

[rosso]

Yep. I understand - hate when the interwebs don't work. Biggest problem I find with cut and paste of email addresses is there is a space before or after the address included in the cut that makes the email different and it will bounce.

 

Glad you have it taken care of - and as always, love your car! I have hopes that mine will be as fun as yours albeit it will never look as good.  <smile>

 

 

but I am working on it... <grin>

 

[DARIN 510]

On 5/19/2020 at 5:38 PM, rosso said:

Yep. I understand - hate when the interwebs don't work. Biggest problem I find with cut and paste of email addresses is there is a space before or after the address included in the cut that makes the email different and it will bounce.

 

Glad you have it taken care of - and as always, love your car! I have hopes that mine will be as fun as yours albeit it will never look as good.  <smile>

 

 

but I am working on it... <grin>

 

Where did you get your paint ?

[rosso]

I took my wiper cowl in to Wesco Autobody Supply just north of Seattle and they matched the paint.

21619 Highway 99, Lynnwood, WA 98036 Phone: +1 425 776 9186

They mixed up a quart of paint to match and then filled 3 spray cans with it since I don't have a spray gun. It is lacquer paint so I also needed a clear coat which I bought in a spray can too. Nice people, did it in about half an hour and was about $70 iirc. I still have a good amount of paint left in the quart can.

Not a bad match and pretty happy with the result since I am by no means a body shop guy. Looks lots better and should not rust for a while which is my main goal.

You might get paint mixed somewhere local and in rattle cans, a parts store here in remote Washington has a paint shop and they could do it (Baxter Auto Parts) - but they were much more expensive.

Good luck.

[DARIN 510]

Cool thank you 👍

[Duncan]

 

Went ahead and got an ebay cap.  The Nismo sticker was not installed when it was delivered, so I peeled off the paper and stuck it on there not giving it a second thought.   As soon as I opened the hood, I realized I should have put the cap on and clocked the decal to read right when it was on the car.

 

As luck would have it, (and this never happens to me) here it is on tight and where the decal landed totally by chance.

 

 

I need to go buy a lottery ticket now...

 

 

[Duncan]

I've driven the car a few times with the new cap (and gasket) and it was definitely the missing gasket causing the leak.  The weird thing is this new cap has so few threads engaged when it's tight.  The old caps I have screw down with more turns, but it works fine otherwise.

 

Off to the reopened Cars and Coffee in South Orange County tomorrow.  I'll be incognito rockin' the mandatory face mask.  Sure beats sitting here at home!  I'm really looking forward to just being out and checking out some cars again.

 

 

 

Edited June 13, 2020 by Duncan

[Duncan]

well, shit.  Driving down the freeway this morning and all hell breaks loose.  Valve spring turned into a grenade.

 

 

Have to take the head off now...

 

 

 

 

Edited June 14, 2020 by Duncan

[datsunfreak]

On 5/31/2020 at 1:50 PM, Duncan said:

The Nismo sticker was not installed when it was delivered... I should have put the cap on and clocked the decal to read right when it was on the car.

 

And now you know why the decal comes uninstalled. And I should have mentioned that. They all come that way.  😁

[datsunfreak]

On 6/13/2020 at 3:11 PM, Duncan said:

Have to take the head off now...

 

There are ways to fix that without head removal, assuming the valve is not bent...

[Duncan]

1 hour ago, datsunfreak said:

 

There are ways to fix that without head removal, assuming the valve is not bent...

 

Way back when, I had an attachment that screwed into the spark plug hole, and an air hose attached to it. Air pressure would hold the valve closed while you changed springs.  In my case, based on the horrendous engine knocking, I suspect the valve (or parts of it) fell into the cylinder and turned into a grenade.  Of course, when it let go, I was on the freeway doing about 75.

 

If I'm wrong, (which I hope I am) I'll have the head refurbished.  If I'm correct, it's new motor time. 

 

I have a friend who is imploring me to do a Z22 hybrid with the L Series head.  Another friend has a freshly built L20 I can buy. 

 

The pisser is, I checked all the valve lash adjustments, and every one of them was within .002-.003 of spec.  All of the spark plugs looked good, and my engine didn't burn any oil.  Other than random part failure, I can't figure out why it let go..

 

Anyway, when my fireman neighbor is available to give me a hand holding the timing chain from slipping, the head is ready to come off.  

 

 

[datsunfreak]

3 hours ago, Duncan said:

 

Way back when, I had an attachment that screwed into the spark plug hole, and an air hose attached to it. Air pressure would hold the valve closed while you changed springs. 

 

I've been burned by that tool before. One bad tap on the valve and all the pressure rushes past it and shoots the valve into the cylinder.  😁

 

Had an older fella show me a better trick of fishing a piece of thick cotton rope in through the spark plug hole with the piston halfway down, then rotate the piston up. That works way better and you don't need an air compressor. 

 

3 hours ago, Duncan said:

 I suspect the valve (or parts of it) fell into the cylinder and turned into a grenade.  Of course, when it let go, I was on the freeway doing about 75.

 

Know anyone with a borescope? 

 

3 hours ago, Duncan said:

Other than random part failure, I can't figure out why it let go..

 

My money is on that. Those springs can (and do) break when they get old. 

[Duncan]

Thanks John.  The rope trick sounds good.  So funny how such a simple thing has eluded me for so long 🙂  I thought about a scope, but I don't know anyone that has one.  I'm sure they are reasonably spendy for me to buy as a 1 or 2 use only tool.

 

Either way, I'm going to pull the head, see what's going on and take it from there. 

 

 

[datsunfreak]

4 minutes ago, Duncan said:

I thought about a scope, but I don't know anyone that has one.  I'm sure they are reasonably spendy for me to buy as a 1 or 2 use only tool.

 

Perhaps a chain parts store rents them? 

 

4 minutes ago, Duncan said:

Either way, I'm going to pull the head, see what's going on and take it from there. 

 

See, the difference is that I will foolishly exhaust every possible solution to avoid removing the head.   😅

 

Unless it's an A14/A15, I don't care about taking those heads off...  

Edited June 17, 2020 by datsunfreak

[Duncan]

It's off now.  I'm actually relieved.  The valve was still in the head, and it didn't drop into the cylinder.  I have two recommended machine shops to go to tomorrow, and I'm going to go ahead and have the head done.  While they are off, I'm going to have the intake manifold polished and then powder coated clear.  I'm also going to do SOMeTHING with the exhaust manifold.  That piece is butt fugly. so it's a nice time get around to all of that.  

 

My neighbor has a BMW 2002 and we took his head off a few months ago.  After getting our chops up doing his, we were like clockwork doing mine 🙂  We kept the tension on it, then wired it to the hood latch.  Primitive, but it works...

 

 

Edited June 17, 2020 by Duncan

[rosso]

Hey Duncan,

Try wire brushing it and then spray with dry graphite lube.

.

These are my VG33 manifolds that I have in reserve if Dave Carroll can't make headers for me.

 

After spraying and letting dry, the left header has been buffed with a microfiber cloth, the right one is left alone as sprayed.

 

Here's the stuff I used - although I have not had any heat into these since the car is not running yet.