Olivia - 69 2 door 510 sedan - fully built CA18DET

[aintnobiscuit]

No updates. carpooling has left me with little to no time and i'm going to be in Florida Friday through Sunday doing a half marathon. Probably going to see if I can just bleed the brakes on my GF's mustang since it's basically done and drive that until I can finish the Datsun. It's kind of a bitchy car because it's been sitting for 6-7 years.

 

My GF is leaving for FL before me so I'll get the head done this week as time permits... moar oics soon... promise :)

[Eagle_Adam]

damn, im sick for a coupla days and BAM!!!! lookn good man!

[aintnobiscuit]

:D more to come!

[aintnobiscuit]

Sorry I don't have more done, but time has been limited lately.

 

Heres the more cleaned up picture of the timing area, still have some work to do, a couple areas have some really stuck dirt, but i'm out of simple green

 

Installed the valve oil seals this morning. Please excuse the focus, I'm in a rush to get to work today

 

Installed the intake valves/springs

 

More later tonight. Going to try and finish intake valves and piston rings if I can. I think piston rings may take a bit, so it's possible I'll just put the cams in and torque all that down.

 

Off to work!

[SR20DETdatsun510]

All this before a hard days work! Props!

[aintnobiscuit]

lulz! yeah, gotta do it when you have the time otherwise it won't get done

[aintnobiscuit]

You guys know I couldn't let the build stop just because i'm tired :)

 

Here's some more goodies to keep you interested!!!!

 

Finished installing the valves

 

Lubed up the lifters with assembly paste

 

Lubed the rest of the valvetrain

 

Lubed the cams and got ready to install them

 

Decided to try and make some progress on the bottom end. Broke loose the bolts on one of the assembled rods and pulled out the piston rings

 

Did some math to figure out my ring gaps

 

Decided it was time to check gaps. Dropped in the top compression ring to find that there was no gap. Without a piston ring filing tool, filing is insanely difficult.... i made a .002 difference after 20 minutes of filing... seriously. I'm going to buy one to make my life easier

 

So i decided to installed the cams and torque them down since I can't file the rings down in a reasonable amount of time right now

 

Installed valves from the combustion chamber side

 

Then i put in the cam plugs and cam oil seals. I threw the rocker covers on so that no dust or anything got on the lubed valvetrain

 

Then i put on the cam gears again. They're not timed right, but it's not a necessity to do that at this stage

 

Damn.... dirty ass rear seal retainer! I cleaned the bottom half, so you can see just how oily and crappy it was

 

Then i ripped the stupid old seal out (this is after I cleaned it)

 

And installed the new rear oil seal. Those bubbles on the top are simple green. Thought i'd let it soak in… theres a smudge that won't go away

 

Heres a shot of the head and block in the same picture... god... I'm so excited to put this back together

 

And…. unfortunately that's it…. i'm incredibly excited to get this together and fire it back up for the first time. The pistons feel a little tight IMO but i guess we'll see… i doubt the machine shop would fuck that up.. this is all that the place I took it to does.

[DottiBlue]

I'm sure you know, but be careful with simple green and rubber. It's one of the chemicals we used to put into our home brew tire softener back when I was racing. What I'm getting at us it will eat rubber.

 

Love the build by the way. You make moar progress in a day than I do in a month!!

[aintnobiscuit]

Yep, I do know that. I didn't get much if any on the seal, and wiped everything down with water after. I love simple green for cleaning engine stuff though, it's pretty amazing. I just put a little on the top and laid it down after the picture... Speaking of which, I need to wipe it off to see if it took that smudge off. No more updates until I get back from Florida :( see you guys monday

[SR20DETdatsun510]

Great progress. Go take a break... hahaha

[aintnobiscuit]

I dont want to though, LOL! Now I'm REALLY close!!!!! I need to find somewhere that stocks a piston ring filing tool... I've had no luck so far

[aintnobiscuit]

Bought a piston ring filing tool online... should be here by the time i get back... which means i'll be finishing the bottom end soon!

 

If anyone lives in the laguna hills area, I need to borrow a cherry picker. Otherwise I have to drive alllllll the way to rossmoor to borrow my friend's cherry picker. Normally I would do that, but it only fits in my scion.. doesn't fit in any other car we have :(

 

I will pay you with booze and delicious food just to borrow it for an hour :D

[aintnobiscuit]

Ugh... I should have stayed home and tried to keep working on my car. Just spent all night on a plane next to a man who shit his pants. He kept elbowing me and putting his arm across the whole arm rest into my space. I wanted to punch him but I was scared if contract the aids or something. I haven't slept and spent some late hours this week in the garage... I feel terrible...

 

Now I'm stuck at the airport trying to get a shuttle to the Disney hotel my girlfriend is at but they won't let me buy a ticket because my name isn't on the reservation. If this is any indication of how this weekend is going, I should head home now and sleep through it!

 

Ha!

 

Disneys rules have always perplexed me. This is just ridiculous. Sorry, just needed to vent.

 

 

[aintnobiscuit]

Well, i made it back ok. Finished the half marathon which was cool because I haven't trained in quite a while. I noticed some pictures aren't showing up, which I'm not sure is because of my connection at work, or because FB is being a bitch... either is possible...

 

So I'm going to relocate all the images to my server and serve them from there... may take a bit so don't hold you're breath ;)

 

The piston ring filing tool still hasn't shipped although a label has been printed... the waiting is excruciating.... oh well

[Laecaon]

This is when Amazon Prime is awesome. So many tools that I cant find or are too expensive in stores, at my door in 2 days...

[aintnobiscuit]

Yeah.... i should have learned my lesson about this... i complain about it enough. I try not to buy from people who ship USPS because they must be retarded.

[aintnobiscuit]

Thought i'd show you guys some of the other stuff I've had since I have no updates and i found some pictures on my work computer.

 

This is a random blue 4 door I bought. I was driving Dottie down the street and he flagged me down to ask if i wanted another one. He had lost his job and needed cash and this was his 2nd car. Dottie is the grey 2 door in later pictures.

 

I never named this one. I didn't do a lot of work to it after i bought it. I had started working on the engine when i was forced to sell it because i was moving and switching jobs.

 

Here's the blue one's engine. L20B, port & polished intake manifold/head. dual 40mm solex's (i think they were 40mm, might have been 44mm though). It also had air shocks, a million gauges (that served no purpose), prelude seats and a bolt in roll cage.

 

Another engine view

 

This is Dottie at her prime (literally). I had finished almost every aspect of the car except paint. L20B, dual 40mm side draft mikuni's with cannon intake manifold and MSD. Full length headers into a relatively quiet exhaust. Everything on this car was pristine. My friend's father had passed away so i purchased it from him. He has several Datsuns that are quite nice. I think he's moved into old lotus now.

 

Here's another view of Dottie with my Starion, way back when I all I did was work on cars, drift, street race, etc.

 

 

Sigh..... i want to finish Olivia since Dottie's life ended so tragically. I was stopped at a red light 1 block from my house the very first time i drove it after the KA engine swap and a teenager thought the light was green. She was travelling about 45mph and didn't see my car. She rear ended me without ever hitting the brakes. Fortunately I had a 4 point harness or I think I would have been hurt much worse. The bolts for my seats sheared off and the only reason i didn't hit the steering wheel or windshield was because of the harness.

 

<3 thanks Dottie *sniffle* i miss you

 

Last but not least... i found a datsun I reallllly like. I think i'm going to aim for something along these lines.

[aintnobiscuit]

Oh yeah... piston ring filing tool is the coolest thing ever created... we're talking .002 off for every 5 turns with mild pressure. I'll be done with a cylinder soon and have already taken some pictures. Hoping to get it all together tonight so I can pick up the hoist from my buddy tomorrow night and drop it in. Also, one of the reasons I chose the haltech is that you don't have to tune by injection time, you can do VE tuning. Basically, you provide certain params to the ECU and it knows how much fuel to put in and references a target AFR table to correct AFRs to your liking.... quite awesome.

 

So i may even have a drivable car this weekend... awwwww yeah!

 

NO SLEEP TIL DATSUN!

[aintnobiscuit]

YAY!

 

Piston ring filing tool. This made things a hell of a lot easier.

 

Rings on a piston (for all the guys who know a little something, i know the oil expander isn't in all the way, it's just a picture k?)

 

Lubing up the cylinders

 

Threw some assembly lube on the con rod bolts

 

Lubed the bearings

 

Piston is in!

 

1 down, 3 to go!

 

The whole shabang with piston ring compress on

 

That makes two!

 

All done!

 

From the top :)

 

Installed the ARP bolts

 

Thew the head gasket on and lubed the ARP studs

 

Timed the cams and dropped the head on

 

And then that FML moment. I read a post mentioning needing to machine down a socket to fit in the head for ARP head studs... which i forgot because i was so excited about today. I threw the rocker covers on to keep it clean in there (no dust/lint).

 

So although i didn't completely finish, I did make a ton of progress, so I'm happy. Yay! So close to finishing :)

[Eagle_Adam]

dude your a beast! i never seem to get that much donethat fast when putting a motor together. I spend FAR to much time double checking myself......

 

 

 

 

anywho good job mang!!

[SR20DETdatsun510]

First on Page 12.... :w00t:

I find myself always going back and double triple checking too.... The OC in me I guess.....

[aintnobiscuit]

Thanks :) this is how i work on everything, I usually have a plan and goal to meet and i try to pace myself to not take breaks unless I need to so that i can meet that goal. It never works with projects but it does work with short term stuff. I took a LOT of time measuring the ring gaps and making sure i only did a couple turns on the wheel at a time then measuring in the cylinder by pushing the piston upside down until the skirt was level with the deck so all the measurements were level and the same depth in the cylinder so it should be good.

 

All in all I think it took 5/6 hours to get this far. Not a lot of pictures because i was working so much :)

 

I wish i had access to a lathe though. I need to turn my socket down a bit so it will fit into the head to tighten the head stud nuts.

 

Tips for installing ARP head studs in a CA18:

• You should install the head studs into the block first
  
• Do NOT put the cams into the head (normally this is ok, because there is room, but because you're not using an allen wrench, you're using a socket, space is limited and you can't access two nuts on each side)
  
• Install the washers with assembly lube into the stud holes on the head from the top
  
• Note how Cometic made a really unusual head gasket that blocks part of the coolant passages and makes you wonder if they smoked crack when they designed it or if it was for a reason
  
• Now you can put the head on the block and align the studs
  
• Easiest way I found for getting the nuts on quickly was to:
  
  • Insert an allen key through the nut
    
  • Set the allen key into the stud
    
  • Let the nut drop (LOL!)
    
  • Hand tighten
    

  [*]Find someone with a lathe and turn the socket until you can fit it into the hole for the head studs

If you don't do it in this order, you can't get the washers over the studs and getting the nuts tight will be a bitch.

[aintnobiscuit]

Ohhhh.... i may have a fix for my socket issue. If I can't find a lathe, I believe I can make the following work:

 

• Secure a drill in a vice
  
• Insert a bit with 1/4 into the drill
  
• Put the socket on the 1/4
  
• Turn drill on
  
• Use a large file to grind the socket down
  

 

Thoughts?

[Eagle_Adam]

not a bad idea, i was thinking something along the lines of a belt sander and vice grips

[aintnobiscuit]

I was considering a grinder and vice grips, but my dad threw away his grinder and I don't have one.

 

I don't have a belt sander either!

 

:D