FLY-wheel

[datzenmike]

I used to own a '71 521, my third Datsun. Over the eight years I had it, (and being always broke) I kept it running by using spare and used parts, taking shortcuts, and being 'creative'.

 

I eventually got an L20B from a friend and took it apart, and over several months, I rebuilt it. (mostly outside and on the kitchen table) Many months later and in another town, I was driving home when the motor reved but there was no drive. I shut it off, but when I tried to re-start there was just starter whine.

 

The flywheel bolts had sheared off! I found that if I was in gear, I could use the starter to move the truck a few blocks to get it into a parking lot where it wouldn't get towed.

 

I got it home and pulled the motor. I used a 1/2' drill and tried to drill out the broken bolts but ended up re-sizing the holes. I got a tap and new bolts. (the new holes weren't that straight either) And put it back together, and all was fine. The moral of the story is... don't take stuff apart untill you are ready to use it, and protect it from the rain. The flywheel bolts and holes got rusty and when I installed them, they torqued up nice and tight but weren't in all the way and sheared off. I check this shit more carefully... now.

[ggzilla]

Yo I haven't had that happen but somehow it sounds familiar. Always breaks down in another town too.

 

Racers have the same thing happen on the Nissan A engines at high RPM. The cause (unlike your story) is vibration and the solution is to fit a harmonic balancer (A-engines don't have them).

[Icehouse]

Wow mike good thing it didn't take out your leg. Now that would suck.

[datzenmike]

I was going slow when the engine uncoupled, so no BOOM. I guess the flywheel and clutch were on the input spline, and it was in the end of the crank-shaft. It was different driving along (slowly, I admit) in second gear with just the starter whining. Hey! For about two and a half blocks I was driving an electric 521!

 

I told my story about the exploding oil filter on NWDE, but if anyone else wants to hear about it...

[Icehouse]

I don't belong to a club called NWDE so you must tell it. :) (you could always copy paste it) I would

[datzenmike]

Exploding Filter

One weekend about twenty years ago I did an oil and filter change on my 521 in the driveway at home. I used the usual oil and filter I always get at Canadian Tire and changed it on a Sunday afternoon. I don't remember if I drove it after, but I do know that I would have started it and checked for oil pressure light and any leaks.

 

The next morning, I jump in and head to work about five miles away along the 401 west bound. I pull into the work parking lot, and as I slow down, the oil pressure light comes on! WTF? I just changed it! I park and get out. Oil is dripping from the front, oil is all over the starter and underside of the engine and transmission, even the rear end has oil on it. Climbing under I find that the filter that I just put on has split part way along the seam. No oil in the motor!

 

After work, I remove it and take it to the local Can. Tire and complain to the manager. Not wanting any trouble, he gives me new oil and filter which I put in the truck and drive home for the night.

 

When I get home, oil every where as before. Filter split open and very pissed off. The light didn't come on so maybe there was enough oil (or air) pressure from the pump to keep it off, I don't want to think about it. I take the faulty filter to a different store and they give me oil and filter so I don't have to freak on them. Returning home on my bicycle, and before putting the oil in, I decide to pull the oil pump and check it. All I have is an old 510 manual, black with oil and no covers, but the L series is the same. I dismantle it and find caught behind the relief piston, a piece of casting that has broken off and lodged there. The oil pressure cannot push it back against the spring and out the relief port, and back to the pan. I scratch it out with a knife and test fit it and it works fine. I put it all together, add the oil and filter and cross my fingers the next morning, but it's good.

 

I guess at low speed around town, the oil 'bleeds' past the bearings fast enough to keep the pressure down. But on the highway, at higher rpm, the pump puts out enough volume to bring the pressure way up and boom goes the filter! Well I got three oil changes for the price of one and some serious oil undercoating to prevent the Ontario salt from eating my truck. I sprayed two gallons of oil into the environment and maybe contributed to an accident on the highway. All caused by a speck the size of ball on the end of a ball point pen.

[Icehouse]

See thats why I get rid of L motors :)

[datzenmike]

Ahh, but don't forget that the oil pump from the lowly L16 will fit on your truck KA motor. Your's is just a higher volume out-put is all.

I've never heard of an oil pump failure. How can they wear out? They pump oil! I think something getting stuck in the relief valve is very rare.