SoCal. Ratsun recommended shops for head work

[72.5 620]

Looking to get my L16 head rebuilt. Does anyone know of a good shop near Victorville, CA or SoCal area?

 

Thanx in advance, Kevin.

[datzenmike]

Sorry, can't help with that but I have suggestions.

 

Datsun owners tend to be cheap ass or broke and if not that they often get into Datsuns because they....

 

A/ like doing some of the work themselves.

B/ Datsuns are easy and cheap to work on anyway.

 

Now if the head needs new valves, seats or guides then a machine shop is really the only way. But if the valves are good they might just need to be lapped and anyone can do this with a little compound and an electric drill. You will need to rent or borrow a valve spring compressor tool. The valve seals, that prevent oil burning, are also easy to replace at the same time. You can even resurface the head is slightly warped by using sand paper and a sheet of glass.

 

Shops charge $100 an hour for doing the same thing you can do yourself.... and you can tell everyone... "Hey, it was easy, I did it myself"

[GRpufnstuf]

Ron Williams Automotive Machine

 

Ventura, CA just up the hill from ARP

 

He did great work on a stroked, over bored Volvo block and 16v head for me, and the guys at ARP were impressed with my choice of machinist.

 

NOT cheap though.

[banzai510(hainz)]

buy a a used head or better yet most L16 heads should be near FREE. just bolt it on and run it.

[72.5 620]

O.K., I have some mechanical skills. When I bought the truck it wouldn't run and had low compression numbers on all cylinders. All valves were way to tight. I adjusted all valves and compression numbers are good and motor runs pretty good. 

 

On three valves I have the adjustment bolts buried and only have about .004 to .005 clearance. If I tear down the head, what can I do to bring these numbers into specs?

 

Thanx again, Kevin.

[datzenmike]

New seats. As Hainz said find any old L16 head and swap it. Has to be a 210 casting head

[72.5 620]

My head has an A87 casting on it. Is that the same as or will it work the same as a 210  head?

[datzenmike]

Well it could be open or closed chamber. Open chamber is is way too large and will drop the compression to 6.72 and even if it's a closed chamber your compression will drop to about 8.2  The closed chamber will work ok you will hardly notice a few hp missing and this is offset by the advantage of bigger ports and valves. The A87 head may have been or could be planed down to raise the compression anyway.

This is why I said to get a 210 head for it. Only the 210 has the very small combustion chamber and will keep the compression around 8.58

 

New seats. As Hainz said find any old L16 head and swap it. Has to be a 210 casting head