"Zeke"- '72 510 2Dr

[Tedman]

Well, it's not looking good for driving Zeke to JCCS.  All of the exhaust valves are leaky.  I tested first with the valves installed without valve springs. The head was inverted with valves and spark plugs installed and I poured kerosene into each combustion chamber and watched for leakage into the ports. All intakes were leak free but all exhausts leaked. Crap! Thinking that maybe the valve spring pressure would help, I installed the valve springs on #2 exhaust, and repeated the test. Same result. Looks like it's time for a valve job! I'll give Top End Performance a call Monday morning and see what they can do. They did the setup on this head.

 

I measured the valve stem wear and it is minimal (<0.002") on all valves. I repeated the wiggle test with everything cleaned up, and the exhausts are loose enough that I'm expecting the guides will need to be replaced. The intakes are still pretty tight, but might be best to just do them all.  Fortunately S.I. is local, so getting new valves and guides should be quick. Turnaround will most likely depend on TEP's work queue. Not holding my breath...

[Tedman]

Looks like I'll need some new valve springs, too.  These were the inner springs on #1 EX, #2 IN and #4 IN.  They all snapped in nearly the same spot, about 1 3/4 coils from the bottom.  Not sure what's going on here.

 

Thinking that they might be close to coil bind at max lift, I made some measurements and there's about 0.22" margin between length at max lift and length at coil bind. Not sure if that's ok or marginal. These are AmeriCam springs. Specs are:  300 #/in rate, nominal freelength 2.08", 110# seat force @ 1.70" installed height, 254# force at cam max lift of .480".   Cam is an AmeriCam O65 grind,  .480"/280deg advertised.

 

 

[Tedman]

Today I picked up Zeke from TSR. Mario's stainless steel exhaust system is a thing of beauty.  Too bad hardly anyone will ever see it!  A few pics while Zeke was still on the lift:

 

 

He also drilled a new hole on either side of the tranny tunnel for the foreward most tranny crossmember bolts, tack welded the nuts, and opened up the tunnel cutout a little more:

 

 

The Comp clutch disc I was planning to re-use had some loose marcel springs so I ordered a new stock disc from Exedy.

 

Glad to have Zeke back in the garage.  While the mock up engine is still in place, I think I will work on the engine wire harness,  fuel line, remote oil filter, and oil pressure sender plumbing, among other things...

[GoGoGo]

Looks great! Mario does fantastic work but not cheap huh?! You definitely should remove the stock tar sound deadening stuff from the tranny tunnel and put some high-quality modern sound deadening and heat reduction products down. Check out my build thread on The Realm for what I used if you want. 

[Tedman]

Got my head back from Top End earlier this week.  They installed new bronze exhaust guides, faced the valves, ground the seats, milled the valve tips slightly to compensate for valve sink, and performed a hand lap on each valve. They also supplied a new set of valve springs. 

 

 

Today I installed the valves, stem seals, springs and retainers. Next I need to re-install the cam and check the cam wipe pattern on the rockers to verify that I can re-use the .180" lash pads, then I can finally install the head on the block. Ordered a new timing kit which should hopefully be here Saturday, so maybe by this time next week I should have the engine back together and ready to go into the car!

 

Random coincidence and good omen- Went to get my Xterra smog checked today at Sky Smog on Hawthorne Blvd in Torrance and look what was in the shop next door:

 

Looked like it was getting some rear suspension work. Nice clean car with good paint and interior, nice wheels and SSS c-pillar vents. The shop techs were all busy so I wasn't able to find out much more, but made my day! 

 

[shacks510]

I followed your addition to the Integra wiper motor upgrade, and it works great. The only negative response I have is that the blades start to sweep up just before the park setting, so they sit a little higher than I would like. Turning the arms one spline causes the passenger side blade to hit the windshield seal at the end of the downward sweep. Maybe the internal worm drive can be turned back a tooth or two?

[Tedman]

Today I checked the cam wipe pattern on all eight rocker arms. I'm using the same cam, valves, rockers, lash pads and retainers as before the valve job. Everything is going back where it came from.  My procedure was to clean the rocker pad with lacquer thinner and color it with a red Sharpie. I then installed the rocker and set the lash. After applying a thin coat of grease to the cam lobe, I rotated the cam one revolution with a 1/2" ratchet on the cam bolt. Here's a pic of a typical wipe pattern:

 

I was not expecting the pattern to be shorter than the underlying pattern worn into the surface, but makes sense when you consider the inertia of the valve during operation, as it will force the rocker to maintain contact with the cam longer than when rotating the cam by hand.  Here's all eight rockers after the measurement.

 

It looks like Top End did a good job milling the valve tips to compensate for valve sink, as well as equalizing the tip heights, and I feel pretty confident I can re-use the 0.180" lash pads. 

 

[Tedman]

@shacks510- Well, you are ahead of me. I have not yet checked actual wiper position on my install, but thanks for the heads up!

[Tedman]

Double checked the wipe pattern measurements today with green Sharpie which seems to give better contrast. Today's results are consistent with yesterday's.

 

I could probably bias the wipe pattern more towards the pivot end with shorter 0.170" lash pads for a slight increase in effective valve lift, but I don't think it's worth the expense so I'm sticking with what I've got. I went ahead and finished the head assembly today.

 

Yesterday I received the timing chain kit, so the next step is to bolt the head to the block with the new headgasket, fit the timing chain components and set cam timing. 

[Atikin9000]

https://imgur.com/a/WIQoj

 

For sure thought this might have been you.

[Tedman]

@Atikin9000- Wow, that does look like the same color as Zeke. It's even missing the stainless gutter trim like Zeke, but no. Not Zeke. Thanks for checking out the build, though.   

[Tedman]

So here it is a week later and Zeke's cylinder head is still sitting on my work bench. What happened? The short answer is that I changed my mind and decided to try and optimize the cam wipe pattern on the rockers after all. I was able to borrow a selection of shorter lash pads from a buddy (thanks Seth!), and determined that I needed five 0.160" pads and three .170" pads to center or slightly bias the wipe patterns towards the pivot ends on all eight rockers. L-series lash pads are in short supply these days, in case you haven't noticed. Fortunately I was able to source the needed sizes from Top End. 

 

In the above process it became apparent that my valve spring retainers were too tall.  Even with the 0.180" lash pads I had been running they were sitting ~0.060" below the rim of the lash pad cup in the retainer. It's a wonder none of them made contact with the rocker arm underside! With the shorter lash pads, this was going to become a problem, so off to TSR I went to have the retainer cups shortened by 0.080". Mario chucked up and machined the first retainer in his lathe while I observed, and then with a few pointers, he let me machine the rest. So now I'm and apprentice machinist!  Here's the retainers after machining the lash pad cups.

 

And here's a 0.160" lash pad installed on a machined retainer sitting on the valve stem at installed height with the keepers in place. You can see that the contact surface sits slightly above the cup rim negating any possibility of retainer/rocker interference.

 

Yesterday I re-installed all of the valve springs with the modified retainers. Today I received the new shorter lash pads, so this weekend I can finally finish the cylinder head assembly, install the head, and proceed with final engine assembly. By this time next week... 

 

In other news, I drilled six holes in the tranny tunnel and installed the S110 200SX closeout plate. I sealed it with some generic weather stripping on the underside. That's an S110 inner shift boot. Looks pretty slick! 

[Tedman]

So here's what the final cam wipe pattern looks like after installing .160 lash pads on valves 1,2,3,6,8 and .170 pads on valves 4,5, and 7 (numbered from the front of the engine). Rockers in photo are 1 thru 8 from L to R. 

 

Today I ordered a degree wheel and dial indicator kit from Summit so I can precisely set cam timing. This is something I've never actually done myself, so should be a fun learning experience. I have the Motorsports 8 hole cam sprocket so I should be able to get very close to the cam grinder's specs.

 

A few other accomplishments this week:

- new tires mounted, balanced and wheels installed on car

- filled BMC with brake fluid and bled brakes (found a leak at rear tee fitting which I still need to resolve)

- ordered battery cable kit 

 

I will be going with an Odyssey battery (PC925) and will be installing a Ford starter solenoid per Paolo's schematic.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0ByCvxnHNk90SeEtLSkxlQVgzZnM/view?usp=sharing

 

  

 

 

[banzai510(hainz)]

looks good

[Tedman]

While the car was up on jack stands for brake work, I tackled the trunk mount battery relocation. Here you can see the Odyssey battery mounted in the trunk. I painted the battery mounting bracketry with left over silver hammered finish paint and used 1/4-20 grade 8 bolts to affix it to the trunk floor. You can see the 1 gauge (-) battery cable which is grounded at the threaded captured nut at the top of the RR wheel well, as well as the Ford starter solenoid mounted to the pinch weld on the trailing end of the wheel well.

 

I have been using a Harbor Freight hydraulic hand crimping tool for crimping the cable terminals with good results.

Here you can see the Ford starter solenoid with 1 gauge cable from the (+) battery terminal to the hot terminal on the solenoid (lower right with black boot). The 1 gauge wire on the other 3/8" terminal (left) connects to the starter, and will only be hot when the starter is engaged. Also connected to the same lower right hot terminal is a  6 gauge wire to the 60A fuse holder, which then connects to a 1/4" stud mounted on the black bracket. This will provide fused +12VDC to the alternator via an 8 gauge wire.

 

The 60A blade fuse holder has 6 gauge cables so  the 1/4" lug provides a way to convert to 8 gauge for the run forward to the alternator.

 

Here's a pic showing the fuse holder as mounted with the protective cover removed:

 

The 1 gauge starting cable runs under the trunk floor through a grommet, and forward above the rear suspension to a bulkhead feedthrough under the forward edge of the rear seat, and back into the cabin.

 

 

The cable then runs along the trans tunnel to a grommet in the passenger footwell.

 

...and out to the starter.

 

I will need to source and install protective boots to the exposed (+) lugs.

 

With the main starting cable routed, next up is to route the 8 gauge main power wire from the terminal in the trunk to the alternator. 

[qwik510]

I don't know how I missed this thread until now. Wow, I just spent 45 minutes reading through it.

 

Amazing build Ted. Randy would be so proud.

 

Keep the updates coming.

[Tedman]

Been having trouble getting the brake hose banjo fitting to seal at the RF caliper. Finally removed the caliper to get a better look and the problem became pretty obvious. Have a look at the ding in the sealing surface. No way is a copper crush washer going to seal that. Guess I'll be ordering a replacement caliper...

[Tedman]

Wow, just checked Carquest, Autozone, Napa, Pep Boys, O'Reilleys and Rock Auto. No one has 280ZX calipers in stock. Not looking good. Might have to get this thing machined...

[Lockleaf]

Just use a file. A couple of minutes and its good to go.

[Tedman]

Today I took Lockleaf's advice (thanks for the suggestion!), secured the caliper in my bench vise and went to town with a flat blade file. The ding was pretty deep so I had to remove a fair amount of material to get a smooth surface. You can just barely see the remnant of the ding at about 3:30 o'clock in the photo below. That's the inverted tip of a rubber nipple that I jammed into the hole to keep the shavings out.

 

Thinking I had it licked, I reassembled everything but was met with severe disappointment when the damn thing leaked again! Crap! Upon closer inspection, the filed surface is slightly curved (convex), thus preventing the crush washer from sealing.  I knew this might be an issue when I started filing, but despite my best efforts to keep the file square to the surface, it ended up curved. Oh well, it was worth a try. Looks like I'll be taking it to my machinist after all...   

[Tedman]

In other news, I finished up the wiring and installation for the trunk mount battery. I ran the main +12V fused 8 gauge wire from the junction stud in the trunk, through the trunk floor and up to the engine compartment alongside the fuel line on the underside of the car. This will provide power to the alternator and main wiring harness. I also intercepted and re-routed the Black-Yellow (BY) starter solenoid wire from the harness under the right side of the dash to the Ford solenoid in the trunk.  This wire provides the start signal to the solenoid which then momentarily connects the battery +12V to the starter when the key is turned to start. I also received and installed the rest of the battery and cable boots. Here's the finished trunk setup:

 

In the above pic you can also see the 10A blade fuse holder for the fuel pump which is wired to the +12V terminal stud (top of pic). 

 

In this next pic you can see the red 1 gauge +12V starter cable feedthrough at the rear seat floor vertical bulkhead, fuel line and red 8 gauge +12V wire.

 

And here's the 1 gauge +12V starter cable bulkhead feedthough on cabin side. 

 

Once I get the RF brake caliper issue sorted, I can take the car down off the jack stands so I can roll it out of the garage and have some room to finish the engine assembly...

 

[Plusnone]

Try these, they are more forgiving of surface irregularities...

 

https://www.amazon.com/Brake-Fitting-Banjo-Sealing-Washers/dp/B01LYGO3YM

[Tedman]

@ Plusnone- Thanks for the link. Looks like a possible solution. My only concern is temperature resistance since brake calipers can see 500F+. Otherwise something like this or a stat-o-seal might do the trick. 

[Tedman]

My poor hand filing skills have pretty much rendered that caliper to scrap. I ultimately achieved a nice flat surface but no where near square enough to the banjo bolt hole to seal. So now I needed to find a replacement.  Reman'd 280ZX front caliper ain't exactly growing on trees these days. After the better part of an afternoon I managed to find another rebuilt 280ZX caliper, this one from Autoparts Warehouse. It arrived yesterday, and upon inspection, well I'll be damned if the sealing surface wasn't nearly as messed up as the first one! Not only that but the rubber piston seal was installed incorrectly. Jeez Loueez! It would appear that we're really scraping the bottom of the barrel on reman'd 280ZX calipers these days.  Anyway, here's how this one looked:

 

Tempted to immediately return it for refund, I decided to take a chance and just try it out first after successfully fixing the piston seal.  I had done some research on copper banjo bolt crush washers and found out that it helps to anneal the copper, which means heating it up until it glows cherry red (I used a propane torch), then letting cool. This restores the malleability to the copper which hardens whenever it is bent or compressed.  With my freshly annealed copper crush washers, I installed the replacement caliper and lo and behold, the banjo seems to be sealing! Fingers crossed I won't find any drops of brake fluid on the garage floor tomorrow morning...

 

This caliper also came with the two stainless pad spring plates (for lack of a better term) which for some reason were missing in the previous pair of calipers I had ordered.  I had forgotten about those, so I didn't notice they were missing at the time and installed both calipers without them. Good thing this one came with them to remind me! So after bleeding the front calipers this afternoon I had to hunt down and order what is known as a "Disc Brake Hardware Kit" to get two more of these thingees for the left front:

Most places were quoting 5-10 days with shipping, but Summit showed them as in stock and they have been incredibly quick with shipping parts to me (like 1-2 days UPS ground) so I ordered from them. With any luck I should have them by this weekend, so I can install and finally be done with the brakes... 

[Tedman]

Summit came through once again with quick shipping and delivered the "caliper hardware kit" today at noon. Stoked!

 

Brakes are finally done and Zeke is back on all four wheels!