New at engine rebuild L16

[Stoffregen Motorsports]

1 hour ago, Richie said:

According to the book it says if the bearings say STD they are standard size. All the bearings say STD. Is that correct?

 

2 hours ago, Crashtd420 said:

The bearing choice is based off the crank shaft journals diameter..... 

If there is damage to the the crank they grind it .01 under then you use the over size bearing to match..... 

 

You would want to verify the journals are the correct size for standard bearings... 

So the bearings that came out of the engine have STD stamped in them? Just making sure, because you can't use any size you want, they have to be matched to the crank.

 

If you're unsure, measure the crank, or have the machine shop do it for you.

[Richie]

22 minutes ago, Crashtd420 said:

Yes you'll be fine if you saw STD on the old bearing..... 

so I just measure the bore sizes with telescoping gauge set and caliper and each bore is 84.9mm. With the scratches in three it’s less than .01 deep barely anything. 

[Richie]

1 hour ago, Stoffregen Motorsports said:

 

So the bearings that came out of the engine have STD stamped in them? Just making sure, because you can't use any size you want, they have to be matched to the crank.

 

If you're unsure, measure the crank, or have the machine shop do it for you.

Yea they are stamped STD

[banzai510(hainz)]

I would just look at them and feel for wear. its going to be kinda obvious with the crank needs turned(for oversize bearings)

Edited January 4, 2021 by banzai510(hainz)

[Richie]

I ordered the parts and just waiting for them to come in and once I get the pistons I’ll get the blocked bored. 

[Figbuck]

I'm late to this; I would have plastigauged the con rod journals... see how much wear and any differences. When you go to put SDT bearings back in it good practice to Plastigauge them. It talks about that in the book.

 

If they look OK, serviceable, leave the mains alone, pop the pistons out to see what the coolant did to the upper ring lands. Are there ring pieces missing, ring missing? Ring lands damaged?

 

If the piston is not fractured in anyway, i would think about getting new rings and con rod bearings... call it good.

 

Correct me if I'm off here; The cost of new pistons will be way more that the cost of boring. Is that why you say If you are going to bore it, get as much displacement as you can?

 

Ratsun Style; I would hone the shit outta the cylinder walls. Use new stones, clean them quickly as they load up, make passes until you get the "Feel" of resistance and how to keep them moving. Get new con-rod bearings, re-torque the mains, new rings. Put money in the head.

 

 

Also great book to have for this project is Colin Messers; How to keep your Nissan/Datsun Alive. I just re-built/re-conditioned an L20 and having both books fills in the gaps. I also have Chilton's for what it's worth.

 

Good Luck!!

 

Did I show Y'all what was left of my L16? hahahah

[Richie]

On 1/4/2021 at 9:48 AM, Stoffregen Motorsports said:

 

So the bearings that came out of the engine have STD stamped in them? Just making sure, because you can't use any size you want, they have to be matched to the crank.

 

If you're unsure, measure the crank, or have the machine shop do it for you.

So I need some help with valve springs for the cylinder head. So my friend is rebuilding the head for me and said the springs could be replaced but I don’t know the size for L18 valve springs. I googled it and I’m getting so many different answers. What size and where should I buy them? Thank you 

Edited January 5, 2021 by Richie

[datzenmike]

There's nothing wrong with the old springs, put them back in, they are plenty stiff enough. This isn't a race engine. It's never going to see 6K. Keep it simple. Definitely replace the valve guide seals. $2 each and control oil running down the valve stem. You could clean and lap the valves or even take the head off at a later date and have it built if money or time is short. Check the head is flat with a good straight edge. Place it diagonally across the combustion chambers in an X pattern and try to push a feeler gauge under it. If you can get a 0.004" feeler under a low spot it should be machined. 0.004" is about 2 thicknesses of newspaper. I had a warped head and used a large thick piece of glass and glued 80 grit sandpaper to it. Pushed and pulled the head back and forth and every 15-20 passes lift off and blow away the dust. It was high between 2 and 3.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Gave it a few passes with 150 grit. Smooth as a baby's bum

 

This head was given to me for free at a Canby meet. lol I can see why now. It was almost 4 times over the 0.004" limit. This cost me $5 for the sand paper. The cam spins easily so not so much warped as puckered from over heating.  I doubt you will have anything wrong but this shows you how easy to fix.

 

Plasti-Gauge is a cheap, quick way to check bearing clearances without costly equipment. I should be used only to look for a problem area. Bearings are soft, cheap and easily replaced and do all the wearing, saving the crank. As the engine ages the clearances open up, so putting new bearings back in will simply bring it back to factory clearances. You can replace the main bearings without removing the crankshaft if the engine is in a vehicle

[Richie]

8 minutes ago, datzenmike said:

There's nothing wrong with the old springs, put them back in, they are plenty stiff enough. This isn't a race engine. It's never going to see 6K. Keep it simple. Definitely replace the valve guide seals. $2 each and control oil running down the valve stem. You could clean and lap the valves or even take the head off at a later date and have it built if money or time is short. Check the head is flat with a good straight edge. Place it diagonally across the combustion chambers in an X pattern and try to push a feeler gauge under it. If you can get a 0.004" feeler under a low spot it should be machined. 0.004" is about 2 thicknesses of newspaper. I had a warped head and used a large thick piece of glass and glued 80 grit sandpaper to it. Pushed and pulled the head back and forth and every 15-20 passes lift off and blow away the dust. It was high between 2 and 3.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Gave it a few passes with 150 grit. Smooth as a baby's bum

 

This head was given to me for free at a Canby meet. lol I can see why now. It was almost 4 times over the 0.004" limit. This cost me $5 for the sand paper. The cam spins easily so not so much warped as puckered from over heating.  I doubt you will have anything wrong but this shows you how easy to fix.

 

Plasti-Gauge is a cheap, quick way to check bearing clearances without costly equipment. I should be used only to look for a problem area. Bearings are soft, cheap and easily replaced and do all the wearing, saving the crank. As the engine ages the clearances open up, so putting new bearings back in will simply bring it back to factory clearances. You can replace the main bearings without removing the crankshaft if the engine is in a vehicle

THANK YOU! I feel like I’m taking 1 step forward and 100 steps back. So much to learn. 

[datzenmike]

It's easy to get caught up in a thousand distractions when re-building an engine. It can be near perfect and it will run fine or it can be totally perfect and cost 3 times as much, finished next August and run just as fine. Just keep saying "this is not a race engine, this is not a race engine this is not a race engine....."

[Richie]

Just now, datzenmike said:

It's easy to get caught up in a thousand distractions when re-building an engine. It can be near perfect and it will run fine or it can be totally perfect and cost 3 times as much, finished next August and run just as fine. Just keep saying "this is not a race engine, this is not a race engine this is not a race engine....."

That’s what I told my friend because he saw a little damage on the cam and was like ooo you should change that too to a stronger one since your bumping the compression up. And I told him it’s not going up too much just barely. It’s not a race engine 

[banzai510(hainz)]

the valve seats I would look at putting the harder ones in there. I wouldn't waste time on a L16 head(210 stamped) if that what you have, but its free.

 

all the L series Valve springs are the same I believe and can be ordered thru Rockauto or partsgeek I believe  if you really think you need them.

Edited January 6, 2021 by banzai510(hainz)

[datzenmike]

 

A87 head.

[Stoffregen Motorsports]

15 hours ago, datzenmike said:

It's easy to get caught up in a thousand distractions when re-building an engine. It can be near perfect and it will run fine or it can be totally perfect and cost 3 times as much, finished next August and run just as fine. Just keep saying "this is not a race engine, this is not a race engine this is not a race engine....."

Some of my favorite engine builds had only new head gaskets. Everything else, including rings, would be in my stash from other engine cores.

 

One of those engines,  a long rod "1900",  is still getting passed around the Datsun crowd after over 20 years.

[Richie]

6 hours ago, datzenmike said:

 

A87 head.

How would you guys go about cleaning the coolant ports and basically the whole engine? I heard dipping it in CLR and water for a day would do it, but I don’t know how trustworthy that is. I’m not trying to spend money on getting it boiled and dipped, but if I have to I’ll budget it some how. But any like home garage recommendations would be appreciated. Thank you. 

[jagman]

I have used a 55 gallon plastic drum 1/2 filled with water and dish detergent and muriatic acid.  If you let it sit for a day in this solution it will clean oil and grease as well as the rust and lime deposits. You have to flush the entire block and passages with clean water to remove the acid mix then I dip the whole thing in a 55 gallon drum of used oil and let sit for a day.  It drips dry on the hoist upon removal and prevents the flash rust.

[datzenmike]

I have a large plastic drum. Filled with hot water and a can of Drano and deep enough to submerge a head. Drano will dissolve aluminum, generate heat and give off hydrogen gas, so you can't leave over night but half an hr. is fine. Cleaned it really well. Should work better on a steel block as you can leave it in. 

[Crashtd420]

You might wanna pull the front and rear oil passage plugs if your planning on cleaning the engine like that....

Dont need anything stuck in there when your done....

 

I Dont know the part number but I'm pretty sure you can buy replacement plugs.... worse case and a little tricky but they can be drilled and tapped to except an npt plug.... machine shop could probably do that for you too....

[Richie]

58 minutes ago, Crashtd420 said:

You might wanna pull the front and rear oil passage plugs if your planning on cleaning the engine like that....

Dont need anything stuck in there when your done....

 

I Dont know the part number but I'm pretty sure you can buy replacement plugs.... worse case and a little tricky but they can be drilled and tapped to except an npt plug.... machine shop could probably do that for you too....

I read that if you can use air to blow it out you don’t need to replace them. 

[Richie]

1 hour ago, datzenmike said:

I have a large plastic drum. Filled with hot water and a can of Drano and deep enough to submerge a head. Drano will dissolve aluminum, generate heat and give off hydrogen gas, so you can't leave over night but half an hr. is fine. Cleaned it really well. Should work better on a steel block as you can leave it in. 

It won’t ruin the block? I heard CLR does hurt metal would that be a safer option?

[datzenmike]

Full strength CLR sat in my rad for 2-3 days till I got round to finishing it. We used to soak printing press parts in lye and hot water to dissolve organics. What to engine shops use to hot tank blocks???

[Richie]

6 minutes ago, datzenmike said:

Full strength CLR sat in my rad for 2-3 days till I got round to finishing it. We used to soak printing press parts in lye and hot water to dissolve organics. What to engine shops use to hot tank blocks???

I don’t know any hot tank block shops to be honest my bad haha. It’s just the coolant blocks have old coolant built up some rust and gunk. Which makes sense to why the car had over heating problems and the water pump and timing plate are damaged. 

[Figbuck]

Something that caused me issues was the Oil Pressure Sender. I wish I would have bought a new sender unit for my Auto-Meter oil pressure gauge... and made sure the threads in the block were the right ones... or else, tapped new threads before I "boiled" the block clean. The stock idiot light has a different thread pitch than most of the sending units. I know there are a ton of little things to remember and do, but this item can save you grief just as you want to get finished and fire it off!

 

 

 

[datzenmike]

 Look under Hot Tank

 

https://www.enginerepairshop.com/cleaning-engine-parts.html

 

Caustic soda, Sodium hydroxide or lye are the same thing and what's in drano

[Crashtd420]

22 minutes ago, Richie said:

I read that if you can use air to blow it out you don’t need to replace them. 

That's up to you,  just a suggestion....