The rebuild of my Z.

Whats up world! Another day another challenge! And what a challenge it was. Cut off the rest of the old exhaust.I got the passenger side head prepped and installed finally. Got the water pump and some of the piping cleaned up and put back on. (Couldn't get my hands on a new water pump so this will do for now, it was perfectly fine before) And I checked the y-pipes and it turns out, they don't fit. They hit a crossmember and the bolts that came with are too small and not enough washers were included. So time for some fun next time I get out there. Can barely fit under the car as it is, may have to take it to a shop.

Anyway, here are a couple comparison shots of the old and new exhaust. The difference is quite obvious, and the sad part is, the old one was done by a shop, done crappily, and done with too small diameter pipe. The dude just started putting stuff on before he asked me what I wanted, then when I brought it up, he insisted that a larger pipe wouldn't fit. Total cost of his idiot job: 200$.

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Here is the current engine progress:

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Welp finally got all the old oil drained out of the pan, and the new filter on. Got the cams torqued in. Now the freaking crankshaft bolt won't come off and I don't have an impact wrench, or even a compressor. Dunno what to do now.

Wish there was a way to edit posts so I could compact all this but oh well. Couldnt remember to put it in fifth gear instead of first so the crankshaft wouldn't move. Got the bolt out now, crisis averted. IQ score offset by 20. I feel really awful knowing I took 2 years in ASE mechanic training and 1 1/2 in parts pro training and still don't get some basic crap right.

Good progress man. Keep it up.

Tygur wrote:

Wish there was a way to edit posts so I could compact all this but oh well. Couldnt remember to put it in fifth gear instead of first so the crankshaft wouldn't move. Got the bolt out now, crisis averted. IQ score offset by 20. I feel really awful knowing I took 2 years in ASE mechanic training and 1 1/2 in parts pro training and still don't get some basic crap right.

happens to all of us man

Thanks. Kid got sick at school today so I had to cut it short a bit. Got the new timing belt on, got the alternator mostly on, and trying to get the power steering pump on, that one is going to be a real pain. Gotta find a day to work without interruption, then its get the PS pump on, rockers and lifters, the whole intake and plug a bunch of wired and hoses in, good to go.

It still has this strange brake fluid vanishing thing. It doesn't drip out and if I actually drive it every couple days, its fine, but if I leave it sit for like 2 weeks, all the brake fluid will vanish out of the master. Drives me nuts.

my civic does the same thing with brake fluid... no clue where it goes or how it gets there. I'll drive it till the brake light comes on, stop, and put more in... and its fine for a couple months

Strange, its an import 80s car as well, right? Maybe they have the same master or something that does that. If I actually drive the thing and use the brakes, the stuff stays full, even for 6 months. Its just odd.

Anyway, woke up early to get moving on this thing. Got the power steering pump and alternator all set and ready for belts. Half of the lifters and rockers are on, timing belt set, distributor on, lower timing cover on. Getting close. Engine looks pretty complete, makes me even more excited. Possible test start tonight if everything goes well!

yea man, its a mystery to me anyway... good luck on finishing up the engine build

Quick note: Beast Mode!

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Thought I was gonna get it done today. Always complications. Thats what I get for putting on pretty much new everything, even bolts. Ended up getting the lifters and rockers all done, some seals put on, and the lower intake manifold with the injectors and spark plugs and valve covers. Next up for tomorrow: Wiring, hoses, rest of the intake, belts, fluids, done. It looks nice in my eyes, even if it was a statue at this point I might be satisfied.

Today's update: fun with wires.

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Out of time for the day again.

Almost there....

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Some things to tighten and fluids to fill, and pump out the year old gas in the tank and hopefully its go time. Not today. Too tired and its like 100 in the garage.

Insomniac update: Pretty much done. Need to hook up some ground wires and get fresh gas in the tank. Til then, I bask in the glow of the prosports.

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I expect to hear it's running today!

Sadly no, I slept in and I'm still worn out. Been up every night this week til like 5am on this thing. And now I need some sort of half inch long 3mm screw for the ignition module wire thing. Tomorrow possibly if I can find that bolt.

Tried to start it today. I say tried because it won't fire. Got fuel pressure. Got spark. Got compression and timing. Theres no reason for it not to work, I even tried different ECUs.

Helper lied, no spark. No power to the ECU. At this point I feel glad to work on wiring issues instead of internals.

Spoke too soon. Did a crapton of wiring fixes, turns out the sensor in the distributor is bad. They go for 150$. So I won't be able to get one for probably a couple months at least. :(

man... i keep checking to see if it's running and more complications... lol... everyone has them though... good luck and hopefully you can get it done soon...

Yeah just gotta run to the junkyard later this week and pull the sensor out of a distributor, can use a Z, maxima, pathfinder, v6 pickup, the old v6 200sx and a couple other vehicles, so shouldn't be too difficult to find one. Heard the junkyard just got an 80s Z too so may be easier than I thought.

Sidenote: you can feel the freaking cam lope just off the compression when it cranks. Can hear it with the open y-pipe under the seat. Like nothing I've ever experienced personally. Instead of the normal "rur rur rur" sound it kinda does a "rrblup rrblup rrblup" haha. Went over the sheet from the cam place, looks like they made a .440 valve lift when it was supposed to be .429 Hope the stock valve springs can take it, but the stock uses pretty decent double springs.

Well, went to the junkyard over in west alexander PA, got a couple sensors (bonus: cupholders for the subaru!). Tried em out and got nothing, though. After tinkering for a couple hours, I'm leaning towards a bad connection somewhere in one of the wires to the distributor. Everything else pretty much checks out. Will hit it like a ton of bricks tomorrow morning. At least with wiring, I feel more comfortable.

Well I got the distributor working and now I have spark. Everything seems sound but none of the fuel injectors are firing. Have power to them, have correct fuel pressure. They just wont click open and inject fuel. Probably a bad wire somewhere.

Gettin closer, every time you eliminate one problem you're that much closer.

Yep pretty much. All the wires check out, the only thing left is that the fuel injectors went bad. All 6 of them. At the same time. Crazy. But I know of a couple other Z people that have had it happen to them. Gonna test the injectors directly tomorrow to see if I can get them to click open.