Just pull the engine, put it on a stand and do it all over again, you do not re build a engine without measuring the end gaps of the piston rings, or measuring the bearing clerance, download the manual and follow it from point to point.

Period

If your one of those people who needs to have manual in hand, I have an extra set of factory service manuals one for engine and another for body. JLP

Unless ur bottom end was over 100,000 miles, I wouldnt have even touched it. Make sure ur not mistaking the sub timing marks as TDC. I have not personally took apart this engine, but sometimes if u get the timing off you can make valves contact the pistons. As long as u were turning it by hand it should be okay, Im not sure if all the head/block combos are non-interference engines.

Did u take the camshaft out? because its inline bored and some people have trouble making it work after they took it apart. It may be binding on the camshaft. Although, people say u dont need to remove the camshaft to take the head off...im not sure I have not looked at the valvetrain with the valve cover off yet.

As of removal of the head, you want to start from the outside and work your way in in a criscross pattern. Like this

X x x x x x x

x x x x x x X

Reassembly U start from the middle and work ur way out doing the top and bottom bolt, then working ur way out in a criscross pattern.

You dont want to completely remove the bolts all at once, u want to make a few passes at each bolt to uniformly lift and tighten the head down.

Edited May 31, 201113 yr by 71Nissan240Z

hey sorry, its been a while since i've been on. i actually just bought an L28 to throw in there, but only because i want it running. i love puzzles and i feel like the l24 is gonna be a good one.

to answer some questions,

yes, i followed all of the torque specs and bolt tightening patterns as is in the chiltons manual.

no...i still do not have the fsm because i still do not have a computer that i am able to download that onto.

i was not the original owner of the car. the first time i ever touched the headbolts they were loose. i am not sure if that would be a contributing factor to the low compression, but that plus a disintegrated head gasket are what i think caused it.

i just swapped the head over onto the L28 and i found nothing in the L24 that would have caused it not to turn over. in fact, even with the engine out of the car, and the head off, the engine is still impossible to turn.

If your one of those people who needs to have manual in hand, I have an extra set of factory service manuals one for engine and another for body. JLP

is there any way i could get those FSMs from you?

Rust,

How far apart did you disassemble the engine?

Did you find any reason for the low compression?

How much time past between your "before" compression test and your "after" compression test?

Does the cam move with the crank when you try to rotate the engine?

The loose head bolts will not prevent the enigne from turning but will definielty cause other problems.

If all else fails, remove the head again and look for foriegn objects, rust, or other problems in the cylinders. Make sure the engine turns easily all the way through before installing the head.

i only disassembled in down to the head and also replaced the timing chain. and im 99 percent that i got the valve timing right.

i did the first compression test about a week before i started tearing into it. after about another week, everything was put back together is when i attempted the second one. so altogether about 2 weeks between the two tests.

maybe he reused the head bolts, when you take them out your supposed to replace them since they stretch a little bit when u have final torque.