Steam Powered Z???

[Zed Head]

Not to put a damper on the project, but you should check that head carefully, or have it checked professionally. DatsunParts LLC is not known for their expertise, they(he) are(is) just very persistent in a market that has few options. A few years ago he sold some pretty poor work. Word is things might be better now, but early on it was obvious that he just collected parts, then re-assembled them in to packages. You could have a mis-matched set of rocker arms and cam, for example. Check the wipe pattern, check the lash, re-torque everything. Check the head thickness too, to see if the cam towers should have shims or not, calculate what your new compression ratio is since the head has been shaved. Check the spark plug threads before installing the head.

If it was a Rebello head I'm sure you could not worry, but still would be worthwhile checking. This guy - you have to verify what you have.

[240260280z]

Chamfer the tops of the holes for the head bolts in the block if you feel naughty

[SteveJ]

Not to put a damper on the project, but you should check that head carefully, or have it checked professionally. DatsunParts LLC is not known for their expertise, they(he) are(is) just very persistent in a market that has few options. A few years ago he sold some pretty poor work. Word is things might be better now, but early on it was obvious that he just collected parts, then re-assembled them in to packages. You could have a mis-matched set of rocker arms and cam, for example. Check the wipe pattern, check the lash, re-torque everything. Check the head thickness too, to see if the cam towers should have shims or not, calculate what your new compression ratio is since the head has been shaved. Check the spark plug threads before installing the head.

If it was a Rebello head I'm sure you could not worry, but still would be worthwhile checking. This guy - you have to verify what you have.

I haven't purchased anything from Al in a while. He did a crappy prep job on the last part I bought from him. I thought I could trust him on something that doesn't have any moving parts. I was wrong.

I agree about getting the head checked out by a competent machinist.

[rossiz]

thanks for the cautionary notes - i'll check as i go. have to say it really does look good though. all threaded holes are perfect (including plugs), surfaces are very nicely machined and the whole thing is really clean. i'll check valve lash and wipe patterns just to verify the setup, then drop all the adjusters and verify the cam spins nicely.

back out at the block, i got the water pump broken bolt/thread issue taken care of (pita) and it's installed, radiator is back in and everything is prepped to receive the head.

my injectors came as well, so i got them all put together (new hoses, seals installed) and loosely fitted to the manifold. still waiting on the header though...

tomorrow i'm gonna scribe the head gasket to the head and see about a little carving with the die grinder...

[Zed Head]

You grind it, you bought it. I'm sure that will void the 30 day warranty.

By wipe pattern, I meant the area of the rocker arms that the cam lobes ride on. Checked by blueing the pad, then rotating the camshaft and seeing where it rubs. It's described in the Monroe Rebuild book, page 109. A good book for you to have, if you don't already.

At least check wipe pattern before doing anything, if it's off you can spend a lot more money trying to make it right. Plus it's a good indicator of the quality of the rest of the work. I hope that it's a good buy for you, but I would not buy anything from DatsunParts myself. Besides his past reputation, his eBay ads, which you must have looked at, look shady.

Good luck.

[rossiz]

thanks zed, well aware of the wipe pattern and will check.

[rossiz]

had some fun cleaning up the combustion chamber - traced the head gasket to set the outer limits and blended away all the perimeter sharps while singing johnny cash (bad pun intended).

then i spent an hour w/the dremel and smoothed out all the transitions around the valves to de-shroud and help flow. will it make a huge difference? the world may never know... but it was a great way to spend the afternoon :}

once that was done i got my taps out and chased all the threads, set the studs, mounted the thermostat housing and front cover plate and popped the whole thing in a bag where it will live for the next week while i'm away visiting family in massachusetts...

[rossiz]

got back from vacation and msa headers did not come - currently expect to ship on 7/11, which happens to be the day i leave for another trip...

so i spent a bit of time going over the head and checking things out. chased every threaded hole (found 3 stripped ones for the valve cover and #6 exhaust stud was mangled - fixed w/helicoils) and pulled all the rocker arms to check the cam movement.

to my delight, the cam spins beautifully. will do a cold valve-adjust and hope to button things up over the next couple days.

the intake is pretty much rebuilt: wire-brushed out the runners (TONS of crud came out), webbing removed, ground and smoothed out, all new injectors, o-rings and hoses, Blue-style "hillbilly fuel rail" and a good clean-up of the throttle-body & hardware.

the exhaust will be completely new as well - msa 6-1 header, 2/5" back to a resonator in the tunnel and new can out back.

looking forward to getting her back on the road - can't wait to hear her snort w/this new head and the new exhaust system!!

[S30Driver]

Before you took the cam sprocket off from the old head, did you check to see if it was on position 1, 2, or 3 to compensate for chain wear / stretch? I assume you have not put a new timing set in.

Might be something to check when you get the new head on. Hopefully it was not on 3 already....

Best of luck - let us know when the great fireup is about to happen....

[rossiz]

i was relieved to see it was on 1

no new timing chain for this go-round, just gonna see which position gets my marks lined up the best and go from there.

[Captain Obvious]

Sounds like good progress. Here's to hoping that everything works out as planned.

What brand head gasket are you planning to use?

And are you going to say anything to the head supplier about selling you a "rebuilt" head with three stripped out holes in it and a mangled stud? Personally, I'd be pissed.

[rossiz]

thanks cap'n

felpro top end gasket kit

pissed? no, annoyed? yes. i'm not too worried about the little stuff, more concerned with the cam/valves/surfacing - all of which appear to be well done.

tapping holes and cleaning threads should certainly have been part of their scope, but compared to what i would have had to deal with taking my chances on a used head and doing all the machine work, i'm still ahead. wait - is that a pun??

actually, the stud situation was pretty gnarly - the PO had dealt with the #6 stud sheared off at the head surface by drilling a second stud hole off to one side/slightly below, and the two holes were actually siamesed/connected (the broken stud/plug shared half the threads). they must have slotted the manifold flange to fit the re-located stud. the re-surfacing was so clean that i didn't even notice it at first... i reversed the situation - cut a bolt and used it as a plug in the second hole, drilled out the broken stud, re-tapped the original hole so i don't have to modify my new header (if/when it ever arrives).

all in all, fun with tools in my basement and a little more pride of ownership!