Deja Vu: 1971 Restoration

[Montezuma]

I see a little bit of the 70 up on those blocks.

[motorman7]

        There is really a lot going on with the car now.  We are in full production.  The body is at the paint shop, the dash is at 'Just Dashes', and I just got the block and head back from the machine shop.  The head was leaked checked and the rubber seals were checked.  It was in perfect shape and the block only needed to be honed.  They did a mild clean on the block also.  No significant scratches in cylinder 1 which had the cracked ring.  That worked out well.

        After I got the block and head home, I wire wheeled the block and wiped it down with phosphoric acid and then lacquer thinner. After that I painted the block.  The paint was from California Datsun and looks to be the same color as the previous blend from CDM.  I think the only difference is this paint appears to be a bit glossier, but I think that will be fine.  I also got the freeze plugs in and the crank, crank bearings and rear seal.  Before and after pics are below.

[Zup]

@motorman7

Nice to see such rapid progress!

Probably obvious, but be sure to clear the engine number or it will rust.

 

[motorman7]

5 hours ago, Zup said:

 

Probably obvious, but be sure to clear the engine number or it will rust.

 

Yes, have that cleared already...I use that a lot.  Pretty much all metal on the car needs to be painted or plated.  Only metal that may not get some clear or plating would be some of the aluminum motor parts.

Edited April 7, 2017 by motorman7

[motorman7]

And more paint shop pictures.  Looks like we are going down to bare metal on the hood. Looks like the hood has been orange, yellow and red in a previous life.

Edited April 7, 2017 by motorman7

[Carl Beck]

Wonderful work.. great to see the progress. 

Sorry to say that the block paint is WAY TO DARK (looks like a Royal Blue). The block paint should be closer to the blue on that Oil Filter. 70/71 Z's had a bit more green in the Nissan Blue used then, and it was a bit darker - for 72+ Nissan Blue was actually a lighter blue with less green undertones.  The Blue on the original block is a bit faded - but much much closer to what it should be.  I'd find a more accurate color.. that dark blue is going to look completely out of place on a restored 72...

FWIW,

Carl B.

[motorman7]

Hi Carl,

   The pictures above are a bit dark because of the lighting. I just double checked the color using the CDM paint on the lower left flange and there is no difference.  I will take a pic of the block a little later today in natural lighting.  The blocks below are the exact same color, just the lighting is different. 

[motorman7]

It's overcast here, but you can see the difference the lighting makes.  Also, here is a picture with the alternator bracket with original paint from the same motor.  Pretty close given the bracket paint is about 45 years old.  As I mentioned before, my only issue with the paint is that it seems to be on the glossy side.  It should have more of a satin finish.

Edited April 8, 2017 by motorman7

[dmorales-bello]

Some of the gloss will fade away as soon as the engine goes through it's heating and cooling cycles with normal use.

[motorman7]

Got the pistons in with new rings and rod bearings.  Did final torque on Crank and rod bearings.  Crank bearings torqued to 38 ft-lbs, Rod bearings to 23 ft-lbs.

[motorman7]

        Got the head on and torqued down.  Put on the timing chain with number one cylinder at TDC and aligned the shiny links to the dots.  Adjusted the valves, .007" gap intake and .010" gap exhaust. Put on the oil sump.  I think this was all the easy stuff.  Now it's time to attack the oil pan and exhaust manifold. I got a semi-new air galley for pretty cheap on e-bay so I will install that once I get the after market air galley off.  That will be a bit of a challenge.  I have been soaking the air nozzle fittings for about a week now in PB blaster with little progress.   I am almost thinking that the easiest way to get this off would be to drill and tap.  Anyway, things are moving along

 

Oh, and I cleaned off the 'KAR' from the front of the head with lacquer thinner.  Not sure what that was from.

Edited April 10, 2017 by motorman7

[motorman7]

 Did a little more clean-up on the engine parts. Cleaned and painted the oil pan and front pulley. Cleaned and put a light coat of high temp aluminum paint on the front timing chain cover.  Parts are just loosely attached to the block since I don't have the nuts and bolts ready for plating.  Hope to have those to the plater this Monday so I can start actual assembly soon.  Will also get the valve cover glass bead blasted so that looks nice and pretty.   Got a nice E30 Exhaust manifold with air galley off of e-bay (replaces the N36 that was installed on the car in 2013 and not original).  Will douse the air galley fittings with Kroil and let them soak a bit before I try to remove.  The air galley is in nice shape so I would like to try and preserve that. Pics are below.