Captain Obvious

That regulator is to deal with ambient temperature variations, not system voltage. Since the needle deflection is based on temperature of the bimetallic strip, ambient temp is an issue. So they address that in the gauge. I'd have to go back over my notes to figure out if system voltage would be a factor as well. It's a voltage divider, so system voltage variations may come out in the wash.

I don't know if I ever documented my storage bin mod. The basic story is that the bins are there on your car but there's no lids and there are no threaded inserts spot welded into place on the mounting holes. The holes are there, but no threads. I took some steel plate, cut small rectangles, and drilled and tapped holes: Some double back sticky tape to hold them in place until the screws are installed: And I stuck them to the underside of the sheet metal where the cargo bin lids attach. This is without the threaded plates: And this is with the threads in place. Double back sticky tape holding them in place: Then get yourself a pair of lids from an earlier car and screw the lids in place: How's that for a thread-jack?

Oh, I'm sorry... I saw VR and I interpreted as "Variable Reluctance". Since you were talking about distributors, I was thinking you had put in a later model distributor from a 280 and the VR (variable reluctance) distributor was causing the condenser to burn up. I completely glazed over the sentence before that when you mentioned the voltage regulator. I don't know if you would see changes in the oil pressure gauge tracking with system voltage. I doubt it, but in any event: In my best Emily Litella voice.... "Nevermind."

I didn't check out the car in this BAT auction, but some of the details about the one I posted about. Supposedly original owner and supposedly just 49K miles. There was some circumstantial evidence to support the mileage claim, and I assume there was a Pennsylvania title for the car that would confirm or deny the original owner claim. There had been some bodywork done on the blue one I posted about. The story was that something fell on the car while in the garage and mushed the hood a little bit. The owner fixed the hood and (if I understood the story correctly) painted it himself. It was unclear if the rest of the car had been repainted or if it was original paint. There were several blemishes in the paint where it appeared that the top layer of blue had come off showing a slightly different shade of blue beneath. There were some areas where it appeared there was a tape line, but it's unclear to me if it was a tape line, or a natural delineation. There was evidence of some "not crappy, but not great" rust repair on at least one of the dogleg corners. The blue one had some engine compartment modifications. Probably some sort of electronic ignition aftermarket mod. From what I heard, there was lots of electronic and electrical "thingies" around the house, so it appears the owner had some electrics experience. I would be willing to use the term "Survivor" for the blue one if it was original paint. I would use the term "good neglected condition" if it had been sprayed.

I performed all those changes you describe. I switched over to a skinny spare and lowered the rear false deck. I also put lids on the cargo bins and am using them for stuff that used to be located back by the spare.

I resisted the urge to suggest that might happen. I wasn't convinced that you found the root cause of the problem. Sorry that it came back, but glad you think you found the smoking gun this time. I also don't have any input into a correlation between a bad condenser and an oil pressure gauge, but anyway... So what type of ignition system did you have in the car when the problem occurred? You said you replaced the VR with an old mechanical style. Were you running an aftermarket distributor with a VR pickup?

Yeah, keep an eye on them and make sure they aren't falling apart. Could be compatible, or could be an issue. Here's to hoping they outlast the rest of the car!

How long will that grommet last? All depends on what it's made out of. If it's good quality Nitrile or Viton, then it might last a while. If it's something of unknown composition bought at the local hardware store, then who knows!? It could last 40 years, or it could disintegrate into pieces in a couple hours. I like the idea of the "splint", although it doesn't address the root cause of the problem.

Wow. I didn't even see the air cleaner. No idea what that's all about. So I heard from my buddy at the auction that there were a couple bidders from Canada. Anyone we know here?

I give you pretty much zero chance of success trying to use just 13 of the 14 head bolts. Especially missing one right in the middle. You've simply got to get that bolt stub out. So you rebuilt the head and then the head bolt snapped when you were putting it back on? Did you know that the bolt had snapped then?

What is that? That's the way they designed it. The story I heard (read it on the internet) is that they increased the fuel capacity in 77 and they stole the extra volume from the spare tire well. And since the spare well is shallower, they had to use that false wooden floor. If you compare the floor sheet metal to earlier years, you'll also see the 77-78's have extra metal reinforcing "frame" members on the top side of the rear metal deck that didn't exist in earlier years.

HLS30-03981 with a 5/70 door jamb plate sold at auction not too far from me. Sold for $23.4K II know you guys like to talk about this kind of stuff. https://johncarlauctions.hibid.com/lot/54741878/1970-datsun-240z/?cpage=6&q=&ref=catalog A non-Z friend of mine was there because he was interested in the real estate property and he sent me the link.

LOL. Cliff in a library? This is what I picture:

I don't know anything about this stuff... What's a "smart coil"? Is that one that handles things like dwell and saturation current by itself? Sounds neat. Is there a test report on the web you can point us to?

So one of the closing items to bring up is that I did take some quick and dirty measurements on the valve protrusion while fully open, and according to the numbers, it's definitely an interference design. The valves stick down about .200 beyond the bottom of the head when they are fully open. I didn't spend a lot of time trying to max out the lift to the thousandth, so it's likely that it's a little more than this. I just eyeballed it as I turned the cam and set the cam where the lift was the greatest. Could be a little more than .200, but it's certainly no less: And my new (Nissan) head gasket is about .055 thick new (before any compression due to installation torque): So even if there is no crush on the head gasket thickness, the valves will stick down .145 beyond the bottom of the gasket. And considering the .115 dish depth on the pistons, it's an interference design. I've got some other closing items to document as I get the time. Things like my flying trapeze head lifting rig that worked out fantastic...

Yeah, definitely a labor of love to put that amount of work into the lowly stock N47. But as you suggested, it was personal. Me against my PO. LOL! Have to give it some time to wait for potential issues to surface, but I believe I won.

Thank you. Appreciate the well wishes! It's going to take some time for me to regain confidence in the motor. Now I have to finish pulling that F54 block.......

I think you're right. I think it will have some tiny impact on the compression and performance numbers as well. But I'm only off by .003 on the intakes and .001 on the exhausts. I'm pretty sure that I'm leaving a tiny bit of performance on the table, but for the first batch of miles, I'm willing to take that tradeoff for the piece of mind. Of course, I'm not an expert on the topic, but that's what I'm thinking! Maybe I just need a padded cell:

It's alive!!!!!!! I ran a compression test before I started it (so it was stone cold) and the highest cylinder was 175 and the lowest was 160. The max differential between any two adjacent cylinders was 10 psi. After all the crap I found wrong done to that engine, I'm pretty happy with that. I have all the valves set a little loose because I'm thinking they might tighten up a little bit over the first batch of miles as everything beds in. I don't want any of them hanging open, so I set all of them (intakes and exhaust) to .011 cold. The plug into the water jacket seems to be holding, and it sure is nice to be able to tighten down all the bolts on the valve cover down and have it not seep oil. That's a new one for me with this car! Might just be wishful thinking, but my oil pressure seems a little higher. I'm thinking that since it's not gushing out the seam between the cam tower bearing and the head anymore and actually feeding the cam bearing. @jonathanrussell the cam seems to be quite happy in it's new home!!! So far, so good! I'm gonna drive it for a couple days and then give everything a once over to see how it's doing. Pull the valve cover and see if I'm wiping any lobes off. Check the lash. Change the oil. Do another compression test. I forgot to pick up new plugs too, so I reused the old ones. I'll pull them and see how they look, but I'm not sure it'll be an accurate representation. I'll replace them soon. So, about the only thing that I'm worried about is I don't think the exhaust header is sealing properly. Stupid header. Not sure if it's a gasket quality issue, or a header quality issue. My copper nuts worked out great, but didn't make it seal.

Haha! I got no problem with that! As good as it looks, try to keep it that way! Piece of wood between the jack and the foam pad and it'll last for a little while.

Thanks for the additional clarification and I'm really sorry, but I'm still not sure I'm getting it. Is this right? You had the engine rebuilt 600 miles ago and everything seemed perfect including the oil pressure. Then 100 miles ago, all of a sudden, your oil pressure (as indicated on the dash gauge) shot up. But other than the oil pressure, nothing else seemed wrong. Then just a day or two ago, while investigating the high oil pressure, it started smoking badly and that's when you pulled the head. Did I get it that time? I feel so dense. If I don't get it this time, I'm going to just keep my mouth shut and stay completely out of it!

Valve stem seals and/or guides have no effect on oil pressure. Can have impact on consumption, but not on pressure. So just to make sure I understand the issue.... Car had been running great. No problems. Then one day, all of a sudden your oil pressure started running way higher than it used to, and you started blowing blue smoke?

Looks great. But whatever process you're using to install new bushings, I think you should get the coating out of the bushing holes first. Even if you're using a hydraulic press.

Bummer. So how long until you're back and have a Z?

Don't weld anything shut. Just use a threaded plug. You never know if you'll want that O2 bung some time in the future. Yeah, all the bits and pieces add up. Good luck with the project!