so i pulled the head off....

[s13envy]

some of you may have been following my build thread http://zilvia.net/f/chat/183303-sr20det-240sx-build-thread.html

....took me about 3 and half hours. was having some problems getting the head off the studs and had to bandage up a few wounds before i got it all the way off. 1 question I have is, should the head studs have came out of the block before the nut came off??? I had 3 studs come loose when taking off the nuts. also noticed alot of wear on the part where the cam sits in the head. noticed its really rough on both the cams and the head. not sure why this would have happened, but i hope its not something that will require me to replace my head or cams. see the pics for what i'm describing.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v493/s13envy/DSC00456DesktopResolution.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v493/s13envy/DSC00460DesktopResolution.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v493/s13envy/DSC00463DesktopResolution.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v493/s13envy/DSC00466DesktopResolution.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v493/s13envy/DSC00469DesktopResolution.jpg

I have a question about the head. I haven't reallly been able to check out the valves b/c I dont know if I need to keep the shims on top of the valves or not. I know if I flip the head over all the shims will fall off. But I'm thinking that they'll have to come off anyway.

What do you guys think?

[s13envy]

more pics....

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v493/s13envy/DSC00470DesktopResolution.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v493/s13envy/DSC00471DesktopResolution.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v493/s13envy/DSC00472DesktopResolution.jpg

[Om1kron]

I cant give any good advice, if I had to take my head off for any reason other than upgrading the headgasket, it would be rebuilt with new parts. I'm not a big fan of wear and tear if I'm going to take the time to break something down. Because that shit is a buzzkill finding out you need to replace a bunch of shit you were not financially prepared to deal with.

As far as where the cams were making contact with the head or what not, could be normal wear, could be some dirt got in there.

[Bigsyke]

I think some dirt or shavings somehow wound up there.

OP do you have a magnetic Drain Plug?

[Sileighty_85]

i see Brass shards in the cam keeper...did you spin a bearing? or maybe thrust washer worn down? I'd drop the oil pan and look inside

That head looks pretty dry too, did you clean the clean the head before taking pics? looks to oil starvation (Oil Pump Dying)

[s13envy]

i had cleaned up the head a bit before taking the pics....i cleaned up alot of excess oil sitting around. plus the car has sat for a few months now with out ever running.

no magnetic drain plug. I will probably drain the oil tomorrow and see what i can find.

the oil pump was supposed to be brand new according to the person I bought the motor from.

[Bigsyke]

They were selling the motor for a reason

[s13envy]

his reason for sellin was that he was switching to a 2jz. said the motor was freshened up with 0 miles. i'm not blaming this on him

[MadScientist]

I am in the middle of rebuilding and I would have been pissed if I bought a engine and seen the abuse like this. I use a Copper Brilow pad to clean off gasket material and old paper gaskets off... but you dont leave it in.

Hope you can deal with some down time.

Rebuild it right and fix that Keeper.

-Drew

[steve shadows]

I dont understand what the problem is? why did you pull the had in the first place?

Have you checked to make sure the oil pick up is still fine and not broken completely off or floating around in the pan?

Even if it's ok I would recommend changing the oil pump/ front cover with a new one, then replace the rocker arms, polish the cam journals with a little 2000 grit sand paper (and the cam lobes) and get back to trying to break it in more fun ways.

Seriously

[s13envy]

so you're saying that it doesn't look too bad steve??? I originally pulled the head off b/c I only had 30psi of compression on the #2 cylinder. I dont know if I had made that post in my build thread or not. I dont get on these forums too often. but I did a leakdown test and was losing like 80-90% on the #2 cylinder and I could feel the air coming out of the exhaust pipe. So i figure there is something up with the exhaust valves. I I haven't fully inspected the valves yet though. I'll probably go out shortly and remove the shims so i can flip the head over and check it out. I will provide some pics afterwards.

[HalveBlue]

With the exceptions of the first pic everything looks more or less okay.

Figure out what the hell was grinding away at the bearing.

Technically, any time you're talking off the head you should be replacing the rocker arm guides. Unfortunately, if you do that, you also need to replace the shims. And to do that properly, you need to have a special tool. The tool Nissan uses is expensive and hard to find.

I can't remember who off the top of my head, but someone made their own version of this tool for significantly less money. Still cost a couple hundred bucks if I remember correctly.

Best bet is to go to a machine shop and ask them.

If you can't do that, you need to at least take out the valve train and keep all the parts in a safe location. Be sure you label which shim and guide go where.

[s13envy]

i took the cams out with the cam caps and all that as one piece so i dont get them mixed up as you can see in one of the pics i posted. I believe one of my buddies has the tool to measure the valve gap or whatever you want to call it.

[greddyguy]

where exactly did you purchase the motor from?

[s13envy]

a guy from these forums....said it was built by big toms garage.

[steve shadows]

what a douche!

haha jk :p

[s13envy]

who's the douche? big tom?