SR20 Red bottom Black Top & HG reuse?

[Rezlo]

Ok stupid questions of a newb to the SR20 world.

In africa all our S13/14/15 are SR20's or CA's right off the bat.

Baught the 97 S14, terrible condition, head gasget was done with a metal 3 peice stamped unit from the states, within 3 weeks of owning that failed, pulled the head, new seals, good port and ceramic coat and re-surfaced, block was MILDLY scratched due to previous owner using sharp implement to clean off old gasget,

New stock gasget installed, all went together nice, worked well for a week, then good old oil in the coolant again, thought it might be the turbo, blocked the turbo lines but it wasnt that, thought it could be the oil cooler ontop of the filter housing, could have been that but now im back to square 1, coolant in the oil and exessive crank case pressure.

Heres the situ, SR20 spares here are MOTHERLESSLY expencive,

Can I do red top bottom end and use my black top already ported and machined head (less than 4 weeks old) - has anyone successfuly done this?

And while I have the bottom end out where is the most resonable place in the US to find replacement pistons either SR20 or Z32 which ive heard are a direct replacment??? and or are there any other nissans that are more common that share identical piston rings? or just far more simple to do Red bottom low mile downer?

And lastly, this does go against all my current teachings but ive heard of people re-using these aftermarket "kenetic" or somting metal head gasgets, is this true? ive searched a bit but internet access from here is a little hard to sit for ages on like 3X slower than 56k dial up.

Thanks

Ian

[the head]

that would be Cometic headgaskets I know some of the DSM guys do reuse them I have found that Mopar head gasket sealer is helpful when reusing the HG

[fliprayzin240sx]

As far as bottom end, im almost sure the S13/S14 uses the same bottom end. The difference is in the head with the VTC on the S14.

[noodl35]

My sr had oil pressure issues so it messed up my redtop head. I had a s13 blacktop spare head and just used that on a cometic. Everything works well, so yes you can you a blacktop s13 head on a redtop block.

[Rezlo]

so yes you can you a blacktop s13 head on a redtop block.
It will be a S14 head with VVT removed onto a S13 block.

I wonder if the mopar head "seal" is like hylomar blue or more like a copper spray, time to get on the phone,

Thanks for the help.

[the head]

not sure it was originally used for gen 1 neons the A420 had major HG sealing issues so to solve the problem and to keep costs down they came up with the HG sealer not sure of its origins all I know is that it works

[drift freaq]

the s14sr head on a s13sr block, can possibly have incompatabilities,due to water galleries and oil galleries being different from casting to casting. i.e. it may not work and if these parts are expensive to begin with it would be an expensive lesson learned.
It is not a direct perfect bolt on situation. There may be a work around, but we are talking generational design differences in the castings.

[ultraDorksGarage]

the s14sr head on a s13sr block, can possibly have incompatabilities,due to water galleries and oil galleries being different from casting to casting. i.e. it may not work and if these parts are expensive to begin with it would be an expensive lesson learned.
It is not a direct perfect bolt on situation. There may be a work around, but we are talking generational design differences in the castings.


if im not mistaken, HG is same from s13-s15 sr's. which would mean oil/water galleys are same. timing chain tensioner settup is slightly different, but im told are interchangeable (guides are in the block (s13 parts) and tensioner is in head(s14 parts)).

on a side note, z32 pistons raise CRatio to about 9:1 i believe. friend did his and its not very impressive.

[Rezlo]

Ive definaly lost the rings in No:4 not sure on piston dammage till i pull the motor obviously,

I wouldnt mind uping the comp slightly, im just wondering how to get my hands on a set of over size Z32's now... aparently there is a local company with a set of 60 over (1.5mm) weseco's but they like $700 US :-/

Ehhh Africa sux