jliehr

Hi all,

I picked up my first S13 the other day. Was sold as a 1991 Nissan 240SX Fastback. Cool, according to my information the 1991 came with a dual cam. I was happy I would get a slightly more modern motor with my purchase. I've been doing things here and there recently around the car but it is so bloody cold that I never really went around the car to figure out what I wanted/needed. I popped the hood today (I know it is ugly) and thought my valve cover was horrid and was curious how much a new one would run me. I then noticed it was a single cam valve cover, wtf?

The car was built in 02/90. Does the engine change go buy build period or model year? I am just confused because this car should have a dual cam as far as I'm aware?

I bought it bone stock from an old man. No information on the previous repairs done to the car or possibly an engine swap besides a master slave cylinder replacement a few months ago.

Here is a photo of my motor:


Sorry for the big picture. If anything sticks out of the ordinary please let me know, this is my first KA and I do not have much experience with them.


Edit: I forgot something else. I noticed that all 91's should come with the chuki (sharknose), mine did not. Mine came with a pignose. Something is definitely weird here.

Thanks!,

jliehr

Also, what is the orange plastic type shit inside the strut tower?

右側のドライブシルビア

Your car is an 89 late or 90 early, but dual cam didn't come until 91 the orange "plastic" is actually the strut to tower gasket

jliehr

How could my car be an 89? The build date on the door says 02/90.

右側のドライブシルビア

Typed it wrong, if you look at my post again :P Did the seller tell you it was a 91?

jliehr

Yes, and going by standard car procedure the model year is +1 the year it was built.

Example: If you buy a 2011 Chevy Silverado..it was built in 2010. New cars on dealer lots right now are a 2015 model.

My door says it was built in 1990, meaning this should be a 1991.

右側のドライブシルビア

I would double check that. Run the vin# on the dash/door jam/firewall. It would seem to be a lot of trouble to take a kade and swap everything to a kae and then the same with a sharknose to a pignose front which is more sought out for.

jliehr

I don't have access to run a VIN sadly

右側のドライブシルビア

You could run by the local police station. I believe they could check its actual year.. that is, if all the vin#'s match.

jliehr

I grabbed the vin. Here is a photo of the door. I didnt think to get one from under the hood, I will tomorrow...dark and cold. The only thing new to me is the last reported mileage (according to free carfax) was 246k. I am aware my odometer doesn't work but I didn't know it stopped 20k ago...ugh.

右側のドライブシルビア

Sorry your having trouble, and just getting into the car. Don't get weary though, they are fun cars to own and work on.

jliehr

For sure! Just think it is very weird.

5280VertDET

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jliehr

Looked up a VIN chart and determined since the 10th letter is an L it is indeed a 1990 :/.

Thanks for the help everyone it is much appreciated. This car is my daily driver so what is the most reliable and most affordable swap that will not require too much work? I assume a low mileage dual cam? How hard is it to put that in a single cam car?

feito

in the future u can always run the vin on carfax and it would give you the year and model for free, not the records thou. And always make sure all the vins on the car match.

S14DB

The chassis plate on the firewall should tell you what engine you are supposed to have. The model number also can tell you what options you have.

With most any swap you are going to have to swap the power steering lines for DOHC. Then it will be as easy as any swap with a dual cam.

The main question is why do you want to swap?

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jliehr

This motor has 250,000 miles and I am worried about reliability.

blkvrtswp

Build date does not work that way. I have a 2010 Sonata daily and it was built 11/08, purchased in 8/09.

jza80king

No offense at all man, but you knowingly bought a car with a quarter million miles on it and it doesn't seem like you did much research before purchasing. Simple mistake and i'm not here to chastise you or anything on that. That being said, just cuz a car reads 250k miles doesn't mean the motor is gonna shit on you. The opposite is also true, cars with way lower miles can abruptly fail and be expensive, it just really depends on how the car was taken care of or neglected. You said an older man sold it to you, hopefully he didn't abuse the car or anything.

What I would do, to help determine the 'health' of the engine is do a compression and/or a leak down test. This will help with getting an idea on the motor. Next I would do the regular maintenance on the car, drain the oil, change filter, change air filter, spark plugs and go from there. Don't let the 250k miles scare you unless you do the compression test and get like 85 PSI across all 4 cylinders or you get 1 of the 4 cylinders that's at like 85 PSI and the other 3 much higher.

angel mkiv

Just do the basic maintenance and regular oil changes and wait till it dies.then do a dual cam swap or better a sr20.both pretty simple for someone with little automotive knowledge since it's pretty straight forward

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S14DB

This and http://www.blackstone-labs.com/free-test-kits.php

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jliehr

Boys this isn't my first rodeo. This also isn't my first 240sx. It is my first KA however. I know nothing about these motors, their reliability, and hell..I've never even driven one with a KA. I know quite a bit about automobiles and I am also attending a vocational school (for whatever that's worth) to become an automotive technician. I have already done all maintenance including a new fuel filter, new fuel pump, new ngk spark plugs, synthetic mobil1 high mileage oil, bosch 3400 filter, new fuel lines by filter as stock ones were ugly and stiff, new air filter, red line gear oil, coolant flush, new brake fluid, new coolant overflow (stock one corroded), new battery, new starter/alternator otw, new fluid in diff, and new headlights. I ordered a compression tester before I even got the car but that hasn't made it to my door yet, usps lost it somewhere in Texas. Thanks for the help anyway it is much appreciated!

jza80king

That's good, just from your initial posts it seemed like you were a complete newb to cars... Bad assumption on my part. FYI any O'Reillys or autozone should be able to rent a compression tester.

jliehr

Not a big fan of renting things but if it doesn't show up soon I guess I'd have to venture over there. Thanks for the help!

S14DB

It is enough to make sure the cylinders are balanced in their wear.

That and an oil analysis should tell you how the engine is wearing. Be descriptive when you send your test in. ie "Just bought car with 250k, trying to determine health of engine." They can look at the metal levels and tell you how far along the rings and bearings are.

The only other thing I would be tempted to do is a full timing kit job(everything under the front cover). What's your oil pressure like?

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jliehr

Yes. But I like to own the tools I use rather then rent them. 9 times out of 10 you are going to need that tool several times and its much nicer to have immediate access to that tool. When I get some money I will send out some oil, just a tad low on funds right now to send that out. Unfortunately I do not have an oil pressure gauge as well. That is something I will look into picking up as it is another great thing to have.

Thank you for your help .

anti tyler

Compression testers from advance are like $40? If you're in that great a need of a compression tester I will send you mine for a small amount. I also have an oil pressure gauge and sender (BAR)

It really pays to have these things, especially while trouble shooting.


The only thing I can offer you, is back in 2004 I got my first 240sx SOHC with 200,xxx miles on it. Drove it for 10k miles. Enlisted in the navy and tried to destroy the motor everyday for 10 months before I left. I sold that car the week before I shipped out with 260,xxx miles on it. It would not quit.

So as far as reliability, you have to weigh that based on the maintenance that was performed on the car. I have reason to believe that motor could last you a lot longer. Highest mileage one I've seen was 410k miles.

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jliehr

I appreciate your gesture but do not worry about it. I will get it. There's nothing better then opening new tools (besides new parts) . Hopefully my motor is as strong and reliable as yours. 410,000 miles!! That is truly insane. Do you have any more information about it? Was it rebuilt? Any modifications? How was it driven/how often?


Thanks for the reply and thanks for your service .

anti tyler

My motor was completely stock, I was a youngster back then so I didn't have any type of money or knowledge on the cars to buy and modify them. I've found that if you want the motor to last like that you may want to keep it stock or close to it.

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jliehr

I figured you would have mentioned if it was but I was asking in reference to the one that had 410,000 miles on it.