Finally getting started on the head gaskets

[Firehawk]

Re: okay this might be a problem...

jn1cz wrote: There are no holes in my crankshaft pulley to use with my puller. Aren't there supposed to be two 6mm threaded holes in 87-89 models to use a puller? I remember there were several in my 85t. Suppose I can drill and tap some holes but wtf is going with this car. Just thought I'd share...

I have a three arm puller that I use when the holes are stripped to get the crank pulley off. It just barely fits, but it works.

[MrwassmanNA2T]

[quote]Zen wrote:

It seems like a pretty simple job to me.
unless you've never done it before, then it can be daunting.

I actually need to do this very thing. I'm afraid I either have a head gasket torn or a cracked head. either way this would be the biggest project for me as well.

John

Yikes, a cracked head. NOT fun times ahead

[jn1cz]

Re: okay this might be a problem...

[quote]Firehawk wrote:

There are no holes in my crankshaft pulley to use with my puller. Aren't there supposed to be two 6mm threaded holes in 87-89 models to use a puller? I remember there were several in my 85t. Suppose I can drill and tap some holes but wtf is going with this car. Just thought I'd share...
I have a three arm puller that I use when the holes are stripped to get the crank pulley off. It just barely fits, but it works.

I've got one of those but it's small. I'll see if it fits but with the 60-2 wheel up front it might not fit over that. If not I'll just drill and tap some holes and hope for the best. How hard do ya'll think it'll be to clean the lifters and cams.
Hey Chris86NA2T wassup? Been a long time since I heard from you. Still got the same red car you put the Xenon kit on?

[Chris86NA2T]

MrwassmanNA2T wrote: Your Z is a level up ontop of mine. I figure you could change a gasket in a day as long as there is no real big machining needed.

this guys drivers side fender is destroyed, his intercooler is almost scraping the ground and the lip of his front bumper is broken completly off on one side.. if this car is a level above yours i would hate to see your car.

[MrwassmanNA2T]

You really don't like me do you? Hate my car as well? Whatever...

His FMIC set up seems much cleaner.

And as far as the head gasket goes, I pulled my heads last year when I was still fairly new to cars. I hope that encourages someone to attempt it themselves. If they don't feel confident, then have someone else do it.

[jn1cz]

The pulley is off

My thread so get along or GTFO. I only know MrwassmanNA2T from this board but he seems cool to me. I know Chris S from way back and we've always got along great. Whatever the problem is get over it or keep it in your own threads. So I got the pulley off with the puller Firehawk recommended. Thanks for the tip. It has reversible arms and even with that it only reached the PS pulley but that was enough. After I got it off I saw the holes but I'd never have been able to get to them because of the 60-2 wheel. Anyway now it's on to the exhaust manifolds and the heads.
Expect questions
Hey Satan...I understand now what you were telling me about the ledge and the tensioner stud being in the way of the 60-2 wheel. I wish I'd spun this pulley around on the crank snout to check for concentricity of the 60-2 wheel(?). It doesn't appear to be even all the way around with the compressor pulley. Anyway the crank pulley has a lot of chips off the rear lip of the alt pulley so I might have to replace it and then I might as well install the wheel the right way although this seems pretty secure.

[SATAN]

You mean that when you spin the balancer the 60-2 tooth wheel looks to be out of round, like it will go close to the mag sensor and then far from it then close again and so on as it spins? If this is what you are talking about, the TEC manual allows a certain tolerance for this. It can be out of round but not too much. Judging by the install on the car however it wouldnt suprise me if it were out of spec. I think total out of round can be .032" Cant remember for sure. It will say in your manual.

[jn1cz]

SATAN wrote: You mean that when you spin the balancer the 60-2 tooth wheel looks to be out of round, like it will go close to the mag sensor and then far from it then close again and so on as it spins? If this is what you are talking about, the TEC manual allows a certain tolerance for this. It can be out of round but not too much. Judging by the install on the car however it wouldnt suprise me if it were out of spec. I think total out of round can be .032" Cant remember for sure. It will say in your manual.

Not exactly but that would have the same effect. If you look at the whole assy straight on you can see that the wheel isn't centered perfectly with the compressor pulley.

[SATAN]

[quote]jn1cz wrote:

You mean that when you spin the balancer the 60-2 tooth wheel looks to be out of round, like it will go close to the mag sensor and then far from it then close again and so on as it spins? If this is what you are talking about, the TEC manual allows a certain tolerance for this. It can be out of round but not too much. Judging by the install on the car however it wouldnt suprise me if it were out of spec. I think total out of round can be .032" Cant remember for sure. It will say in your manual.
Not exactly but that would have the same effect. If you look at the whole assy straight on you can see that the wheel isn't centered perfectly with the compressor pulley.

Right that is what I was getting at. Yeah just read the manual and you can measure the distance when it is furthest from the mag sensor and when it is closest. But like I said, the manual will tell you what is perfect and what is to far out.

[jn1cz]

Yeah, the wheel and the front pulley are like a partial eclipse kinda thing. Too bad because the wheel seems to be attached securely. Anyway.
Got all the timing belt stuff off today and the pass side exhaust mani and crossover tube. I'll try to get to the turbo and drivers side mani tomorrow then the heads will be ready to come off. I suppose I should remove the lifters? Or hell maybe I have to. Never been this far into an engine before.
How do I make sure the cams don't turn or if they do anyway...what do I do then? I'm thinking I might do some real simple porting while the heads are off. I'm going to be real careful not to do anything stupid. Is there any point in porting the exhaust manis? Seems like a waste on the pass side since the xover tube is so small.
Is there any way to tell if the turbo has been modified? The PO said both sides were modifed but I can see that it's a stock compressor so it can't be very modifed. Seems silly to have all these other mods and have a basically stock turbo. Not enough money in the bank for a new one though.

[TODD03412]

jn1cz wrote:
Got all the timing belt stuff off today and the pass side exhaust mani and crossover tube. I'll try to get to the turbo and drivers side mani tomorrow then the heads will be ready to come off. I suppose I should remove the lifters? Or hell maybe I have to. Never been this far into an engine before.

Are you taking pictures of all this?!?!?! Id like to see what youre doing just out of curiosity :shock: Ive only seen a few pictures of your car when you posted the pics of the wonderful tec wiring you discovered

Im kinda late to the party, but I can only add to what everyone else says...be patient and remember.........NO OTHER MOTOR HAS AS MANY STUDS HOLDING THE HEADS ON HAHAHAHAHAHA.
Just take your time like satan said, make sure everything is nice and clean....make sure its torqued properly and youre golden. Have fun with it too, I love taking stuff apart Ive never had apart before. Next is my automatic trans GET PICTURES !!! Its always fun to check that stuff out and post it for prosperity (oh man I just spelling sucks when im drinking HA!) :shock:

[JimmyZ89]

Yeah talk about alot of bolts holding those heads down damn!!! I recently pulled some heads of a 95 pathfinder vg30e and after loosening all of the MAIN head bolts the damn thing still wouldn't come off. It would wiggle so I knew that it wasn't stuck to the gasket. It turned out to be 1 tiny little machine screw holding down the rear outside corner of the head to the block, this was on the drivers side. The passenger side had the same tiny little bolt holding the front outside corner down to the block. With so many main bolts why the heck were these little bastards used?

[jn1cz]

[quote]TODD03412 wrote:

Got all the timing belt stuff off today and the pass side exhaust mani and crossover tube. I'll try to get to the turbo and drivers side mani tomorrow then the heads will be ready to come off. I suppose I should remove the lifters? Or hell maybe I have to. Never been this far into an engine before.


Are you taking pictures of all this?!?!?! Id like to see what youre doing just out of curiosity :shock: Ive only seen a few pictures of your car when you posted the pics of the wonderful tec wiring you discovered

Im kinda late to the party, but I can only add to what everyone else says...be patient and remember.........NO OTHER MOTOR HAS AS MANY STUDS HOLDING THE HEADS ON HAHAHAHAHAHA.
Just take your time like satan said, make sure everything is nice and clean....make sure its torqued properly and youre golden. Have fun with it too, I love taking stuff apart Ive never had apart before. Next is my automatic trans GET PICTURES !!! Its always fun to check that stuff out and post it for prosperity (oh man I just spelling sucks when im drinking HA!) :shock:

Yeah but you're a helluva a lot more fun that way :P
I'm taking some pics but my hands are usually way too dirty to pick up my camera plus I'm always on the edge of losing what little daylight I have to work with. Maybe I'll wrap plastic around everything but the lens and try like hell not to touch that.
I could make this kind of a blog I guess
The drivers side exh mani is loose and the DP too in case I decide to pull the turbo out and do something with that. No broken studs either yippitydoodah. A few came out with the nut but I planned on replacing them anyway. Question of the day: How do you get rubber bands around the lifters to keep them from falling out of the bores? That idea sounds so good on paper...
Note to self: think real hard about having a manifold made like Satan's just to make the turbo more accessable if nothing else.

[jn1cz]

Heads up

Maybe heads off tomorrow Got the lifters and guides off and all the head bolts out. Ran out of daylight before I could get the heads off. Had a mechanic neighbor try to get me a discount on some Victor gaskets but he said all his sources were backordered. He also said they all wanted to know if the car was for sale. He said one guy said he'd come pick the car up for 30 grand. I think my neighbor smoked too much loco weed back in the day.
I hope I never smell PB Blaster ever again