Otodats President

[Otodat]

Well it looks like I will need to a bit of maintenance on this thing. In no particular order will be
Replace injectors
Replace injector plugs
Compression test
Replace heater and radiator hoses
Replace fan belts
Replace or overhaul waterpump
Delete unnecessary vacuum and breather hoses, possibly ERG setup
Look for possibility of distributor replacement/upgrade
Replace ignitor and coil
Remove rear aircon/heater as non functional dead weight
Pull door cards and bonnet lining off and spray in some cavity wax
Replace front sway bar bushes
Service
Check brake pads and shoes
Find spare fuel pump, throttle pot and AFM
Move horns to behind grill
Have alternator overhauled
Possibly change to aftermarket ECU/ engine management

The main point here would be that parts are not all the easy to get for these things and I am not really hung up on having it completely jdm stock, would rather have a reliable cruiser and change a few bits to off the shelf items that can be sourced in nz. The aim is to have it going again for September next year for a planed lap of the South Island. The first thing to do is check the compression to make sure the mechanical side of things is ok. Have been mulling over an engine replacement over the last week as three is a few vh41- vk45 engines at a very reasonable price when compared to getting this one up and running again. Would be grateful for both advice and opinions as I get on with this

Cheers, Steve

[Otodat]

As to what is actually wrong with it well- here is what I think has gone on.
I believe a rubber hose has perished on the tail of injector 4 which has in turn soaked its plug with petrol. This has caused a short that drained the battery flat and possibly cracked the injector with heat. With the charger hooked up to the battery there was enough current and heat to cause the plug and injector to sizzle and smoke so it is almost unbelievable to me that this car wasn’t a smoking shell at Ohakune. I have removed the injectors over the weekend and had to fish the bottom of two out of the inlet manifold. Damaged the fuel rail at Ohakune mucking with it, managed to seal it off and thump home on 7

[Otodat]

Compression test
Rear
8 151psi. 7 164psi
6 161psi. 5 156psi
4 155psi. 3 166psi
2 164psi. 1 155psi
Front
Firing order 18436572
Spark plugs Bosch super plus wr9dcx
Throttle position sensor 290324
Air flow meter 22680 F2700
Injectors A45-00

[broke]

Damn, this pretty gangsta.

Ah yes, the old Nissan hosetail injector dramas... I recommend replacing all the rubber EFI hose and all the injector seals and pintle caps ASAP.

It's amazing how bad an engine can run with just a small injector leak.

[fletch]

Just yesterday I was stepping over a couple of y44's! Ill send you the guys number.
Also, your chassis rails are 100mm wider than a 130 cedric and i got a vh45 to fit that so you should be sweet if you wanted to do the swap.

[Otodat]

Thanks fletch that's awesome info

[Otodat]

Somehow found some energy to look at this thing this week. First thing was to remove the crap I had stacked on it and pull the battery out for charging
Yep need to get on with cleaning up and painting the engine bay, so have started to remove the bits and pieces bolted to the wings. There is a lot!

All this junk is out of my trunk, no idea what some of it even does especially the brown handbag looking thing in the centre, less weight to lug around anyways.

[Otodat]

Did a bit more on this today. Got the front panel pulled off, looks like I will need to remove the radiators and support panel to clean up the engine bay sufficiently. It is quite different working on this compared to the 1200, it has had a pretty easy life and not been messed with which is great but the down side of this is it still a 30 year old car that has never been apart so lots of snapped bolts so far!

[Otodat]

Pulled those bits off and have kept going, removed front guards as it’s far enough in bits now might as well clean and paint the front inner structure. No nasty surprises found, should all clean up [emoji108]





Battery area above is by far the worst



Seems to be no paint under the extra brake booster, must need an overhaul too

[Otodat]

Have been agonising over it but ended up pulling the engine, there is bits that need attention up the chassis rail that are too hard to get to otherwise combined with a mounting bush on the front subframe that appears to be split