James Z31 Engine Blueprinting

[85_Z31]

Today was a bit of a down buzz day I discovered a fairly critical issue.

I was setting up the front camber today using a spirit level and measuring,
Passenger side camber plate is set almost full positive to achieve 0deg
Driver side is set to 3/4 negative to achieve 0deg.

I did a full body alignment measure up on the front end with the Nissan specs and drawings, strut tower alignment is correct, and all chassis rail alignment is correct.

I either have a Bent Strut
Lower control arm that us bent
Or the main front Cross member is slid all the way over to one side

And to top things off while running it up to temp today to make sure it can load up onto the trailer it started making this subtle rubbing/grinding bad sound.
When it was Dead cold it didn't do it, only came apparent as it warmed up

I disconnected all the Belts one by one to eliminate the Water pump, Alternator & PS pump, I am suspecting timing belt or tensioner or worst case scenario camshaft related.

I don't know WTF has happened Possibly the cam belt has too much tension from assembly like 3 years ago when i was a noob or something

[torqued]

I had issues with that metal dust washer that sits behind the crank pulley.
Because the timing covers are metal and mine was slightly bent it didn't line up 100% causing a grinding sound.

[85_Z31]

I had issues with that metal dust washer that sits behind the crank pulley.
Because the timing covers are metal and mine was slightly bent it didn't line up 100% causing a grinding sound.

It was the cam belt tension.

when the factory specs didn't work ( still made bad sound ) I had to strip the bitch down and tension the belt while it was running until the bad sound went away.

Either way Cam belt = fixed but this is completely delaying loading the car onto the trailer

[2 doors]

I had issues with that metal dust washer that sits behind the crank pulley.
Because the timing covers are metal and mine was slightly bent it didn't line up 100% causing a grinding sound.

It was the cam belt tension.

when the factory specs didn't work ( still made bad sound ) I had to strip the bitch down and tension the belt while it was running until the bad sound went away.

Either way Cam belt = fixed but this is completely delaying loading the car onto the trailer

I have visions of dissapearing fingers,or tools being flung through the air, rotating engine parts while adjusting stuff gives me the hebbie jebbies, good to hear you got it sorted though, love your attention to detail on this.

[85_Z31]

Engine is running like a champ now,

But funky camber issue has been discovered.

The cross memeber wasn't aligned perfectly however that isn't the main proplem

It looks Like i have a bent front strut, Measuing from the face of the rotor to the strut itself i get

LHS 109mm
RHS112mm

So Pretty fucked off about it, its an Akaroa show stopper because there is no way in hell i can get a cert with a bent suspension component

Re centering the cross member brings the RHS camber plate into the middle of its adjustment to get 0deg ( sounds good)
But the LHS camber plate is nearly maxed out to get 0deg

Looks like the struts are coming out and getting sent to an engineer to be made into a matched pair somehow.
]
On another note DJZ is the biggest legend in the world, that is all.

[DJZ]

Seen these?

http://www.trademe.co.nz/Browse/Listing ... =492369813

[85_Z31]

Seen these?

http://www.trademe.co.nz/Browse/Listing ... =492369813

Yeah dude that's me asking the question !

[85_Z31]

Been horrendously crook since last tuesday with this sore ears / sore throat can't talk cold/sickness thing

But i got a little done on the car.

Bent front strut back from engineers- wasn't bent at all, turns out the bump steer spacing wasn't seating properly from some slag on the inside of the spindle tube thing.Struts re fitted and looking the business

Had my rear shocks shortened 50mm because of the end excessive droop and flex on the damper shaft , this also means i no longer need a rear keeper spring and everything is much more simple and reliable.

Think i have got my cam belt tension problem sorted, if i can get this car to idle properly and to stop stumbling and running rough when the throttle is shut. > Hopefully Datsunboys suggestion of earthing out the neutral switch ( that is probably not connected) will fix the problem.

[datsunboy]

Hook it up to the gearbox rather than earthing it lol, I can't remember what I told you......I was rather drunk lol

Sent from my Nexus S using Tapatalk 2

[85_Z31]

*Car is re assembled and back on wheels.
*I have the wide band dataloger to re connect for some full Data logging ( from nistune ) on the DYNO day

*New Cambelt, tensioner & tensioner stud is due to arrive any day ( via auckland ) I have also bored a hole in my lower cam timing cover to facilitate easy adjustment of the cambelt tension withing needing to drain the radiator, remove the crank pully and all the other list of stuff.

* After numerous discussions with Datsunboy i have figured out why my Z runs terrible on deceleration - turns out my igniton timing was set to 5 deg during decel instead of 20-30 deg.

Im hoping with the cambelt on, i can go for a boost down the road - go for wheel alignment

then book CERT