NA Zed Engine Rebuild (3rd Time Lucky)

Discussion in 'Member's Garage' started by xavier, Feb 7, 2011.

  1. xavier

    xavier Member

    Engine as it was when I bought it in 2007, might look stock as a rock but had majority of bolt-on engine mod?s for NA

    Engine
    -TTZ headers
    -X-Force High Flow Cat
    -X-Force titanium 2.5" Muffler (w optional silencer)
    -3A Racing Pod Filter
    -ECU chipped
    -Heavy Duty valve spring set
    -aftermarket camshafts
    -NGK Iridium spark plugs
    -Go Fast Bit crank pulley
    -UAS racing, lightweight flywheel



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    It remained like this as I was complete Noob when I first bought it, and probably couldn?t tell what most things in the engine bay were until about mid 08 a guy on the forum who lived nearby and just wanted to meet up and have a chat and turns out he knew A LOT which was perfect for me. Turns out he ran a TV repair business but was happy for me to come in and use his shed to do mechanics on the Zed, instead of charging me for his time or labor he just showed me what to do and I?d figure it out eventually or be asking him ?what do I do here?? and now I can name pretty much everything in the engine bay. And have rebuilt my entire engine, not bad for a noob :)

    Towards the end of 08 we decided I should do the famous plenum pull aswell as make the engine bay look a bit more modern by the magic of engine enamel.



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    Then on 24th of May 2010 (after an originally suspected lifter tick which was later found out to be my main bearings were stuffed) my engine killed a piston ring and therefore was dead. So 1 tow truck trip later the zed was at Brytech ?Zed Shed? workshop and as you could imagine all I was worried about is how much $$$$ this will cost? But to my relief we had a look at it and figured it was only gonna be relatively cheap and easy to do about a week or two and the zed be all running again so I was happy and I also got my 200,000k service done as it was around 200k mark anyway.

    200,000km service + fix ticking and crunching of the ring 24th may - 1st rebuild
    - New ?Ryco? Oil filter
    - ?Nulon? oil
    - Coolant system emptied -filled
    - ?Gates? timing Belt
    - New Timing Belt Tensioner
    - Rebuilt fan clutch (Rebuilt by Dave, Twin Terror)
    - Water pump inspected and cleaned
    - block inspected and sanded with 2000G sand paper
    - new piston Rings for cylinder 1
    - New cleaned pulley
    - tightened alternator belt
    - new sump gasket
    - new plenum Gasket
    - New rocker cover gaskets
    - Swapped dual intake back to single (to stop shitty neutral area when cruising)
    - remapped ECU to suit
    - Labour costs



    BUT once we had completed all this (keeping in mind at this point we weren?t sure if the main bearing had gone or if it was just a lifter noise as originally my description of the noise to Bryan had him convinced it was just a lifter noise) but we started her up with the new piston ring in and all the other new bits and the exact same noise was there and straight away Bryan knew that was a main bearing knock not a lifter tick like I had thought!!


    SO this meant engine out and entire bottom end out!! But I had already spent what little money I did have!! And I was at the time only working 1 shift a week at my part time job. So I figured would be helping with most of it and doing any extra work to pay for the parts. So as I saved we did what we could labour wise and over a period of about 2-3 months I helped out doing whatever I could do get my zed back on the road. Finally by mid august I had it all back together and running smooth as  got all the parts back from engine rebuilders and fitted them while trying to not be cheap with any vital components and even non vital components I was not going to let this engine die again this was the total list of parts replaced.


    2nd rebuild as broken piston ring wasn?t cause of crunching - 10th May
    - New OEM oil pump + gaskets
    - New GATES timing belt crank pulley
    - New OEM crank pulley spacer
    - Crankshaft shaved , rebalanced, new ?KING? race main bearings, and rod bearings
    - Install new/used air-con compressor
    - AIV system deleted
    - PVCR system deleted
    - Belt covers removed (better air flow)
    - Exhaust refitted with flanges
    - Braided fuel line
    - Engine stand
    - Nulon Oil for run in
    - Engine enamel (make engine actually look rebuilt :))
    - Labour costs



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    So FINALLY IT WAS DONE. had a few minor oil leaks which we figured out were from the paint on the cam gear seals and so after 2 weeks of running perfectly and driving like a granny to break in the engine I figure it was time to go on a cruise I figured I may give it a bit on the cruise so I?d just check the engine could take a bit of higher RPM so on the way to the meeting point for the cruise I decided to go to around 4-5k figuring if it could get to max 3k the last few days, then 4-5k wouldn?t do any harm and it would prove to me it is safe to take on a cruise, not that I even planned to drive her hard only 1500km after rebuild. So came around the corner 1 minute away from the meeting point for the cruise, and then at 5K?.. CRUNCH! CHRUNCH! CHRUCH! In a blinded rage I immediately turned off the engine and pulled and then proceeded to kick the shit out of my door?.after a few minutes I managed to contain myself and called Bryan who was meeting me at Brytech ?Zed shed? literally 500m down the road, luckily we had a mates pajero and used it to tow it there. Got back and instantly saw the problem the timing belt had fallen off and obviously killed the heads :( but why did the timing belt fall off? We had a closer look to discover one of the idler pulleys had sheared off at the stud!!...like it was completely gone


    After all that I wasn?t going to miss out on the cruise so I figured the only thing that might cheer me up was to riding passenger in a few guys TT?s over the day, but little did I know going on the cruise would top my day with an even worse event than killing your rebuilt engine. It just so happened throughout the day of riding passenger in about 3 TT zeds over the first half of the day I then proceeded to jump in martins (Martini?s) car to go through the Black spur? this may ring a few bells to some people if you remember back in August 2010 there was a cruise in VIC where martin (Martini) rolled his TT zed and I just happened to be passenger at the time. So that was pretty much the worst day of my life ?event?s wise? but I was still fine no injuries at all apart from a tiny scratch on my hand from the glass and shaken up.
    The parents were not in any way happy when I rocked up home without my zed and had to explain why my car wasn?t there. I really shouldn?t have opened with the line? ?Well firstly don?t get angry but I was in a car crash? as that was the only thing on my mind at the time.



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    SO now we were up to the last part on the engine literally everything else had been replaced or at least checked. Instead of trying to fix the current heads we decided to buy another set and recondition them was easily cheaper. So within a week Bryan found a cheap set of heads for me and they we sent off to the rebuilders that did the crank to be resurfaced as well as shaved 40 thou, mildly ported all valves reseated with new valve stem seals and we rebuilt all the lifters at Brytech while all that was happening I got all the essentials from coz Full NA gasket kit, OEM head bolts, New Ramey Z high tensile pulley studs (OF COARSE), New GMB idler pulleys and a new 56mm radiator to protect my now pricey engine.


    3rd Rebuild idler Pulley Snapped and crunched all valves - August 30th
    - Aftermarket 52mm Radiator $240
    - New Full OEM engine Gasket kit $300
    - New OEM Head bolts $125
    - New GMB Pulleys $125
    - New Ramey Z High tensile Idler pulley Studs $50
    - OEM Heads $170
    - Head work ? Shaved + resurfaced, Ported, all valves re-seated with brand new valve stem seals $450
    - Extra stuff - $150
    - Re-gas Air Conditioning
    - Make custom radiator brackets




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    SO FINALLY FOR THE 3RD TIME IT WAS DONE... 3RD TIME LUCKY. So after a total of 6 months and all of the little money I had in that time, it was done and NO it did NOT break again and it has proven to be a strong and very reliable engine so far, it has been daily driven since mid November 2010 as well as just recently racing at the drags for an entire day at Heathcote on a 40 degree day and no problems with the engine at all, even with red-lining burnouts and gear pulls to at close to 8k for each run. So Gigantic thanks again Bryan (Brytech) without you and your business I would?ve most likely just parted out the Zed and be rolling in some shit box laser til I could afford something else.


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    A few Other pics taken throughout the process


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    NEXT THING So now that the engine is done I have also been working on my interior. it is about a week away from completion and I will post some Pics of it's progress over the time when i Get my re-trimmed seats back from the upholsterer.
     
  2. rollin

    rollin First 9

    great that you got it going right at the end, but the 2nd "rebuild" sounds like really bad practice. replaced one ring? didnt hone the block? no new head bolts?

    these cars really dont forgive that stuff, also, you had teh sump off but didnt check the main bearings.

    Hope you dont think im coming down hard on you but this is a perfect example of do it once and do it right
     
  3. WazTTed

    WazTTed Grease Monkey

    - ?Gates? timing Belt
    - New Timing Belt Tensioner
    - Water pump inspected and cleaned

    sounds like you took the cheap nasty way out buying the belt and tensioner. not the nissan kit that includes all the idler studs that would have saved your engine.. did you do the idler pulleys at all ?...

    why would you bother rebuilding a NA when you can even give them away (well at least over here in WA)..

    also why would u dissasemble the whole block and only replace 1 set piston rings not the other 5 aswell???
     
  4. xavier

    xavier Member

    Firstly I have seen proof that the "GATES" timing belt is easily better in quality if you actually look at a well used belt, Gates stands up much better than a lot other brands aswell as stock belts.. so I did that from What I had been shown...also keep in mind I was on about $150 a week at this time so Nissan everything from the Dealer wasn't really an option but i can see how it may be perseived as "cheap".
    we didn't replace the idler pulleys on the 2nd rebuild as we inspected them and were all in good working order and we had never heard of them failing like that... we still don't know why that Idler pulley sheared.

    I Originally rebuilt the NA as it WAS going to be a cheap fix and I couldn't really go A TT swap as I still had a whole year on my P's (not allowed TT)

    and with the piston ring, we only swapped the 1 ring as a Full set was very pricey and it was originally meant to be a temporary fix til i could save up money for a Full set later but for the time being we just needed it back on the road as it was my Daily.

    Regards Xav

     
  5. rollin

    rollin First 9

    there is nothing wrong with the gates belt itself, just the "kit" lacks some worthwile components. the idler studs can shear if the tensioner has been badly positioned and is not able to operate properly in its small range of movement.
     
  6. xavier

    xavier Member

    Yeah I do see your point..and if i could do it again I would just wait a few more weeks and have got the money together for those few extra components. but at that time I really did just need my car back.

    This thread does clearly prove the point that if something goes wrong you should definately put in the time and especially the money to fix all possible causes. As it is worth it in the long run and will save any other bigger problems, like all that I have experienced...you live and learn.


     
  7. ZEDZY

    ZEDZY Active Member

    What times did you run?
     
  8. mholt

    mholt Member

    Yeah I was lucky I dropped the idler in a race at oran park but they stayed there the engine went to limp mode jumped a few teeth but no major damage. I would have replaced water pump at 150K. and that noise in the lifters can be fixed by running diesel oil not on turbo boost for a day and drain oil and put good synthetic back in . the diesel oil is high detergent releases all the crap goes out of engine with flush and oil filter change as good as gold, mechanic gave that advise
    matt
     
  9. xavier

    xavier Member

    15.14 was my best, started with 15.9 for the day and slowly over the day got my launch and reaction times better.. but it was like I said 40 degree's all day so not ther best conditions but still a good time for a NA Zed. I would like to see if it runs any better on a cooler day

    Link to best time run
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=neTw7Af1gkc

     
  10. xavier

    xavier Member

    Ahh ok, I haven't heard of that trick before, might have been a bit easier than completely rebuilding all 32 lifters. At least after rebuilding the lifters they are like new not a single lifter noise to date.

     
  11. ryzan

    ryzan Moderator Staff Member

    Just wondering after the rebuild what sort of power figures you're pushing?
     
  12. xavier

    xavier Member

    Haven't had it dynoed yet but I was HOPING it will be around the 140+rwkw mark, but as we all know different dyno's give different results.
    my mate is getting a proper dyno machine soon and I will definately give it a run on that.. will post figures up as soon as I know :)

    Xav

     
  13. xavier

    xavier Member

    Seats

    With my seats I got the covers from ebay US and only paid $200aud posted on an auction held weekly by this ebay seller name: (leather-seats) if anyone is interested leather-seats http://stores.ebay.com/realleather1

    Also I might add they do smell and feel a lot like real leather so i am convinced they are leather..if anyone is concerned about if they're leatherette or real then I would assume you probably like everything perfect on your zed so i would go a proffessional and get them made up.... I really didn't mind, price was more the turning point 4 me

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    Anyways I decided to take the covers to the upholsterer to get them properly fitted rather than do a first attempt fitting myself. anyway he said he'd call me back once he's done, but after a week with only 1 seat to do and no call, I figured I should drop by and see what he was doing.

    Got there and he had only breifly attempted to put them on so I asked "what's the deal?" he replied "oh they don't fit the must be for another model"?? when they are clearly for a Z32 seat you can see they match just by looking at the covers and the seats... anyway he offered to "have a go even though they were for the wrong model"?? and he said if I wanted I could come in the next day and help him?? (so why am i paying you??) anyway I figured he obviously didn't have a clue what he was doing so I would help out as I figured i would get a bit of a discount anyway.

    Next day bring the 2nd seat (driver seat) in dismantled and tweed stripped off by myself the night before (as i did with the previous seat).
    As we're going through doing it, it was like he was just wanting my seats out of the shop, consistently trying to prove to me they don't fit and clearly from another model, after about 30min he had them on but not fitted properly or well in anyway (in my opinion) so I figured I would just redo them myself as there was no point getting this guy to do anything else and just said that will do i can do the rest myself :mad: and then he still wanted the full amount for "fitting" them :mad:

    This is how it looked after his attempt


    Not too bad from far, for a noob not a upholsterer who runs a business!!
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    loose as a goose
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    no effort at all!! didn't even try to pull this around??
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    Not pinned down??
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    is this gap normally there..don't think so!!
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    Again no effort...at all
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    The base wasn't too bad but then again you can't really screw it up that bad..(but the other side which i didn't get photos of didn't have the mid seam on the middle section pinned..so i guess you can screw it up??)

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    And keep in mind I still had to put the seats back together and fit ALL the accesories after he'd "finished"


    so dropped past Brytech 'Zed shed' to see what they thought and he had a look and reckon'd he could do a better job himself, which I agreed with, so I figured I was gonna have to redo them myself which i originally didn't want to do and why i was willing to pay someone else to do it but at least this way I wasn't spending anymore money.

    So after about 6 hours for each seat and 2 sliced fingers from the scalple and about 140 zip ties later they were fitted and a lot better fitted at that even by myself who has never done this before!!

    My attempt (first time.. Super n00b spec) not the best pic either will get some better ones up later

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    But overall I am pleased with my attempt and how "I" made them turnout considering my skills and experience, but i am more than open opinons :)

    Xav
     
  14. heavytrevy

    heavytrevy "Hammer time "

    looks like real cow to me, u did a nice job on them for a first timer.
    Hard on the fingers eh :p
     
  15. xavier

    xavier Member

    Cheers, yeah was on the first 2 times in a row aswell lol, but super glue fixes all :)

     
  16. SIM300

    SIM300 FAKE MODERAT0R

    Wow Xavier,
    Some seriously bad luck there. Enough to tip anyone over the edge. Glad to hear it's running and sorted now. How much did all the engine work end up costing you in the end?
     
  17. xavier

    xavier Member

    list goes like this
    "ALL" Parts listed previously including work done outside of shop like Crank balancing, head work etc $4,000
    Labour was almost completely taken out of the eqaution compared to normal costs as i did a lot of the work myself and really only paid for use of the shop so about another $1000ish for 6months in the shop and bryans help for certain parts

    so about 5k all up

     
  18. MIKEZX

    MIKEZX Recurring Member

    Hey Xavier, awesome efforts, your zed has come a long way since I first saw it way back in '08 on that mini GOR cruise.
     
  19. xavier

    xavier Member

    Cheers Mike,
    good to see you're getting back into the zeds again after that soarer which I actually really liked considering I don't really like them :zlove: have to catch up when you get your next zed though.

    currently been doing all the suspension for the last month-ish on it and just got upper control arms left to install to stop killing my front tyres along with a brake upgrade. then that should be pretty much it :p

     
  20. MIKEZX

    MIKEZX Recurring Member

    Yeah will definitely have to catch up in the next coming weeks once I have a zed again, if I can get the process all going within a month. :D And thanks dude the Soarer came along nicely with a few basic aesthetic/power mods.

    Look forward to seeing your zed & what it has upgraded to !

     

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