[hurddawg]

Here we go. I thought I would give back to site with a project thread on my progress.

Here's how it started...its long.
http://www.g20.net/forum/showthread.php?138057-My-old-G20-returns-back-to-me!-Long-post

Initially I plan to get the car back to a drivable state. This way I could Drive the car without embarrassment. Past week I've been picking parts from my stash of parts since I originally owned the vehicle and a '91 in a local wrecking yard which seemed to have been serviced by Nissan frequently (lots of new part labels). I also found a '02 G20 Sport 5-spd to pick from. I feel like a vulture :monkey:

Today I tackled the rear brakes & belts.

This is what I was working with....






Bad news bears:monster: In the last photo you'll notice that the rotor is about a 3rd of the thickness it should be. The pads were completely gone...so much for the brembo blanks I installed on here. I dont think I need a mic to say these are shot. The backings of the pads were all that was left on both sides, no wonder the e-brake didnt work...no more travel left. I originally had thought that the calipers had seized; but I do remember changing the calipers once before. So I am not surprised they were still in good shape. I think I may powder coat the calipers... to finish the brake work, I need to bleed the brakes, I'm a one man band this weekend, so this might happen later this week.

Usually I use all new parts that are consumables, particularly for brakes, however the 91 I pulled parts from had fairly fresh brakes and it was too cheap to resist. So I took the calipers, pads and discs as a set and swapped them on this car. In the future after the power upgrades, I thought I would upgrade the brakes as well so thats the other reason why I'm skimping out here.

Good News is the rear wheel bearings (which I changed in '09) are still in great shape! At least something positive!
I also reverted to stock with the belts. I originally had a G-Spec water pump pulley & crank pulley installed on this motor. After my years since building this motor, I've decided against underdriven crank pulleys. I'll probably try to sell the crank pulley here soon if its salvageable. I do not know what happened exactly, but the keyway is beat. I'll have a photo on Monday, I left it at work as I bead blasted it.

I mentioned in my book of a post, but I changed out the alternator anchor/pivot bolt. It's tab to hold in from spinning was broken so I wrestled with that. The harness that I will call the "charging" harness, was shot, it was super brittle and the alternator plug didnt snap in place anymore. The harness is something I pilfered from the 91, which surprising had a like new harness. The alternator is from a B15 and I also found out the earlier G20s apparently had smaller connectors for the positive post on the alternator as I had to drill it out a bit. I just need to tighten the belts tomorrow.

I went ahead and removed the hood insulator as it was oil soaked. I guess the story is that they left the oil cap off for a while and/or tremendous blow by....see how the color is different (heavier too). The dark one is the oil soaked one.


Again the replacement is from the '91. That car was in great shape, too bad it was smashed to all hell.

Anyway, tomorrow's intended plans (if I dont get lazy or decide to tackle something else)...

1) P11 cross member swap
2) Connect the B15 tranny neutral position, reverse switch to the harness (pilfered from the '02)
3) '99 Altima ABS Master Cylinder
4) Tighten the belts

 

[hurddawg]

Well, did not progress as much as I had hoped....

I went to remove the cross member and noticed the bolts holding it up were new and not OEM. I take them out to find that they are SAE course thread bolts and the bushings are missing...threads are toast...I rushed out to get to that '91 and I pulled its subframe. Took about 20mins with a electric impact! I thought I did pretty good and was happy with myself So I need to change the subframe now. A tap is coming and maybe I will be able to fix the threads in the core support, but I have little faith actually. I may have to be more creative. Seems like everything I pull apart there is some new problem awaiting. Another bit of news, they got rid of the Place Racing rear mount I had. Damnit, I wanted to resell that piece.

I didnt replace the subframe but I did tighten up the belts and fired the car up just for fun. A/C still worked, Alternator problem fixed, no overheating, fans worked. But it was stuck on continuous fast idle and it was leaking fuel from the fuel filter. At one point during the previous ownership, they changed out the Z32 filter I had and changed the clamp....and didnt tighten it down, and damaged the hose. That was an easy fix, but lucky the car didn't burn up. Fast idle wise, knowing what needed to be changed, I went to look under the intake manifold and found the connector was disconnected.....mystery. I spent some time demonkey-fying the harness on that side of the engine as it was twisted up. That took some time....its tight down there.

To help improve shifting, I decided to change to a P11 shift linkage and rear mount bracket. I hope that '02 is still available, I plan to get out there Tuesday if possible.

 

[itinifni]

That pic of you holding the chunk of rust brought back memories of my car, to me. Congrats on getting it back, and revamping it! I believe there might, just might... be some people in the PNW that have some knowledge of these Infinitis. I could be wrong, though.

 

[hurddawg]

That pic of you holding the chunk of rust brought back memories of my car, to me. Congrats on getting it back, and revamping it! I believe there might, just might... be some people in the PNW that have some knowledge of these Infinitis. I could be wrong, though.

Thanks!

PNW is certainly a hotspot for G20 innovation and ingenuity...no doubt there....! But I have only met Colin and that was years ago.

 

[hurddawg]

1/28/2014

Photos of the G-spec pulley. I bead blasted it to clean it up.

You can see the keyway area how its messed up.


Another view.


Photos of the P10 & P11 cross members next to each other.


Did not do anything to the car yesterday. However today left work early and pulled some parts. I went back to the '02 Sport and pulled the shift linkage, rear engine mount bracket and some miscellaneous brackets/hoses.

After that stop, I sped off to another yard more south than I usually venture and found a '94 G20t. I had done a touring interior conversion a few years ago, but the dude I bought the rear seats from did not include nor send the brackets for them. So it was a ghetto conversion as the rear seat back was still tan. Well, today, I finally got the brackets, hooks and interior panelling from that touring model and I also got the rear deck without the third brake light cut out. And some misc. plastics. I wanted to get one of the rear seat belts but the black interior had become a green fuzzy interior. What a waste...
FYI...I had jacked the rear seat brackets from the '02 Sport and they are very similar if not the same as the P10 brackets (surprise, surprise). I'll take a closer look at this at a later time.

Some goodies that arrived...SR20VE block with the hydro clutch conversion parts. Thanks Sealti96! Great pack job.



I bought a VE top end as well, but I guess it showed up after I left work. Will have pics tomorrow. If I'm not too tired, tomorrow I'll work on the car a bit.

 

[hurddawg]

VE Parts!

SR16VE valve cover, VE head and 20VE cams.


VVL solenoids with pigtails


Intake Manifold, Looks like all connectors are in good shape!



Thanks again, Sealti96!

 

[hurddawg]

All I need are the internals...

VET Pistons & Rings. They are oversized 0.20mm


This is the original lowport short block for this car. Yes, I actually kept it all these years. I've had this motor for 11 years....happy I did! They get to reunite with its original car


My intentions are to use the rods, crank, oil pans and girdle from the above short block on the SR20VE block I bought. The VE block I had bought is just a block (& caps) no crank, pistons, rods. I wanted the oil jets and I didnt want to deal with the external oil line and I got a heck of a deal on it when I bought the head set up.

I still need a VE pump & pick up and I also intend on installing a crank scraper. Gasket wise I am set to go, I ordered an oem gasket set for a VE.

Shopping list
1) 20v headgasket
2) VE pump & pick up
3) Crank Scraper
4) rod, main and thrust bearings
5) Water pump
6) Timing chain and tensioner

Machining
1) DE crank pulley
2) Short block (overbore and tapping)
3) Cylinder head

Cylinder head wise I thought about sending it to Portflow. I had my B-series head done there, but I also thought about keeping it local and trying Heads Up in Auburn. For the block I was thinking local and try Auburn Auto Machine. Anyone local have a deck plate??
The place I had my VQ done said they were too busy to take in more work. Time to try a new place....

 

[scortch99th]

cant wait to see this finished

 

[hurddawg]

cant wait to see this finished

You and me both

 

[hurddawg]

01/29/2014

Got some disassembly done.

Removed the shift linkage and subframe I was feeling lazy once I got home, but I drank a red bull and off I went

For those interested in removing the subframe, some tips....

1) Unbolt/loosen the steering rack before removing the subframe (4 x 17mm). Unbolt the rack from the steering column (1 x 12mm)
2) Remove the 10mm bolt holding up the P/S lines on the firewall.
3) Unclip the engine harness from the subframe (near where the steering rack bolts up on the Pass side)
4) Remove the secondaries from the exhaust manifold and cat.
5) Remove the sway bar (6-8 x 14mm)
6) You might need to remove the shift linkage (combination of 10mm, 12mm and 14mm)...both times I didnt have the linkage there.
7) Unbolt the control arms from the subframe. I found it easier to unbolt the rear first, then there are 3 bolts (22mm) for the front attachment, remove the center one last.
8) Remove the subframe (4 x 17mm)
9) You'll have to maneuver the rack around while pulling down the subframe.
10) Tada...! Youre done.

Done deal, subframe out and the dinky front sway bar


Below is a side by side shot of the P10 & P11 linkages. The P11 one is slightly longer and you'll notice that the selector is on the opposite side. This makes sense as the other rod is attached on the tranny directly on the other side of the selector. The P10 one is attached to the engine mount bracket. I also found out as far as I can tell, the rear engine mount bracket is completely the same. I am pretty sure it would be possible to use the bracket from the P11 in a P10 and vice versa. The P11 bracket even has the shift rod attachment for the cable tranny.



This is how the car sits. There are jack stands out of view BTW.


Anyway I have been debating, but I think I will get subframe bushing replacements since I have it out anyway.

 

[hurddawg]

1/31/14

Haven't done too much.

I have received the machined crank pulley however. One of my clients has a machine shop and said they would help out.
Here is the end product. This will be for the VE once its once back together.





I based the dimensions off Ben Fenner's thread.
http://www.sr20-forum.com/howto-s/24618-how-crank-pulley-oil-pump-spacer-all-common-combinations-explained.html

We'll see if it is a workable solution as suggested.

I swapped out the master cylinder last night.



The unit with the yellow cap is the Altima one. You can see how the barrel is slightly larger in this picture. My '94 master cylinder was a Nabco 15/16", marked BM-44. The Altima one is Tokico BM-50. The only real difference I found is that the Nabco has steel inserts for the lines (which I prefer)...The Tokico unit has an aluminum seat, but both were inverted flares. Bolt in ordeal. I changed the reservoir to the black G20 cap though.

Today I hope to remove the bushings in the subframe. I ordered the polyurethane bushings from LoCo and hopefully I'll have them here soon so I can start putting this back together. I am really anxious to get the car back to drive it and see how the shifting is with the P11 linkage.

Last night after work, I was working on the VC. I drilled out the baffling and to my horror it was a nasty mess. It was plugged up as well. I'm in the process of cleaning it, but I've already drilled and tapped it to accept machine screws to reaffix the baffles. Once all clean I plan on powder coating it. Maybe a wrinkle/textured finish. We'll see.

Although a ways off, I plan on rewiring/renewing the engine harness. I plan on switching over to OBD1. The current harness is in very poor condition (greasy, connector broken, insulation cracking). Part of this I attribute the origins of the car, which is from its initial life in Arizona and the other is the previous owner and "the left the oil cap off" incident. I had pulled the engine harness from '91 in the yard as it was in better shape and I have about 4 obd1 ecus so I'll use one of those. I wanted to get bulkhead connectors, but I may forgo that due to cost, if I do use bulkheads, I may use delphi weather packs. I hate how the harness is routed behind the P/S lines so removal is impossible without disconnecting the lines. So I will think about this a bit more.

We'll see what happens....

 

[hurddawg]

2/01/2014

Well, got the subframe bushings out and degreased the subframe. The pic is prior to bushing removal.



While working with that, I went ahead and powder coated the valve cover.

Drilling the pilot holes for tapping...



Tapping commences...



Here is a portion of the valve cover that was dirty. This is after I cleaned a lot of it out. It was full in this area.



Baffles....


The shiny areas is where I worked to clean up some damage that was in the VC. I cleaned up some of the casting flash on the front edge too.



Prepped for the bead blast...


After the blast, ready to do some masking with high temp plastic tape.




Baffles...the dark areas are where the galvanizing is gone.


Masked & plugged threads.




Coated & Cured...


Final touch...


Last thing I need to do is get some bolts/screws so I can reattach the baffles with sealant. I have philips heads in there but I'd prefer hex heads and lock washers. Plan to use some locktite too.

That concludes today's activities!

 

[j-tek]

I like where this is going... the valve cover job is top notch. can I have the blue vc

 

[p10der]

Wrinkle black?

 

[hurddawg]

I like where this is going... the valve cover job is top notch. can I have the blue vc

Thanks!
I might be up for giving up the 16ve VC.

 

[hurddawg]

Wrinkle black?

Nope. I decided to do a fine texture black.

 

[scortch99th]

damn thats alot of work to clean the v/c , awesome job . if your going to put that much time and dedication to the build its gonna be amazing .

 

[hurddawg]

2/6/2014

Not too much has progressed. The subframe bushings arrived on Monday. Thanks Loren!

No pictures in today's post, have some, but just a bit too lazy to upload them right now.

So I came home Monday and realized I forgot the bushings at work, along with the tap/chaser for the threads on the radiator support.

Tuesday, I got home and started cranking. I cleaned up the threads on the radiator support and the oem bolts work again, but I have reservations whether or not it will hold up under use. I'll have to see once I torque it down and see how it feels. Any case I intend on fixing the issue more solidly once I swap motors.

So I decide I will go ahead and install the subframe bushings. I went to go put them in and well, thought I should use some of the grease from Energy suspension (leftover sticky goo I had from a Master Kit I bought) to make sure they don't squeak later on and go in easiler. Well I didnt have it here. So I wait until Wednesday.

Wednesday...I get the bushings in. I didnt pay attention and initially installed them incorrectly and switched around the pins. So it took longer than it should. Then I went to go and install the subframe. It aint a one man job. It was even more difficult since I could not jack the car high enough to either get it on my chest or use a jack. I wrestle around for an hour and give up.

Tonight, a friend came over and gave me a hand to help align and put the nuts/washers on. We got it up there in a snap. Then I got the steering rack reattached to the universal on the steering column and got it bolted on the subframe again.

Tomorrow, I hope to get everything back together and torqued down.

 

[hurddawg]

Got a bit lazy. Not finished as I mentioned.

Got the control arms back in yesterday and changed the bushings in the P11 shift stabilizer (trans side) and replaced the rear shifter bushing and installed those in the car. All I can say is that if you put a B15/P11 tranny in a P10 you need to get the P11 shift linkage too. It shifts great. The shifter itself is centered again & the pattern isn't off to the left unlike the P10 linkages...in addition you do not have to worry a little bit about binding. P10 shift linkage will work in a pinch, but the P11 linkage is the proper solution.

 

[manjuice]

you have my attention