mudnut's 'Old Trol' build thread.

[mudnut]

The passenger side suspension noise when braking and turning that was diagnosed by a mechanic as the radius arm bushes is still there, after I changed them out. I think it is the body mounts as I was able to move the front one quite easily with a piece of wood. I will try fitting a 'washer' made from a bit of old tyre under it tomorrow, and see if the noise stops.

[mudnut]

The head, inlet manifold and timing belt are back on. I got the head gasket set, head machined, exhaust manifold machined, radiator core repaired, new filler neck fitted for $416 all up. So that isn't too bad. The EGR pipe was found to have a split in it as well. Was talking to my mate about the gear box and transfer case I still have sitting in the shed. He said he will check them over if I split them open. Apparently, the timing was too advanced, which caused detonation as he said the exhaust manifold colour indicated it had ran very hot. I remember I had to back off the timing the motor was pinging a few weeks after I paid for the timing belt change out.

[mudnut]

The engine was running on four cylinders when I started it. Found the inlet manifold to be the culprit (sprayed a bit of "start ya bastard" to find the vacuum leak).The manifold must be a little warped and the new gasket wasn't thick enough to seal it. Long story short, new gasket with some copper silicon and Bob's your uncle. Set the spark plug gaps and adjusted the timing. The engine runs sweet as. Will take it to get dyno soon.

[mudnut]

The exhaust flange is also warped, so has spat the new gasket out. Have been quoted $140 for cut and fit new thicker flange and gasket. $595 supply and fit a set of Redback extractors. Is that a reasonable price, and are the Redback systems any good?

[mudnut]

This is a build going nowhere fast. I had to pull the water pump off as it was dribbling coolant from the bleed hole. It was the weakest link in the cooling system after the head gasket and radiator were done. GRRRRRRR. What ever happened to water Pumps that unbolted without having to take a timing belt off. On the plus side, I can now remove the radiator and strip the front of the engine down in under an hour now.

[mudnut]

OK, I am back to where I was a month or two ago. I had the engine dyno tuned today, (after the head gasket change out). The mighty RB30 has gained 3.5 KW more than when it was dynoed last year. Woo Hoo, I have a massive 73.5 kWs of raw power on tap :P I have ordered four chassis rubbers for the radius arms, and will endeavour to install them this week, (weather permitting).

[Bloodyaussie]

Thats not far off my figures for thr 4.2efi.

[threedogs]

down right weapon,Muddy. best you get your cooling system right this
time of year so its spot on when the hot weather arrives.
I take it you cleaned the radiator?

[mudnut]

Yeah, I had a mate do the radiator, when he machined the head. The temp sits on about 1/3 of the gauge and dropped slightly again, since the water pump was recoed, last week. This engine has so much potential to get some noteworthy figures with some mods, (EFI and Turbo) but finances won't permit it. Also, I like the simplicity of the set up. It's strange that Mr Nissan didn't even bother to put fuel injection on, as both dunny doors and skylines came out with it.

[mudnut]

I bought a 32mm impact socket, four 12mm nuts, and made a 'flange spanner' to split open the transfer case. The trick is to undo both flange nuts while the holding the rear output flange, because the front flange is smaller and uses a 30mm nut.

The spanner is made of 3mm plate, and is welded to a metre long piece of scrap pipe. I still struggled to loosen the nuts, even with another piece of pipe to extend the breaker bar, but the job is done. Now, I have to take the gearbox and case to get inspected.