Cylinder head needed

#16

Well back on Sunday my dad and I were trying to pry over the tensioner with a long screwdriver to hopefully gain slack in the chain. There were a few times when we thought the tensioner was pushed over a little bit more towards the passenger fender. Then, eventually he messed with it so much that we think the physical tensioner has come out of its mounting location. Is that even possible?? It just seems we are headed in the sorry direction of taking the whole front cover off to get to this tensioner. The job hasn't been easy since we first tried to install the sprocket with chain attached onto the camshaft. The other unfortunate thing is the 1981 diesel FSM barely gives you enough explaining of the tensioner itself. My dad has wished we had a way better workshop manual in the process of this job. Obviously, the workshop manual tells you to wedge a block of wood to keep the chain from falling down into the front cover. The reason they tell you that is for the simple fact that the factory Nissan mechanics weren't obligated to take the whole front cover off just to change a cylinder head, camshaft, or camshaft sprocket. You obviously want to go about doing those jobs without adding the extra work. That's just what my dad and I are trying to do. Any more thoughts or experiences?

#17

I know that the L24e tensioner has an exploded view of three parts: housing, spring, plunger. The LD28 tensioner does not have an exploded view, though it looks very similar. I do not know if the tensioner can come apart as long as the chain is still there and in the way, though of course I have not had one apart. At this point, I think you are the pioneer (with the arrows sticking out of your back). Removing the timing cover/water pump/IP is going to be a LOT of work. Be certain that you scribe a line between the IP and its mounting so you can put it back in the same place! I really hope that you don't have to do that.

#18

Al, I do agree that the L24e tensioner is very similar, if not the same as the LD28. The timing chain is in there and in the way still, I can give you that much info. My question at this point is, for anyone to answer if they know, is it possible for the LD28 tensioner to fall out or come out of its factory mounting location? Yea, I guess I will be the pioneer in this case if we do have to take off the whole front cover, water pump, etc. Believe me I really hope we don't have to do it either.

#19

It's disturbing the IP that makes it no fun. On a gasser, it's no fun but you can do it in a couple of hours. I don't think that's the case with the IP there.

#20

Good news to report everyone. Over the past few days my dad has been trying to determine the whereabouts of the timing chain tensioner that supposedly fell out on us when trying to install the sprocket/chain onto the camshaft. We went out and bought a useful magnet, a bend-a-light tool, and even a kitchen utensil at Wal-Mart to try to see if we could "operate on our patient" I guess you could say. After looking with the light down in there we did find that the physical tensioner did fall out of its mounting location. We removed the top mounting bolt for the black bracket on the left side of the chain and after removing that bolt it allows you to pivot the whole bracket to be able to gain a little more room and visibility to see that bugger. Well a few days ago my dad tryed to see if he could use the tools we bought to move around the tensioner to install back into the hole it mounts into. Sure enough after about an hour he was able to get it up into the hole with a long screwdriver, the kitchen untensil and of course the light to see. So after thinking we would have to dismantle the front cover to get somewhere with this job I'm glad to say that's no longer needed. Thank the lord there! Just about an hour ago we finished working on the car some more. We set the cylinder head on and went ahead to try to reinstall the sprocket/chain onto the camshaft. When we went ahead to do it the slack in the chain we needed was there and we installed it on the camshaft successfully! We installed the head bolts, torqued them to the right specifications, and adjusted the valves too. The next thing to do is install the fuel injectors and intake/exhaust manifold. We are stalled on the job for the reason I'd like to get my intake cleaned because of the grunge in there and I was debating on whether or not to get the fuel injectors rebuilt. I have to wait to install the manifolds and injectors for those reasons hence the job being stalled. Should I get the injectors rebuilt? Come this Monday I'm going to take them to the diesel specialist to have them tested to see if they're good or not (only cost $4 per injector to test) and take the intake manifold to a machine shop to hopefully have them clean it well to put back on the engine. It's been a hectic ordeal messing with the car for these past few months sitting in our garage, but now that the sprocket and chain are installed the job should fly now. I'll keep you all updated. Thanks.

#21

TheDieseliminator wrote:Should I get the injectors rebuilt? Come this Monday I'm going to take them to the diesel specialist to have them tested to see if they're good or not (only cost $4 per injector to test)

I suppose the test results will tell you if they need to be rebuilt. Looks like a great price for testing. What do they want to rebuild them? Have you sourced the copper washers?

#22

Like I said I'm going to take them tomorrow to have the specialist test them and it is a great price indeed. I didn't ask how much they charge to rebuild each injector because I want to get a sure answer on their condition first. Hopefully he doesn't charge more than $45 an injector because getting all 6 done adds up. I ordered the copper washers from my local Nissan dealer about 3-4 weeks ago. They had to order them from another dealer in Massachusetts, which I can believe. When I went to pick them up the original package was a light brown color, so you could tell the paper had gotten old over the years sitting in the warehouse. I will try to take a picture of this package as it's pretty cool to see vintage Datsun/Nissan and Japanese writing on it.

#23

I paid about $55 ea to have mine rebuilt two years ago, for the '82 Wagon. It doesn't run a bit different -- before & after -- I just wanted to have them done to establish a baseline. And there was the chance that it would run differently.

#24

I took my injectors to the local shop today and had them tested. Couldn't do it yesterday because my brother took our only transportation to work during the shop's business hours. I'm going to end up getting them all rebuilt because it's only acceptable and smart to do it for the fact I've installed another better condition cylinder head on. Plus don't want to blow a hole in any one piston either. His price is $35 an injector, so I'm not complaining there. Any chance I can see 2-3 mpg increase after I've installed them and run the car for the first few hundred miles. I also dropped off the two halves of the intake manifold to a local machine shop to have them clean the "grunge" out of both. I think after getting the manifold back I could actually expect a 2-3 mpg increase with the car considering I'll have much better air flow in addition to a "fine" spray of diesel fuel injected in the combustion process. The car's recent fuel mileage was about 27-28 mpg combined city/highway mileage. I love having a tripmeter in a vehicle because it allows me to test my fuel mileage any time I want to. I guess I'll do a test the first full tank of fuel I get in the car after it's put back together. Again I'll update you all as it goes along. Also, I'm trying to get a digital camera in the next few days to take pictures too.

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Cylinder head needed

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