gamellott

Ok, lots more progress, it's running, the exhaust is leaking, and the timing is WAY OFF. I believe that I clocked the pulley on the Harmonic balancer incorrectly. With the timing light, it's indicating about 120 degrees out. Does anyone have an illustration of where the pulley should be clocked on the balancer? Edit... Turns out I had an idiot moment. I was setting the timing on cylinder No.3. Timing set, runs good. Gonna do another oil change again since there's likely lots of water contamination in the sump. The alternator does not appear to be charging now; will be looking into that later... Oh, and... my heater now works!!! Well, We'll see if the heat keeps pumping out. That has been an intermittent issue that may have been a symptom of the bad head gasket... At least, that's the theory ??

I doubt that they make this. There is the whole "lubrication" issue that you would have on a chain vs belt. The cover is not even designed to hold fluids.

If you're going to pull the motor to do this, You might want to consider swapping over to a VG33. There are threads on this. I literally just went through the heads on my VG30, new head gaskets, intake, valve lapping. Blah Blah blah... I have a few lessons learned....

Making lots of progress. The small water hoses on the back of the intake manifold are proving to be a bit of an issue. Does anyone have any suggestions on how to get a good handle on them in order to get them on with the manifold on?? A dab of grease, I suppose.... They're kinda on/installed, but not as secure as I would like. Bolt extractor worked for the cam bolt like a champ. Thanks for all of the suggestions. I wouldn't have thought an extractor would work considering the bolt head got destroyed with an impact, but it did. New cam bolts torqued properly, not with an impact this time ? Hopefully, this will be the last time I ever have to do all of this with this engine. Almost everything on the engine is assembled. All that is left is the nuts on the LH exhaust manifold to pipe, belts, hoses, radiator, fan, oil and coolant. Should be firing it up and setting the timing tomorrow. Just in time for it to snow next weekend ?

@Slartibartfast, Ya, I don't do much assembly with the impact except when I don't believe I'll be able to get enough torque on it (as it was in this case) when I was trying to put on the rear bolt, which has a significantly higher torque spec. This, if nothing else, has been a long learning event. As stated before, this is the first time digging this deep into this engine. Or any other OHC car/truck engine for that matter. I have worked on OHC motorcycles, but this is clearly not the same critter. Same Concept maybe... Provided I resurrect the engine, One good thing out of this is that I should be eliminating all of the exhaust leaks now that I will have all broken studs replaced. No, I didn't upgrade to the 10mm studs. Give me a couple of years, and I'll have the VG33 upgrade... maybe When I discovered the broken studs, I only replaced the passenger's side gasket. I couldn't seem to get anything on the nuts on the driver's side and that became apparent why when I took off the heads... 3 studs had backed out somehow, 1 was broken and the manifold was only being held to the head by 2 studs.... Which is apparently why I couldn't find any of them by feelsies 5 years ago.... With the upper intake off, I believe I should be able to get a better angle of attack on those nuts to tighten them down properly. Speaking of exhaust manifolds.... What's everyone's take on those oversized washers under the manifold stud nuts? I was planning on re-using the ones I have, should I get more for the ones that were missing? Or does it even matter? I think it wouldn't hurt.

So, In the event that I damage the sprocket getting it off, it appears as though I will be heading to a Junkyard in order to find them.... I keep seeing a common theme here with a 28yo truck.... The upgrade to the VG33 engine may be coming sooner than later with these options available... although I see the same options with the VG33 ??

@Rockclymr, I think I have a way forward on getting a replacement. First big task is to get it off. We have a Tacoma Screw local here where I can likely get a suitable replacement. @Slartibartfast, I used my impact in order to get it on. It was cold when I did it, and maybe simple thermal expansion made it even tighter when it warmed up a little bit. I doubt that I could have stretched that bolt like I did the head bolts. I started out with a lightly used 6 point socket. By the time the bolt head failed (probably something like 10 minutes of off and on wrenching, I probably slipped off a little) and it rounded the corners of the bolt and the socket is now a wobbly 6 points ? . Sounds like good advice for keeping the camshaft safe from heat. I'll have to take my time and keep everything covered for sure. I'm pretty confident once I get the head removed, the bolt should simply back out. Everything was clean, dry and there was no sign of corrosion.

@TheGhost With a cursory visual inspection, you can easily determine if you have bad bushings. I would have a look at everything though, not just your rear end. At one point, I had, what turned out to be, a complete idiot do a front end alignment on my pathy. One of the upper control arm bolts was cross threaded and not tight against the frame. What happened later, because it wasn't tight against the frame, the shims fell out and I had an upper control arm that was flopping around causing all kinds of mayhem while driving. I recommend a good look over everything!!

Unfortunately, I do not have a welder. Good idea though. I don't believe I would get anywhere with a bolt extractor. If I couldn't get it off with a good 6 point 14mm socket and an impact, I don't think a bolt extractor would work either. I have some of those available, so I'll give it a try anyway ? I did, briefly, try to use a map torch to heat it up to try to get it free. I believe I may have annealed the bolt which probably facilitated the destruction....

Do you already have the turn signals? I would be looking at that before the fog lamps. Although cool looking when they're all installed, there has to be some kind of mounting for the light in order to properly install it. Someone around here should know ?

Latest and greatest... The heads are back on. I torqued the sprockets down while the heads were still off. Little did I realize, then, that I had to install the belt cover/housing behind them. I got the RH sprocket off no problem. I was attempting to take off the LH sprocket and I could not get the bolt to budge. Cranked up the air pressure to 140 PSI and destroyed my socket and goobered up the bolt head in my efforts. Now... I need to figure out how I'm going to get it out without removing the head again. I have an angle grinder and could grind it off, or I can try to take the cam out by removing the bolt on the back of the head... Suggestions/Recommendations?? And... I need to find a replacement bolt too... ? Maybe I should quit while I'm ahead ?

I don't think/know that those fog lamps will work in that model year. I have a 92' and have the factory/dealer installed fog lamps that mount under the bumper. I have yet to see how they mount in the bumper without modifying the plastic insert. All of them that I have seen, while it appears to be a fairly clean installation, have cut the plastic insert. I have been wrong before.

It took me a while to figure out that my speedo is off and low by about 10%. I have learned to compensate for that. But no, I generally don't get passed that much anyway. If I do, it's because some asshat is late to werk and in a bigger hurry than I am ?

Based on your experience, what others have told me, and what I have read, I get the impression that the oil with zinc (at least during the break in period) is for the traditional pushrod engines.

New Update.... I got the heads all assembled and ready to install. I got the head bolts as recommended. They were shipped from Rock Auto. I was putting on the RH head and going through the torqueing sequence and I was putting down the final torque for the one head, when SNAP!!! The head bolt sheared off in the block. So I guess the head bolts are fragile compared to what they could be.... Rock Auto is sending me a new head gasket and I will be sending back the bolts in exchange for new ones... Yay me... a bit of a delay in a driveway in the PNW.... I have a sneaky suspicion that I won't have this all together before it starts snowing here....

Was that before or after the oil manufacturers removed the zinc in the oil? Flat OHV Lifter rebuilders warn of this problem without zinc in the oil. I really don't want to flatten a camshaft in my, first ever, OHC rebuild. Again, I'm not 100% confident that I put the lifters in the same place.... Close, but not positive. Round @!*% rolls ? I really do appreciate your experience and insight. Don't give it up!!

Ok, a some progress since I last posted anything. The heads came back from the machinist and they were good. They milled .006 off of them. I don't expect that I will have any issues with that little amount being taken out upon reassembly. Right head reassembled.... mostly. I haven't applied full torque to the rocker arm shafts and I notice that the valves don't close all of the way. This is the first time I have overhauled an overhead cam engine. Is this Normal? I'm assuming that the lifters will eventually come to rest at a shut position. I have made several rotations on the camshaft and there is little change to the amount of valve remains open. I have one new lifter being replaced because the face of it appeared as though it had cleaved off where it contacts the rocker arm. I purchased one of those $20 sealed power lifters from Rock Auto. What's your take on the ones that are $1.50 each? The rocker arms and shafts appear to have normal wear for the age and mileage. Nothing screams "I'm Fooked" aside from the one lifter. Seems to be a likely candidate why there was occasional valve clatter on startup. All of the rocker arms appear fine. Since I will be putting in one new lifter on an old camshaft, and I'm not 100% confident that I kept proper track of all of the lifters; is there any suggestions to breaking it in. I have found the procedure in the SBC world, but these are not the same, and I don't want to ruin my efforts.

@Rockclymr My experience with Junkyards in western WA appears to be similar. This week I did a search of what's for sale (vehicle Wise) so I could strip it myself. I found an older Xterra with a blown rear end for sale just a few miles down the road... That being said, I did some soul searching and where this might be somewhat ideal, I don't exactly have the space to accommodate this sort of undertaking... Yet... Yet... There is a workshop in our future, it's just not built yet. Thank you Rona.... Sooo...I pulled the trigger and ordered all of the parts I needed to rebuild the VG30. Once I have the space, I will be looking for a viable VG33 to swap out. The VG30 does struggle a bit in the hills which is why I would like the bigger engine. Maybe with the lumpier cams of the VG30, it'll be even stronger????

@Rockclymr I'm going to have to start calling around and making trips. Sadly, there aren't many in the region I live in at all. Oh and the couple of places I have called, seem to be awfully proud of their stuff ? I'm just starting, but I'm almost under the impression that I might be better off finding a complete vehicle and then junking it ? We shall see....

@Rockclymr, @Slartibartfast, Thank You very much for your insight. Now I know what I need to look for. I'll keep y'all posted if I manage to get a donor motor. Sounds like my best option is to find an Xterra or Frontier for a donor and I'll likely get rid of my A/C for the time being since it's an R-12 system. Maybe I can have someone drain and recycle it for a MINT!! These prospective donors are getting kinda old nowadays, so I can probably find one beaten to death, relitively cheap.

What modification did you need to do to your Harmonic balancer/crank pulleys? I think I can work with modifying the rest of the mounts... maybe.... I'd have to see/figure out what has to be done to them. Based on more recent reading, it appears as though the VG30 heads will bolt up. I have read a little bit about your differences on the camshafts. I'm assuming the clocking of the cams are the same? I'm really exploring my options. I called a couple of wrecking yards. One has one with a blown head gasket and I wouldn't have any idea on the condition of the block. Worth looking at as a donor though. The other one, they just got in and they haven't checked it out yet to see if it's viable. Either way, I'd consider getting the short block and work with it. Baby steps.... Do you happen to know if valves are any different between the two? If the 33's valves are bigger, that might be a reason to switch.

BLUF, If I were to get a VG33 short block (Block, Crank, rods and Pistons) , can I take everything off of my VG30 in my 92' Pathfinder and still work on the VG33 block? I have read some instances where this is true, but I have seen conflicting information on interchangeability.

Thanks Again, You are a great wealth of information. If I had the means, I would be swapping the engine, but I don't. Right now, I'm looking at roughly $300 in parts for starters of what I KNOW I need. Then there is the milling that is recommended which is around $100 from what I am told... Sooo... $400 is what I'm looking at so far... None, of which, has been actually ordered or done yet... I'm going to have to look into what has to be done in order to get that 3.3L and how much more Hp it has vs the 3.0.... Future project ?

Taking off the air plenum, for me, was a challenge. If you've never done it before, just take a day to do it. It's not as easy as it looks. The coolant lines are an absolute PITA!!

Another observation/question while I'm thinking of it.... When I took the top end apart, I noticed that there was a good buildup of sludge everywhere in the engine. The oil galleys that go up to the heads are pretty small and it has me wondering if I should find a way to blow that out. Does anyone have any advice on how to accomplish this without pulling the block or dropping the oil pan? I didn't notice any indications of oil starvation on the valve train. Should I even bother??