Took a drive up the engine reconditioners near my work today with my cast iron head in my hand. They gave it a quick sandblast and cleaned the valves.

As suspected the guy said this head hadn't been off the motor for about 20 years, no surprise considering the condition of the block.

You can see the crud build up around the valve guides even after a blast.




Also cleaned the valves up



Prognosis

1. Inlet valves are reasonable, guides for 1 & 4 are ok, 2 & 3 need attention (will get sleeved).
2. Exhaust guides have seen some action and they all have some play so will all probably get valve guide sleeves. The valves themselves have some pitting so a few will get replaced also.
3. Head needs decking

Will end up costing more than I wanted to spend, but considering the cost of the gasket kit and little bits, I'd rather not waste my time reassembling only to have a smokey engine when I could have spent a few hundred to avoid it.

While that is happening I'll try and get the block prepared. Anyone got any tips of cleaning pistons in an already assembled block?

Toooo Cooool, i was looking for one of these when i stumbled on and fell for the 2door 610.. if i had found one of these i wanted to resto to stock as my parents had a 411 goon from new and i wanted to build a time machine... you know just go back to the 60's gain! great platform to work with, best of luck i look forward to seeing it progress. IMHO i would continue to strip,clean and refresh the bottom end. nothing worse than doing the top end to find the bottom then suffer as you have upped the compression in the combustion chamber. only my point of view.... do as you think best.. cheers

My other Datsun is a 610 coupe with fj20et You can also be a cool kid by buying this nice 411 goon -> http://www.boostclassifieds.com.au/adve ... -Sale.html

With the bottom end, the engine guy said it's likely the bottom end would not need any attention as they are a pretty good workhorse. I'm going to do all investigation I can to see what the bores look like,but at this stage edging towards taking a chance on it.

Front seats in that blue wagon look pretty lux. They're out of another car I take it?

_________________
1973 H230 Wagon, 'ILL-260'
1975 911S Targa
1978 Torana Hatch
1999 GXE10

Could be factory retrimmed, not sure if the later model 411's all had front bench or not.

Got the head back, doesn't appear they replaced any of the valves just machined them. Pic below of the guy just chucking the valves, springs and collects back in.



Didn't expect the head back so quickly, so now I'll get busy & finish stripping what I can off the rest of the motor for plating, plus I'm going to get all the bolts and nuts done in the engine bay as well.

Got a bunch of parts like engine mounts and little bits I'll get my mate to sandblast and powdercoat to.

Hey mate nice work ! Ive just picked up a 520 two door wagon and will prob be rebuilding the j13 so will be watching this like a hawk. Do you know of any other 520 wagons getting around? Its the onlu one ive seen before. Cheers

None on the road in Australia that I know about, a member on here did mention knowing the whereabouts of a couple in WA, there are a few left in Japan though, I saved these pics from a Yahoo japan auction, the owner even posted a picture of himself which I found amusing

Dragging this thread back up. Now that I have sold my 610, my focus can now turn on this thing which has become the typical storage device that rolling shells do when they aren't actively worked on.

I been doing a very small amount of work on this thing on the side. Since the last post I have bought some hubcaps off yahoo japan which were advertised as 411 spec, not 100 percent sure but I like the look of them so will run them. Also found a nice gentleman who sold me some stock engine mounts, so will fit up the motor on them and modify if they aren't up to spec.

The head is on the motor and torqued down. Just needs sump put on, timing chain tensioner & cover put on, rocker cover on, water pump on, alternator reassembled, thermostat put in, fuel pump on, oil filter on, dizzy put in, carby and exhaust manifold on....

Got a key cut for the ignition so should be able to start the thing if that day ever comes to.

6-12 month update.

Moved house again :S This time into one I'll eventually own, awesome part with this move was, turns out my neighbour who lives opposite me is a Datsun Nut as well, he has a sr20det 1600 and is a mechanic = win!

Anyway, just had him over a few minutes ago helping out with the J15, starting to look more complete now, the list of things left to get this motor together are;

- Install Dizzy
- Adjust tappets
- Fit rocker cover
- Fit sump
- Fit Thermostat
- Fit water pump
- Fit carby & exhaust manifold
- Fix a few little water pipes that are stuffed.

From there it's onto brakes, these come with single cylinder 7/8ths brake master. I'm thinking I'll just convert it to twin cylinder for safety and because it will most likely be easier to find a new master cylinder (unless I choose to get the existing one rebuilt as I need to get all the drum brake gear done anyway).

See how we go, hopefully can get the motor done soon (said it before, but this time it seems more likely), if I can aim for Datsun Day this year I think that is achievable, but hopefully sooner than that!

Updates are useless without pictures, even if the pictures aren't exciting.





I will paint the crank pulley, but at this stage I am also willing to make compromises just to see this thing run!

If you dont already keep it away from dust while it sits, especially without the sump on.
These engines are one of my favorite from Datsun, they were one of the first improvements
over Austin based efforts in terms of reliability thanks to meticulous casting methods you
only find in Japan and few countries that instill discipline as part of their culture.

just quick wire brush that front pulley and spray it, dont be fooled by rust on cast iron
it doesnt affect it one bit unless its constantly exposed out in the open air and sun.

Wish there were more around of these wagons, they are my favorite shape cruiser.

Cheers mate, I only just pulled a plastic cover that was taped around it after a good air tool clean, will go down and chuck it back on now. With any luck the motor may be 95% together by the end of the weekend.

If this motor even runs remotely ok I'll be happy, see how we go

They are like an old jap clock, they are not fast but keep plugging along
I used to have one in an old 320 ute at our farm and would never die
even overheat it repeatedly with leaking radiator hoses but just kept going.

Small update.

After looking into the gearbox, I found that the main shaft on it was different to the J15 box. Also the clutch was different & the throwout bearing carrier looked like this;



On top of the that the clutch fork for the 3 speed hinged on a rubber bush that fell apart when I touched in. So without knowing the condition of the gearbox I decided the best course of action is to upgrade to the 4 speed column shift from the J15.

The actual column shift mechanism looks the same, so that stuff should hopefully transfer. The gearbox mount is slightly different so there will be some welding there, and the tailshaft coupling to the 3 speed is also a different pattern, so that will need modifying as well.

I have got myself a replacement throwout bearing for the J15 box, so hopefully I can get that changed over this weekend with a view to installing the motor and box this weekend.

Was first time I had looked under the car since getting it, and I'm confident the drivers side floor is being held together by the sound deadner