altezzaclub

Oh, I forgot- If you just want to go faster, buy twin carbs or a Weber, a set of extractors and have a cam cut... Cut the springs and you're in business.. sort of!

Give it about 5years and if you stick with it you might manage it... You will have to know more than most mechanics who fix cars for a living, and I assume you're starting from a base of zero knowledge right now! How about you win a few gymkhanas first (my daughter came 3rd in her class in her first one today and would have come 5th overall if I hadn't got her lost in a couple of tests.. :) ) so youlearn to drift an almost stock car on gravel or wet tarmac. Then you can tackle a full suspension, brakes and steering change... not much of the car left now is there... take it out and win some khanacross, & a sprint or two. Then do a full engine conversion with a new gearbox, spend billions of dollars on getting a turbo to work and setting it up, and win a few hillclimbs... Then you throw away the welded diff and get a decent LSD! When you can do all that you will be able to drift.

So... they have photos of a bolt with turning shear marks where it was overtightened? If the shear marks are straight it could be fatigue, not overtightening. ...or did they just toss it in the rubbish and tell the customer that? These days I photograph everything and send them off to manufacturers or customers or whoever needs them, and I don't take anyone on their word any more.

Great, thanks team!

Felix he can't really have the pistons protruding as the head is flat, so he has only the compressed head gasket as clearance. It would be different if the piston was humped in the middle. The half a mm between the piston and head is pretty thin! Anastasios when you get the new gasket just make sure the pistons come up through it cleanly, then slap the head on and turn it over. If that's OK then fit the valve gear and try it. If it works with no valve gear then the piston/head clearance is there, no matter how small it is. If it doesn't then you have piston/gasket problems... probably solved by two head gaskets or a metal gasket spacer. If it turns with valve gear then it will run but be very careful changing cam timing. If it doesn't turn then your piston/head are OK but you have valve timing problems, which you might solve with an adjustable cam gear. Should be an interesting weekend!

I bought my Datsun 1600 stuff off Scotts. The first lot vanished in the mail and he sent a second lot w/o charging, except for the mailing, which I thought was very good. Its all on except the door rubbers. I've done one with a bit of superglue and just haven't got around to the rest. Must get it done and sold... it on the list!

Can someone grab their workshop manual and post up the stock KE55 figures please? Camber, castor & toe.... The KE70 is- Camber 0deg 39min to +1deg 39min Castor 1deg 20min to 2deg 20min Toe-in 0 to 2mm

Use kero or turps when measuring combustion chambers, they don't suffer from surface tension bubbles like water. You should be able to put the head on using four bolts and without a headgasket, assemble the rockers on one cylinder and turn the motor over with no trouble. If your pistons hit a valve without a gasket it means you have no safety factor for stretch/heat expansion/valve bounce and you will bend valves sooner or later anyway. If you can turn it without a gasket then all your problems must be in that gasket size and will hopefully be solved over the weekend!

Love it!! Its got my Stratos in!! They couldn't give away the road-going version when they had to make 500 to homologate them! The Bogans across the corner here have the house up for sale & had to demolish the garages (no permits I assume) There is a Mk 1 Celica covered in junk sitting there, just like the one in the RAC, with "Sillicar Racing" on the side.

Cut the back two cylinders off and it should be fine. ...or leave them on if you want a boat anchor.

That won't work, if what you think is actually happening! The piston will mark the metal ring of the head gasket and that is the crucial part of it. It would burn through quite quickly. If you just placed the head gasket on the block the combustion ring should be not inside the bore at all. It can be around the very edge, or outside, but not a smaller diameter at all. I think try that first and decide what size head gasket you need. If that one does actually fit OK then we need to find out what is jamming at TDC.

...and now you know why mechanical superchargers have been used for nearly 100years! I took a rally-prepared supecharged Altezza on a longish trip across the North Island (Tauranga to Hamilton & back) and I'm absolutely sold on it! It only came on when you booted it hard, so most of the time you had no inkling that it was there. However when you went to overtake or went up a solid hill this banshee wail came from under the bonnet and all hell let loose! Go get one off an MR2 and bolt it on!

I wouldn't think that gasket separation is important seeing as the vital parts of the gasket have metal surrounds.. The oil gallery, the combustion chambers.. You could re-use it if the metal parts are OK. However with Nissans I always found the factory head gasket to be far better made than the Repco stuff. I haven't had to use a Toyota one yet. The big question is, did it turn over with the head on and the rocker gear removed?? That will divide the problem between cam and head gasket. ..and I don't know why the rocker bolts are chamfered, the oil to the rocker shaft goes up the special hole in number two tower. I suppose you figured that out.

Then it still should! Whatever you do don't force it! Will it turn backwards?? If so then a piston is hitting a valve as it comes forward. If it won't turn either way take off the rocker gear and try it. If it still doesn't turn then its head off to see why. At least with the rocker gear off you can lean on the spanner a bit and see it its just ring friction.

Tried the local libraries? They're usually online and may still have manuals as reference books. Copy the bits you need or steal it. :cool: Mine came from an Army Surplus shop in Kingaory in Qld.

You wll need a Solex manual or a webpage that talks about float level. For Webers you take the top off, invert it and meause from the "top" (now bottom) of the float to the lid. Whie its open you take out the float shaft and make sure there is no fine hair or fibre around the float valve or its seat.

There is an AE86 one up somewhere, a lot of the stuff is similar, but I've never seen a KE70 one online. I bought a Gregorys for $14 from a second-hand bookshop for the KE70. Not bad but not as good as I'd like it to be.

Rust is the first killer, then being thrashed by young guys! So you will have to look inland for an auto in overrated condition, & expect to pay about $2k. Buy an auto if you're going to do work on it, they never get thrashed! You could look around the old age homes in your area and leave notes on windscreens.. I've got a few cars that way. Ours was pretty straight, just little dings in the front guards from a narrow driveway I think, and had absolutely no rust holes or bog. It was just developing rust worms under the paint on one side, so after a strip & respray it should be good for thirty years. That was $1800 for 110,000km. There's an old couple own a overrated flat-front a block away here in Orange, but I haven't spoken to them about selling it.

So it should sound like this- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0orA-AaIiQY

I'm a Weber man myself, but I'm sure full side-draughts beat downdraughts at the top end every time. However, who knows when those carbs were last on a car, and what sort of condition they are in... It would be good if they were on a car as you bought them, or at least on a manifold with the linkages and had been running in the last month. Just bare carbs with a doubtful history are not worth much, so $250 would be fine. I recently sold my Datsun twin Webers, on a manifold with everything just as I rallied them, for $800.

cinky there are a few of us in Orange & Bathurst, & I know Rob is a ex-Dubbo boy. I haven't seen any plans for a cruise around here, although Kylie does any local motorsport over this way & I'm going to try to get to watch.

Felix, Datsun did the same- Early on from 1968 to early-70s they made small-ports on the Deluxe and big-ports on the SSS. Then they changed to the A87 medium-port for all. Naturally the small-ports were the most popular with people who modify cars as you could make your own shape & size. KE55 you can re-shape the back of the valve yourself if you're keen, or just polish them in a drill with wet n dry sandpaper and some kero or 556, but don't touch the seat itself. You can get a triple face ground onto it for a smoother curve. Felix will have a nice picture of a full-flow valve I'm sure! This sort of thing- http://books.google.com/books?id=283b4kk20...ape&f=false

Set the idle level with the music system running. Maybe your alty will run it, but the grunt to turn the alty means the motor needs a few more revs...

Float levels as they should be & no invisible bits of hair under the float seat?? I wondered if it overfills the float chamber, which is why it takes 10seconds before it speeds up, and that would also explain why the mixture screws do nothing.

Take the rocker cover off and watch the valves. You're right, the marks are completely unrelated and the TDC I marked with white Tippex. I've never worried about the other. The vac diaphram unit aims at the washer bottle on mine. Good luck!