The Project Pad

Ooh, I'd cut that off and go vband if you have the time

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Tim had suggested that too. I figured it wouldn't be hard to fix, and then keep it OEM ish still.

Screw oem go easy to work on

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mr_aj_johnson wrote:Screw oem go easy to work on

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With any luck, I won't be the one to have to pull it apart any time soon!

I dont know how many miles are on this engine, but the ring ridge is worse than my 350k+ mile MC1. The pic doesn't do it justice, but you can see the difference.


The bottom end that came with the car has almost no ring ridge, so l be putting the head onto that one. I have ordered a lower gasket kit, so now I will be replacing all the gaskets and seals on the engine.

Damn rock Auto! Now the belt is "out of stock" so I'll be receiving a refund...

So here is the belt on the original bottom end.


I believe that someone installed a new belt, and did it wrong. This is probably what happened to the head. I'll get it out, and check for damage. If nothing is found, I might just use this one.

Edit:
Was going to post a link to a legit Gates belt but see you've already posted in the recent thread on the 'geek.

Carry on

PRY4SNO wrote:Edit:
Was going to post a link to a legit Gates belt but see you've already posted in the recent thread on the 'geek.

Carry on

I haven't ordered another belt yet. I keep going back and forth about ordering one on eBay. You have no idea how old those belts might be.

So after ordering the gaskets I thought I was going to need, I was convinced I needed to pull the head. To get the head gasket, it was cheaper to buy the whole kit... I then decided I should probably replace the oil filter housing gasket and o-ring. To get the housing gasket, I had to order the bottom end kit! So. Ow I have many gaskets in pair, or hell 10's... Oh well, never hurts to have spares around!

So I did end up ordering a new timing belt. Contacted a local parts runner, and he was able to get one for me. Not sure what brand, but I sent him the same pic I posted here, so hopefully it will be a conti or gates.

DE80q wrote:So I did end up ordering a new timing belt. Contacted a local parts runner, and he was able to get one for me. Not sure what brand, but I sent him the same pic I posted here, so hopefully it will be a conti or gates.

I could help fund that stuff... If you're will to accept that offer buddy...

A little of a late update. I wanted to get the car titled in my name before the end of 2019. So because it was an out of state title, and I couldn't have the car present at time of transfer, I had to get an inspection mechanic friend of mine to fill out a VIN verification form. With that done, I went to my local tag joint and got it titled and tagged in my name on 12/29. All went smoothly, and I should have my title in had sometime this week.

With that said, I figured it was a good time to start working on it again. I pulled the inner metal timing covers from the engine I got from Tim, as the ones from the original engine were bent up a little. I'll get those cleaned up and install soon. Unfortunately, I haven't had much time to work on it with the holiday and the family. I'm hoping this coming weekend I'll be able to get the engine back together. Then I'll weld the trunk area so there is no longer any holes in it...

had very high ambitions for this weekend. Rust repair in the trunk, clean the sedan 01A, and put the 7A back together...

I went out to properly inspect the rust hole. Now it looks like this!


The spot welds on the right side are actually rusted out! The panel pushed down kind of easily. So now I have to cut out a much larger portion, and make a much larger repair panel. Luckily, I kept the fenders from the parts 80q, so one will be sacrificed to make the repair panel.

Wish me luck!

So this got way worse in a hurry!


The pic is from under the car on the PS trunk area where the little bucket thing goes. It's turning into Swiss cheese, and I'm beginning to think the rest of the car might be just as bad...

What would you guys do? I'm beginning to lean towards parting this thing out, but I really didn't want to.

That's quite the case of tin worm.

If you have the materials, I humbly submit that you should fix it. Project Binky was worse!

I have made the decision to keep moving forward with the car. I'm going to cut out the rotted area, and make up some patch panels to fit it from an old shelving unit I have. I'm going to try to keep it as close to the correct shape as I can, but with no real panel fitment experience, we will see what happens.

So last night, I took off work and made a trip to NJ. Was planning the trip for this morning, but with the weather we are expecting today, the decision was made.

In little egg harbor NJ, I picked up a front subframe, vac booster, muffler and a random 20v alt that I will have tested for a spare on my other car. Thanks Joel!

So this morning I unloaded the parts from the car before the snow started. Now I had a chance to inspect them fully. The front subframe is in good condition. It's far from perfect, but it's not falling apart like the one currently on the car. The booster assembly looks really good from above the master cylinder, under it is a different story. It's not bad, but the master obviously leaked at some point, and is now runsted below it. Nothing terrible, I'll clean it up, and hit it with some paint. The muffler is a walker unit, and is in surprisingly good shape. Crusty around the welds, but I'll clean them up and splash more paint on them. Unfortunately someone has cut off the flange and flair, and U clamped on a welded up pipe to it. I may just weld a V band on it back there.

That's enough for now, going out in a little when the garage warms up to start cutting out the nasty area in the trunk. Hopefully post pics later.

Well, here goes nothing! About an hour ago, I decided "It is time!". So I went out to the garage, cleaned up behind the coupe, and started.

First I hung a large piece of fire felt like a curtain to cover the gas tank, and keep everything else forward clean.


I then figured out where the rust had totally rotted the steel, and cut out a large area. I probably cut out more than needed, but that's ok. I'll fill it in with good, not rusty steel.


Now the wife wants to go out for lunch, we are kidless this weekend, so I have to get cleaned up. I'll start on the patch panel when I get back.

DE80q wrote:I dont know how many miles are on this engine, but the ring ridge is worse than my 350k+ mile MC1. The pic doesn't do it justice, but you can see the difference.


The bottom end that came with the car has almost no ring ridge, so l be putting the head onto that one. I have ordered a lower gasket kit, so now I will be replacing all the gaskets and seals on the engine.

My 400kmi JT had no ridge to speak of, even on cylinder 4 which lived about 50-60k dragging a dead cylinder because the fuel distributor was all fuced up.

DE80q wrote:So this got way worse in a hurry!

What would you guys do? I'm beginning to lean towards parting this thing out, but I really didn't want to.

That's like what a 4 year old Nissan looks like around here.
Zip-screw some sheetmetal over the hole, hide it with spray undercoating, drive it.

My 300k+ mile 20vt had very lite ring ridge. This engine must have had a hard life.

As for just cover it up and go, I can't. If I do decide to pass this one along, I don't want to have that in the back of my mind...

I *almost* feel bad for buying those minty subframes from your 80

Looking good all around!

vt10vt wrote:I *almost* feel bad for buying those minty subframes from your 80

Looking good all around!

No worries, I got a nice rear and a descent front in waiting for it now. You will have to let me know next time your down this way.