P90a head F54 block correct head gasket

[Dave WM]

2 hours ago, Captain Obvious said:

That's the same head gasket I went with as well (11044-P9600). I like the round holes for the head bolts better than the large oversize rectangular cut-outs of the previous version. My thinking is that I want as much meat as possible between the water jacket holes and anything else.

I got mine from Riley at Lynchburg. Out of curiosity, where did you find yours?

Parts for Nissans.com

says it was shipped today so standing by..

[Dave WM]

whew LOTS of cleaning today. removed the side core plugs (left the front and back, they look perfect and I dont think I gain a lot of cleaning action there). start wit digging my fingers into the ports and dragging out the mud. After that I used a bent up small dia tube and dig deeper digging. Once i got most of the big chunks out and the remaining stuff turned into a slurry, out comes the garden hose for more flushing. repeat the steps a few times until I must have gotten out 90% of the junk. I know that does not mean a lot since the total amount of the junk was unknown so perhap 10% is way too much, but its not. I would say it has a typical amount of residue that any engine would have now. I implore any owners of spare engines, go out and knock out the core plugs and do this as a minimum, let the dry out and spray in some oil or WD or what ever float your anti rust boat, then tuck them away until you are ready to use the engine. I think its reasonable to assume that just draining the block via the plug is not good enough for long term storage. 

So what's next...

well I am back to perhaps trying scraping the head and block and installing the fel pro for another try. I will save the good gasket for later. the cylinder walls look great, and the leak down test tells me the bottom end it fine. I keep vacillating on doing a complete tear down. I think to help make the decision I will remove the pan and pull at least on con rod and one main to inspect for wear. I guess I could check for end play in the crank as well. 

I guess the smart thing to do would be to let a shop do a magnaflux on the block since I had some exhaust gas leak into cooling passages issues based on the chem test.  For some reason I resist the idea of a shop getting its hands on my block, prob since I have NO experience with using a machine shop...

 

 

[Dave WM]

the super scraper is GREAT! as is the ARP cleaning tap. Its a joy to use good tools.

[Dave WM]

all cleaned up, had between .002 and .0025 gaps on the head and block, have to check the fsm but IIRC thats fine. 

Posting up a video now. 

Next up will be do I just bolt it all back together now and try it again, OR do more tear down. With the nice looking surfaces and how well it did on the original compression leak down test I am leaning toward the former. I could get it all back together in 1 day easy, and then swap back to the test stand in just a few hours. 

I will have to sleep on it.

[Patcon]

I think you try again before more teardown. Might be informative

[Dave WM]

2 hours ago, Patcon said:

I think you try again before more teardown. Might be informative

yes,  my line of reasoning is the only issue was it seemed to be running hot but with all the crud that figures, and the exhaust gas in the rad. I had no odd bottom end noises and oil pressure seemed fine,  so no real reason to tear down. One thing i was reading up on cleaning out the oil passages, the ones in the top of the block for the head have tiny holes (restrictor plugs) wonder how do you clean that? Not going to bother unless i do a full tear down. 1st thing is start the engine  on the test stand, its the one with the MN47 head, I want to do a test again on it with the chem test kit, to act as a control subject and make sure the chem test is working ok. 

[Patcon]

 on full teardown I would have the block boiledo On full teardown I would have the block boiled clean. That should take care of the internal passages. It would help too to remove the galley plugs for cleaning.  Either replace them or drill and tap like we did on Cody's L20b

[Dave WM]

huh core plugs are a bit of a problem, not sure but are the kits short the correct number of small plugs? I have 9 on the sides what i see are 7 in the kit. thought this would be a no brainer..

 

https://www.oreillyauto.com/detail/c/melling/hardware---fasteners/expansion-freeze-plug/expansion-freeze-plug-kit/f7a4da40e238/melling-expansion-plug-kit/mel0/mpe132r/v/a/6638/automotive-car-1979-nissan-280zx?q=expansion%2Ffreeze+plug%2Fkit&pos=8

Edited July 3, 2022 by Dave WM

[Dave WM]

normally I go oe, but for this looks like the local autozone has a dorman plug.

 

 

 

[Patcon]

My machine shop had problems sourcing freeze plugs when they did the L20b in December. So it wouldn't surprise me if there was still some scarcity.

[Captain Obvious]

Yeah, I don't know what the deal is, but the number and size of the core plugs is an issue. Seems like it would be simple, but it's not. Everyone seems to think that the same kit fits everything from 70 through 83, and that's just not the case.

Here are my (relatively disorganized) notes about freeze plugs:

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
On the F54 block, there is a total of eleven freeze plugs required. I had originally said there were ten, but I edited this post to show there are actually eleven.

Nine 35 mm
One 40 mm
One 50 mm

I bought (a quantity of two) Sealed Power part number 381-8027 sets off rockauto Jan 2020

Each set contains 1-50mm, 1-40mm & 7-35mm plugs. I had to buy two sets to get enough of the 35mm plugs.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

However, I just took a look and that Sealed Power number is no longer available on RA, and actually has a very low web presence anywhere. I still have the bag un-opened somewhere and I will snap a pic or two when I find it, but it could take a while.

It would probably just be easier (albiet more expensive) to buy more than one kit of the other more easily available kits. You'll have plugs left over from buying multiple kits, but at least you'll have plugs.

Edited July 16, 2022 by Captain Obvious
The F54 block takes NINE 35mm plugs, not eight.

[Dave WM]

I just popped for some dorman plugs from oreily's. Heck I almost think I could just open up the old ones a bit with a socket and reuse them... 

but I will stick with the China made dormans. I checked the OD and they are just a few thou larger, makes sense. Gonna leave the big on in back in place, it looks perfect. will check the fit of the one in front (got a dorman for that too) before I pull it, since pulling will def ruin it. I just get this feeling there is some hard to clean out junk behind it.