Leaderboard

1/2" thick steel plate drilled and tapped to hold the oil pan flat while cutting and welding, hopefully the sealing flange will still be flat when I take the pan off.

With the wedge drama over everything else went back together at a good pace. I did an initial valve adjustment, .008 on the intake and .010 on the exhaust, got the valve cover back on, and proceeded to turn the key. The car started with almost no hesitation but I quickly noticed a problem, more like heard a problem. The valve train was tapping rather loud with no sign of going away. Doing a quick check to ensure nothing was leaking out I turned it off and called it a day. At this point I had about 6 hours in the garage, the humidity was at 95%, and I was done. I figured I either missed a valve or didn’t do something right from being fatigued. Fast forward to this morning and with a slightly lower temp and humidity from last weekend I planned to perform a more thorough valve adjustment. Before I got started I took 10 minutes to make some handles for my feeler gauges. I got tired of just using the gauges by themselves as I never fail to drop one during a valve adjustment or once they have some oil on them they stick to my fender mat. You can buy nicer handles for $10 - $20 online but using some scrap wood trim and hardware from my on hand inventory I might have $1 in both of these. They quickly proved to be TOTALLY WORTH IT and I high recommend everyone make themselves a pair. As I went through the valve adjustment sure enough, I missed one of the exhaust valves, it had no clearance at all. I easily got it in to spec and double checked all the others. With the valve cover back on everything buttoned up I turned the key. Just like last time it started with no hesitation but unfortunately the tapping persists. I started a separate thread below over in the Engine section and posted some videos. For now I am going to see what other owners say and will call my machinist on Monday to get his thoughts on it. http://www.classiczcars.com/topic/51743-240z-valve-train-tapping-after-head-work-videos-inside/

That gasket kit did fix the problem and it was dirt cheap, only $7.30 each at Courtesy Nissan. At the same time i fixed my backfiring issue so the motor runs pretty good and fuel doesn't squirt everywhere

I love my automatic in heavy stop n go traffic. The jatco trans is very reliable. I've had one in mine since i bought the car in 98. However there is a weak area and thats the clutches for 2nd gear. You can test it by going about 30 mph and giving it enough gas to downshift. If you hear the engine revs go higher and then you feel a lag, its the 2nd gear clutches slipping. If its good you should feel an immediate seat of the pants snap when it downshifts. Another area is reverse. Put it into reverse and hit the gas with a small blip. If you hear or feel anything strange like a popping noise there could be problems with reverse. If you're concerned about it, pick up a good used zx turbo automatic with the lock up torque converter. It has a stouter clutch setup and a little bit lower rpm cruising on the freeway with the lockup.

I like chrome. I just got my back bumper on. It has been about 4 years since I took this 78 apart. Can anybody say what year this bumper is.