desertdatsuns.net

February 11, 2021
- Got my engine block back from the machine shop last week. Had it bored and honed for some 87 mm pistons. Will start assembling it as soon as a couple more partts come in.



February 25, 2021 Start the bottom end rebuild
- Finally got parts in. Been waiting for a piston cooling jet. One of the original ones had a stress crack and broke when I was getting ready to start on the bottom end. Parts came in yesterday, and I got the jets installed. Main bearings and crank next....




March 17, 2021 Bad news...
- Had a big surprise when I installed the crank in my engine. I was hoping for .0015 in. clearance, but when I plastigaged it, it was way off. I bought this crank from a drift shop, and they had a couple of them. One was stock and in very good condition, and one had been to the machine shaop and had been turned. I thought that I had decided at the time that I wanted to stay with the stock crank size....... So, I bought a set of standard main bearings for my rebuild kit.

Anyways after obviously wasting my money for the wrong size bearings I quit being lazy and mic'ed all the journals. The mains had been turned .010 in. (.25 mm) and rod journals had been turned .020 (.5 mm). I got some +.25mm bearings in for the mains today and they gaged out at .0015 in. after I torqued down the the cap bolts.

I would have noticed this had I unwrapped the crank before ordering bearings, but I didn't. lol

March 23, 2021
- Started gapping rings on Saturday, but got interested in fitting the intercooler/radiator so still have a couple sets of rings to finish.
The rings came as "file to fit" for the normally aspirated engine, so fitting them to the turbo engine takes quite a bit of grinding to get the gap correct. I just have one of those old school hand grinders, so it takes about 30 minutes per ring set. One of those jobs that you just need to take your time on though.



April 5, 2021
- Back at the bottom end rebuild. I guess I put this off an ample amount of time. I really don't enjoy working with an oily slick ring compressor. If I ever do another engine, I am going to get one of those pliar type compressors instead of the old wind up style. That said, I have all the pistons back in their appropriate holes, torqued and ready to move on.

I put the pistons in "wet", because that is how I have always done it. Messy and smokes a bit when you do that first start up, but it has always worked okay for me in the past. Timing chain, tensioners and front cover / oil pump coming up next.
-Guy



April 18, 2021 Done with the bottom end...

So, finished up the bottom end. Went pretty smoothly, Standard missing parts.... found them, nasty stuff cleaned up, etc. Need to get the head ready to install next.
-Guy

That’s a bummer. Hope you can assemble now.

Yeah, I will continue building the engine now. Hoping to finish with ring gaps this weekend.

I am also working on fitting the intercooler and radiator so I have been doing some cutting on the core support for that. There is really no room in the front of the 510 for an intercooler, so it is a bit more involved than many other cars.

-Guy

And so it continues....

The intercooler fitting is going well. I have the basic cut out done and the opening flanged. I am working on doublers for the area that the intercooler mounting tabs attach to the core support, but so far I am happy with the results. I mounted the front fascia panel and it all actually fits without having to do any trimming. Should have about 1/4 inch clearance once the doublers and vibration padding is in.

My Gilson SSS dash finally arrived a couple weeeks ago. I was a bit discouraged when it arrived, because for some reason I was expecting it to just bolt in place.....

I did a thread on the 510 Realm on how I managed to overcome the fitment issues, but overall it is a pretty nice piece. After fitting the panels, I carefully disassembled and stored it away.

Nice job, looks fantastic.

Really, really nice work Guy. Can't wait to see this one on the road!

That looks nice.

So, I am waiting on a couple items to finish my engine and decided to tackle the fuel tank.

I had a tank "tanked" a couple years ago to get the muck and old paint off it. Today I removed the old fuel line connectors and vent tube from the tank and cut a 4 1/2" hole in the top to hold my fuel pump. I drilled all the holes to hold the seal and pump mount, then grabbed the shop vac to get most of the metal filings out.

After a few minutes with the shop vac I peered inside to be sure I had gotten most of the shavings out, and to my surprise behind the baffle on the far side of the tank, there was a pistachio shell sitting in there. Just one of those things that make you go Hmmmm...


I will post some more pictures when I have finished this project.
- Guy

Guy, I may have told you I had a similar Hmmmm... moment when I got my 510 home after driving it back from across the country. While vacuuming under the driver's seat I heard a "flump" sound that sounded strange. When I opened up my shop vac I found a baggie full of hash, Hmmmm...