N12Turbo.com lanyards are now available! Click here to visit the shop

Xero's 83' N12 Pulsar NX E16S

The place to introduce yourself, post photos and specs of your car.
User avatar
Xero
Posts: 27
Joined: Sun May 01, 2011 12:39 pm
Location: Kettle Falls Wa, USA

Xero's 83' N12 Pulsar NX E16S

Post by Xero »

Name: David

Location: Washington USA.

Year/ Model: 1983 EXA/Pulsar NX

Color: Blue

Period of ownership: 10+ years

Performance: N/A

Engine: E16S Sorta.

Engine Mods:
88mm stroke 1.6L long rod with 11.518-1 static CR using an E16 block, E16S crank, E15S rods, GA16DE pistons and a 52A hemi head.
Mild porting on the head.
4-2-1 extractors.
2.5 inch exhaust.
Cat and muffler replaced with resonator.
Weber 32/36 Carb.
Removed A/C system.
Stock 5spd manual trans.

Interior Mods:
Was reupholstered year before I got it.
Volt and Oil pres gauge pods added.

Exterior Mods:
Fresh paint.
Sunroof Installed.
Window stickers :-)
New front blinkers fabricated.

Suspension, Wheels & Brakes:
Suspension lifted 2 inches to accommodate bigger tires for off road and snow.
Bigger 14 inch rims with 195/70/14's summer. 195/65/14's winter studded.
Coil overs on rear shocks.
New OEM bushings all around.
Brakes stock.

Future Plans:

Custom Intake with dual 40mm Lectron side draft carbs or a set of Solex 40pii-4 carbs. Still unsure on that.
Clutch upgrade.
Future rear disk brakes.
Re-do interior.
Still toying with the idea of Turbo/Super charging it but.....well see.


Pics:

What it looked like before paint.
Image

And after paint.
Image
Image
Image
Image
Image
Image
Image


Had an accident a while back, kissed the guard rail. Here's the damage and the fix.

Image
Image
Image
Image
Image
Image
Image
Image
Image
Image
Image
Image
Image
Image


Fixed
Image


Needed a new blinker lens and couldn't find one, so I made em.
Image
Image
Image
Image
Image
Image
Image


A year later:
Image



Put in the sunroof
Image
Image
Image
Image
Image


My spare engines torn down for comparison.
Image
Image
Image
Image
Image
Image


And the Solex carbs that may go on it.
Image



Much more to do, but for now I think that covers it....
Last edited by Xero on Sun Mar 15, 2015 8:30 am, edited 1 time in total.
User avatar
Callumgw
Posts: 2354
Joined: Fri Aug 11, 2006 12:55 pm
Location: Melbourne, Australia

Post by Callumgw »

nice work and welcome aboard !

C
Jokke_GTR
Posts: 19
Joined: Fri Nov 18, 2011 6:41 am
Contact:

Post by Jokke_GTR »

nice car ;)

cant be many of these in the states?
User avatar
Damo
Posts: 1482
Joined: Tue Aug 08, 2006 11:46 pm
Location: Canberra

Post by Damo »

I'm not too sure that engine combo you are aiming at will work. You will either need to go custom pistons or machine the piston tops down and cut in some valve reliefs.
I have short listed to do something similar in the future, but have conceded the fact that I will either need to go the long 140.5mm rods with E15 crank, or short 137.5mm rods with the fully counter balanced E16 crank, both wearing the GA16 pistons. I'd prefer to go the bigger crank and pass on the longer rod to fit it all under the head.

Damo
Do humanity a favor, use your brain and fight the forces of WOO WOO!


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G1mrbxhWU5Y
User avatar
Xero
Posts: 27
Joined: Sun May 01, 2011 12:39 pm
Location: Kettle Falls Wa, USA

Post by Xero »

Callumgw - Thanks for the welcome :-)

Jokke GTR - Not a lot, but I have seen a few. But very few turbo.

Damo - The GA16DE pistons have (or supposed to have) a 3mm lower comp height than the E15-E16 pistons so "should" be perfect for the job.
I'll know for sure after I find my GA pistons, but I can't get them till I find out if I can find a place to get my block bored out so I know if I need oversize or std. pistons.
User avatar
Damo
Posts: 1482
Joined: Tue Aug 08, 2006 11:46 pm
Location: Canberra

Post by Damo »

If I were you I would not chose a rod or get the engine bored until you source your pistons! If the engine builder is switched on, he will be able to measure you bores as they are and tell you what oversize you will probably need, but won't machine your block till he has those pistons in his hands. Also, which head you use is going to dictate how much clearance you 'may' have. The standard E15 NA pistons have valve cut outs in the top of the pistons to avoid piston to valve contact standard with the standard e15 head. You are looking at replacing those pistons with something akin to a piston with a larger squish area than standard which IMHO is going to need flycuts.
The E15 chamber design is identical to the turbo E15 (bar the 1mm bigger exhaust valve head), so if you use these, the result will be the same. The E16 head has a different layout and 'may' provide you with more clearance but I wouldn't hold my breath.
Have a look here:
http://www.datman.co.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=1125

This bloke has replaced his E16 slugs with A14 semi flat tops, have a look at how much massaging the piston crowns need. Clearly, he would be running a non standard cam, but without physically checking how much 'room' you have, it doesn't look like it will end well!
I personally have had interference issues with the turbo pistons (2mm down the bore) with a non standard cam in the past.

Damo
Do humanity a favor, use your brain and fight the forces of WOO WOO!


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G1mrbxhWU5Y
User avatar
Xero
Posts: 27
Joined: Sun May 01, 2011 12:39 pm
Location: Kettle Falls Wa, USA

Post by Xero »

Pistons are on the way here now. Cant find a machine shop any ware within 100 miles that can/will bore out blocks so I just going with std pistons and rings for now. If I find a place that can bore it out later I may, but its not a big deal if I don't. I'm only doing it for a whopping 5cc's more displacement. So not a deal breaker there ;-)

The chamber design on the 52A head is roughly the same as that of the 15M turbo head but they are not the same exactly. The camber volume on the 15M is 17.9cc's and the chamber on the 52A head is 21cc's. A little bigger but prolly not enough to make a difference as far as valve clearance.

I'm sure I will have to cut reliefs in the pistons but I will have to wait till I get the cam ground before I know exactly how deep I need. The cam shop says the cam will have a duration of 268 degrees and valve lift of .368" but I'll wait till its done and in my hands before I start cutting the pistons.

I have seen blownb310's build thread. I was almost going to go with the A14 pistons till I found out about the GA16DE pistons 3mm lower comp height allowing for a long stroke long rod combo :-)

Don't worry, I'm not going to just toss all the parts in it as is and fire it up and watch it blow. I am taking the time to do it all correctly, or close as I can doing it my self ;-) lol
User avatar
Xero
Posts: 27
Joined: Sun May 01, 2011 12:39 pm
Location: Kettle Falls Wa, USA

Post by Xero »

Got my box of goodies today.

Aint they purdy?
Image
Image
Image

Also got new bearing sets for everything (mains, rods, cam) but forgot to snap a pic of them.

Here some pics of the New pistons compared to the Old ones.
Image
Image
Image

Cleaned up the rods and stuck them shiny new pistons on em. First pic is dirty rods.
Image
Image
Image

Hot to trot and ready to go :)

Tomorrow I plan to get to painting the block. I've already got it all honed out looking good to go. It feels good to be getting back to workin on my Nissan! :)
User avatar
Damo
Posts: 1482
Joined: Tue Aug 08, 2006 11:46 pm
Location: Canberra

Post by Damo »

Nice work, that seems to be coming together quickly. Are the ga wrist pins press fit to the rods, or did you get the little ends bushed?
If they are bushed, have the rods lightened and balanced too.

Damo
Do humanity a favor, use your brain and fight the forces of WOO WOO!


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G1mrbxhWU5Y
User avatar
Xero
Posts: 27
Joined: Sun May 01, 2011 12:39 pm
Location: Kettle Falls Wa, USA

Post by Xero »

They are pressed, but no biggie to get em back off but I don't think I'm going to lighten the rods, I may balance them tho. As is they weigh (as close as my scale measures) almost exactly the same as the E16 rods and pistons that were on the crank I'm using. If I lighten them then I'll have to get the crank balanced for the lighter rods and pistons and I don't think there is a place within 100 miles of me that can balance a crank :(


Didn't even get close to painting the block today. Started cleaning parts at 8am and never stopped till the wife made me come in for dinner at 5pm. I did stick one of the pistons in my spare block to see how it looks. Here is a GA16DE piston on an E15 rod on a E16 crank in an E15 block :-) Looks good.

Image


I did put the 52A head on it with head gasket and finger tight bolts and spun it around and the valves don't touch the pistons with the stock cam.

After that I tore the head down and started cleaning it up. It was caked with crap.

Before
Image


And after.
Image
Image
Image
Image


Still got some tough spots to get to but it's cleaning up nice. Those old valve stem seals were a pain to get off tho :-)

Got the cam and spare cam cleaned up, the jack shaft, rocker rail and rockers, valve springs and washers etc... all cleaned up as well but forgot to take a pic of them. Did get a pic of the valve springs.

Image


That's about it for now I think. Hopefully I'll get to do more tomorrow.
User avatar
Damo
Posts: 1482
Joined: Tue Aug 08, 2006 11:46 pm
Location: Canberra

Post by Damo »

They are pressed, but no biggie to get em back off but I don't think I'm going to lighten the rods, I may balance them tho. As is they weigh (as close as my scale measures) almost exactly the same as the E16 rods and pistons that were on the crank I'm using. If I lighten them then I'll have to get the crank balanced for the lighter rods and pistons and I don't think there is a place within 100 miles of me that can balance a crank Sad

If you can get them pressed on and off that would be handy. How do you get it done without damaging the pistons?
As for balancing and lightening the rods, because you are dealing with an inline engine, there is no need to re-balance the crank if you lighten the rods or change weights of pistons, as is needed with a V style engine. And when I say 'balance' I am referring to having the rods balanced (and lightened if wanted) end for end so that you reduce harmonics acting on your crank at revs. There is NO similarity in having the rods of equal weight and having them balanced!
As for statically balancing a crank, you can (if you are switched on enough) do this in you garage with a simple straight edge, level and grinder.

If you are able, whack the head back on with the valves in it, torque it all down to spec, rotate the engine to roughly 5deg BTCD on the exhaust stroke and measure how much clearance you have from the exhaust valve to the piston.

Ill post later, gotta go.

Damo
Do humanity a favor, use your brain and fight the forces of WOO WOO!


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G1mrbxhWU5Y
User avatar
Xero
Posts: 27
Joined: Sun May 01, 2011 12:39 pm
Location: Kettle Falls Wa, USA

Post by Xero »

"because you are dealing with an inline engine, there is no need to re-balance the crank if you lighten the rods or change weights of pistons, as is needed with a V style engine"

I hadn't thought of it that way. The opposing piston is the counter balance allowing for the crank to be independently balanced. As far as the DIY balancing, I just looked it up and found some info, but not much. I assume you mean to use a jig something like these?


Image
Image

I see how they will work for the overall balancing but how can you tell which counter balance to remove the weight from? or does it really matter. Just the same from all on that side? How do I know where along the crank the extra weight is? I will be using the 31M crank in this picture.

Image



As far as the valve clearance, I'll have to do that later, the head is still torn apart on the bench and probably will be for a while as I am slowly working on it still and probably wont be able to get much done on it this week. We'll see.


Thanks for all the advice. I really appreciate it! :)
User avatar
Xero
Posts: 27
Joined: Sun May 01, 2011 12:39 pm
Location: Kettle Falls Wa, USA

Post by Xero »

Damn, I just realized you just made a ton more work for me to do ;)

Now I gotta balance the pistons, rods, crank and if I make the jig for the crank I may as well check the cam and jack shaft for balance as well. Since I can balance the crank I'll have to lighten and ease all the edges and casting lines before I balance it. I'll have to lighten the flywheel now too..... thanks! hehehe :)

I think this is gonna take a while. Now if I just quit my job so I have more shop time...... naaa, no parts then lol

Later. And thanks again.
User avatar
Damo
Posts: 1482
Joined: Tue Aug 08, 2006 11:46 pm
Location: Canberra

Post by Damo »

It's a funny thing, years ago I couldn't understand where big dollars could be spent on a bottom end. But after investing more than a little time messing around with my own stuff, I realized that you could pay for someone to 'work' on a engine for weeks!

If there is no way you can get your crank to a shop to have it dynamically balanced (again because it's an inline engine you can and SHOULD balance the flywheel and harmonic balance separately) you can statically balance it on either two level knife edges, or a jig like you have a small pic of. As you have struck on, being a static balance only you don't know exactly where the out of balance is, so you take the material from the outer edge of the 'heavy' counter weights, till the crank is statically balanced. This type of balancing is no where near as good as dynamic balance, but its something you can do at home. There are a few vids on Youtube which show that you can dynamically balance at home, but I haven't tried it yet.
If you are going to the trouble of giving the crank a proper smoothing over, do it before its balanced and be prepared for the flack you may get from the machine shop for wasting your time doing it!
As for balancing the rods (pistons and pins should be very close and easy to match by simply weighing and light grinding/sanding) have a look here:
http://forum.n12turbo.com/viewtopic.php ... c&start=30
Scroll down to the 18th oct 2009, then have a look at the last page.

Here are a couple of sites which go into a bit of detail about harmonics and balancing, mostly on V8 rubbish, but its all relevant:
http://www.epi-eng.com/piston_engine_te ... .htm#accel
http://www.epi-eng.com/piston_engine_te ... issues.htm
I have always wanted to smooth the jackshaft and cam shaft also.

To check your valve clearance, you will need to re-assemble a head on the block, wind the engine to near 5deg BTDC compression stroke, then wind in the valve clearance adjustment screw on the exhaust valve till you feel the valve head contact the piston. The pitch on the screw is 1mm, and you'll want at least 1.5mm clearance, so a full turn and a half. Just remember to set you valve clearance to zero before you start, and reset it back to 11thou when you are done.
Do humanity a favor, use your brain and fight the forces of WOO WOO!


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G1mrbxhWU5Y
User avatar
Xero
Posts: 27
Joined: Sun May 01, 2011 12:39 pm
Location: Kettle Falls Wa, USA

Post by Xero »

I have always done my own stuff so I understand the time it takes and where the cost is in some cases. But sometimes I hear about the cost of something I know is quick and easy and am blown away by it.

I guess I will have to hunt around harder for someone that can dynamically balance the crank after I get it smoothed out. I'm a big DIY kinda guy. If I possibly can do it myself I will. Not so much to same the cash (but it helps) mostly to find out if I can.

The rods and pistons I'm not worried about, they will be easy, time consuming but no prob. I just bought a 2kg-0.1g digital scale and waiting for it to come in the mail so I can get started.

And the valve clearance I'm not worried about yet either. Not until I see what cam I'm getting, still haven't quite sorted that out yet. Have a few different places but some of them wont tell me the actual specs of the cam grind, just a "mild rv cam" but have a good price.

I have actually been toying with the idea of grinding my own cam. I have the basic equipment needed to do it (with a little creative thinking) and I do understand how to do it..... maybe I will try it on a spare cam. We'll see.

All I know is that I am having fun exploring new (for me) territory with engine balancing, cams and such.

I did port and polish the head yesterday, no pics yet, not quite done. Just a mild port but it did open it up quite a bit. For now just port matched the stock gasket and opened the runners up to match a lil better and blended out the bowl. Later after I get my intake and exhaust manis built I'll go ahead and match them as close as I can. I'll try to remember to get some WIP pics tomorrow of it.

Later...
Post Reply