A Nissan Sentra Forum banner

Sanchez03specv's rebuild/project thead

15K views 120 replies 12 participants last post by  sanchez03specv 
#1 ·
Hey guys

Well the time has finally come, I've decided to post a little build thread of my Spec. I've been on the forums for quite some time and I've always wanted to make a thread but would never get a round to it. I've been around and I'm pretty sure some of you guys will recognize me but I've never really posted about my car or posted pics, I do have some early pics in my album back when the car was still in good shape lol. Right now I feel is the perfect time since the car is in really bad shape and requires pretty much a rebuild.

I'm gonna try and take pics of everything I do and even try and take videos.

A little history on the car, I bought it back in 2010 from one of Nissan's used car lots. It's original motor was blown I'm pretty sure due to pre-cat failure. Dealer wanted 5000 grand for it and told me that all it needed was a new exhaust manifold lol, I had done a lot of research about Spec V's and learned about a lot of the early failures. I kind of liked the Spec V's and liked how they were different, I'm the kind of guy that wants to drive around in something that not every one has and around here in Toronto you don't see many Spec V's.

I ended up buying the car for 2000 grand since when I started it the engine sounded like a blender full of wrenches inside and when I tried to take the car out it died the second me and the sales rep left the lot! lmao

I sourced a used motor, had my uncle drop it in and pretty much drove it around up until now. Over the years I started to mod it, I've always loved Nismo so one of my first mods was to find a Nismo header that I found here on the forums (had to replace the shit ebay one I first bought lol). Everything about my car has a history and story behind it, from the very beginning nothing was simple. All the work (aside from dropping the engine in the beginning), mods, oil changes etc. were always done by me and it's how I learned to work on cars. In the beginning I screwed up a lot of shit lol :47: broke a lot of stuff and did a lot of sloppy work.

For the past year I've really neglected the car, last winter it finally died on me and to be honest it was more then likely my fault lol I was being a dumbass and drove it around without the air filter (my 2j filter kept falling off...) when I killed it I parked it and it pretty much sat for this past year. I would try and start it up every now and then but I couldn't get it to start. I pulled the plugs and found some coolant on #4 plug and even some rust...

As of right now I'm in the process of taking the cylinder head off, pretty sure the head gasket is finally gone, I've been suspecting for years that it was getting weak and on it's way out. I tried to do a compression test but since it sat for so long battery was pretty dead and even after getting a buddy of mine to come and boost it when I would turn the key and try and crank it all the electricals would just die, me and my buddy said fuck it and just started tearing into it.

Anyways sorry for the long intro I'll start posting pics below.
 
See less See more
  • Like
Reactions: jv04 and Tritton
#2 ·
So this is a shot of the motor the first day I started, after nearly ten years it's dirty and everything is rusted, I want to try and post a video but not sure how, not sure if I can here on the forum, I made a youtube channel I might just post it and then link it for there.
 

Attachments

  • Like
Reactions: jv04
#3 ·
My poor R Tune header after all these years, still solid with no cracks that I could see just looking rough!
 

Attachments

  • Like
Reactions: jv04
#4 ·
What a clean motor looks like inside

I was pretty happy when I pulled the valve cover off, I have never pulled off the cover before in the near ten years I've owned the spec or ever changed a head gasket for that matter lol
 

Attachments

  • Like
Reactions: jv04
#5 ·
Better view
 

Attachments

  • Like
Reactions: jv04
#6 ·
This was pretty much the end of the first day
 

Attachments

  • Like
Reactions: jv04
#7 · (Edited)
Second day progress

Got a lot done on the second day, pulled my 2j plenum off, took out the header, my Koyo rad, I deleted my ac last year before I killed it, I want to take out the condenser, I already pulled out the lines, I'll also need something to block off the holes the lines went into on the firewall, I also noticed that there was three random bolts on the firewall that didn't really seem to bolt to anything (last pic) anyone know what they are?? I just took them out and put in some of my TDMI fender washers to make it look good lol
 

Attachments

  • Like
Reactions: jv04
#8 ·
3rd day progress

3rd day was pretty frustrating, I didn't get as much done as the first two days and I didn't take many photo's since I was getting pretty mad. I took off the passenger side engine mount, disconnected the power steering pump to get to the last bolt holding on the engine mount bracket, and took out all the timing cover bolts, I crawled underneath took off the lower pan and started un bolting the upper pan to remove it, I snapped one of the bolts inside the pan which pissed me off, I tried to disconnect the exhaust system so I could just remove it piece by piece but the bolts are really badly rusted even with pb blaster, I know I don't have to do all this to get to the head gasket but since I'm changing the head gasket I decided I'm going to replace the timing chain too. I've had a new timing chain from Nissan sitting in my closet for years, this is the perfect time to do it I figured. I also want to finally take out my balance shafts that have been sitting in the engine for years.....the balance shaft chain cut I'm pretty sure was the second mod I did after the Nismo header and the Nismo exhaust. I remember what a difference it made when I cut it. I didn't have the Jim Wolf kit at the time, I did end up getting the kit later but never put it in and that's another part I've had sitting in my closet for years...did I mention I've been collecting parts for years lol it's time to put it all in!

I got only one photo, the rest was small videos I took of which timing cover bolts I took out from where since they're different sizes, I guess I'll include the one crappy photo I took lol I'll get more later today it's been raining all day so I couldn't do any work....
 

Attachments

  • Like
Reactions: jv04 and Tritton
#9 ·
I'll be watching this.
I have to rebuild my engine too so this will be a great incentive for me to get started. I'm handy with tools and have done lots of maintenence already replacing 4wd pinion bearing, shocks, bushes and driveshafts but just a little apprehensive about starting with it being such a big job and so much can go wrong if not put back together right.
 
#10 ·
Thanks for the reply, this weekend was pretty bad weather wise, it was raining all day both days, yesterday was finally a nice day out and first thing I did was get to work. I made good progress, got the cams off without them breaking, got the cylinder head off and became pretty confident I found the reason why it wouldn't start....not gonna lie I'm pretty embarrassed to post these pictures lol but here they are
 

Attachments

  • Like
Reactions: Sus Spec and jv04
#11 ·
Today is also another rainy day so no work for today, the next two days should be nice and sunny so tomorrow more work will continue, I didn't get a photo but before I packed it up last night I cleaned the top's of the pistons in 4 and 1, I cleaned a little bit inside cylinder two and it was looking good, I'm hoping rings and stuff aren't damaged, not sure if there is a way to check without a compression test, tomorrow I'm gonna continue with dropping the upper pan so I can get the rest of the chain off so I can replace it.
 
#14 ·
No block guard, that's just the head gasket still sitting on there, I snapped the photo as soon as I took off the head lol
 
#15 ·
Yesterday I started a bit late in the day, I cleaned up the cylinder head a bit and took my tie bar off which was a bitch to get off (rust.....) went to take my downstream O2 sensor off and it broke off at the spacer :facepalm: spacer was also really badly rusted and the metal in it is really thin, cylinder head came out not too bad, haven't finished cleaning it I think if i go at it some more I can get it better, won't be as good as taking it to a machine shop but since I don't know of any around here my cleaning will have to do, didn't really clean up the intake side
 

Attachments

  • Like
Reactions: jv04
#16 ·
Starting nice a early today, it's about 8:30 am and want to get started, brought this guy indoors to keep it clean...
 

Attachments

#17 · (Edited)
I know it’s been a day or two but here is how that “bright and early day went....was really careful taking out the last of the oil pan bolts but of course the last one snapped....which put an end to that day real quick, made me pretty upset. I cleaned up the tops of the pistons a bit and cleaned out the head bolt holes, I cleaned and put back the old head bolts for now just to keep debris out, the snapped bolt really ruined the day since it’s the last thing holding the pan on and I gotta get the pan off to get the timing chain off for replacement, the following day was again rain so I went out and bought a tap and die set, got it on sale and only paid like $40 bucks of my own money so I was happy ($150 regular price) I never had to drill out a snapped bolt before so I’m a bit nervous, I do want to try those easy out drill bit things but couldn’t find one, today I just cleaned up the lower pan and small timing chain cover to get it ready for new rtv, I noticed that there was a hole in the cover that was plugged up and I’m curious to know what it is, anyone know?
 

Attachments

  • Like
Reactions: jv04
#18 ·
Well I know it's been a few weeks so my bad for that, I'll post photo's soon, I ended up giving up trying to drill out that bolt that snapped, I tried drilling it out but it was a pretty awkward position, I snapped a few drill bits and the last one I snapped stayed inside, I got pretty frustrated with it and just decided to let it go for now, I just want to finish the car and get it back running, I'll deal with the timing chain and that snapped bolt at the end of summer or something. as of now I put everything underneath back (crossmember, tie bar, etc.) and did a lot of cleaning along the way, there is so much rust it's depressing, but it's coming together nicely.
 
#19 ·
Brembo brakes

So the last couple of weeks has been raining a lot which is getting on my nerves, next two days is gonna be raining again. Yesterday I finally managed to put my Brembo's on, which have been sitting around for quite some time....the pads I bought wouldn't fit in them so I had to grind them down on the sides a bit, looking at the Brembo's I noticed that underneath those shim things that the pads slide on looked to have some build up on them. It was hard to get them off with the calipers together so I split them, took the shim things off and cleaned underneath, this helped out a lot but the pads still wouldn't go in all the way hence why I grinded down the sides, they then went it nice.
 

Attachments

#20 ·
I find that sometimes you gotta grind down aftermarket pads. Put a thick coat of grease you will be good. Nice clean up job on the internals too.
 
  • Like
Reactions: sanchez03specv
#21 ·
Thanks, I've actually heard of people having to grind down the sides of Hawk pads before so I wasn't too surprised, I just put anti-seize over the sides I grinded down.
 
#22 · (Edited)
Head gasket, cylinder head, ARP head studs and Nismo R-Tune Cams install

Here are more photos from that day that I put my Brembo's on. That day was actually pretty productive. I had woke up early put the Brembo's on put the new OEM head gasket on and cleaned out the head bolt holes with the tap and die set I bought and installed my ARP head studs! :cool:

I'm excited about the studs since they are re-usable lol before install I washed them in the kitchen sink, dried them out, lubed them up and installed them nice and fresh. It was funny tho because I didn't have a deep enough 9/16 socket to install them so I had to run out to Home Depot to buy one lol. Aside from that small hiccup they studs went in smooth after all the cleaning, I put the cylinder head on, fresh RTV around the timing cover, and torqued the ARP's down successfully.

I was very happy with the progress I was making that day and then processed to install my Nismo R-Tune cams! Super excited for those too since they are hard to come by and I bought them brand new. I know that they are a mild cam upgrade but I think they will be an excellent starter cam for now. These cams also have a pretty interesting story behind them now too, they involved me driving all the way down to the Bronx to pick them from the post office.....

I included photo's to show the lobe difference of the Nismo cams and the stock cams, Nismo cam is on the bottom.

However without fail something went wrong, the intake cam is not installing, I had no issue putting in the exhaust cam and screwing in the caps in but the last lobe on the intake cam is hitting the bucket, I'm not sure what I can do here and I'm starting to think I screwed something up. I tried taking it out out putting in the stock intake cam just to see and I'm having the same issue, it's kind of blowing my mind because nothing has been moved/rotated/changed since the stock cams came out.


I also decided to take the buckets out just to see and the cam sat perfectly inside.....


It was the end of the day at that point and I was pretty stumped, considering how smooth everything went I wasn't too pissed about it and at this point I pretty much expect something to go wrong whenever I do work lol :47:

Tomorrow there is a chance to rain so we'll see maybe I'll get lucky and figure it out, if anyone has an thoughts or ideas please share cause I want this shit done! I tried to get photo's but it was kind of hard to get one in that small space the last photo shows how the intake cam just doesn't sit low enough compared to the exhaust cam.
 

Attachments

#29 ·
I included photo's to show the lobe difference of the Nismo cams and the stock cams, Nismo cam is on the bottom.
Can I ask a silly question ?...
Why is there 2 cam angle plates in your last pic ? We only have a single cam angle sensor on the QR ?
In the pic of the Nismo cam and the stock cam, the stock cam does not have the cam angle plate but the Nismo does.
It looks like you have 2 of the same camshafts instead of an intake and exhaust pair ?
 
#23 ·
You can see that the final cap doesn't reach....all the other caps just sat on there perfectly...
 
#25 ·
When installing s1 and nismo cams go to JWT s1 cam install PDF and use feeler gauge to measure cam buckets accordingly. You may need to replace buckets to spec. If you skip the measuring the buckets, you'll run into P00 misfires. I have s1's and might yet to install
 
#27 ·
Yes! I bought a feeler gauge for that exact reason, I planed on doing that but after thinking about today I’m thinking I just put the buckets in the wrong places when they fell out without realizing it lol hopefully it’s something that simple..... and I hope I don’t have to run out and start buying buckets from Nissan lol that being said it is a high mileage motor so I probably will.....
 
#26 ·
I’m been doing some thinking today and a little research, I’m gonna try and move some of the buckets around, I remember when I first pulled off the head and sat it down to take pictures I leaned it onto it’s side and a few buckets fell out, I might have put them back in the wrong places...more rainy weather so maybe I’ll try again tomorrow if it doesn’t rain
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top