The Hardbody.....
 

My oldest boy spent the last year (he is 17 now) running around on a 1980 Yamaha DT125 Enduro.
Well a few weeks ago a girl rearended him and totaled my bike, left him in a back brace for the next 3 months with 2 fractured vertibrea in his back.
So the insurance company payed off on his bike this weekend.
I was surprised they did, I figured it was a $400 top dollar, what I paid for it 3 years ago with 1200 miles on it.
They gave up $850 so we was scouring CL to try and find him a truck, because he wanted a truck.
I found a Comanche for a fair price but no reverse in the AX15, or a 95 Nissan Hardbody 4x4. Well the Jeep had 240k miles and some rust the Nissan has 108k and no rust but it didn't run.
So yesterday I took a day off from work and went to get the Nissan because its what he wanted.
https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-5...0/IMG_0837.JPG
https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-X...0/IMG_0834.JPG
What else to go get it with other than the XJ. 110 miles round trip and the old XJ averaged 20mpg. :thumbup:

So first thing I tried was turning it over to find it had 0 compression in the first two cylinders and I quit there and decided to just start pulling the head. These are interference engines.

Its nice to have a shop to work in.
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-3...0/IMG_0838.JPG
Those are 35x12.50's on it. What a bad idea. :no: 3" body lift and a 2.4L engine to try and roll those heavy things. They're mostly worn out so its going to get 31x10.50's when I get done.

Anyway I got side tracked, I got the head off tonight and its got 4 bent exhaust valves. Nothing else damaged I can see, and the lightest of scratches on the piston top from the valve impact.
The valves are bent so little its nearly imperceptable to the eye.
https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-T...0/IMG_0839.JPG
I used some carb cleaner and spray each chamber and it ran out the exhaust ports.

The wiring is a mess and I can see a trip or two to U-Pull-it to get some needed trim, and maybe a fender before its all said and done.

Stay tuned...........

I have an '01 frontier (same thing newer). I love these trucks would love to have one that was 4wd though. Good luck!

I have had a couple d21's love and great first trucks good luck

Did the timing chain break??? What bent the valves. Id make sure you didnt lose a ring somwhere before going through all the work and $$ in doing the head gasket. Sounds like valves if its only in the front 2 cyls

It bent all 4 exhaust valves slightly.. Just enough to scratch the piston tops. So I'm not worried about lower engine damage right now.


.................................................. ....................
I got the valves in the mail Wed and yesterday I got the gasket set so today,
I get the pleasure of changing valves, valve seals, and scraping gaskets.
Then re-assembly time. :thumbup:
with only 108k miles on the engine/body I really don't expect anything more serious unless there drive train issue like xfer case or tranny issues....

Stay tuned for some pictures later today, I'll document valve lapping etc for those that might not know or ever tried it.

No joy,
I changed and lapped in one valve, and noticed that a PO had broken off 3 exhaust studs.
Then the bad part tried to drill those out and got then off centered.....
Its going to a machine shop to get the other valves done and the broken studs extracted,
and the holes welded up and retapped.

Some people are just dangerous with a power tool......

My first truck was a 95 hardbody ex only 18000 when i bought it sold it at 80 something awesome little truck always wanted a 4x4 one

I'm liking this, its nice to see a Non-Cherokee build on here. Looking forward to seeing more.

Pictures....
 

I did make reference to pictures.
So heres the last ones took as I started the valve replacement.
First of all new valves come machined already so if the valve seat is not hurt and the guides are good there is no need for a machine shop.
You can just lap them in.
Here is what you need plus a valve spring compressor.
https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-4...0/IMG_0843.JPG
Take a small bit of the lapping compound and put it on the valves machined surface and make a thin layer all the way around it.
Then attach the suction cup tool that fits the valve.
https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-_...0/IMG_0844.JPG
Now you want to rotate the valve a few dozen to a few hundred times depending on the condition of your seats.

Lift the valve back out and clean all the lapping compound off and your ready to put the valve back in and give it a test with a little gasoline, or I prefer carb cleaner because its thinner, and make sure the valve is sealing off.

Here is the crappy picture I took of the drilled/studs. I don't know wtf I didn't notice it before.
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-_...0/IMG_0845.JPG


Heres another car in our shop.....
75 Triumph Spitfire, its getting a 2.6L V6 Ford and 4 speed from a 72 MErcury Capri.
https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-m...0/IMG_0842.JPG

That covers it for now.......

man i really like those little trucks. i had a '93 mazda b2200 2wd and it was a great truck. i got it from some old man at 75K miles and it was practically new. Unfortunately, i ran it out of antifreeze and burned it up and had to sell it. one of these days i'd like to get another one and swap in some little diesel engine or a better 4 banger with a 6 speed, maybe a miata drive train or something. that would be fun.

I also just sold a 94 toyota pickup with 4wd. it would have been a super cool truck but it had so many problems and so much rust and i was so tired of dumping money into it that I finally sold it. i needed a 4 door car anyways...

It Lives.....
 

I'm always happy to hear a pile of it run again.
I took the head to the machine shop and got the stripped holes fixed etc.
Put it on last week or so, and a few setbacks that took some diagnosing
to figure out.
The PO had the oil pump off and these engines are timed off the oil pump drive
gear. So if its a tooth off it screws the pooch and you can't turn the distributor
enough adjust for it.
So I pulled the oil pump 4 times before I caught the right tooth and the rotor
was lined up on number one.
Well the thing still refused to start.
I pulled the coil wire and had spark but it looked a little weak :thumbdown: but
not terrible so I tried to make it run to no avail. The oldest boy even held a
plug wire and said it tickled but not hurt. :tongue_smilie:
So remembering my issues with the XJ and oil wires I went and get a set of
plug wires just to be sure. Well still not enough spark to fire a plug.

So a little research on the net told me that these things have an Ignitor
module some place. But couldn't find a way to check it with a multi-tester.
So lets go check the coil. Its only two wire like most normal coils. Just a
different plug. So off to the field to see what old car still had a coil.
84 Mustang Convertible that has been rolled should do the trick.
Ford coils toss a nasty long blue spark. It will ark over an inch.
So for testing we bolted it to the body and I just pushed the wires into
the nissan plug for testing.

It turned over about 3/4 of a turn and fired up. :thumbup1::thumbup1::thumbup1:
Smoke, rattle, more smoke, then it started clearing up a little, no coolant
in it yet so I just gave it a few minutes to hear it run. All seems okay for
the minute.

Now the fun begins of straightening out wiring, and I'm going to mount the
Ford coil to the fender well and wire it in and find a bastardization for a coil
wire. Come to think of it, I think the XJ coil wire is what it needs .:icon_wink:

That about covers it for now.

is that think lowered on escalade rims??? nice:thumbup1:

love these trucks and I LOVE the ka24e I have had an 87 with the z24 motor and a 96 with the ka also a 89 240sx I really like nissans lol but you need timing chain guides I know that for sure they all do

Just been done, the PO let it jump time and bent all 4 exhaust valves.
Then he replaced the chain/guide but not the valves and couldn't make it
run so gave up I guess.

Its not perfect by any means yet.
Its got a Cold Hard start issue still, not sure where to go on that yet but I'll
figure it out can't be as hard to figure out compared to a Renix.

Great life sucks some times.
We was going give the Hardbody a test drive around the yard, its hitting on all 4 but running a little rough and hard to start till warmed up. O2 sensor maybe.....

Well it refused to move. So I played with the xfer case lever thinking something was
just not right there.
There is, it appears something is seriously wrong with the transfer case.
It will shift, front drive line will turn when in 2hi, but the rear shaft is locked up tight.
Removed the shaft from the yoke and still no dice.

I did find a factory service manual but I'm still at a little loss and not sure why or
how something in there could've broke and locked up the rear drive shaft.........
Its a lot more complicated than the NP231 in my Jeep....