Datsun Roadster Forum-311s.org

Hi guys,
A nice gentlemen from Escondido CA just gave me a R16 engine, He claim this engine was working when it was removed.
It run but will show low oil pressure, a friend told him its normal for this type of engine. So my question is does this engine still have much life left?
Can it be temporary installed and used not replacing anything? And if the engine is still good, how many miles can I get out of this engine before it need rebuilt? I never done an engine rebuilt before, can this low oil pressure easily fixed at home? Sorry I’m not much of a mechanic.


Thanks
Ben (Datsundude)

It is fairly normal for the R motor to show low oil pressure at idle. Truly low oil pressure can come from worn out bearings and/or a worn oil pump. I say stick it in an run it. If it smokes really bad when running worn rings and valve seals can be the culprit. The R motors are pretty tough but not totally indestructable. A compression check will tell you a lot about a motors condition. Pretty easy to do with the motor in the car. Make sure the oil does not have a milky color to it as that indicates a leaky headgasket.

Steve

Steve,
Thanks again for such a quick respond... I really appreciate your help.
Yes this guy who gave me this motor, told me yes it does smoke a little,
I dont know how little he meant... however he did told me this motor should have about 40K miles of life left. 40k of miles, what do you think?
can it last this long with the low oil pressure?
Since I'm on a budget, I'm going to finish clean and restore the frame and apply under coating under the body and put the frame and body back together, install this motor and drive it for awhile until I have extra cash to rebuilt the original number matching motor with the car. I want to keep every thing original with this roadster.

thanks
Ben (Datsundude)

I'd like to toss in my 2 cents' worth:

As a general rule of thumb, if the car smokes while under power, suspect the rings. Do a compression check and if you get any readings much lower than the others, then add a few squirts of oil through the sparkplug hole for that cylinder. Do the check again. If the compression raises, the first (top) compression ring is probably the culprit. You can also shine a flashlight through the hole and see the cylinder wall. It should look polished with maybe(!) some very light up-and-down scratches. If you see obvious scratches, maybe that look like you could feel it with your fingernail if you had REALLY small fingers, that is not good. Maybe not bad, but not good, either.

If it smokes while decelerating, the valve seals are suspect. The reason for suspecting the seals if it smokes under that condition is that the engine will generate high vacuum while decelerating and pull the oil past the valve seals.

If you figure the engine is too much trouble, I'll take it off your hands for what you paid for it.

Let me give you my two cents worth from the peanut gallery. The gauges in the Roadsters are not the most reliable in the world. I have heard them described as moving idiot lights. That being the case, I wouldn't sweat the tale of low pressure. If you REALLY want to know, buy a quality oil pressure gauge and put it on the car. I would personally do a spray can rebuild to it and slap it in the car. Look at it this way, it will cost you about $30 to do the swap and you will be able to play with the original while flogging this one. If it blows up, well, then you have to get busy on the original motor. If not, you get to enjoy the car while taking your time to really detail the other motor. You really have very little to lose by giving it a try.

Hi all
You guys are absulutly right, I have notthing to lose except $30. I will clean it up and apply new coat of paint and install that sucker.


thanks
Ben (Datsundude)

Bucky,
Thanks you for your two cents.
This motor will not going to be install any sooner perhaps the summer of 2005... maybe, not sure yet... because the body and frame is still under construction.
I will keep your tech info and advise when I install this motor for trouble shooting or perhaps more questions regarding this motor.

Thanks
Ben (Datsundude)

If you are spending time and money restoring the chassis and body. Don't stop there, spend a few bucks on the motor, drop the pan and check the bearings and replace the oil pump, pull the head and replace the seals, check the cylinders for wear. You don't want to be pulling a motor from a freshly painted and detailed car....do you?

JC

I agree with Sid, just installed the Krylon rebuild kit on mine, best value on the market. Will put a few hundred miles on it before spending the $. Plus the performance boost, knocking off 35 years worth of grease, dirt and crap will improve the power to weight ratio if your calculator has enough decimel places.

JC,
I agree with you 100% however my mechanic ability is limited.
I dont know much about the engine, never done one before, I done brakes, oil change, some gasket here and there but never dismantle the motor and rebuilt.



Ben

Guys,
Is there an instruction on this site that will show me step by step on how to distmantle the motor, rebuilt and put back together?

Dave,
What's in the Krylon rebuild kit? which parts of the motor does this kit rebuild? Do you recommend to a beginner?

Ben (Datsundude)

If you can rebuild brakes and other stuff, then you can rebuild an engine. Since it ain't a VW, you can't use the kitchen table , but other than that .....

Seriously, it's really not rocket science if you know which end of a wrench to hold. There's plenty of "How To Rebuild Your Motor" type books out there (I still have my old Petersen books from the seventies) and plenty of people to help you out.

These little 4-bangers have got to be fairly simple, and you've got nothing to lose and everything to gain considering you got a freebie engine.

DELETED

I think Dave was referring to Sid's comment "...do a spray can rebuild to it and slap it in the car" when he said "Krylon Rebuild Kit." Krylon is a brand of spray can paint.

Pretty funny, Dave. I like it.