g'day all! after looking for the perfect Z for almost two years, i'm the lucky (or unlucky) fella who picked up Stillen's VH45 swapped z32. less than a day after bringing it home it starts making a clatter at approximately half engine speed so i think it's valvetrain related rather than bottom end, but i can't be sure. here's a video of the noise. sounds like it's comming from the back of the left hand head. Click here haven't taken it apart yet, but i'm gonna crack the valve cover and check the cams + lifters etc and timing chain (aparrently a real issue with VH45's, although i believe they were done recently). Hoping it's something simple-ish, want to avoid rebuilding the engine for another car if i can. Anyone have any thoughts? Cheers, Matt P.S. i don't blame Stillen for this at all. Shit breaks, that's life
Sounds nasty have a Look at your oil hasn't got any metal shavings I. Or anything . Sounds a lot like rod knock . Then compression test
congrats on the purchase. agree with waztted that it sounds a little rod knock-esk. try not to drive until you know whats going on. maybe contact the seller as he knows more about that car than anyone else......may be able to assist
Yeah I agree with Waz sounds like a rod knock , has it got oil pressure? And definitely do a compression test . Cheers Dazza
Chain noise Its one of the timing chain tensioners. I had the problem a couples of time at 1st, so I pulled both out and cleaned them up. Had no problem since. I would try the one in the picture 1st The other one requires the front chain covers to be removed. Not too hard a job but very time consuming Try getting a large screw driver, put the hand in your ear and the blade on the engine. Move around till you find the loudest noise
Doesn't sound like lifters to me. Hopefully just the tensioner as noted above. Easy job to do on the engine stand - though everything is on the VH. I had to drop my VH to change the spark plugs
pulled and cleaned the tensioner. Re-installed, but didn't fix the problem. after starting the engine and running for a few seconds, it stopped dead without me doing anything and wouldn't turn. i assume this means that the chain has jumped another tooth and fouled the valves on the piston. i'm pretty sure things are now past the point where i can just fix it in situ. probably time for a rebuild. Pulled the left hand rocker cover to have a look, nothing obviously amiss, but i don't have a socket big enough to turn the engine by hand so that'll have to wait. going to pull the other rocker cover and timing cover and verify my theory. on the bright side now at least i can be pretty sure it isn't the bottom end Cheers, Matt
Have you asked the previous owner to come have a look and give you a hand seems it's the least they could do considering the motor has hand grenaded on you in less than a week of ownership !!
Shane was the first to respond to the opening post regarding the sale of this vehicle. His first sentence was "What's wrong with it?" Looks like the question has been answered............
Shit happens so go all positive and rebuild what needs it. You have a rare build,so your fun time will be not far off. Good luck Cheers Peter
You wouldn't buy this car unless you really wanted the conversion, dam side easier sorting this out then doing a conversion from scratch. The value is still there.
So i did some more dismantling today. The previous owner came around too, gave me some good advice and pointers which was good. unfortunately no 'golden bullet' fixes, but i appreciated the help. After pulling all the plugs and coils, the radiator, alternator and a few other bits (things are really crammed in there) i got a socket on the crankshaft. It doesn't turn at all. Crap. I'm gonna pull the timing cover with the engine in situ if i can, as well as drop the oil on the chance that will shed some light on the situation. Beyond that it's time to pull the engine and tear it down for diagnosis/rebuild. I'm definitely keeping the VH, since that's kinda the point and the conversion is very well done and fully engineered. I can also get a new VH45de locally from KYP for $1500 aparrently they don't have the best rep from what one of my mates tell me, but this could be a passable option since 1500 is for the 'package' and i only really need the long block. i'll contact them and see regardless. My concern here is that they are a complete unknown. it'd be foolish to put one in without inspecting it, plus the engine in it at the moment has had a lot of polishing, cleaning and balancing etc. done. Anyway, i'll see how i go with my investingation. Cheers, Matt
Good the old owner helped you mate wasn't that engine allready rebuilt ?? Who built it a shop or previous owner ??
I believe it was rebuilt, yeah. Not sure who did the work but i have a folder full of receipts i can go through. i'm still quitely hopeful that there's an easy fix here somewhere.....
