Datsun 280Z

It took me seven hours to do the valve seals. I got free VIP tickets to the X-games on Saturday, with free booze and food all day, so my head was a little groggy on Sunday.

Some crappy phone pictures, better ones to come.

That last picture made me really laugh! Sometimes when you're working on the car & finally get it done, it feels like this!!

Valve Stem Seals

The 280Z burned about 1L of oil across 500 miles, and a quick Google indicated that the problem is likely the little rubber valve stem seals are old and have perished.

$18 later and I had twelve new stem seals and thanks to my lovely parents sending me a OHC valve spring compressor tool, and a set of instructions borrowed from the internet.

First thing's first, cam cover off:



Oily bits!




Everything looked in good shape, so time to look at getting the springs out:



Pull all the plugs to make turning the engine easier:



Notice anything unusual? Spark plug 3 is different to the rest! So I ordered a replacement, and it turns out that #3 is correct, and the other five are the wrong type. Great. The HT lead also fell apart when I took #5 off, so a replacement set of them was ordered as well.

Carrying on - get the first piston at TDC (the cam lobes point to roughly 11 and 1) so the valves are as far up as possible.



Put the car in fourth to stop the engine moving, and then shove about 4 feet of rope in the spark plug hole. This is what's going to keep the valves in place.



Take the retaining springs off the rocker arms:



Then using a 14mm and 17mm spanner, back off the locking nuts and screw the lifters down:



Then compress the valve spring with a screwdriver and take off the rocker arms:



This also exposes the lash pads, which come off nice and easily with a magnet tool. Everything removed so far:



Attach the valve spring compressor:




Push down and the collets are exposed for removal. Again, the magnet tool makes pulling them out easy:



That will let you pull the valve springs off, and the valve stem seals pop right off:



And there we go! You push the new seals on, and then just put everything back together. Took seven hours to do the entire engine. Will see if it's fixed the oil burning issue over the next few weeks.

I mentioned earlier that one of the HT leads basically fell apart, so I got some nice NGK replacements - turns out the clip that holds them in place is missing, so I'll try and source a replacement.

Yeah, I'm pretty happy with the condition!  After putting the new HT leads on, the slight stutter seems to have gone, so it looks like that weak connection might've been the culprit.

I don't really have a huge amount more to do for now - I finally have a proper Momo hub for the wheel.  I'm looking for a short shifter kit as well, as the shift action is a bit too truck-esque for my liking.

So just read the whole thread from start to finish....not jealous at all

Car looks awesome and living in America looks pretty great as well, will keep an eye out for any future updates.

It's the lack of holiday allowance that would put me off.

With additional holiday and bank holidays etc factored in I get 44.5 days here, base level is 23. In the States, my same employer gives about two weeks compared to that 23. No thanks.