Hey everyone,
I'm new to the list, but I thought I'd jump right in and tell you a bit
of my Roadster story: I've had 3
altogether, all '68s, 2 of which are Canadian 150HP Solex cars. I
presently have just one, which I have not
been driving for the past few years - babies, jobs, and houses always
seemed to get priority over time and
money.....no more!
I have been quietly debating for the past year what my next step would
be, whether a long, probably painful
and certainly expensive complete restoration, ending up with a car I
would be afraid to leave in a parking lot, or a more 'practical'
approach, simply making the car as fun, reliable, safe, and fast as I
wanted in a daily driver (before the kids and houses, I did drive it
every day).
So my plan now is to say good-bye to the U-20/Solex combo and bring in a
fuel injected and computer
controlled KA24DE from a '95 240SX.......as much as I used to love my
Saturday morning ritual of checking
valve clearances, point gaps, balancing those beautiful carbs, and all
the other multitude of fun stuff, I don't have the same freedom of time,
and certainly would like to spend as much of the little I have left
driving and playing with the car.
I have located the engine and transmission, complete with everything I
need to make it run (and only 20
minutes from home!). The work (fun) begins....
As am not of the mind that my Roadster will ever be worth any grand
amount of money (#s don't match, it is
less than perfect in a variety of ways), I will be funding this work in
part by selling the original U-20 and
transmission. Here are some details:
In 1988/89: (or about 10 thousand miles ago - summer driving only, last
licensed in 1993)
-bored .40 over, new Nissan pistons and (? brand) rings
-deburred con rods
-polished and balanced crank
-dynamically balanced internals
-new or refurbed valves/all mated to seats
-pro assembly
-head straightened and mildly cut (don't remember final thickness right
now, but can dig up the history)
-head combustion chamber, intake and exhaust ports cleaned up and
'matched'
-original Solex cam
-ORIGINAL Mikuni 44s, with 34 choke and aluminum manifold
-original aluminum 7 quart oil pan - always synthetic oil since rebuild
-new timing chain guides/tensioner (when I assessed the condition of the
chains when the engine was apart, I
determined that they still had lots of life)
-header (unknown brand)
-transmission is very good - no bad gears, BUT when it went together
last time, I (silly me - it looked the
same!!) installed a 510 pressure plate, and as a result the clutch slips
when the engine is over about 75% of
power range....I always knew when I had the carbs and valve clearances
set up right - I could get get slippage in 5th at 85 mph with not even
full throttle!
I would be willing to sell the engine (with or without the tranny) as a
complete unit, or in pieces....obviously I would end up with a bit more
money in the end selling everything separately, but I'd love to be done
with it in one go.....so, if you are interested, drop me a line, and we
can discuss price. <p-pie@sympatico.ca>
Has anyone out there done the 16-valve KA swap?? Any advice (or
pictures or work notes) you can give would be a great help.
My plans also include jettisoning the stock steering and replacing it
with R&P...this may be a bit tricky, but it can be done somehow - I
probably hated the dead feeling steering most.
I'm also going to fit bigger vented rotors and 4 piston calipers on the
front - I demand powerful brakes in a
car, and the originals are not quite enough for my liking, and with more
power and torque under foot with the
new engine, I'm sure I'll be happier with more stopping power - again,
if anyone has any tips to pass along,
about brakes or R&P steering conversions, I'm all ears.
Well, that's about it...
Pete Long
|