Kyle Hagemann wrote:
>
> Paul wrote:
>
> >What's up with this U20 thing?
>
> >I may still buy a U20, if the price is right, but all this talk is beginning
> >to sound like a power on the road versus hours on the road thing to
> >me...help me out, here.
>
> Well, Paul, having owned both a 1600 and a 2000, and being much more
> "in to" the L-powered 510 and 240 series, I'm a little more impartial.
> But, my 2000's been broken for over six months, so I'm also a trifle
> bitter, so take this with a grain of salt.
>
> Not only do the U20's die after about 100K-, instead of the
> 300K+ commonly run through the L-series, but parts are insanely
> expensive.
>
I have had L's, R's, U's, J's,and VG30E's and DE's so I am pretty impartial too.
The 300K stuff is certainly not the norm on the L's. I have seen
so many (street L's) splated around the machine shop
floors to only believe a small fraction of that stuff. The metallurgy
for the L's is basically the same as the the U's and R's, so they can
(on the average) only go so much further. It is clearly a more
elegant design, but they break too if neglected.
I think the REALLY high mileage ones are babied and well maintained.
I NEVER met a U20 that was babied!
The simple reason cost of the U20 parts is that the 2L was
the only car that got a U20.
> In my book, an engine that costs an arm and a leg to fix, that
> has common "workarounds" for a poor (IMHO) design (tensioner
> shims, jackshaft mods), and that only lives for 100K is just not
> a Datsun. At least it's not my type of Datsun.
For it's day, the U20 was a pretty cool upgrade to the sedate
1.6. 50% more HP?? Pretty terrific.
With roadster engines, I have seen so many classic failures over
the years, none surprise me any more.
At least 85% of the time the failure is directly due to:
a. Poor machine work
b. cheap parts
c. poor assembly techniques
d. lack of routine preventive maintenance
e. trying to take the cheap route (closely related to a, b & d)
f. abusive driving and/or a combination of the above.
It really is rare for something to just break on a well prepared,
well maintained U20 engine. Under racing conditions yes, but
almost everything breaks sometimes then.
> A Datsun, to me, is something that's cheap to buy, easy to fix,
> and never needs the hood opened. My A12(?) 1200 and R16 1600,
> though slow as molasses running uphill in Minnesota in January,
> were stone reliable. My Z and 521, with L power, are pretty
> stout little muthas and don't give me a peep of trouble, and
> this is with junkyard engines in 'em. And since the L's were
> made for, what, 14+ years?, parts are cheap and plentiful, and
> the junkyards are chock full of used pieces.
>
> I fell for the bait - I sold a perfectly serviceable 1600 to
> jump on the 2000 bandwagon, and I've kinda regretted it ever
> since. But in my case, I was kinda destined for it - the 1600
> didn't have enough guts to feel safe merging on the freeway:-)
>
> Soo... what does that mean? The U20's are not necessarily
> weaker designs, but they lack the longevity of the R's and L's.
In fact the lower end is much tougher than the R16. The only weak
point down below is the nose of the jackshaft. Most of the
head problems are from a,b,c,d & e.
> And since parts are so expensive, they tend to get band-aid
> fixes like tensioner shims and thicker headgaskets;-) So that
> means that most 2000's running around are worn out, and the
> temporary fixes have been made.
Man, you said a mouthful here. This may well be roadster gospel.
I keep stressing, you don't get a properly built U20 for
1500.00!!!!!
Like Mike K. said, If you want a good engine, put in the
good parts. Also forget about Joe Bob's machine shop.
> Like the buyer's guide says,
> "buy the nicest Roadster you can afford".
And be extra wary of $7500.00 total restorations!
Jim
|