New World Datsuns...

Yeah, for the annoyance I couldn't be happier. Thrust angle is -.07, well within tolerance. X measured the frame, it's all good minus the rear bit. I'm going to get an estimate at a body shop tomorrow since the insurance estimate said oh yeah, just a rear bumper and repaint, front bumper has pre-existing damage. It does, on the edge, but the push in from the post isn't pre-existing. Not to mention the dinked out frame rail! They tried to buy me off with 860 bucks worth. Yeah no, that's not going to fly. I'll send them an estimate for a supplement. I'm likely going to have the body shop fix the rear frame section. I could do it, but they'll probably do it a lot nicer. Maybe I'll have to make an off road bumper sooner than I thought.

Be very careful, I had that person that did not wait their turn at a 4-way and they hit me, the front fender was beat up, the bumper bent and they wanted to total out the truck, I would not let them and told them I would not except any money from them if it was to be branded totaled and then it could not be totaled by them, I do not think they were used to dealing with someone like me that would take the loss to keep the truck on the road, I explained to them that the truck was purpose built to do what I used it for and it was worth more than they were saying, they sent a check for a lot more than I expected and I fixed it myself.

This is the insurance company, not private party. I just sent them more pictures and a letter as a supplement inspection will have to wait until September being body shops are backed the heck up. I suggested they take a look at my pictures again and listed out what they're missing. We'll see if they respond favorably.

Well shit balls. So I was checking around the garage to see if I had any piston sets squirreled away. I do have a set of KA24DE pistons in a .020" over (.50mm), but the block I tore down has already been rebuilt once. It has .020" over pistons already in it. Considering it needs boring, that means either .030" or .040" I'm doing digging now to see what options I have.

The other option I have is a nearly mint, no miles Z24 I picked up from a friend. It was a factory warranty with a bad rod bearing that Nissan said scrap and it went to his garage instead of the garbage. Assuming everything checks out for clearances, that would be usable and I could do a KAZ24 engine again. It's a lot of extra work, but always a possibility. Wiseco has nice pistons, but they're about 800 a set. Not sure if I want to put that nice a piston in this build. If money was no object, sure, but this is a semi-budget build and cast pistons should work fine for the power level I'm seeking.

Lots of research to do.

Oh snap! I was searching on ebay and found a 1 mm over (.040") piston set from NPR (Nippon) for 100 bucks shipped, booyah! I'll bet someone has been waiting to get rid of that set since most rebuilds don't go that far out.

Got my block on the waiting list to drop off for boring. Joe and I are going to make a torque plate for the ka. I'm having Gibson Performance do the bottom end work. Quite literally it's 2 months just to drop off because he's that busy. Just as well, I'll have time to make the torque plate.

Cylinder head will be done by Cylinder Head Service and he's always done me right. While I'm tempted to bring that to him now I think I'll probably wait until the block is done because if for some reason there's an issue with the block then I may not use the KA single cam head even though that's the current plan. In case something goes awry I still have the option of using the existing motor in the truck as I do have a new set of 20 over pistons that would work just fine being that engine is original. Then I would have to modify my head plan and do a different set of cams in this case for the double cam head.

My goal is what I plan originally but you always have to have a plan b.

Pistons ho!

That’s a good how to on the window trim. Hate that about the ass smacking of Gracie. Thanks for the videos. I don’t Facebook or Instagram.

Normally I'm very low presence, but I decided to see if I can make some money with this new fangled stuff. If not, oh well, I'm doing it anyway. The good thing is I have it post on instagram and at the same time post on fb. I have less followers on ig, but less bs too. And of course for all of these social media accounts, I have just about every notification turned off and they other notifications go to my crap email address. Much easier to ignore and manage that way.

Sweet, talked to an adjuster today, got approval for the extra work needed on the truck. Mainly rear frame rail straightening and a replacement trailer hitch!

So the crank is probably garbage on the donor KA. Posted a video on instagram/facebook. Looks like water was sitting in #1 rod journal. It's pitted something terrible. Might come out with .020" undercut, but I'm not optimistic. Debating using the Z24 possibly again. Need to tear it down and see how bad it is. It had rod knock, but I don't know how far it went with that. I may just bring a shitload of parts down to the machinist when my time slot comes up and say, see what comes out ok!

Good luck. I’m sure you have enough parts to get something going.

Thanks tater! I'm going to yank the head on Wynona today and then try and get the weld table assembled. If I get those done, might try and do the wheel bearings on the car trailer, but that might be pushing it.

So what ever became of the hit and run? Truck fixed yet?

That dipshit has a trial date for October 17th. I may have to go testify against him if he's stupid enough to fight it. I don't care that much, but it's the principle of the thing. Still haven't fixed the truck, been working on so many other things. Mainly the race car. Getting ready for the track day Saturday. It's getting close!

The machinist confirmed my suspicions today, crankshaft is junk. Trying to find a new or used 86G three keyway crankshaft for the KA24E, without centering ring. There is one in pull and save. Haven't gone to see if the crank turns, and wasn't looking forward to pull a whole engine but so far I haven't been able to locate the correct casting to buy. The search continues.

Ugh. Always something right?

Oh, it gets better! The #2 rod bearing on the motor I grabbed from pull and save was non-existent. We're sending the crank off to have it welded and re-ground. More expense, shipping to Michigan. Hard to find these motors that haven't been abused now. Good news is I still needed another rod, so I had 3 off that motor that were usable. Moving at a glacial pace.

LS swap