Looking at the pics again you can be a fair bit more aggressive.
Ethan's SD33T build thread (lots of pictures, slow internet warning)
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Welp I royally screwed up.
You're all going to read this and think I'm an idiot, maybe I am, I guess that's what inexperience and youth gets me.
The engine is still fine luckily, doesn't involve that.
My method so far for lubrication was a small bucket of 10-40 engine oil, worked pretty good on the first cylinder, but got dirty quickly as I was just dipping it in to both clean and lubricate the stones. I did 60 passes on cyl 2 and was wondering why the stones weren't cutting like they did on no. 1, then I remembered a clip from a video where the guy cleaned off the stones in a bucket of soapy water. So I figured it wasn't cutting properly because the oil was full of grit and blocking up the stones.
Went and got a bucket of water and intended on changing the lubricating oil, spun it around a bit in the water, how do I dry it off?
Spin it reeeaallly fast in the air of course!
🤬
The thing suddenly explodes in all directions with a loud CRACK PING PEW ---- silence.
I stand there dumbstruck for probably 15 seconds and BANG on the shed roof behind me, holy jesus it must've flown high.
All I can say is I'm extremely lucky none of the bits hit me, or any of our cars that're parked nearby.
But there goes my $90 tool, and 1 cylinder is honed.
You're all going to read this and think I'm an idiot, maybe I am, I guess that's what inexperience and youth gets me.
The engine is still fine luckily, doesn't involve that.
My method so far for lubrication was a small bucket of 10-40 engine oil, worked pretty good on the first cylinder, but got dirty quickly as I was just dipping it in to both clean and lubricate the stones. I did 60 passes on cyl 2 and was wondering why the stones weren't cutting like they did on no. 1, then I remembered a clip from a video where the guy cleaned off the stones in a bucket of soapy water. So I figured it wasn't cutting properly because the oil was full of grit and blocking up the stones.
Went and got a bucket of water and intended on changing the lubricating oil, spun it around a bit in the water, how do I dry it off?
Spin it reeeaallly fast in the air of course!
🤬
The thing suddenly explodes in all directions with a loud CRACK PING PEW ---- silence.
I stand there dumbstruck for probably 15 seconds and BANG on the shed roof behind me, holy jesus it must've flown high.
All I can say is I'm extremely lucky none of the bits hit me, or any of our cars that're parked nearby.
But there goes my $90 tool, and 1 cylinder is honed.
Really stupid thing to do, I know. Don't remind me.
Don’t worry, there would not be one of us who’ve had a major brain fart. No damage, and you’re not injured.
Did I tell you about the time I nearly removed my thumb with an angle grinder? There is a reason god invented the vice. 🙄
Lucky lad and life lesson learnt. You do not forget them.
Read the honing instruction "Gregory's manual extract" sub para (1), your post #62 _ honing oil,transmission oil or Kero Not Eng Oil
Agree @trev zd30 _ needs more of a hone, I would attempt to hone out the longitudinal score marks_measurement is your friend.
Alright I've decided to let the professionals handle the job and taken the block to the engine builder for a hone and clean. He's not sure whether the liners have sunk in similar to the previous engine but to a lesser extent, so he's going to run a flat surface across it to make sure it's good as well.
The $150 for the 6 cyl hone by someone who knows what they're doing is probably better than another $90 tool and me not knowing what to do. Then the block clean at the same time for a bit extra cost and it's worth taking it in.
The $150 for the 6 cyl hone by someone who knows what they're doing is probably better than another $90 tool and me not knowing what to do. Then the block clean at the same time for a bit extra cost and it's worth taking it in.
Not 100% on this yet, but I might end up putting the bottom end of the engine back together before our 6 week trip to Victoria, I should get the block back this week, then I decide whether to wait until January when I should have most of the parts to complete the build, or do the bottom end now and the top end when I get back and have the gaskets etc on hand.
As far as I can tell, the only things I have yet to actually buy are:
And I can't actually think of anything else right now.
For the rebuild I have bought a brand new big oil drain pan from supercheap to use as a petrol bath to clean parts of any grit and dirt before the reassembly, because everything inevitably has had dust and general dirt blow in from the wind while the shed door has been open every now and then.
My main concern is the pistons and gudgeon pins, can I just wash the whole piston/pin/conrod assembly in petrol? Or does there need to be excess oil left in the gudgeon since it's not self-oiling? (as far as I can tell)
As far as I can tell, the only things I have yet to actually buy are:
- Head bolts (if new ones are required, I have seen a couple mentions on the Binder Planet International Scout forum that the factory head bolts may not be TTY bolts and so may be able to be re-used)
- Ebay gasket kit for all gaskets that are not needed as genuine Nissan parts (genuine needed: head, manifold, front and rear main)
- Clutch? Can use Dad's old standard ZD30 clutch with not many K's on it, but would prefer to get a new one just for peace of mind. Old clutch is basically the reason I'm in the situation I'm in lol.
And I can't actually think of anything else right now.
For the rebuild I have bought a brand new big oil drain pan from supercheap to use as a petrol bath to clean parts of any grit and dirt before the reassembly, because everything inevitably has had dust and general dirt blow in from the wind while the shed door has been open every now and then.
My main concern is the pistons and gudgeon pins, can I just wash the whole piston/pin/conrod assembly in petrol? Or does there need to be excess oil left in the gudgeon since it's not self-oiling? (as far as I can tell)
Quick update, got the block back from the engine builder last week, looks awesome on the inside since the hot wash, too bad that'll all be covered in black diesel oil, and the bores look very good too, the outside obviously has seen much more abuse in it's life so it'll never come up as good, but I plan on painting the whole thing when I'm done anyway so no problems there:
![Automotive tire Motor vehicle Gas Auto part Engineering]()
![Automotive tire Gas Auto part Engineering Nut]()
![Automotive tire Automotive engine gasket Rim Gas Auto part]()
![Automotive tire Motor vehicle Vehicle Gas Automotive exterior]()
Light stone over the top shows that the liners all have slight protrusion over the deck which is excelent:
![Automotive engine gasket Automotive tire Gas Engineering Auto part]()
Now I've got the lifters, cam, oil squirters, crankshaft, and main bearing cap #3 (the one that locates the crank forward-backward) all in the block, as well as 1 half of the rear main seal.
Problem is, it doesn't look right to my eyes. I'm 99% sure it's in the right spot and orientation, it just physically looks too small. Maybe it's supposed to look like that? I dunno. There is evidence on the crank that it's been running that way previously based on the light scoring, but I just want to make sure. Genuine rear main sourced by Garry at Nizzbits.
![Gas Tints and shades Automotive wheel system Bumper Machine]()
Light stone over the top shows that the liners all have slight protrusion over the deck which is excelent:
Now I've got the lifters, cam, oil squirters, crankshaft, and main bearing cap #3 (the one that locates the crank forward-backward) all in the block, as well as 1 half of the rear main seal.
Problem is, it doesn't look right to my eyes. I'm 99% sure it's in the right spot and orientation, it just physically looks too small. Maybe it's supposed to look like that? I dunno. There is evidence on the crank that it's been running that way previously based on the light scoring, but I just want to make sure. Genuine rear main sourced by Garry at Nizzbits.
Also continuing on from the previous comment, I decided to use the lifters from my old engine as they match up with the pushrods I've got. Kept them all in order so the lifters, pushrods, rockers and valves will all be matched back the way they were.
My only concern is whether it's ok to use the lifters out of a different block, or whether each lifter is precisely machined to it's hole in the block? Is using the lifters out of the other engine the right thing to do? Or should I pull the cam back out and put the lifters that came with this block back in? Just means the pushrods and lifters will have to wear back together again, so more adjustment over time.
My only concern is whether it's ok to use the lifters out of a different block, or whether each lifter is precisely machined to it's hole in the block? Is using the lifters out of the other engine the right thing to do? Or should I pull the cam back out and put the lifters that came with this block back in? Just means the pushrods and lifters will have to wear back together again, so more adjustment over time.
No they are not precisely machined for each lifter, but having said that, I always put them back in the same hole when I did a rebuild. Have replaced individual lifters in cases of damage. Check the face of the lifter for hollowing, I would rub them over an oil stone to repair minor hollowing, rub, twist, rub twist, etc, etc.
Been a while since the last update so here's a quick one,
Like I mentioned in the wagon's build thread, I got the N/A engine in and running, it's slow, but not as bad as I thought, I'll update that thread in a sec as I got the exhaust sorted and drove the car for a couple weeks.
We're now on holiday down in country Victoria for December and part of January, so the engine rebuild will have to wait until then. Garry's been keeping me updated on the status of the head gasket, got the manifold gasket and crank seals a while back but it seems Nissan themselves are having trouble with this particular gasket. There's no stock available so they're waiting for the manufacturer to produce more, and the manufacturer says after the new year. All good though, gives me time to fully assemble the bottom end and get all the head work sorted, whatever needs to happen to that.
Been reading through @bambill 's The 350 killerwasps goal thread. An extremely good read so far, I'm definitely struggling to keep up on a lot of the technical turbo-related information. I am only 18 though, so I've got a lot of time to learn yet, it's just cementing in my head that the GT2052V will be a great match for the 3.3 given it works very well on the ZD30 (even slightly too small in some cases, not quite enough airflow up high) and the SD is a 12-valve engine, indirect injection, with a non-crossflow head, intake ports sharing manifold runners (similar to an old holden i6, but with no effort made to make air flow around the wall between the ports), the only thing the SD has over the ZD is it's extra 292cc's of capacity. Less than a can of coke. Maybe the 6-cyl trait is slightly more desirable for smoothness, but it's also trying to make power out of much smaller cylinders.
The GT will certainly be a huge improvement over the old HT, I'm still trying to work out whether a multi-valve VNT control system will work better than a single Dawes/tillux and needle valve, given that the SD's fuelling isn't controlled by airflow. If it has advantages even on an old mechanical engine like the SD, I'll go straight to that. @james008 has told me that he knows 2 guys who tried this turbo on the SD before, both snapped cranks extremely quickly. However I believe that neither person understood how to control the VNT properly, and probably just used a single valve, keeping the vanes fully closed until desired boost was reached, and suddenly opening them. That would've created huge amounts of EMP at low RPM's (slow engine with more capacity, receiving almost full fuel straight away), leading to very quick crankshaft failure.
Most people increase the off-boost fueling to get the turbo spooling on the SD, I'll likely leave it as-is or even remove some off-boost fuel, as the VGT will spool well even with less fuel. Once the boost compensator kicks in it'll go hard I hope.
Gotta break it in before then though (gotta build it before then though), everyone's got different opinions about how that should be done, I'm going with the option of "drive it as you'd normally drive it, varying the load a lot, accelerating from a red light is good, not too high RPM's, load it up under hard throttle a couple times later in the break-in process.
Longer post than I intended 😅
Like I mentioned in the wagon's build thread, I got the N/A engine in and running, it's slow, but not as bad as I thought, I'll update that thread in a sec as I got the exhaust sorted and drove the car for a couple weeks.
We're now on holiday down in country Victoria for December and part of January, so the engine rebuild will have to wait until then. Garry's been keeping me updated on the status of the head gasket, got the manifold gasket and crank seals a while back but it seems Nissan themselves are having trouble with this particular gasket. There's no stock available so they're waiting for the manufacturer to produce more, and the manufacturer says after the new year. All good though, gives me time to fully assemble the bottom end and get all the head work sorted, whatever needs to happen to that.
Been reading through @bambill 's The 350 killerwasps goal thread. An extremely good read so far, I'm definitely struggling to keep up on a lot of the technical turbo-related information. I am only 18 though, so I've got a lot of time to learn yet, it's just cementing in my head that the GT2052V will be a great match for the 3.3 given it works very well on the ZD30 (even slightly too small in some cases, not quite enough airflow up high) and the SD is a 12-valve engine, indirect injection, with a non-crossflow head, intake ports sharing manifold runners (similar to an old holden i6, but with no effort made to make air flow around the wall between the ports), the only thing the SD has over the ZD is it's extra 292cc's of capacity. Less than a can of coke. Maybe the 6-cyl trait is slightly more desirable for smoothness, but it's also trying to make power out of much smaller cylinders.
The GT will certainly be a huge improvement over the old HT, I'm still trying to work out whether a multi-valve VNT control system will work better than a single Dawes/tillux and needle valve, given that the SD's fuelling isn't controlled by airflow. If it has advantages even on an old mechanical engine like the SD, I'll go straight to that. @james008 has told me that he knows 2 guys who tried this turbo on the SD before, both snapped cranks extremely quickly. However I believe that neither person understood how to control the VNT properly, and probably just used a single valve, keeping the vanes fully closed until desired boost was reached, and suddenly opening them. That would've created huge amounts of EMP at low RPM's (slow engine with more capacity, receiving almost full fuel straight away), leading to very quick crankshaft failure.
Most people increase the off-boost fueling to get the turbo spooling on the SD, I'll likely leave it as-is or even remove some off-boost fuel, as the VGT will spool well even with less fuel. Once the boost compensator kicks in it'll go hard I hope.
Gotta break it in before then though (gotta build it before then though), everyone's got different opinions about how that should be done, I'm going with the option of "drive it as you'd normally drive it, varying the load a lot, accelerating from a red light is good, not too high RPM's, load it up under hard throttle a couple times later in the break-in process.
Longer post than I intended 😅
Alright as most of you know we’re back from Victoria so time to crack on with the engine rebuild, at this stage I’m not much further than when we left, crank and cam are in, I’ve put 3 of the 4 bearing caps in, was waiting on the eBay gasket kit for the stick seals that seal #4 to the block.
Then I did some reading and found out I should be using engine assembly lube instead of just oil for the reassembly, so went and got myself some today, and going to pull the crank and cam back out to use this stuff. Should have the crank completely bolted in and caps torqued before it’s time to go to work.
![Automotive tire Motor vehicle Bumper Gas Engineering]()
![Material property Font Tints and shades Drink Tobacco]()
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Then I did some reading and found out I should be using engine assembly lube instead of just oil for the reassembly, so went and got myself some today, and going to pull the crank and cam back out to use this stuff. Should have the crank completely bolted in and caps torqued before it’s time to go to work.
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I use that stuff all the time, works well, when I was racing I used another type when rebuilding engines (after every 3rd race meeting, so quite OFTEN
) but can't remember its name. You won't regret it com start up time.
So, bit of a problem…
I installed the crank before we went to Vic, early Dec, and that included the block half of the rear main seal, only that half. Then I went and cleaned up the shed (moved everything to the side) to fit the Patrol in while we were down. And now that I’m back and continuing,
I’ve lost the other half of the rear main 🤦♂️
Not sure what to do now, I spent about an hour yesterday searching the shed for it, couldn’t find it, so I guess I continue assembly and see if I find it along the way?
I suppose worst case I get another one, not ideal though.
I installed the crank before we went to Vic, early Dec, and that included the block half of the rear main seal, only that half. Then I went and cleaned up the shed (moved everything to the side) to fit the Patrol in while we were down. And now that I’m back and continuing,
I’ve lost the other half of the rear main 🤦♂️
Not sure what to do now, I spent about an hour yesterday searching the shed for it, couldn’t find it, so I guess I continue assembly and see if I find it along the way?
I suppose worst case I get another one, not ideal though.
No, not ideal, every one is slightly different, that would mean getting the mains line bored again.
Go through the shed again, you wouldn't have thrown it out!
Sorry, just a question, what’s line boring? The rear main on the SD33 engines just sits against a flat section of the crank to seal it, does the ZD30 have a different system?
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