Engine details Part 4: Dismantling the LZ18 engine of the 1974 Datsun 160J SSS KP710 Violet Turbo

I had mentioned in an earlier post about my crankshaft being machined incorrectly. That was 21 years ago.

Figure 1
Today the crankshaft was taken out. I had remembered incorrectly, it wasn't the con-rod journals
but the five main journals that had the radius transition to the journal disturbed by the machinist.

I had the crankshaft out today and I had remembered incorrectly. It was not the four con-rod journals but was the five main journals. The issue was that the machinist had disturbed part of the transition of the radius onto the journal surface. I didn't like it!

Figure 2
Temporary storage of engine parts. The flywheel bolt is interesting, with weight lightening by taper and through hole. Turbocharger is an Air Research T04.

Crankshaft when dismantled fully of the gear train drive collar and the keys will be packed for shipping and sent out for reconditioning of the mains journal by submerged arc welding to build up journal and radius area for reshaping. Prior hardening will required grinding to remove and gas nitriding treatment will be included to re-harden surface.

I've been weighing the pros and cons and decided to have it done.

Further work as mentioned earlier remains to remove the cam gear train collar fitted to the crankshaft front end. Distributor drive collar came off easy but not the gear drive collar. May need fabricate a plate with a cutout in conjunction with a hydraulic press to remove it!

I should mention that pistons are Cosworth forged items custom ordered to replace the original items. Connecting rods are custom ordered Argo steel H beams with ARP bolts. Pictures of original pistons and rods will be shown in future postings. Bearings fitted are ACL items. All these mentioned items were all ordered back in the mid 90s!

More pictures will be shown in a future post when I have chance to use a DSLR instead of a phone camera to show the radius transition area.

Cheers!