I have bought a new A14 unit, and it would happily bolt into place, but the belt pulley mount would then be wrong and, more importantly, it would be too close to the radiator for my happiness.

I've had one breakers yard say they have one, used, and twice the price of the new A14 unit.

I've yet to go hunting for a A14 pulley to see if it might help.

I see there is a comparison here (from you, lol!), I wonder if an A12 unit might be available new here.

Since mine is rattling away somewhat I tried to replace it with an A14 unit. No joy, obviously, since the mounting for the pulley is smaller on the A14 and also the whole pump unit stands somewhat taller (further from the block) which would bend the belt and be a mite close to my rad.

Anyone in SA know where I might be able to find a (new, preferably) A15 water pump? Midas done the visual inspection against their 'water pump catalogue' with no match, and I've not found a scrappy that has a clue. I'm waiting on Shus Nissan to tell me if they can source the part but thought I'd ask here too.

I've got the head off and put up a couple of pictures...







Anything that I should take particular note of?

The engine was blowing water out the gearbox end of the head/block interface (the left in head shot, right in block shot). The second cylinder appears not to be firing (black exhaust valve), the first has a nice furry valve which I guess is due to the water. On the block it appears the gasket has stretched out towards the ends of the blok from the first/last cylinder.

Just wondering if anyone notices anything else, since this is the first time I've done this sort of thing

I guess I know what I'm doing over the weekend then

Kegs,
Yeah, the B140 is common as muck here, but uses the A14. I'm not sure if the head gaskets are interchangable. If they are then getting one is very easy, if they're not then it's a different matter.

I'm tempted to buy an A14 from a scrappy if parts supply becomes an issue. I'll just need to check if the gearbox (appears to be 60 series, probably FS5W60A?) will match.

I put the car




onto a dyno since it was not running lekker.

before: 56.3kW @ 5025, 118Nm @ 3005.
after: 72.8kW @ 5214, 143Nm @ 4106.

This is for a pretty stock (I think) A15, just got a free flow exhaust and 40DCOEs.

Not sure how that stacks up with anyone else, and dyno readings can't really be compared.

On another note, they noticed that there was water escaping from between the head and the block Since the A15 was never imported into SA getting a new one might be a tad on the difficult side. Is the A14 head gasket interchangable? Or do any South Africans know of a dealer that might carry A15 parts?

I seem to spend a fair bit of time around the 2-4k RPM range (local speed limits and traffic!), which makes me think the diff needs a slightly different ratio, or I'll end up collecting pink slips. This morning I was cruising into town in 4th at about 70kph and the tach was showing just short of 3k RPM.

I guess more torque would be nice, since acceleration is more the goal than high revs screaming.

I've since managed to identify the gearbox too, a 60 series, normal (not dogleg) 5 speed, as denoted by a "60" impression on the right hand side of the casting. Still to work out what the rear axle is from though, still working on the rumor it's a skyline jobby.

I've read somewhere recently the cranks can handle 8500 RPM, but I'm wondering what I should consider a redline. I tend to stop short of 7k to be on the safe side. Assuming all is stock, is this reasonable?

I've recently bought a Lotus 7 replica, which appears to have a 1500 Nissan engine. In trying to determine exactly what this thing is, I've stumbled upon this site :)

The engine number is A15469???, stamped on the right (plug) side, with two other stamps on the left (exhaust) side, DZ4X and G34.

I gather this is indeed a 1500-ish from Sunny B310 or similar. Is there any way to trace the age/etc of this?

It's fitted with a couple of 40DCOE which are causing me no end of hastle right now. Dyno booked on Tuesday so hopefully I can get a little more urge out of it. Failing that I'm going to start looking for a decent cam etc setup. Any suggestions?