Engine Tips and Tricks

A page of tips and tricks we have all learnt the hard way when building, reparing or installing engines into our beloved 1200s.

Undoing the crank bolt

Here's a trick I have found for tightening and untightening the crankshaft bolt once the engine is removed from the car and on an engine stand (and you dont have a rattle gun)

When you try to turn the crankshaft bolt with an engine on the stand the engine will just spin. A good way around this is to take off the sump and restrict the crankshaft from moving with a humble piece of wood. (see pic)

http://mildman.datsunprojects.org/images/100_1113_small.JPG

Once the crankshaft is restrained it is very easy to either undo, or do up with a torque wrench.

Putting an engine on an engine stand

A trick I learnt the hard way, was the easy way to mount an engine to an engine stand.

An engine stand comes with 4 arms that attach to the back of the engine, they also attach to the engine stand itself. Easiest way to fit the arms to the engine is to remove them from the engine stand and separately attach them to the engine. http://mildman.datsunprojects.org/images/100_0905_small.JPG

With the arms attached to the engine you can swivel them around to make them fit to the engine stand fixture. http://mildman.datsunprojects.org/images/100_0910_small.JPG http://mildman.datsunprojects.org/images/100_0912_small.JPG

Then lifting the engine with an engine crane get the engine stand fixture fitted to the engine stand. http://mildman.datsunprojects.org/images/100_0914_small.JPG

This saves you trying to line up a heavy engine with the 4 attaching arms - this way you can just slip the whole engine stand fixture into the stand.

Starting the Engine Outside the Car

See Starting engine on the ground

Engine Damper

Want to reduce engine shake at idle? Fit a damper.

See main article: Engine damper