Recent content by 73datsun

Welp. Had a morning free of meetings, so spent it in the garage. Everything bolted back together, set the valves, turned the key and it immediately fired up and idled perfectly. Drove it around with no deck to confirm it was operating fine. Purchase price: $250 Plugs, gaskets, misc hardware...

You aren't kidding. Took way too long. Ended up staying up late last night and got it all back together. Spun the crank, with valve covers off, and miraculously, they actually move this time. Now I just need to put it back on the frame, connect everything up, adjust the valves and give it a go...

Well you called it. Stripped it all down, and sure enough the Woodruff Key was sitting in the bottom of the pan. So the timing gear was just free wheeling and not actuating the valves. I'll read up on setting timing, etc and figuring out meshing these back together with key in. Still have no...

So basically, drain the oil (again), pull the motor, take everything off and see if I dinked something around in the process? Hard to tell what it would be just looking at parts diagrams. Yeah, the equipment rental place is owned by a friend of the family. But he also sold it knowing it would...

And now it gets more weird. I took the valve covers off, removed the plugs, hand spun the motor, I can feel the piston moving, but the valves are just sitting idle. Video: Which leads me to believe I must have screwed something up in the sump gasket replacement process. But I don't know...

Nope, didn't mess with the crank or camshaft. Verified spark by pulling a plug, putting cap on, grounding it, bumping starter, and viewing spark.

Picked up a JD LA165 that my local equipment rental place had taken on trade. I rented it to mow the lawn, ended up liking it, he sold it to me for $250. I was well aware that it was leaking (pouring) oil from the sump gasket. Tore it all down, put in the sump gasket and a crank seal. I drained...