This past spring I picked up a complete non running 89 240sx SE from a friend who had gotten in over his head/lost interest. This is the first S chassis I have ever owned, however not my first '80s Nissan.
I had a '88 300zx as my first car back in 2006. This 240sx had 225,203 miles on the clock and came with a limited/questionable history. The car had been parked since late 2008 before my friend picked it up
The reason the car had been parked was unclear, my friend told me that is possibly a potential head gasket or head related issue.
Here is what the car looked like when my friend picked it up
The car lived its whole life in North Carolina and is completely stock and rust free. Aside from some a lot pealing clear coat the body is in good shape.
The factory spoiler had rotted out but came with the car.
I downloaded the FSM, bought a battery, and got to work.
This is from when I first started working on the car.
After checking the coolant, changing the oil and doing a compression check I saw no signs of a bad head gasket.
Before the compression check I had squirted some engine oil into the combustion chamber. After the compression check I turned the car over and it sputtered a bit. I added some started fluid and the car briefly started.
I then turned my attention to the fuel system. I pulled the fuel pump and was greeted by the overwhelming smell of varnish. After pulling out 5 gallons of bad gas I was able to see the extent of the damage.
The tank was completely rusted.
Old tank out
I ended up getting a good condition fuel tank, sending unit, and filler neck out of a convertible from a local upick junk yard.
Unfortunately the junk yard had drilled 2 hole in the bottom of the tank to drain the fuel.
I got the holes patched, and the outside recondition at a local shop.
The filler neck mounting location is different on the convertibles so I had to get the mounting tab swapped over from the old filler neck.
At the same time I sent the injectors off to be cleaned
With everything installed and a new fuel pump I flushed out the fuel lines with some fresh gas and went to start it up. It started out running rough on only 2 cylinders but was running on all 4 in no time.
There was some excessive valve noise so I popped off the valve cover to take a look.
It was bad news in there, the rocker arm bolt for the #3 and #4 exhaust valves had backed out.
The retainer was broken, the #3 exhaust rocker has slid out of position on the rocker arm, destroying the lifter, and exhaust valve.
The #4 exhaust rocker and valve are still good.
Here is a collection of retainer, lifter, and rocker arm that were sitting in the cylinder head.
At this time I also discovered that the timing chain guide had fallen off.
At this point I was about 3 weeks away from moving several states away and I decided to ship the car in its current state before I started tearing into the engine.
Here is the car loaded onto the trailer with my 2001 insight.
Some clean interior shorts for no reason:
The drivers seat is in need of restoration
