PROJECT DATSUN ARMENIA

[Lankytim]

Y0 ShitterZ

 

Picked this up from Blackbart last Sunday as I fancied a bit of a project and as I only live a couple of miles from work I'm going to bike it and have no need for a big mile munching XM (which will be going soon)

 

 

I picked it up from a working men's club and found a couple of other dead motors taking root.

 

 

I can only imagine what major mechanical or electrical meltdown has result in this being abandoned.

 

Anyway,

 

After blowing up the tyres and fitting a fresh battery it started first time but then wouldn't restart. By this time the tyre inflator had flattened the battery on the XM so I found myself stuck in Coventry with two broken down cars, FFS! Fortunately I found my jump leads and managed to push the XM round to the front of the Nissan and connect the batteries together, which resulted in the XM slowly chugging back into life, Phew! That was a nerve racking 30 mins or so, I can tell you.

 

I A framed the sukka back to Stoke and gave it a good check over.

 

 

Needs a few bits and bobs, a couple of tyres and a rear spring.. I think the front shocks are fooked too, but they may be OK.

 

The engine light is on and the big TV screen in the middle of the dash makes a "bing bong" on start up and informs the driver that the engine may or may not explode. Blackbart told me it's the crank sensor, in fact it's been having starting issues which could well be the crank sensor.

 

The biggest problem was the corroded sump which was pissing out engine oil. A new one was sourced from Euro car parts for £30 or something and after a faff, which included me hitting myself in the face with the new sump everything was fitted up, leak free and ship shape. The old sump really was fooked.

 

 

 

 

Unfortunately the two bolts that held the exhaust to the manifold cat busted off the second I touched them and the remnants resisted all attempts to drill them out so I dragged it round to the shite friendly garage to sort.

 

Unfortunately (again) when the garage tried to start it it was having one of it's "moments" and ended up stranded on their ramp. After a couple of days of non starting they told me to take it away and never bring it back, they wanted to fit a new cat, but didn't see the point if it didn't run. When I picked it up It started first turn of the key!

 

It's currently on the drive, I'm planning on taking the cat off and taking it into work to have the broken bolts drilled out and tapped. Failing that, any cheap suppliers of cats out there?

 

The starting issue could be down to a stretched timing chain, but i'm hoping it's the crank sensor, I checked the timing chain tensioner and it does seem to be on the limit but Blackbart assured me it had no running probs when he had it so fingers crossed a sensor fixes it.

 

 

Overall, I do like this Almera, it's got lots of toys and seems well screwed together. The inbuilt sat-nav is fun, but seems to think it's about a mile from it really is for some reason. Almeras were on the list of cars I never planned to own but despite it's issues this one is growing on me!

 

MOAR TO FOLLOW.

[MarvinsMom]

i think these are gr9 if you can keep the rust at bay!

 

a proper nissan, and something that the rest of the world doesn't gives a toss about. so true autoshite?

 

maybe one day i will too get to own one of these fine motors. maybe it is a cr you buy without trying or expecting to buy?

 

if so that is what i've been doing wrong, and trying too hard? well saved anyway, look forward to future updates!

[Barry Cade]

I just squashed the spares car- was pre facelift- they took 20 quid off me to take it away! They had never been on my radar either, but needed cheap reliable wheels for No2 daughter and this fitted the bill. I didn't expect it to be so pleasant.

 

Verdict: Nice.

[UltraWomble]

I like mine, its identical spec to yours Tim, the Shat Nav is 10 years out of date, I think they did DVD's for them up to about 2009/2010.

 

Parking sensor module has gone duff on mine, not that Im arsed about them really and it had a couple of electrical gremlins that have now been sorted as well as a water leak ( well two - passenger door and rear OS tail light) which have also been sorted - tail light responded well to Capt. Tolley.

 

Its pleasant to drive though I find the tyres on the alloys a bit skinny and harsh and I think my only real gripe is the radio is utter shite but is integral to the car as it controls the heating / air con and Sat Nav thing, remove any bit of it and the whole lot wont work. It is supposed to be possible to retrofit the rotary heater controls and air con controls ( with no TV screen and basic radio which can be swapped for something else) from a lower spec car, but given the grief involved in that Ive decided to do the logical thing and fit a second stereo in the glove box and additional speakers....

[Lord Sterling]

Good to see this one getting saved. They're not bad little cars to bomb about in. Looking forward to updates.

[loserone]

I'm convinced that the autoshite collective are trying to make me miss my old 1.5s.  I won't have it - it was apparently unfixably bad on motorways through vibration, soulless, plastic-y and generally horrible, as well as managing to make running a 20 year old MX5 /and/ an 18 year old 323F GTI a significantly cheaper prospect for maintenance.  

 

I'm pleased that some here are able to derive pleasure from them, and I hope that you join the ranks of those who actually like them.  Good luck!

[Lankytim]

I am worried about the cam chain issue, although when it's running it runs mintola, so it could actually be the crank sensor. The cam and crank sensors are interchangeable and it will run without the cam sensor so I'll swap them and see how it goes. Failing that a pal has said he'll help fit a new one.

[Lankytim]

Right, I removed the exhaust fannymould with cat off this afternoon after work, It was surprisingly stress-free and only took 10 mins.

 

Here are the bolts that need to be drilled out. I'm taking the whole lot to work on Monday to see if I can blag someone to stick it in a pillar drill or something.

 

 

With a bit of luck it won't turn out to be much of a drama and I can get everything back together and investigate the occasional fail to start (please don't let it be the chain just yet!)

 

I couldn't resist running the engine without the manifold fitted. It was pretty loud but made a lovely warble!

 

http://s46.photobucket.com/user/lankytim/media/Mobile%20Uploads/VID_20160304_145908_zpsxihkxjcr.mp4.html

 

I'd imagine that when it's all back together the ECU is going to be pretty angry with having all these sensors disconnected. I think I can clear the engine light by leaving the battery disconnected though, fingers crossed.

[Barry Cade]

A good drill bit would get through that toot sweet. start with a 1/8th, then work up to 8mm, then just put a bolt through and a nut on the other side.

[Lankytim]

I can't on the one on the right as the other end of the bolt is actually inside the cat cavity. I'm hoping to get it tapped and wazz a bolt into it.

[Lacquer Peel]

I think my grandparents' one suffered from a bust crank sensor, it's not always the timing chain.

 

These are quite nice to drive but shit in a lot of ways too, is this one a 1.8?

[Lankytim]

I think my grandparents' one suffered from a bust crank sensor, it's not always the timing chain.

 

These are quite nice to drive but shit in a lot of ways too, is this one a 1.8?

 

Nope, it's a 1500.

[jonathan_dyane]

I used to enjoy driving these daft things when I did agency work for Nissan loading/unloading the ships on Tyne Dock; somehow although they're quite primitive they're good and quite well engineered. Russia bought shitloads of ultra-base spec saloons I remember; didn't even have a radio!

[Lankytim]

Ha, I'd just finished work and got the "shite itch" so didn't bother getting changed.

 

Does anyone know where the crank sensors are on these things? I can't find it!

[cort16]

They still sell The almera in Russia.

[Lacquer Peel]

Ha, I'd just finished work and got the "shite itch" so didn't bother getting changed.

 

Does anyone know where the crank sensors are on these things? I can't find it!

Bellhousing/flywheel area?

[Mr_Bo11ox]

I cant muster any enthusiasm for these I'm afraid! The styling just looks too rubbish for me to put up with. I'm sure they're very well built though and would probably grow on me if i had one for a bit.

[Barry Cade]

 

[DVee8]

I used to enjoy driving these daft things when I did agency work for Nissan loading/unloading the ships on Tyne Dock; somehow although they're quite primitive they're good and quite well engineered. Russia bought shitloads of ultra-base spec saloons I remember; didn't even have a radio!

All the tooling got shipped to Russia when Nissan stopped production. Russia kept on building.

[Lankytim]

Thanks for that BC! That's a real help!

 

I tend to agree with BALLz' comments, but I kinda want a boring everyday car that I don't need to worry too much about and can get parts for. Plus, you're just jealous.

[neil1971]

I've owned one of these since 2008 and taken the mileage from 40k to just over 160k, it's been very reliable, did have to replace the crossmember which is prone to rotting on these but mainly just normal stuff wearing out otherwise, but it's still on its original clutch. 

 

They're never going to set the world on fire but are nice enough to drive, and being pretty unfashionable means they are cheap, hopefully the sensor will sort the starting problem (I think the later models had better timing chains and less prone to trouble than the earlier cars but may be wrong) and then you'll have a good reliable car for not a lot of money.

 

Photo of mine for anyone still awake...

 

[Mr_Bo11ox]

I though those P11 Primeras were a load of toss till I got one and found out that they were fucking GREAT.

[Kiltox]

Got a love/hate relationship with these - had one for my first car, regretted selling it but took one into stock last year that was an utter pig and went to the block with a stretched chain to try and recoup some of my money after I'd already put a clutch in it!

[SiC]

From what I have read on the internet-full-of-lies, the stretch cam chain thing is caused by missed oil changes and/or non-synthetic oil causing drag on the camshafts.

 

So I suspect we'll see them for a while around yet, as there will be a whole army of old giffer ones that do 3k p/a, with oil changes done to the book at a Nissan dealer who should (or not) be using the correct grades to the book.

[Lankytim]

The timing chain stretch was blamed on missed oil changes by Nissan to get out of warranty claims, they reckoned late changes caused acid in the oil which over pressurised the tensioner and stretched the chain. I've heard of a Micra needing a chain at 14k which wasn't covered on the warranty as it was late with It's 10k service. I think it's just an old fashioned design fault that causes it. As has been said, later cars don't seem to be as bad and use a different chain.

[Kiltox]

The chain stretched for a second time on the one I had despite very regular oil changes after the previous owner had already forked out for a chain!!

 

They sell for buttons though so make good runarounds

[Mr_Bo11ox]

good to know that even a basic Japanese petrol engine can still have a single fairly fundamental weakness, it gives me a sort of warm feeling that the age of shite is far from over

[neil1971]

Not proud to admit it but I'm less than fastidious with servicing etc and have had no trouble, I do use decent oil (Castrol part synthetic) and as it leaks a bit, it's sort of changed on an ongoing basis   or so I tell myself. Sump capacity is smaller than other cars I've had so would be easy to let the level get low if you don't keep an eye on it 

[Stanky]

Out of curiousity, what was it that caused the chain to stretch? were they over-tensioned or was the original chain not manufactured as diligently as it could have been?

 

My N15 has a duplex-chain drive for the cam, and after 142k is still very quiet, so I'm interested what it was about the QG engine which caused the chains to stretch when the GA engines were much less prone to it.

[Lankytim]

I think the earlier chains just didn't measure up, durability wise. Plus, as has been mentioned, the sump doesn't hold much oil- 2.5 litres, so any loss of oil can drop the oil to a critical level and cause premature wear. 

 

Also, these MK2 Almera engines used a "low noise" timing chain which wasn't as durable to the traditional Raleigh Chopper style chains used on some engines.