Hello, I have .a 84 sohc z31 that has been quite a drag for me. History: ran well for 2 weeks, blown head gasket, fixed, snapped my passenger side cam, fixed, two blown passenger side valves, fixed and now the car sounds a bit shaky. I suspect the alternator is to blame. I just had both heads fixed and have a running car but i guess my question would be, how long until it fails again? Should I give up and sell the car?
Love the car just now the problems

 

Welcome to ZDriver!

No offense, but it sounds like you need to be better at following repair procedures... or is this some backyard mechanic doing shoddy work for you?

 

None taken, I appreciate any help. I done most of the work up to the last repair. The mechanic was some country dude with 35+ experience, recommended by my friends mechanic who has done good work. Thing is, he started acting shady so i suppose i've gotten myself into a bad deal. I'm having to go through the car myself to recheck.

 

I'm supposing you are talking about the VG30E engine with no mods. In my experience that engine is good and long lasting. My 85T had over 230K miles on it ran strong. began using oil which I attribute to bad valve seals. I bought a wrecked 86T that had over 100K on it. ran well sold it to a guy still using it. My 86T still going strong over 140K. so I think your car had the dreedle whipped out of it. Maybe some idiot drift driver? Can't figure the cam and valve troubles unless it was run without oil or the timing belt snapped. take one hell of a force to snap a camshaft. So maybe you should find a junker with a good engine and swap. Or as nismopick said get a new mechanic.

 

Yes. The car was running a great 160k till i got my hands on it. It was my first car so i admit i did push it. At the time i knew a new engine was the route but i was too fixated on money since it had been tight. Live and learn though. I had the alternator tested and it checked out well. Also found out 4 of the spark plugs were burnt out and one was broken. No promises this should be it but fingers crossed it will. In correlation with the cars breakdowns i have stated, what part would you or recommend changing? Thank u!

 

Check the timing belt. The "shakes" could be the timing off one belt tooth. If you didn't replace the belt with all the head work done, do so now. Like rogerz pointed out, I cannot fathom what would snap a camshaft without tanking the whole engine.

 

Will do! This is how it sounds/ looks:

 

Motor seems to run steady, holding idle well. Sounds like a bad bearing up front. I'd start with the tension pulley bearing on the A/C belt. Next would be the water pump bearing. Yeah, bad alternator bearing could be the problem. Doesn't sound whiny enough to me to be the power steering pump.