Well, I guess, after 280,000 miles and 19-degree weather, my little truck needs some help.
Sounds like the usual Nissan z24 knock/rough idle after cranking it on Monday at about 19-degrees and sounds like the head gasket finally gave in.
Any tips out there on a speady recovery as I plan on doing this myself; Christmas ate up all the "xtra" a had in my wallet.
I plan on re-surfacing the head and replacing the timing chain/tensioner, but any hidden secrets out there?
Thanks

Should be pretty simple and straight-forward. Use a quality gasket set, such as FelPro. No sealer on the head, just the gasket. You may want to replace the head bolts. Find out the sequence and torque specs for your exact engine. Your head bolts will likely be torqued wet (threads only)--very important to find this out. Attention to detail makes a big difference.

Ok, Grease, help me out here on this one; I got the head/timing chain replaced, now I seem to have a throttle body issue, which is strange because it wasn't touched...
It now has a 'stumble' when 'soft' acceleration, ONLY between 1400rpm and 1900rpm.
I say soft because if you accelerate,(keep the rev's up), like in a hurry, it doesn't do it.
I'm leaning towards the mass air-flow module, even though, it is a throttle-body delivery system...
What are your thoughts?

. Check for any air leaks.

. Check/replace the Ignition Control Module--problems can show up in different ways.

Ok, Grease, help me out here on this one; i got the head/timing chain replaced, now i seem to have a throttle body issue, which is strange because it wasn't touched.......
It now has a 'stumble' when 'soft' acceleration, ONLY between 1400rpm and 1900rpm.
I say soft because if you accelerate,(keep the rev's up), like in a hurry, it doesn't do it.
I'm leaning towards the mass air-flow module, even though, it is a throttle-body delivery system....
What are your thoughts?

I'm thinking that the Throttle Position Sensor (TPS) may have some light corrosion on the internal contacts. The best way to know for sure is with an oscilliscope attached across the sensor when the problem occures.
Are you able to scan for Diagnostic Trouble Codes (DTCs)? Possibly a Code 43? Poor performance when accelerating lightly (the TPS moves slowly across it's sweep) may be due to poor contact surface inside the TPS.
Sometimes just rough handling can be detrimental to old sensative sensors.