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I love the wrench with the hole drilled in it, great idea. I have a tappet wrench I cut down to size and ground the head to narrow it as well. My contribution is this, before you put the carb back on make sure to get in with a die-grinder or Dremel and open up the recesses where the nuts live as much as you are comfortable with. Giving you a little more room to work makes the process a whole lot better during the re-installation and future removal.

I just hacked the back third off a wagon in a yard near me, clean California car. Shipping would be rather spendy I suspect but I don't think the pan would be hard to cut out. PM me if you want to discuss it further.

510 wagon 1980, automatic, 2L. Located in the south bay area of California. Well, since there is a place for these, this one might as well be here. It's a project I shouldn't have taken on. The PO swore it was a 210 and by the time I drove 150+ miles with the van and tow dolly with the final hour and a half out in the sticks with unpaved one-lane roads, I'll be damed if I was going home empty. I figured it needed rescue and was bound to be worth more in places with running water so dragged it home. https://sfbay.craigslist.org/scz/cto/d/santa-cruz-1980-datsun-510-station-wagon/6884780261.html

Leave it, it's just a leftover defect from the casting process. Welding on it will just risk cracking down the road. The casting process for these blocks was fairly imprecise so there is a large amount of extra material sitting around.

This should be the more-or-less final note I have for this thread: I reduced the orifice on the primary a bit too much (like 18.5:1 too much) and then opened it up a touch (#55 drill) so my lean cruise seems to be in the low to mid 16s. I've removed a few more coils from the power valve plunger so I can cruise at 75MPH on flat land but the moment I hit a grade it kicks in. After the first time I learned my lesson and left the diaphragm in the top cover and just cut the spring one coil at a time with a dremel. I lost count but one coil at a time was really unnecessarily gradual, two at a time is plenty fine I think and I lost count but I'd say I'm about 8 coils down from factory. It's still too rich on the power valve but enough of that is altitude and fuel variation that I'm not positive I'm going to chase it down. In the end, it's much more tractable than the factory carb in terms of usable torque but it's still pretty imprecise. I set the idle to a nice 14:1 and the next day it's at 12:1 or 15:1 depending on engine temp, where I bought gas, the barometric pressure, etc. I see less variability at steady throttle but accelerating and decelerating both show wonky irregularities and if I pull a hard corner while doing a hillclimb I really see how fuel slosh is hurting me. I considered a computer-controlled air-bleed solenoid but really I fear if I want better it might be time for some sort of EFI. Oh, mileage... too soon for real data but it looks like I'm back in the mid-30s, not great but it's almost as good as the Hitachi. I'm interested to see if I can break 40 on a road-trip like I could on the Hitachi.

Well, it's progress... "You can make adjustments to the power valve by shortening the rod that protrudes into the float bowl. I hit them on a belt sander and knock them completely off." I thought about this and started shortening the rod from the power valve, I cut it to about 1/2 it's length and then stopped. If I knocked it flat off, I would have had no power valve action which isn't what I was looking for. I tried it with the shorter pin and it helped a very tiny amount so I worked the other end, I considered shortening the plunger out of the vacuum-housing but decided on reducing the spring pressure instead which has worked pretty well. I cut about 3-turns off the spring and I can now cruise carefully at almost 70 or climb a *very* slight grade without going into the power valve, I'll take another 2-turns off and that should be good. If I were going to do it again, I'd leave the diaphragm housing attached to the top cover since it's small and thin, I got it assembled with a slight crease the first time and then it was on the power valve worse than when I started. OK, so the sensitivity is about fixed but it's still way too rich. Sounds like it uses the same nozzle as the power valve? Oh, When I started both jets were #140s which is .0535". I altered the secondary to .0465"(#56 drill) which nets me a cruise A/F of about 15.2:1, I could go a touch leaner.

Blueprinting can help a fair bit: A good 3-angle valve job, undercut the stems for better flow while you're at it and balance the c**p out of it... pistons, big end and small ends of rods, etc. It will run smoother and make more power, with some better valve springs you can rev it higher to get more power yet. Even if you don't do a real port job, cutting down the valve guides can make some nice room. Especially if you have a swirl-intake head, porting can help improve power without hurting emissions much. Fancy coatings in the exhaust stream will aid in scavenging and flow. If you have the original catalytic converter, change it out for a new one, they will flow better and help you pass smog with your other modifications. I found some joy with mild flow work on the Hitachi carbs, a dremel and time will allow you to re-contour the venturis and smooth the throttle shaft. It's no Webber but every little bit, right?

I've lost my notes temporarily. I think the jets were #140 though there is a tiny chance they were #145. I measured them and the one on the secondary was a bit smaller but I had looked up the date and they weren't individually gauging them at that time so I'm not too surprised. OK, I'll try shortening the rod a bit and see how I come out. Is there a length to pressure ratio I should know? I'll have to look at the carb for the sub-model but it's progressive mechanical secondary, single-pumper, electric-choke. Is it really the case that the accelerator pump and power valve share a nozzle so to change I wind up changing the other as well? Unfortunate but I can cope. I'll shoot for "best lean torque" in the mid 13s then. What about primary/secondary cruise? I'm at low 15s now and I thought that was pretty thin but I did some looking and I gather newer cars are running mid 16s. I'd worry about exhaust valves but I guess you aren't really making any heat or power at those loads so it's ok?

Based on idle and lower-speed cruise I'm convinced my primary jet size is good. I reduced the size of the secondary by about 20%(by area) and now my higher speed cruise values look good as well. That helped me see my other problem, if I tip the throttle it still just dumps fuel. I'm talking ratios as low as 11:1 here at the slightest grade or acceleration. So, I need to both decrease the sensitivity of the power valve and also reduce the flow. I know there are theoretical A/F ratios for ideal power but I also know that the type of motor matters a fair bit, what have people found with the A13 motor to be a good power-making ratio that stops short of just converting fuel into smoke? thanks,

Thanks for the input. Well, based on that recommendation I've changed the secondary from a .0535" down to .0465". I left the primary alone because it's running pretty right-on in that range. Test drive tomorrow and we'll see.

I got the car with the Weber and had to swap to a Hitachi, well I've moved and the Hitachi got balky so I dug out the Weber. It really makes more low/mid power which the poor little motor needs so that's a win. Idle is good, power is fine, low to mid cruising is lovely. The issue is that if I tip the throttle my A/F plummets from 14-15 down to about 12:1 and pretty much stays there. I'm having a really hard time deciding if it's a power valve issue since it's a big carb for that little engine or if I'm opening the secondaries and they are well to the rich side. There is only the slightest difference in throttle position and I sometimes see the ration change with no throttle movement so I'm suspecting power valve. Secondarily, what's a good A/F for power without just turning fuel into smoke on a tiny N/A motor like this? Thoughts anyone? I'd rather buy the likely parts before cracking the carb since I don't live anywhere near a parts shop. Thanks all,

Thanks for that post, the picture solved my problem since I had a tachometer but no wires out the back. I will point out for posterity that the other wires are ground(black) and regulated power from the cluster(green) so you are likely to need all 3 wires to test.

The main schematics show only the white wire but the page of cluster schematics show the other two wires. Colors are not specified but simply tracing the wires and matching colors did the trick. I now have a functioning tachometer. Black (left): ground White(right): signal Green(center): gauge voltage regulator output It is likely that given the primitive voltage regulation done on the cluster this will affect the readings on the fuel and temp gauges trivially. Interestingly my charge light is now lit but I suspect it's just coincidence, something else to look into. Thanks again.

I like the idea. I've got a call in to a guy I know who has a custom shop (aircraft mostly) but I'm sure once I get up off the floor from his number I'll be looking more carefully at a DIY solution. In the mean time, I do have to send a sample of fabric to SMS for another project so it might be prudent to include a bit of Datsun tan just to get a match set up. thanks,

Thanks for the welcome, longtime Datsun owner and I've been lurking for a while, it just took another car breaking for me to get back to the 210. If better looks, fit, and comfort were the criterion, one could argue that I should replace the whole car with something more modern/better. It's transportation sure but also a trip down memory lane and the original seats have a particular fit and look that make it part of the essential Datsun experience for me.

I do have that lovely manual (best manual ever, just short on tach details) but without the short wires off the back of the tach the color codes are useless. That picture helps tremendously, now I can make the jumper wires and work from there. Thanks!

Ah, why didn't I think of that? Better quality for a fraction of the price. Great advice for the next car. thanks,

I think the best thing that is often overlooked about putting LED units in for the turn signals is if you should be stuck you don't have to choose between using your hazard flashers and starting your car later. Also gives you a chance if you leave your parking lights on. Especially true if you have a small battery (saving 30+lbs in a 1500# car, such a win)! Yeah, electronic flasher units (x2) and a half dozen bulbs still comes to over $100 but I do feel better. I tried to come up with units that were brighter but not too much brighter.

I know I could just buy some seats that fit but I'd really like to have them look stock and original and I'm willing to spend more than the car cost me to have that happen. of course the car only cost $700... I've got the less common brown interior. I'd like to find some good original seats (yeah, right) or someone to recover them in the original color. Has anybody had any luck finding factory covers or a custom shop to undertake such a thing? I should mention that most of the interior on mine is pretty good, a bit sunbleached but otherwise solid on everything but the front seats and the carpet (of course the dash is cracked). A new carpet made the interior pretty nice but really made the seats even more awful. I pulled a pair from a 91 Corolla that had sort of similar color but I'm just not going to be happy with the contrast after I get the paint done. thanks,

So, I snagged a NOS tach for my '79 wagon the other day. It came and nicely fills the blank spot in the cluster but currently nothing more. Thing is, although the factory manual is the best I've ever seen it's missing the bit on the schematics where the pinout of the tach would be defined. I suspect the tach electronics are common to several vehicles around this time. PCB is part # DS80 It has three pins, labelled 1, 2, and 5. I know they are common, power, and signal but no idea which is which. thanks,