sick620

Truck broke down a couple times on way to show.. the bad gas issue is more than just filter getting clogged seems to be lines or plugged in the tank… we broke down near a guys shop he helped us blow air into the tank to push gas back up to the carb then it fired back up.. made it to the car show, broke down half way home.. eventually had to call the tow truck again… guess I’m dropping the tank soon… adjusted brakes and the stopping got a bit better so that’s good … still need to replace all the front stuff soon probably…

ok I was thinking this to be a possibility... I'll bleed the system as well.. not really sure if we have 1/16in pedal play maybe somewhere closer to an 8th inch, possibly 1/4 inch... would not enough stroke at the master cylinder cause that issue or probably drum adjusters or not bled properly in your mind still the cause?

we worked on the truck today/yesterday, tomorrow is import face off at firebird raceway near Boise Idaho. We registered the truck in the non judged show and even though its been having some issues I would feel like a failure if we didn't drive it.. We put a new fuel filter on it and we have 4 extras with us if it gets clogged again, ran for a little while and cant see any dirt or rust or anything yet. adjusted brake pedal, now it takes a pump to make them work and they engage way near the floor, so I'm going to adjust it back a little bit... hope our brakes don't fail we have no E Brake if they do... plan to adjust slave cylinder in the morning, realized clutch works great if I only push in pedal a tiny bit so its obviously adjusted to where its pressing way to hard on the fork (moving it too far) Exhaust leak at the collector is not great, there is only one bolt holding it together, so at the very least we need to get one more nut on the only other stud and see if that helps it a bit, otherwise soon we need to remove the studs and replace with bolts, and install a new gasket... So as long as I can get the clutch adjusted, get the brakes working a bit better and they stay working, and the fuel lines don't get plugged lol we'll be at the show. washed the truck, pictures don't do it justice.. patina looks really cool we think... PS temp gauge and fuel gauge issues ended up being our fault cluster was not installed back tight and thus not grounding well. After tightening it back in all was fine. Some other things that need to happen soon- Pop dent out of front corner as best as possible, straighten front end, re-install grill/bumper, Install fender mirrors, Replace front brakes and wheel cylinders, fix blinkers (need one bulb) and brake lights (none of them work), Install new steering wheel adapter (so we can install a horn button), install stereo, make some door cards and the truck needs a new upper control arm bushing bad so we just need to go through all of the suspension bits soon and replace all of the wear items... Hope we can put off king pins for a while... So basically just trying to get all of the bugs worked out and get it comfortable to cruise in this summer.. we will do some larger projects on it in the winter...

I ordered 5 fuel filters and I'll try this method. I think you are right about the brake issue, it has pressure at the very start so probably adjustment will fix it. No the clutch collar is for the sure the correct one... I'll check distance of travel and pedal play, it was working good so I figure its the fact that it has a leak at the nipple so now the pressure isnt enough to push the fork... need to look into it.

We got the exhaust done. 2inch with a cherry bomb… exhaust leak at collector for sure, we need to cut off a stripped nut and 2 stripped studs replace them with nuts and bolts and replace the gasket… The truck did not do good on the way home…3 major problems so i decided to just call a tow truck after we lost power and had to pull over 10+ times.. it’s not getting good gas. it has 12 gallons of new gas but it’s getting dirty fuel up at the filter clogging it… limped it for an extra mile or two but I either need to figure out a way to clean it out ourselves or just take it to a radiator shop and pay for a clean and re seal… also brakes locking up slightly pedal hard to press and hanging up a little making truck hard to push but not locked up all the way, e brakes aren’t the issue because it’s disconnected from the rear drums… lastly clutch leak at slave cylinder probably. hard to get into gear with full press of pedal 3/4 press of the pedal and it gos into gear… this has been an ongoing issue with the truck, you fix one thing and 3 other problems arise… sorry about sideways pics I’ll adjust later..

ok cool thanks this gives me hope that I can maybe make something work with the driveline…

Ok awesome, I have no idea where to find the dish volume.. but if in the 9’s on compression also pretty safe to assume running regular octane will be fine and probably making an extra 1 or 2 hp with the peanut head… We should have cut out the exhaust liners and port and polished the head while we had it out, I had no idea this was atleast a little bit of a desired head… will be due for a top end overhaul in a few years probably try to squeeze a little more power out of this thing…

Is this the z20e or z20truck engine (carbed) we are talking about tho mike? I know the z20e with flat top pistons and different length rods would have a higher compression/ horsepower but remember I have a z20 from a truck with dished pistons, dished pistons that are just slightly less “dished” than a l20b… if you go back a page in my thread here you will see the picture of our rebuilt block with the new dished pistons, they seem to be a bit less dished looking than a l20b piston, but certainly not flat top…

This is a closed chamber head correct? It’s a w58 off of a 1980 720… how much compression does the z20 rebuilt block with peanut head make? When I freshened up the head I figured it was open chamber and didn’t even think about it being closed chamber, just realized that I had read 1980 720 had a rare closed chamber w58 … had to go back and look at photos … I may have just built a high comp motor and had no idea lol 😂 no it’s probably not all that high but I believe z20s pistons have slightly less dish than l20b pistons so maybe hight 8’s at the most 9 to 1 compression? L20b with closed head makes like 8:8 to 1? also update: truck is in the exhaust shop getting 2inch pipe to a cherry bomb… lots of popping before We took it in I hope was just from a leak a foot or so from the collector or from the collector itself, new pipe should remedy that we hope… I did see a poof of smoke come from the exhaust manifold where it meets the head a few times when turning truck off, but i tightened the manifold bolts and didn’t see anything recently but wasn’t really looking for it either, so hopefully we don’t have a warped exhaust manifold and it’s leaking at the head and that’s the reason for the popping …

Still looking for answer to this…will I need a custom driveline to run the engine and transmission out of a 1987 hardbody (z24i with 4 speed yes it’s an original 4 speed) in a 1980 720 (it originally was a l20b 5 speed) … drivelines are like 1.5 inches different I believe…. will hardbody driveline work in 720, or atleast the front half or something?

Ended up going koyorad so far so good!

It was really fun to cruise around… 6 speed manual so kinda fun to shift through the gears in a new vehicle… very slow especially compared to the raptor but I think my girlfriends rav4 is probably a bit faster and it’s not very fast… interior was super cramped… I’m 5ft 8 and with seat all the way forward I still could barely reach the clutch pedal wasn’t a huge fan of that, like they didn’t care much about the manual because most people get the automatics..

They told me I can do this two times per month… so I’ll do this for all the fun holidays every year…

Plus .59 per mile… my move is 130 miles.. plus gas, they are not charging me gas at carmax anymore with the new test drive… so no not really… plus I got to drive a raptor which is a lot more fun …now a new gladiator with the top off win win win … possibly easier to get a big uhaul for the sake of time, but much more fun to break up the move in small chunks in fun trucks I think… I have a truck and large cargo trailer I’m borrowing for the big items, just getting all the small and medium size stuff in the trucks a little earlier and can’t beat free…

Dropped off the raptor and picked up the gladiator took 30minutes .. told me not to worry about putting gas in the gladiator just bring it back … 1 load down for this budget move ..

So I have been wanting to try this for a while, and it was time to move to a new house and I needed a big pickup to move some furniture. Carmax offers a 24 hour no questions asked test drive, and I have been wanting to see if I could either "borrow" a fun car that I want to drive (wrx, hellcat, corvette, etc) Or utilize this promotion for a truck if I ever needed to move a large item (couch, entertainment center etc) Anyways I picked up a ford raptor to haul a load or two to the new place... they give you 24 hours and 150 miles... you have to provide your own insurance with collision coverage etc, a valid cell phone in case they need to reach you, and sign a waiver saying you wont be under the influence, or do anything illegal... They actually encourage you to load your things in the car, and car seats for the kids etc give it a good try see if it fits your lifestyle etc... Employees at carmax don't make commission and really don't care all that much if you buy a vehicle or not.. The process is nearly as smooth as renting a car at enterprise etc... took 30 minutes on a busy day at carmax with no appointment... they even scheduled me to test a jeep gladiator tomorrow when I drop off the raptor, so you can string a couple tests together if you are like me and trying to get some moving done... I'll let you know if the return process is easy... 😆

trying to figure out if we are driving a datsun or not. GFs 521 is just barely finally running but it has only been tested around the block... Pretty big gamble to drive it from idaho i'm thinking... we might tow it, might just drive a modern non datsun... if I get the bugs worked out next weekend and drive it to work for a couple weeks before the show then we may drive it.

Getting the truck slowly road worthy got the back brakes put back together finally now it starts drives and stops it even went around the block a few times… problem … gas gauge and temp gauge stopped working out of nowhere.. I suspect that voltage regulator on the cluster any ideas on what I should try first to get it to work?

Ok so I have had issue with the vr on cluster before In a 521 years ago but I don’t remember what I did to get it to work again… I think I just pulled it cleaned it a little and put it back in but not sure… well the new to me 521 is having same issue, anybody got ideas for quick fixes without replacing it or doing this mod?

I found an intake off a b310 (210) with a15 at the junkyard and it is not co joined… will this not work?

Rebuilding the A14 in my b210. I want it to be mildly built for a little bit more performance... I will be buying new pistons what should I get? Is there something with a bit less dish or a bit bigger that would work with my a14 crank and rods? I am going to run a weber dgav.. Should I run stock exhaust manifold or headers? Could I just bump compression a bit by milling the head or changing pistons, and make around 80hp at the wheels without much head work? I plan on using my 77 b210 A14 Head, block, crank and rods... I just want to make a reliable amount of power best bang for the buck without getting a rare closed chamber head, or running an a15 crank etc...

I got this thermostat from Napa autoparts… kinda cool it’s made in Japan as well as a temp sender from rock auto and installed today with the original radiator for now… temp gauge now working and temp gos a little bit above half and seems to stay there… Water seems to flow really slow in radiator so I think the radiator is just really plugged inside, we ordered a koyorad so hopefully that will be the end of our cooling problems.

do you know jason or rory or fernando or any of the other local datsun guys? I live in meridian (moving to payette soon) so I'm here local to you... audi swap is awesome your skills to make things work that are not supposed to is amazing.. Love this truck...

Im trying new thermostat first, but why get a thermostat for 521 and not l20b?