Hello everyone,
I'm new here so you'll see me coming here more and more often. I've been enjoying the Datsun pics and info on this great forum.
I've got a 1971 521 and when I got it a few months ago (April) it was slightly leaky, when I brought it home, and it was an altitude difference, it bled out. When it ran, the exhaust smoked plenty, between the mess underneath and inside w/ oil, grease, mud and grime and the smoking which told me it needed a new head gasket, I decided to pull everything out and clean it all up and reassemble w/ new gaskets and seals.
I found the rear end of the transmission where the shaft output was frayed and warped. It was some strange damage that I can't seem to find anything online about such a problem for comparison. I took it to a buddy who's a transmission expert at the auto dealership I used to work at and he has not seen damage like it. The big question was of course whether it was critical or not. The coconscious was yes but who knows how long the truck got by like this, it still seemed to retain lots of oil in the gearbox area when I drained it. Over the past few months I've searched for replacement end/output area housing for the transmission. It's broken and frayed where I think a collar would have held a seal. I've no considered finding a whole other tranny but all searches prove fruitless. I suspect now that maybe this transmission is similar to the ones in the later 620 but I don't know for sure, as diagrams, pictures and info on 4 speed manual transmissions in 1971 521s seems very limited, I very frankly don't even know what model of transmission I'd be looking for, if I were to get another.
I've talked about the possibility of getting a machine shop to McGyver something up so dirt does not get up in there. Maybe it's not as bad as I think it is as the truck ran before without but something obviously tells me a gapping hole around the shaft in the back of the transmission won't work for long. I really want to avoid replacing it to begin w/, gears and all check out fine. As tempting as it is to hotrod this and drop a non stock engine and tranny in it would defeat the original purpose of this truck as a practical little economy fix'r upper get around town working truck. Plus I don't really have the equipment or know how to do all the cutting or non stock custom modifications. :geek:
Long time Datsun Z owner, just now getting into the trucks and learning the ropes.
I'd like to post photos of the kind of damage I'm trying to describe but I've yet to discover how to post photos here on this forum. I looked at the how to instructions, posted here but it seems that it might only work if I had a photobucket or some kind of pic sharing site. I just wanted to keep it simple and attach images of the truck from my computer.
Anybody w/ any insight or advice into this crazy transmission mystery would be much appreciated. :confused:
Thank You :thumbup: