Hey, my name is Fil... I live in Vancouver, BC, and I picked up a 1970 L521 back in September. I haven't had a chance to do any work to it, but I'm hoping to tear it apart and rebuild it... And from what I can tell, it can certainly use a little TLC...
It's got the J13 with the four-speed. I have no idea how many miles are on it though... the odometer says some six-odd thousand miles, but I have no idea how many times it's rolled over. It runs fairly well though... I'm just having problems with the alternator not charging, and the carb could use a rebuild (or a replacement). I'm hoping to keep the engine, but that ultimately depends on whether or not I can replace the clutch pedal with a hand clutch... Too many problems for me and the foot pedal...
I don't have pictures, but I'll take some tommorow as it should be nice and sunny. I do, however, have a few questions...
Does anyone know a relatively inexpensive yet effective way of making the clutch hand operated vs foot operated? The only real requirement I have is that the clutch be operated from the gear shift stalk (possibly with a motorcycle clutch lever or something similar) and not require too much effort to apply. I'm considering eliminating the master cylinder and using a power steering pump or small hydraulic pump instead, then using a valve or series of valves to adjust the pressure going to the slave cylinder... I've also considered using a motorcycle lever attached to the master cylinder by one or a series of cables, using a power brake booster to reduce the amount of force needed on the lever... Or, even replacing the master cylinder with a power brake booster and brake master cylinder combination, and running that to a clutch lever...
Anyone have any ideas on that? Getting custom hydraulic lines or cables or whatnot isn't an issue, as there's a shop here that I often visit for work for that very reason... so it's just a matter of getting a working plan...
Fil