Slow Loris

What’s number 33 supposed to look like? Manual says “cushion-contact plate” Is it like a little squishy rubber thing? Something to keep #32 off the hub I presume?

Ratsun: Where poetry and Datsuns meet.

for god’s sakes finish the haiku! You are so close!

Yeah mine too I think you’re good. But if the rears aren’t adjusted you’ve got nothin. I think opposed to the manual guidance, with new shoes I back off like 7 clicks from so-tight-the-wheel-is-difficult-to-spin-with-one-arm and that’s pretty good braking performance. Make sure your adjuster is greasy enough in the slot to slide a little when you push on it before adjusting the star wheel, then it will center itself.

I think I lost most of my hearing and gained most of my muscle mass from hammering the wheel cylinders off my 521. That is quite an experience indeed. I initially bought the Raybestos wheel cylinders but had one spring a leak so I changed to Centric which appeared briefly on Rockauto, but who the hell knows what your experience will be, like Hainz says always better off with the real shit if you can find it. My tactic is I often go with the cheap stuff to get me going as a means to troubleshoot bigger picture problems and then keep an eye out and bite the bullet later on for the good stuff as it does appear online off and on it seems (I’m only one year into 521-ship but seems to be true).

Well if the manual says cam then presumably the Nissan engineers already did the math for us and we don’t need to. You’d think?

Okay sweet! Just making sure I had not been totally blowing this!

Interesting, that’s news to me. I’ve only seen it described as the clearance at the cam lobes.

For my own learning, could you clarify the distinction you’re making here?@Stoffregen Motorsports

Okay yeah maybe it’s irrelevant then if the fork is moving enough. I think fixing the adjustment at the fork will help most of my earlier problems, so thanks for the advice there. Need to test drive still! Maybe the pedal to floor issue is a quirk of the ‘69 cab swapped into the ‘70 frame causing some funny geometries?

@banzai510(hainz) it is moving the clutch arm. I’m getting about 7/8” of travel at the clutch arm. So there is fluid flowing. Not sure if that seems like enough? @datzenmike well I’m 163 mm from pad to floor and then what stops my pedal travel is the wheel well hump hitting the left side of the pedal. Perhaps my superhuman leg strength is to blame.

Ok I got that clearance sorted at the fork arm, I had far too much. Free play at the pedal/master all good. Pedal height I think is close enough though I’ve seen both 163 mm and 150 mm referenced. Bled. Good amount of travel for the fork arm. Anyway, clutch pedal still hits the floor. What’s up with that?

I bought the Cardone reman you speak of and I can confirm that it works great but I have put very few hours of use into it. Actually it breathed new life into my truck but that is more a comment on my old distributor than anything else. Found the generic HEI module on Amazon and off I went. Very easy to set up. I had scrounged my local junkyard for distributors previously and only ended up with various pedestals and no dizzys but it meant I didn’t have to “rig” anything.

Thank you. I will go with that approach and see how we get on. Obviously there’s a backstory why I’m screwing with this so here’s hoping this is it!

Okay, so in the end there won’t actually be any clearance with the clutch arm because that hydraulic pressure will take up the slack as soon as I let go of the rod. That’s fine then since that’s small pressure compared to that from the pedal?

@banzai510(hainz) To clarify: 1) it’s not the pedal causing the pressure in the slave because the master is not connected to the pedal right now (to eliminate it as the cause of this) 2) it’s not the fork-to-slave spring taking up the gap because it’s unhooked (@datzenmike yes the slave does have a spot to hook it in) So my problem is I can’t gap at the fork/slave because the slave keeps pressing out the rod, eliminating any gap I can set. I took the slave off with the hose still on, bottomed out the piston with my finger, opened the bleeder, closed it, and then watched the piston slowly return to the edge of the slave bore. It stopped eventually right at the mouth of the bore. Somehow there’s enough pressure in the line to push on the slave it seems. Is this a faulty master or slave, or just some air, or am I misunderstanding the process?

New clutch master and slave. New hose and hard lines. I’m adjusting the play between ball nut on adjustable slave pushrod and the clutch fork, problem is, if I adjust the nut to allow for some clearance as soon as I let go of the slave pushrod, it pushes itself right back out against the fork taking up all the play I just created. The clutch pedal is not connected to the master. Spring not on for this step (and it’s not just the fork migrating towards the nut) I opened the bleeder on the slave and pushed the rod all the way in, then closed the bleeder, still it pushes right back out. The pushrod on the master feels to be at fully out position, it’s not stuck or anything. What does this mean?

@Draven521 don’t listen to me I’m a real idiot, but DO listen to these guys their advice on this forum helped me get my 521 running after it sat in someone’s yard for 10 years. They are brilliant. You will do it! Also, hopefully just a thread tangent here but @Stoffregen Motorsports I did everything on your 10 year non-op list above EXCEPT I didn’t change my fuel pump or its diaphragm. Can you elaborate on that? Like, take it to the bank my fuel pump is going to croak any day and I might as well order a replacement? Also @banzai510(hainz) funny you mention that I JUST got around to tightening my carb bolts the other day and HOLY HELL did that make a huge difference!!

Hmm so it’s routinely trying to die after I shift into second and accelerate. First and reverse are not a problem. And it really abruptly cuts out, not even a stumble or a bog just a straight up silent cut out. it’s like first gear take off…fine clutch in, second gear, lift clutch accelerator, immediate cut out It’s recoverable with the clutch in, and at times will push through the cut out if I stay on the gas, but other times, it dies. I guess maybe fuel delivery, but it’s weird how sudden it cuts out. Not your average stall. No bucking. I had been thinking some type of clutch slippage or poor clutch release return but I’m not sure… Any ideas?

Alright plugged that hole in the carb and nothing bad happened… Removed carb and replaced the bottom gasket and the one just under the top section and retightened to manifold. All seems happy. I drastically readjusted the clutch slave and pedal to see if that changes driving behavior but haven’t had a test drive yet. I did a driveway slip test with the truck in 4th and it stalled right away so that’s good. But I feel light the release bearing/something isnt returning as it should based on my last test drive. It’s like slow to return, but does eventually. Is there a way to get at it to unstick it while trans still on truck? I can’t see too far into the opening at the release lever to tell what’s happening.

Well I went this route instead: And so far so good! In fact the motor is running much smoother than before and I actually felt good about the firing on the timing light. I got a matching coil from Napa and an ACDelco GM HEI module and wired per you lovely people’s guides and I’ll be damned it works! I would still like to rehab that old one in case the reman craps out.

Alright found a plug and nothing has exploded so calling that a success!

Dig the paint job.

Okay cool I’ll try plugging it. I have exactly zero experience looking at carburetors so couldn’t tell what I was seeing. I can see down that opening there is a tiny little hole off to the left of the orifice at the bottom of the opening. Looks like there is fuel shining down under that orifice. Also it’s like a very nice conical concave fitting down there, kinda looked like it would complement the other end of some jets I was seeing pictures of… Anyway I’ll try that and see what happens. Thanks!

I’ve got the DAF(?) manual choke hitachi carb on my 521. I believe it’s missing the secondary slow jet. Should be a one-piece. I could also be wrong. Anyone ever sourced replacement jets for these carbs or have specs on them? I can only find service manual jet specs for newer hitachis. Anyone have a hitachi in their burn barrel and they are willing to part with this jet? I think it’s #91 here: and goes here: Yes I could buy the Weber, but it looks like the going rate for jets is $3 so…thought I’d try this first. Sorry, I double dipped on this topic. Just wait I’ll post a want ad too.