Will

Sure, I'd be up for a trade - the P.O. took all of the badges off of my 710, and broke a bunch of pins in the process. Having a "Datsun" badge on the trunk will keep folks from telling me that I'm driving an old Corolla, just like their dad's.

Really? I always thought part of the immense power of being a Datsun driver is that I get to order my passengers to roll down the window to raise the antenna.

So, it is pretty much all back together. The gauges are doing much better now, and the wiring re-routing worked pretty well. Abe - you might need to peel back the harness a bit to give the plug for the cluster enough slack to reach the different spot on the back of the cluster. On the plus side, the wires all popped out of the plug really easily with a mini flat-head screwdriver. I did need to bend out their barbs a bit after they popped out so that they would click back into the plug. eh. close enough. (It wasn't too difficult to turn the new speedometer forward by taking some e-clips off of the axle that holds the numbers.) ...before ...after Still to do: lubricate the speedometer cable with some graphite hook up an appropriate oil sender get the intermittent wipers working (I added a blue/red wire to the original wiper switch plug and spliced it in to the green/white 12V wire, but didn't also splice the blue/black wire into the 12V power ...this is probably what is keeping the intermittent wipers from working.

Hmmm. Disc brakes? Funky tan interior? I checked the door tag, since I realized that p-n-p had gotten the year wrong. Again. I think it was 9/78, so just in time for the new model year.

How much do I like you, car? Enough to transpose wiring diargams and make a spreadsheet. The only things in the new cluster I totally know won't work will be the low-fuel warning light and the oil pressure gauge. Hopefully swapping over an oil pressure sender from a Z-car will get the oil pressure gauge working, and as far as the low-fuel warning light goes, it will be hooked up to the seat belt warning light wire - it's been inoperative since I killed the seat belt interlock, so that wire is free now, in case I ever figure out how to get the light working properly (though that will be a VERY low priority.) Maybe my 710 has been broken all of this time, but the dash light dimmer knob only dims the green fiber-optic knobs and the heater controls - the cluster bulbs always stay at the same brightness. From the looks of the wiring diagram, it looks like the cluster bulbs are separate enough in the circuit to be dimmed - I wonder why this doesn't happen. Okay! Off to the garage to see if those wires will easily pop out of their plugs, or if I will need to splice 10 wires.

Ebay... they came with junky housings, so I just re-used the original 710 plastic housings (rust-free!) The seller currently doesn't list any, but you can always ask. This guy: http://myworld.ebay.com/taiaik/ This thing: Datsun Violet 140J 160J Fender Lamp NOS Pair If you do ask, be sure to refer to a picture since I think they remake both Japanese-style lenses and European-style lenses in Thailand. Actually, the first time I ordered a pair of these lamps from Thailand, the picture on ebay showed Japanese-style lenses, but the seller shipped me a pair of these: http://www.ebay.com/itm/Datsun-1600-Nissan-Bluebird-610-710-140j-160j-Pair-side-marker-light-NEW-lamp-/160834680454 ...so if you are interested in these lamps, I have a spare set kicking around.

Same here - they look weird enough to be JDM expensive, but they're stock!

It looks just like the badge that is on the trunk lid trim on a 710 hardtop (I have one just like this on my car, except it says "deluxe")

I'm pretty sure that the problem is just that I need to get 12V power to one of the lugs on the old wiper switch plug. I'm not sure if your 710 has the same wiper switch plug, but on mine the 620 wiper harness plugged right in - adding a power wire should be the only change - I'll try that out the next time I have the dash apart.

I'm pretty sure that this is a Sunny B10 -the one that came before the 1200. They were imported to Canada, but not the USA. ...lucky you!

I just read this in a very nice thread about installing the intermittent wipers. http://community.ratsun.net/topic/31295-datsun-620-intermittent-wiper-conversion/ "Now the two wires you have left, we need to do something with them! The wire on plug 2 that I had left over was a solid darker green wire, just cut that dude off at the base of the plug. Now the wire you have left over on Plug 1 should be a blue/red wire and will be needed to power the delay box. You will need a Quick Splice for this. Quick Splice the Blue/Red Wire to the Blue/Black Wire! When you are all done, your new adapter should look like this..... (My solid green wire on plug 2 hasn't been hacked off yet in this pic)" My '74 710 uses the same plug for the wiper switch as the '78 620, but maybe it doesn't have the powered wire to keep the delay box running? I'll need to check in the morning.

Finally had a chance to solder the 160J-SSS gauges together: They look pretty good, but the SSS clearly had a different dashboard wiring harness. All sorts of weird things were happening when I turned on my turn signals. Back to the soldering iron for me. ...and a little change. Swapped out my big reflectors: for some smaller Japan-style lenses: In other news, I hooked up the intermittent wiper harness and switch, but it only gives me the regular high and low speeds. The first click doesn't do anything. I tried removing the little black box, but that just makes the wipers not park when the wipers are switched off. Anyone have any troubleshooting advice for this setup?

I've been hitting all of the local Pick-n-Pull yards since I got to California. Found this at the Richmond yard: Now I got a Datsun frame for both plates (though if anyone has a Torvick frame from Santa Rosa, I'd like to trade!) I found some cheap new tires in Santa Rosa, so I figured I'd hit up the yard in Windsor while I was out that way. I got there an hour before it closed, and walked around for a while since I'd never been there before. I found some new seatback release levers for my Porsche 924 seats. Has anyone ever tried putting a Porsche 924 tach into a 620? It looks like it is the right size, and it even has a cone-shaped lens! Anyway, the yard was supposed to have a '75 or '76 620, but I found this: Could it be? a '78 620? It looked like someone had tried to remove the wiper switch, but couldn't figure it out. (push in and turn counter clockwise - just like a childproof medicine bottle.) I checked it out, and sure enough - 3 clicks. the yard was closing in 15 minutes, but I managed to get the intermittent wiper system out, and the dual rear view mirrors. I was in a hurry, so the fiber optic line for the switch got twisted and kinked. Since the line is really short anyway, I figured that maybe I could swap it with the fiber optic line I pulled out of one of the other switches. The line pulls out without too much difficulty, but it is hard to push a line back into the switch since the sides of the shaft are dimpled to hold the fiber optic line in place. I pushed the dimples out to with a nail and some light tapping at first: And then I cleared it out for the last bit with a drill that was the same size as the hole: The fiber optic line now slid in pretty easily with just a tiny bit of resistance, and I then hammered the dimples back in with a blunted nail to hold the fiber optic line: Presto! fixed switch with a longer line: Also, I picked up a 280ZX doorhandle surround, but even though it looks really really close, it is not the same as the 710 part (though the doorhandle and lock latch look like they might swap over:

Since I moved out west, I've been trying to visit all of the yards in the Bay Area. Richmond P-n-P listed a 74 B-210, so I went to check it out. It's a '75 4-speed. It looked like it had been sitting a long time. Back window broken, rear axle and grille gone. Might be some good parts left. Also, I spotted an almost identical B210 waiting in the staging area - it might be on the yard soon. Also, there were 2 or 3 720s I found some cheap tires in Santa Rosa, so I figured I'd check out the Windsor P-n-P while I was up that way. I got there at 5pm, so I only had an hour. The yard actually had quite a few interesting cars. A '79 210 hatchback that still had the cool taillights, a square headlight early 80's 510 4-door hatchback with a tachometer, a 1st generation Subaru Brat, A 521 that looks like it was placed semi-diagonally on a big 4x4 frame Also, this 620 was listed online as a '75 or '76, but it is a '78 with a tan interior (I got the dual rear-view mirrors and intermittent wiper setup.)

710 Goon, 300 bucks: http://bend.craigslist.org/cto/3926146448.html No engine, automatic transmission, but hey - 300 bucks.

Okay, cool - it should be a '73 if the engine and VIN tag both say L18, but just to clarify: 1973: 1974-1976

Ah - I've been spotty with my photography. Once I got the coilovers in I was in too much of a hurry to get it on the road and drive over some sppedbumps to see what happened when the springs motions were actually dampened. The fronts are really worn on the inside edge and cupped from the camber and bad shocks that were in play before, so I'll take some more pics when I put some new tires on (I might actually get a chance to put the Momo Vega rims on at the same time. Finally.)

Thanks for the tip - I'll pick up some of those and also make a small spacer out of rubber hose to keep the links from rattling - there is a ton of space in there! I'm bummed I didn't go on the run last Sunday - I was coming off a few days of not enough sleep and didn't want to doze off and drive into the ocean.

Thanks for the picture - it does look like a thicker sway bar has been swapped in. (and I should finally be able to get that tach out this week.)

If it has an L18, it should be a '73 (with the pretty bumpers and taillights) ...unless someone switched the engine at some point.

...some sway bar stuff I'm trying to figure out... I've been noticing the rattle-can noise when I go over bumps, which makes me think that I have a sway bar end link problem. I removed one of the links to get a closer look. The poly bushings look kinda old, but not totally destroyed. First off, it looks like someone put in a larger sway bar at some point. Unless 710's came stock with 1" sway bars. Also, maybe because the sway bar is larger than stock, the brackets for the bushings are only held on by one bolt each instead of two, with one end of the bracket pinched down by another plate. It seems kinda shoddy, but I don't see any evidence of the brackets shifting around. ...and the sway bar links are a lot smaller than the hole in the end of the sway bar. Is that normal, or will I need to get larger-diameter links or fashion a bushing for the hole in the sway bar? The hole in the end of the sway bar is about .7" and the sway bar end links have bolts that are about 3/8" in diameter. If anyone with more suspension experience can chime in, I'd love to know.

This one?

Yup. Were too damn poor to afford apostrophes.

Yeah! That 710 looks HUGE! I can't even see the other cars!

Dimensions are always helpful! The 180B radiator being an easy bolt-in installation is great, but the Z radiators seem to cost about 100$ less, so I was curious about other options. My 710 has been running a bit hot. ...nothing drastic, but I want to get the radiator research done in advance.