Will

Woah! If anyone is headed to the yard and is willing to nab the rear package shelf from the 710 I'd happily reward them with the purchase cost+shipping+finders fee+homemade cookies

It might be difficult if clearance for the front cover is already an issue - make sure that there is enough space to slide the engine forward and disconnect it from the transmission (maybe at least 4" or so?) If there isn't space, you'll need to remove them as a unit. just know that you'll need to lift them at a pretty steep angle. ...and remember to drain the engine AND transmission before trying to remove them. I forgot to drain my transmission and created a nasty oil spill as it was being lifted out of the engine bay.

the 710 did go to New Zealand (trademe.co.nz is where I found the grille for my car - some are Japanese-spec models) but I don't think it was officially exported to Australia.

I know of one hardtop at a yard in Texas - I would send the taillights to Portugal for you if he won't send them out of the country.

We've all seen cars on this site not sell for prices that are barely over the cost of scrap. For the owner of a car it's just easier to sell their old car with problems to a scrapper who will haul away the car and doesn't care if anything works, instead of an enthusiast who has all of the questions and concerns of someone who needs to get the car running again. I'm a little surprised that more people don't get the cars that are selling for a little bit of money, take the parts that they need, and then scrap the rest. It may be hard to sell a 500 dollar Datsun, but it's not so tough to get 150 worth of parts off of a Datsun.

Yup... in the USA the lenses were red instead of orange! They would fit, the lens is just molded in a different color. You might be able to swap over the lower part of an unbroken taillight to fix your broken one.

Were you wearing pants with no pockets? ...or is it one of the yards that isn't self-service?

I'm pretty sure it's the transmission - it seemed really cracked and dry rotted when I had everything apart, and I noticed worn spots on the crossmember from where it was rubbing. The package is on its way from Ottawa right now - I was expecting it while I was here, but it should arrive in the next few days. I'll have my folks place it in the Datsun so that I can try a new head gasket and put the dash together next time I visit. On the plus side, it won't get hit by a snowplow in Brooklyn this winter! When you're torquing down a cylinder head, do you go by the factory specs? My L16 manual called for 62.5 ft-lbs, so that's what I went with, in three stages (35ft-lbs-50ft-lbs-62.5ft-lbs if I remember correctly, using a fel-pro gasket. Maybe I should have put it on tighter?

Ah, rats. Looks like I'm going to have to concede defeat for now. I figured out what was happening with the distributor - the gear was at 12:32 instead of 11:25, so I was able to get the timing set up ...but I was getting white smoke again. And coolant dripping from my exhaust pipe and muffler. Looks like the 710 will be parked in Syracuse for a while - I won't have the time until spring break to tear the engine apart, figure out the problem, and install a new head gasket. I totally need to use the time to track down a new transmission mount too - it was clunking pretty bad when I tested the car out this morning!

Okay! Some success this morning. Kinda. I got it running smoothly, and without any smoke (Luckily!! I really didn't want to put on another head gasket - looks like it was just the weird humidity in the air last night. Weird Syracuse weather - it looks like springtime outside!) My only problem now is that the only way that I could get it to run smoothly was to remove both of the distributor's adjustment bolts - the regular adjustment bolt, and the one that holds the adjustment plate in place and turn the distributor clockwise until the two bolt positions were almost touching. Looks like I'll need to drop out the oil pump and move the gear a tooth or two to one side.

Yeah it's a great feeling to hear the engine run for the first time... but my crush involved less smoke and coughing noises! The problem I'm having now is that I can't turn the distributor enough to get the engine to idle smoothly. I turned it all the way clockwise with both of the adjustment screws loosened, and it seemed like it needed to be turned a bit further. When I was assembling everything I set the cam sprocket to the #2 position with 42 timing chain pins between the timing marks, then set the oil pump gear to the 11:25 position when I installed the oil pump, making sure that everything was at TDC. Also, I'm getting some foggy whitish smoke - I'm hoping it is due to the humidity and the choke being pulled all the way out, and not weirdness with the head gasket!

Congrats! I saw that one for sale while I was vicariously shopping for my friend in Detroit's 24 hours of LeMons project! I remember seeing way worse stuff when I was living out there. Is there still no safety inspection for cars in Michigan?

The car fired up for the first time a little bit ago. Hooray! I needed to switch the oil pressure switch, add some thick exhaust manifold washers to move the throttle linkage into the right position, the distributor seems a little off so I need to reposition the plate,and there is a tiny coolant leak (lower radiator hose, I think.) but everything seems within reach. It'll be my first time driving a car with dual carburettors - I'm really looking forward to it!

Ha! Just about EVERYTHING is south of Lake Champlain!! I think you passed right by where I grew up and where my folks live - directly in the center of the state. Almost set a record for the least snow ever in Syracuse this year, but there was some on the ground in time for Christmas. Oh, And I found out why my shift knob was always so close to the radio. I remembered your post about turning the transmissions's shift lever around, and sure enough it was turned to be farther away from the driver. The ZX 5-speed's lever is so close to the position of the automatic's floor shift that they barely needed to modify the opening, but my transmission isn't poking through the floor as much as yours did.

Yeah - and on the engine, the two bolts were the ones on the bottom of the block - they missed the two that connect near the cylinder head, and the extra cast-iron brackets that connect to the block behind the oil pan weren't bolted to the trans either (the L18 has these brackets, but the L16 doesn't.)

Thanks for the illustration! - that's the part that had me confused. I remembered to bring just about everything that I needed except for my big stack of Datsun manuals, so its been nice to get help from Ratsun and some sites that have L16 manuals as PDFs Before I installed it sideways I tried turning it as I blew into the fuel tank pipe, and it didn't seem to effect anything with the operation of the other pipes - they seem to be valves that trip whenever the pressure gets high enough.

I don't know - which is hotter, left-handed heat, or right-handed heat? Syracuse is wicked cold.

Lookit that! It's not empty anymore ...and when I connected the engine and transmission, I used more than two bolts! The previous owner used just two bolts on the crossmember and two to connect the engine and transmission. I'm lucky that it held together as long as it did. Okay, now it's time for questions. which hose goes where for the heater core? Does it matter? One of the lines from the fuel tank goes to this relic of emissions equipment long-removed. I moved it to the firewall to shorten its line, but I'm not sure if I can toss it entirely or block it off. Here's the throttle linkage (Thanks Mike!) I thing I need to move the "L" shaped piece up a little, since the angle of the arm that goes towards the intake has changed from the stock carb setup. It binds now. Oh, and I need to work out an air cleaner arrangement!

I'll check the rear brakes again... that could be it. I checked the shoes a few months ago and I adjusted them so that there was no drag, but maybe the shoes weren't seating properly.

Thanks!

I tried to drop an L20B into it, but it got smooshed.

I wasn't sure what was wrong with the L18 before and I didn't have much time to work on my car and gather parts, so I just put in the L16 for now since I knew what was wrong with it. I guessed that the L18's rings and valves were both pretty bad, but it turned out that the block was decent and the valves were awful.

GLAND NUT! I remembered that the part had a funny name, but I couldn't remember what it was. Anyway, The engine and transmission are out, now I need to get everything cleaned up and ready to install. Lots of gasket-scraping and oil/sludge-cleaning. The old L18 block seemed not too bad, but the valves in the head were so worn that their edges were sharp as knives. When I'm done I'll have an L18 and a dogleg 5-speed to get rid of... so if anyone wants some free stuff in the Syracuse, NY area my folks would be happy if they were taken out of the garage! (I'll post this in the for sale/wanted section too after I get a picture of the stuff.)

Waiting on picking up a little engine crane to swap engines, so I did a little work under the car today. The parking brake hasn't been working for a while, so I adjusted the cable The two bushings holding the rectangular piece near the center of this photo were worn out, but at least the brake works now! The previous owner cut away part of the floor since the back was lowered too much and the driveshaft was hitting. I'll weld in a new patch since I raised the rear suspension a few inches. The streets are bumpy in New York!! Canadian Competition shocks? Nah, I don't think it is okay if the crossmember is held up by only two bolts. Even if those bolts are placed on opposite corners of the crossmember. Oh, and are these the parts to keep/toss when I swap over the 280ZX struts? The top seal on one of the struts was so loose that it started spilling oil as I was removing the spring!

Like these, only with angrier bears: