My 78 Datsun

[Datsun 78]

Sup everyone just got my 1978 datsun couple weeks ago and been fixing little by little. Took out the old carpet and cleaned it up a little. Fixed the timing on it. I removed the stereo from the top and got a console from a another datsun that we had at the yard, rewired the speakers. I also saw that its a L18 with a 5 speed so i guess the person before me didn't know, he would just drive it to work and back. Took out the smog pump and a/c since they are not connected. Lately been turning off on me when im driving but it starts right up after, i changed the fuel pump and still does it gonna check the fuel filter in a minute. I don't know alot on carb cars so im new to this. My plan is to restore it and make it daily driver.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[ggzilla]

wassup. Your truck has potential. Same color as mine too, and i got it in Hawthorne last June!

[Datsun 78]

thanks man, hopefully i can get it to run with out turning off:(. Did you drive the car from hawthorne or had it shipped?

[ggzilla]

I drove it back. Was only 996 miles :-) no sweat for a Datsun. Was just down there two weeks ago for JCCS show, but towed it. Next time I'm driving, towing is too expensive.

[Datsun 78]

haha didn't know had a show maybe next year ill go. Nice that you drove it back when you bought it.

[Datsun 78]

If you guys can help me out i can't seem to find the manuel that i bought need help connecting vacuum hose been searching and cant seem to find anything if you guys can help i appreciate thanks. Heres some pics

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[slam_dat_sun]

Hey man welcome to Ratsun , you have a great looking truck and it looks exactly like one here in phoenix az . By the way you have a dream job working in the junk yard :lol:

[Datsun 78]

thanks man. Hahaha yeah im just waiting for datsuns to come in.:lol:

[Braden]

all of the vacumm ports you are higlighting are not needed, they are for emissions, i beleive one of them you circled is part of the brake booster, you need to remove everything egr off of your motor, its common here on ratsun to remove that bs unless you have to pass smog, the only vacumm lines you need are your vacumm advance which goes to the distributor and your vacumm brake booster, everything else can be traced down and removed, on the left side of the carb on the base plate there is 2 vacumm ports, one gets blocked off the other goes to vacumm advance, the only other vacumm line should go from your intake manifold to the brake booster, everything else can be removed and blocked off, your positive crankcase ventilation should route into the intake after you remove the egr shit, if you have any questions please ask, i will try and get pics of my motor when it stops raining to help you, welcome to ratsun man, here you will find anything and everything needed to get your truck the way you want it :)

[Braden]

i dont think the 78's came with an l18, or a heat riser for that matter, maybe i am wrong, you need to find an exhaust and intake manifold set that doesnt have the heat riser, i could tell a big difference in power and sound when i chaged mine, look in the parts for sale section i have seen quite a few manifolds there lately

[Datsun 78]

thanks braden, the engine is a swap i think it suppose to have a l20 not a l18 the guy that i bought it didn't know anything he just drove it from point a to b. Is there any aftermarket manifolds that are good you recommend? Plus i think i need one more year for smog.

[Braden]

no the stock manifolds are plenty good enough for a stock carb or a weber, you will need an echaust manifold if you get different carbs, sometimes you can catch mikunis for sale with a manifold for a good price on here

[BarryA]

.....all of the vacumm ports you are higlighting are not needed, they are for emissions......

 

want to be a little careful about what you pull off and throw away.

 

If you've never been through the process before, the first thing the smog shop does is a visual check - if anything looks wrong to the smog tech, the vehicle fails on the spot, and what the smog techs balk at can be taken to pretty absurd levels. When I took my 79 620 KC for its first registration renewal check after purchasing it, it failed because the breather hose from the valve cover to the air cleaner was kinked - no one had one locally, so I went home, made up a rigid hose out of copper tubing attached with a pair of rubber hose ends & hose clamps and took it back for a recheck - tech wouldn't pass it because it wasn't a factory hose.

 

Got the issue resolved by going to a big local Napa store and enlisting the counter guy's help in finding a section of heater hose with the proper molded-in bends, then cutting it to length and washing all the ID info off it with lacquer thinner so the smog guy wouldn't be able to tell that it wasn't oil resistant hose. After going through all that BS, it passed (both visual and dyno) - I'm expecting more grief the next time, because I've replaced the stock Hitachi carb with a correct, smog legal Weber (have all the documentation, but I still expect to have issues over it.)

[ariascarlos1990]

Get a Weber and a L16 intake it will delete most of the smog.

[Roadracer Al]

When I took my 79 620 KC for its first registration renewal check after purchasing it, it failed because the breather hose from the valve cover to the air cleaner was kinked - no one had one locally, so I went home, made up a rigid hose out of copper tubing attached with a pair of rubber hose ends & hose clamps and took it back for a recheck - tech wouldn't pass it because it wasn't a factory hose.

 

Grr. This kind of bureaucratic head-up-their-assedness makes my brain explode. Don't get me started. And, I'm a pretty politically liberal guy, I agree that cars should pollute as little as possible, but the "visual/must be factory" rules were obviously made up by non-gearhead, non-problem-solving, never-seen-dirty-fingernails politicians. It's why I bought a pre-emissions truck. [/rant]

[Datsun 78]

no the stock manifolds are plenty good enough for a stock carb or a weber, you will need an echaust manifold if you get different carbs, sometimes you can catch mikunis for sale with a manifold for a good price on here

will do thanks.

want to be a little careful about what you pull off and throw away.

 

If you've never been through the process before, the first thing the smog shop does is a visual check - if anything looks wrong to the smog tech, the vehicle fails on the spot, and what the smog techs balk at can be taken to pretty absurd levels. When I took my 79 620 KC for its first registration renewal check after purchasing it, it failed because the breather hose from the valve cover to the air cleaner was kinked - no one had one locally, so I went home, made up a rigid hose out of copper tubing attached with a pair of rubber hose ends & hose clamps and took it back for a recheck - tech wouldn't pass it because it wasn't a factory hose.

 

Got the issue resolved by going to a big local Napa store and enlisting the counter guy's help in finding a section of heater hose with the proper molded-in bends, then cutting it to length and washing all the ID info off it with lacquer thinner so the smog guy wouldn't be able to tell that it wasn't oil resistant hose. After going through all that BS, it passed (both visual and dyno) - I'm expecting more grief the next time, because I've replaced the stock Hitachi carb with a correct, smog legal Weber (have all the documentation, but I still expect to have issues over it.)

yeah hate going to smog.

Get a Weber and a L16 intake it will delete most of the smog.

need hoses for smog.

Grr. This kind of bureaucratic head-up-their-assedness makes my brain explode. Don't get me started. And, I'm a pretty politically liberal guy, I agree that cars should pollute as little as possible, but the "visual/must be factory" rules were obviously made up by non-gearhead, non-problem-solving, never-seen-dirty-fingernails politicians. It's why I bought a pre-emissions truck. [/rant]

true.