520

[jay520]

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[jay520]

Some rust to look at...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[jay520]

 

 

 

 

 

 

some bondo-covered rust:

 

 

[jay520]

 

 

 

 

 

 

[jay520]

quite a bit of rust, and i've never done any body work. should be a bit of a learning experience.

[jay520]

when i got the truck, here are the things that did not work (electrical):

 

headlights

brake lights

reverse lights (there are none)

cabin light

 

horns

wipers

 

ignition light stayed on

oil pressure light

 

 

 

while looking at the wires with my neighbor, jiggled a wire (turned out the soder was melted and not making a connection before that) that was running from the battery spot on the alternator grounded to the voltage regulator mount. there were a few sparks, then that wire started to melt along with the wire that was running from battery+ to the fuse block. disconnected the battery and replaced the wires. hooked up the battery and the speedometer cable started smoking. disconnected that cable and the battery. hooked up the battery and the throttle cable melted. decided to take that wire off of the alternator that we had just replaced. no more smoking wires/cables.

 

additional things that did not work after that:

 

fuel gauge

temperature gauge

 

 

following week took the harness out of engine bay. after unwrapping the multiple layers of electrical tape, found quite a few wires corroded, melted, or randomly cut off. replaced all of those. also decided the fuse block wasn't the right one (could have worked, i don't know. i wasn't willing to try and melt a bunch of wires.) the old one had everything running to the single connection, which in turn ran to all four fuses through a busbar. the diagram shows the two left fuses connected and the two right fuses connected, but not all four. installed a new fuse block.

 

old fuse block. not hooked up the way it was when i got the truck, but the way it's suppose to look:

 

 

 

new fuse block:

 

 

 

 

after installing that here is what changed:

 

ignition light goes off

oil pressure light works

fuel gauge works, again

temperature gauge works, again

 

still none of the lights. the light relay had been removed. i'm going to wire the lights up with the two relays like i had seen in a thread on here and probably put in some new headlights. also going to take the wires running to the rear lights off and see what kind of shape those are in, and probably throw on something for reverse lights. i'm not too concerned about the horn, wipers, or cabin light right now.

[jay520]

the brakes also need some work, they have pressure after a few pumps. the master cylinder cap had a few holes in it. i replaced it with one from a 620 or a 720 at the pick 'n pull on columbia (they've got a few datsuns there.) this weekend i'll probably bleed the brakes and hopefully they'll work well.

 

then a new exhaust.

 

then i'll get to drive it a little further than a couple of blocks around my place.

[Charlie69]

Nice truck. Good project material. what are your plans for the truck?

[jay520]

thanks

 

i'm going to try to keep it as stock as possible. i've never really had a vehicle that i thought was worth putting time and money into, but i think this definitely is. the engine is in pretty good shape. the guy i bought it from is a longtime friend of friends of mine and he said it had low miles. the odometer reads 54,xxx (there's no 100k, so i'll never know for sure) and i think he'd owned it since the '70s.

 

after it's drivable comes the long process of dealing with all that rust. like i said, i've never done body work before. but i've also never done any wiring, and that seemed to work out. i look at it as a learning process. and any input anyone has i'm more than happy to hear it.

 

today i'm going to baxter's, gathering up stuff to replace the fuel hoses and filter. then it's an oil change. when i asked the PO when was the last time he changed the oil he said, "oh, i don't think it's been too long. maybe four years." but he also rarely drove it for the past however many years. i put some seafoam in it. hopefully that will help clean out some gunk that's inevitably in there.

 

i'm trying to take it one step at a time, as to not get overwhelmed.

[Charlie69]

Just take it little by little so you do not get ovrwhelmed.

[jay520]

replaced fuel hoses and filter (it was a bit bigger than the one on there, i hope that doesn't really matter).

 

changed the oil (pretty black.) the first filter i bought was the kind without the housing. had to go back and get a different one, since my truck no longer has the housing for the filter.

 

there is a bit of hesitation when i press the accelerator down fast. did a little searching and thinking maybe the jets on the carb are clogged? when i got the truck it was really low on fuel, so maybe some sediment got sucked up from the tank. who knows how long that gas had been in there. put some seafoam in the tank.

 

hopefully i'll get around to bleeding the brakes today sometime.

 

can't seem to get the exhaust pipe off of the manifold. maybe i'll just leave that on, make a clean cut where it straightens out and then just attach the muffler and tailpipe from there. i don't really want to spend a lot of money having someone else do the labor.

 

have to work the next two weeks without a day off. so, it may be a bit until i can get some more stuff done. but it'll be a little extra money when i do.

[jay520]

thanks to drzeto for the parts from his free 521 strip:

 

 

 

 

 

i think a broken ashtray is better than a hole in the dash

 

 

and the speedo cable and the blue oregon plates.

[jay520]

i think i'm missing the bracket that holds the end of the throttle cable

 

 

this is what i've resorted to. otherwise the cable messes with the return spring (i guess that's what you'd call it.)

 

 

this is what i need, but i'm not sure what exactly i'm looking at here. or rather where that bracket is suppose to go:

 

 

a picture of the one that melted. tried to strip of everything that i could so it would slide through the outside casing. ended up finding a pretty good deal on one off of eBay (pictured above):

[jay520]

i'm wondering how the coolant hose that runs to the heater is normally routed. this one seems a little off:

 

 

 

 

does it run through this bracket (off the side of air filter housing mount, if that's where that bracket is actually suppose to go?)

 

and is it suppose to run through the brake lines right by the master cylinder like the picture in that last post shows?

[jay520]

i bled the brakes. after i had a fun time getting the bleeder valves (3/8 - 24, btw) out. still a bit weak, and there is fluid seeping out of the master cylinder. i'll probably replace that.

 

replaced the points, condenser, rotor, cap, wires, plugs. i got the points adjusted pretty well but there was still a bit of stuttering when you hold it at a low throttle. cleaned the jets. still the same. took apart the fuel strainer.

 

 

 

 

there was no screen and the gasket was obliterated. got this from carquest, the hole in the screen was a bit small. no big deal:

 

 

 

cleaned the bowl and found this crack. a little bigger deal once it was cleaned and i put it back on i could see air being pulled through the crack on the side and through the chips on the top:

 

 

ordered a new one from steiner tractor parts, of all places. haven't got it yet. when i do, we'll see if it fits.

[jay520]

is this suppose to be completely straight? i straightened it a bit but it seems like the hood would sit too high if it were completely straight.

 

 

[jay520]

does anyone else's 520 have a high beams foot switch?

 

[jay520]

another picture of a pain in my ass:

 

[jay520]

the bed mounts are all sorts of screwy (and maybe the cab mounts), throwing the body lines out of whack.

 

the rearest most on the driver's side. there was actually another spacer in there, in addition to the one shown, that was even bigger than that one:

 

same spot passenger side:

 

driver's side just to the rear of the wheel well (at kind of a funny camera angle). the bolt was broken in half:

 

side note: once i removed that other spacer the driver's door would shut pretty well. whereas, it wouldn't before. there is still some weird angles between the cab and the bed that i'm trying to figure out how to straighten out.

 

here's some of the body lines i mentioned. the passenger side looks pretty good. the driver's side, not so much. but if i take that spacer out of the rear-most mount looking at the bed from behind, it looks lopsided. i'm thinking it may be the driver's side rear cab mounts:

 

 

 

Edited November 13, 2010 by jay520

[wayno]

another picture of a pain in my ass:

 

 

This is the hood mount, correct? When you shut the hood is it level with the fenders near the windshield? Can a big triangle piece of sheet metal be welded on the surface between the sides and brace and still have the hood shut properly? The metal looks good in the surounding area. Is the other side the same? wayno

[wayno]

Ok, I have read the thread, a long time ago I started my datsun roadster in the drive thru at wendys, and the throddle stuck at half throddle reving high, I turned the key off, lifted the hood and my throddle cable had melted itself solid. As it turned out, the reason it did this was I had forgotten to put the ground strap from the starter/engine to the frame. Therefore the car body grounded itself threw the throddle cable. I'm not saying this is your probem, but it is worth looking into before you melt another cable.

 

i think i'm missing the bracket that holds the end of the throttle cable

 

 

this is what i've resorted to. otherwise the cable messes with the return spring (i guess that's what you'd call it.)

 

 

this is what i need, but i'm not sure what exactly i'm looking at here. or rather where that bracket is suppose to go:

 

 

a picture of the one that melted. tried to strip of everything that i could so it would slide through the outside casing. ended up finding a pretty good deal on one off of eBay (pictured above):

[jay520]

This is the hood mount, correct? When you shut the hood is it level with the fenders near the windshield? Can a big triangle piece of sheet metal be welded on the surface between the sides and brace and still have the hood shut properly? The metal looks good in the surounding area. Is the other side the same? wayno

 

well, before i took the hood off it would sit slightly lower on the passenger side. when i'd prop the hood open with the center prop it would tilt. i'd have to put and extra prop on the driver's side to keep it in the right spot with the hood propped. that piece shown is barely hanging on. the other side is in great shape. you can see it in some of the first photos i posted. i'm think it'd be a pretty easy fix. i don't know how to weld and i'm reluctant to bring it in to work and have someone do it (i don't even like bird shit that i can wash off the outside, let alone some metal that looks like it.)

 

by the way, it was good to meet you today.

[jay520]

Ok, I have read the thread, a long time ago I started my datsun roadster in the drive thru at wendys, and the throddle stuck at half throddle reving high, I turned the key off, lifted the hood and my throddle cable had melted itself solid. As it turned out, the reason it did this was I had forgotten to put the ground strap from the starter/engine to the frame. Therefore the car body grounded itself threw the throddle cable. I'm not saying this is your probem, but it is worth looking into before you melt another cable.

 

 

 

there were a few random wires that shouldn't have been there and a fuse block with an incorrect busbar (and incorrect feeds coincidedly) when i got it. i put everything back to the way it should be according to the wiring diagram. added a ground to the radiator mount also. i haven't had any problems since.

[jay520]

the grill. maybe i'll find a better one, but until then i'd like to get this one as straightened out as possible. does anyone have some photos from various angles so i can see what direction to go towards?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[jay520]

covered in dew with no grill