Jump to content

My Ratsun Datsun 521, now with L-20-B and a five speed


DanielC

Recommended Posts

Last Thursday, March 26, 2015, more hay.

MoreHay_zps3d89h3ef.jpg

Friday, I did some work on another fence.  No pictures of that, just used Ratsun to get ten fence posts, and I put then in the ground Friday, and Saturday.  Sunday, I went by a Home Depot, and got twelve more fence posts.

FencePosts_zpsqvzf6vyc.jpg

 

to the right of Ratsun, you can see the fence I am working on.

Fence_zpswgpvmzwf.jpg

  • Like 1
Link to comment
  • Replies 615
  • Created
  • Last Reply

Top Posters In This Topic

Top Posters In This Topic

Posted Images

When I bought Ratsun, in April of 2011, it had four different wheels, and tires on it.  Not all of them held air for longer than a day, or so.  None matched each other.  

Ratsun was originally bought for parts for another 521 I have, but it turned out I got Ratsun running first.  The front stock wheels and tires came from that truck.  I like stock sized tire on the front of 521 trucks, because fat, or wide tire make the steering more difficult, and the front of a Datsun 521 is not that heavy.  Close to stock size works well with the steering geometry.

The rear tires came from a 521 I bought later, I needed a pair of matched tires for the rear, with some tread.  Those are the tires, and wheels on the rear of Ratsun now.

It is hard to find the tall aspect ratio tires that were originally on a Datsun 521, size 6.00-14.  That is an obsolete tire size now.  To get tires with the same, or close outside diameter as the 6.00-14 tires were, you have to go to wider than stock tire.

The speedometer on Ratsun reads pretty close to what a hand held GPS unit reads for speed.  The Odometer reads within a few tenths of a mile over a measured five mile distance on the freeway.  The wider rear tires also "float" on the pasture, when I am working on the fence.  Narrower rear tires would sink into the soft ground more, and the truck would get stuck driving around in the pastures more often.

  • Like 2
Link to comment

That makes sense. I didn't know you were keeping them like that for a reason and just thought I'd ask. I still have my old rims I case you were looking to match up the front to the back. I had a hard time finding tires in most sizes for a 14 inch rim when I got new ones for the mags, but eventually for kumos for the little girl at discount tires.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
  • 4 weeks later...

Yesterday, I made a little trip.

EugeneRatsun_zpst4m8xciq.jpg

 

This is a picture of Ratsun, in Eugene, at Denmarkboy's place.  I did a bit of work on the dashboard of the Canby truck.  It needs way more work.

 

This was the longest single day trip I have done in Ratsun.  219 Miles. 

I also got a chance to drive past a measured five mile speedometer check section on I-5 on the way home.  I passed milepost zero, with the odometer reading 32340.0.  An easy point to remember.  I passed milepost 5 with the odometer reading 32345.1, rolling into .2.  That is a pretty good match for drivetrain and speedometer gearing, with the stock tire diameter.

I last filled Ratsun three days ago, in Beaverton.  Since that fill up, Ratsun has gone 238 miles, and the gas tank is not yet empty.

 

 

  • Like 3
Link to comment

Along with fence work, Ratsun had been helping me move this boat,

RatsunandNautique_zpspggpdrd0.jpg

and this boat,

RatsunandHydrodyne_zpsku3ijvc3.jpg

and this boat again.

RatsunandHydrodyne2_zpsopj8285u.jpg

 

When I loaded the three boat pictures into Photobucket, It put the first two pictures before the picture of Ratsun in Eugene, and the last one after my Eugene trip.  The same order as the pictures were taken.

 

I filled the gas tank on Ratsun Monday evening, It took 9.639 gallons, in 262.9 miles, for a calculated 27.928 miles per gallon, and Monday morning, before filling Ratsun, I had to get a load of hay.

  • Like 3
Link to comment

I am on a waterski show team,  We build pyramids, and the boat is used for pulling large numbers of people off the dock.

Two 200 horsepower outboards, on a 20 foot boat, with a fair amount of weight in the front.  The boat is set up to go about 50 MPH tops, but 0 to 50 can be really quick, if you keep the nose of the boat down.

  • Like 3
Link to comment
  • 2 months later...
  • 1 month later...

Ratsun has been doing pretty good.  Just driving it, putting gas in it, chacking oil, and coolant, brake fluid. other preventive maintnence type stuff.

I had to do some bending on the rear bumper, so I took it off, and put these on for a few days.

RatsunBumperettes_zpsusiquoku.jpg

I kind of like the look, but I use Ratsun to pull trailers often, so after bending the big bumper around, I put it back on.

RatsunBigBumper_zpsoyy4tzbo.jpg

 

Early last week, I actually got some time to clean Ratsun a llittle.

I took the rear wheels off, scrubbed them, and put some tire dressing on the tires.  I also cleaned the wheels, and put some chrome polish on them.  A few weeks ago, I had a friend get me some 7/16-20  chrome lug nuts, and put the rear wheels back on with those.

RearTirePolish_zpsiwejai07.jpg

 

I also did a quick scrub on the front tires, and used the polish on the hubcaps.

FrontTirePolish_zps4v3jcjzh.jpg

 

And then I did a quick polish on the grill, and front bumper.

FrontPolish_zpsgtbkrnvn.jpg

 

This is a side view, of the truck, after a bit of wheel and tire cleaning, and polishing chrome and stainless steel..

RatsunRightSide_zpsdjrqpoxz.jpg

 

Yesterday morning, Ratsun got put back to work again.  I got more hay.  I have figured out a different way to load hay, so it does not stick out af far on the sides,  I also put another tier of bales on the top of the load.  That give me a load of 20 bales, and before I was only loading 16 bales.

 

20Bales2_zpsixxi3rbr.jpg

 

Other side.

20Bales1_zpsxmn8ygol.jpg

and then, a quick clean out of Ratsun, and it went to Blue Lake.

  • Like 4
Link to comment

My temp and gas gauge quick workingreliably last week.   I was able to reach behind the dashboard, and wiggle the gauge voltage regulator, and get then to work again.  This happened again, as I was leaving Blue Lake, but I got it working again.  On the way home, I stopped for gasoline, and after leaving the gas station, the gauges quit working again.

So last night I decided to fix it.

Remove the two screws onn the bottom of the plastic trim piece that cover the combo meter.  One on each side of the steering column.

TrimBottomScrew_zpsyspfmizc.jpg

 

Slide the plastic trim straight down.  This unhooks two clips that hold the top of the trim piece.

TrimStraightDown_zps729gksdi.jpg

 

If you have a column mounted tachometer, it has to be swung out of the way. then remove the plastic trim.

TrimRemoval_zpsyisk2gif.jpg

 

This exposes two screws that hold the top of the combo meter.  These screws have nuts and lockwashers in the back.

TopScrewRemoval_zpsulw123as.jpg

 

Then you have to reach around behind the combo meter, and unscrew the speedometer cable.  There is also a multipin plug, that makes all the connections between the wiring harness,and the combo meter.  VERY carefully pull, and wiggle the plug loose.  It is very easy to break the pins on the circuit board off.  Do not do that.  Then  the combo meter can be removed from the truck.

ComboMeterOut_zpstjommfi2.jpg

 

The screwdriver is removing the voltage regulator.  Carefully remove the screw, and gently wiggle the voltage regulator off its two connections.  It was handy to have a spare one.

GaugeRegulator_zps1xawm2xb.jpg

 

After changing the voltage regulator, I set the combo meter back in the truck.  The multipin plug makes all the electrical connections necessary to make the meter work.   But when I set the combo meter in the dash opening, I shorted one wire trace on the circuit board.  The trace that is the most outside one is for the dash lights.  That blew out.  So I had to do a repair on that.

TraceJumper_zpsdnktac3b.jpg

 

And after that repair, the combo meter was more carefully set in the dash opening, and tested.  It works again.

GaugeWorking_zpsljgdwvq6.jpg

  • Like 3
Link to comment

After changing the voltage regulator, I set the combo meter back in the truck.  The multipin plug makes all the electrical connections necessary to make the meter work.   But when I set the combo meter in the dash opening, I shorted one wire trace on the circuit board.  The trace that is the most outside one is for the dash lights.  That blew out.  So I had to do a repair on that.

TraceJumper_zpsdnktac3b.jpg

 

This is a good reason to disconnect the battery cable before working on any electrical. 

Link to comment

Don't feel too bad Dan.  I blew that run twice.  I blew it the first time....exactly like you did........but I wasn't bright enough to disconnect the battery.....I figured I could be more careful the second time......and I blew it again!!!  That was a real "face palm" moment!! lol

  • Like 1
Link to comment

"This is a good reason to disconnect the battery cable before working on any electrical.  "

 

I know, that is a very good practice.  It would have taken me 1/3 as long to replace the regulator on the back of the combo meter board, but then I would have had to get out of the truck, and walk around to disconnect the battery cable, and reconnect....

I was just being lazy.

  • Like 3
Link to comment
  • 1 month later...

A quick update.  This was in August, I am working on a hay room floor.  The floor has been in place for many years, and the center of the floor was sagging.  On the floor, were two layers old pallets, and there was a lot of dust, old hay, and other old organic stuff.  As I pulled up pallets, I loaded the debris into Ratsun, to take into the back of a pasture, to dump under some trees.

RatsunFeedRoomDirt_zpsx5knojxr.jpg

 

Later the same day, I moved some dirt, and also took it into the back of a pasture, to dump under some trees.

RatsunDirtInTrees_zpsqb6vnijc.jpg

 

Last Sunday, I went and got some hay.  This is 20 bales of hay, I got two loads.

20Bales1_zpsxmn8ygol.jpg

  • Like 4
Link to comment
  • 4 weeks later...

Sometime between the last post, and now, I did a little work on Ratsun.  I cleaned surface rust, and old paint off this corner of the bed.  Then I sprayed some Epoxy primer on it. 

PrimedBedCorner_zpsbxpgksga.jpg

 

To protect that area of the bed from getting gravel thrown on it, I installed these mud flaps.

MudFlap_zpsbl3u4qr9.jpg

 

I have just been driving Ratsun, but doing some preventative maintenance stuff to it.  An oil, and filter change, check fluids, I am losing a little coolant, changed spark plugs, adjusted the valves, that sort of stuff.  Driving a 45 year old vehicle, you need to pay attention to these things.  Even when new, these old Datsuns had 3,000 mile service intervals.

 

Last week, I damaged a radiator in another 521 I have.  I took these two radiators to Superior Radiator, in Oregon City, by the bridge, to get checked out.  These are the repaired radiators.  There is also four gas cans.  It is getting close to the time I need to prepare my ski boat for winter.  I got the gas this morning, and put fuel stabilizer in it, and then put the gas in the boat.

Radiators_zpssvorqmwv.jpg

 

 

  • Like 3
Link to comment
  • 2 weeks later...
  • 2 months later...

Long time, no post here, October 14, 2015 to be exact.

My mom, who was 93, passed away early in the morning, of October 22nd.   I was taking care of her at home, and she passed away here, as she wished.  She was bedridden, and since May, I had to lift her into a transfer chair, to take her to the bathroom.  In the last few weeks she lost the ability to even hold herself up in a standing position.  But she was pretty lucid, so I did not have to deal with a loss of memory.

On Tuesdays, she had a friend come over, and play cards.  The last Tuesday, she sent her friend home early, that was very unusual.  the 22nd was a Thursday.

 

Paramedics, an ambulance, county sheriff, crisis counsellors, a medical examiner, came soon after her death.  The paramedics dismissed the ambulance, to leave, and the medical examiner, and sheriff both agreed that is a was natural cause of death, and a funeral home was called, and the body was released to the funeral home.  Same funeral home that took care of dad's body.

Dad was a veteran of WW2, and is buried at Willamette National Cemetery.  Because of widow's benefits, mom is buried next to him.  funeral costs were low, because of veterans benefits.

 

Dad, mom, and I have a ranch, and board horses.  Long time ago, the ranch, and business was put into all three of our names, and set up pass ownership to the survivors.  That part is going easy.

 

That is why I have not been posting about Ratsun for a while.

 

Now, back to Ratsun.

Since October, Ratsun has gotten several loads of hay, two loads of wood pellets, and other work, and I have been using it for mostly a daily driver.

In mid November, the brake pedal was getting a little low, so I adjusted the brakes, that helped some, not quite enough, but OK to drive, sort of.   

Then, at the end of November, on the way home, I stopped at a local grocery store to buy some food, and there was a pretty good sized puddle of coolant on the ground, under Ratsun.  The radiator had some leaks, and do did some hoses.  I changed the radiator, the heater hoses, and the lower radiator hose.  i pressure tested the cooling system, and it seemed to be holding pressure.  That night, after I came home, as I was parking Ratsun, I noticed steam coming from under the hood.  Changed lower radiator hose, from what I thought was a good one, but was not, to a good one.   After driving Ratsun a few more day, it was still losing coolant, slowly.  I replaced the long heater hose, again, with a made up one, using a new hose, a 9/16 to 1/2 adapter, and a section of still OK old stock heater hose.  Finally, the second week of December, Ratsun was not loosing coolant, and on December 8th, got a ton of wood pellets, and on the 9th, got two loads of hay.  Ratsun is still holding coolant better than when I first got it running.

I got a load of gravel to put in one of the aisles of a barn that was getting water in to from all the rain we had in December, the Datsun is nice, because I can back it into the aisle, and a bigger truck would not fit.

On January 2nd, checked the oil, coolant, brake and clutch fluid.  Coolant was not leaking, but added some oil.  The master cylinders were full, but the brake pedal was slowly getting lower, and I know I would have to move some other Datsun cabs out of the garage, so I could put Ratsun in the garage, to work on it. 

A little help with isolating brake problems on a 521.  The brake system is pretty simple.  Low brake pedal is either out of adjustment, or air in the lines.  If the pedal is low, and setting the hand brake does not change the brake pedal height much, the problem could be the front brakes, or air.

Today, I moved one cab, and put the front of Ratsun in the garage.  I adjusted the left front brake, a minor change in pedal height.  I bled the left front a little, that had an immediate big change to the pedal height.  Then I also adjusted the right front, and then bled it too.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
  • 1 month later...

Yesterday, I went to a local Pick-n-Pull, they had a 1969 521 that arrived in the yard Feb 5, 2016.  I got a pair of front fenders, the left one was replaced sometime, and had almost no rust, and only one dent in the front.  I also got a L-16 starter, a bunch of small parts, and a recently painted heater box.

This is the starter.

Starter_zpsl2nobphp.jpg

 

I am guessing the starter did not crank the engine in the junkyard truck too fast, the positive lead to the starter was an 8 gauge stereo power amp power wire.  The black wire under the battery clamp was a pair of 14 gauge wires, tied together.

8gaCable_zps6ek99pzl.jpg

 

Today, I put the PnP yard starter in Ratsun, to test it.  It works good.  Because of a half price sale, the starter was a little over $19.00, counting environmental fees.

PnPStarter_zps5xmm5pix.jpg

  • Like 2
Link to comment

I didn't see a turn signal switch, it didn't even have a dash, it had a wood shelf, I went to see if it had a good windshield, sadly it was cracked.

I did get a few things off it, it had a 520 driveline in it, what appears to be a good radiator, the exhaust manifold and pipe all the way to the muffler, the hood.

When I left both fenders were there, the nice fuel tank was in the cab, the heater housing was there, a decent bench seat was in the box, the starter was still there, it has a W53 head, and the L16 oil pan was still there, it had either an L16 or L18 in it, oh and the wiper pivot assembly was under the bucket seats sitting in the cab(not bolted down), it looked like a tweeker had ravaged it, he/she pulled everything apart and then walked away.

Oh and the passenger door had an automatic lock mechanism installed, but the wires were not connected to anything.

I looked at the starter Daniel, but someone had painted it blue, so I was guessing it wasn't OEM so I walked away from it, I have never had much luck with aftermarket starters.

Also someone(the tweeker?) had pulled all the wires off the heater fan motor and the wiper motor which were in the box with the bench seat.

good to grab turn sig switch if the same if later 521s

  • Like 1
Link to comment

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

Loading...
×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

By using this site, you agree to our Terms of Use.