Down the Line, Datsun 710

[datzenmike]

I might just be too used to the newer cars I've driven but it was struggling around around 65 and made a few funny noises so I kept it around 55-60mph but I did eventually get it up to 65 for a little bit. It doesn't have a tac and it's a 3 speed automatic too. I'm guessing the more I drive it the more I'll get used to it.

 

My '74 L18 auto did 90MPH (slight up hill ran out of road) on the way back from Canby '10 so autos aren't that bad just boreing. There's lots of snot at highway speed.

[tbubar]

I was able to do 70-75, but the engine was working hard. You might want to rebuild the carb? There should be a carb rebuild kit in the trunk if you want to give it a try. It's another thing I was thinking about doing, but never got around to.

[Engy]

I was able to do 70-75, but the engine was working hard. You might want to rebuild the carb? There should be a carb rebuild kit in the trunk if you want to give it a try. It's another thing I was thinking about doing, but never got around to.

It got up to 70 for me to but I had to cradle it there and it was definitely getting a work out so I'm going to try and rebuild the carb with the kit when I get the chance thanks.

 

 

I was also told today that I can register it this week so it may get a day or two of driving before being stored for the winter :)

[Engy]

So the passenger door won't open from either side, how can I get the liner off to get to the insides?

[RedBanner]

Had that happen, pulled the passenger seat and it was alot easier to pull the door panel.

[RedBanner]

Not as bad as it sounds just 2 bolts up front, and 2 nuts under the car and it comes right out.

[tbubar]

Is it frozen?  Both doors have old seals and let water in.  Not sure if you're keeping it inside or out, but if it's been snowed on it might just be frozen.  I know I never had a problem with it unlocking, and I'm pretty sure the day you test-drove it I unlocked it with the key and it was ok.

 

Let me know if you get it open.

[Engy]

We recently cleared the other garage space so I could put it in the garage and I went to pull it in from outside and the passenger side handles didn't work. I tried a few things to see if I could get them to work but none did so I got all the rivets(or whatever they are called) out to take off the panel but I don't know how to remove the window crank to remove the panel. Is there a screw or does it just pull off?

[bonvo]

window crank is easy a pair of needle nose pliers and pull the clip out

[RedBanner]

There is a small clip, a rag will hook it and send it flying the the knob falls off.

[RedBanner]

Take a rag and "floss" between the door and the crank. The clip will pop out.

[RedBanner]

Cant put it in with a rag, but if you install the clip in the crank you ease in onto the cog and it will snap into place.

 

 

And dont forget to put the plastic peice back against the door card. Or it will rip a whole in your door card and the clip will get caught and fall out, and it will wind up the door seal plastic stuff and cause a big headache.

 

 

And remember, "if she cant find you handsome, atleast she'll find you handy"

[Engy]

Well I was browsing the interwebs and I found a guy who was willing to photoshop cars and stuff so I asked him to photoshop the car some colors, they didn't look that great but there was one that I really liked although to actually get it would be absolutely absurd. Still an awesome concept though

[Engy]

Well I got booted out of the garage for a bit because the house is getting remodeled but I am making the best of it. It was nice and warm out today so i decided it was time to do some work to the car before I had it painted professionally.

 

I started on the drivers side rear quater panel area as it was one of the worst spots on the car, I spent a couple hours both dry and wet sanding down the bondo that was on it and a few little chipped spot which I will take care of later.

 

 

I then took some primer and just did the base coat, I ended up putting the paint on a larger area then in the picture so it wouldn't look too bad.

 

 

Then I took some spray paint that was fairly close to the color of white I had and went crazy, ran out of paint though so if tomorrow is warm I can do a better job.

 

 

Tomorrow I start with the other similar areas and some bondo to smooth it all out.

 

[Engy]

I have an update and a question!

 

Update: I finished majority of the body work, still have the rust above the windshield trim. Also the side looks 10x than it did in the above picture.

 

 

QUestion, I am going to rebuild the carb but I've been having trouble getting it off the engine, I got all the vacuum lines and everything off but I can't figure out how the accelerator cable/rod disconnects from the carb. The book I have says something about a slug and a cable but all I see are rods and springs  :confused: Am I missing something?

[RedBanner]

Therejust pull the carb , the j shaped arm will slide out, its a slip yoke conecton, but dont drop the dust boot.

[Engy]

Okay I got it off, thanks. It was a cotter pin holding the thing to the rod. Only took me 5 hours to get it off  :thumbup: Now comes the fun part

[RedBanner]

Yeah I always leave that on the carb and pull the slip off, because the spring and washer and cotter pin have a tendency to fall down into a hard to get location lol

[Engy]

Well I rebuilt the carb(Don't want to do that again for awhile) and tuned it as well as I could. The car runs so much better now except that the choke can get stuck open if the car WOTs. The part that the choke connects to on the back of the carb(linkage) can get stuck on the throttle, I think I just put it in wrong. The temp fix for now is to just push the throttle open and push the choke closed so it can cold start but once it WOTs again I have to do the same thing once the engine is cold or else it dies on startup. So does anyone have a picture of the back/linkage of the carb? I just want to see if I can do it without taking the carb off again since it's a huge PITA to take off.

 

I also repainted the air cleaner  B) and cleaned the engine bay a little bit. So I might post some pics for you guys later.

[Engy]

I have pictures!

 

Umass carshow awhile back, who doesn't love cougars?  ;)

 

 

Cleaned the engine bay a bit, new dizzy cap and rotor, new spark plugs, getting new fuel filter tomorrow, and PAINT!

 

 

As it turns out the car had the TC Rods snap at the thread awhile ago and I had no clue. I wouldn't have noticed if it wasn't for Dave of futofab.com. He stopped me on my way out of his driveway after looking at some Datsuns, looked under the car after noticing the whole front wheel assembly shift forward to back, he knew what he was looking for and fixed it on the spot. Great guy, possibly saved my life! Thank you Dave!

 

Before

 

 

After

 

[datsunfreak]

As it turns out the car had the TC Rods snap at the thread awhile ago and I had no clue. 

 

 

Honestly, I'm amazed you could even drive it that way?!?  :huh:

 

If you drove it like that for a long time, you may want to take a very close look at your control arm bushings. Since they were the only thing keeping your wheels in place, they may be on their way out fairly quickly. 

[Engy]

I was surprised too when he pointed it out, I have the bushings and will be replacing them very soon, I just have to figure out why my carb is being so finicky. It will run fine until I get to a hill then it will lose power and backfire if I don't let off the gas. I tuned it lean and rich with no change. After I put the new distributor cap, rotor and spark plugs it ran a bit better, hoping the fuel  filter will solve the problem once and for all.

 

 

Also I am hoping I get a chance soon to take the car off the road so I can spruce up the engine and engine bay. The engine leaks a bit of oil out of the oil pan and the oil pump and I have had zero luck with the oil pan gasket with the engine in the car so a rebuild(New gaskets and seals) makes alot of sense right now... just not at this exact moment.

[tbubar]

Wow, that's crazy!  They both looked ok when I replaced the bushings a couple years ago.  Glad you caught it before it became a bigger problem.

[Engy]

Did some minor work in the past week.

 

I messed with the timing it a bit and messed with the mixture screw a little bit more and got great results, it feels like it's got all 70HP it came new with again  B)

 

I attempted to get the passenger door off(The latch is still frozen shut) but to no avail and I haven't gotten around to using an angle grinder(My friends) to get er dun. At least while the car was somewhat apart I found some other work to do and some things I'll have to take care of when I can take it off the road(Hopefully soon). What I found was that the little vents were concealing a good amount of rust  and rot from me. The vents had alot of surface rust under it which you would only be able to see if you took it off, which I did, and below that there was rot beneath the windshield, fairly minor though thank god. For the moment I just took a small grinder to the rust to keep it from spreading until i can take car of it completely.

 

 

 

 

 

 

I also traded an extra Datsun emblem for new(not broken) reflectors! One step closer to passing inspection! Thanks Will :thumbup:

 

 

[Will]

That's what we'd call "rust free" in Utica!