I'm bringing the 510 back!

[Avallanche]

To those who don't know the story...

 

Well, the 510 was my high school car. Never anything fancy. After the transmission started acting up in January of 2005 I attempted a KA24DE swap. Long story short I gave up on it and moved the 510 outside. It sat next to the shop for 3.5 years til I recently decided to revive it. I put the L20B back in it without rebuilding the transmission. It's not my daily driver anymore and I'm trying to keep this "project" as cheap as possible. So I figured the transmission is fine lol.

 

What it looks like right now.

 

the engine bay a few days ago. the rusty voltage regulator has been replaced with a new one and there is a radiator installed now.

 

a shot of the interior. not too pretty is it?

 

It's all back together to the best of my knowledge and the sucker won't fire up. The starter solenoid clicks, but no cranking. I'm assuming the problem is something really simple that I'm overlooking. I haven't had anyone else check it out yet to find anything I missed, but figured I'd post the project on ratsun for you all to enjoy. I just want the darn thing on the road for the Blue Lake Datsun show. I don't think that's too difficult to accomplish. Whether I have to pay a mechanic to get it running or what not it's gonna be there! =)

[bonvo]

sounds to me like the starter try bumping it with a screw driver see what it does

[Avallanche]

I thought the starter was bad too. So I pulled it and put another old spare in. That one didn't even click. So I removed it and wired up a starter out of a 1999 Frontier and it just clicked like the first starter. After that I figured it has something to do with the wiring. I know there aren't many wires that hook up to a starter so it's hard to screw up. That's what's bugging me!

[banzai510(hainz)]

take starters to the store and have them cked.

 

have good Battery(load ck it) and Cables. Yes put new cables on there. Sounds like cheapness is going to kill ya.

 

have 12volt at the starter wire when in start? I assume yes since its clicking.

was a harness changed or something? you might have a low voltage proplem to the starter.

 

 

trans is not locked up to the motor?Causing starter to lock up

 

last option is sell to Jeff Hino(icehouse) and he'll have it running in a couple days

[datzenmike]

The motor has seized from sitting. Not welded tight, just caught on a small bit of rust in all four cylinders and it's just too much for the starter to kick loose.

 

Shove down the road, put in gear and dump the clutch. The sudden shock should break it loose. Maybe a squirt of WD in each cylinder?

[Pacific coast Datsun]

Looks like a fun project. It'll clean up easy..just takes time.

[yello620]

I agree with Datzenmike, it is very possible that it is rusted in the cylinders. I know that mikes way of getting them to loosen up might work, but can you just put a breaker bar on the crankshaft bolt and turn it by hand?? If it will turn over then look into the battery voltage at the starter, bad cables, weak battery?

 

Jason

[bonvo]

i didnt think of that lol but i had the same issue in my truck:blink: drench each cylender in wd40 (it will smoke a little when it fires) it will free up

[420n620]

I bought a 67 gto with a 65 gto motor in it it would not budge at all so I put some marvel oil down the spark hole every day, in about 3 daze it came loose and today its still loose, that was back in 1985. that is some good chit

[DISLEXICDIME]

I bought a 67 gto with a 65 gto motor in it it would not budge at all so I put some marvel oil down the spark hole every day, in about 3 daze it came loose and today its still loose, that was back in 1985. that is some good chit

 

i used diesel in the cylinders on my old 390 let it sit for 24 hours then cranked it by hand with the plugs out and then vroom

 

try turning the engine by hand to see if it is stuck

[mklotz70]

Well, since he tried it on a starter that was out of the rig and it didn't crank....I vote for the wiring to. Do like Hainz suggested and put the relay in the circuit. It's a lot easier than trying to fix the crappy contacts in the safety switches.

[datzenmike]

Cheaper/easier to give it a shove, and more powerful than a starter. Put in 4th and get some buddies to rock the car back and forth to break it loose.

[Avallanche]

The cylinders are fine because I turned the crank pully a few times. Also the starters were tested without being mounted to the transmission. They were just wired up and I only get a click. I'm sure its an issue with the wiring somewhere. I mounted the battery in the trunk since it was parked. Maybe that has something to do with it. I was pretty busy this weekend. Might get a chance to look at it sometime soon.

[banzai510(hainz)]

I mounted the battery in the trunk since it was parked

[sr71sss]

sounds to me if you "bench" tested the starter and you only get a click then its the motor that is bad, probably one of the poles are fried. I also noticed in the pic that you don't have the stock battery tray anymore so I would think about looking at all your wiring connections especially the ground(s), I doubt thats its a ground problem but at least you can start eliminating some other potential problem area, I would go with another known running starter, I had a mitsu that would only click and after I had tested it on a vice it would click only also but when I hit the starter body with a hammer it would spin the motor. Also I was curious if you had tried another solenoid also since I had one solenoid doing the same thing and after pulling it apart to clean the contacts it fixed my problem, when things sit that long parts seem to go to hell in a hand basket!! good luck and keep us updated on what you find

 

conrad

[banzai510(hainz)]

MY yellow 510 has this proplem. I swapped starters( a Nissan rebuild)

I assume its a low voltage to the selinoid.

 

But the battery is in the trunk and has the cheap put together ends for the battery connections.

[Cuts metal like mad]

MY yellow 510 has this proplem. I swapped starters( a Nissan rebuild)

I assume its a low voltage to the selinoid.

 

But the battery is in the trunk and has the cheap put together ends for the battery connections.

 

HAHA! its funny you mention this hainz, when I first tryed to start my truck after moving the battery out from under the hood, it did the same thing. First thing I did to sort it out was to test for good voltage... YEP, hmmm... so I try to start again, NOPE, hmmm... check for voltage again, now I got like 1.7 volts, WHAAA? now I think to myself its gotta be the ground, and I go to check it and it wasn't bolted all the way down... SO when the ground was "touching" the frame it would show 12volts, but just touching isn't going to flow enough current to engage the starter and the ground would have been ARCING and degrading the already poor connection. I bolted it down and all is good now... :D

[hang_510]

I put some marvel oil down the spark hole every day, in about 3 daze it came loose and today its still loose, that was back in 1985. that is some good chit

 

mysterious how that stuff works :thumbup:

worked OK on stuck/bad rings too.

 

 

 

verify the (trunk) grounds are good. need a good ground from the block to chassis.

[bonvo]

if i may add somthin that voltage regulator looks like its seen better days :lol:

[banzai510(hainz)]

voltage regulator looks like its seen better days.

 

there is usually a ground wire by the volt reg also

[lynchfourtwenty]

he already said he replaced the voltage regulator, i also vote for wiring, try replacing the battery cables and terminals if it doesnt fix it, it sure wont hurt

[DISLEXICDIME]

i had to put a relay in my two door when i put my battery in the trunk with out it it just clicked

[willmtr]

Make sure the block is grounded by a ground strap. Make sure the wires are still connected solid and not just held together by the insulating jacket. Is the battery fully charged?

[Avallanche]

Yes, the voltage regulator is brand new now. I've also tried 3 different starters and 2 click, one doesn't (probably because it's bad). I looked at it today and something else is going wrong. The cable going from the positive terminal straight to the starter has zero power at the starter end. I poked the cable with a test light near where it goes through the bottom of the trunk and it has power back there. What I don't understand is I was getting power to the starter last time I messed with the car and now I'm not. Someone mentioned that they needed a relay when they moved their battery to the trunk. Think a relay would help me in this case?

[Avallanche]

Make sure the block is grounded by a ground strap. Make sure the wires are still connected solid and not just held together by the insulating jacket. Is the battery fully charged?

 

The battery is brand new and I just pulled it off the charger when I started having a problem getting power to the starter.