New to Ratsun!

[720life]

Damn it Wayno, Now you got me thinking about Canby lol. Maybe even camping out for a night. Been reading the Canby post for the past hour, Sounds like a hell of a lot of fun. Only 3 hours, 165 miles for me, not bad.

[wayno]

Friday is more or less a setup day, Saturday and Sunday are the big days.

I go sat. and sun myself, if you want to sell you need to get a sellers spot, you're not supposed to sell out of your truck.

The Blue Lake meet in August you can sell out of your truck, they don't have seller spots, but it is just a 5 hour meet, I have bought parts at both meets.

Canby is the biggest Datsun thing around here, people from Canada to Southern California, and several from Idaho show up every year also.

You get to put faces on a lot of the members on here also.

[JoeCool]

Funny you replaced your sun baked door handle cups. Mine were crusty from being sun baked. So was the rear view mirror, steering column cover, parcel tray. I sanded mine with various sandpaper grades, and painted them black.

[720life]

Well sounds like saturday would be the day Id go.

 

@Joe-I only replced my Steering Culumn cover so far cause it was so sun baked. Ill probably put the cups on in a few days. And my rear view mirror and parcel try all did the same thing. Ive tried sanding as well but when its crumbly too...well ya just cant fix crumbly door cups lol

 

When I was taking my 81 apart, I pulled the radiator out and tipped it on its side and sludgy shit came out. That made me think O i should probably flush the radiator on the 80. O boy was there alot of dirty old crud in there. Filled and flushed it 4 times before it started coming out clean lol

[JoeCool]

And why do you not like the hood vents? I love mine although the previous owner didn't. The dummy filled them in with silicone caulk...WTF?!WHY? 

Pretty unique look too,don't see too many vehicles with hood heat extractor vents.

[720life]

Washington gets about 3 months of sunshine out of the year, the rest is either raining or snowing. It snowed the other morning as a matter of fact lol. My vents are right over the top of the carb, water pools up on top of the air cleaner. Did it with the stock one and it does it with the weber too. Had to keep a little rubber bushing on the screw that comes up through the top of the air cleaner or water would go right down into the carb.

[720life]

Today I wanted to get the valves adjusted and the valve cover painted, but the damn weather just doesnt cooperate around here this time of year. Sunny one minute, pouring rain the next. But thats washington for ya. O how I would love a garage to work in. But the other day, I did get my shed cleared out enough to set up my work bench and have somewhere to work on stuff while its off the truck and a place to keep my extra parts and my tools.

 

So, I figured it would be a good day to get the paint on the header cured in the oven. Then probably like the 4th or 5th of june, Ill install it and have it ready for the new exhaust. Last time I went by my local tire shop, they were closed so I might drive on down today and talk to someone about trading out my tires.

 

And the town is filling up with people.Gotta do a double check on my stuff outside and make sure its all locked up and coverd up. People will walk anywhere and look at whatever they feel like this time of year.

[720life]

So today I checked the valves, they were all actually very close to where they should be. The intake valve on #3 piston was the only one worth adjusting. And while I had it off, I painted the valve cover...

 

 

Im happy with the way it came out, Flat black with glossy flame red.

 

Ive done a few different colors in the past but always did just one solid color. I probably wouldnt have painted it at all if I hadnt taken it off lol.

[720life]

Damn it!

 

One of the new headlights I put in must not be "Sealed Beam" anymore. I noticed yesterday evening that it had some condensation on the inside. Checked it over, no rock holes or anything. So I took it out and put it on the stove with the oven on to heat it up and push the moisture back out. Then took silicone and smeared all along the edge and around the connectors, hoping to reseal it.

 

Fail

 

Went out this AM to find it all foggy with condensation again...

And these are Sylvanias that I bought a while ago and dont have the reciept for anymore. So I guess I have ANOTHER spare lol.

Atleast it wasnt one of my painted ones that went bad.

 

Ill get the valve cover back on when the rain lets up and take a few oics with it on the engine.

[musicman]

Hey 720life,

 

Very enjoyable thread read and oiks, nice 720, and... a very nice find below:

 

-One of the cool little in-dash boxes that still closes

 

 

I am interested in purchasing an in-dash box; is your's for sale?  

 

My daily ride is an 85 720 base pickup--nearly all stock.  The in-dash box is exact color and size for my 720's radio delete space.  Check out many of my 720 pictures at:  My Grandpa's 720 (musicman's 720).  

 

When my son, Silky_Johnson,'s grandpa ordered the truck in 84, he ordered it plain Jane: no extras, no options... except for a left passenger rear-view mirror; radio-delete.  

 

This in-dash box is a very cool piece.

available?

[wayno]

 

Hey 720life,

 

Very enjoyable thread read and oiks, nice 720, and... a very nice find below:

 

-One of the cool little in-dash boxes that still closes

 

 

I am interested in purchasing an in-dash box; is your's for sale?  

 

My daily ride is an 85 720 base pickup--nearly all stock.  The in-dash box is exact color and size for my 720's radio delete space.  Check out many of my 720 pictures at:  My Grandpa's 720 (musicman's 720).  

 

When my son, Silky_Johnson,'s grandpa ordered the truck in 84, he ordered it plain Jane: no extras, no options... except for a left passenger rear-view mirror; radio-delete.  

 

This in-dash box is a very cool piece.

available?

 

 

You see them in 720s in the wrecking yards every once in a while, they came in tan, blue, and black, quite likely other colors also, I just have not seen them myself.

What color you looking for, Tan?

[musicman]

Yes,

I am searching for the tan colored in-dash box.  Thanks for your help.

[720life]

Thats a nice 720 you got there musicman, I like that type of front bumper with the steel end caps. And that seat sure looks good too.

 

I plan on using the box to put in the dash in place of my CD player then move the CD player down into the console. But Ive seen them in junkyards as well, just never thought about grabbing them for some reason. I think ive found them laying behind and under the seat more often then in the dash though lol so make sure you look around in the truck a bit.

 

So yesterday, I sold a set of 12 inch subs and amp to a friend of mine so theres the money Ive needed to get some front speakers and maybe some plastic board stuff from Home Depot and redo the kick panels in it. Gotta love that ol paper shit Datsun used! Ill probably grab enough to redo a pair of door panels as well. 

[musicman]

Thanks for 720life for reply.

 

I'll check the yards for the box--half the fun is looking for parts.

 

You noticed I still have paper kick panels up front--they are campy but they do absorb some of the water that leaks around my soon to be replaced windshield, lol.  I'll want to see what you do with plastic-board panel redo's.  My door panels aren't bad... yet.  The man that re-made my seat and upholstery offered to match new door panels and floor carpet--I passed because I want to keep some essence of stock detail.  He used some cool heavy vinyl roof product for backing on the seats (where they meet the back springs), rather than use cheap stock material.  He probably had some cool product in mind for door panels.

 

I'm a career musician--and I also enjoy the quiet solitude and sound of the "mighty Z24" with Weber when I drive--rather than play an audio system.  My first sound system was a Craig eight-track tape cassette player in my 59 Impala.  It was amazing and the music of the mid 60's was a wow.

 

In contrast, my 720 is so simple and smooth; not quiet, but no noise or rattles... 

 

The chrome bumper styling is a fun thing to look at, but it may as well have a sign on it that says, "hit me."  I've thought about fabricating some old-school nerf bars that would sweep up from the frame rails like the cars of the 50's.  I don't see them available anywhere; they'd have to be custom made... in chrome... and then they'd keep people from backing into my bumper so easily.

 

Good luck with your 720.

[720life]

This weather sure has been putting a damper on datsun work...But it helps when your washing your rig lol.

 

But yesterday, I had my GF help me drain out all the clutch fluid and bleed it out. The fluid that was in there was getting pretty dark and dirty. And I got some more oxidization scrubbed off the hood. Ill finish scrubbing down the tailgate if I get a break in the rain today.

 

Yesterday while bleeding the clutch, I did notice it has been leaking a little bit of tranny fluid through the reverse light sensor thing on the side of the tranny. Any ideas on that? Im gonna take a closer look at it today and see what I can figure out. if its not raining to hard, ill get a couple oics of it.

[720life]

Yesterday, I finally got started on sanding and painting my tailight buckets cause the ones on my truck are trashed...

 

 

 

 

Heres whats on my truck...

 

 

 

All primered and ready for gloss

 

 

They are pretty straight too

 

 

 

 

I had some red gloss left over from painting the valve cover so i popped off the emblems and painted those too since they needed a lil sprucing up

 

 

 

 

Brushed the red all over the letter to get them coated, then kinda dobbed it in to thicken it up. As i was doing this, the paint wanted to keep pulling away from the edges of the letters so the paint didnt cover the letters completely, I like how it did that. May have to go back and straighten out some of the letters a bit, like the D, S and the N.

 

Looking to pick up some of that Plasti-Dip stuff and redo my grill and some other little things.

Its a nice enough day, prolly grab the camera and go for a drive and get some pics of the truck.

[720life]

Today, I finally took off the old, very sad taillight frames

 

 

 

They had definitely seen better days

 

 

But this is what I ended up with at the end of the day

 

 

VERY bright yellow. Rust-Oleum Sun Yellow. Its definitely gonna stand out from the rest of the faded yellow of the truck lol. I was going to do them in black but decided on the yellow when I saw it at NAPA.

 

Its a PITA to spray paint anything around here this time of year with all the fluffy cottonwood seed shit floating around and the constant wind, It seriously seems like it never stops. So even after having to deal with cottonwood seeds, bugs and having one of my hooks bend and dropping a frame, they turned out a helluva lot better looking then what was on there. They didnt quite finish up drying today so Ill get oics when i put them on in the AM.

[720life]

The new bright taillight frames (they are much brighter yellow in person)

 

 

 

And ive been goin to town with the spray paints, painted the grill, cowl and lip

 

 

 Heres the grill before paint

 

 

Definitely a little more grey then black lol

 

 

Painted

 

 

MUCH nicer shiny black lol

 

Didnt get a pic before I painted the lip but you can see it was pretty scratched. This one shows the grill before too.

 

 

 

Painted up and just about dry

 

 

And the cowl

 

 

 

 

Also, while I had the cowl off I figured I may as well replace my wiper linkage and pivot bushings with the great condition ones I got a few weeks back.

 

 

Heres what I pulled off

 

 

 

On really windy days or when a semi would go by in the other lane, the wipers would get pushed way up onto the windshield. Not so much now...hopefully lol

 

 

The bushings for both pivots were in damn near new shape. No more floppy windshield wipers  :thumbup:    Im sure it didnt help any that I have either 17 or 18 inch wiper blades instead of the regular 16 inch its supposed to have. (16 inch blades leave a bit of window unwiped, kinda annoying) 

 

 

 

And cause I had the wipers off, I was gonna sand em and paint them black too

 

 

 

 

But by the time I got the old black paint off, I was liking the way the bare metal looked

 

 

So I took some steel wool to finish them up and sprayed em with gloss to keep em clean. Turned out pretty cool IMO.

[Guss517]

Look n good!!

[720life]

Some places should not be in buisness...

 

First, I took my truck down to the shop that is supposed to do my exhaust TODAY. Showed up on time just for them to tell me that it wouldnt get done until tomorrow even though i gave em my number so THEY COULD CALL IF ANYTHING HAPPENS   :mad:

 

I wont have a way to get it down there tomorrow so i figured id leave it overnight, no biggie...

 

So I get the truck off the dolly and start pushing it towards the HUGE FENCED BACK LOT THEY HAVE (driveline disconnected for the trip on the dolly)

Guy comes out and says "O its alright, we'll get it later with the tow truck" I thought ok cool, save me from pushing it.

 

So about 20 minutes ago, a friend of mine stopped by and asked why my truck was sitting down at the shop OUTSIDE the fence?

Lewis County is known for its fucking tweakers and thieves and they LEAVE IT OUTSIDE THE FENCE!?!?!?!   :devil:

 

Even if nothing gets stolen out of it tonight, I have got quite a few unfriendly words for those guys and they will never get any buisness from me again.

 

If I had a way to go down and bring it home tonight I would...

 

Some fucking people...

[720life]

After all the BS with the shop, I got my truck back on Sunday at about noon. (too late to head to canby :hmm: so Blue Lake it is!)

 

The exhaust did come out nice, ALOT quieter then I expected it to be

 

 

2 1/4 inch, front to back with a Flowmaster and I can barely hear it run when I start it up.

 

 

At first, I was dissapointed that it was so quiet. But im starting to like it. I can hear if anything starts to make odd noises and what-not. Sounds good, Its got some volume when you get on it taking off, but it quiets down ALOT once you get up to speed. If I have the stereo turned up at all, I cant hear the truck. and the GF approves, she likes it cause she doesnt have to yell at me when were driving :rofl:

 

 

 

 

Put on the freshly painted lip (covered with bugs already haha) and grill.

 

Im gonna take out the thing between the bumper and grill (cant remember the name right now) sand and paint it cause im tired of looking at all the little chips in it.

Still looking for a new front bumper with the steel end caps

 

Got to digging around in my shop the other day and found these ol nuts

 

 

Took some sandpaper, scratchy pads and steel wool to clean and shine em into this

 

 

 

 

Which are a helluva lot better then what I have on there right now

 

 

These ones are going straight to the trash can cause ive already got a spare set and these are fugly!

 

Gonna try and make a JY trip this weekend for some 300zx seats and a couple other little things so if anybody wants me to look around for something, let me know.

 

I might copy your idea Wayno and get some dodge stratus emblems to make a ratsun emblem for my drivers side fender since it doesnt have one nor does it have the holes for it :confused: It took me 5 years to notice that :rofl:

[wayno]

After all the BS with the shop, I got my truck back on Sunday at about noon. (too late to head to canby :hmm: so Blue Lake it is!)

 

The exhaust did come out nice, ALOT quieter then I expected it to be

 

 

2 1/4 inch, front to back with a Flowmaster and I can barely hear it run when I start it up.

 

 

At first, I was dissapointed that it was so quiet. But im starting to like it. I can hear if anything starts to make odd noises and what-not. Sounds good, Its got some volume when you get on it taking off, but it quiets down ALOT once you get up to speed. If I have the stereo turned up at all, I cant hear the truck. and the GF approves, she likes it cause she doesnt have to yell at me when were driving :rofl:

 

 

 

 

Put on the freshly painted lip (covered with bugs already haha) and grill.

 

Im gonna take out the thing between the bumper and grill (cant remember the name right now) sand and paint it cause im tired of looking at all the little chips in it.

Still looking for a new front bumper with the steel end caps

 

Got to digging around in my shop the other day and found these ol nuts

 

 

Took some sandpaper, scratchy pads and steel wool to clean and shine em into this

 

 

 

 

Which are a helluva lot better then what I have on there right now

 

 

These ones are going straight to the trash can cause ive already got a spare set and these are fugly!

 

Gonna try and make a JY trip this weekend for some 300zx seats and a couple other little things so if anybody wants me to look around for something, let me know.

 

I might copy your idea Wayno and get some dodge stratus emblems to make a ratsun emblem for my drivers side fender since it doesnt have one nor does it have the holes for it :confused: It took me 5 years to notice that :rofl:

 

Dodge stratus letters are not hard plastic, they are like rubber, not very good, and tend to crack the finish when removing them, if you want what I have, you need to find the proper year "Ford Taurus", they are chromed plastic, and look decent.

[720life]

Ahh thats right

 

Well Ford Taurus it is!

[wayno]

Ahh thats right

 

Well Ford Taurus it is!

 

If you don't find what you need, and you come to the "Blue lake" meet, I can give you a set, I have lots of them.

[720life]

If you don't find what you need, and you come to the "Blue lake" meet, I can give you a set, I have lots of them.

 

Well I might just wait til Blue Lake then and get a set from you then.

 

 

 

Snapped a oic of my new tires on my way home yesterday.

 

 

Im gonna have these put on today. 205/65s is going to be sweet compared to the 235/75s ive got on there now. Funds were pretty tight last fall and I needed tires and got the 235s on a really good deal I couldnt pass up cause I didnt have anything else ATM.

 

So im excited to see how this thing drives when I get the new tires put on. No more rubbin in the front, Better MPG, better takeoffs and less body-roll in turns...yeah Ive been looking forward to new tires. Even with the 235s, I was getting atleast 25 MPG.

 

Ill get some more oics when I get em switched out today.

 

Stoked  :thumbup:

 

O and I got a great deal on them, 75 bucks for all 4 and they had been used less then a year. They had just switched over to winter tires and then they totalled it so they didnt need these anymore.