Free/low cost mods that should be done....

[510T]

On your pl510 replace the sheetmetal screws on the filler neck with nuts and bolts from your collection.  While you are at it buy a new gas cap (ebay Gates #31619 - around $10 shipped)

 

 

[Camtron]

AWESOME THREAD! :thumbup:

 

On your pl510 replace the sheetmetal screws on the filler neck with nuts and bolts from your collection. While you are at it buy a new gas cap (ebay Gates #31619 - around $10 shipped)

 

Thanks for the tip! All the gas caps I had found were around $30 plus shipping.

Now can you find me a replacement rubber filler neck for less than an arm and a leg?!

[macgyver]

Found some carbon fiber pieces I never used on previous cars....

Made a back plate for behind my light/wiper knobs...

 

Another freebee

[Jim Young]

"Clean your fuse box and replace all the fuses.

 

For the Ratsun version, get enough white vinegar in a container to cover the fuse box and let it soak for a couple of hours.

 

Scrub clean with a toothbrush then rinse with warm water and dry and put new fuses in..."

 

 

 

I'd add that a dip in a baking soda solution will neutralize the acid, then rinse (and I spray it with WD-40 or electrical grease) . P.S. Museum conservators tell me they use WD-40 to clean displays without spoiling the patina .

 

When I took my 1200 Coupe fuse box out I found the Fuse locations on the cover (don't know if is the correct cover)  didn't match. It is easy to switch the connectors on the back to put them in places that match the cover, though.  Just make sure you use the right fuse matched to the relocated wire (size, or awg does matter, sometimes).

 

I was so frustrated by the inaccuracies and style changes, ect, in the Datsun/Nissan schematics, coupled with the competent but undocumented repairs and modifications a former Datsun dealership mechanic (who owned the car) made, I'm considering rewiring the whole thing, with something like the 98 Monte Carlo Aux Fuse and Relay box I picked up for $16 (only slightly more expensive than just one of the 3 relays cost). 

 

The only thing I don't like is the non-ISO common Relays since they are not conveniently marked as to Amps rating, which can make a difference if you are using a higher power Mercedes electric radiator fan like I am.  (GM apparently has the ones adequate for Anti-lock Brake System circuits actually branded (hot branded into the plastic on mine) with which ones it supports (GM ABS V on mine, and GM ABS VI on another one), which I guess means that it will handle the high current requirements adequately.  I'm inclined to run parallel relays as extra insurance, since the panel has more than I need.  If anyone has another favorite fuse box, or spots a compact one that uses the More common ISO relay (wider pins in very common pin pattern, and far more clearly marked for Amps, etc), please let me know.

 

I especially like to follow what I've seen some do and  mount the relays nearest the high current loads they control, using an oversized wire as a common source that can be tapped off where needed. The relay coil (control)  wires can be much smaller and make a neater job.  I'm more thanwilling to spend the extra effort to break sub-circuits out into separate harness branches, too.

[macgyver]

Gots to be more?!?! Keep them coming!!!

[jrock4224]

truck nutz......buy em put em on......

[jrock4224]

shit not free...unless.....

[mrbigtanker]

Put gas so you can drive,oh shit never mind that cost's money

[jwerty1]

cut the shifter on your 620, drill a hole through it and take a piston out of a bad weed wacker you have laying around, custom piston knob short shifter

 

spray bomb makes things look good, hopefully you have more patience than I do so it looks nice for a while

 

not free, but a wideband afr gauge is freaking awesome, got mine from innovative motorsports for about 170.  If you don't know carbs like the back of your hand, this will help

 

turbo?  pvc pipe intake piping, not free, but not uber expensive like custom pipes

 

sandwich oil filter adapter, costs like 20 bucks, bolts on your oil filter stud, then your oil filter onto it, like the newer oil coolers on nissans.  However it has fittings for oil temp sender and oil cooler

 

If you are non smog/emissions, remove the egr crap, cut out a piece of metal and bolt it to the intake

 

bump on, set timing, set valves, change fluids/filters, plugs, air pressure, etc, maintenance is key

 

water injection anyone?  Not sure on NA how to signal it, but on my truck, old washer bottle and pump, $20 boost pressure switch, $4 oil furnace nozzle, some jb weld, and a relay and you have water injection, read up, it can help your gas mileage too.  Found a website a guy in aussie drilled a hole into his carbs and just had the water feed in from manifold vacuum

 

crank your torsion bars, get the old school raked look

 

im sure there are lots of other, but that's all that is coming to mind right now

[edekalil]

An example of the LED's. Before After

What blub# are you using?

Eddie

[pope_face]

I'm surprised nobody's mentioned it yet, but a ground/power wire upgrade in the engine compartment usually helps a lot. I haven't done one in a while (especially not on a Datsun), but basically:

 

- Increase the gauge of all ground wires. This includes the engine to body, starter to body, and body to negative battery terminal (and transmission to body, if there is one there). 4 gauge or 2 gauge is probably ideal (0/1 gauge may be too heavy to work with). Welding cable is popular, and might be cheaper than "automotive" cable. I've also heard that welding cable is more pliable (IIRC, it has thinner strands, but a lot more of them, than comparable automotive wire). You can also get "fancy" cables from most shops that deal car audio (the specialty shops should have cable that you can purchase by the foot).

 

- Increase the gauge of your power wire, from the battery to the fuse box, and from the battery to the starter. Again, 4 gauge (or larger) is probably a good choice, but remember that you might need to upgrade the size of your main fuse (or fusible link) to match if you intend on drawing a lot more power from the fuse box.

 

- Add extra ground cables. Not totally necessary, but it doesn't hurt.

 

- Use new, heavier ring terminals wherever possible (personally, I use crimp-on terminals, and then add some solder to make sure they won't loosen over time). Replace (or at least clean up) your battery terminals. Use some dielectric grease on your connections after they've been hooked up (dielectric grease is non-conductive and may cause intermittant problems if applied before you tighten everything up). Clean the rust/paint off your attachment points to get a better connection.

 

That's really all there is to it, as far as I recall. You can buy kits online that'll get you all the parts you need, or you can go to your local automotive (or specialty tool) shop and get the cable you need there. Auto shops should have the terminals too. Heatshrink on the terminals is a nice finishing touch, and allows you to coordinate ground and power cables. Should cost less than $100 in parts, and it can be done in an afternoon. On cars this old, simply replacing the cables should get you a better connection, but may as well upgrade them at the same time.

[KlassicMotion]

Disassemble, clean, lube and reassemble you wiper pivots before they break (620 for sure, I haven't looked at the 510 yet to see if it has nylon pivots).

 

**First off, be very careful when removing the three nuts on each pivot.  They are studs mounted through the nylon.**

 

What can happen:

 

 

 

Dissasembled:

 

 

 

Before:

 

 

 

After:

 

 

 

Lubed:

 

 

 

Take a brass wire brush through the pivots to clean the rust/grime out of them:

 

 

 

 

Then Lube the "Hyme joint" looking bushings in the wiper transmission rods too, before reasembly.....

[KlassicMotion]

Try this first, before throwing that old relay away!!!  Or do this to your relays anyways to get get better current flow out of them:

You can do the same to swtiches too, like your headlight or wiper switch.  They don't use contact points, but they have connections that get oxidized and dirty.

 

If your not confident to do this, contact me, you pay shipping, and I will do it for free.

 

 

Clean the contact points on your factory relays (headlights, horn, voltage regulator, etc) it's just like the contact points in your distributor.   The points get burnt, dirty, and oxidation accumulates on the copper ground straps.  Doing this will usually will bring a dead relay back to life.

 

Here's the headlight relay from my 620;  I did the same to the relays on my 510.  The 510 highbeams wouldn't work;  I did this and they worked again.

 

 

 

Bend the 4 tabs holding the metal cover on, and seperate the bottom from the cover:

 

 

Cover off:

 

 

 

Remove the screw holding the copper plate on, so you can clean the copper surface.  Brass wire brush, or 0000 steel wool works well.

**Pictured are two versions of the screw/nut holding the copper plate on.  ***Be careful not to break the wires... Yes they can be re-soldered if they break.

 

 

OR

 

 

 

Contact Points:   Use emory cloth to clean/smooth them (Local parts store usually has emory cloth in the sheet, or roll)

 

 

Emory cloth:

 

 

 

I used some needle nose pliers to tweek the points a bit so they made better contact:

 

 

 

Dont forget the conector terminals:

 

 

 

I quickly cleaned the cover and made a new gasket for it:

 

 

 

Don't forget to clean any and all terminals, especially the forgotten ground terminals.  This includes making sure the screw holding the terminal on, and the surface the terminal touches has clean bare metal touching all contact surfaces.  Cover the connection with dielectric grease to keep moisture and corrosion out of the connection.

 

 

 

 

 

***I thought this was important enough, I made its own thread under the electrical section***

[KlassicMotion]

I should also mention, most vintage automotive clocks work off contact points.  9 out of 10 times, if your clock doesn't work, the contact points just need to be cleaned the same way as above^^

[macgyver]

2 great write ups!!! ^^^^

[KlassicMotion]

 

I looked into this tonight.... I was able to accomplish this for my 620 with some extra modifcation (its a bit complicated as I used 210 markers with Thailand housings:  http://community.ratsun.net/topic/57342-bomber-green-73-620/page-4 ), but if you take a closer look as to what the author is recommending, you will quickly find that your turning the metal housing for your side markers into an exposed "hot" link when the lights are on.  If any part of that housing touches the body or if the mounting screws touch the body, you have direct short!!! 

 

I just wanted to caution everyone to recognize this before attempting.  I'm going to look into modifying the 510 marker lights, similar to what I did with my 620/210 units.

 

I just went out to look at my car and extra parts to double check my marker units.  The ones that are original to my '71 only have a rubber gasket on the exterior of the car, but I have one spare unit (not sure what it's from) that has a full rubber sleeve around the entire metal housing.  If your side markers have this full sleeve, then I'd say;  drill out the holes in the metal housing so there is no way they will touch the mounting screws and you should be fine....  Otherwise.....

[KlassicMotion]

Okay, so I figured out how I would do the side marker conversion today to make it safe.  See the write-up here:

 

http://community.ratsun.net/topic/58513-side-marker-light-conversion/

 

 

And as I was doing that, I came across another tip:

 

Check your side markers to make sure they are clean and "bright" to reflect the light.  If they are as bad as mine were, I'd suggest some serious cleaning or replacing them altogether.  If you clean them, try some Chrome spray paint to give them an inexpensive reflective coating.

 

Here is what mine looked like:

 

 

 

This is a different unit, but this is after a cleaning and some paint:

 

[KlassicMotion]

Also, on that note, I used the chrome spray paint inside my rear tail light housings on the 510.  I believe it does two things back there;  One, it helps reflect the light, but two, it keeps the heat and UV light off the plastic so it doesn't rot and get brittle as quickly.

 

LED lights for the tails too:

 

http://community.ratsun.net/topic/56071-led-bulbs-for-tail-light-housing/