My Datsun Hardbody....

[nerdistmonk]

Well i would put my truck in "endangered" status, what that means is as follows on this scale:

 

*Mint = As clean and perfect as the day it left the dealership

*Superb = an all around well taken care of vehicle with NO problems bodywise or mechanical

*Beater = Takes a licking and keeps on ticking, mediocre condition body and or mechanical but runs and runs and runs some more

*Endangered = Wont be on the road in 10 years unless action is taken to redeem it

*Passed On = the last bit of life left in the vehicle has left it, a dirt road traveled that was just too long, a vehicle thats ready for its final place of rest.

 

 

In my case my truck is endangered because of the body deterioration, even if its 100% superb mechanically, it can become worthless if well theres just no truck left to ride in, what good is a motor and drivetrain if i dont have anywhere to sit?

 

Body rot is usually what kills a vehicle well before a mechanical failure because a truck is never really dead until your vacuuming it up off the driveway, when you kick the side of your truck and it leaves a rust powder outline then you know theres trouble in paradise. (had a chevy that did that...kick it and you got a perfect outline of where its been parked)

 

My truck is not structurally sound to be honest, you can hear the cab move and creak, but i have what i have and it takes some planning to just go and dismantle an automobile (I also like to chain things together since im certainly never going to strip it down again).

 

Im not going to give up on the truck, and it is my DD so its not going out of service any time soon.

 

on another note im going to slink back a bit and be a lurker on the forums for a while, too much arguing and somewhat trollish attitudes has just bummed me out so i figure if i cut back on my new threads that should stop the rowdyness from affecting me, as ALL of my threads i have made have erupted into massive debates and holy wars, and to me while a healthy debate can be fun, the debates that seem to occur in my threads are just a waste of time. I wont be going anywhere though, so no worries and as long as someone shows some interest in my project thread ill keep updating it, though its been quiet for a bit. I just want to say i appreciate all the people who have helped me and the people who always have something nice to add, thanks again.

 

---nerdist monk, Defender of truth, justice and the american cheese (not so sure about the middle one but the first and last one definitely, american cheese is a privilege NOT a right, remember that)

[Guest Rick-rat]

is there a secret japanese secret to freeing the spare tire from underneith the truck, im soaked it in pb plaster, whacked it with a mallet for 30 minutes straight and that sucker isnt budging.

That gray rod on the wall behind the seats is what you use to lower the spare

[nerdistmonk]

That gray rod on the wall behind the seats is what you use to lower the spare

 

missing a piece to it so i left that for later. Right now im removing my dashboard. Why...i do not....know.....yet.......I think im going to strip the vinyl off of it and coat it with some sort of epoxy then sand and paint it if i cant have a metal dash i can have a spaceage epoxy dash instead! woot.

 

Seems simple to remove it so far, i still got to remove the gauge cluster then unbolt the main bolts holding the dash itself, ive removed everything else.

[nerdistmonk]

 i got most of the stuff off the dash now, no instructions just winging it:

[nerdistmonk]

Got the dash out this morning, spent 5 hours on it sanding
 

[king bee66]

this may have already been covered in this thread, but if you love carbs why not go with a side draft or r1 setup

[nerdistmonk]

at the time it was a new thing for me to ever work on a vehicle, i literally had 25 people watching to see if i would kill the truck and it floored everyone when it drove home 26 hours later (thats how long it took for me to do the conversion).

 

I went for the most direct path i could to make it work at the time, also the truck just isnt that powerful to be going huge and putting a fancy setup, you can see by the photos shes just an ol truck ready to work, I dont expect it to be a mclauren or anything thus its name "The gutless wonder" which may or may not get detailed onto the tailgate one of these days. lol

 

Also i dont think its the carb that makes it truly gutless, i believe the secret is in the rear diff gearing, its the heavy duty model with a tow package on it, so i would assume its geared for torque not speed.

 

but yes its tempting to slap a huge carb on it (though i would stick with the weber family of carbs since i understand them best). If i had the dinero laying around i would get a 38/38 outlaw for it.

 

thanks for your post!
 

[nerdistmonk]

Ok so im gearing up for paint tomorrow, i got a couple renditions of the datsun logo, ones in cursive and the other is the bold typeface version, i will make a stencil from one of them tomorrow, i will use that to put my datsun logo on the dash.

 

Working with what i got,

 

"when you need something, and dont have it, you sing a different tune" -Burt Gummer 1996

[nerdistmonk]

Ok so i got it all back together now, to paraphrase Walter Matthau (RIP), "if i had a dog half as ugly as this dash i would shave its keister and teach it to walk backwards"

 

used some of that expanding easy foam to hopefully secure my vents, i would mark this particular romp as a complete and total waste.

[nerdistmonk]

I got a couple of major things i would like to try and get done to this truck, but i am quickly running out of the energy necessary to figure this stuff out all on my own and then implement it. So here it is

 

I got a 1986.5 Nissan Hardbody Reg Cab longbed, 2wd, HF37 rearend? with a 5 speed (and possibly the heavy duty package as it has what appears to be a factory tow package and harnesses)

 

I really really would like to put disc brakes on the back, but trying to find an easy to follow set of instructions hasnt been simple, so what would i need to do to pull this off?

(I hate drum brakes so bad) I get the feeling that i cant do this with the tools i have.

 

The next thing after that would be to go from a 2 piece driveshaft to a 1 piece

 

----------------------------------------

 

In both these cases im stuck doing this stuff by myself and well if you've been following my project thread and seen the kind of work i churn out, proper instructions are a must along with exactly what parts i need to do it (right down to the last bolt). Letting me get creative can sometimes be a very costly mistake lol or sometimes its brilliant....but mostly costly. :p

 

I havent accomplished squat in the last few hours so im off to bed, any help would be appreciated big time.

[INDY510]

Nissan Heads Up Display .... or HUD .... was offered in some 89-94 Nissans ....... ...... and your "words to pic" ratio lately is 100:0

[datzenmike]

This has likely been covered before here. Try the search function.

[derrick719]

Nissan pathfinder the LS model has rear disks . Mine did same set up I believe

[nerdistmonk]

I may have to look for that stuff, pathfinders are just as hard to get as the trucks around here though

Got some of the electrical prep finished, fuel pump now runs standalone without computer assistance
 

[nerdistmonk]

Derp.

[nerdistmonk]

I cant leave this book unfinished even if nobody ultimately gives a hoot, i got all the wiring done and ready, coils are in place and ready, just waiting on a 36 cent gasket to arrive in the mail then i can slap this baby on, test fire it and take some ratsun pics of the finished product.

 

 

Also i have come to the conclusion that my ka24 was kind of pointless on the grounds that the ka24 is just a much improved z24, the z24 is a much improved z22, (i think you see where this is going), it seems most of nissan's engines are just polished versions of the previous motor (which is not a bad thing at all, i love being able to interchange alot of the parts)

 

(as for anyone who thinks nissan isnt the same as a datsun or is inferior, i got two words for you: take a hike, then while your busy hiking, go look up nissans history, you love datsun so much but know nothing of the company that made them, your 620 truck and 720 truck should clearly say made by nissan motor company or something along those lines on the door jamb. So give it up Nissan is datsun, datsun is nissan, nissan got sick of using a different name for the US and canada so they used their japanese name nissan for the american trucks because during the 80's japanese companies were taking over by storm and they wanted a global name)

[bub510]

"take a hike" is three words :poke:

[flatcat19]

"contradict yourself much" is 3 more.

[nerdistmonk]

"contradict yourself much" is 3 more.

 

dont see where i did that, but if you got nothing positive to say then get hiking.

 

Edit: if you mean the thread title, its not a contradiction, but it seems to serve its purpose if it ruffles your feathers. a nice unintended side-effect.

 

I called it a datsun hardbody because it resembles the D-720 more than the newer nissan branded 720 with transistorized ignition

[nerdistmonk]

Mission Accomplished, the ignition conversion appears to be a complete success, slight bump in the idle speed adjustment and she lives

 

 

[flatcat19]

Zip tying ignition wires together creates resistance and interference.

 

Cheers.

[flatcat19]

NM: dont see where i did that, but if you got nothing positive to say then get hiking.

 

NM: Also i have come to the conclusion that my ka24 was kind of pointless on the grounds that the ka24 is just a much improved z24

 

 

And also-deleting is cheating.

[72240z]

LMFAO


Sorry lol, keep on keepin on 

[nerdistmonk]

um dude thats called a typo, if it makes you feel better to make fun of someone over that congrats I ment to say "my ka24 THREAD was pointless" you see because i made a thread by the name of "why so many ka24's?"....but meh thats why i finished the thread was to see what people would say, amazing how 3 or 4 people can make a whole forum look bad. Sorry for dyslexic typing cant help that.

 

:sneaky:

[flatcat19]

Skin a little thin?

 

You need a thicker tunic.