J13 Engine after market parts and all other 520 521 cross over parts with MG also

[datzenmike]

Crooks! $500 is a bit much try another shop. You might find the core somewhere and solder it in yourself. It's half hour prep and 5 min of doing.

 

 

[Crashtd420]

44 minutes ago, wakemaniac said:

 

Yes I did. They want 500$ to do it...figured i'd get a 3 row aluminum one for cheaper !

Damn, ya I'd try calling around and try another place like Mike said .....

 

Edited August 30, 2019 by Crashtd420

[wayno]

The issue here is where the outlets are and how large the fitting is, the early Datsun Roadster radiator has the outlets on the correct sides and them are available, but they are around 4 inches narrower(around 17" wide and 17" tall and about 1.5 inches taller), but they are made for a 1600/2000cc engine so they will cool the J13, the tanks are both around 3 inches thick( compared to an L series radiator) while the J13 radiator is closer to 2.5" thick(tank).

I don't know what it costs in your area to rebuild a radiator Dmike, but I was paying around $300.00 to $400.00 7 or 8 years ago.

 

[Stoffregen Motorsports]

Good quality cores are expensive these days. $400 is about right for a heavy duty core with a customer supplied radiator.

 

Cheap aluminum radiators are out there, and if yo get the right one (welded, not bonded core) you can even powder coat them to look original(ish). I hate polished aluminum, but I may be the only one who does. All of my aluminum radiators get powder coated.

[iota]

Hey guys, I wanted to contribute some parts that I've used or modified with success on my wife's 1966 Datsun 520 with the original J13. I know that these product links will probably not work as the years go by so hopefully these descriptions help someone working with these parts.

 

 

* The "Fel-Pro MS 22506 B" gasket set intended for the MGB worked great for the intake/exhaust gasket - it is a perfect fit. I got it on Amazon for about $7 but you may be able to find it at an auto parts store. (Note that the kit comes with 6x round carburetor gaskets that I don't think will work for anything on this truck but the intake/exhaust gasket worked great and was cheap and easy to get.) https://smile.amazon.com/Fel-Pro-MS-22506-Exhaust-Manifold/dp/B000C2EB3I  (In case the image above does not load in the future due to changes with image sites, this gasket set has 6 small oblong shaped gray gaskets with a big hole in the middle and two bolt holes - those can be discarded, I think; and the intake/exhaust gasket is long and narrow and has a bolthole-square-bolthole-round-bolthole-square-bolthole-round-bolthole-square-bolthole pattern to it)

 

 

* I ordered a generic J15 carburetor from a seller in Thailand on eBay named "designguu" who sells quite a few "new" Datsun parts, as do a few other eBay sellers. I believe that since the J15 motor and some of the Datsun products were sold well into the 80's and early 90's internationally (or in other applications like forklifts), they have brand-new "aftermarket" parts still available if you are willing to wait for international shipping. The carburetor looks identical to my Nikki carburetor. I considered taking it apart and using its seals and pieces to rebuild my stock carb, but the stock carb had been modified with JBweld by a previous owner so I decided to just use the eBay one -and it functioned perfectly! I did have to make two slight modifications:

1) The vacuum advance on my stock distributor used a hard line with a compression/flare fitting on the end, whereas the new carburetor had a banjo bolt with a hose barb sticking out of the side of it. By just removing the banjo bolt, the threaded hole in the bottom of the carb fit the flare fitting perfectly. (I later actually switched to a new distributor which also had a hose barb instead of a compression fitting so I put the banjo bolt back and just used a silicone line between the carb and distributor vacuum advance).

2) The throttle linkage on the eBay unit was wrong; it had a spring-loaded "round" thing that the speedo cable appears to fit into and get wrapped around and then "unwound" as you press the pedal. This didn't match my stock setup at all and I think my stock speedo cable wasn't long enough to fit into the linkage it came with. I was able to modify it by removing the bolt that holds the linkage on the old carb, removing the "cable attachment" parts, and then replacing them with the parts from my old unit. The old unit uses the little stick-with-two-white-balls to move the throttle on the carb so I just adapted my old parts to fit on the new carb and it worked great.

After modifying, the carburetor works perfectly and I am extremely happy with it's performance. It cost about $150 but there are much cheaper ones if you are willing to wait for international shipping. https://www.ebay.com/itm/J15-ENGINE-CARBURETOR-Fit-DATSUN-NISSAN-PICKUP-520-521-620-710-720/263076161147  (If the images don't work some day in the future, this carburetor looks like a stock Nikki carb but with shiny "gold" linkage/springs/fuel inlet/jets; the float bowl has clear glass window with the "LEVEL" indicator and a "gold" surround)

 

* I ordered a generic Datsun 520/521/620/610 fuel level sender also from Thailand. This one was $24 (with 3 week wait for free international shipping) and came from a seller named autoparts.pros although others sell it as well. For $24 I am happy with it (it tells the fuel level accurately), but I did have some issues with it:

1) The stock unit has a 5/8 hose barb elbow coming out of it for the tank vent. I couldn't find any on eBay that looked like my stock unit, at least not for under a hundred bucks. I decided to just buy this cheap one and modified it by drilling a hole in it, and adding a hose barb myself. I used a 1/2" MPT elbow and a 1/2" MPT to 5/8" hose barb brass fitting and it worked out fine. See my picture above of the installed part.

2) My unit was missing the tiny push nut on the end of the metal wire that holds the float, so the float wants to come off. I jammed a little piece of scrap wire (an old cotter pin) in the foam and around the wire to hold it from popping out and floating away. I guess that's what you get for $24.

3) My old sending unit had a flat "brim" to the "hat" that sits against the o-ring of the tank and is locked down by the lock-ring. The new unit has a rounded "brim" you can see in the picture, making it too fat to fit under the lock ring. I use the bench grinder to grind that "brim" off and make the edge flat and it locked in just fine.

Overall I am happy enough for the price. https://www.ebay.com/itm/Fuel-Gauge-Delivery-Sending-Unit-Fit-For-Datsun-520-521-620-610-Nissan-1966-1986/233336557228 (If the picture doesn't work, this looks just like a stock sending unit but with a foam float attached to the wire arm, and the top surface that sits on top of the tank is "gold". Another picture shows my installed unit with the drilled and home made hose fittings to adapt the tank vent breather hose)

 

 

* I ordered a generic J15 mechanical fuel pump also from Thailand eBay seller "designguu". It cost $60 including 2 day international shipping but there are slightly cheaper options. I knew that this would require modification because I assumed (correctly) that the actuator arm would not be the right shape. I ended up having to combine my old fuel pump and the new fuel pump as pictured above - the old fuel pump's "top end" (pictured on left) was varnished with bad gas and totally seized up. Unfortunately, the new pump's actuator arm was the wrong shape, plus the mounting surface of the new pump was far too thick - notice how there is about a 1/4" thick flange of the finished pump in the middle of the photo, but the bottom end from the eBay pump (pictured on right) has a ~1/2" thick flange - I couldn't start the nut. So, what I did to resolve the arm issue and the flange problem was just to take the top of the new pump off, take out the diaphragm from the new pump, and put those onto the old pump's bottom end (which is just the mounting base, the arm, and a spring). This only took a few minutes and was very straightforward and worked out perfectly - the modified pump now works and mounted properly with no issues at all. The new pump actually came with two spare gaskets for the fuel pump so I was able to scrape off the old one and use one of the new ones. I am very happy with this one. https://www.ebay.com/itm/FIT-DATSUN-NISSAN-BLUEBIRD-411-VIOLET-710-J-Engine-Model-J12-J13-FUEL-PUMP-NEW/264014324061 (In case the photos don't work in the future, the picture shows a combination of my old fuel pump's bottom portion with original arm, which has a pretty decent upward bend to it and extends about to the same level as where the fuel inlet/outlet screws are - you'll notice that pumps for sale on ebay have a very short "straight" arm which means you'll need to swap the arm or the base or both)

 

Hope this helps anyone who is looking for an intake/exhaust gasket, fuel pump, carburetor, or fuel level sender for their 520 and is having trouble finding parts that work!

Edited February 2, 2020 by iota
Added more photos

[Charlie69]

Great write up thank you for sharing the information.

 

Save the spare parts that you took off to make the various parts work on your truck.  These might be useful on your next Datsun.

[difrangia]

There may be some usable information in this interchange database that someone put a lot of time into. I believe that it mostly contains data pertinent to E-Series & J-Series engines.

 

http://www.farm.net/~mason/datsun/datsun-parts.html

 

[mtgmonkey]

HI! im new here and was looking for some parts for my j13. IN particular i was looking for engine gaskets and seals, as well as a new radiator. i was also looking for some suspension bits but thats going to come alter on. oh and allllll the hoses, mine are shot. and one more thing, break lines?

[datzenmike]

Rock Auto?

 

https://www.ebay.com/itm/272907268541

 

https://www.autosurplus.com.au/full-gasket-set-for-nissan-datsun-bluebird-pickup

 

https://www.autosurplus.com.au/vrs-gasket-set-for-nissan-datsun-bluebird-pickup-1~21703271

 

http://www.2040-parts.com/engine-gasket-kit-j-engine-j1200-j1300-j1500-j1600-old-datsun-models-i2027802/

 

 

I doubt you'll find a new J13 rad but something could be made to work.