My 720 Resto

[dc5720]

 

 

same here i just bought my 720 last week and the next day rained and found water on passanger floor

[720inOlyWa]

Ahh- hah- a pattern!

Since I have everything out right now, I am going to try to figure out exactly how it leaks and how we can perhaps slow it down or stop it. And I will post whatever I come up with. It seems silly to drive around with the drain plugs pulled out of your floorboards all winter. (Or all year, here). And for sure, a ‘lake’ like mine will lead to no floor pan in fairly short order. Actually, I am very surprised to see the floor pan in as good condition as it is, considering. 

 

One thing, I noticed a bunch of schmaag had piled up in the gap at the bottom of the fender, next to the pillar. Maybe this allows water to build up and seep into the cab more easily, I am not sure. I took a compressor and blew it all out, but I do not think that this is the entire problem. At the top of the fender, where it meets the cowling of the truck, there is a gap and I can see that someone, at some point, rubbed a bead of silicone in there. They did a crappy job, but clearly, this is where they thought it was leaking. It that is the key leak point, I may loosen the fender and slide a piece of 3/8“ black rubber tubing in that gap, to route water to the outside edge of the fender instead of down the pilar.

 

That is all I have so far. 

 

Any thoughts?

[Charlie69]

Check the fresh air inlet for bad seal.  Most likely need to seal the windshield.

[720inOlyWa]

Wow- nice call, Charlie!

Sure as shit, the weather gave us a nice rain squall this afternoon and there it was- a rivulet draining down off of the firewall onto the floor. A pretty good one, too. That must be a windshield leak. Has to be. It is also damp in the rear passenger corner, suggesting a rear window seal leak as well. any stop-gap measure that I can take to try to stop it?

 

So, since there is a slight streak etched into the drivers side windshield from previously negligent owners who left an old, worn out wiper on there for too long, this leak may be just the excuse I needed to go for a new windshield. That will require a new seal as well. Are these parts available from a good windshield replacement place, or do I have to go nissanparts or rockauto to get them??

 

In the mean time, and to prevent future leaks from turning into lakes, I am going to drill a few tiny relief holes around the floor pan drains and in the corners before I paint it with Por15.

[wayno]

I would do as Charlie suggested, and seal the windshield/windshield gasket with some silicone. :)

[720inOlyWa]

I just discovered that there is a real ‘flowy’ silicone made just for this application. Thanks, I will pick some up tomorrow and get right on that. I am pretty sure I have a little bit of a leak in the rear window seal as well. Best to get it all now. It is pretty squally today / tonight, so I can check it every once in a while wit a flashlight to fine tune my leak abatement silicone strategy, or LASS. Which reminds me... I need to catch up on my favorite thread (including mine) PosTits! Damn, I hope that VTR stopped by recently.

[wayno]

He he doing a thousand plus posts a month, one day alone he had 233, my guess is that he will be the second highest poster on here in maybe a year and a half of being a member, and at two and a half years he will pass Datzenmike, and he has over 47,000 posts, I bet right now he has the highest post count for a single day.

That's one determined Aussie. :lol:

I didn’t discovered that there is a real ‘flowy’ silicone made just for this application. Thanks, I will pick some up tomorrow and get right on that. I am pretty sure I have a little bit of a leak in the rear window seal as well. Best to get it all now. It is pretty squally today / tonight, so I can check it every once in a while wit a flashlight to fine tune my leak abatement silicone strategy, or LASS. Which reminds me... I need to catch up on my favorite thread (including mine) PosTits! Damn, I hope that VTR stopped by recently.

[bananahamuck]

Roll over to WESCO and buy ask them for window sealant,, tell-um what your looking at and what-not ,, and they have some of that black mastic stuff in a caulking tube  that is made for the job.

 

It's over by the post office (kinda) downtown 

 

Link ,, clickity clickity

 

   https://goo.gl/maps/Giics

 

.

[84720FourWheel]

My truck does that too. But that's because there is a hole by my cab mount!

[Charlie69]

bananahamuck has you covered

 

There is a sealer used by glass shops that flows nicely.  This is a messy job.  I take mine to a glass shop and have them seal both windows.  Much easier than spending the time sourcing the sealer.

 

You might be able to buy the sealer at the glass shop.  Be sure it is a glass shop that does windshields.  You might need new gaskets after all the are older than dirt!  LOL

 

There is something about these old trucks the windshields leak.  every Datsun I have owned has leaked.  That might have something to do with the Arizona sun as it is much different than other parts of the worlds sun.  LOl

[720inOlyWa]

Well, it has been pissing down all night here, and I have been keeping a close eye on the leak situation, and the news is not good. Well, not so good and pretty good after all. But the not so good first: it is leaking in several places along the windshield, with maybe 4 or 5 little rivulets draining down the firewall, most heavily on the passenger side.  The main rivulet, which I have taken to calling ‘The Amazon’ flows like a motherfucker. You wipe a finger across it and immediately, your dry space is erased. If the plug has been in the floorboards, there would have been pints in there this morning. I punched two small pop rivet sized holes in the floor to keep things draining. I will fill them later.

 

So I went to WESCO and asked it they had any windshield silicone goo and they gave me a confused look- and the business card of ‘the best glass guy in town’. I went over to the franchise auto glass place nearby and they quoted me $450 for a new ‘hard to find’ windshield. But a little birdie had already told me that this would be the worst price and service in town, so I used it only as a barometer.

 

I called the jobber guy who was recommended to me and asked for a price. He didn’t have time to chit chat, but seemed open to dicker, so we did. “How much for two windshields, exactly the same? And could I work with you, help you do the job? I am really, really interested in making sure that these are leak free installs and I have skills.“ He assured me that he guaranteed his work and said “$450 for both, if you help. And no, he would have no problem getting good windshields for them. But it will take 4 hours, and you will work, so be ready for that.”

 

I don’t want you to think that I am able to just toss money at my truck fun, because I am pretty damn poor, generally speaking. My truck projects are nickel and dime, sweat equity affairs. If I can get a decent part at the wrecking yard, that is were I go first. But I said ‘Deal!’ in a heartbeat, and the glass is on the way. Hell, both trucks need it, with the 4x4 being even worse than The Fudgecicle. Might as well bite the bullet now and dry things up good before the carpet goes back in. The 4x4 can wait for a patch of dry weather, since it is no longer mobile.

 

I had to put the drivers seat back in to take it by the glass place and I think I kind of like it with only one seat in- pretty cool! I looked out through the arc scratched into the glass by a worn wiper, some time ago. It is the only defect in the glass, really, but it is a bit bothersome. My frugal side could live with it for a while, but my hedonist side knows that a fresh windshield is one of the true pleasures of motoring. Pleasure won out.

[JoeCool]

I am scared to pull up the rubber flooring on my truck and see what is underneath! Owned it for three years and never pulled it up, plus I am scared it will rip, and then I have nothing to replace it with. I probably will this spring and replace it with this cool looking black "diamond plate" rubber I saw at the parts store. And pull the seat and clean under and behind it as well.

[bananahamuck]

I think they were jerking you around at WESCO  i thought they got rid of all the "know-it-all pricks down there but i guess not.. 

I hunted around the shed of mystery and found a tube we haven't used yet. 

 

If you cut the tip very small you can open a crack and jam that sucker all up in there,,  and just slowly slide whilst applying and it seals pretty good most times,,,, Sometimes rubber will really crack to beat hell so you have to kinda baby your way around,, heat applied to rubber may help this problem... BUT since this stuff is what is used to seal windshields,,, well,,  there you go.

 

 

 

 

 

Jammed all up in there

 

 

 

 

 

As with anything though,,,,,,, your results may vary.

[720inOlyWa]

I am scared to pull up the rubber flooring on my truck and see what is underneath! Owned it for three years and never pulled it up, plus I am scared it will rip, and then I have nothing to replace it with. I probably will this spring and replace it with this cool looking black "diamond plate" rubber I saw at the parts store. And pull the seat and clean under and behind it as well.

 

With mine, there was a layer of dense industrial blanketing underneath the carpeting, with no rubber mat flooring involved, save for the matts that I placed over the carpeting. So, unlike our old 620, which had only the rubber mats, this model has these thick sponges sitting on the floorboards. It is really a drag to have wet, rotting sponges under your feet. Experience tells me that having moisture trapped in the cab is highly destructive situation. With new ‘floor sponges’ going in, I have to do anything I can to keep the water out. Time to nip it- nip it in the bud!

[Charlie69]

for the 450 price make him supply new weatherstrip for both windows.

 

Try this:

 

https://fixmyglass.safelite.com/External/FindServiceArea.aspx

[720inOlyWa]

for the 450 price make him supply new weatherstrip for both windows.

 

Try this:

 

https://fixmyglass.safelite.com/External/FindServiceArea.aspx

 

Includes new weatherstripping and new chrome moldings, too- for both trucks. I wasn’t going to name names, but Safelite is where the super expensive price came from. And they did an insurance replacement for us once that was really poorly done. Just sayin’.

 

This way, I ‘get to’ help, so I will know exactly how well it was done- twice! 

[wayno]

I would want to see them do it not because I wanted to make sure it was a good job, I would want to see exactly how they did it, every step.

Includes new weatherstripping and new chrome moldings, too- for both trucks. I wasn’t going to name names, but Safelite is where the super expensive price came from. And they did an insurance replacement for us once that was really poorly done. Just sayin’.

 

This way, I ‘get to’ help, so I will know exactly how well it was done- twice! 

[720inOlyWa]

Holy cow!- I just spent a week back in the Stone Age- and I liked it!

When the big wind storm swept through about a week ago, it took out a nearby transformer and the resulting power spike took out my surge protections system, the server, and the logic / graphic boards of three computers. Boom! Everything was carted away and rebuilt over the past week and now, we are limping back into the Digital Age once again. 

 

I must say that being off the grid for the first time in years felt pretty liberating. I read the email I could, or had to,  on my wifes POS PC laptop, dealt with the necessary stuff only, and generally took care of analog business, like cleaning, repairing, using tools, etc.  When the winds really hit here, it was late at night and they almost took out the 12 by 16 foot pergola that covers out patio. This would have been a disaster for sure as this is a sacred object, built by my brother in law and myself a few years back. But I whipped out my tie down ropes just in time, tied them all together, and lashed it to the top beam of the pergola, anchoring it all to the foundation of our potting shed, narrowly averting disaster. The next day, Jerry and I built new 45 degree trusses into the beam arrangement on the pergola and now it would take a real tornado to rip it up.

 

Cool thing is, over the last week, I also finally got my new carpets all in after doing the Por 15 routine of the surface rust of my floorboards. What an improvement. If I can figure out how to get back into my Photobucket account, I will share a pic or two.

 

Let’s find out of my Photobucket account is back and working...  Here is the floor pan after full on Por 15 treatment, including degreaser cleaning, repeated metal prep, and paint.

 

 

Here is the refurbed carpet, getting a trial fitting. At this stage, I had to move it, so I put in the drivers seat and drove it that way for a day or two. I liked the interior space with one bucket. Kinda fun!

 

 

Seats are in, rail caps are on, and it looks pretty good again...

 

 

Floor mats are back in, and we are a daily driver again!  In a day or so, the Fudgecicle gets her new windshield. Then the cab will be really tight (or, as tight as can be expected.)

 

 

Black and tan, man!

 

[wayno]

:lol:  One can get a lot done when they don't have a working computer. :lol:

[Charlie69]

Includes new weatherstripping and new chrome moldings, too- for both trucks. I wasn’t going to name names, but Safelite is where the super expensive price came from. And they did an insurance replacement for us once that was really poorly done. Just sayin’.

 

This way, I ‘get to’ help, so I will know exactly how well it was done- twice! 

The Safelite shop I use does good work and is fairly priced.  Unfortunately a name brand toting shops are individually owned and run.

[84720FourWheel]

Yeah, my experiences with safelite have only been positive. Been to two different ones. Got me in ahead of schedule (showed up early), and out faster than they quoted.

 

Also the cheapest price in both towns.

[720inOlyWa]

Does doing a little project on Christmas make me a chronic?

I noticed that the cab light wasn’t really working quite right in the rear switch position, which is when the doors are open, and for a few seconds once they close. For some reason, cleaning up and rehabbing the floorboards made the overhead light work a little better. But today, I pulled the switches and gave them a nice clean up and ‘DeOxit’ treatment. Now it all works perfectly. The replacement boots that I got from the jy were’t really much of an improvement over the ones I have, so I will keep an eye out for better ones. Though I haven’t looked yet, I would bet that the Hardbody models and maybe even the Pathfinders had the same switch arrangement and the same boots. Just another flimsy excuse to hit the jy again on the day after x-mas....

[Charlie69]

No addicted!!! LOL Merry Christmas

[720inOlyWa]

Replacing / rebuilding the belt tensioners. 

I have seen a thread here in Ratsun about rebuilding belt tensioners, so I will go find it to take another look. My upper tensioner has about 1/16 inch of sideways slop, which makes me think it is going away. That, and the squealing that comes out of it when the lithium grease spray wears off. The one on my 4x4 isn’t nearly so sloppy, so I am inclined to pull it, check it and re-lube it (just grease it?) and put it into the Fudgecicle for now.

 

It this one of those parts, like an oil pump or timing chain, where you are just better off getting a new, fresh one? Or can these be rebuilt and/or serviced and still give (another) long life? And where would you go to get a new one, nissanparts? rockauto?  
 

It the upper one is going away, the lower one is probably close as well.

[Tinman]

Belt tensioners use an ordinary sealed bearing you can change out.  No need to replace the pulleys.