521 Rescue

[nukeday]

Got all 4 of my upper control arm bushings, the alternator I ordered was cancelled. The case for the J13 alt is a bit different from the L series, and I'm really hoping to find the correct one.

 

Still waiting on the slave hose, the slave is available locally and I plan to purchase that when the hose arrives.

 

Does anyone have experience with locating water leaks into the body? I know that radiator shops use a fluorescent dye of some sort and a black light. I'm not sure if the dye might damage the paint? If it's water borne, I'm also curious how you clean it up after you've found the leak.

 

Maybe some food coloring in water? Pour it over the cowl, wipers and vent area and see where it drips through? I'd like to seal this up before I put the truck back outside.

 

Suggestions appreciated. I know the door seals/windows are lacking but the primary leak seems to be in the front tray/cowl area. Help!?

[Charlie69]

Hey nukeday,

 

Great progress, I do not remember did I send you the alternator with the other parts? If I did not I Probably still have it here. I think I have the voltage regulator still with my harness. The alternator probably needs rebuilt but if you want it and I can find it is yours. I will look around tomorrow.

 

Let me know if I already sent it to you. And also if you want it.

[Jester]

Put a small sprinkler on top of your truck, get inside, have someone turn it on and start looking.

[nukeday]

Jester, I may end up doing just that...simple and easy.

 

I'm pretty sure there is rust though in the vent intake 'cage' where the seams are pinch welded to the tray. Not sure what the guts of that thing looks like, so I think I'm going to just start pouring some Ospho in there and see where it runs out.

 

Did a whole bunch of 'honey-do' stuff today, and in between I installed the oil pressure sender, the throttle linkage mount post and the clutch master. Slowly, slowly ticking away on stuff...lol...

 

I'm hoping to sneak out there tonight and put the brake master in and see if I can get the upper dogbone bushings in...

[Jester]

72 Wagon and I are going to the W/Y down by you tomorrow. The one you posted pictures of. Getting some ZX struts for his wagon.

[freaky510]

:):):)

[nukeday]

Installed the new brake master and got the clutch master in and secure. I still have to adjust and connect the plungers to the foot pedals.

 

 

Dismantled the pass side upper dogbone to put in the new bushings and buggered up the bolt. Grrrr. The metal sleeve insert on the bushing was rusted to the bolt, so in order to free it, I put the nut back on and hammered it out. Problem is I cross threaded the nut and didn't have it on far enough. By hammering on it, I messed up the threads. I didn't find this out until I had it mostly back together. P-sh...

 

Anyway, here's a shot of the old rotten bushings and my temporary holder. Not sure if I can find a replacement bolt at the hardware store, or if I'll have to beg one off of someone here...

 

 

 

I was talking to my Father in law the other day, and I told him I never considered myself a serious mechanic because I don't own an air compressor. This is another example of screwing stuff up using hand tools....:o

[mklotz70]

Compressor wouldn't have really helped in this situation anyway. Penetrating oil and time. A decent hardware store should have another bolt. No clue if it's a grade 5 or 8.

 

I've done the exact same thing...same bolt and everything....but I had a spare :) I've actually had to cut them out before....on rigs I was scrapping anyway.

[nukeday]

I thought at first that an air wrench and/or air hammer/chisel might have made this job a bit cleaner. Now that I think about it, it was obvious 'operator error', regardless of which tools I used. :o

 

A grade 8 has a higher proof load and tensile strength and than a grade 5, right? I'm wondering if this application calls for some flexibility in the fastener?

 

The bolt head is smooth, if past experience serves, it's a 1960's grade 8 bolt with no radial marks. It's a fairly sure bet that this is the original fastener for the truck. I'll see if I can find another one (or two) next week.

[mklotz70]

That bolt doesn't take near the load it would if it were on the bottom pivot....and the rubber will be in there absorbing most of the shock.

 

You know........the bolt from the 320 should work too if it comes out easily ....if you didn't want to wait :)

[nukeday]

It's funny that you mention the 320 Mike. I checked the pdf's and the parts I'm replacing are the same for the 320 & 521. I thought about scavenging one, but I'm not really in a huge hurry on the 521. It's awfully close, but as slow as I've been moving on it, another week or two won't hurt anything...

 

From inspecting the slave yesterday, it looks like someone left out the brass washer between the line and the slave. I think I may try to slip one in and see if the slave works. I might get lucky...but if I don't, I'll need the washer anyway.

[pl521sss]

 

Anyway, here's a shot of the old rotten bushings and my temporary holder. Not sure if I can find a replacement bolt at the hardware store, or if I'll have to beg one off of someone here...

 

 

 

.:o

 

 

 

 

Hey man

If you can't find that bolt

Have a spare front end suspension

I could take it out and give to you

Just have to find time

Your doing well on your project

[nukeday]

Hey man

If you can't find that bolt

Have a spare front end suspension

I could take it out and give to you

Just have to find time

Your doing well on your project

 

I really appreciate the offer. I ordered two bolts, washers and nuts from nissan.cc. It came to something like $12. If they come back NLA, I'll hit you up.

 

There are about 5 521's in a yard near here, but it's not very 'suspension pulling' friendly. All the rigs are on the ground, sitting in the dirt, in the very back corner of the yard.

[nukeday]

Picked up some bolts at Home Depot. They are grade 8, but coarse thread. Took a bit of emery cloth to the arms and the dogbone to clean things up, and test fitted everything. I added a lock washer and stuck it all back together.

 

I didn't lube anything, should I?

[mklotz70]

The course thread will come loose faster and more easily than the fine thread....you may want to put a bit of loctite on it....or use a nyloc. With a nyloc, it may come loose, but it won't spin itself off.

 

No need to lube since you're using the rubber bushings.

[nukeday]

Got the upper dogbone bushings in both sides done. The kingpins are pretty sloppy, the driver's side especially, but the tires do stand a bit straighter than when I started. I put a lock washer on the upper bushing bolts, hope that will be OK til I get the correct parts in. I don't expect it will see much road time any time soon.

 

Put a muffler bandage on a section of the headpipe, but ran out of time to run the truck and heat it up. I wired the ends of it, it should 'cook' when I get the truck started. I'll be happy not to have exhaust spewing up from directly under the driver's side floor board.

 

Put the Toyota 4x4 rims on the front, and discovered about 1/2" of clearance between the hub nubs and the actual rim. It sits quite a bit higher with the tall tires and 15" rims, but I'm pretty confident I'll start busting off lugs if I try to drive it like this. Hubcentric? Not. Guess it's back to the stockers in front, and I'm going to look at the rears very closely...

 

 

Still waiting on my slave hose, hoping to get the brakes bled in the next couple of days. Discovered I don't have a pin for the lower section of the shift linkage. I pulled the keeper for the main section, but missed the pin that goes in the lower section. I'll probably stick a bolt in there in order to bleed the clutch system.

 

Still have to drop the gas tank and see what I've got there. Didn't see any serious rust through when I was under it today. Then I need to throw some sort of Alt on it, wire in some tail lights, and take it for a drive.

 

Inch by painful inch....I'd like to have it mobile in the next week or so. It's almost there...

[nukeday]

Played with the carb a little bit and ran an entire quart of gas through it. It actually runs pretty well. No leaks from the water temp sender or the oil pressure sender. Did find a small leak at the upper rad hose to water pump.

 

Drilled out the old taillights, and tested the wiring for putting some different ones in. I was thrilled to find that I actually had power out back from the factory harness. Not sure if I'll have any success with the Ford lamps, as the Datsun has an individual wire for Stop/Turn/Tail and the Ford only has two wires for a single lamp. I'll have to find a wiring diagram for the Ford lights, as they obviously also perform all 3 functions. I'll probably cut some sheetmetal or even a plastic tub to mount the Ford lamps where the old ones were.

 

 

Ran out of time to bleed the clutch, I'm still looking for a suitable bolt to stick in the lower arm.

 

Collecting pieces from my EI dizzy and J13 dizzy's to put together an electronic unit for this truck. I haven't figured out how to switch the drive gears yet, but it's mostly just a lack of the right tools.

 

Have a tailgate for it, but I need to drive the pins out before I can put it on.

 

Tick, tick, tick, slowly...but I'm getting there.

[TrevDaddy]

Are you a snowboarder?:D I see a K2 box...

 

I've looked over your project, and I have to say that you are a dedicated man. It really says something when you dedicate that much time to a classic. Well done and keep it up.

[nukeday]

Couple questions:

 

1. Does the blinker mechanism in the 521 frequently fail?

- I haven't taken mine apart yet, but it's really stiff.

 

2. Where is the blinker flasher located?

- As with lots of things, it seems to be missing. The hazard flasher is on the clutch pedal, but I'm not finding the blinker flasher.

[nukeday]

I took some parts from a 520 in the yard, one of the items was an internally regulated Mitsubishi 45A alternator. Model AQ2245G / MD022572. The wiring had been reworked pretty extensively on that truck, all the factory relays had been replaced with box type, and it obviously had a fairly decent stereo in it at one time.

 

This alt has 3 terminal connections. The standard 2 wire output is labeled R & L. On the Hitachi this connection is F & N. There is no ground post on the alternator at all. The primary output is labeled B, which correlates to A on the Hitachi.

 

I've been looking over Dodge/Mitsubishi wiring diagrams and it looks like:

(Hitachi/Mitsubishi)

 

N = R

F = L

A = B

E = not connected

 

Since there is no 4th post on the Mitsu alt. it looks as though it's not grounded.

 

Anyone else running a similar unit?

[nukeday]

I installed the Mitsubishi alternator and when the truck was running it was putting out 14V at idle. Lights and all that stuff worked, so it looks like I installed it correctly.

 

 

Discovered that I did in fact have the lower pin for the shifter mechanism, I found it by looking through my own photos. :o Installed the shifter, put Charlie's donated tunnel cover on, and a boot I picked up somewhere.

 

 

 

When I had the truck running, I finally discovered where the most significant exhaust leak was. It was at the humped pipe connected to the rear side of the muffler. I cut it off with a hacksaw. My 'exhaust' tube works much better now.

 

 

 

Wanted to bleed the brakes, but still had not gotten the rear passenger drum off. I finally did, but discovered the adjuster is seized. It's soaking, but I'm probably going to need another one. :mad:

 

 

I still haven't found a J13 accelerator cable, so I ended up taking apart the 520 cable and an L16 truck cable and making my own. I had to remove the springs on the cable, drill out the cable retainer nut, and ultimately file the pinch on portion of the 520 cable to get it all to fit. I hooked up the brake and clutch pedals while I was working on this.

 

 

Finally, I put some loom wrap on some of the engine bay wiring. It's just about ready to try to start moving it on it's own, and the wiring was laying all over the place.

 

 

I worked on the EI distributor upgrade, but I can't get the pins out of the drive gears to swap the J13/L16 gears. Bleah...

 

Pretty good day overall. Still have to sort out the brakes, and drop the tank, but it's getting closer. Lots of little junk left, interior bits, elbow for the PCV hose, one headlight, etc.

 

Cheers, thanks for checking in!

[Roadracer Al]

I just did the adjusters on my '73. They look pretty similar.

 

What you need to do is remove the adjuster from the drum back plate, and soak it overnight in some kerosene or penetrating oil. Then take it to a vise, clamp somewhat lightly (don't distort the adjuster body), using a feature in the casting to keep it from sliding downward. Use a drift or a bolt or whatever that fits into the socket opposite the star nut, then lightly tap on it until it comes out. Don't beat the piss out of it or you'll destroy the adjuster body, it's just cast aluminum.

 

Also, don't try beating on it while it's installed on the drum back plate -- you'll snap off the mounting tab. Ask me how I know that. The good news is that if you're careful, you can drill & tap a 6mm bolt to replace the broken tab.

 

Wire brush the crap out of the threads, maybe clean them up with a thread file if necessary, then put it together with anti-seize lube.

 

PS - love your pet in the brake pic. LOL...

[Charlie69]

Looking good nukeday. I sure do recognize a few parts on your truck and I am really glad you were able to use them. Keep up the good work! Ask Mike Klotz the best way to get distributer dive gear pin out.

[mklotz70]

Al's way should work just fine.....another option would be to take a pair of channel lock pliers and grab the toothed adjuster part. Work it back and forth, trying to turn it. I wouldn't be surprised at all if it comes loose fairly quickly. Clean it up like he said. Don't go too heavy on the anti-seize...don't want it to drip out on your brake drum.

 

If you're going to reuse those brake shoes, scuff them up with some scothbrite or sandpaper. If you're worried about the dust, do it under running water. I'd scuff the drum too.

 

As for the dizzy pin....I held the dizzy in the vise and used a drift punch....1/8"?? If you grind the point off a nail of the right diameter, that might work too, but they're realls soft steel, so it will tend to bend easily.

 

Great work!! You're making me feel like I'm totally draggin' my feet!

[impala_631]

those adjusters are a pain,i had a total of 4 and was barley able to salvage two,one took several minutes of working with the vicegrips, lots of pb and a little help from el torcho:p