1985 4x4 KC from Sweden

[Knugcab]

Bought my first Datsun a couple of weeks ago, a 1985 720, King Cab, SD25, 5 speed, 4x4.

Very fresh frame and cab, not so fresh bed, but TBH I didn't buy it because of its pristine looks....

Been standing still for three years, but still passed the inspection, almost, they did complain about bad rear brakes and no high beams...

 

Because of the registration, her name is "Daisy Diesel" :thumbup:

 

Mazda 626 seats I think?
Quite comfy and nice condition, shame that the blue velour aren't exactly the most dirt resistant....

I hate the steering wheel which is downright dangerous since the arms on my jacket get caught on the signal button when I'm turning.... :sneaky: ....so I hope that my Grant hub arrives soon.

 

Another thing I don't like is the trailer hitch that I've managed to get stuck on off road a few times....

 

Ditched the original exhaust for a sidepipe. The way it should be on a truck.

 

Got a good deal on some Cooper Discoverer STTs, 31x10,5x15, absolutely brilliant traction! :thumbup:

 

But I do need a brushguard....Trees are harder than you may imagine. :crying:

[datzenmike]

Great first post! Welcome to Ratsun. Did not know Nissan made the 720 with the diesel/4x4 combination. We did not get it in N America.

[Lockleaf]

Welcome to ratsun. Very cool truck. I was going to say the same thing as Mike about the engine/4x4 combo. That's quite the tailgate sticker they put on there to be sure everyone knew it what it was. I would love to see some pics of the engine bay and of the oil pan around the front diff.

[Knugcab]

So this combo weren't available in the states? Well, I guess I learned something new then.

I prefer diesels offroad actually, the ignition system on a gasoline engine is too sensitive for water....

But man what a slow vehicle....I can say that I very rarely can use 4H at all with 31" tires! :rofl:

Some more power would have been nice......

[Draker]

Welcome!! Love the truck.

[datzenmike]

Stock tires are only 65cm tall yours are 79. If your differential ratios are 4.375, the 31" tires reduce this to 3.598. There's an engine tag on the right inner fender below the hood hinge. Lower right shows the differential type and ratio... for example HF 41.41 would be 4.11, an HF43 would be 4.375, an HF46 would be 4.625 and so on. Higher numbers are better for taller tires. 

[Knugcab]

Yes, the gearing is a bit on the tall side, of course, but as long as I use 4L, I'm fine, and it is already revving too much on long highway cruises, we have a bit higher speed limits here, around 68 mph....

 

And it probably doesn't matter if lower gearing is available because 720s were never very common in Sweden, and they are getting rare as hens teeth now, I am glad if I can find any spares at all....

 

Was playing around a bit offroad when I suddenly thought that a halfshaft was shot, since I heard a knocking noise, that got worse when I was turning, nope, just a piece of the inner fender that was bent and rubbed against the tyre, so time for some trimming!


I think that the source of the non working high beams are here..... I was looking at the original wiring for the lights and came to the conclusion that it is mostly intact, just cut off and replaced with this mess...... sigh.

Everything seems to be working like it should, but the lights are wired a bit odd, with constant + to the pin that normally are used for ground, and a switching relay on the ground side that is flipping the ground between low and high beams.....

[datzenmike]

Maximum tire size for the 720 is 29" with minimum rub.

[Knugcab]

Yes, though I think that it got bent by hitting the ground, it is pretty much clearance in the wheel wells now.

But it is climbing like a mountain goat now, very impressed.

[Charlie69]

Sweet 720!!!  Welcome great posts.

[Knugcab]

Thanks!


Highbeams working again, feels good!

What's not so good is that I due to bad threads in the wheel nuts lost a front wheel today, I can say that a 31" with a little speed can travel very far without stopping, I'm lucky that nobody got hit by it... Although I think that the old man that was walking alongside the ditch needed some new pants after being passed by the wheel.... :D
No damage on the car except for a wrecked flare, so I guess that I have to find some aftermarket flares now.

[datzenmike]

Woah. Hold on....

 

 

 

 

How did you guys get  DATSUN on your grills? How cool is that also? We got NISSAN

 

[Knugcab]

Lol, it is a complete mishmash of badges. The grille says "Datsun", the fender emblems "Nissan", the tailgate both "Nissan" AND "Datsun", the steering wheel "Nissan", the registration title "Nissan", the key "Datsun"...

 

Hard to know what this really is, maybe the transition from Datsun to Nissan was slower in Europe than in the US for some reason?

To top it, I don't know if all of this is the same on a vehicle that was sold new in Sweden, I found out today that this one was sold new in Germany but imported to Sweden when it was almost brand new, for some reason.

 

But I prefer to call it a "Datsun" because if you say that you have a "Nissan" pickup truck most people in Sweden will think that you're talking about a Hardbody.

[datzenmike]

'82/'83 was the change (mostly affecting N Am) but the '86 300zx I think was the last car with a Datsun emblem on it, also had a Nissan one too.

[Knugcab]

I don't know when Nissan badges started to appear in Sweden, but from what I remember (anything japanese pre-1990 are starting to get extinct here so I try to remember from my memory):

When the K10 Micra was released around 1983, it never carried a Datsun badge.
The T11 Stanza had both Nissan and Datsun badging for its entire life.
The N11 Cherry (Pulsar in the US?) was sold as a Datsun in the beginning and then as a Nissan. I think that the Datsun badging disappeared there.
I don't know if they sold the first generation 300ZX in Sweden at all, B11 Sunny for some reason was a rare car already when I grew up (born in 1986) so I don't remember much of them. Bluebird is somewhat of a mess, the U11 sedan was sold for just a year or two, when the T12 replaced both the Bluebird and the Stanza in Sweden, and since we got the UK built T12 it was badged as a Bluebird, but at least the T12 never carried any Datsun badges. Also, I've never seen a D21 with a Datsun badge...

However, I may be wrong, except for the K10 Micra and various D21 derivates, it seems like Datsun/Nissan cars were no huge sellers here back in the 80s and most of them have rusted into pieces many years ago.

Well, time for an update.

I had this steering wheel hanging on a nail on my fathers garage door for years since the foam was in such good condition. What happens? I opened the garage door to get some fresh air into the garage for a day, with the result that the birds picked on the foam enough to make the damage very visible, sigh....well, I guess I can wrap it in leather or something...

Rusty spokes.

Some steel wool and chrome polish later most of the rust are gone, and the rest are just patina I guess.

The stock steering wheel is what I like the least about the car. Not only is it ugly, but the sharp edges on the horn button are snagging in the clothes in turns sometimes, making it almost dangerous....

So I think that this will be better after all, if I only get my hub. It is only slightly smaller than the stock wheel, which is a good thing since I don't have power steering, and it is quite shallow, like the stock wheel, that I still think are too close to the arms when my feet reach the pedals.

[Knugcab]

It took some work to get the new steering wheel to work with the horn etc., but now it is in place, and so much better in all kind of ways!

Got a good deal on these Hella 3003 HID lamps.... I like to see where I am going and the woods are dark...

[Knugcab]

I see now that there is a project forum, must have missed that earlier, any possibility to move this thread into the project section?

[Knugcab]

Boy, what a friday it was....

Or rather, everything started last thursday. Had to tow it home from work, didn't start, and finally the starter gave up too.

Tried pumping the hand primer, it was stuck, appears like the fuel filter was clogged so I ordered a new one.

A friend working at the local junkyard told me they had a 720 diesel starter in stock, so I got that one, left work early a beautiful friday afternoon and tried to swap the starter. Well, a 30 year old Hitachi unit is a bit bigger and heavier than new chinese crap, so it took a while to install it.

Then I swapped the fuel filter, tried to pump the hand primer but there was no fuel coming. Seems lik there was a hole for some kind of plug in the bottom of the new filter. There was none in the old filter, neither in the box... So I had to look for a bolt to fit in the hole and try to seal it...

I pumped, fuel came, I bled the system and it worked, so when I was trying to start the engine, the battery was dead.

Got in my W123 to try to jump start the 720, but forgot that I had a pile of gravel in my driveway and managed to get stuck on that one.

Removed the battery from the Benz to install it in the 720 instead, then the bolt for the battery bracket snapped.

When I finally installed the Benz battery in the 720, the starter only cranked for a while but started to slip so I guess that the starting gear on the flywheel is bad.

Went away to get my father to pull the Benz from the gravel, so we tried to tow the 720 to see if it should start, yup, no problems!

Drove it some kilometers, lifted the bonnet to see if there was any diesel leaks, nope, it wasn't....there was just a lot of coolant everywhere, and a big hole in the radiator!

I couldn't even get angry anymore by then....


So, time for some wrenching


Out with the engine....


Guess I can clean up here now too...


Nice pressure plate, huh?


Ugly flywheel thanks to a slipping clutch....probably time to change the whole flywheel if I can find one...


The leaking radiator, probably possible to solder this.


Wrapped the superior wheel in hockey tape for better grip some weeks ago btw...

[Knugcab]

I tried to polish the paintwork but something went wrong, did I have the wrong pad or do japanese cars have bad quality paint? :P

[Knugcab]

 

Started on a color change while waiting for the parts to arrive....
Surplus Swedish army paint, the only right way to do it! :thumbup:

[Charlie69]

Nice work!  Keep at it they are never done!  LOL

[Knugcab]

Certainly suits an offroad vehicle better than light blue with flaking clearcoat....

[Knugcab]

A little sneak-peek of how the new paint will turn out.

Debadged the grille and removed the chrome trim, and I'm not sure actually....
It looks a bit toothless now, however, shiny chrome doesn't work well with paint like this.
One thing is for sure anyway, the ugly red stripe that matches nothing at all will have to go. I wonder how someone could think it was a good idea to put that one there?

[Charlie69]

That OD (olive drab) green is growing on me, I like it.

[Lockleaf]

I shaved the emblems off my grill years ago and have always liked it. But I do hate that random line across the bottom.