New 320 owner, 62?

[320 Newb]

I pulled out the dizzy tonight and checked the hot wire terminal in the housing and re-gapped the points. I'm excited to drive it around tomorrow and see how she goes. 

[Roys320]

I am in the process of upgrading my distributer because I couldn't find any tune up parts. There's a thread already going, but I basically bought an AccuSpark dizzy for an MG Midget. You can get them either positive or negative ground. Very easy installation and if you get the side terminal version, it looks stock. This is an electronic dizzy that doesn't need a box. While doing it I found the trigger wire was almost broken and the metal vacuum advance tubing was broken near the carb. It was doing just what you describe as far as running rough and an occasional backfire.

[Charlie69]

You will like the electronic distibutor.  Great drivabillity upgrade.

[320 Newb]

I drove it around and it drives better but still misses a little when accelerating in 3rd and 4th. I'm going to try again to dial in the timing and if it still misses I'll upgrade to an MG electronic distributor. 

 

Does anyone know, is advancing the timing rotating the distributor clockwise or counterclockwise on the engine block? 

[deerio]

Does anyone know, is advancing the timing rotating the distributor clockwise or counterclockwise on the engine block? 

 

The rotor spins counterclockwise so to advance timing you'd rotate the distributor clockwise... I think, right?

[difrangia]

The rotor spins counterclockwise so to advance timing you'd rotate the distributor clockwise... I think, right?

 

Correct

[320 Newb]

I got my timing dialed in--no more skipping. She's running like a dream. 

 

A new problem that's popped up is my headlights have stopped working. The fuse closest to the cab on the fuse box, which I know is the light fuse, isn't receiving any juice. I also poked all the wires coming into the light switch on the dash and can't find any juice.

 

Does anyone have any ideas where to look next? Does anyone know which wire is supposed to bring juice to the switch and where I can trace it back to?

[wayno]

Cycle the brights switch a few times, that button on the floor.

[320 Newb]

I tried cycling the brights switch but no dice. I used the voltage tester to poke the four wires in the cable going down to the brights switch and there was no juice going down. No juice going into the light switch, no juice going into the light fuse by the coil... 

 

Any ideas? Last week the lights were working fine. 

[Cheetosrdabest]

Man those trucks look awesome ! I have never seen one on the road before (or anywhere for that matter) how did you ever find one?

[320 Newb]

Craigslist in Phoenix, right place right time. They're out there, you'd be surprised. 

[difrangia]

I have several wiring diagrams for the 320, but this is the one I usually rely on the most. Easy to trace out and has wire colours. If you can't make it out well enough in this post image, PM me and I can e-mail you a JPEG copy. 

 

Just start tracing where you have juice and don't. Are you lacking current on both sides of the fuse box on that rear fuse?

 

 

 

[320 Newb]

Thanks  difrangia!

 

And that's correct, I've got no juice on either side of the rear fuse on the fuse box. 

[wayno]

Check the wires going to and on the starter relay.

Have you touched that relay lately for any reason?

[difrangia]

I believe that if one of the two back fuses is hot, the other one should be. if I remember correctly they should be connected within the fuse block (you can see the jumper right above the 'F' in FUSE BLOCK; cant read the letter on the fuse block, maybe a 'B'). In looking at the wiring diagram, it looks like the back two are energized by the larger white-red stripe wire from the magnetic solenoid switch. The back two should be hot all the time. The front two are juiced by the ignition switch (the black-white stripe wire from the middle switch terminal in diagram) and are also shown connected on the upstream side in the diagram.

 

Do you have juice at any of the four (either side of fuse) rear terminals?

[difrangia]

After I sent that I remembered that I lost my lights 6-8 weeks ago. Turned out that I had to give the brass tabs on the fuse block that clamp the ends of the fuse with scotch-brite or sandpaper. No problem since I gave them a good cleaning.

[320 Newb]

Thanks difrangia and Wayno for staying with me on this--I'm stumped. 

 

Wayno, I'm not sure what the starter relay is--can you give me a description or post a picture? I haven't messed with anything electrical but I'll take a look.

 

Difrangia, everything's hot on my fuse when the key's turned on except that back fuse. I cleaned the brass tabs and put a new fuse in but no go. Maybe you're on to something with the fuse block. If the back two fuses are supposed to be both hot maybe the connection in the block is bad. I'll explore it tomorrow. 

 

Thanks again for your help--this stuff gets frustrating but your encouragement helps keep me going!

[wayno]

The starter relay is what gives the starter power to start it, the large cable goes from the starter to the starter relay, that relay has a large cable on both sides, the cable on the other side of the relay goes to the battery, that side of the relay also has 2 rather large white wires, one with a red line, that white wire with a red line goes to the fuse block, the white wire goes to the generator, you need to make sure the white wire with the red line is connected to that post on the relay.

If that white wire with the red line has power at the fuse block, but doesn't get to the fuse, then you likely are having fuse block issues. 

[difrangia]

Starter solenoid/switch is on right. Horn relay on left.

 

[320 Newb]

Difrangia was right on the money. There's a metal tab on the back of the fuse box connecting the back two, and front two fuses. I had juice coming in the wire Wayno identified but second fuse back wasn't feeding into the back fuse. I wire brushed up the metal, broke the screws loose and retightened them, and voila headlights worked! 

[320 Newb]

Has anyone ever replaced the 320 gas tank sending unit and kept the stock gas gauge? 

[Stoffregen Motorsports]

I haven't done that on a 320, but on plenty of other cars/trucks. The key is to match the ohm range. If needed, you can add a resistor to make the range match. Be sure to get a sender that has the same direction, meaning that full will be full, instead of full being empty.

 

A quick way to adjust the ohms is with a guitar amp volume knob. Wire it in and adjust it until you get the proper readings, then remove it and check the resistance, then get the same resistor and wire it inline.

[wayno]

I have replaced it with another 320 sending unit, but I don't believe that is what you are asking.

I tried using a 521 tank/sender in place of my 320 tank, and no matter what I did, it would not work properly, but I didn't switch the battery to negative ground and try, the 320 I tried it on was positive ground.

I do have an NL320 that is negative ground and the gauge works properly that way, but again it is a 320 tank/sender.

 

What is wrong with your sender?

 

I took the one out of my NL320 as the gauge didn't work, I had to replace the float as it had holes in it, but the arm was also seized in the empty position, I was able to lube the inside and outside of the arm connection and eventually I got it to move, but I was careful and didn't touch any of the fine wires inside the top cover, I just put enough PB Blaster in the bottom to cover where the arm hinge point was to submerge it and carefully started working the arm till it was loose, the gauge works great now.

[320 Newb]

I'm asking because I want to put a poly gas tank on my 320 but keep the stock gauge. I imagine when I swap the tank I'll swap the sending unit. My 320's been converted to negative ground so I should be OK in that department. 

[320 Newb]

I'm running a J15 in my 320 with a stock 320 carburetor. I can't find a 320 carb rebuild kit and it stalls every now and they and sometimes misses so I'm afraid it's pretty gunked up. 

 

Any thoughts on replacing my 320 carb with a J15 aftermarket carb? Here's what I'm looking at:
 

http://www.ebay.com/itm/High-Quality-Carb-fit-Nissan-J15-Cabstar-1972-1976-Datsun-Pickup-Homer-1970-1981-/201918157376?hash=item2f03429240:g:U84AAOSwrhBZDXWH&vxp=mtr

 

Is it a direct swap? My first thought is yes since I'm bolting it on to a J15 motor but maybe I'm mssing something?