tarah Posted June 30, 2016 Report Share Posted June 30, 2016 I'll be on here to look for parts mostly; it's hard to find parts on island. I'll give some updates too as we fix her up. Just recently picked up my baby, a 1982 720 for $350. Was sitting for a long time but in running condition w/ some rust. Pics just after pick up: Coolant leak causing an overheating problem. Threw some sealer in for a quick fix. Coolant reservoir is destroyed and needs replacing. One wheel was so old that it popped during a test drive. Found some new wheels and polished up the rims. Just replacing the wheels made it look 10 times better. Lots of rust. Most was just surface rust, but the bed had some holes that had to be punched out, sanded down and welded up. The fuel tank was right up by the top edge of the rust; tried to keep the welding to a minimum. Then moving on to fixing up the rest with bondo. Right rear: Left rear: Roof (forgot to take a before picture): Hood: Now we're fixing up the rear bumper and other body parts. All the body work left is grinding off the paint and priming her up. She's gonna be ivory white when we're done. That's all the work we've got so far. 3 Quote Link to comment
datzenmike Posted June 30, 2016 Report Share Posted June 30, 2016 Nice truck. Fix the leak properly before the head warps from over heating. Just about anything will work for a coolant recovery reservoir. Like the slots you got for it. 2 Quote Link to comment
tarah Posted June 30, 2016 Author Report Share Posted June 30, 2016 Thanks for the advice! Definitely an issue I'm gonna try tackle first. Been letting it rest while we took care of the body work. Also replaced some of the internals but nothing major so far. Replaced the fan belt, thermostat, and threw some temporary fixes on the carb. Want to replace all the vac lines too.The ignition switch is damaged right now so it's a screwdriver start, and the door locks are nonfunctional as well. Was gonna see if I could source from another car but I'll probably end up just purchasing new parts. 1 Quote Link to comment
Crazykidd9 Posted July 1, 2016 Report Share Posted July 1, 2016 Love the wheels, it fits it so well. :thumbup: 1 Quote Link to comment
tarah Posted July 2, 2016 Author Report Share Posted July 2, 2016 Love the wheels, it fits it so well. :thumbup: Thanks, got them for a steal too. Was worth it to take a few days to sand off the corrosion and polish them up nice 2 Quote Link to comment
tarah Posted July 18, 2016 Author Report Share Posted July 18, 2016 Body all worked on now, pretty much all we have to do is paint her up Weeks worth of grinding, sanding, bondo, and body filler. Just picked up a Weber 38 too, been having some trouble with the choke on the stock carb. 4 Quote Link to comment
Rhino13 Posted July 18, 2016 Report Share Posted July 18, 2016 Looks really good! You'll enjoy the Weber, the stock carb seems fun... until you upgrade. 1 Quote Link to comment
Charlie69 Posted July 18, 2016 Report Share Posted July 18, 2016 Looks like you mastered rust repair. Nice truck. 2 Quote Link to comment
tarah Posted July 18, 2016 Author Report Share Posted July 18, 2016 Looks really good! You'll enjoy the Weber, the stock carb seems fun... until you upgrade. Thanks, I'm looking forward to getting the Weber in Looks like you mastered rust repair. Nice truck. Thanks, I'm happy with how it turned out. Can't wait to get a fresh coat of paint on it 1 Quote Link to comment
Charlie69 Posted July 19, 2016 Report Share Posted July 19, 2016 The Webers are affected by altitude. I run them on all my Datsun & Nissan trucks. Quote Link to comment
datzenmike Posted July 19, 2016 Report Share Posted July 19, 2016 Wow, what a bloody improvement! 1 Quote Link to comment
BearForceOne Posted July 19, 2016 Report Share Posted July 19, 2016 Really impressed how clean it's looking! Gives me hope for my beater lol[edit] Let us know how the install of the Weber 38 goes, it seems a 32/36 swap is more common for the 720 but a 38/38 would give more fuel and power. Here's to hoping it's as straightforward as swapping in a 32/36 1 Quote Link to comment
tarah Posted July 21, 2016 Author Report Share Posted July 21, 2016 The Webers are affected by altitude. I run them on all my Datsun & Nissan trucks. Thanks for the heads up, I won't be taking it into the mountains anytime soon though so it shouldn't be much of a problem Wow, what a bloody improvement! Really impressed how clean it's looking! Gives me hope for my beater lol [edit] Let us know how the install of the Weber 38 goes, it seems a 32/36 swap is more common for the 720 but a 38/38 would give more fuel and power. Here's to hoping it's as straightforward as swapping in a 32/36 Thanks, and I'm hoping it's an easy swap but I'll let you know when I get around to installing it 1 Quote Link to comment
tarah Posted July 24, 2016 Author Report Share Posted July 24, 2016 Just finished painting her up, came out whiter than I expected but I like how it turned out. Sprayed on some black for the bumpers, gives it a nice contrast. Sealed up the patio for paint prep: Got pretty windy and rainy outside but the plastic held up and did it's job. Thinking of accenting the "DATSUN" on the tailgate as well. Not sure where the right tail light lens went... hopefully it turns up soon haha. We welded up most of the bed holes already but I'm looking for a good drop in bedliner. Anyone know of a good direct/almost direct drop in liner? Maybe from a certain hardbody year. Looking for some protection for the single wall when things roll around on the inside. 2 Quote Link to comment
Rhino13 Posted July 25, 2016 Report Share Posted July 25, 2016 Damn nice work! The black accents look good on the white. 1 Quote Link to comment
xHighOctanex Posted July 25, 2016 Report Share Posted July 25, 2016 Beautiful truck, making me wanna get to the body work and stuff on my 84. Keep it up! Lemme know how that 38 works out just put a weber on min yesterday, loving it so far. 1 Quote Link to comment
DrvnDrvr Posted July 26, 2016 Report Share Posted July 26, 2016 Might make the tailgate lettering easier http://www.ebay.com/itm/New-1980-1983-720-DATSUN-Truck-OEM-Rear-Tailgate-3-25-Tall-Raised-Letter-Decals-/151195499494?hash=item2333f43be6:m:miRUNggm13dd_pm0CE1CmxQ Great Job! 1 Quote Link to comment
izzo Posted July 26, 2016 Report Share Posted July 26, 2016 Damn dude. That came about quickly. Very nice... Always been a fan of the 720s 1 Quote Link to comment
tarah Posted July 27, 2016 Author Report Share Posted July 27, 2016 Damn nice work! The black accents look good on the white. Damn dude. That came about quickly. Very nice... Always been a fan of the 720s Beautiful truck, making me wanna get to the body work and stuff on my 84. Keep it up! Lemme know how that 38 works out just put a weber on min yesterday, loving it so far. Thanks! Congrats on your weber install. I've heard really good things about them - I'll let you know how it goes for sure. Might make the tailgate lettering easier http://www.ebay.com/itm/New-1980-1983-720-DATSUN-Truck-OEM-Rear-Tailgate-3-25-Tall-Raised-Letter-Decals-/151195499494?hash=item2333f43be6:m:miRUNggm13dd_pm0CE1CmxQ Great Job! Thanks for the link! Those decals are great but a little pricey, think I'll just go at it with some tape and spray then see how it goes haha. 2 Quote Link to comment
Charlie69 Posted July 27, 2016 Report Share Posted July 27, 2016 These a a little cheaper. His letters are not as thin as the ones shown on the yellow truck. http://www.datsunminitruckin.com/620-tailgate-datsun-decals_topic49.html Rusty is a good man to deal with. He runs Datsun Mini Truckin Forum DMT for short. Quote Link to comment
tarah Posted July 27, 2016 Author Report Share Posted July 27, 2016 These a a little cheaper. His letters are not as thin as the ones shown on the yellow truck. http://www.datsunminitruckin.com/620-tailgate-datsun-decals_topic49.html Rusty is a good man to deal with. He runs Datsun Mini Truckin Forum DMT for short. Wow those are really nice, I like that style. Thanks for showing me, I'll contact him to ask about it 1 Quote Link to comment
tarah Posted July 27, 2016 Author Report Share Posted July 27, 2016 Gave her a nice little 2" drop and threw on the wheels the other day. The u-bolts were made for a 3" drop and were way too long. Cut the extra off so it wouldn't catch on anything. Cranked down the torsion bars for the front. Bolts took some penetrating oil to break free. Took it out for a test drive but it was pulling to the right, had to jack up again and adjust the tie rods. Now she's rolling nice and straight again. Here's some updated pics: 1 Quote Link to comment
tarah Posted July 27, 2016 Author Report Share Posted July 27, 2016 Still haven't found the right taillight lens and don't think it's gonna show up anytime soon... want to buy a replacement but it's a hard part to source. I did contact tdaaj to see if he has one lying around, hopefully I can grab one soon. 1 Quote Link to comment
Charlie69 Posted July 28, 2016 Report Share Posted July 28, 2016 1980 to 1983 should all be the same tail light. Truck looks great! Quote Link to comment
tarah Posted November 27, 2016 Author Report Share Posted November 27, 2016 Long time no post, new updates: Finally got around to putting the Weber 38 on about a month ago. Everything was pretty straightforward; adapter plates matched up perfectly. The main compatibility problem we had was that the throttle cable was on the opposite side. Re-routing it was pretty simple. Old carburetor: Adapter plates on: Ran into a huge problem while installing the plates: stupidly over-tightened the nut and the plate cracked. Was gonna scrap it, but decided to just Epoxy + Permatex it and see what happens. So far it's holding up great; no vacuum leaks while driving. Cracked plate: Epoxy & adapter plate: Weber 38 on the intake manifold: You can see some of the Permatex peeking out from the sides of the plate. Ugly, but holding up great. Ended up wrapping the fuel line at a weird angle to connect to the fuel pump. The fuel line we bought for it was too short so it kinked. We had to buy a longer one and looped it around once. Throttle cable issue: For the stock Hitachi carb, the cable pulled the throttle lever left, but the Weber needed a right pull. We put the metal holder that came with the Weber on the right side and shaved it down so the cable would fit. Metal holder: Shaving: Fit: Final fit: Final product: Took a while to adjust and get the idle speed right. At first, we were having issues with the idle staying really high, then dropping randomly. Thought it was a vacuum leak at first, but checked all the lines and everything was either sealed up or connected (aside from the air filter, didn't have a vacuum line to connect that to the valve cover). Turns out the problem was with the throttle lever - it wasn't returning fully to the idle position. So we threw together a return spring with a spring that was laying around and another one of the metal holders from the Weber box: After that it worked great. Runs great and sounds a lot different than the Hitachi. Seems like the low end torque got a little boost, but surprisingly the high end torque feels like it dropped out... maybe something to do with the air/fuel mixture, not sure. Still, runs much better than the Hitachi. 1 Quote Link to comment
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.