A 521 in Massachusetts

[Crashtd420]

It's much better to use the right stuff, as long as you use enough..... 

Plus Once torqued the bolts stay torqued.... I have had no luck completely sealing my oil pan with the cork gasket...

 

[Stoffregen Motorsports]

The best gasket for an L motor is the original style rubber impregnated cork gasket, but since they are so hard to find, no gasket is better. What Crash says about torque...the cork gaskets squish too much over time and the bolts lose their torque.

[mainer311]

Yeah, my roadster has the cork gasket. So far so good wth that though. It’s not even like you can use Loctite 243, since the block heat breaks it down anyway.

[datzenmike]

Get the rubber/cork ones, definitely the better ones.

 

Quote

 

 

 

I would NOT be using any dressings on the pan gasket. I would use a small dab of RTV at the two junctions where the block and the timing cover meet and the two cracks where the rear main cap meets the block. Nissan didn't use it and if you straighten the pan gasket surface with hammer and straight edge you'll get a good seal and won't need it either. The back of the pan should have a flat L shaped strip with holes for the pan bolts to spread the torque. It fits across almost all the back and about 4 bolts up the passenger's side. I found a second one flipped and trimmed it and now have thedriver's side done as well.

 

 

Anyway they are L shape and fit one corner. If missing, the pan may have been off before and it's easy to forget to put them back on. Check the holes are not too dimpled from over tightening the bolts to seal a leak and hammer them down and check with a straight edge.

 

A flat surface seals better and prevents leaks later. I hate RTV...  it's for GM chev owners that don't care about flat surfaces. Keep it that way.

[Crashtd420]

1 hour ago, datzenmike said:

Get the rubber/cork ones, definitely the better ones.

 

 

A flat surface seals better and prevents leaks later. I hate RTV...  it's for GM chev owners that don't care about flat surfaces. Keep it that way.

I wish I had those L brackets, I thought about making them and then I forgot....

I tried twice to seal my oil pan with the cork gasket and still had one spot that would leak..... I honestly just gave up, and went the rtv route.... 

I really think it's the synthetic oil that gets me..  

My drain plug was leaking too, i actually used a flat stone on the drain hole and the copper gasket and removed some imperfections.... I then tested if it would leak on the bench by poring a quart of conventional oil into the oil pan overnight... no leak at all..... so I cleaned it out, never removed or loosened the drain plug, just installed the oil pan and put the royal purple back in and it leaked..... a little tighter and it did stop.. 

 

[datzenmike]

You could try to find a nylon washer. It's a little softer than copper. Synthetic oil is insidious stuff. I used it on my high mileage 620 engine that ran without any oil consumption, or nearly. It started to drip from the front crank seal. Later I switched back and slowly it stopped. This is why I don't use it, that and the insane cost for protection I would never need. If I 'burned' a quart per 3K miles, by 12K I would have replaced all the oil once. I would never need to change the oil just the filter! ?

 

I don't know why Nissan added those L brackets and why just the driver's side side and the rear, or most of it, or just the L20B? I originally said it was on the driver's side but changed it to the other. Now I find a parts description showing it was on the driver's side. It's called a reinforcement. If you flip a second one over it will fit the other side but will overlap on the back and need to be trimmed. I just thought it was a great idea to prevent squashing out the bolt holes the pan on a cork gasket. If you look down the pan the holes can get puckered like nipples. These need to be hammered back down flat.

[Stoffregen Motorsports]

If you've taken the time to hammer down the pan rails (where they get dimpled at the bolt holes) and the pan is nice and flat, and you're using RTV instead of a gasket, you shouldn't need the reinforcement rails.

[Crashtd420]

So today after work I greased all the fittings on the front end..... 

I think I finally got everything done on my winter list.... plus a couple things I didnt know I needed to do.....

I have always had a small drip coming from the rear diff.... I was able to snug up the drain plug and a few of the nuts holding the differential into the axle housing and it actually stopped leaking..... 

So far the transmission and engine oil pan seem to be leak free but I did find a couple coolant drips.....

Luckily that was just a couple hose clamps that needed to be tightened.... right now they are those crappy worm gear type....  for now they are holding, I'll  just need to keep an eye on them and make sure they don't keep loosening.... 

Eventually I wanna redo the exhaust too so while it's on jack stands I'm gonna measure for some exhaust pipes so i can get that ordered up..... 

 

[d.p]

So what you going to do for the rest of winter then??

[Crashtd420]

2 hours ago, d.p said:

So what you going to do for the rest of winter then??

There's plenty more little things to still do.... but atleast now I'm back to being able to drive it.... the biggest thing I'm doing now is making sure I can always drive it.... minimal down time... 

 

[d.p]

13 hours ago, Crashtd420 said:

 minimal down time... 

 

 

I don't think those 3 words every apply to a Datsun. 

[mainer311]

14 minutes ago, d.p said:

 

I don't think those 3 words every apply to a Datsun. 

 

Maybe yours. With a couple electro-mechanical upgrades, these things run awesome with little upkeep. My roadster broke down once, and I fixed it with a flat head screwdriver (clogged fuel filter).

Edited February 6, 2019 by mainer311

[wayno]

They are fairly reliable if you drive them 3 or 4 days a week, and they give you warning of impending doom if you listen, but I have been daily driving them  for over 20 years, I know when something is not right, but I cannot say for sure what is wrong all the time, sometimes it takes a while for me to figure out the issue, and it is usually something simple.

Just recently I started having this RPM related whine, mostly it made noise when under compression(going down hill), it slowly got worse as time went by, I ruled out transmission as it did make the noise while in gear in my driveway when I revved it, and it didn't make the noise while in neutral while idling with the clutch not pressed in, I checked everything I could think of under the hood, well I have power steering, I checked the fluid and it always had what appeared to be enough, I could not hear it specifically whining until I removed the screen, then I could hear it, it was very low on fluid, but it held fluid in the bottom of the screen which made it look like it had enough, I have power steering in my 521 work truck.

I have only been towed home once in my 521 work truck, and that was because of a dogleg 5spd.

 

Keep in mind that I drive this truck year round as they have not used salt on the roads around here until recently, but back east they use salt all the time so you cannot really drive yours in the winter as it will rust away, road salt is a vehicle manufacturers wet dream.

Edited February 6, 2019 by wayno

[Stoffregen Motorsports]

Datsuns have got to be about the simplest cars on the road. I often think of getting back into building them (for business). They would be so much easier to build than what I do now.

[Crashtd420]

I dread replacing my 99 Chevy when it finally dies, to much technology in the newer vehicles.... if it wasnt for the New England winters I would be driving my datsun year round...... 

I wanted to take it for a drive today but the roads are still nasty, so I had to settle for just pulling it forward and backwards in the garage.... anyhow it's off jack stands and ready to go....

 

 

Let it run for a little to warm up and circulate some fluid.... we will see what does or doesnt end of dripping..... 

 

Definitely need to do something with the bed this year, the whole thing needs to be stripped and repainted.. I was thinking about making a bracket to hold the lights so I can remove the bed and still drive.... 

So guess the next list will be...

Bed, redo exhaust, door seals, and some interior work....  see DP it never ends.... 

 

 

 

[wayno]

You should never drive your Datsun on the roads when they have used salt on them.

I would rig up another set of taillights that you can use when the bed is off the truck, something that plugs into the main plug you have, maybe magnetic lights.

[Crashtd420]

28 minutes ago, wayno said:

You should never drive your Datsun on the roads when they have used salt on them.

I would rig up another set of taillights that you can use when the bed is off the truck, something that plugs into the main plug you have, maybe magnetic lights.

 

Ya that's why I have the Chevy, let the salt eat that instead of my datsun... the datsun has a nice home in a cold but sealed up garage for the winters.... 

 

As far as the lights I thought about rigging something but i have metal and my idea should make it look no different with the bed on then it does now but have the lights not attached to the bed... I already have the gas tank mounted to the frame instead of the bed, and i know eventually I would like to do air ride so this wont be the last time the bed comes off.... 

[mrbigtanker]

How many months out of the year is it bad there.

[datzenmike]

34 minutes ago, mrbigtanker said:

How many months out of the year is it good there.

 

 

I don't drive here in the winter also but the PNW uses lots of salt and now they dribble a brine solution on the roads. We have something here that counteracts the salt. We get lots of rain that washes it off.

[Crashtd420]

14 hours ago, mrbigtanker said:

How many months out of the year is it bad there.

Usually about 3 months or so dealing with the salt.... I drove my 521 up till about Thanksgiving,  it wont be out till they clean the salt off the roads.... which means i can hopefully be back to driving it in march  maybe April but hopefully sooner.....

[mrbigtanker]

13 minutes ago, Crashtd420 said:

Usually about 3 months or so dealing with the salt.... I drove my 521 up till about Thanksgiving,  it wont be out till they clean the salt off the roads.... which means i can hopefully be back to driving it in march  maybe April but hopefully sooner.....

Right on, not to bad at all, I was thinking maybe 4 to 4.5 months.

[Crashtd420]

35 minutes ago, mrbigtanker said:

Right on, not to bad at all, I was thinking maybe 4 to 4.5 months.

Maybe some years when we get more snow, then if you factor in the cold and then rain in the fall maybe, but the salt is the only reason I wont drive it... if they cleaned up the streets i would drive it today.... I still might as long as I can wash it before I park it...

 

[mainer311]

We got lucky late last year because they salted, but then we got a lot of rain in December so it extended the “season” a little bit. I usually start getting the itch around April and flog the roadster around the block a couple times. In Maine we call late March/early April “mud season.” It comes after winter and before spring.

[Crashtd420]

Well I'm bored at work and since I already read everyone's recent posts i figure I have time to ask a question...

 

So one of the next things I wanna do is switch out the muffler to something a bit quieter and route the pipe out the back.....

Right now the stack has been fun but it blows black shit all over the back of the truck....

As a reminder it a mildly modified L16...

The current setup is 2" till it gets to the 90 degree bend to route the exhaust down the passenger side... then I used 2.5 dia 90's from autozone ( crappy crush bends) trying to maintain the 2 dia through the bends..... muffler is a dynomax super turbo with 2.5 in and out.... this gave me kind of the fart can sound, and it was too loud.... I added an insert to the stack which gave it a better tone but was still loud.....

 

So here is my question.....

I am gonna redo this with 2" diameter pipes and proper mandrel bent 90s.. 

My biggest question is the muffler.... I would like quite but dont wanna loose performance.... 

 

Should I use a muffler with 2" in/out or use one with a larger in/out.. 

My thought is if it's more restrictive being quite maybe the larger in/out would flow more but still be quite....

 

Also any suggestions on a muffler would be nice to... I've been look at walker quite flow mufflers, and the sound fx series as a possibility.... . I wanna maintain the deeper tone, I dont want the ricer sound.... I am also adding an exhaust cutout incase I have a moment when I want to be loud because why not while I'm under there.... 

 

[mainer311]

I have a Thrush on mine and while it sounds nice, it’s a bit too loud. Remember that you can always add a resonator somewhere further down the line and make it quieter. Most resonators are a straight through design, so it won’t be restrictive.

 

In my past experience with other vehicles, Magnaflow mufflers are “glasspack” type and flow pretty well, but drone horribly at certain RPM’s, especially if the muffler is undersized. You can usually see straight through them. Flowmasters have more of a true muffler baffle construction, but again won’t sound right if too small. I don’t have any experience with the Walkers.

 

If you want quiet, always get a bigger muffler. It doesn’t necessarily mean that it won’t flow well.

 

My roadster is a fairly straight shot with a small Magnaflow on it and it drones pretty bad. Sounds good though. My plan is to put a resonator on it this summer on the last piece of tailpipe.