My 1971 521

[d.p]

Any side affect for drilling a hole in your dizzy cap?  If I did that and flipped that the fucker that hole would no longer be at #1 would it? 

[mainer311]

No, it wouldn’t. You could drill 4 holes, one right next to each plug. There’s no side effect, other than dirt and shit getting in there. I certainly wouldn’t leave it that way.

[d.p]

Would it make sense to do this before flipping the pedestal?  

[Crashtd420]

Just now, d.p said:

Would it make sense to do this before flipping the pedestal?  

I would do it before you move anything.... i would like to see the comparison between your setup being at the end of adjustment vs mainers

[mainer311]

I checked to see where mine was in adjustment prior to doing this, and I'm almost all the way to one end as well, however I'm timed a little further advanced than you. One thing I noted as well, the phasing doesn't change as much as you'd think during the mechanical advance sweep.

Edited November 8, 2018 by mainer311

[Crashtd420]

I know absolutely nothing about this whole topic so these findings are interesting.... 

[banzai510(hainz)]

Did this Matchbox COME with the matching pedestal, timming plate ????or was  just the Matchbox and you installed it on a Point pedastal? they were 2 types which I mentioned already. Sometimes this will cause about a 15 deg difference as the 10mm tang is located more at a right angle than a down angle. this will cause rotor inbetween  the 1 and 3 plug wire issue at TDC

. 1 Matchbox can use both type of L20 pedastals. point and the EI. The Other EI is specific to that pedestal. thus if mixed one needs to drop the pump.

 

I would set the dist plate(underneath 8mm lock down in the center. then install the dist w pedestal on from cover and see where its at at TDC. Really no need to drill holes in cap as one can eyeball this and see where the pickup magnet is or if points is open to tell when your going to fire.  But that why one has a timming light as you can see when this happens.  0-25deg in its range of the timming slots at idle then I will assume the spindal timming is good.

 

also if dist bushing is worn will cause high RPM issues(side to side movt or a stuck vaccuum advance.

Edited November 8, 2018 by banzai510(hainz)

[d.p]

Yeah man came with pedestal and timing plate.    All of which I INSTALLED when I swapped out the pertronix dizzy plate and pedestal. 

 

Not going to do shit with it right now because I need my truck to run over the next week.  I don't want to introduce any problems unless I have to. 

 

 

Edited November 8, 2018 by d.p

[banzai510(hainz)]

OK did you adjust the timming plate with the 8mm bolt(under dist) and see if you can get more adv? if you can get to say 25 then you can back off on the main plate the hold down and dial to 12.deg

 

Ifyour truck ran fine with the Pertronix dist I assume the timming in that was correct unless the front cover was off somewhere and the spindal was off.

Edited November 8, 2018 by banzai510(hainz)

[wayno]

You will not see much of a change at all where that hole is drilled on that cap as it is almost at the center, even a 1/16th inch movement there will be a 1/4 inch at the end of the rotor.

You can see a lot of movement at the crank with a normal timing light and the vacuum advance connected, as the crank and much larger balancer has to spin twice for every single turn of the distributor, so it moves inches compared to the 1/16th inch at the distributor right next to the coil wire.

The vacuum advance also plays a part in this, when one thinks about it there is a lot going on in that distributor depending on the RPM and where your foot is on the pedal, just holding the throttle open in your driveway with no load on the engine is not a real world driving situation, it has no load, it's not going to be the same as one driving down the freeway pushing over a ton of weight in 4th/5th gear.

Normal engines for the street just do not have the power that a strip engine has where the RPM determines what everything does even in the driveway, I know this as I had a built 350 in a Nova, where my foot was determined how fast I was going up or down hill, my foot had to be in the same exact place for 40mph down hill as it was going up hill, everywhere I drove the car kinda jerked around because of drive train play(not sure most will understand that statement), the car was dangerous to drive when it was raining even in a straight line.

In the end one has to just drive it and if you have issues like knocking/pinging, then retard it a little, if it doesn't then maybe you need to pull the distributor and drop the oil pump and set it up properly so you can advance it far enough to make it knock/ping then back it off.

This is the adjustment bolt Hainz is talking about on the right.

 

 

Edited November 9, 2018 by wayno

[mainer311]

I get a good laugh from this forum. Nobody agrees on anything.

[d.p]

45 minutes ago, mainer311 said:

I get a good laugh from this forum. Nobody agrees on anything.

 

It really is the strangest automotive forum I have ever been on.  Subaru, Audi, Ford, Nissan, BMW none of them can hold a candle to Ratsun.  

[datzenmike]

They all agree???

[d.p]

Lol no Mike but they tend to agree a shit ton more than anyone on here does. 

 

 

[datzenmike]

If everyone agrees then what's a forum for? There's nothing left to learn.

[mikec4193]

9 hours ago, d.p said:

 

It really is the strangest automotive forum I have ever been on.  Subaru, Audi, Ford, Nissan, BMW none of them can hold a candle to Ratsun.  

I agree with this statement...the only one is crazier is this place...https://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/

 

Glad to see you still diggin on your hot rod...

 

MikeC

[mainer311]

I’ve heard horror stories about NASIOC. What makes this forum unique is that we all like old ratty Datsuns that everyone else put out to pasture.

[thisismatt]

12 hours ago, mainer311 said:

I get a good laugh from this forum. Nobody agrees on anything.

 

I disagree

[datzenmike]

You're both wrong.

[wayno]

Sometimes it is hard to figure out what to do with 4 different ways described to fix an issue, and that tends to be why my posts tend to be longer than some of the short or one line posts, I go into more detail and try to explain more than a lot on here, some tend to dwell on just one aspect, and some skim to fast and miss the point all together.

One also has to read between the lines and figure out if this person on the other end even knows what you are saying/talking about, some members on here bought a Datsun and joined this forum and didn't not have a clue what they had gotten into as they had never worked on a vehicle before, they ask questions that are worded wrong and the rest of us either are thinking about something else entirely, or we respond and they have not a clue what we just said, for me brakes come to mind in the 521 section, and that is why photos are so important, having a photo can make a weeks worth of responses all void because the issue was something else entirely in the same system, what comes to mind is the push rod length between the brake pedal assembly and the brake master.

This forum has a broad spectrum of members, from the very well off to dirt poor all just trying to get this hunk of metal with 4 tires back on the road, some just want to make it into something that is more comfortable for them to drive, some want to make it into something that is safer to drive, some want it to be all original, and some create something that does not exist anywhere else, we all have our visions, and that is all right.

There is more than just one way to accomplish most goals like there is more than one way to paint a house, no particular way is the only way although some would disagree with that statement, some would say the only way to do it right is this way, well you will find as many different right ways to paint a house as there are different kinds of paints.

 

 

[d.p]

Anyone know how the factory side mirror glass is attached to the actual body of the mirror?  I had a shop cut me some glass and it they threw some cardboard and a shit ton of glue behind it which eventually gave up the ghost.  Would like to know how its attached from the factory??

[d.p]

Bought another house so put the 521 to work.  Did great for the most part, was a little loud loaded up on the freeway but looked good doing it.  

 

 

 

Edited November 17, 2018 by d.p

[DanielC]

I am pretty sure there are no factory side mirrors on 521 trucks.  Outside mirrors were a dealer installed option.

Without mirrors, you could pack 521 trucks, and other Datsuns closer together in the cargo hold of ships.

[thisismatt]

Those look like the stock mirrors, dealer installed or not.  I don't know how the glass is held in, sorry.

[sondat]

Can’t offer help on the mirrors but wanted to comment on your truck, very clean and straight d.p will have to go back 31 pages and check out the story.