Soundline Posted December 23, 2016 Report Share Posted December 23, 2016 If you are offended by four letter words that rhyme with duck or bunt... please continue to the next posting. This thread is not for you my friend. There will be dark photos and vague descriptions. So maybe point me in the right direction. Im... gonna go out on a limb here and say.... this is not how she rolled off the boat in Jan of 74'.... this 1974 model, made Dec 73', imported the following month and sold in Seattle... didn't have flasher relays, random fucking blue wires that connect to nothing and a botched Clarion Cassette tape deck installed... So, to fix this cuntnundrum, I propose to trace all of this shit out, tear all of this shit out, and redo it. The brake lights don't work, bulbs good, fuse is good, tomorrow we'll ask the volt meter. If not, I'm thinking... This cobbled mess... I doubt this is the factory part... the wires are twisted. I can't feel the contacts clicking inside like I can on other cars/trucks I've turned wrenches on. And the FSM basically just shows the wire running from the power distribution, through the fuse, through this contact, then into the light. Worst case, rewire the lights from the cab. If I do that, I'll rewire them all. Why do half a job? Questions, comments, concerns? Post them up. 1 Quote Link to comment
datzenmike Posted December 23, 2016 Report Share Posted December 23, 2016 Both brake wires are Green/Yellow and one goes to the fuse box. The fuse is the bottom right closest to your right knee. The other wire goes to the turn signals. This is because the brake and turn use the same bulb. We'll get to that later but for now... Place a quarter across the switch contacts... if the brake lights come on the switch is not working or stuck in the off position. If no change, hold the brake down and place the quarter across the fuse contacts that were mentioned. If the brake lights come on then the fuse is blown. Replace it. If still no brake light check the fuse for 12 volts on both sides. Enough for now. 2 Quote Link to comment
Soundline Posted December 23, 2016 Author Report Share Posted December 23, 2016 Thanks again, I'll run through this a little later. I'm gonna buy all new bulbs all the way around. I'll swap them out as I check things so I'll know when they were done. Lights being burned out/not working annoy me. 2 Quote Link to comment
Eagle_Adam Posted December 24, 2016 Report Share Posted December 24, 2016 Look into LED replacement bulbs if your gunna do em all, totally worth the extra bux IMO 3 Quote Link to comment
Jester Posted December 24, 2016 Report Share Posted December 24, 2016 If you are offended by four letter words that rhyme with duck or bunt... please continue to the next posting. This thread is not for you my friend. There will be dark photos and vague descriptions. So maybe point me in the right direction. Fucking epic. 2 Quote Link to comment
Soundline Posted December 24, 2016 Author Report Share Posted December 24, 2016 Look into LED replacement bulbs if your gunna do em all, totally worth the extra bux IMO I just did that to my rock crawler, I bought regular bulbs this time for testing purposes. 1 Quote Link to comment
Soundline Posted December 24, 2016 Author Report Share Posted December 24, 2016 Fucking epic. This is just who I am. Why "front" here. You'll decide my dark sense of humor and avid cursing is for you, or not. That way if I ever do meet any of you, you'll know what to expect. And... back on topic... it's the motherfucking housings.... my brake lights don't signal through the housing.... no continuity. That shit is corroded into dust because there were two screws holding them in place... I am not an electrical engineer, nor have I played one on tv. But... I can tell you this thing is fucked. The rears are notably similar in condition. So... I need new housings. Now... I could drill this shit out, solder together a new connector, and pretend that it will work. Oooooor I could just actually fix the fucking problem. I looked through my crate of extra Datsun shit that came with it, and it's mostly more broken shit. There's a speedo to replace the one in the truck that's stuck at 40 mph.... buuuuuut some genius left it in water... and it corroded out about 1/3 of the circuit board. I'll give that about a 1:500 chance it will work. Enough bitching and whining and time to look through the classifieds, check eBay, and see what's available. 1 Quote Link to comment
datzenmike Posted December 24, 2016 Report Share Posted December 24, 2016 Those are the side marker lights.... and yes they rot away if water gets in them. They are rubber surrounded but... 2 Quote Link to comment
Soundline Posted December 24, 2016 Author Report Share Posted December 24, 2016 Yeah, the back side of the tail light housing is the same business... the good news is I HAVE voltage to the wire. So I'm not chasing electrical gremlins yet.... (<-----the "yet" used here is preemptive, because if I didn't use it.... I guarantee they'd start popping up) So, yeah, I'll need a side too. It was actually cracked, like all the other lights, because you don't NEED to torque your plastic trim screws until you break the lense... but someone did.... to all of them.... And I'd be more than happy to drive up to our Great Northern Neighbor and pilfer through you stash Mike, which I'm sure resembles the giant warehouse from the end of Raiders of the Lost Ark... but... turns out the Canadian Consulate in France CAN PNG an American. 1 Quote Link to comment
datzenmike Posted December 24, 2016 Report Share Posted December 24, 2016 Yes over tightening will crack the lens and the water gets in or the rubber seal deforms... and the water gets in. The inside part is lightly chromed? it's shiny to reflect light but won't resist rusting. The brass bulbs rot into an ugly mass. LED lighting may be easier to rig up. Does not have to be one of those replacement ones can be smaller 2 Quote Link to comment
DanielC Posted December 24, 2016 Report Share Posted December 24, 2016 Many Datsun models used the same side marker light. The lamp (bulb) metal socket, and reflector, the amber or red lens, the stainless steel trim ring between the lens, and rubber base were all the same. The rubber base is different to accommodate the different contours on different models and the wires were longer or shorter for different models. This thread may help you some. http://community.ratsun.net/topic/31370-side-marker-lights/?hl=%2Bside+%2Bmarker 3 Quote Link to comment
thisismatt Posted December 24, 2016 Report Share Posted December 24, 2016 They are not the same across the board, but yes the truck markers are all same style...different packings (the gaskets) and different wire lengths/plugs, but buckets, trim rings, and lenses the same. 2 Quote Link to comment
Soundline Posted December 24, 2016 Author Report Share Posted December 24, 2016 Yes over tightening will crack the lens and the water gets in or the rubber seal deforms... and the water gets in. The inside part is lightly chromed? it's shiny to reflect light but won't resist rusting. The brass bulbs rot into an ugly mass. LED lighting may be easier to rig up. Does not have to be one of those replacement ones can be smaller Since I don't actually need to drive it, I just ordered repop parts off Amazon. I'll save what I can with glue and love, but it looks like she'll be a garage trophy until sometime in late Jan. 1 Quote Link to comment
Soundline Posted December 24, 2016 Author Report Share Posted December 24, 2016 Many Datsun models used the same side marker light. The lamp (bulb) metal socket, and reflector, the amber or red lens, the stainless steel trim ring between the lens, and rubber base were all the same. The rubber base is different to accommodate the different contours on different models and the wires were longer or shorter for different models. This thread may help you some. http://community.ratsun.net/topic/31370-side-marker-lights/?hl=%2Bside+%2Bmarker Nice write up Dan! I'll be using a very similar, if not exactly the same method to repair the ones I can. I'm confident I can save the housing on the right rear, after a couple hours last night but the drivers side had the dividers taken out and just had the whole thing umm... monkeyed with. I'm almost positive it involved someone holding a beer, and watching this... Anyhow, not really an expensive part, and it's winter, so I'm frying other fish on this truck while I wait for that. 1 Quote Link to comment
Soundline Posted December 29, 2016 Author Report Share Posted December 29, 2016 Holy goat shit batman.... apparently... the proper thing to do, when you blow a fuse.... is just wire around it. I actually lost my cool on the mess... and had to close shop and walk away. Normally my cursing is jovial, light hearted swearing that's good for the soul. 43 fucked up wires later and I get mad. Everyone has a threshold and experience has taught me when you hit that point.... close the hood and doors and walk away. That's when you start fucking yourself over. On the plus side, I fixed my headlights from being able to decide to turn themselves the fuck off. Electricity is lazy, if you give it the option to go to ground where you soldered your radio into your headlight wire.... without putting an insulator on it... the electrons will short to ground. Trust me, no matter how badly you want your Clarion Cassette player to work, this isn't the hot wire you should tap. Turns out seeing where you're going > listening to the radio. The iPad is a fine device but it doesn't work worth two shits if your hands are filthy. So I ordered an actual used service manual so I can touch the paper. Also... overheating is inevitable if you have a coolant hose that goes from just below your radiator cap, to nothing.... dumping out onto the road. Duct tape... is not designed for fuel lines. I don't care what you've heard in the truck stop men's room... that's not a "fix" that's a band aide on a bullet wound. Eventually you're gonna bleed out. There's also some kind of valving bolted from the factory under the driver seat. I have absolutely no fucking clue what that's for. There's a nearly identical valve assembly right next to the carburetor on the fender that's hardlined back into the frame rail. I haven't checked to see where this goes. I'd take a picture... except I'd shove the poor little bastard off a cliff if I walked back in there right now. Basically, my truck is a zombie... I can't explain why it runs at all, but it still runs. Honestly though... this is probably good for me to be forced to redo everything. Quote Link to comment
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