new member, first post.

[sondat]

Thanks everyone for the help on break springs. Will post pics soon on the cab, doors, fenders and hood. Body man has color on everything but the exterior.

[Stoffregen Motorsports]

Take that front dipstick tube out and plug the hole with a small brass plug. It will clean up the appearance.

 

Looks great otherwise.

[sondat]

Here's the front clip back home with colour on all inner surfaces and undercoating.

     

 

        

 

        

[sondat]

Body man now has box after my son and I completed rust repair and built rear valance to give the back end a cleaner look around the factory tail lights.

 

             

 

             

 

             

 

              

 

              

[mrbigtanker]

Love the build. Looking real good. Rear valance not a fan of but still great restore.

[sondat]

Have bottom end of engine assembled and cam came back from Shadbolt cams with a mild  performance grind (M445). Waiting on the delivery of new rocker arms to complete head build/install.

 

 

                                               

 

                                               

 

So on to the front suspension. Thanks to this forum I learned of the importance keeping the LCA fulcrum pins and caps in order to be re installed in original position. Problem is I learned of it after we tore the front end apart  :crying:. Also lost 2 caps or maybe thrown out due to crapy threads (can't remember). Managed to get a used replacement pin with both caps courtesy of Mr Koltz (thanks Mike). Now starts the infinite combinations of pins and caps on 2 different LCA's to see which combo has the least resistance in control arm travel. With upper and lower control arms attached to frame and dog bone pinned top and bottom thought of using a large fish scale to measure resistance with each combination. scale only goes to 25lbs which wasn't enough. Thought of using torque wrench on lower fulcrum cap to see exactly how much torque required to start movement of control arms.

 

                                               

 

 

                                               

 

For replacement of the LCA fulcrum pin rubber dust covers we ordered the seals for a MGB which worked great. they fit over the original metal washer from the old seals.

 

                                               

 

                                               

 

Also had to make the replacement cotter pin/bolts for the LCA fulcrum pins.

 

                                                

 

                                                

 

 

                                                

[Doctor510]

Nice work guys!  What are the specs on your cam?

[sondat]

Cam specs are duration @.05 L, intake and exh 224deg. 280deg advertised .340L, 510” gross on 110deg LSA.

[datzenmike]

Datsun L cams are 248 duration but I've always thought it was actual degrees and not taken @ 0.050" lift. Always wondered what it really is at 0.050"

 

Stock lift is 0.413"

[Stoffregen Motorsports]

Your work looks fantastic and I like the attention to detail.

 

One suggestion - you could make that fulcrum pin with full threads by grinding only the section that actually contacts the shaft. Install it before the shaft and pull it up tight. I would also use a smear of anti seize on them. Otherwise, everything looks really nice.

[sondat]

I have herd good things about Shadbolt cams and went with there recommendation on what we wanted for a performance upgrade. Stated to them the truck will be a daily driver, will be my sons first truck. They said the M445 grind would benefit at the 3000rpm range. Thanks Stoffregen Motorsports, I will try the cotter bolt suggestion and bought some anti seize today.

[mklotz70]

Did we talk about cotter bolts when I sent you the fulcrum pin?  I still have some of the ones I made....they're nearly identical to the factory ones.  Kind of surprised it didn't come up.

[sondat]

We did talk about them earlier on but was more about the simplicity of making them. You probably didn’t have any on hand at the time.

[sondat]

Passenger side control arms and dog bone are in and little restriction in the movement, so that side is a win. However, the driver side is another story. After trying multiple combinations of fulcrum pins and caps noticed the threaded ears on the end of the LCA that recieves fulcrum pin caps have slightly bent inwards (towards each other). I have only been torquing fulcrum bushing caps to the minimum of 145ft lbs (range being 145 to 217). This when torqued causes a lot of binding due to the caps not being square to the fulcrum pin and also the end of the caps contact the dog bone. Has anyone else experienced this? I know when i started the process the ears were not bent in due to the ends of the fulcrum pin were flush with the outside ends of the LCA but know as you can see they protrude beyond the LCA ears. You can probably also see the slight angle (inward bend of the LCA ears) compared to the fulcrum pin.

 

                                                                 

 

                                                                 

 

                                                                 

[sondat]

There are only 2 solutions I can think of so far. 1) Source a complete lower A arm with its original pin and caps. 2) Spread LCA ears back to original position and weld a steel bar between the two ears to maintain there position with torquing of caps. I think the bar could be positioned not to interfere with suspension travel or dog bone install so it can be installed permanently. Any thoughts?

[wayno]

I am not sure what you have going on, the caps that go on the ends have threads on the outside and the inside, this allows the middle piece to stay loose and not corrode if greased properly, that you are able to squeeze the the arms together at all is baffling to me, the coarser threads on the outside of the cap should stop the cap when it bottoms out rather than letting the inner threads determine when to stop turning, that inner piece is supposed to be loose when the outer caps are tight.

[sondat]

I’m clear on the threads inside and out of the caps and that during suspension travel the fulcrum pin moves side to side (minimal) within the caps. I wish I knew how the control arm ears ended up bending in but they have.

[Crashtd420]

There are only 2 solutions I can think of so far. 1) Source a complete lower A arm with its original pin and caps. 2) Spread LCA ears back to original position and weld a steel bar between the two ears to maintain there position with torquing of caps. I think the bar could be positioned not to interfere with suspension travel or dog bone install so it can be installed permanently. Any thoughts?

I'd try your second thought... but I don't think need to add the bar...

I remember those caps being a pain to deal with... they have to engage both threads just right....

It almost sounds like one side got miss threaded...

[mklotz70]

We did talk about them earlier on but was more about the simplicity of making them. You probably didn’t have any on hand at the time.

I've actually had them sitting here for several years. I've shown several people the thread on here that shows other guys making their own and they've decided to do that rather than buy mine....which is perfectly cool.  I just ran across my baggie of NOS cotter bolts....bought them years ago and was told they were all but the last few.  I was going to buy them out, but decided to leave a few for someone else......I think Hainz actually bought some some a short time later and was told they were the very last ones. 

[mklotz70]

I don't remember if they're single start threads or double....probably single.  I'd try to bend the ears back out to parallel.  It's almost like your inner threads are a half turn or so too tight and they're pulling the ears in before the nut bottom out in the ears.   You might try tightening one nut in and torque it......then thread the pin in.  You should be able to play with the rotation of the pin in relation to the remaining nut.....get the outside threads to just start before the inside ones do......Hhhhmmmm.......I wonder if you could run the pin all the way into the first torqued nut.....then install/torque the second nut......then turn the pin back to center.  I'd try it with the dogbone off first to find the right combo.  With the dogbone in place, you should be able to slid it to one side and then be able to grab the pin with needle nose pliers....maybe???.....to be able to turn it.  You'll definitely want to make sure that your fulcrum pins spins nicely in the dogbone before you try this.

 

As for spacers....maybe some "U" washers.....like body fender or front end alignment fenders.....only bigger.  Or maybe cut some slots in metal that's thick enough to fit snuggly in the gaps.  Realistically....you could have the dogbone to one side and just use one extra thick washer.

 

Thanks for the reminder on why I don't enjoy turning a wrench anymore!!!! LOL!! :)

[sondat]

Thanks for the advise. I will play around with the suggestions probably Monday and will let you know how it goes.

[sondat]

Well, mystery solved but problem not fixed. Used hydraulic press with duck bill attachment which opened LCA up back to normal. Attempted your suggestion Mike of torquing 1 bushing cap first and assemble fulcrum pin from there. That’s when I realized why I was short to bushing caps originally, the outer threads as well as threads in control arm are stripped out. They are there enough to thread cap in but once torquing starts it is spinning in control arm but would keep getting pulled in from the fulcrum pin threads. This is what bent the ears in. So time to source drivers LCA with pin and caps. Getting frustrated, should just weld them on, lol. I’ve stumble across 2 620’s that I’m able to get parts from, those control arms the same?

[wayno]

Depends on the year of the 620, early stuff is the same, later stuff had ball joints instead of king pins, and no you cannot bolt on the ball joint front end, it takes some fabrication to do that, I know this because I did all of it and had ball joints/disc brakes for around 12 years before I upgraded over the last couple months.

 

As you said, you could just put it together, then once happy with how it functioned you could spot weld the caps to the arm in two spots on each side to keep them in place, but the spot welds should be in an accessible place where they could be ground off to replace them in the future.

 

Do you ever drive down I5 to Portland OR or farther south?

[sondat]

Was wondering what others might think when I mentioned the welding option. Might just go that route. It’s been years since I’ve been down south but was just googling Seattle international raceway last night. Would like to take in a top fuel event. Was aware of the fabricating to go to ball joints, will stick with king pins for now sine we have purchased all new bushings, king pins and seals to go original.

[wayno]

You  do what you have to to keep them on the road sometimes, I don't always do what is right to keep my truck running and on the road, I do what is necessary, and then when shit starts to add up and I have too many keep it on the road fixes I take a step back and choose to do it right ASAP.

I just went thru a couple weeks spread out over a month or so getting my 1971 Datsun 521 work truck back to safe daily driver status, the steering is tight now, tighter than it has been for a very long time(years), I suspect that will be the last major conversion I will ever do to that truck as it has everything now.

 

I don't consider spot welding them caps in place dangerous, as they do not move when installed, but I would make sure the caps are in good condition on the inside and not worn out, as it will be harder to get them off once spot welded into position, and I am talking about spot welding, not running a bead.