new member, first post.

[sondat]

Time to mount the Hitachi carb. Question on order of gaskets which came with the rebuild kit since only 1 of the 3 keep the 2 barrels separate.

 

 

Should I use the heat shield (if that's what it is)? if so I would then require all 3 gaskets to sandwich with intake, heat shield, thick spacer and carb.

 

 

This last picture shows carb, spacer and old gasket which i suppose I could use as well if I require a second gasket with divider between barrels.

 

Edited February 18, 2019 by sondat

[mainer311]

Honestly, that area gets so hot anyway, the heat shield probably doesn’t do much. If you don’t use it, use the left and center gaskets. Use the gasket with the divided center between the phenolic and the carb. Below the phenolic, either of the outer gaskets could be used.

[datzenmike]

Definitely keep the heat shield (it reflects radiant heat) and the plastic spacer. ( it reduces conducted heat) You only need it in extremely hot weather but if you can't restart from vapor lock that one time you'll wish you had. The L series hot exhaust is barely inches away from the intake and carburetor and will bake it. All L20B engines had this plus a fuel return line so that hot gas is slowly returned to the tank and cooler gas circulated past the carburetor.

[Stoffregen Motorsports]

Heat shields are always a great idea. Use it if you can.

[sondat]

Thanks fellas, I will use the heat shield and use all 3 new gaskets. Seems odd to me that since all components being sealed (carb, spacer and heat shield) have 2 barrels seperated yet gaskets don’t keep this consistency. I will use divided gasket between carb and spacer as you mentioned mainer311.

[datzenmike]

 

This is the correct way with the gaskets facing the front of the engine. Be sure the plastic spacer also has that little notch facing the front. Last of all make sure the Phillips screw above that notch is the hollow one and hasn't been put in the rear screw hole. Without it you won't have a vacuum signal to keep the power valve closed when you don't need it. The primary circuit will run richer than it was designed to and your mileage will be less.

[d.p]

All that build work and using stock hitachi?  Why not a weber 32/36?

[sondat]

No Weber yet cause of the budget. It can be a easy enough upgrade to do later. Will see how this rebuilt Hitachi performs, maybe the Weber will come sooner than later.

Edited February 19, 2019 by sondat

[sondat]

Had a productive day in the garage which included completing heater hoses using the Gates Toyota hose, installed Hitachi carb and swapped out to the clear glass to see the fuel level and float. Was hopping to use the carb glass from our 1300 parts truck which has the added Nikki logo but the glass is smaller. Had to use the glass from the original 1600 carb. Mounted coil and remote ignitor, ran all required switched and power feeds to electric choke, idle cut solenoid, coil and remote ignitor.

 

 

 

 

Just a little more clean up of the emissions wiring that isn't needed and then on to the fuel system.

 

 

 

Edited February 25, 2019 by sondat

[sondat]

A month has flown by since my last post, nothing has visually changed much so no pics. We did get the fuel tank in, fuel lines and finished up the wiring. We want to pull oil pump off and pack with petroleum gel before the first start up. Other than that, started getting guts back into doors. We did order replacement 1/4 window rubbers from Australia, will be a couple weeks I’m sure. Was reading all the history on other members ordering from him so we’ll see how this goes. I see he also offers the window felts that run horizontally in the door window opening, might have to get those as well.

[mainer311]

I put a higher volume oil pump in my truck as part of this huge overhaul that I found myself bogged down with. I did pour oil into before bolting it on. I’m hoping it primes okay. My thought is that I’ll let it crank for a little bit with the coil wire disconnected.

[sondat]

I’ve read quite  bit on this forum about the first start of a rebuilt L series. Most are saying to prime first by either swaping oil pump/distributor drive shaft for a temp rod to free spin oil pump or sending pressurized oil in where the oil pressure sender is. Not sure which way we’ll go yet or use either of those methods at all. We have applied white grease throughout during assembly as well as Lucas brand assembly lube to the top end, that stuff seems really slick and sticks to components well. Can’t recall mainer311, did you do a engine rebuild?

[Crashtd420]

2 hours ago, sondat said:

I’ve read quite  bit on this forum about the first start of a rebuilt L series. Most are saying to prime first by either swaping oil pump/distributor drive shaft for a temp rod to free spin oil pump or sending pressurized oil in where the oil pressure sender is. Not sure which way we’ll go yet or use either of those methods at all. We have applied white grease throughout during assembly as well as Lucas brand assembly lube to the top end, that stuff seems really slick and sticks to components well. Can’t recall mainer311, did you do a engine rebuild?

I made a priming rod out of just a small diameter rod and ground the tab into it.... mine was a fresh rebuild and I was a few months away from starting it so I wanted to circulate oil every other week, just out of caution.... probably wasnt neccessary....

Mainer311 didnt do a rebuild just a pump upgrade, so he still had plenty of oil on things.....

In my opinion if this was a fresh rebuild it would be a good idea to get the oil flowing first..... 

I realize you have used assembly lube, but what if the pump doesnt pump?

Better safe then sorry..... 

 

[wayno]

As long as the parts exist already and are on ebay you should be fine as long as they are not RHD specific.

5 hours ago, sondat said:

A month has flown by since my last post, nothing has visually changed much so no pics. We did get the fuel tank in, fuel lines and finished up the wiring. We want to pull oil pump off and pack with petroleum gel before the first start up. Other than that, started getting guts back into doors. We did order replacement 1/4 window rubbers from Australia, will be a couple weeks I’m sure. Was reading all the history on other members ordering from him so we’ll see how this goes. I see he also offers the window felts that run horizontally in the door window opening, might have to get those as well.

I started my fresh LZ23(new everything) by submerging my oil pump in oil and spinning the shaft by hand, then I installed it on the engine and started it within a day, that was 8 years ago and I beat the crap out of that engine, it's in my work truck and that truck does a lot of work, or at least it used to.

[sondat]

So we recieved quarter window rubbers from Australia via E-bay. Haven't installed yet but talk about record time, had them in hand in just over a week. Have pulled doors off for ease of installing new door seals as well as getting guts back into doors in our warm basement. 

 

 

 

 

 

You can also see that we had the glass installed with new seals, the windscreen was out of the parts truck which had about 4 to 5 rock chips successfully filled. (can hardly see them).

Also have been working on the headlight mounting modifications. Thanks to Bory's Datstang it looks like similar if not the same LED lights he went with so we were able to use his story as a reference for mods. We have an additional set of headlight buckets from our parts truck so we sacrificed those by cutting the buckets to the point that they are just a ring to allow the new lights to fit. We will keep the originals if for some reason we want to go back to original lights. The bead blasting cabinet at work is invaluable.

 

 

 

 

 

All the headlight trim pieces were blacked out to match the nose of the truck.

 

 

 

Also found the water line we needed from the 620 parts trucks we've been picking from. It has the extra tap to tie in the water routing at the thermostat and from the intake below the carb.

 

 

Edited April 8, 2019 by sondat

[Crashtd420]

How are the door seals and where did you get them?

Is it just the one piece?

And how are you keeping it in place?

 

I bought mine years ago as I was collecting parts.... I started trying to install mine, i figured it should be easy but it seemed like I needed 4 hands to do it.... 

 

[BrothersGarage]

2 hours ago, Crashtd420 said:

How are the door seals and where did you get them?

Is it just the one piece?

And how are you keeping it in place?

 

I bought mine years ago as I was collecting parts.... I started trying to install mine, i figured it should be easy but it seemed like I needed 4 hands to do it.... 

 

 

https://smile.amazon.com/dp/B00063X38M/?fhmeag-20 ?

[sondat]

It was 3M adhesive that we used but the yellow not the black. You have to take a little more care when applying to avoid seeing any exces glue but the yellow holds better. As for installing /fittment Crashtd420, we used the masking tape to temporarily hold in place. They came a little too long so as it was worked into place we made sure we weren’t stretching the rubber and that it was pushed well into any corners. We placed the joint close to the bottom door hinge to have in a less visible area and cut for a tight joint. Once happy with the fit then on to glueing.

[Crashtd420]

Thanks.... I think we have the same seal but I also bought this.....

 

 

I actually bought it before I bought the correct seal.... I guess its supposed to hold the seal in place over the metal....

But it's a pain .... not flexible at all...

 

I'll probably get some glue also and use it to hold things in place and then debate on whether or not to use that welt seal at all....

[sondat]

It was over 2 years ago that we purchased a lot of the new weather stripping so i would have to dig through receipts to see where we purchased from. I don't recognize the seal in your picture. Here's a couple pictures of the left over piece of door seal and also a couple of pics of the door glass seal that we still have to install, (fits into the door window frame).

 

 

 

 

Edited April 9, 2019 by sondat

[Crashtd420]

Well from that pic the seals are different....

This is the actual seal I got....

 

 

I like what you bought better.... looks a little thicker where it holds on to the metal.....

From the looks of mine I'll have to use the welt seal..... 

I'll try what I have , if I dont like I can get to searching for a better set.....

Thanks...

[sondat]

No problem, I’ll do some digging through the records one of these days and see where we bought ours from

[Crashtd420]

No problem, I'll eventually try installing mine and see how I end up... the seals wont stop me from driving my datsun..... I went 2 month without door windows when I first started driving mine again..... 

Keep up the fine work , cant wait to see it done and driving..... that's the best part....

 

[sondat]

Thanks Crashtd. The list to at least fire it up is getting pretty short, probably 2 weeks. My boy has saved up enough for insurance, exhaust and a spray in bed liner. We’ll keep picking away at it.

[mrbigtanker]

Man she is looking good. Looks almost done.