Just bought a 521

[greenthumb]

Great find. Still running?

[mainer311]

3 hours ago, greenthumb said:

Great find. Still running?

Not even close.

[greenthumb]

Do you know the car then? How do you know the drivetrain is good?  
hope it works out for you. The 5 speed will be a nice upgrade

[mainer311]

1 hour ago, greenthumb said:

Do you know the car then? How do you know the drivetrain is good?  
hope it works out for you. The 5 speed will be a nice upgrade

 

The history of the car is obscure. The engine and transmission will need to be rebuilt, but that's all part of the fun. I don't see any giant holes in the block, so, I'm ahead of the game already. 😄

Edited January 31, 2023 by mainer311

[wayno]

So you bought it?

 

Edited February 1, 2023 by wayno

[greenthumb]

This is likely the cart before the horse, but just saw these pop up. No idea what the value actually is. BaT can be spendy. 
https://bringatrailer.com/listing/44phh-carburetors/

[mainer311]

Yeah, those will go for a couple grand at least. I will need carbs, or get these SU’s rebuilt by Keith Williams. The ones on the car are locked up solid. I’m going to soak absolutely everything in Sea Foam Deep Creep.

[mainer311]

2 hours ago, wayno said:

So you bought it?

 

It’s in my driveway.

[Stoffregen Motorsports]

The value of those carbs is also bolstered by the centerpull linkage which was from Nissan Motorsports. The cheaper Mikuni brand centerpull was lower quality.

[wayno]

21 hours ago, mainer311 said:

It’s in my driveway.

 

You will need to use the 5spd transmission mount in your 1968 SPL311, same with the console/plate and likely the driveline, I forget everything that needed changed out now, it was harder in the early 67 SPL311 as it was never made for the U20/5spd or the dual reservoir brake master, so I had airfilter issues also.

 

I also believe the 68 U20/5spd had better rear gears, my 68 SRL311 also had an anti-torque bracket/bar on the rear axle that my SPL311 did not have, so your 68 SPL311 might not have it either, you might want to change out the gears and not the whole rear axle.

Edited February 2, 2023 by wayno

[mainer311]

Yes, the 2000’s had better rear ends in them. Actually, a great improvement for the 1600 is to just change out the diff for the 2000 ratio.

 

My plan is to save the entire driveline out of this car. 

[wayno]

17 hours ago, mainer311 said:

Yes, the 2000’s had better rear ends in them. Actually, a great improvement for the 1600 is to just change out the diff for the 2000 ratio.

 

My plan is to save the entire driveline out of this car. 

 

You can put any H190 gearset in a Roadster axle you want, all you have to do is change out the side gears, I used to do it all the time for 320 guys that wanted better gears and I would sell the 4.88 gears to drag racer guys with the 720 side gears in them, the Roadster guys in the DROPS group(Datsun Roadsters of Puget Sound) had a get together in a members garage one time where they swapped out a few of them using 720 gears/gearsets and it does not take that long to do with the 720 gearsets as they have roll pins holding the side gear/spiders shaft in place, the 320 gearsets have solid pins that do not like to come out sometimes, the early Roadsters might have a solid pin also but I do not know as I have never pulled a Roadster axle apart to change the gearing, back then(in the mid 90s) I did not know how to do it.

 

I bought a Rebuilt U20 engine a while back(2009ish?) that had never been installed, it had been stored outside at some point and had gotten water into 2 of the cylinders and rusted one cylinder real bad, this thing had all new OEM parts in it, I took it to the machine shop I used after pulling the head as I recall and had the owner look at it and he said that the one cylinder with minor rust was fine but the other one needed to be sleeved, he said the new pistons were fine, so I had him clean everything up and sleeve the cylinder that needed it and all was good, it cost me $813.00 for the machining work plus the $500.00 I paid for the block, the front timing kit in it was worth more that, it is in my Roadster to this day, the point is tear the block down being careful not to hurt anything, don't just turn it over, if the cylinders are rusted they can be sleeved if necessary, but keep in mind that I had all this done back in 2009ish as I drove my 720 diesel down to pick the engine up, ACNutter(the machine shop I used) was reasonable back then, they could make me a 219 L block head out of a W53 L block head for around $800.00 total back then with hardened seats and Zcar valves, everything costs more now and that is why I say tear it down without ruining anything.

[mainer311]

Yeah, U20’s are expensive to rebuild. I’ll probably do it a little at a time. I cracked the valve cover off today and it actually looks very good. It’s still full of oil too. 

[wayno]

Do not trust old oil that has been in a block for even 5 years if not run in that 5 years, even though the oil on the dipstick might look good, it could have gelled in the oil pan, I had a couple A series engines that did that, I would not even turn the engine over by hand unless I looked in every cylinder to see if there was rust in the cylinder, I just do not see a point in scarring pistons and cylinder walls if it can be avoided.

 

If no water/moisture got in the engine/cylinders you may have a viable block that needs little depending on why it sat so long in the first place.

[Stoffregen Motorsports]

19 hours ago, wayno said:

Do not trust old oil that has been in a block for even 5 years if not run in that 5 years, even though the oil on the dipstick might look good, it could have gelled in the oil pan, I had a couple A series engines that did that, I would not even turn the engine over by hand unless I looked in every cylinder to see if there was rust in the cylinder, I just do not see a point in scarring pistons and cylinder walls if it can be avoided.

 

If no water/moisture got in the engine/cylinders you may have a viable block that needs little depending on why it sat so long in the first place.

Older oil is different from modern oil. Modern oil holds moisture in suspension and can actually rust the components it touches when it sits for a long time.  I've seen oil pans rusty on the inside bottom, where all the oil was sitting.

[datzenmike]

No one should be using modern oil anyway. http://www.pqiamerica.com/resourceroom/apiserviceclass.html

 

http://www.pqiamerica.com/resourceroom/timeln2013.gif

 

I wouldn't like to run anything below 10W30 and ZDDP below 1000. Obsolete? Does this mean they don't make it? SF would be good for Datsuns.

[mainer311]

Here’s my current project. A heat shield for my Webers. I made a template out of a manila folder, transferred it to a piece of 304 stainless sheet, and then the top is getting a piece of basalt-insulated reflective aluminum.  It mounts to the manifold using M6 and M8 holes that are already there, then bends back parallel with the ground.
 

Here’s the original mock-up.

 

[Crashtd420]

10 hours ago, mainer311 said:

Here’s my current project. A heat shield for my Webers. I made a template out of a manila folder, transferred it to a piece of 304 stainless sheet, and then the top is getting a piece of basalt-insulated reflective aluminum.  It mounts to the manifold using M6 and M8 holes that are already there, then bends back parallel with the ground.
 

Here’s the original mock-up.

 

I so need to get off my ass and do that too....

[mainer311]

Finished the shield up last night. Just need to get the carbs back on and re-sync them.

 

[mrbigtanker]

I would go a different colors maybe but very, very, very, clean. 

[mainer311]

I’m expecting a third kid in the end of November, so I recently sold my 2012 Xterra. Well, this followed me home today. It makes fun V8 rumbly noises.

 

[demo243]

5 minutes ago, mainer311 said:

I’m expecting a third kid in the end of November, so I recently sold my 2012 Xterra. Well, this followed me home today. It makes fun V8 rumbly noises.

 

bummer on the Xterra… 

 

but I bet that thing is pretty sweet! Probably makes a pretty good tow vehicle toO

[mainer311]

Yeah, 4.5 ton tow capacity.

[d.p]

That’s cool man congrats on the third kid.  My wife has got a twin turbo v8.  
 

 

[Stoffregen Motorsports]

Yes, congrats.

 

4.5 ton towing capacity? 9 thousand pounds? For a light SUV?