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J13 and tranny from a ‘68 520 install in ‘65 320?


Landlockt

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Yes E series engine originally came in the 320.

 

The 320 I am looking at doing the swap with has a floor mount shift tranny.

 

I have seen L series motors and trannies installed in 320’s. I guess with enough work you can do pretty much any swap.

 

I am hoping this would be a fairly simple swap.

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I misunderstood. Yes J13 and transmission in a 320. Definitely try it. The transmission should be 26" so measure yours and see if the drive shaft needs modding. Another combination would be the A series and transmission from a B-210 or 210. Good power and size.  

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The floor will have to be cut at the back of the removable transmission cover pan just in front of the reinforcement rib that crosses the floor about two inches aft of the trany cover pan. The 68 trany is the one with removable bottom sheet metal pan and the shift lever is about four inches aft of the floor-shift 320/very early 520 transmission lever. Also have to fab a rear mount. 320 has side mounts on tailshaft I don't know what the bottom pan trany has; I'm assuming that it has one mount on the underside of the tailshaft. Here's couple pics of a 320 with floor modified for 520 trany. First pic uses the column-shif trany cover and second pic uses the floor-shift trany cover. Could be done a little cleaner.

 

Floor_of_320_With_520_Trany.jpg

 

Floor_Cut_320_for_Later_4-_Speed.jpg

 

 

I'm assuming that you have a J13 with the later trany unit located that are already mated ?? If not you'll need to figure out the plate to put the trany and J13 together.

 

Also check the spline on the 520 trany output shaft and the 320 driveshaft for compatibility. Hope all that's not confusing.

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Thanks for info. Yes I have a J13 mated to a tranny.

 

I own a ‘68 520 with the J13.

 

I know of a ‘65 320 without a motor. It has the floor shifter tranny still.

 

My grand plan would be to pull the J13 and tranny out of the 520 and install it into the 320. Then find an L18 or L20B to install in the 520 with a 5 speed of course. Lol

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Don't lose them hubcaps, they are almost impossible to find, and when they come up they are expensive and you have to bid against everyone else for them.

I suspect you can use the complete J13 motor mount assembly in the 320(frame to engine), but you need it all, you may be able to use the E1 motor mount assembly on the J13 engine, but the E1 stuff is hard to find if it needs replaced, I have never needed to find this stuff out so I don't know for sure, I am guessing, but Datsun/Nissan made a lot of stuff interchangeable.

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If I put the J13 and tranny in, what would be a realistic higheay cruising speed?

With the 488 gears in the rear the engine will be up there around 4000rpms at 65/70 on level ground with no head wind, a lot of 320 owners don't like it that high, but they cannot go any faster with 390 gears as the engines are not strong enough to push thru the wind any faster unless going down hill.

These little engines don't put out a lot of power, but they last a long time as they are normally not strong enough to tear themselves apart, but I see the head in the cab, so there are exceptions, my 65 I owned overheated before I owned it, they drove it without coolant and then when they put water in it the head got cracked in several places, never add water to an overheated engine. 

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With these older Datsuns it always helps to have at least 1 parts truck.  I put an L20B and an automatic transmission in my 66 520.  It is all documented in my build thread.  The link to my build thread is down below in my signature.

 

These old Datsuns are a lot of fun and definitely educational!

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The J13 with transmission is also, year by year, getting harder to find also.

 

You might consider a later A series engine from a mid '70s B-210 or the late '70s early 80s 210 with an A14 or A15. They actually had 5 speeds (rare but...) Another option is a 4 cylinder L16/18 or L20B. These will easily pull you down the road with 3.90 gears and there are 5 speeds from the 620 trucks and 6 cylinder cars that fit. Tons of parts practically laying about to collect for spares.

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