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New to me 1972 Datsun 521


ttyR2

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Howdy folks!

 

I owned a very worn and abused 1969 Datsun 510 4DR back in the late 80's, and then a 1985 Nissan 720/721, and a basket case 1964 SPL310. After that, it wasn't until last week that I picked up another Datsun. There's been a string of Toyota's in between (I'm still running my beloved 1997 Toyota 4Runner with 360k miles on the odo...gunning for 500k before resto).

 

My sons are 15 years old and we've been scouting vehicles for them. A person I know had this 1972 521 and was interested in selling when I asked about it. She said it just stopped running for some reason a year ago (but I suspect it's been a few years). I was able to pick it up for $1500 as/is, and after two hours of bleeding the brakes, charging the battery, tightening a loose wire that fed the fuse box, and a couple shots of starter fluid, it was back and rolling...mostly. The hydraulic clutch wasn't working, so I had to start it in gear and limp it home. The clutch just refused to be bled in the normal way, recirculating fluid in the reservoir but not pushing anything out of the slave cylinder bleeder. I have one of those Motive power vac evacuators (not specifically the bleeder model), and used it to pull fluid through the slave cylinder. After about six rounds of fill/bleed, the clutch started working perfectly!

 

I took it for a short spin after checking fluids, and then over the next week set about doing all the periodic maintenance stuff that it hasn't received in years and years. I changed the diff lube, transmission lube, engine oil/filter, air filter, fuel filter, new plugs, new plug wires, and adjusted the carb. It's running very nicely and is incredibly clean. The mirrors aren't stock, and something happened to the horn switch in the steering wheel so someone cobbed together a horn button under the dash. It also had a set of half-leaf helper springs, and a couple brackets bolted to the frame under the front of the bed. I suspect it had some sort of camper in the back at some point. I removed the helper springs which made the back less twitchy, and took the brackets off.

 

Overall, there are a couple minor dents and a wow in the front left part of the bed. Other than that, it's a really straight vehicle. I'll be bending your ears while I look for resto parts...I'm so glad there's a forum like this available.

 

http://images.ttyr2.com/albums/1972_Datsun_521/1972_datsun_521.jpg

 

http://images.ttyr2.com/albums/1972_Datsun_521/20210827_083402.jpg

 

Someone wanna give me a clue as to why it won't let me post a picture directly when I use the "Insert image from URL"? Those links work fine on other forums.

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Welcome nice truck.

 

Picture problem is you are posting from your phone or a computer not a picture posted from a URL (Internet hosting site).

 

Look in the bottom left corner of your posting box as you are writing your post on a PC not sure about phone and there is a paper clip image and to the right of that is written "Drag files here to attach, or choose files..."  click on "choose files..." and select the files from your computer.  Select the file or files then click "open" and submit your post.  Picture/s will show after post is submitted.

DSC02714.JPG

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7 hours ago, ttyR2 said:

Howdy folks!

 

I owned a very worn and abused 1969 Datsun 510 4DR back in the late 80's, and then a 1985 Nissan 720/721, and a basket case 1964 SPL310. After that, it wasn't until last week that I picked up another Datsun. There's been a string of Toyota's in between (I'm still running my beloved 1997 Toyota 4Runner with 360k miles on the odo...gunning for 500k before resto).

 

My sons are 15 years old and we've been scouting vehicles for them. A person I know had this 1972 521 and was interested in selling when I asked about it. She said it just stopped running for some reason a year ago (but I suspect it's been a few years). I was able to pick it up for $1500 as/is, and after two hours of bleeding the brakes, charging the battery, tightening a loose wire that fed the fuse box, and a couple shots of starter fluid, it was back and rolling...mostly. The hydraulic clutch wasn't working, so I had to start it in gear and limp it home. The clutch just refused to be bled in the normal way, recirculating fluid in the reservoir but not pushing anything out of the slave cylinder bleeder. I have one of those Motive power vac evacuators (not specifically the bleeder model), and used it to pull fluid through the slave cylinder. After about six rounds of fill/bleed, the clutch started working perfectly!

 

I took it for a short spin after checking fluids, and then over the next week set about doing all the periodic maintenance stuff that it hasn't received in years and years. I changed the diff lube, transmission lube, engine oil/filter, air filter, fuel filter, new plugs, new plug wires, and adjusted the carb. It's running very nicely and is incredibly clean. The mirrors aren't stock, and something happened to the horn switch in the steering wheel so someone cobbed together a horn button under the dash. It also had a set of half-leaf helper springs, and a couple brackets bolted to the frame under the front of the bed. I suspect it had some sort of camper in the back at some point. I removed the helper springs which made the back less twitchy, and took the brackets off.

 

Overall, there are a couple minor dents and a wow in the front left part of the bed. Other than that, it's a really straight vehicle. I'll be bending your ears while I look for resto parts...I'm so glad there's a forum like this available.

 

http://images.ttyr2.com/albums/1972_Datsun_521/1972_datsun_521.jpg

 

http://images.ttyr2.com/albums/1972_Datsun_521/20210827_083402.jpg

 

Someone wanna give me a clue as to why it won't let me post a picture directly when I use the "Insert image from URL"? Those links work fine on other forums.

 

Can you hotlink from your webserver?  

Edited by d.p
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Yes...I can hotlink, it's a self-hosted photogallery (I'm a server engineer), nothing fancy. Use it all the time on other forums.

 

I have one of my sons seeing the light for keeping things OEM and doing restorations on rigs that are clean enough vs. cutting them up. We're looking for a set of original steel wheels and hubcaps.

 

It's been a while since I've had to tune a carb. The idle mix and speed are set pretty well, and the engine is running good, but I still have an off-idle stumble. Probably the accelerator pump? Are they known for having issues with age?

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<img>http://images.ttyr2.com/albums/1972_Datsun_521/1972_datsun_521.jpg</img>

 

Hrm....one of the other forums I frequent does have direct image uploading, but I don't see it here, as Charlie said it should.

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The engine has a slight off-idle stumble as you open the throttle a touch. I checked for good accelerator pump spray and it's more of a dribble in the primary throat. I pulled the accelerator pump plunger out and noticed that there is a small cutout in the edge of the cup seal. It looks like it's supposed to be there, but just wanted to make sure. This is the stock down draft carb.

 

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Tried both the "Insert image from URL" and image tags from a shared link from a Google Photo's gallery. The Insert image from URL just shows as red and won't insert the link, and the image tags do show a placeholder for the image but it looks broken.

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53 minutes ago, ttyR2 said:

The engine has a slight off-idle stumble as you open the throttle a touch. I checked for good accelerator pump spray and it's more of a dribble in the primary throat. I pulled the accelerator pump plunger out and noticed that there is a small cutout in the edge of the cup seal. It looks like it's supposed to be there, but just wanted to make sure. This is the stock down draft carb.

 

 

The plunger has a leather or the newer replacement will be a synthetic seal on the plunger. The leather one has a small coil spring around the inside to push it against the bore for tight seal. It should be uniform all round with no splits, tears or deformities. This looks to be the problem.

 

Have a care if removed, as there should be a BB, used as a one way valve to prevent fuel being pushed back into the float chamber, in the bottom with a very fine coil spring holding it in place. If the BB is already missing it will be hard to build discharge pressure. There is a second BB in the discharge section that also acts as a one way valve to prevent air being sucked back into the pump on the up swing. It can't fall out like the other but if you can't get the pressure up it should be checked.

 

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After looking further, and using a flashlight, I found the missing piece of seal material in the bottom. The BB is in the bottom, and the cup seal appears to be a newer synthetic one. Any recommendations for a "good" quality carb rebuild kit? Or are they all pretty much the same these days?

 

I spent some time greasing all the ball joints and king pins. It would appear that the suspension parts where the front end of the torsion bars fit in to don't have any obvious grease zerks, nor do the upper A-arms, or the steering linkage idler arms. Am I missing any?

 

I miss the simplicity of working on these old cars/trucks. In just an hour, you can knock out significant projects with no special tools required. As I get older, I'm more and more attracted to vintage things for this reason.

 

D.p., copy/paste and/or dragging an image into the box directly doesn't seem to do anything. I know I'm able to do that on a different forum I frequent though. Is there any sort of limitation on low post-count accounts that are relatively new?

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I imagine most kits come from.... uno where anyway. All you really need is the accelerator pump. Not much to wear out on a carburetor really that needs replacing. It's just gas and/or air flowing through openings, what's to wear??? Biggest problem is dirt getting in and adjustments getting out of whack. A good kit would have instructions for setting float level, choke unloader, and idle mixture procedure.

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