Dizziness

[seattle smitty]

 '81 720 2WD King Cab with factory 2.2L gasser, (EDIT:  manual trans), California car, I think.  A ratty old beater, but I drove it for a couple of years until I got a little wagon I thought would serve me better.  Sold the truck, with worn brakes and clutch for $160 to another old guy.  He found that he already had too many projects and too little time and energy (like me and all my old pals).  So I got the truck back for nothing (the little wagon that had replaced this 720 got stolen).  I've done the brakes, have replaced the Hitachi carb with a Weber 32/36 DGAV, have fabricated a whole new exhaust system, and have been waiting many months for the longshoremen down in Long Beach to unload Harbor Freight's shipping containers so I can buy their little red transmission jack so I can change the clutch.  Shows how broken down a guy can get by age 75:  I used to just lie on my back under the car and bench-press little aluminum-case trannies like this, and didn't need no stinkin' jack!

 

   Since the 720 sat for a long time after having run on our modern E10 gas, my next task is to pull the tank for cleaning. Then, lah dih dah, I can fire up the poor old Z22, with its fresh valve grind and its worn bores. Thinking ahead, I have to  resolve the small issue of an incorrect distributor, the actual subject of this post.  The guy who had this vehicle for a time used the original dizzy in another 720, and later put a unit from, I guess, a different year donor into "my" 720.  He said this new dizzy is perfectly good, but it doesn't mate with the wiring I have, and isn't easily modified.  With my "correct" dizzy, the cap was held to the aluminum housing with two spring-steel snaps.  This donor dizzy uses two push-down-and-twist latches you work with a screwdriver.  Can you tell me what (probably later) Z22/24 motor this came on?                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                     

Edited September 23, 2021 by seattle smitty

[datzenmike]

I think the Z series distributor used 2 screws and not latches you push down on and certainly not clips.

 

You sure it's an '81 and not an '80??? How many plug wires? 4 or 8??

[seattle smitty]

Maybe they are screws;  a problem for me in posting this stuff is that my shop and the 720 are a long drive from this computer.  Plus, as with everyone, I have a lot of other stuff on my mind, which my old. be-fogged brain handles increasingly inefficiently.  It is an 8-plug engine and distributor. 

[datzenmike]

Good then screws holding it on.

 

If you look on the side of the distributor stamped into the casting is a 10 digit part number. It begins 22100- ?????  I need the last 5 numbers/letters and I can tell you what it came out of.  

[seattle smitty]

Okay, Mike, I worked on the 720 today and have better info.  Build date is 6/81.  Haynes says the dist. for this model should be a D4N80-14.  But the dist. I have is a D4N80-36,  which is supposed to go with most of the '82 (and maybe later?) models.  According to Haynes' specs page, this -36 version did not come on any '81 truck.  HOWEVER,  page 121 of my 1982/1985 edition has a blowup drawing of the distributor I have (the -36 type, with the screw-on cap), but the caption describes it as covering "1981 and 1982 models".   Of course, Haynes can slip up like anyone;  in the specs table enumerating the 1981 and 1982 distributors, they also gave the numbers used on the "1890" trucks (meaning 1980).  Anyway, Haynes offered no drawing of a snap-cap dizzy for an 8-plug engine, which would presumably confirm that it has the openings that would conform to my '81 truck's wire bundle.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                             Mike, I'm grateful that you address these tedious matters as readily as you do the interesting ones.  If you were Japanese, that country would declare you a  "Living National Cultural Treasure," or some-such.  Come to think of it, they should do that anyway, given your efforts in preserving Datsuns!!                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                 To anyone in the greater Seattle/Eastside/King County area, if you have a 1981 snap-on-cap distributor D4N80-14 stamped on the housing and want to sell it or trade for my -36 unit, call me, Smitty, at 206-380-9799 (leave message if I don't pick up, with best time to call you.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited September 23, 2021 by seattle smitty

[Charlie69]

Nothing like giving Mike a big head! LOL  Mike is a treasure for sure.

[datzenmike]

Really would like the Nissan part number stamped into the side of the distributor casting 22100-?????. Would like the last 5 digits. I think the D4N80-14 one is for an automatic? I can search by part number much easier.

 

 

Haynes just copies info from the Nissan factory service manuals including their mistakes. They cram 80- 86.5 in a single thin book.

 

Have to wait for swelling to go down so I can get through the door and go get a snack.

 

 

[seattle smitty]

   I'll get you that number.  But it will be the number of the dizzy I have, not the one I should have.  Dumb of me to forget to say at the start that I have a manual shift car, tho' I did mention the clutch in my rambling intro.. 

[datzenmike]

That's why I need the number. I have some auxiliary info but not from Nissan, so I don't know how accurate it is. The D4N80-14 doesn't show and on another source it just shows -14 but it's for an automatic so.... maybe Haynes is wrong?

 

The D4N80-36 was '82 and '83 so Z22 and Z24. Need the 22100-?????

[seattle smitty]

Okay, here are the numbers on my "wrong" distributor:                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                               First line:    D4N80-36   1702                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                         Second line:    22100  06W03

[datzenmike]

22100-06W03 is a federal emissions distributor for an 07 '81- 12 '82 (making it an '82 model year 720) 2wd Z22 with automatic. 

 

This will work fine with your '81.

[seattle smitty]

Mike, the wiring does not work with this dizzy, which, for starters, does not have the window to take the rectangular rubber grommet around the three wires that go to the ign. module.  Even if I carved that window into this dizzy, the routing of the wires once inside would not be easily accommodated.   either have to locate the correct distributor or the chunk of a wiring harness that mates with this distributor and splice it to my wiring.  If I were better with computers and digital cameras I might be able to show all this, but it' quicker for me to be an old junkyard dog sniffing out old parts than one trying to learn new tricks.

Edited September 30, 2021 by seattle smitty

[datzenmike]

The '81-'82 should be compatible, it will work in the Z24 engine.

 

Looks something like this?

 

 

 

Three wires with lugs on the end connect to a terminal block?

 

 

 

 

You may have to learn a new trick smitty. Do you have anyone that can post a picture for you?

[seattle smitty]

That's the unit I have, so even if I knew how, I couldn't supply a photo of the one I need (tho' I could show my wiring).  Mike, I'll quit pestering you with this and start calling junkyards.  When I come  up with the right dizzy or the compatible section of wiring, I'll supply a photo of the new next to the old.

 

 

[datzenmike]

Both those are from a Z24. They are all similar, they will all fit. The earlier ones might not have those lugs on the ends of the wires. It's just 3 wires. One is power and connects to the intake coil + and the other two wires go to the - terminals of the coils. Simple.

 

The bottom picture is from a latter Z24 and has an extra wire. Just ignore it.