I got my dream pickup, a 1981 720.

[TinKanTosser]

Took it on its maiden voyage today, filled the highway with smoke and got hassled and followed home by bored cops, lol.

Speedometer does not work at all, just like my dad's 84 model 720. If it's the plastic gear that the cable is driven by I don't know what to replace it with. Rainy and muddy so I didn't get under it today.

Head gasket is definitely blown; the stick kept reading good and continues to, but there's bright milkshake on the oil cap. I will go ahead and change it but I'll have to hope for good weather again and that I can buy a broad enough wooden clothes hanger.

It drives good, pulls to the right but the tires are all past their limit; shift linkage is horribly loose to the point that I think I'm out of gear when not. Fashioning a throttle cable bracket for my Weber install was the hardest part, and having nowhere to mount the return spring that's in line with the throttle has my throttle sticking horribly. So for the moment it actually doesn't drive good, but it's all stuff I can sort once the engine is stable.

[TinKanTosser]

 

I sure hope this will work, I had to drive out of town to find the only wooden clothes hangers anywhere. Looks too narrow to wedge. I don't think hammering it in will do anything, but maybe handling the chain carefully and trying my best to line it up again will? At least this should hold the tensioner. If it's at TDC and I keep the crank in place and mark where the cam sprocket should be relative to the head, maybe I'll be fine even if the chain slips off the crank gear and moves over a tooth.

Tomorrow is the last warm weather this month so I'm gonna try to tackle it in a day with the manifolds still attached.

[NC85ST]

Just my personal preference, but I would remove the exhaust manifold from the head. Those bolts are more likely to come out than the ones attaching the down pipe to the manifold. Also, the chain won’t slip off the crank gear with the wedge in. The only way that will happen is if the tensioner pops out. If that happens then you have to pull the timing cover.

[datzenmike]

The 'wedge' jams the chain so it can't move. The other style, the blue one in your picture, just slips down and blocks the tensioner from popping out. I like it better.

 

Get help and lift the head with the intake attached. 

Loosen the cam sprocket before you set TDC 

Place in neutral so jostling the truck doesn't move the engine timing.

Take the two mounting bolts out and remove the distributor and wires so they don't get broken. Timing is unaffected by this.

 

Speedometer is almost always the cable, never the drive pinion. 

 

Sloppy shifter is always the replaceable bushings... https://www.ebay.com/itm/256364332844

Thee are brass but there are also nylon ones... https://www.z-services.eu/en/shift-lever/204-oem-shifter-bushing-kit-240z-260z-280z-280zx.html

 

[banzai510(hainz)]

get the brass ones if u dont drop the chain and dump the truck. I had the nylon ones and didot last a day. Dont know if fake or old but nylon broke apart

 

Edited November 23, 2025 by banzai510(hainz)

[TinKanTosser]

Nevermind about me doing the job today. Advance sent me a gasket kit for a 2.7l International tractor. I double checked their website and it's still listed when I have my vehicle set as this Datsun. Only used Advance for this because I was ordering gear oil anyway. This will put the job in freezing weather territory but maybe now I can take the time to try to clean out the garage and pull the truck in when I do it.

 

4 hours ago, NC85ST said:

Just my personal preference, but I would remove the exhaust manifold from the head. Those bolts are more likely to come out than the ones attaching the down pipe to the manifold.

I'd wanted to go the same route but my manifold has deep rust and I can picture the EGR pipe nut rounding off, especially with my cheap modern Craftsman wrenches that always slip. I'll see what comes off easier in my case.

 

3 hours ago, datzenmike said:

The 'wedge' jams the chain so it can't move.

My piece of wood looks too narrow to wedge unless the tensioner really is so strong that it holds everything solid in place? I'm not familiar with this kind of tensioner, I've dealt with the Toyota hydraulic kind that has no tension without oil pressure so I can't picture how strong this spring is. Should I cut my own larger wedge or is that coathanger good?

 

1 hour ago, banzai510(hainz) said:

get the brass ones if u dont drop the chain and dump the truck.

 

I will be driving this sooner or later no matter what goes sideways, lol. I temporarily abandoned my 22RE for this because I see the design differences. I already properly replaced its timing chain and the new tensioner just never worked so it burned a valve, so now it has to be torn down all over again. But I got this Datsun for the same cost as a 22RE dual row timing kit and I'm not looking back at Toyota. Overpriced, flaky designed brand hype when I just wanted a reliable shitbox.

[datzenmike]

You might be able to find a picture of the blue plastic one in your picture with dimensions on it and cut one out of anything. 

 

http://i88.photobucket.com/albums/k162/mklotz70/Engine/L Series/TimingChangeTensionRetainerSAE.jpg

 

Contact Mike... https://ratsun.net/profile/11-mklotz70/? perhaps he still has the PDF. Print it out at 1 to 1 scale and trace onto piece of wood. This is far better that dropping the tensioner which involves removing the radiator, water pump, oil pump and distributor crankshaft pulley and timing chain cover to fix. Then new gasket and put back on.

[banzai510(hainz)]

2 hours ago, TinKanTosser said:

22RE dual row timing kit and I'm not looking back at Toyota.

I take a 22RE over a Z series nissan.

 

But key is get in to a garage and take your time. You send like rushing into this and one broken bolt will throw the whole time schedule off. TAKE your time. Doing shit in the cold is the worst and waiting on a autoparts store is the worst. Im sure they dont sell the best stuff either.

[datzenmike]

I heard the reason the 22R was so tough was that it didn't make enough power, so it couldn't hurt itself. 

[banzai510(hainz)]

3 minutes ago, datzenmike said:

22R was so tough was that it didn't make enough power, so it couldn't hurt itself. 

alot or torq far as im concern 300k never broken open,just a rad and water pump change so far.

[TinKanTosser]

4 hours ago, banzai510(hainz) said:

alot or torq far as im concern 300k never broken open,just a rad and water pump change so far.

Either you have an 80-83 22R or it has been broken open, because 84-95 it needs a timing chain job after 100k miles. You can push it past 250k at times but you'll be wearing into your water pump housing after the plastic chain guides break. Mine is at 180k and was JUST about to wear through the water pump housing when I did the chain; my guides were all in the oil pan. I think it's a piece of junk, no matter how much torque it makes or how easy it is to work on, there shouldn't be plastic battered with hot oil being the sole thing keeping a single-row bicycle chain from eating into a coolant passage. Toyota pickups are sitting all over the place here seized with redneck owners who have no idea why.

An antique engine might have needed a full rebuild at 100k, but at least that's an honest breakdown and not the fault of cheapo regressive design. We like Japanese motors because they were manufactured better and can go a lot longer, but a completely unnecessary teardown so early in an engine's lifespan means that engine is no better than any other, almost makes me want to buy American. Why is the 22RE known as "THE" Toyota million mile engine?? Any other Japanese engine can go 500k without such a horribly unexpected joke of a problem hitting you and requiring a teardown and a new timing cover. Just my opinion as a lazy wrencher.

Plus EFI parts for stuff like the 22RE are getting scarce. They used different ECMs with different throttle position sensors completely at random through the years and your part numbers have to match; OEM parts go for hundreds and Chinese repros that last a year are the only option for some things, like a volume air flow sensor I had to buy for it. Plan is to sell it for well over twice what I paid for it once I have it running well and fixed up better, because rednecks are gullible and will pay $6k-$10k for these things.

I will say everything else is nicer on Toyota. The shifter on mine shifts directly "up" from second to third, while the Datsun requires me to move over to hit third. Everything is tighter and nicer and there is NO rust on any of my Toyotas, unlike every old Datsun lol

 

P.S. I'd like to give back to the community, we have two Datsun 620s literally rusted to shreds out in the woods, but certain odds and ends could still be parted out. Carbs and a lot of engine parts are gone, but there are instrument clusters and a grille and other little things here and there. I might put one of their steering wheels on my 720 but other than that I could photograph and let you all name your prices on stuff.

[banzai510(hainz)]

well up here in washington the injected 22re is in high regard. Yes the plastic guide is a weakness.but given a choice a pick a toyota truck than a z24 truck. Good luck. Unless a last Lseries 720

[TinKanTosser]

A comment somewhere on this forum said "don't overthink the chain wedge" but that's exactly what I did all winter. Stalled for months, disassembled bit by bit, printed out the chain wedge template, fretted over not having wood cutting tools, etc. When I finally got to it recently, I found that the L20B wedge will not fit between my guides. Ended up using my wood clothes hanger and I guess it's holding, it has only the tensioner holding the chain on the crank sprocket though as it was too long to hammer down and wedge.

 

FYI Mike I attempted to disconnect the exhaust pipe so as to leave the manifolds on, but it wasn't possible. The bolts were rusted tight and my air impact gun didn't do anything to them. No clearance in there for a bar or anything. When removing the exhaust manifold I found it's missing the #4 stud and someone evidently lost the #4 bolt too, because an overly long bolt was used with an oversized nut as a spacer, and when I loosened it the threads came out with it.

 

Since I took my sweet time on this and missed every deadline I'd set for myself I'm taking the head to a good machine shop tomorrow, I want to have the valve seals done, stripped threads repaired, the whole nine yards. Before that I'd like you specialists to chime in on what we have here, I have a few concerns:

 

 

1. There are supposed to be dowels, right? There are none.

2. Look at how the holes in the gasket are all shifted over compared to the holes in the block!!

3. Doesn't it appear that some holes in the gasket are plugged with gunk? They seem to be just block surface below that though.

 

My virgin eyes seem to spot a blow between cylinders 3 and 4, with 4 being the most steam-cleaned. I don't see for sure which jackets were trading water and oil and leaking into the chamber. Feel free to point out anything I'm missing or enlighten me on anything I'm misinterpreting.

[Draker]

Missing dowels, gasket is shifted because of this. 
 

hard to tell where gasket issue is in the pics, but 4 is clean like you said. Maybe someone reading this on something other than a phone will have better luck reading the gasket. 

Edited March 10 by Draker

[iceman510]

Make sure to have the head checked for flatness.

 

I have a head from an 81 Z22 if you happen to need one upon further inspection.

[datzenmike]

 

The front dowel is right there. Front right head bolt hole. This is why the front is the least out of whack. The rear most head bolt hole is missing it's dowel. Just cut a 1/2" piece of 1/2" copper water pipe to size or copy the one you have.

 

 

 

[TinKanTosser]

1 hour ago, datzenmike said:

 

The front dowel is right there. Front right head bolt hole. This is why the front is the least out of whack. The rear most head bolt hole is missing it's dowel. Just cut a 1/2" piece of 1/2" copper water pipe to size or copy the one you have.

 

 

 

Yeah, I realized too late after posting that that's a dowel. Are there supposed to be two or four total?

[datzenmike]

 

 

 

The second one is on the rear (right in this picture) head bolt hole. You'll notice these two holes are larger than the others. Often they stick to the head, fall out and lost. If head is milled the machinist doesn't care. When installing the head, when they line up, the head drops into place with a thump. 

[TinKanTosser]

Got some Scotch-Brite pads and got the block fairly neat. Pulled off the heater core hoses and got new hose for that today.

 

The PCV pipe from the block was absolutely stuffed full of brown dusty flaky crud, so much that nothing would flow through it, so I devoted some days to filling it with solvents and soaking it, tapping on it to make the crud dislodge, rinsing it, repeating the steps in random orders. It's still not even clean but it's open now and maybe with frequent driving will not stop up with dry crud like that again. Noticed some rust sprouting up on the exterior so I sanded and painted it, Pontiac engine blue.

 

I've seen Mike say that cracks from the water jackets to the head bolts are normal, and my engine has quite a few. Previous owner noticed it as well because he put silicone on the head bolt that went here. I probably won't bother since I highly doubt it will help anything if the block is really that bad. The block looks pretty poor to me in general, there are pits all over the surface and there's one very noticeable chip taken out of the ridge around one of the head bolts. The surface being so rough discouraged me from trying to clean it up perfect, it'll probably be fine either way.

 

I got the machine shop to make me a second dowel, shave the head, and extract a stud I hadn't known was broken off in it. I don't know how much material they took off the head, worst case scenario, higher compression? I'm giving my head bolts one more soak in brake cleaner before torquing it all down. Anyone ever smell your head bolts like cigars? The soot smelled like the most sublime barbecue.

 

Additionally, before I throw it all back together I want to get this fender cleaned up that got dissolved by the battery. The metal tray is such a nuisance because just when I think the rot hasn't penetrated through to the fender I end up getting another chip of the tray to come off and manage to punch another hole in the fender. I'm not even equipped to fix it I just wanted to scrub off some rust and coat it with POR-15 before it gets worse. Course rust is a can of worms and it just gets worse as you go because now I need to do the wheel side of the fender too. Rushing this now because I can't get the lawn mower out of the garage until this truck is rolling LOL

[datzenmike]

Even if coolant could get to the head bolt hole it can't get up it and out. If there is a crack then there was stress that was relieved and that should be the end if it.  

 

 

[TinKanTosser]

I worked hard the past three days and got everything back together and improved, including the proper carb adaptor plate, mostly new hoses (the hose from the intake to the water pump is not stocked at my parts store nor at RockAuto and they couldn't approximate the size) and plumbled my fuel system better with a pressure regulator and underhood filter. Once I got fuel pressure it started right up. And it's still dumping water into the cylinders. Now I believe it's the intake, because I think the previous owner messed up the intake bolts and threads really bad...

 

My Z22 intake manifold has upside-down U shaped notches in the bottom rather than bolt holes, which I take to mean that studs are supposed to go there and that the intake manifold sits atop them until you get it all buttoned up. But there was only one stud in the middle, and it strongly appears that all of the bolts used in the surrounding spots are all different lengths with different washers. The threads feel a bit chewed up because nothing threads into them easily. I believe more than one of the holes had too long a bolt threaded in too far and the PO(s) probably overtightened them to try to get it to stop blowing steam, and probably warped the intake manifold in the process. The machine shop machined my head intake surface flat, but if the manifold is warped then that would only make things worse. I tried my best to clean the manifold before putting it on and did not use any sealant, but I noticed pits in random places in the metal. I probably could brush on some good gasket sealer and it would hold but I guess I'll try having a local shop machine it flat next week since I've come this far anyway...

 

The previous owner I was told is in prison for rape. It seems like he raped everything he touched.

[datzenmike]

If bolts are too long they bottom out before they tighten against the manifold. Just get the correct length bolts. 

 

On the bottom row is one stud in the middle and two bolts on either side. Top row is 4 bolts for a total of 8. All the same size/length and tightened to 10 ft. lbs. 

[TinKanTosser]

On 4/10/2026 at 2:45 PM, datzenmike said:

If bolts are too long they bottom out before they tighten against the manifold. Just get the correct length bolts. 

 

On the bottom row is one stud in the middle and two bolts on either side. Top row is 4 bolts for a total of 8. All the same size/length and tightened to 10 ft. lbs. 

Like I said, I cut studs, so bottoming out wouldn't be an issue. My local parts stores sell garbage bolts and I couldn't wait on ordering them especially considering I don't know what length bolts to get anyway. I have washers and good quality exhaust nuts on each stud.

 

I took the intake to the machine shop and got it surfaced, but they claimed it wasn't warped. I brushed on a light coat of Permatex this time and bolted it down, just trying to get it sensibly tight without stripping any threads since there's no way to torque it due to lack of clearance on the lower and rear bolts/nuts. Intermittently it still blows thick clouds of white smoke. Sometimes when cold, usually when hot after a drive. Temperature gauge reads a hair below the middle all the time. A couple times I've put a wrench on the intake bolts/nuts and they tighten down a little bit more. It's possible they're backing out or the aluminum threads are giving way. I'm really trying not to tighten down too much and strip them out so I may not be getting it tight enough at all.

 

My oil filler cap still has a bit of milky yellow slime on it, but I'll chalk that up to some residual water not draining from the crankcase before I changed the head gasket. 

 

I did have a bad water pump so I was able to change it yesterday, I got a new Bosch pump from a RockAuto closeout. I found split brake hoses and found out on this forum about the user called Hosestop who would make custom steel hoses, but it appears he's gone and when I tried to e-mail him it returned a no address error.

 

On the bright side the truck is a blast to drive, sounds excellent. Unfortunately absolutely everything rattles and squeaks but that's just tinkering work to do.