mtngoat Posted February 11 Author Report Posted February 11 (edited) I've had a unisyn.. for decades of SUs. Just wondering if tuning on the stand would be simpler with direct readings from the ports. Full disclosure...I already caved and spent another 14$ on a second vacuum gauge. Even if it doesn't provide any additional info, at least they'll look cool. Edited February 11 by mtngoat Quote
datzenmike Posted February 11 Report Posted February 11 Just how would direct readings from the SUs be different between in vehicle and on a stand????? Quote
mtngoat Posted August 4 Author Report Posted August 4 (edited) Progress report. We completed most of the wiring on the run stand, then set to work on the cooling system. Found that the radiator we'd installed had no drain bung. Not missing the plug...missing the entire bung it screws into! Dug in parts mountain, found another one with the bung, dug around in the Datsun small parts trays, found a plug. Done. Then started in on the ignition, made harness for coil and ballast resistor, etc. Now on to fuel system, replaced all hoses and filled up our outboard boat tank with premium, hooked up fuel line. Dragged it outside. Got fire extinguisher, placed near system. Filled radiator...found that one of the press fit plugs under the intake manifold drips a little. We'll have to replace that, but decided it would work as long as we kept an eye on things. Filled it up with oil.. Disconnected the coil, then turned it over for a while to get oil pressure going everywhere. Reconnected coil... Then, spent all the rest of the day trying to get it to start. Had a major brain fade in the beginning here, haven't cold started an engine from the ground up in a couple decades. Checked timing, spark, plug by plug, fuel system, no joy. Went to bed disheartened...what could it be? In the morning Goatling had a bright idea...."Dad, what if we had plug 4 on the plug one distro port, and vice versa, so it was all backwards?". We went out and rotated the plugs around the distributor 180 degrees. Held our breath, pushed the start button....VROOM! What a wonderful sound! A long road from November. We let it get to temp, then shut 'er down, pulled the cover, and checked all the valve clearances. After 30 years in the corner on a pallet, only one was off. Then we fired it back up, and fine tuned timing, then balance and mixture. She purrs like a kitten now, up to about 5000 RPM. Above that, we get stumbles, which I suspect is fuel starvation, one float seems off. Or, coil funky or ballast too ohmy? Pretty damn cool. Sounds great. We had smoke initially, which I figured was from the teaspoon of oil we'd put into each cylinder after bore scope last fall. We turned it over by hand then with the plugs out, but I'm certain some remained. After some minutes and our tuning, the smoke stopped and the exhaust is clean. I can make it puff a teensy bit if I hit the throttle hard, but that's it. No chain rattle at all. 🙂 This got us totally jacked...the next day we set about doing a car swap between Datsun locations. 69 red 2000 emptied of steering wheels, turn signals, door panels, heads, brake parts, crap of all descriptions, then out of the RV shed. 510 wagon out of bay 2 in the shop, into the RV shed. 69 into bay 2...ready for fresh engine. I've very happy my dad gave me his old Kubota tractor last spring...very handy for lifting engine blocks and dragging dead cars around. I'll start a thread about getting Red back on the road... Edited August 4 by mtngoat Quote
datzenmike Posted August 4 Report Posted August 4 30 minutes ago, mtngoat said: ... She purrs like a kitten now, up to about 5000 RPM. Above that, we get stumbles, which I suspect is fuel starvation, one float seems off. Or, coil funky or ballast too ohmy? ... I doubt fuel starvation as the engine load is almost nothing on a stand. You are not pulling out to pass or climbing a hill. Check points gap, usually 0.18"-0.22". Inspect the the coil, the cap and rotor for cracks or carbon tracking and take a long look at your plug wires. Quote
mtngoat Posted August 4 Author Report Posted August 4 (edited) Good observations, thanks. With no load, your assessment makes a lot of sense. I suppose getting rid of the ancient plug wires used on on the basis that they were in parts mountain and at hand...is a good move regardless! I also need to figure out the charge system, we're running off the battery for now. I traced the field wire from the regulator back to the ignition connector on the harness, and added a jumper wire to connect it to the ignition 'ON' voltage point in our system. The ammeter immediately went to charge at 20 amps..and stayed there with the voltmeter at 16V+, which is way too high. So I removed the jumper and we continued with it running off the battery. I think the regulator is the one which came with this alternator, and I also think it's the right alternator. That it hit 16V at all tells me the alternator is good, and I need to investigate the regulator operation. This was a bit confusing because I have at least 3 regulators floating around that seem to be similar age. Edited August 4 by mtngoat Quote
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.