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Topic: I little progress on the ’76 4X4
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datsunaholic
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bullet Topic: I little progress on the ’76 4X4
    Posted: 12 March 2005 at 9:35pm
After a day of ripping through the '76 "half a 4X4" longbed I have it a little more complete. Replaced the weird radiator/joined hose setup and put a 620 radiator and hoses in. Also reattached the radiator fan.

Front end shot- looks a bit better with a grille:



A bit taller than the blue one:



Interior still needs work. That blue thing hanging under the steering column is what passes for an ignition switch. That's a 280Z or ZX steering wheel, and it's mounted upside-down. But it does function, horn button works and the turn signals cancel.



Typical engine shot. Basically had to rebuild the cooling system- radiator, fan, hoses, shroud. A small problem developed in that it has a 280Z alternator in it. The belt was tight even backed all the way off. Was trapping the lower hose between the case and the water arm. It was a PAIN to pull the lower hose, and impossible to reinstall without removing the alternator. No room between the alternator case and the water outlet. Now I know what Bleach means by there being no room for the Z alternator in a 620. At least on this one there's no idler arm in the way.

And yes, the truck was originally red.



The hood scoops have GOT to go. They're just held on with double-sided tape, no damage was done to the hood, but it'll take a lot of goof-off to rid the glue. If anyone wants them, they're free. Or trade a like-shape (but un-adorned) hood for this one, as I have another white hood. Don't care what color.



Anyhow, it ran with no smoke after I changed the radiator
so I'm not POSITIVE the head gasket has let loose. I drove it to the post office and such and it drives fine, brakes are out of adjustment and the speedometer doesn't work. No idea how hot it's running, none of the 3 temperature gauges are hooked up. No oil pressure gauge or light hooked up either. Basically, the alternator light and fuel gauge work. No dash lights either, though everything else illuminates so I think the dimmer is disconnected.

Still have to install the T-case and have driveshafts made.

I'd also be open to selling it as-is, though nowhere near what I paid for it. With the not-yet-installed T-case. Every little bit I do ups the price, though.
'64 320
'68 520
'72 521 V6
'74,75,79 620s
'76,78 4X4
'76 KC
'72 510 Wgn
'78 B210
'78,81 510 Wgn
2X '78 510 Coupes
'83 720 KC

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pac. coast 521
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bullet Posted: 14 March 2005 at 10:03am
Looks very clean, dash isnt cracked & the body looks ok too. I like the 521 with stuff inside the engine bay....
My 1965 L 320 {all original}

69 L 521 w/KA swap
94 Hardbody [custom]
74 620 project
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datsunaholic
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bullet Posted: 14 March 2005 at 12:53pm
Actually, that's stuff piled on the hood. I sold the truck that was in front of it and basically was too lazy to move the crap out of the sold truck far. The hood on the 521 is trashed anyway, it doesn't run, and I don't have a title for it (I had the title but accidentally threw it away before I transferred it and now am stuck in a bureaucratic mess).

The dash would have bee perfect if the tweaker owner hadn't run a bolt through it to attach that gauge cluster to the TOP.

It's relatively straight- there is a gash in the bed where the metal was sliced open by something, and the frame has a minor bent to it (the bed was replaced at one point, I assume it got hit pretty hard. Both of my 4X4's had bed transplants).

I did verify that all the VINs match. I tend to worry about that, with rigs that have been reconstructed.   
'64 320
'68 520
'72 521 V6
'74,75,79 620s
'76,78 4X4
'76 KC
'72 510 Wgn
'78 B210
'78,81 510 Wgn
2X '78 510 Coupes
'83 720 KC

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tdaaj
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bullet Posted: 15 March 2005 at 12:40am
so if you were to sell it, how much?
numourous amount of datsuns
1 jeep
2 troopers
1 chevy
70 chrysler newport 383 power
71 Plymouth Fury 3 (girlfriends car)
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datsunaholic
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bullet Posted: 15 March 2005 at 1:06am
Since i just bought it and still "have plans" it's about 3X what I have sunk in it so far.


I'm still not sure the cooling system is working. It keeps puking all the coolant out the overflow. It's fine when it's warm. But it builds up a huge amount of pressure as it warms up then belches out 1-2 gallons out the overflow. If you keep it running it pumps all the coolant out and overheats.   But when hot, I add the coolant back and everything is fine until it cools off and I run it again. It's like I need a 3-gallon overflow tank.

When it did it the first time I thought it just had a huge air pocket in the cooling system that needed to be purged. But now I'm thinking it's getting an air influx from somewhere.
'64 320
'68 520
'72 521 V6
'74,75,79 620s
'76,78 4X4
'76 KC
'72 510 Wgn
'78 B210
'78,81 510 Wgn
2X '78 510 Coupes
'83 720 KC

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earwig
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Location: United States
Posts: 857
bullet Posted: 16 March 2005 at 4:05pm
one of the times i blew a head gasket, the leak let exhaust go into the cooling system. after the overflow bottle got done over flowing, exhaust bubbles would blow up through it.
red'76,620regularcab,longbed L20B,Supertrap,3"shackle4"body 31X10.5X15 chrome pathfinder rims,2tube front,1tube rear bumper,720 5speed&transfercase,Blaster coil,Pertronics ingitor dizzy,WeberDGV,K&N
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Hainz
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bullet Posted: 16 March 2005 at 4:22pm
I would have think you changed the Thermostat.
What I did is drill a 1/8 hole on the stat.
For some reason it did it with a new state untill i put a hole in it then its fine.

SometimesI wonder if the head has holes in it and people still route a waterline> I dont know your set up but thats all i can say.

bottom hose not collapsing?
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datsunaholic
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bullet Posted: 16 March 2005 at 7:13pm
I have more of the cooling system to rebuild. It has a L16 thermostat housing (the kind with only one port for the temp gauge) and I want to use the L20B type that has an additional port for the vacuum switch (aftermarket temp gauge fittings fit in those perfectly).

It also has the accessory cooling lines all screwed up- It has a '77-80 type block/head combo but the '76 manifolds, which are the heatstove type with no coolant lines. So the coolant line that's supposed to go from the lower water arm is just capped off. Prevents proper circulation. The head has holes but the manifold doesn't, that's in addition to the exhaust ports being mismatched. I don't LIKE that setup and it'll change if the head comes off. It's the 3rd port-mismatch engine I've seen.

Otherwords, I have lots of leads on what's wrong but I'm still leaning on teh head gasket being blown. It's gaining a large amount of air in the coolant system, forms a big bubble and pushes all the fluid out. If that's it I'll redo the top end correctly with proper cooling routes and such. For now I'm trying all the inexpensive parts that would have to be replaced if I do the head anyway. I HAD to replace the radiator, it was a mickey-mouse setup when I got it. Rad was held in place soley by the hoses (no bolts), had no cap, no fan, hoses crossed under the crank pulley and hit the alternator, etc. I get 'em cheap for a reason, they're usually all "effed" up. My other 4X4 had similar screwy things, mostly electrical, some of which I still haven't fixed (heater fan is a toggle switch attached to the parking brake bracket).
'64 320
'68 520
'72 521 V6
'74,75,79 620s
'76,78 4X4
'76 KC
'72 510 Wgn
'78 B210
'78,81 510 Wgn
2X '78 510 Coupes
'83 720 KC

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mklotz70
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Posts: 1811
bullet Posted: 16 March 2005 at 8:48pm
Since you are on the subject of head/manifold cooling lines..... when I swapped the manifolds over from the original 210 motor to the JDM motor, I noticed that the JDM head did not have the holes in it for the water passages like the 210 had. Should I be concerned with this? I blocked off the water at the elbow hose on the water outlet and took the water pipe off since it didn't have any place to go...would just have water pushing against the gasket.

Do I need to pull the manifold off and drill the head...I really don't want to pull the head at this point...so if it's a "would be better drilled" but isn't critical, I'll do it later.
Thanks.
Don't have to be too bright to be me!
Gresham, OR
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datsunaholic
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bullet Posted: 28 March 2005 at 2:33am
Little more progress... This weekend, picked up what probably is a Toyota rear axle and a set of drivelines for the truck. I'll likely still need a new front diff as I think it's missing all the guts.

Today I reworked the cooling system some more. Replaced the thermostat elbow with one that had a vacuum switch port. That was so I could install a mechanical temp gauge, since I have no idea how hot it's running. The truck had 2 mechanical gauges in it (one on top of the dash, and one hanging behind the fuse box, neither hooked up). The one under the dash apparently doesn't work- looks like someone cut and tried to splice the heat transfer wire which won't work. So I dug out an old Stewart-Warner one I had (it's military spec and probably from the early 70s). THAT one works. I also re-attached the water bypass line that runs from the lower hose attachment to the thermostat elbow (it was capped off at the lower hose, and the L16 thermo housing didn't have the other half) so now I have a bypass line. The bypass line is useful when the thermostat is closed, because it allows SOME circulation and keeps the water pump form cavitating (which eats up the timing cover). Or you drill a hole in the thermostat (mine came with a hole already, but some don't).

So, all that done, the thing runs at about 145. Pretty cold! Engine is cool enough to touch even after running 20 minutes, whereas when I got it (with a royally screwed up cooling system) the valve cover got extremely hot.

Oh, and last week I solved the coolant overflow problem. I replaced the radiator cap. Usually the simplest answer...

Drove it to Seattle today with no problems.

Next up: Get the dash lights and speedometer working. Need to locate a speedo cable, thought I had a spare but can't find it. Right now the dash illumination is completely nonfunctional, I suspect there is either a cut wire or the dimmer switch is bad.

1) Fix speedo
2) Fix dash lights
3) Replace wiper switch, get rid of crappy toggle that runs them now.
4) Get the starter system wired so I don't have to use an add-on pushbutton. I've already fixed the column so it has a key again. But START doesn't work.
5) Replace the gutted heater, so that I actually HAVE one.
6) Replace busted dash face, add radio.
7) Disinfect and reinstall passenger seat. Find some way to get the seats less "Straight Up" (hard on the 'ol back).
8) Then I can think about making it a 4X4 again.
'64 320
'68 520
'72 521 V6
'74,75,79 620s
'76,78 4X4
'76 KC
'72 510 Wgn
'78 B210
'78,81 510 Wgn
2X '78 510 Coupes
'83 720 KC

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