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Someone's old, My new 520


datsunz

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Well, this has been in NH for over 10 years, originally from the left coast. 1967 with a L18/U67 swap. Got it running today, clogged line at the carb. Might have blown the head gasket, thermostat didn't open, took it out solid crud on top, put a gasket on and no thermostat, smokes a bit but can't tell if the smoke is from the bad gas in the tank, gas smells like REALLY bad gas. I upped the idle and it will run fine. Clutch is frozen solid, will work on that tomorrow. No brake pedal what so ever, will look at that also. Finding issues as I go. Coolant sensor is not working so no idea when it got too hot. I've got a 72 240zt and 2 78 z's, so this is my 1st old datsun (had a 85 nissan p-up also) . Good shape for here. Really hope I didn't blow the head gasket but I think I did. Will see tomorrow. Oh well here it is. Chris

 

 

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Well, bled the brakes, front were a pain. They are fine, guy told me there was a leak. The clutch was bled, still frozen, rebuilt slave and pounded with hammer, now works. Did three laps around the block and she clogged up in the tank,. No fuel in filter. Gonna have to drain and steam clean the tank and lines. Other than that it drove fine. Will posts pics if I do anything major. Am redoing the turbo system on my 240 now so that will be taking up my time and resources for now. I plan on doing a body off resto of this. Luckily there aren't many pieces. No wiper wash mechanism funny. I can't believe how nice the body is, but it is stating to rust underneath so I want to tackle that before it becomes an issue. I felt like a pepe' driving it ( I'm 6' 225 so I filled those buckets well. I have to find an original bench seat for it, they give you no legroom. Realized there is a throttle linkage issue so I'm not getting full throttle will have to mess with that. More pics to follow.

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Well, didn't blow the head gasket, had a whole in the rubber fuel line and was sucking in air. Runs great. It had the original 6.00-14's on it, tons of tread but badly dry rotted. I media blasted the rims, the blast cabinet was an orange cloud for them all, what a mess. Since the rims weren't stock, I tried a new powder I got in. Here it is. Not meant to be a color theme thing, just playing. In the light and moving it really pops.

Chris

 

 

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  • 1 month later...
  • 8 months later...

Finally got it inspected. Took it for a cruise and the first car I saw was a Statie, stared but didn't pull me over. So I said next inspection station and I'll pull in. Pulled it in and it passed. Sweeet.

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A little more tweaking and she could be a daily driver.

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  • 2 months later...

I've been driving it around a bit and it seemed like it had no top end power. I think the secondary butterfly is stuck, gotta clean it up, carb could use a rebuild. It has a L18 swap and they ran the overflow into a coke bottle. I had a 280z overflow and bracket that I powder coated, so I took some pliers and bent the original fuel filter holder 90 degrees and mounted the overflow right up. The height is right and now when I hit a bump overflow doesn't spray from the fan. I kept the original air cleaner and cut off the snorkel.

 

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Nice truck. I wish the floors on the 521 trucks I am working on were as good as yours. I am also dealing with a little front end damage.

 

My first Datsun pickup was a 1967 520, single headlight version. I seem to recall the windshield washer pump was just a rubber bulb you stepped on, and it squirted fluid on the windshield. Kind of like an primer bulb on an outboard motor for a boat.

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I am curious about your engine swap. It sounds like you didn't do it yourself, but I would like to know how much modification is required to get the L motor in there. Someday I will need to swap to an L and I haven't really gotten a good idea of how much modification it would require. Radiator mounts, fire wall, engine mounts etc. How much cutting? Perhaps if you have some photos of the important spots?

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Thanks guys. I didn't put it in, but from working on it, they 1. Cut out the hood latch area to install a different radiator and used self drilling screws to hold it on the support. The motor mounts were from the L18 motor and welded to the frame where they laid. They used a solid mount for the tranny and it broke a mounting tab and vibrates the cab like crazy. It is held by one shady looking bolt. I have a dogleg 5-spd to go in later, I will fix it then. Other than that and being very close to the firewall, it goes very well. I have a 3.54 rear end to put in, that will help with top end and gas mileage. The speedo doesn't work so I use my cell phone. I have all the parts to redo the drums so I got to do that soon, we had an inch of snow and black ice this morning and a storm coming Saturday. WTF The long winter.... Oh well. It is what it is.

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Well, I put on the new water pump after flushing the block. I coated the thermostat cover in lollipop purple, the valve cover was nasty inside, cleaned that and coated it in lollipop blue and a billet cap in trans blue. Did the alternator bracket in gloss black. New battery terminals, thermostat and belt, putting in a 51R battery. I did the headlight bezels in satin black and have 4 black projector lights arriving tomorrow with the HID relay kit. The grill and wiper arms are wrinkle black. I found a 71 pinto radiator NOS on E-bay and that will be here next week. So, in a week or so it should be a very reliable ride. Also set valve's, timed it and new cover gasket. Black and Blue, can't go wrong. Still working on painting the interior bay. I like the way the bumper came out, I was going to leave it off, but I like it on. Yeha

 

 

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Happy to see a 520 in New England! You might have the only one I know of. Interestingly I found my 521 in New Hampshire. Seems like a lot of cool cars in the woods up there!

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While I was trying to get a new radiator after putting on a new water pump, I got some new cheap black "projector" H4 lights. I had a 4 way relay kit laying around and hooked it up. One of my headlights was an original 67, 3 were different manufacturers. I powdercoated the trims in satin black. I got the radiator to put in and will be doing that this week and she should be mobile again. The install was easy just had to move and extend one wire for the passenger side low/high beam. Other than that it looks a lot brighter than it was. I didn't hook up the little running lights in them.

 

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