Here goes nothing.

[slow_n'steady]

Howdy, guys. So, I bought my first ever Nissan/Pickup truck late last summer. It's a 1985 1/2 720. I originally bought as a parts hauler but I quickly realized I could pretty much carry everything I needed for the track in the trunk of my Mustang, so it's kind of sat derelict for about three months. After buying it, I changed the oil, put a new air filter on it, deleted or replaced a bunch of vacuum lines, toyed with the idle speed, installed a tach., replaced the dizzy, spark plugs, and wires and watched it rust. Today, it needed a new battery and I'm now basically staring down a conundrum: to keep or not to keep?

 

Here's my quandary: Back in the winter, I took her to Blue Ridge Park and did some hiking. On the return trip (up a mountain), the positive battery cable came loose, contacted the hood, and shorted out something(s). What followed was a total mess. Since the fuse for the headlights had probably been blown (they didn't work), I decided it would be pretty straightforward to find the fuse, replace it, and carry on. Not so. After searching for the correct fuse in a Haynes manual and the little plastic cover, I realized the wiring harness is an acid trip gone bad. It looks like a D.I.Y. nightmare. Random splices for use as power supplies, wires shoved directly into the fuse holder for the same purpose, and what looks like scrapped wire from other vehicles for use in repair (so now I can't accurately trace out circuits using by color using a manual). What's more, the previous owner didn't exactly keep in line with Nissan's engineering practices when he put it all back together. It's a rat's nest (zing). So, here's my options as I see them:

 

1. Sell it for $300, take $250 cash.

2. Keep it one more winter, risk not having headlights.

3. Fix the harness, fix headlights, re-access the situation next summer.

4. Go all the way. Build a new harness, fix everything, strip the body and kill all the rust, repaint it, give it to my grandchildren for their first car.

 

I'm extremely tempted by option 1 but I really don't care to drive my shiny Mustang through that devil's harem people in Norfolk call 'snow'. 2 is the lazy ass option. I'll be risking a ticket everyday but at least I wouldn't ever have to look at the wiring harness. 3 seems simple enough but I wonder if the harness would even be workable by the time I figured out what's what. 4 is also tempting but I don't know if I really want another project and what if the rust is terminal (although I could make this thing sick as a mug). Anyone been here before? Any advice?

 

P.S.- I'll post up some pics so you guys can see what the situation is.

[Wide14u]

i would start with 3 and then go to 4 but that is just me

[slow_n'steady]

That might be the way it goes. I mean, it idles fine and drives straight now. It'll get me through the winter if the lights worked. Someone suggested selling it and getting a beater civic but eh.......don't think I'm ready to join that club yet.

[ggzilla]

Go with #1. If you don't love it, move on. I went through a Mustang 5.0 phase for 20 years (owned 1979 fastback, 1986 coupe, and 1989 convertible), then finally went back to Datsun.

[slow_n'steady]

Eh, good point. Anyone wanna' buy a 720 for $300, firm? And how in god's name do you keep a car alive through winters like this?

 

 

P.S.- I am from Alabama, where snow is a fairytale that northerners tell their children at night to make them behave.

[ggzilla]

I dunno about bad winters. Seattle has mild winters, we just have to survive the rain.

 

But the guys from the mountains tell me that four studded tires on a Mustang let it go anywhere.

[slow_n'steady]

Friend of mine brought up a pretty good point today. I could always just transplant a wiring harness from a junkyard truck. As long as no one fooled with it, it'd probably be cleaner than the one I made and faster, too. Plus, I wouldn't have to trace out the wiring diagrams. Just plug and play. Anyone know if there's any other harness that's compatible if I can't find the same one? And I think I'm gonna' just keep the Mustang clean and pretty for the rest of summer and stow it during winter. I really don't want to drive it anywhere and the suspension can wait till sometime in the winter or spring.

[Wide14u]

so you are going to keep it

[slow_n'steady]

Yeah, yeah......I think so. Gimme something to tinker with and I'll either be spending money repairing it or spending money repairing the Mustang's winter damage. So, hey, money either way.

 

Here's the plan

-Find wiring harness and transplant it. Get headlights and dashlights working.

-Pull off the bed. Start killing rust on the frame and suspension. Full vacuum line delete.

-Engine bay cleaning and rust kill. Might pull the motor to do this, might not.

-Figure out why this thing diesels like a boss.

-Regularly change oil in accordance with Nissan technical manual.

-Profit.

 

Mrh?