Who can i.d. this diesel 4 cylinder engine?

[dhp123166]

Makes sense, thanks...

[dhp123166]

Irritating; the electric fan that I installed (flex-a-lite slimline) chose yesterday (hottest day of the year) for the fan blade piece to lose the circlip holding it onto the fan motor. It was able to spin freely independent of the fan motor and then it just fell off.

 

The good news is I drove back from L.A., 75 miles w/ some traffic, and the thermostatless cooling system pegged merely to stock normal operating temp.

 

Took the fan out, installed a new circlip and epoxied that sumbitch on!!

 

Also, I found a bigmouth air filter and intake at a salvage yard for $8.31. Modded it and installed. Now I look rice!!

[ggzilla]

that's the way, evaluate and fix it (or don't fix it if not needed) and keep driving. You usually don't need a fan at highway speeds.

[dhp123166]

Starting to remind me of my Z...a little.

 

One of the reasons I got this diesel truck is the small amount of systems necessary to operate the vehicle.

 

Simple=less chance for failure (hopefully).

[wayno]

Starting to remind me of my Z...a little.

 

One of the reasons I got this diesel truck is the small amount of systems necessary to operate the vehicle.

 

Simple=less chance for failure (hopefully).

 

 

Yes, but one has to work threw all the bullshit of the conversion, getting everything functional.

Personally I will go to great lengths to keep stock hardware like the fan, as it is proven hardware.

This is my SD25 in my 521, I had to trim the ends of the fan blades to clear the upper and lower radiator hoses.

 

This was a tight fit, but the fan cleared the radiator, and I just got the heater hoses to come out the firewall barely with some modifacations.

I was thinking since your engine looks so much like an L block, that maybe the stock L16 fan assembly/water pump(non-clutch type) would work on your engine, but a lot of guys like certain modern stuff like electric fans, and electric fuel pumps, but I don't, since I see so many failures, but I do like electronic ignition, power steering, and power front disc brakes, which I do have in my 521KC, :lol: :lol: :lol: it's sitting on a 720 diesel frame.

The 720 engine compartment has a lot more room than the 521 engine compartment has, I would look into a mechanical non-clutch type fan, as once it's in there, it will never need maintenance again.

[dhp123166]

Well actually, all I did was change the water pump set up into one that was able to be disassembled so I CAN add a clutch type fan if I so desire.

 

The only difference as far as I can see between the stock type of one piece water pump/ pulley/ clutch fan combo originally on this engine and the type on an l-6 engine is the thinner pulley. The fan blades may be different but wayno has the solution to that (chop'em down). At any rate I can replace components separately and I like this.

 

I am not planning to replace the electric fan that was literally shoehorned in there; like they say, if it ain't broken...don't fix it....

 

Check out my setup, rice air filter and hairball repairs!!

[dhp123166]

BOY DID I SCREW THE POOCH;

 

 

So my alternator finally quit 1 1/2 weeks ago, no problem I have the correct one sourced off an SD-22 that I took the time to research to make sure was correct for my SUPERRARE LD20 engine.

 

It's been sitting in my garage for months just waiting for this one (which looks to be the original) to die. It does and I am ready to put in the new one, it's an alternator, I've done dozens, what could go wrong?....

 

...look at the picture above and see the rear of the alternator, see that thing bolted on the back? That's the break booster vacuum pump which creates the vacuum that operates the brake booster. The brake booster is ordinary enough, the one from my dead 280z will work when this one heads south.There does not seem to be an auxiliary vacuum system on this engine. Instead there is this oil fed pump which creates the vacuum. It's held onto the alternator w/ 3 bolts and the shaft of the alternator goes all the way through and drives it.

 

Inside the housing is a 4" wide wheel with 4 identical grooves cut equidistantly on each quadrant like a pizza pie. Inside these grooves ride 4 vanes made out of some kind of carbon material.

 

So I did not know any of this until I removed it from the alernator and the wheel and vanes kind of tumbled off in a pool of black oil. There is only one way for it to go back together and I thought I reassembled it correctly...

 

...until I started up my truck and smoke starts pouring from that area and the v-belt is heating up like a motherfather.

 

I thought I fried the new alternator until I took the vacuum pump off and saw that the vanes were all ground up.

 

I had luckily bought some car parts off a local mechanic and when I say mechanic I mean that in the highest sense of the word, a guy who fixes everything! This guy has like a Mercedes Benz tank in his yard that he's working on so my truck did not faze him.

 

The hard part is finding these parts, I originally was going to use the wheel assembly from a Diesel Maxima that I was able to source from Nissan but they are 2 different things. Since the alternator was from an SD-22 that's the next step.

 

I contacted a guy in Australia and he said he only saw this engine once or twice on a Vanette. It also came on a 910 Bluebird (huh?).

 

Worse comes to worse I suppose either a belt driven air pump or electric air pump could be fabbed.

[dhp123166]

Well after talking to a diesel mechanic at Jesco in Ceres, Ca., he says the Diesel Maxima vacuum pump guts WILL work in this vacuum pump...after my mechanic already raised the valid point that the Nissan part numbers are different and the assembly is SOMEWHAT different as well.

 

So now it could devolve into a he say she say kind of mess...and meanwhile the payed for parts are SUPPOSEDLY on their way from the East Coast (via camel train no doubt).

 

So we are giving them two more days and if no parts then my mechanic is going to fab. some brackets to mount a FORD Diesel Belt Driven Vacuum Pump and I will never have deal with trying to unearth N.L.A. parts for this friggin' vacuum pump ever again...

 

...and I may even get my truck back ready to drive....

[wayno]

The alternators show up on ebay every once in a while, usually new/rebuilt without the vacuum pump, but a used one will show up now and then with the vacuum pump.

If things don't work out with the ford setup, and the parts that are coming won't work, then PM me, I might have an extra vacuum pump around as these don't usually quit working, at least I have not had one fail yet.

Calhoon520 might also have an extra, as he has a 520 without power brakes, so he is not using the vacuum pump he had.

[dhp123166]

Thanks Wayno I appreciate it!

 

I think I am going to go wih the belt driven Ford pump as that seems to be the most practical at this point.

 

Of course we will see what this mechanics fabrication skills are like.

 

He was right on w/ ascertaining what parts are needed for this vacuum pump and what will work and won't work and also the correct procedure in how to order them, so I guess this shows me that he knows how to think...

[dhp123166]

GOT MY TRUCK/ FOUND A REAL MECHANIC!!!!!!!!!!

 

Here is a Ford air pump attached to the alternator bracket and driven off the same belt.

 

It works as it should and this mechanic found himself a new customer (for better or worse ha-ha).

[darrel]

For a more specific diesel forum, try here.

 

http://nissandiesel.dyndns.org/index.php

[dhp123166]

Yes I've looked at that forum.

 

Thread movement is very slow, I can almost hear the cobwebs growing.

[dhp123166]

More pix, this is the ultimate work truck!!!!

 

 

[dhp123166]

AMBER HIGH BEAMS;

 

Ever since I saw another member on here with these on his 720 I have been semi-obsessed w/ having them on mine.

 

I knew sourcing OEM yellow headlights in this shape was going to be difficult and I really don't have the time to chase down archaic car parts.

 

I came up with a reasonable facsimile of them, translucent yellow paint.

 

Here are the results...

 

[wayno]

It's looking good, i did the same to mine, that yellow paint is cheap, although you have to grit your teeth and beleave it will be that color, as the paint can cap sample color isn't even close.

[dhp123166]

Thanks Wayno, I like those "safety chevrons" on your rear view mirrors...

[dhp123166]

MY SUPER EXCELLENT HEATER MOD;....

 

So a coupla weeks ago I'm journeying up north for some hunting and it is the first "cold" of the year. What we in SoCal call cold anyway, 35- 40 F. at night. I leave at 3:00 AM and I get 5 miles before I realize, dang it's cold...and my heater does not work. I had to stop to get gloves at an open servcie station. I knew the heater did not work but had filed that thought away to the back of my mind 'cause it was summer when I realized it . But the trip is off to a great start, the grapevine at 4:00 AM with no heat. Swell.

 

I get up to Bakersfield before I realize I had left one of the dash vents open which I closed and the daylight started letting that lovely longwave radiation into the cabin of my truck taking the chill off somewhat.

 

This ceased to be an issue until the return that evening, I bypassed Sacto on the way home to do something in Napa but chose to return on the 5 instead of the 101. Dusk on the 580 South past Livermore, the sun started going down, and down...and down until the combination of night, sleep deprivation, leaving the urban atmosphere, and the lack of heat really added up to a sense of isolation. I made it back to Lost Hills before I had to stop. Dang, another 2 hours and I'd have been home.

 

But anyway how to fix this? The water lines are hooked up, the fan blows, all the various vent settings seem to work. There could be a plethora of different reasons why my heater does not function; an engine that was never made for this truck which does not use a thermostat anyway so the radiator never sees above 130 F. in the current weather, a non-functioning vacuum valve or vacuum cock, bad heater core, etc. It all ads up to more time and money than I want to expend on this.

 

So possible solutions; an electric heater running off my power inverter-sucks too much amperage and these alternators are not exactly easy to locate; some kind of portable heater... kerosene-no too large, butane-no poisonous fumes given off...propane, a frigging propane camping heater!

 

Here it is, a Coleman Blackcat catalytic propane heater made for indoors and running off of 32 oz. propane bottles. It was very wobbly and top heavy so I made a mount out of a food service "1/2 600" steel pan and it sits right over my tranny tower where it does not move at all.

 

This thing is awesome, all I have to do is make sure I have fresh air entering the cabin of my truck and make sure I do not touch the edges during operation as they get pretty hot. Heat is directed straight up and a very little bit to the sides but the walls of the truck and my crate of stuff only warm slightly

 

P.S. the chamois is not touching, it is an optical illusion.

 

Oh and here is my ultra high tech failsafe system so I do not leave it on when not in the vehicle;

 

[ggzilla]

Inventive solution should work well! Is it bolted to the floor? Could move around in a fender-bender.

[dhp123166]

Thanks I am a toasty little cinnamon bun when it is on.No it just sits there. I pretty much only use it on freeway driving so I will risk it.

 

I drove a commercial catering truck in the entertainment business for ten years as a chef/ driver.

 

Commercial catering trucks are basically rolling bombs loaded down w/ 2x 23 GALLON propane tanks mounted outside of each frame rail.

 

They are always on when going to location especially the massive burners under the coffee and hot water urns.

 

And these trucks are mostly gasoline powered to add to the danger factor.

 

Never any problems, I think this little one should be just fine...

[ggzilla]

It's like insurance. You'll probably never need it. I haven't been hurt in an accident in 32 years of driving.

[dhp123166]

THIS WEEKS 720 PROBLEM!

 

So I'm driving out to the desert early this morning. It is the first extended rain period of the season. My wipers are working fine so I am not concerned. I get 40 miles from home and am entering the 14 North and a bank of fog/ heavy drizzle. It is still dark at this point. I am coming down a decline when BAM, the wipers both quit. Wonderful. I get off the nearest off ramp and park under an overpass.

 

I have all my tools with me so proceed to take the wipers off...and lose the hardware. I mean it vanished like friggin' David Copperfield prestidigitation or sumthin. Anyway,I turn the wiper motor on and it is working, so obviously it's a problem with the linkage. I figure it's a nut loose or off. By this time the sun is rising and I find a nice well lit parking lot. I take the hood off and am starting on the cowl...nice, held on by plastic rivets...gonna haveta do something about that.

 

 

Sure enough the center pivot of the left and right linkage is a ball and plastic cup joint. And here I was expecting a nice all metal construction like my dear departed 280z. The plastic cup has seen better days so I look at the skies...and decide another 100 miles in inclement weather sans wipers is not a good idea. I hightail it back home to fix this thing ASAP. At home in the garage with a nice light source and here we go...

 

 

 

Well the hardware is pretty much rusted together and I am in no mood to mess with tempermental hardware so I cut the next best thing...the sheet metal that goes over the center link. It's cut out and now I have complete access to the center pivot without having to remove all linkages. The OEM plastic cup is toast and I don't trust it. I like the design of having the wiper motor on the inside of the engine bay so now all I have to do is come up with a bulletproof solution for securing this pivot. In a flash of inspiration I drop the right linkages hole over the left linkages ball and it fits perfectly with no play.

 

This is tits easy, all I have to do is secure it and my job is done. I placed a large washer over the ball and a large nut secured with a liberal amount of my favorite adhesive; Plasticwelder epoxy. The pivot can still turn under the stuck in place nut as the washer allows it to slide. I put everything back together and drove back out to the desert as this one was done quick. Just how I like it. Oh and I epoxied the metal I cut over the sides of the channel from whence it came for structural support and covered the remaining gap with vinyl cove base

 

 

 

I need to go back and squirt so grease into the assembly and then this one is done.

[wayno]

I wonder if you would do me a favor, could you measure your engine from the back of the head to the water pump belt pulley mount bolts.

[dhp123166]

Sure dude no prob.

 

On the head from the edge of the tranny to the edge of the water pump looks to be spot on 19"

[wayno]

Sure dude no prob.

 

On the head from the edge of the tranny to the edge of the water pump looks to be spot on 19"

 

 

I am not sure what you just measured, how about from the back of the head to the center of the fan belt?