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New member, new project, love some input!


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Well after a long hiatus from working on this truck, I'm back. Too much crap has happened to explain the absence, but I will be trying to restart the work needed to get this thing going again. Hope you all still are around to help because I know I'll need it. Stopped at the tranny cleanup and will still be looking to go through it before mating it up to the rebuilt engine that has been sitting on the engine stand for the past year! Sometimes it sucks to be me!

Welcome back :)

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Welcome back :)

Thanks Bro! Sorry for the delay, I had to redo the notifications section for this topic. I took the transmission into (Gulp) Aamco for a free look-see on saturday, should hear back from them by Tuesday. The guy said he could open it up and let me know if it had any issues, I'm not a Transmission proficient person.

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Thanks Bro! Sorry for the delay, I had to redo the notifications section for this topic. I took the transmission into (Gulp) Aamco for a free look-see on saturday, should hear back from them by Tuesday. The guy said he could open it up and let me know if it had any issues, I'm not a Transmission proficient person.

I don't know about taking a transmission in to a shop and asking them to look at it, it was just a 620 transmission as I recall, and franchise shops tend to replace everything even if it don't need it just to give a warranty.

I hope it's a fair/honest shop, not out to make an easy buck. 

Hope you get it on the road soon, as these  old school conversions are few and far between, plus it should be fun to drive. :)

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  • 2 weeks later...

I don't know about taking a transmission in to a shop and asking them to look at it, it was just a 620 transmission as I recall, and franchise shops tend to replace everything even if it don't need it just to give a warranty.

I hope it's a fair/honest shop, not out to make an easy buck. 

Hope you get it on the road soon, as these  old school conversions are few and far between, plus it should be fun to drive. :)

I had my concerns about the transmission while trying to spin it in each of the gears and wasn't able to get it in more than 4 gears. They opened it up last week and found 5th gear and it's synchros were in trouble and are looking for parts now. I'm ok with them doing the work and warrantying the job for down the road, I'd rather it be done with so I can move on to getting it back underway. He gave me an early estimate of $450 - 600. and I'm ok with it for now.

 

I hope it won't take too much longer because I also need to get on some issues in my 68 El Camino that I'm using as my daily driver!  :hmm:

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  • 3 weeks later...

Got the transmission back a week ago, the synchros and related gears for 5th gear were trashed which makes sense because i was never able to manually turn any but 4 gears by hand while i had it in the garage. Taking the next couple of weekends to try and get both the engine and the tranny in the truck, wish me luck!

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You won't need luck, just some time, we are here to help if you have any questions, just take your time and do it just one time.

Do yourself a favor, and connect the transmission and engine together and make sure the clutch arm comes out the hole in the proper place before you install it, it sucks having to remove everything because you used the wrong throwout bearing collar/sleeve.

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You won't need luck, just some time, we are here to help if you have any questions, just take your time and do it just one time.

Do yourself a favor, and connect the transmission and engine together and make sure the clutch arm comes out the hole in the proper place before you install it, it sucks having to remove everything because you used the wrong throwout bearing collar/sleeve.

 

Ah, I may need some luck as well! I think I sprained or tore my Achilles tendon yesterday and my foot is killing me! Just my luck too! Got to see a Doctor about it ASAP, I work on my feet all day and this could knock me out if it's more than just a sprain.

 

I was planning on putting the engine and tranny together, I just need to measure the flywheel and find the right pressure plate and clutch disc for it. Anything I should make sure of before I buy or where to buy? I should be asking these things before I screw up any future issues. Also I'm going to need a clutch slave and I don't know exactly what year this transmission is or where it came from.

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As I recall, the 5 speed transmission is from a pre 1980 Datsun if it's the same one Nevada had, it's likely a 620, but I don't know that for sure.

I cannot remember what engine you are using now, if it is the original engine it had in it, then make sure you get the same clutch cover/pressure plate, and then use the same throwout bearing sleeve/collar it had on it with a new throwout bearing put on it, if you start getting collars mixed up, then you are going to likely have issues.

Ah, I may need some luck as well! I think I sprained or tore my Achilles tendon yesterday and my foot is killing me! Just my luck too! Got to see a Doctor about it ASAP, I work on my feet all day and this could knock me out if it's more than just a sprain.

 

I was planning on putting the engine and tranny together, I just need to measure the flywheel and find the right pressure plate and clutch disc for it. Anything I should make sure of before I buy or where to buy? I should be asking these things before I screw up any future issues. Also I'm going to need a clutch slave and I don't know exactly what year this transmission is or where it came from.

As I said before, the transmission doesn't determine what flywheel/disc/clutch cover you use, the engine determines it, the transmission just bolts onto the engine, take your old parts in to make sure you buy the correct new parts.

I hope you did not hurt yourself to bad, get well soon.

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I had the old pressure plate surfaced when the block was redone, I just need to double check the old parts are right for it. So many things were apart and lying in the cab I need to take inventory to see what's what. Thanks for your help again Wayno, you're the one constant member I can count on  :thumbup: . Oh and I'm still going with the L-16 that I rebuilt, the other engines are on the back burner for now.

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I had the old pressure plate surfaced when the block was redone, I just need to double check the old parts are right for it. So many things were apart and lying in the cab I need to take inventory to see what's what. Thanks for your help again Wayno, you're the one constant member I can count on  :thumbup: . Oh and I'm still going with the L-16 that I rebuilt, the other engines are on the back burner for now.

The collar/sleeve is what the throw out bearing is pushed/pressed on to, use the collar/sleeve that was used when you pulled the transmission off the engine, I am assuming that it ran correctly at one time with the 5 speed in it.

The L16 had a 200mm clutch cover/pressure plate, and the flywheel was held on by 5 bolts.

Are you sure it was the pressure plate you had resurfaced, or was it the flywheel you had resurfaced?

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The collar/sleeve is what the throw out bearing is pushed/pressed on to, use the collar/sleeve that was used when you pulled the transmission off the engine, I am assuming that it ran correctly at one time with the 5 speed in it.

The L16 had a 200mm clutch cover/pressure plate, and the flywheel was held on by 5 bolts.

Are you sure it was the pressure plate you had resurfaced, or was it the flywheel you had resurfaced?

 

My bad, I meant the flywheel!  :blush:

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  • 2 weeks later...

Progress is still slow but have taken care of a few things. I was looking for a good fab shop and think I've found one! I had to do something about the bent centerlink tie rod and found a shop that specializes in off road race fabrication close by, took the bent tie rod in and they did a nice job welding a Chrome-moly sleeve in place for cheap! Heres the before pic

centerlinkbent2.jpg

and the after pic

centerlinkbeefedup.jpg

 

I'll be having them fab an engine cradle for me soon that will mate up to a transmission cradle to use as a make-shift test setup like the one you did Wayno, but on a smaller scale to roll around in my garage. I'll post pics once it's done. That's it for now, still chugging away, little by little.

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Somehow I missed this thread update, that centerlink is a weak spot under certain circumstances, works fine in the stock situation, but add power steering and it bends every time you turn the wheel, at least the way I did it.

My engine cradle is very minimal, about the only way you can make a smaller one is to use smaller wheels. :lol:

Take a photo of how close that rod is to the oilpan, I bet it is going to be close?

When you install and remove the engine, drop the idler arm or remove the center link, it makes it a lot easier.

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  • 3 months later...

Hey folks, sorry I've been absent from the forum, work and other things going on have put the truck on the back burner for awhile, but I've gotten some renewed incentive to get it going again. Recently a member of Ratsun contacted me about my truck and we chatted, but today he came down from Northern Cal to buy a 521 4x4 for sale here in the Southland area and he swung by my place to meet. EightyOne521 (Mark) came by with his new acquisition, and as it turns out, we believe both our trucks were converted by the same folks here in the San Gabriel Valley, making what I call the 2 trucks, Brothers, lol! We hit it off very well and he got a nice deal on a 521 that had a 327 SBC under the hood! We compared drivetrain, suspension, and other aspects of the trucks and the similarities are definitely there! He's back on the road home now, hope he gets it home without incident. Very nice guy, very enthusiastic about his new project, and some of that rubbed off on me as well! I'll do some "Due Diligence" and get back to work on my truck very soon. The weather here has been up in the high 90's to 100's over the past few months which I've used as an excuse to hang out in the pool instead of working on my projects, my bad! I'll encourage Mark to get a thread of his truck started once he's home and settled, so if you guys give him as much encouragement as you have to me, he'll be trucking before we know it!

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Somehow I missed this thread update, that centerlink is a weak spot under certain circumstances, works fine in the stock situation, but add power steering and it bends every time you turn the wheel, at least the way I did it.

My engine cradle is very minimal, about the only way you can make a smaller one is to use smaller wheels. :lol:

Take a photo of how close that rod is to the oilpan, I bet it is going to be close?

When you install and remove the engine, drop the idler arm or remove the center link, it makes it a lot easier.

 

 

 

 

 

When I do drop the engine in, I'll check to see what the clearances look like, hopefully no issues. I'm scoping out the motor mount situation, making sure I've got the right parts and on the right sides.

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Wow! An interesting revelation came about as a result of hooking up with Mark in SF! He and I scoped out our trucks build characteristics and their similarities, and with a bit of his research online found that both of our trucks may have been the product of off-road racer Spencer Low and his off-road manufacturing company! More looking is still in the works, but as we find out more we'll post.

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