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'86 720 Dually - Shove it over a cliff or fix it


Telkwa

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There won't be anything exciting in this project, like a KA swap or fancy wheels.  Not that I'm opposed to the idea.  If I had the know-how and resources to drop an injected engine into this thing I'd do it.  My goal would be to share what I've found with some of the folks who don't have 3,000 posts on this forum.  Who knows where it'll end up, but I'd at least like to get the truck running right and stop the rust.

 

This is the only shot I took before I started taking pieces off of it.  Well, I already took the grille off but you know what I mean.

 

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Some background.  According to the manual and some of the paperwork, which was still in the dash when I bought it, the truck is an '86.  It's got about 150K miles on it.  The plate on the driver's side door frame says it was built in /7 of 1985.  The paperwork from the glove compartment says it was delivered February of 1986.  A furniture delivery outfit bought it, but had been letting it sit for a year or two by the time I spotted it in 2001.  I kept pestering them and they finally sold it to me.  I took the stake bed off and put the dump box on.  The dump box came off a 1981 Datsun that the City of Portland had run into the ground.

 

My wife & I drove it back & forth to work for a few years while our employer was giving away fill material.  They stopped letting employees take the fill material, and the truck began to set for long periods in an open-sided lean-to.  We live in a rural area, and we feed wild birds.  The bird seed attracts mice.  Our local hawks and owls must be slackers.  The mice tend to get into anything that's not garaged and/or run regularly.

 

Truth be told, I just stopped caring about this truck.  I didn't maintain it, I didn't do much to keep the vermin out, and you could see the slow death spiral.  Recently I decided to either get rid of it or fix it up.  That's when I found Ratsun.net.

 

The truck had stopped idling a few months ago.  With datzenmike's help, I figured out that the idle stop solenoid had died.

 

It had a slow voltage leak.  This had gone on for years and I was too lazy to investigate.  It would appear that the cabin light timer was the culprit.  I had no idea a 27 year-old truck would have a cabin light timer.  The cabin light had been burned out forever, and someone before me had cut the wires to the driver's side door switch.  I hit the Olympia WA Pick-A-Part today and found a few door switches in decent shape, so I'll attempt to get that working again.

 

The truck had always gotten poor gas mileage; 17 mpg or so.  Datzenmike explained that in the case of a dead O2 sensor the ECU under the driver's seat will go into a "limp home" mode and tell the carb to run rich.  I replaced the O2 sensor.  Hoping that will help.  Our local NAPA had a Bosch sensor, which came with a piece of heat-shrink and a crimp fitting on the wire.

 

The paint job is ruined and rust is attacking the roof, cowling area, etc.  I found that removing the fenders (not the "quarter panels") was relatively easy.  The front valance comes off easily too.  Only one bolt broke off, right next to the hood hinge on the passenger side.  I lucked out and drilled it out right through the center, and should be able to remove it with an EZ-Out. 

 

The windshield has to be replaced.  Pretty sure that there will be rust behind the rubber, so have to figure out how to fix the damage and paint out from there.  Will probably have to treat and paint that area, then have a windshield installed, then try to paint back to it later.

 

Mice had taken over the cowling area in front of the windshield.  They also set up shop behind the driver's side seat belt reel.  The antenna had fallen off years ago, and there was some mouse mischief in the framework behind the right fender.

 

I stripped out the seats, seat belts, etc. and removed the stinky carpet.  If I can find some good junkyard vinyl flooring I'll probably do that, or buy replacement carpet.  There are several outfits selling replacement carpet.  I don't know who's good.

 

The front bumper is bent up.  Bent bumpers seem to be universal on these trucks.  Looks like new bumpers can be had on eBay.  Don't know who makes them but I doubt that it's genuine Nissan.

 

The truck has always leaked oil.  I looked underneath, saw it dripping off the front edge of the tranny, and assumed the rear engine seal was shot.  That was years ago.  I found out recently that the oil psi sender underneath the intake manifold has been leaking like a stuck hog.  NAPA had a unit with the wrong electrical fitting on it.  O'Reilly had the right piece, with the single bullet-style fitting.  I'm crossing my fingers that the rear engine seal is not blubbering oil.

 

The driver's side door flops like a drunken sailor when opening and closing.  I found a donor truck at the Olympia Pick-A-Part and took its hinges.  I need lots of little things like dashboard dimmer switches, etc. so it looks like more trips to Olympia are on the agenda.  By the way, the dashboard dimmer switch comes off easily if you know how.  I didn't. 

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I keep reading about Purple Power, so tried some out.  Used some hot water and a dish brush, splashing some PP on the brush every once in a while.  I'm impressed.

 

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Our exhaust manifold is cracked.  It's a pretty good crack, although it doesn't seem to be making noise yet.  You can see it in the crook between the two arms, emerging from under the tin heat shield, then it continues out of sight on the engine side.  I found 4 720's at the Tumwater WA Pick n Pull, or Pull A Part, or whatever it's called.  One had a manifold laying in the engine bay.  Cracked.  Two manifolds were gone.  The 4th 720 was built in /4 of 85, just 3 months earlier than ours.  It was setting in a swamp.  I had muck boots on, but couldn't climb under the truck without a wetsuit.  The engine bolts came off without issue.  I forgot to charge the battery powered demolition saw the night before.  It almost finished cutting the exhaust pipe before quitting.  Then the danged heat shield wouldn't fit between the engine and the torsion bar.  20 minutes of reaching blindly underneath the truck with a ratchet, and the heat shield fell away.  I felt victorious as the manifold rose up out of the depths.  The crack finally revealed itself, hiding along the back side.

 

Manifold cracks seem to be an epidemic with these trucks.

 

I grabbed two dashboard dimmer switches, just in case.  Now that I know how easy they are to remove!

 

The cabin fan housing from the /4 '85 wasn't damaged by mice, so I got that.  A guy stopped by and took the fan I'd just set aside.  He buys 720's and fixes them up, then sells them.  He said I should check out the Pull A Part up north, near Tacoma.  Might have to do that.  I'm interested in having a spare set of doors, fenders, and valance.

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Glad to see the forum's up and running again.  The existing windshield had a huge circular divot in the center.  Water had gotten into the damage, so there was discoloration.  It was just ugly.  Maybe even illegal for all I know.  Didn't want a junkyard windshield.  So I talked with a few vendors, and decided to go ahead with a new one.  I've never removed a windshield before.  Got the old one out, cleaned up the surfaces.  Almost all of the gasket surface looks good, but I've got one little problem.

 

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I'm working with a glass vendor in town to come up with a good solution.  Probably the best solution would be to weld it up. 

 

With the glass out, I realized there wasn't much holding the headliner on.  I started poking around and found two more big mouse nests inside the void created by the headliner.  One nest along each side of the roof, right over the door frames.  Kind of creepy to find out that there was a big mouse nest about two inches from my head when I was driving.

 

Radiator's out.  Going into town for an acid wash.  I've been negligent about regular coolant exchange, so might as well do what I can for it.

 

EDIT:  That's odd.  I pasted the image code from Photobucket just like I have for other photos.  This time that annoying little "http" text is in front of the image.  I edited the post, deleted the image link, tried again, same results.

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I use Purple Power and a pressure washer to clean all of my projects. It can be used on anything, but be careful when usiing it on plated and anodized metals and bare aluminum. If used too often on the metals it will etch them.

 

BTW- I love duallys. I owned 4 last year. 3 currently. Want to buy a '38 Ford 1.5 ton flatbed? It was used in a movie. (wink, nudge)

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I use Purple Power and a pressure washer to clean all of my projects. It can be used on anything, but be careful when usiing it on plated and anodized metals and bare aluminum. If used too often on the metals it will etch them.

 

It can take the shine off of painted surfaces too.  But it's a great degreaser and tire cleaner.

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Some pressure washers have a pick-up tube for soap, don't they?  I was wondering if PP would do bad things to the parts inside a psi washer. 

 

You really don't want to put chemicals threw your pump, but siphon feeds don't work that way, they pull the chemical out of the container/bucket after the pump so I would not see any issues other than O-rings, but they are easy and cheap to replace, just flush out the system before storing the machine, although there is a O-ring in the trigger that is not easy to replace.

I would agree with Stoffregen Motorsports, it would be best to spray chemicals on with a pump sprayer or the equivalent, as you can control the strength of the mix much better, and likely will not cause unintentional damage, it is also a lot easier to keep the chemical where you want it, and off the neighbors cars/houses/plants/windows.

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One thing that had been a mystery to me was where the mice were getting that felt-like nesting material.  Big nests in the cowling, in the seat belt reel areas, above the door frames in the headliner, etc.  Mystery finally solved.  I peeled the headliner back.  It appears that the factory glued a big swatch of that felt material to the roof, above the headliner.  The mice had just about used all of it.  Figured I'd take a picture of the cabin light wiring.

 

P3310015.jpg

 

Here's a view of the floor wiring on the passenger side.  To the right is the front of the truck.  You can see the plug for the cabin timer relay (timer is removed in this picture) and the wiring that goes back to the tail lights and the fuel pump.  At least that's what I think is going out through the floor.  The two red wires in the lower edge of the photo go to the passenger side door switch.  The passenger side switch has 2 wires, driver's side 3 wires.

 

P3310020.jpg

 

I swabbed the inside of the headliner down with hot water and Pine-Sol.  I have this theory that mice hate the smell of Pine-Sol.  Does anyone have a good suggestion for something I can glue to the ceiling that will provide some noise insulation?  Preferably something that mice won't find appealing.

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One thing that had been a mystery to me was where the mice were getting that felt-like nesting material.  Big nests in the cowling, in the seat belt reel areas, above the door frames in the headliner, etc.  Mystery finally solved.  I peeled the headliner back.  It appears that the factory glued a big swatch of that felt material to the roof, above the headliner.  The mice had just about used all of it.  Figured I'd take a picture of the cabin light wiring.

 

P3310015.jpg

 

Here's a view of the floor wiring on the passenger side.  To the right is the front of the truck.  You can see the plug for the cabin timer relay (timer is removed in this picture) and the wiring that goes back to the tail lights and the fuel pump.  At least that's what I think is going out through the floor.  The two red wires in the lower edge of the photo go to the passenger side door switch.  The passenger side switch has 2 wires, driver's side 3 wires.

 

P3310020.jpg

 

I swabbed the inside of the headliner down with hot water and Pine-Sol.  I have this theory that mice hate the smell of Pine-Sol.  Does anyone have a good suggestion for something I can glue to the ceiling that will provide some noise insulation?  Preferably something that mice won't find appealing.

 

Get some cats, I don't have any mice issues.  :lol:

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We're seriously considering building a second garage/shop.  Two of our cars get to stay inside at night, and you can sure tell the difference.

 

I'm gonna treat the ceiling with Zero-Rust or similar.  Now that I can get behind that hole in the front edge, I'll probably try something a friend suggested.  He said mix up some epoxy, smear it on the back side, lay in a little piece of fiberglas mat, let it dry, then repeat.  Something like that would be better than just smooshing some JB Weld thru the hole from the front. 

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We're seriously considering building a second garage/shop.  Two of our cars get to stay inside at night, and you can sure tell the difference.

 

I'm gonna treat the ceiling with Zero-Rust or similar.  Now that I can get behind that hole in the front edge, I'll probably try something a friend suggested.  He said mix up some epoxy, smear it on the back side, lay in a little piece of fiberglas mat, let it dry, then repeat.  Something like that would be better than just smooshing some JB Weld thru the hole from the front. 

 

You can just use por15 and mesh:  http://www.por15.com/FLOOR-PAN-TRUNK-KIT/productinfo/FPTRK/

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I swabbed the inside of the headliner down with hot water and Pine-Sol.  I have this theory that mice hate the smell of Pine-Sol.  Does anyone have a good suggestion for something I can glue to the ceiling that will provide some noise insulation?  Preferably something that mice won't find appealing.

That old "home remedy" of pine oil is for cockroaches, mice supposedly hate MINT odor. Old home remedy for them is peppermint oil.

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I lifted two doors from a wrecking yard '85 720 that seemed to be in much better shape than our doors.  Took most of the parts off the driver's side door, then started looking more closely.  There was rust along the bottom edge.  I put an aggressive wire wheel on the 4.5" grinder and found this.  That's the worst of it, but there are smaller holes along most of the bottom.  The passenger door looks like it has very little if any of the same damage.

 

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I told my wife this gives me one more lame excuse to buy a wire feed welder.  Access is pretty good from the inside.  I'm thinking I could wedge a strip of metal in from the inside, weld it up from the outside, grind/sand it back close to original contour, then apply a few coats of frame paint or bedliner to the interior side.  Of course I'd have to make sure to leave the two weepholes clear. 

 

I'd also have to repaint the exterior, but I was kinda planning on that anyway.  I know very little about bodywork, so the above is just a guess at how to fix it and stop the deterioration. 

 

There was a sticker inside the door.  

 

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It looks like in July of '93 the door was sent from 3939 North Freeway in Sacramento CA to Rood Nissan-Volvo in Lynnwood WA.  Maybe the truck was in an accident, and the dealership ordered a whole new door from some big Nissan distribution center in Sacramento?  Or, considering where the sticker was at, maybe the dealership ordered just the door skin? 

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  • 2 weeks later...

The glass guy prepped the windshield and rear window area with his favorite rust stopper.  I didn't see the product, but it has a rubbery feel to it even after drying.  He felt the hole above the windshield was so small it could be filled with the rust stop instead of JB Weld so that's what he did.  Supposedly I can paint over this stuff.

 

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I think the glass can go back in next week.  We have some sun in the forecast.  Because the dump box has to be up in the air to get to the rear glass, it's gotta be done outside. 

 

I decided to leave the headliner out completely.  The old one was brittle and starting to tear in several places.  I didn't think my wife and I could build a new one from scratch.  I talked to an auto upholsterer.  He said he doesn't even do bow-supported headliners.  It's looking like too much hassle and money.  I don't want to put the glass back in without a headliner, but this ain't gonna be a show truck so compromises must be made.

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I learned something the hard way and want to pass it on.  You know the chrome rings that hold the headlights on?  They're pretty lightweight.  I had this brilliant idea to buff them on a big stationary grinder that has a buffing wheel mounted on one side of the motor.  Everything was going great until the headlight ring seam snagged on the buffer cloth. 

 

I had a faceshield on.  When it snagged, the ring hit the face shield so hard that my glasses underneath the face shield cut the bridge of my nose.  The ring is all bent to hell.  

 

If you're going to use any sort of rotary device to buff those chrome rings make it something with limited horsepower.  That stationary grinder I used has a 1HP+ motor.  It ripped the chrome ring right out of my hands without slowing down. 

 

And be very cautious near the seam.

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  • 2 weeks later...

While some areas continue to come apart, others are going back together.  Sorta.

 

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Not obvious from the picture, but the chrome headlight ring on the passenger side high beam is the one that got away from me on the buffer.  I've gotta get a replacement.  Pick n Pull in Tumwater had four 720's a coupla weeks ago.  I drove up there w/out calling first.  All had been sent to the crusher.

 

New windshield in.  The guy did a good job, and it's nice to have some tint.  The original had none. 

 

I stripped the fenders, then used an angle grinder with wire wheel to clean off the last stubborn bits.  The fenders have a "Back to the Future" DeLorean look to them now.

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