Rhapakatui Posted May 5, 2013 Report Share Posted May 5, 2013 Well, for all of you 3 guys waiting for an update on my king cab build, here's why it hasn't come up. Remember this thread? http://community.ratsun.net/topic/52778-what-to-do-with-this-car/?fromsearch=1 Yeah I bought that. now my mechanical ineptitude has come fully to light. I'm a great fabricator with a pretty decent understanding of suspensions (pats own back). I've been having hell getting her running so I've neglected my other projects until I get this green goblin (as my friends have come to call it) on the road. She's a pretty complicated hodge podge of redneck ingenuity. In the past, I would've found some power plant that worked and dropped it in. I never had much interest in fixing years of neglect and Jerry rigging, but I read Lonestar's thread and fell in love with an ugly duckling. I hate my latest dd more than the last. I had a 38 dges laying around in my parts to sell pile, and figured I'd try to build a dd I could love. I promised myself, my wife, and lonestar that there would be no crazy swaps. This would be a datsun. And, I brought her home. I've got lots of big plans once she's driving, but for now, she needs to live. Threw on the Weber and quickly realized I don't know craps about getting a broken mess of an engine running. Before, it's always been simple find the problem and fix it. However, this car has more stuff unhooked than hooked. There are roads to nowhere everywhere. I'm picking apart the puzzle one piece at a time. Currently I'm working on the carb. She will crank, but soon starts to spit gas and floods. Wish me luck and watch as I learn the ropes turning this ragamuffin of a neglected car into a goon to be proud of. 2 Quote Link to comment
I'm BLUE Posted May 5, 2013 Report Share Posted May 5, 2013 +1 for Texas ! Have you had time to do a quick compression test first before time/energy spent ? :) Make sure when you're working on your carbs to not over-tighten anything :) Base-plate and float-bowl covers especially :thumbup: I'd check to make sure you don't have a sunken float or one that is slowly taking on gas in your weber :sneaky: Make sure to check/replace your points/condensor in the ignition system irregardless ... condensors (like thermostats) can be bad out of the box ! Mechanical fuel pumps can rot just sitting for a short or long-period of time as you well know ;) ... do a volume test ! (looks like your's is a newer one though ) What's with the sweet setup of not 1 ... but 2 ... yes 2 ! ignition coils on the drivers side firewall ? :D All I can say about the vacuum , vent , breather , and fuel lines is this ... If you really want to keep the car ... take time and get them suckers replaced ! My datsun runs/drives/breathe's mucho better with new stuff and whines/crys when 1 is un-plugged ... before replacing those mentioned it had little to no-reaction if 2 were un-plugged leaking... lol ^^^ That is once you get a good feel for their real homes ;) hehe. Make sure your jets arn't clogged in the carb and your power-valve isn't just dumping gas as well (if applicable). Don't be shocked if you don't see a fuel filter , but plan on cleaning/inspecting/replacing everything ahead of a non-existent fuel filter location if that's the case :blink: Good goin Rhap :thumbup: .... Quote Link to comment
Rhapakatui Posted May 5, 2013 Author Report Share Posted May 5, 2013 That top ignition coil wasn't hooked up, so it and its ballast resistor are in my box of removed parts now. Ive had fun replacing lines, and deleting parts that didn't work anymore. It has a matchbox dizzy, so that's a plus. I'm about to open up the carb and see if I have a clogged jet next. Updated engine compartment oics soon to come. Quote Link to comment
Rhapakatui Posted May 6, 2013 Author Report Share Posted May 6, 2013 Engine compartment ATM. Lemme know if you see anything out of place and/or expendable. Haven't done a compression test yet. I will soon. Someone also mentioned that I may have too much fuel pressure to the Weber. Any idea what stock pumps usually put out? What would be the cheapest way to test it? As usual, this is a tight budget build. I'm pretty cheap even by Ratsun standards, but I wanna get it done right. Quote Link to comment
Lonestar Posted May 6, 2013 Report Share Posted May 6, 2013 Looking better man, no worries, you'll get her up and running soon enough. This makes me so glad I didn't scrap her for parts. Keep an out, I'll be sending you those parts when I can swing by the post some time. Quote Link to comment
Eagle_Adam Posted May 6, 2013 Report Share Posted May 6, 2013 My girl DD's a 710 goon, lemme know if you need references for anything a placement! The L motors are simple enough if you know what "correct" is. Something to compare it to always makes it easier ;) Quote Link to comment
hobbes_the_cat Posted May 6, 2013 Report Share Posted May 6, 2013 Stock fuel pumps are usually right on for fuel pressure with a weber. My side drafts are more sensitive to fuel pressure than downdrafts but most webers like 3-3.5 psi in my experience. Summit, jegs, or maybe even local parts stores will have a genaric inline pressure gauge. That's what I use. Quote Link to comment
Rhapakatui Posted May 6, 2013 Author Report Share Posted May 6, 2013 Lonestar, once again, I can't thank you enough for getting those parts after I already bought the car as is. Not a lot of people would do that. I'm gonna make sure the old goon has a nice life. Adam, I've read your thread front to back. It definitely is an infection. If I run into any 710 specific questions, I'll be hitting you up. Hobbes, I'm probably gonna get my local parts guy to order a gauge to be sure. The fuel pump looks like it's been replaced, so I'm curious how much it's putting out. Thanks for the positive feedback. I can't wait to get to the fun stuff on this car. Ive got some ideas to get her looking good once she's running right. Quote Link to comment
Bentaxlebob Posted May 6, 2013 Report Share Posted May 6, 2013 For how long has that motor been unoperative? You mioght want to make sure valves are not frozen. Inspect valves, take valve cover out and see ( rotating crankshaft w/o spark plugs ) that all valves move. I would rather take the head off and give thje engine a valve job. Unless this engine has been driving around not long ago. Quote Link to comment
Rhapakatui Posted May 7, 2013 Author Report Share Posted May 7, 2013 Not sure how long it's sat since running, but the registration went out in 07. Probably a while. Lonestar would have more info on that. Meanwhile, pulled the top off of the carb. Bowl full of gas still. Should this have drained since yesterday? I did find one dirt dobbers nest in the top end which would be an obvious problem, except for that it was in a line that I have plugged. Since my cry for help thread in the tech section, I've looked at every engine bay pic I could find, and that line never has anything run to it. Therefore, I'm thinking I need to clean out the dirt, but leave the plug. I'm thinking the next step is to dig deeper into this carb and make sure that's all that the bugs got into. Quote Link to comment
Rhapakatui Posted May 12, 2013 Author Report Share Posted May 12, 2013 Okay, so I haven't had much datto time, but today I discovered that I couldn't mow, so i squeezed in some quality710 time. Cleaned the carb thoroughly and put it back on. The car ran like a champ. I was stoked! Celebrated with some beers and an oil change. Then realized I had forgotten to hook up a part of the linkage. After I connected this bar, it went back to its old behavior. Crank, run, flood, die.I guess that means I have found the problem. I just don't know what the problem is. I will experiment and report back. One step closer. Quote Link to comment
Lonestar Posted May 13, 2013 Report Share Posted May 13, 2013 I'll take a guess and say it's part of the choke. When you hook it back up, the choke is stuck open/closed and causing yer problem. Other than that, glad to hear and keep it up man, she'll be a fine runner in no time! Quote Link to comment
Farmer Joe Posted May 13, 2013 Report Share Posted May 13, 2013 thats a 38 weber. that part that you circled is the choke accuator arm. if its hooked up, does the choke shut closed on its own, or are they easy to open or fall open? do you need a choke with a 38 anyways? i unhooked my choke and took the blades out of mine. Quote Link to comment
Rhapakatui Posted May 13, 2013 Author Report Share Posted May 13, 2013 It's definitely the choke. It's staying partially open. I'm thinking I can just leave it unhooked til I get ready to rebuild the carburetor. It sounds good when it's unhooked. Gonna figure out my linkage and start test driving soon. There is a light at the end of the carburetor tunnel. Then comes fun stuff. Quote Link to comment
BayArea510 Posted May 13, 2013 Report Share Posted May 13, 2013 Same problem I had with La Gloria when I bought it. Does yours backfire thru the carb? I traced the problem somewhere to that same area you circled in your pic. I did take the electric choke apart and put a little tension on the spring behind the plastic cap. Quote Link to comment
Rhapakatui Posted May 13, 2013 Author Report Share Posted May 13, 2013 Luckily it hasn't backfired through the carb yet. If it did with the amount of gas is was pumping out before, I'd be having a fire sale in the parts section. I think I'm just gonna do like farmer said, disconnect the choke and drive it. If it weren't for my kid's baseball schedule, I'd be cruising in it by now. I think the time is near though. Quote Link to comment
Rhapakatui Posted May 15, 2013 Author Report Share Posted May 15, 2013 Okay, so I disconnected that piece on the choke and the problem persists. I decided to say to hell with it, and took it down the road anyway. As long as I keep the rpms up, it keeps going. It died a few times along the way. Made it to here... It doesn't like to idle. Quote Link to comment
Rhapakatui Posted May 16, 2013 Author Report Share Posted May 16, 2013 Just got back from a 5 mile test run. Forgot to check the lug nuts, but got those tightened up and..... ....stoked. Quote Link to comment
Rhapakatui Posted May 17, 2013 Author Report Share Posted May 17, 2013 Had it idling great. Got the timing tuned in til it sounded about right. Went for another test run. Made it about three miles before it started idling rough. I got it home and now it won't idle again. It doesn't flood anymore. Now it just dies if i let off the gas. I cranked the idle up with no change. However, if I manually push the flaps down on the choke, it revs way up. I tried doing this while adjusting the mixture screws and idle screws, but it just dies when I let the air in. Quote Link to comment
Rhapakatui Posted May 17, 2013 Author Report Share Posted May 17, 2013 Played with the mixture a bit and decided to video it failing. Quote Link to comment
Rhapakatui Posted May 18, 2013 Author Report Share Posted May 18, 2013 Got it running good enough to have faith in it for a beer run. Took my buddy Bruce with me who was already a few beers in. Let him drive it on the dirt road and he ran the piss out of it. Back way to the beer store is about 15 mi each way. I drove the whole way back. Bruce goaded me into a little rally style driving. The car ran beautifully. I have a little growl in the dif. Otherwise, she's ready to run. Only bit of drama was after the aggressive driving was over. We were cruising along and the keys vibrated out of the ignition. I was feeling in the floorboard for them. Bruce tells me just leave em til we get home. I stop and really look hard. They're not there. Backtracked and found them. Quote Link to comment
Sealik Posted May 18, 2013 Report Share Posted May 18, 2013 Might want to confirm that there is no vacuum leak. Cold engine and choke is closed....somewhat compensating for a leak???? Engine warms....choke opens.....more air...runs like poop. Probably wrong......and just a guess. Process of elimination. Quote Link to comment
Rhapakatui Posted May 18, 2013 Author Report Share Posted May 18, 2013 I thought the same thing, and spent a lot of time looking for mystery leak. It was actually just really bad carb adjustment. Still not sure why it ran good for one day. I think maybe the choke flaps were stuck partially closed, and when they opened it started to mess up. I ran it hard today though, and I think it's officially solved. BTW... the choke has never actually been wired up therefore should not be working. Quote Link to comment
Rhapakatui Posted May 19, 2013 Author Report Share Posted May 19, 2013 Had to return my parents trailer today, but I wanted to drive the datsun, sooo.... Then I decided to test it some more, so we mapped out all the back roads around my house. We drove down fourwheeler trails and every road we could find. Two hours later, she's still running like a champ and I can't stop smiling. It's hard to believe where it was a few days ago vs where it is now. I love this car soooo much! 2 Quote Link to comment
Rhapakatui Posted May 24, 2013 Author Report Share Posted May 24, 2013 Got her all legalified today! Plates, stickers, insurance, all the stuff so I can take her on the highway. Took this pic at my mother in laws house about 4 miles outside town. It feels like a racecar at 75 mph. I love looking up at all the other cars. Quote Link to comment
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