Just bought 84' nissan 720

[Rhino13]

If the internals aren't messed up and the cylinders still have good compression why wouldn't you just rebuild? It's a fraction of the price for new gaskets and rings, and would take way less time than pretty much fabricating an entire new truck to fit a v8 under the hood... Check out Denmarkboy's Lil hooker build, he did a lot of extending on the cab but managed to fit a small block 400 under the hood.

[wayno]

If the internals aren't messed up and the cylinders still have good compression why wouldn't you just rebuild? It's a fraction of the price for new gaskets and rings, and would take way less time than pretty much fabricating an entire new truck to fit a v8 under the hood... Check out Denmarkboy's Lil hooker build, he did a lot of extending on the cab but managed to fit a small block 400 under the hood.

Keep in mind that Denmarkboy bought that truck extended, if you want to call it that, it was more hacked in my opinion, but he fixed it/continued with the extension project and made it way better/completed it.

I believe it also already had the V8 in it.

[Rhino13]

Keep in mind that Denmarkboy bought that truck extended, if you want to call it that, it was more hacked in my opinion, but he fixed it/continued with the extension project and made it way better/completed it.

I believe it also already had the V8 in it.

You're correct wayno, the extension work was done and it had a v8 already, but it's a great truck to use as an example to show how much work it really is. Thanks for clarifying that wayno.

[blackbomber]

Hi , this is the blackbomber here..welcome to ratsun...this is a great place to get help..I don't know if my truck would still be running with out these guys.. I have had my 84  4x4 for 30 years now....its been a great truck.  never left me stranded any where....  Try to deal with one problem at a time...   I get as much info as I can before I come to any conclusions.....  good luck....

[hellcatfa]

Well the truck can still drive around a bit. I think the distributor is hosed. It wobbles quite a bit side to side. Getting bad missfire in the intake side firing all plugs, and exhaust side intermittent missfire.

 

Been measuring things up for a vortec v6 with auto trans.

[Charlie69]

Rock Auto sells rebuilt distributors.  If you have a local shop that rebuilds them I suggest that of the Rock Auto ones.

[hellcatfa]

I have never actually been to rock auto.com. It was a great place with lots of parts. Also seems to be a fair price on most.

 

It bothers me to buy a distributor that costs 1/3 the price of the truck. So I will first check junk yards.

 

Last night I squeezed my truck into the garage with only an inch to spare. Now I have to park my bike in the bed of the truck with my table saw.

[Charlie69]

Maybe the bad distributor contributed to the low selling price.  Any way you look at it is still worth fixing.

 

Take a $20 bill and buy 3 cans of gunk engine degreaser (or your preferred engine degreaser) take the left overs of the $20 to a do it yourself car wash with the hi pressure wand and set the machine to soap hose off the engine and compartment and the front suspension.  This will make working on it much cleaner. 

 

Take some before and after pictures.

[hellcatfa]

Today my truck took a dump.

 

 

[hellcatfa]

Today my truck took a dump.

 

[hellcatfa]

[hellcatfa]

[BradHanson]

Question? I have negative camber (top of tires lean toward engine) I have to replace tires yearly. I have no shims to remove to adjust control arm. Any one ever cut and wield an extra inch to the control arm to make it adjustable? 

[datzenmike]

Welcome to Ratsun Brad. You can now make your own post about this instead of in hellcatfa's. To answer, you could lower your 2wd 720. I guess you could weld in some length, though I've never seen this. 

[720inOlyWa]

If you can see your breath on the mornings you start your truck then it's just normal condensation. All vehicles do it.

 

Can't see this leaking so soon after a gasket replacement unless something is severely wrong. A fresh gasket will seal just about anything and blow later.,

 

Did you check the head for being level? It's the most common cause of gasket failure.

Did you remove the intake from the head?

Did you clean the head and the block surfaces absolutely clean? This is critical to good sealing?

Did you torque the head bolts in the proper sequence?... basicaly tightening from the center out to both ends of the head?

 

 

This is so true. And I had a similar experience of being alarmed by ‘smoke‘ during cold starts. . I totally rebuilt everything, and it was all running great. But my first start in the morning, geesze, all this white smoke was pouring out of the tailpipe. Sure, it was a cold morning, and the wifes exhaust was more noticeable too, but my truck make a damn CLOUD that filled the driveway! But it was just steam and as the truck warms up, it stops. I watched it float up and dissipate into the air without a trace.  All I can figure is that this little long stroke motor is compressing the cold air so effectively, it is pounding the moisture right out if it- analog style. Also, I put a Honda Accord muffler on my truck, and I think a fair bit of condensation accumulates in there as it sits overnight. That adds to the cloud too.

 

I know my head is right. I check my plugs and monitor everything to a ridiculous degree. Everything is fine. This little motor just makes a lot of ‘steam‘ during the cold start warm up. It just does.

 

Point is, watch what the cloud does. If it dissipates, maybe no problem. If it goes away as it warms up, probably not a problem. If it doesn‘t, and your plugs look fouled, that‘s another story and you should do what datsunmike says...