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Fallen for Datsun, Need guidance


deerio

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Hey all, I've had this desire to work on a project for a long time and while a VW singlecab is my ultimate desire, my wallet simply cannot afford it.  But after seeing these trucks I've got a huge smile on my face and would like some direction in which way to go!  I recently sourced one quite far from me but the trip might be worth it if it's anything like what I see in the pictures.  There is nothing on the ad but the owner saying it used to run until the starter went bad.  But to be honest I'm not even sure what I'm looking at and don't know what questions to ask.  Anyways, here are the pictures of the vehicle:

 

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The good news is.. that looks like an a series engine swapped in there so a replacement starter isn't going to be a big problem.

 

Looks like a 320 (edit) truck? More expert than I will chime in on this. Welcome to Rastun, you have arrived.

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"Looks like a 30 truck? More expert than I will chime in on this. Welcome to Rastun, you have arrived."

 

Fixed?

Looks like a 320 truck? More expert than I will chime in on this. Welcome to Ratsun, you have arrived.

 

The truck looks like most of it is there.  It looks like a very good start.  Wayno will probably chime in, he knows a lot more about these trucks than I do.

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Looks like it's in Spokane?  Internet search with a partial phone number "???-???-0001", "towing" and "Francis" (partial info on towing sign) yields Nelson's Towing. (509) 487-0001.

 

Consider any first project the price of tuition, and expect it to cost about the same as a quarter's worth of college tuition.  Well worth it for what you'll learn.

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q-tip went and looked at this truck, he left without buying it, this is what he said about it.  

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Quote from q-tip

 

The body and interior are in great shape, the a12 was installed horribly, they just welded flat bar to what ever cross me member was closest to the mounts and bolted to that. And they just torched out the rear most cross member, the one under the middle of the bed. A little too hacked up for my liking. Thanks for all your help wayne!! -Tyler

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I said and asked 

 

That's kinda sad, it looks really good in the photos.

A12 engines might be hard to find parts for.

Did the engine have the mounts in the front or middle?

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q-tips answer

 

Looked more in the middle, they had no isolator on it either, straight metal to metal.

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Holy cow thanks for the heads up! The guy actually just texted me and he said plan on replacing the motor. I do plan on making this a long term project and hopefully learn a lot on the way, but reading your post makes me wonder what else is hacked up. Although if it's only the motor that's the main issue then I'm kinda tempted to try.

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After doing some (very little) reading, how much time/difficult/cost would it be to replace with a J13, L16, L18, or L20B?

Personally I would not try to fit an L series engine in a 320, it has been done though, read the thread, he bought it with the L series engine in it and drove it that way for a while, it now has a rotary engine in it.

https://www.google.com/url?q=http://community.ratsun.net/topic/36253-1964-datsun-nl320/page-8&sa=U&ei=pjarU8b_OcvYoATHy4HoAQ&ved=0CAYQFjAB&client=internal-uds-cse&usg=AFQjCNGoYy1m3aZekLotOn6j8dauyrgfxA

 

J blocks are hard to get parts for, forklift places have some if you know what to ask for.

I personally think the A series engines fit fairly good, I had a 1965 Datsun L320 with an A15, 5 spd, dualSUs and it was fun to drive, felt like it had almost as much power as an L20b in my work truck, but the 320 is a lot lighter.

Here are a few photos of the 65 L320 I had.

A15 engine/5 speed dogleg transmission out of some B210 car.

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Here is the truck

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Here is what some kid did to it, he hit me head on while screaming around a corner, I was just sitting at a stop sign watching him coming, I could not do anything about it.

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Wayno thanks for those pics, I didn't realize how small that bay was! I kinda assumed it was similar to a 520 which I saw an L20B in that looked fairly decent. That A15 does look great tho! Are they fairly easy to find stock/reproduction parts for? I got read up on its potential, I ultimately plan on having a decent reliable semi-daily driver. Oh and that truck looks sweet, sad to see well taken care of cars banged up!!!

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Wayno thanks for those pics, I didn't realize how small that bay was! I kinda assumed it was similar to a 520 which I saw an L20B in that looked fairly decent. That A15 does look great tho! Are they fairly easy to find stock/reproduction parts for? I got read up on its potential, I ultimately plan on having a decent reliable semi-daily driver. Oh and that truck looks sweet, sad to see well taken care of cars banged up!!!

That black paint hides a lot of rust holes in the rockers, it was just a fun daily driver truck, I used it to transport my remote control airplanes to and from the flying field, one of them got broke in the wreck also.

As I said, others have managed to squeeze in an L series block in that engine bay, but it is a tight fit.

I was very happy with that engine and carb setup, it zipped around real good, it would go 70+ with plenty more waiting to be used, but the front end on that truck was so loose, that 65 was all the faster I wanted to go, it got all squirrely and basically loose feeling, like it didn't know which way it wanted to go, but it had really wide tires on it front and back.

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Even with the 1200 i think it would be a zippy little truck.. If you broke the bank and bought a 5speed i think it would probably be just right for bopping around town and getting on freeway.

It don't have motor mounts, the engine was bolted straight to the frame, metal to metal, that is a great recipe for breaking drive train parts, and generally it would just be a rattle trap.

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The 320 came stock with a 1200 engine and no one ever called it zippy.

 

The A12 engine make 15% more power than the 320 engine, but its still not zippy even when in a lighter vehicle.

 

Go with the A15. That has the toque to pull the heavier 320 and the HP to push the 320 to 70+ mph easily.

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The 320 came stock with a 1200 engine and no one ever called it zippy.

 

The A12 engine make 15% more power than the 320 engine, but its still not zippy even when in a lighter vehicle.

 

Go with the A15. That has the toque to pull the heavier 320 and the HP to push the 320 to 70+ mph easily.

 

Maybe most of those people didn't have their foot close enough to the floor.  My buddie Von has a 1300 520 ( that others have complained are underpowered)  and even loaded down with shit,, i bet you $50. bucks he will scare you by driving way to fast in it. Zippy may not be the right word but if you ever rode with that die in the wool Datsun freak,, that drives like a demon straight from hell every where he goes,, zippy is what you'll be thinking.

 

:lol:

 

He owned Teds old blue NL (before Ted) and when he had that thing running, we flew into Oly and were peeling out everywhere we went.

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The 320 came stock with a 1200 engine and no one ever called it zippy.

 

The A12 engine make 15% more power than the 320 engine, but its still not zippy even when in a lighter vehicle.

 

Go with the A15. That has the toque to pull the heavier 320 and the HP to push the 320 to 70+ mph easily.

 

Maybe most of those people didn't have their foot close enough to the floor.  My buddie Von has a 1300 520 ( that others have complained are underpowered)  and even loaded down with shit,, i bet you $50. bucks he will scare you by driving way to fast in it. Zippy may not be the right word but if you ever rode with that die in the wool Datsun freak,, that drives like a demon straight from hell every where he goes,, zippy is what you'll be thinking.

 

:lol:

 

He owned Teds old blue NL (before Ted) and when he had that thing running, we flew into Oly and were peeling out everywhere we went.

 

That would be JJ alright, ask him next time you see him if he owned a VW bug with a shack for a back half back in the early 80s.

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