My 720 Resto

[wayno]

Wow, you must be rich, that tank is full. :lol:

 

The plugs are usually taped up inside the dash harness, you likely will have to un-clip the harness from the dash clips along the lower lip to find it.

[Gradyfest]

Dang it bro! I was in northern LA today at the pick your part places, only found four gutted 720s; but I seen that drivers side kick panel you needed! Totally would of grabbed it for you if I'd read this before hand. Mad props on the cluster job by the way, looks great. Get that clock working!

[_chiefjt]

I forget where I found mine but it was taped to a harness using blue tape. And yes it is getting power all the time. When I get time I'll looks but it should be there. I had the same problem with the tach plug. 

[720inOlyWa]

I will have to go digging again. That plug must be up in there somewhere...  Next project will be to integrate the ST volt meter and oil pressure gauges into the console. I loves me some gauges! Thanks for all the feedback, fellow Ratsunites!  (fb, I did find a set of kick panels in this 720 and nabbed them. Thanks for thinking of me!)

[84720FourWheel]

So jealous of your clock. Looks super clean. Have you tried tracing the wires from the fuse box to where the clock connector is? 

[wayno]

That is not an "ST" thing, a lot of 720s had that, I have it in most my builds(520/521/720), you need the kingcab console with the gauges, the pigtail from the harness to the wiring coming from the gauges, you need the sender under the intake manifold of the napZ engine, which is a pain in the ass to get off the block, because you need to use a wrench to loosen it, you cannot just grab the sensor and turn it off, it will just ruin it.

A regular cab console is shorter, that is why you need a kingcab console.

I will have to go digging again. That plug must be up in there somewhere...  Next project will be to integrate the ST volt meter and oil pressure gauges into the console. I loves me some gauges! Thanks for all the feedback, fellow Ratsunites!  (fb, I did find a set of kick panels in this 720 and nabbed them. Thanks for thinking of me!)

Guess what, I found another chrome 720 center cap that I didn't know I had. :lol:

[84720FourWheel]

4x4s all have the center console gauges. Buy a cheap wrench and bend it to get at the pressure sender. 

[720inOlyWa]

Thanks for the advice, wayno- that clock plug was hiding under the bundle of wires that ran in the dash rim there, just like you said. Sneaky little bugger! Once I plugged it in, I just sat there and listened to the second hand ftick, tick, tick away for a few minutes. Awesome!

 

Will do as advised to get the pressure sensor. Do you happen to remember what size of wrench I need to bend up for the job? Can I get it with a flex head wrench?

 

I had an ST console already,so I harvested the gauges. But the way my KC console was cut up before, there is a perfect spot for a faceplate and the gauges. I am going to fabricate a faceplate to fit the existing hole in the existing KC console, with the mounting bracket that came with the ST console. You know what I mean.

 

Is the volt meter plug and play? I really enjoy sleuthing for taped up gauge plugs!

 

I made a trade offer for an ‘86 standard cab 720 today. A Jotul wood stove, and a chainsaw. He’s thinking about it.

 

Thanks, guys!

[wayno]

I cannot remember what size the nut on the back of it is, if the intake manifold is removed, it's a lot easier to get to, and you have to know where the wrench needs bent before you can bend it.

It's likely the flex head wrench/crescent wrench is to fat, there is hardly any room back there. 

Thanks for the advice, wayno- that clock plug was hiding under the bundle of wires that ran in the dash rim there, just like you said. Sneaky little bugger! Once I plugged it in, I just sat there and listened to the second hand ftick, tick, tick away for a few minutes. Awesome!

 

Will do as advised to get the pressure sensor. Do you happen to remember what size of wrench I need to bend up for the job? Can I get it with a flex head wrench?

 

I had an ST console already,so I harvested the gauges. But the way my KC console was cut up before, there is a perfect spot for a faceplate and the gauges. I am going to fabricate a faceplate to fit the existing hole in the existing KC console, with the mounting bracket that came with the ST console. You know what I mean.

 

Is the volt meter plug and play? I really enjoy sleuthing for taped up gauge plugs!

 

I made a trade offer for an ‘86 standard cab 720 today. A Jotul wood stove, and a chainsaw. He’s thinking about it.

 

Thanks, guys!

Here is the sensor on my work truck LZ23 engine(Z22 block) just in front of the starter, as you can see, it is tight against the block, imagine a napZ intake manifold over it and you can get an idea about how hard it is to get to.

[wayno]

You just need to wire the volt meter to a keyed source, but you likely have the plug already in your harness, but unless you know where it is, you almost have to remove the dash to find it, that is why I told you to get the pigtail(mini harness) for the gauges, when you find that part, you will have to unplug it from the harness, so that will give you an idea where to look on your harness, as I recall, it is close to/against the firewall just left of the heater blower motor next to that ground wire back there.

Like everything about these 720s, it's a pain to get to, but once it's working, it seems to keep on working like the energizer bunny, well except the head gaskets, they like to go away on a regular basis unless you re-torque the head bolts every tune up.

The kingcab console has a change tray in front of the shifter, the regular cab console doesn't have it.

The gauge holder is separate from the console, with a visor to shade the gauges themselves.

This is a regular cab console in my 521 work truck, see the gauge holder that holds the gauges, the holder that holds the gauges in position also holds the holder in position.

Here is a kingcab console with the change tray in front of the shifter, doesn't have the gauges here/yet.

M y kingcab with the gauge holder and an aftermarket oil pressure gauge(kingcab console).

And here is my 520 with a kingcab console with gauges.

Here is the gauge holder up close.

[720inOlyWa]

Oh crap- that oil pressure sensor is going to be a job. Okay, well I will find out what I need to know about removal and installation as I scavenge the one off the JY find. It is pretty much down to the intake manifold as is, so it might not be too hard to get to it.

 

Those console photos really helped! On mine, someone took out the plate that says Nissan (Datsun on yours) and put the radio there. (When I bought it, the radio was gone) Then, above, there is a cubby with a lid where I would guess the radio should be, right on the dash. I don’t have tunes yet, but when I do, I will remove the cubby and put them up on the dash, old school. I was going to just mount the gauges where the Nissan plate used to be, down below.

 

Thanks, wayno, those pics really helped me out. You have no idea.  Are the gauge leads up in the dash rim bundle too? I should probably not plug in the oil pressure until I have the sensor installed, right?

[720inOlyWa]

You mentioned ‘pain in the ass to get to’. I’d like to introduce you to the dashboard of my brother in laws 1999 Ford Ranger pickup...  It is literally hell on earth. Moving from that to my 720 feels like a vacation party by comparison. Holy cow, what a POS!

[Charlie69]

Watch Rock Auto for the oil sender I have purchased 2 of them on close out pricing for $11.00 each.  On all the senders I have pulled of used motors they have been loose and leaking at the threads.

[84720FourWheel]

I can check the size of the wrench on monday, got my engine out so it shouldn't be to hard to check.

[720inOlyWa]

Thanks a lot, 84! I got stranded n the rain today, with a starter that would not crank. Turns out the secondary ground cable (and maybe the starter connection) were not so great. One spray with DeOxit and we were back in business. New cables and ‘tune up cable connections’ just went on my short list.

[720inOlyWa]

Just like wayno said...

I haven’t found the plugs yet; I like saving the best for last. I also don’t have my oil pressure sending unit.

But at least the cockpit is now pretty much complete. I like it...

 

[Justin Berni]

Your interior is so clean, I love it.

[wayno]

Where did you get the gauges, the pigtail should have been connected to the back of them.

You can connect the volt meter to a 12V source, but it would just be easier to plug it in the way it's supposed to be, the issue with the 720 harness is that if you grab power off the wrong place, and add a ground to make the gauge work, or especially to get the light to work, it messes stuff up because you added a ground where there is not supposed to be one, the 720 wiring harness is different, the grounds that are in it all need to work, but if you add another one where it's not supposed to be, things act strange, lights come on very, very dimly that you can hardly see unless it is night. 

It's best just to do it with the stock wiring.

 

BTW, keep a lookout for a tan gauge holder, they did make them, fact is I do have a tan one that I would trade for your black one.

[720inOlyWa]

Thanks, wayno. I am def going for the stock connection. I gotta think it is up there somewhere. I just haven’t looked quite yet. I am not the best with electrical stuff, so I would far rather be safe than to start messing with the wiring. Everything seems to be working great now. Why screw with that, right? If this harness had the tach and clock connectors, I gotta think it will have the others... (famous, last.)

 

Judging from the shit I found under the main console, I think that it had not been removed before. So I was surprised to find that it is really blue plastic, with a tan coating. I wondered if my black gauge holder would look crappy, but I kind of like it so far. It matches the black dash cluster, in a way. If this POV changes, I will be right back to trade with you!

[720inOlyWa]

Okay, I looked pretty hard... I found unused one plug, it may be for one of the gauges, taped up out of the way, just behind the heater controls. But it is short, only two inches or so. It would never reach the gauges. I read wayno’s comments to suggest a long lead to the gauges was taped well out of the way, up behind the heater blower. (That would be a long lead to the gauges indeed.) This makes me wonder if there is an intermediary chunk of connecting wiring that I am missing. (Is that what you meant by pigtail, wayno?)

 

Tomorrow, I will go pull the console apart in the jy 720 to see how it is set up in there. That should settle it. I didn’t pull the volt and oil pressure gauges out of it, so if there are still there, presumably the wiring patch would be too.

 

I haven’t found anything else yet, plugwise, but I have def not given up hope. Not by a long shot.

[wayno]

Yes, there is one plug deep in there that is hard to get to, and yes the pigtail is the wiring you are missing, it has one plug at one end that  plugs into the plug you found, the other end has 2 plugs, that plug into the 2 plugs on the console gauges.

[720inOlyWa]

When it comes to figuring out how things go together, it is hard to beat pulling them apart in the yard...

[wayno]

The reason I know so much about the 720 wiring harness is because I use them in my builds, my 1969 521 kingcab has a 720 diesel wiring harness in it, my 1966 520 has a 1980 720 gasser wiring harness in it, and this means I have taken it out of a 720, and put it in my 521/520, one learns a lot about them when converting over to other rigs.

One interesting thing I found out was that square and round headlights are wired differently, so I had to re-wire the headlight plug wires, that is when I found out that the headlight circuit is strange in the 720, you see the little brights indicator light in the dash has 2 wires, and neither of them are a ground, so which one will the light come on when the brights are on in a 521 instrument cluster, well neither of them/both of them, when I tried both of them singlely in the cluster, it made the headlights fuck up, you see I was trying to add a ground to make the brights indicator light work, I finally figured out that I had to use both wires and isolate it from the ground(I used a plastic bulb holder), then everything worked right, the same thing will happen if you were to try to use the dash lights to make your console gauge lights work, you see wiring the lights yourself, you would likely try to use one wire from the dash lights to make the console gauge lights come on, and that will screw up all the dash lights, as you will have added a ground where there isn't supposed to be one, that is why I said use the stock wiring, as they figured it all out already, and everything will work.

 

When it comes to figuring out how things go together, it is hard to beat pulling them apart in the yard...

[720inOlyWa]

Damn- too late!!!

Somebody grabbed the gauge pigtail over the weekend. They got the oil pressure sending unit, too. This guy knew what he was doing. I don’t care so much about losing out on the sending unit, but losing that pigtail hurts. 

 

So, back to the drawing boards. I have no idea how and when I will get my hands on one of those pigtails, but that is all part of the fun, right? Ugh.

[84720FourWheel]

The sender is easier to get to if you remove the starter. The sending unit is a 14mm, you can get a new one from rockauto for like 30 bucks.. I'll keep a lookout on Ebay for the pigtail.