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My 521 project- new to Ratsun


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I have just got my first Datsun home. It only took 45 years! I have always had an affection for Datsun's, especially the 240Z.

 

I just picked this truck up and my son and I are going to get it up to a daily driver for him. It will be his first vehicle. My criteria was

1. 2 seater

2. Slow

3. A truck so he can haul his dirt bike and ski's etc.

4. A simple vehicle to work on.

5. A stick to keep his hands busy and off the phone like all of the mindless people in their 2pedal cars!

6. He will come to realize how cool these trucks are.

 

I thank everyone in advance for their help. I have been wrenching on my bikes and cars for a long time and have some skills, I'm a parts changer basically. Electrical is not my forte for certain. I have my Haynes manual on the way. I found 1 copy online of the Datsun service manual. I don't think it was complete though. It did not have any info on the carb or setting the valves...

 

There is a long list of work to be done. I am shooting for next June to have it on the road.

 

It is a 1971 or 2 PL521 596701

The registration has it as a 1972

Manufactured in 06/71 ( with bikes 09 and later was the next years model)

 

Here are the photos

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http://s1174.photobucket.com/user/motopilot350/media/Datsun%20521/20160807_171448_zpsconcyop4.jpg.html"]

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521 are Sae threads so dont confuse with later Datsuns like the 510. well at least the body and brakes. the motor is of coarse all metric.

 

Olddatsuns.com in the tech section has most write ups so read all the fisrt before making yourself look lazy.

 

72 is a elelctric choke model

 

 

dont do as I did. Grease all the fron suspenstion. Kingpins to the steering ,tierods ect. 521s needs this!!!!!!!!

 

 

ck the trans oil ASAP

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Thanks Hainz,

I have looked up quite a few topics already. I will need to post some pics asking "what is this" or what should be here.

 

I am cleaning and putting the carb back together today. It starts fine, but has a huge flat spot between partial throttle and wide open. I have to get the rpm pretty high to move or it dies.

 

It sat for a long time from what I can gather.

 

I am going to clean the carb, put on the matchbox dizzy I got with it (D4K8 -078502 22100-W6706 from a 79 620 L20B Can AT from what I searched)

New cap, rotor, plugs and wires.

 

Then figure out the vacuum hoses. A few are plugged and one was disconnected from the stock air cleaner.

 

Timing checked

 

Check the valves

 

At least that's my plan.

 

It is a cable choke. I think it must be a 71' but it could have been Frankensteined together. The choke was hooked up to the lever in the pic below. I was wondering what is missing. It looks like it is missing a cover. I could not find a very good fiche online of the stock carb exploded view to help identify it

20160807_171309_zpsthrim8do.jpg

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Well that one is an electric choke but it could be off of anything after 45 years. I had a Canadian '72 and I seem to remember a pull choke on it. As to the year I'll look up the number you posted. June is usually the model year change but back then it sometimes jumped around.

 

Flat spot off idle could be the slow circuit.

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nice looking truck. Think it would look better with stock wheels.

 

Yes that a electric choke buy maybe people can use a manual choke adapter one can buy. ts a cap with a pull wire to pull that tab/lever you see.  I have a hard time adjusting mine when I had a stock carb.

Be honest you really only need the vac line from the base of the carb to the distributor. The rest is nice to have for the stock aircleaner but no ness for it to run.

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Go to this page, scroll about 2/3 of the way down.  Download the Datsun 521 body and chassis service manual.

http://www.davidcmurphy.com/olddat/620tech.htm

 

Got farther down, down load the Nissan L-16, L-18 service manual.

 

1972 Datsun 521 trucks had a door on the air cleaner snorkel that drew warm air off the exhaust manifold.  There was a temperature sensor inside the air cleaner that opened the door to cool air when the temperature in the air cleaner got too warm.  This was all controlled by engine vacuum.

 

If you have a vacuum leak, possibly from missing hoses for the air cleaner door, or distributor advance, or an air pump system into the exhaust, that could be a big reason for the off idle stumble

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Thats the same carb/choke i have on my 521. its an electric choke, but you can buy a kit to convert to manual. i could not find the parts i needed to keep it as an automatic choke, so i bought a universal manual choke kit from O'Rielly's (Partsource/Canadian Tire in Canada) and put that in. Works well, just have to route the cable in such a way that there are very few curves.

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Thanks Datzenmike,

 

Maybe it is a 72 then. I would prefer the manual choke. It does have the cable, knob all working..with some lube etc. They must have modified the electric out of it...which leads me to my next question. Are there any components remaining left over. There is a switch mounted to the bracket that holds the throttle cable. The switch is made when you are at wide open throttle. Maybe the choke kick down?

 

I was just out and got the carb kit so I can put it back together. I cleaned all of the Jets and the carb with a combination of my ultra sonic cleaner, carb cleaner and toothbrush and my compressed air.

 

Hainz,Daniel

 

Thanks for the info and link

 

I will see if there is any change once I have all the vacuum system proper again.

 

A new cap,rotor and plugs with wires will arrive this afternoon for the matchbox install. I will run it as is first with the carb clean so I have a reference point. I may get them in tonight.

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Well that one is an electric choke but it could be off of anything after 45 years. I had a Canadian '72 and I seem to remember a pull choke on it. As to the year I'll look up the number you posted. June is usually the model year change but back then it sometimes jumped around.

 

Flat spot off idle could be the slow circuit.

Hey Mike in 72 did Canada have electricity?  LOL

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The carb is rebuilt and back on the truck. I will try to run the Stock unit for now. I installed the Matchbox dizzy and it is running nicely with some adjustments.

 

I am waiting to do the valves and set the timing until my son is home from holidays so we can work on it together. I need to study vacuum system and find out where all of the vac lines and breather hoses go so that I can have the stock air cleaner back on and everything plumbed correctly. I do need a pcv valve hose for sure.

 

Anyone have a good replacement for the hood latch cable? Mine looks like the threaded porting at the handle end is broken off. I will see what I can do with that.

 

Thanks for all the help

 

Inspecting and adjusting the brakes now.

 

Cheers

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I have been running a Matchbox distributor with a ballast resistor, and stock 521 coil in this truck,

http://community.ratsun.net/topic/30606-my-ratsun-datsun-521/

for about five? years now.

I have not posted a lot in that thread, because the truck just keeps running, without giving me any problems.  Two weeks ago, I hauled home another ton of wood pellets preparing for winter.

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"Right" is running the proper coil.

My thought on wiring it that way is this.  On a stock oh, lets say a 1979 620 with a matchbox distributor, both coil plus, and the "B" terminal of the matchbox get the same voltage.

The "B" terminal on the matchbox is used to power the matchbox electronics. 

I thought putting both the "B" terminal, and the coil plus on a points type coil at the same, but lower voltage would be better than running the matchbox electronics at a higher voltage than the coil was getting, but I very well could be wrong.  I am sure it does compromise spark output.

 

But I have been running my 521 wired like the above diagram for about three years now, and it seems to work fine.

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well on the Pertronix instruction it says not to do it this way as it might cause a Low voltage but have seen people run it this way.with out any proplems.

I think the matchbox itself wont know if there is a point coil or not. but its design to run the full 12/14volts. weither a EI coil or not.  Its only the point coil designed to run off 6 volt were the ballast is needed as I assume the windings get hot and might melt the insulation

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The main point, in my mind.  Running the matchbox control unit and the stock "use with ballast resistor" 521 coil on my 521/L-16 truck on ignition power after the ballast resistor works.  It has for four years now, without problems.

 

Having said that, is my way of wiring a Matchbox distributor the best way?  I do not know.  I would probably have to have a conversation with the engineer that designed the circuitry inside the matchbox module itself.

 

I do know this.  When I first got the Matchbox distributor, with no coil, pedestal, or timing plate, I "breadboarded" a circuit with a stock coil, and ballast resistor, to even see it it worked.  It obviously did, and in checking a few things, I put an ammeter in the circuit to see how much current the Matchbox and coil used.  I found that if the Matchbox rotor is not spinning, the system draws very little current, in other works, the Matchbox shuts off the coil current when the engine is not running.  As RPM increases, the Matchbox system draws more current. 

 

Based on that knowledge, if there is a problem with using the ballast resistor in series with a ballast resistor, I would expect tit to show up at hight RPM.  Again, I have not experienced any problems

 

Do not assume I am trying to say "you are wrong, and I am right"  I am just saying "This wiring has worked for me"   There is a lot of "if it ain't broke, do not fix" in my mindset of trying to improve the wiring of the matchbox distributor wiring on my truck.

 

If I was running a Pertronix system, I would definitely wire it as Pertronix recommends.   But I am running the more reliable Nissan Matchbox distributor, and there are no factory instructions on how to correctly wire the more modern distributor into a older vehicle.

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Hainz, the truck is actually for my son. He will be fully licenced by June next year. We will use the winter to get it ready and spend time together. He needs to save up money to insure it as well.

 

Daniel

Thanks for the diagram. I take want to clean up the wiring. Now I have a few leads not connected. I followed the wiring guide from the electronic ignition thread in this forum.

 

At present there is more than 1 Random wire that is not hooked up to anything. I will trace the colors and found it what they are supposed to be connected to.

 

I want to clean up the distributor prion and high energy coil first.

 

Opinions on whewe to source a coil? No Datsun in any wrecking yard in my area. I would rather buy a new one anyway.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Here is an update on my progress so far.

 

The truck started pretty decent, but had a major bog of idle. Plenty of fuel being sprayed from the accelerator pump. There is only one vacuum from the intake which I have going straight to the vac advance on the dizzy. I have been working on it wth the aircleaner off. I cannot see any other place for a vacuum line directly from the carb base plate.

 

To recap what I have previously done.

The carb was rebuilt and the matchbox dizzy installed. New cap, rotor, plugs and wires.

 

My plan was to set the valves, check compression and set the timing.

 

I set the valves.

 

These are the measures I got. All were adjusted to the spec. Check was done cold. .010 exh .008 intake

 

This was what they were at before I adjusted them. From the front.

E .011 I .070 I .060 E .012 E .012 I .006 I .005 E .011

Not too bad

( side note) It does push some blue when it starts and revved a bit. It also only runs on 3 or stumbles at first.

 

Compression, cold first number is "dry" second is after a squirt of oil in the cylinder. WOT and a new battery fully charged.

 

1. 135/145

 

2. 135/142

 

3. 130/145

 

4. 134/145

 

 

Now the timing. The dizzy is installed with the matchbox away from the exhaust. This puts the vac advance up against the rad hose. It is a bit of a PITA. The dizzy I have is form a 79 620 from the numbers on it tell me. It rotates counter clockwise on this model. 521 made in 6/71.

 

20160819_093857_zpsitk5oima.jpg

This is TDC Num 1

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20160819_093556_zpsahtpoxl0.jpg

 

20160819_093627_zpsgaapkivt.jpg

 

20160819_093605_zpsx30razbu.jpg

 

20160818_140120_zpsimlfpj1m.jpg

 

 

20160818_140144_zpsi37mht5v.jpg

 

 

If I think about adjusting it from below at the oil pump another tooth I don't know it will change this. I will take some pics of the distributor at TDC and rotor at number 1 to show the reluctor postition. The one above is close. With the base and moving it away from the exhaust this is the only way I could mount it.

 

My vac advance is hooked up here the to dizzy.

 

image_zpsovxbnojv.jpeg

 

I set it at TDC using the cam position with looking at the piston in the number 1 cyclinder and the timing mark on the pulley and pointer. The pics show the cam sprocket notch and oblong post valve adjustment. The pointer was off a bit, so I adjusted it to the TDC mark on the pulley. This model has the 5 notches, 5 TDC 5BTDC 10 and 15.

 

Currently if I set it at around 7-10 btdc. At this setting it won't accelerate smoothly at all. Backfiring through the carb and wanting to die if the throttle is punched. If I advance it to a point off of the scale(past the 15 btdc) it runs great. Accelerates easily and is drivable. I am confused at this point. I need to get a vacuum gauge and test the vacuum pressure from the intake and then test the dizzy vac advance.

 

I will time it again with a light that has a tach built in. I was just doing it by ear this time as that is all I had. The rpm increases as I advance it and it runs better on acceleration from idle. Yes I know it won't be exact but not that far off. Any input on why it only runs well at that far advanced?

 

 

Armed with this info I need to decide what to do next. The goal is a smooth running engine. Mechanically sound. It is for my son to learn on, so I don't need a lot of power. A simple truck that he can learn some mechanics on I can teach him.

 

I need to look at either re ring this one and do the valves. It does have a small leak from the front crank seal that I have noticed. Probably another couple here and there. I washed it down really well. It had a lot of oil soaked dirt covering everything. It was on a farm at one time. I parked it on the incline of the driveway after a quick test around the neighbourhood and it had 3 spots under it. The oil pressure sender was leaking and I swapped it out. On flat ground nothing much though.

 

I will look for maybe an L18 to swap out. Not easy to find anymore and what are they worth. L18 seems an easier swap with less modifications needed to fit it in.

 

More research to be done.

 

I have read a fair bit on numerous threads searching this up. I know I need to look at more to be fully educated on the swap.

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SET MOTOR TO TDC FROM THE CRANK!!!!!!never by the cam, this is your reference. Now if your pointer is off you better figure all this out first before showing up this. It just adds to confussion.

 

Now I don't know where you got that vaccum line coming from the bottom  intake manifold to the carb as you say. That's not it. Its at the base of the carb for the dist.. That goes to the fuel vent or something like that. Just remove it and plug it up. really I think it goes to the place where that bolt is stuck in the hose right there.

 

Now if the match box is set correctly and the valves adjusted correctly and cam timming lines up then nothing wrong with the motor with the comp ratio you gave.Its fine.

 

either timming is set slightly off or you have a carb issue.

 

 

vaccum line from the carb is near the  carb base and goes to the dist vac advance .. you adjust the mixture screw in/out till its smooth then run it(it has a tension spring on there).  If dist is timed on the correct tooth you should be able to go from 0 - +25deg btdc  just by using the slot on the dist mount. if the dist is clock all to one side to run then something is off.

 

 

fuck the vacuum guage I never used one.

 

 

olddatsuns.com has my L motor vids. watch them first You tube

 

 

you don't need a L18

 

 

oh show us how you wired up the dist also.  what coil you use and what you do with the ballast resisitor? 

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The compression is low.  Factory minimum is 159. 

Use the crank for setting TDC.  Even Nissan L-engine cam chains stretch.  Besides, the distributor is driven off the crankshaft.

Different L-engines had number one spark plug tower in different locations.  There are two bolts for setting the ignition timing.  The distributor sits on a pedestal, and there is a timing plate between the distributor, and the pedestal.  One bolt for setting ignition timing goes up from the bottom of the timing plate into the distributor body, the other bolt for setting timing goes down through the timing plate into the pedestal.  This is the bolt more commonly used to adjust the timing.

 

Because you are using a more modern distributor that did not come on the L-16 engine, you need to check if it is clocked right.  Turn the engine crankshaft clockwise until you are at 10 degrees before TDC, number one cylinder.  If the cam cover is off, look at the camshaft lobes for number one to be at about 10:00 and 2:00.  if number four cylinder has the cam lobes in this position, turn the engine 360 degrees clockwise.

Stop turning the engine at 10 degrees before TDC.  If you go too far, turn the engine two complete revolutions clockwise, and stop at 10 degrees BTDC.

Put the distributor on the engine, and turn the rotor until it drops in place.  When it drops down, look at the rotor and stator (pick up) inside the distributor.  The points on the rotor and stator (not the old school breaker points) should line up.   With both timing bolts slightly loose, you should be able to line up the stator and rotor points, exactly, and be near the middle of the adjustment slots on the timing plate.

 

Put the rotor, the one just under the distributor cap on the distributor shaft.  Mark the side of the distr9butor body where the cap rotor points.  Put the distributor cap on the distributor.  The spark plug wire tower by the mark you just made in the number one plug wire.  Firing order on the cap is 1, 3, 4, 2, counterlockwise.

 

You should be able to get the timing close enough just by carefully lining up the rotor and stator points in the distributor, with the engine at 10 degrees BTDC.  You do not really need the timing light.  when the truck us running better, drive it, and advance the ignitio  timing until it knocks, then retard the timing 2 or 3 degrees.

 

When setting the carb, adjust the valves, set the timing, warm the truck up.

Disconnect the distributor vacuum advance, and plug the line.

Set idle speed at 750 RPM.  I do use a vacuum gauge to set the carb.  If you are really good at tuning by ear, you may not need a vacuum gauge, but it makes setting the carb easier.  Turn the idle mixture screw one way or the other.  If the engine speeds up, turn the idle speed screw back out to get the 750 RPM idle.  Work the idle mixture to get the highest idle speed, or highest vacuum, at 750 RPM.  When you find the best spot, turn the idle mixture screw in to drop idle speed about 25 to 50 RPM.

Reconnect the distributor vacuum hose.

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Thanks very much.

 

I will get the truck running right eventually with help from the forum. I get to spend 1 more week at the lake to end the summer and then I will get back to work on the truck some more.

 

I may have a weber coming as a local guy is selling a new one that he didn't use. I will check it out to make sure it is a Spanish Weber.

 

Thanks again.

 

DanielC.

 

I got the part number for the Mygrant window channel. Thanks for that info. What have you found for the weather seal/squeegee/wiper as a replacement. I found some on the Thailand eBay ads so far.

 

Thanks

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