My island turquoise 521

[gene knight]

nice work

[Charlie69]

I would where a mask when dealing with that hood fabric, could be asbestos, but I don't know that for sure.

That carpeted dash is likely hiding something you will like even less than the carpet, leave it there till you find a 520 dash top or have a plan, research it before removing carpet.

Most likely the brake adjusters can be taken apart and cleaned, then put back together and function fine, the end without the adjuster is the small end, use a screw driver to remove it, then fill the hole with some PB blaster and let it sit for a while, then put the adjuster in a vise, and using a punch tap the other side out thru the hole, I believe I have only ruined one ever trying to get it out, then soak the adjuster itself and unscrew it out of the sleeve you just knocked out of the adjuster housing, also 720 brake adjusters are the same.

This thing looks like shit, but I got it apart.

 

 

 

Sometimes it takes a while to get them apart, they kinda get seized, but I just stick them in the vice sideways, stick a punch in the hole and start hitting it with a hammer.

Here they are on ebay.

 

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Datsun-520-521-620-720-pickup-Front-Rear-Brake-Adjuster-41201-32200-41200-32200-/172052208944

[mrbigtanker]

Looks good but are you going to leave that pipe sticking out that far.

[rinigado]

Looks good but are you going to leave that pipe sticking out that far.

I want to have it exit more under the reverse light, so that I can fit bumperettes, but I ran out of bends to get that done. Sticking straight out until I reroute it.

[mrbigtanker]

I want to have it exit more under the reverse light, so that I can fit bumperettes, but I ran out of bends to get that done. Sticking straight out until I reroute it.

i ran mine short and dumped it goin down so not to blow carbon on tails. Plus i just dont like the whole chrome tip thing. looking good though.

[rinigado]

got around to pulling the motor this weekend, so that I can go through and replace gaskets, clean up the engine bay, and hopefully start to reduce the size of the oil slick on my driveway. Any of the bolts holding the transmission and motor in place were the easiest bolts to remove from the truck so far, so I guess someone was in there sometime more recently than 1971. When I pulled the oil pan off, I see that the pan is painted  on the inside. Mostly the paints in good shape except closer to the gasket sealing surface. Hopefully this stuff never flakes off?

and it looks like someone did someone did some balancing (grinding) of connecting rods and crank, like this:

 

 

or this:

 

 

Is any of that done at the factory, or afterwards?

 

The engine has a lots of old oily crud on it, and some extra grimy spots like right where timing cover would meet up with the head:

 

 

the back/bottom was also pretty oily; for sure pan gasket has some bad spots, but there's also oil in the bottom of the transmission bellhousing

 

 

and since the motor's out I'll put rear main seal for the extra few bucks. Generally, other than fixing any oil leaks, I also want to clean and paint the motor, and clean/paint some rusty areas on the truck before putting things back together. I'm thinking por15 the block and then top coat with engine enamel. Passenger side of the block is mostly old paint and oil, but driver's side of the block is mostly surface rust, so hoping por15 as a base might work out.

[Crashtd420]

I did the por15 on my block just like you said..... came out good... just make sure you clean it extra good.....

 

And I believe the crank is balanced from the factory ... yours looks like it was done after, mine had only drilled holes.. But it's hard to say for sure...

 

And my last comment is check the pilot bushing..... back of the crank where the transmission shaft inserts....

The brass bushing is only like 5 dollars..

There is also a roller bearing upgrade for like 20.... I can try to find that part number if you want....

[rinigado]

roller bearing seems like overkill for my slow old truck, but that's a good idea about spending the buck or two to replace the bushing while everything's apart. 

 

btw did you do anything to prep the por15 surface before top coat (scuff it? primer? por15 tie coat)?

[Crashtd420]

Ya the roller bearing might be overkill, i used one even if it was... those brass bushings do there job just fine...

 

And what I did to paint the engine was follow the normal prep for por15....

I didnt scuff it really but I used a scotch brite pad to scrub the engine clean..

Basically

1- degrease (I use the por15 degreaser because it cleans up with water)

2- use their metal prep ( also cleans up with water)

3- por15 paint I did 1 coat..

4- por15 engine paint I did 2 coats....

If you paint one coat after the other there is no need for that tie coat, and i used the por15 as the primer basically...

[tr8er]

Por15 sells an etching primer. I've never used it on an engine block, but it works well as your first coat.

[Crashtd420]

You don't really need that primer if you paint each coat one after the other....

I even used por15 on my cab with a flat black single stage top coat over it. .. no primer at all....

the primer is more for cured paint jobs if you want to spray over it without doing any surface prep....