musicman

"New" shift knob added to replace stock Nissan knob. I took one of my wife's vintage home interior door knobs and bored out the square opening to proper size and tapped it to Nissan threads. It is pretty cool, very Ratsun and super solid... as well as removable. Patina fits the truck finish perfectly. My son and I replaced the clutch, drive line U joints and seals and put on the new boot. Grandpa's forest radio gear left the marks on the floor tunnel. This was a cool load: our baby grand piano went north 100 miles on I-5 to its new home. I bored through floor of bed at frame brace points, near front and rear and installed hefty "D" rings for anchor tie-downs. I was also advised to place a "D" ring on top of each wheel well for a mid point anchor. My piano mover provided the piano blankets and sled. There were lots of thumbs-up along the way. The 720 likes carrying a good load. Check out the D-ring connections. I prefer the floor connections rather than the stock hooks on upper bed sides. We recently added stock black center caps (wheel covers) from my son's newer Nissan pickup--and they look great. We replaced gaskets on valve cover and oil pan of our Nissan Z engine. I could not find (clear) water leaks inside the cab, so I treated a few small rust areas, and bored a couple corner drain holes in the floor and sprayed on a black undercoat/weather coat over the floor pan. 720 doesn't leak as bad as my old MG... but it does rain a lot in Oregon. A couple of years now after the Weber Carb, we've installed new ball joints, shocks, and adjusted steering play, and the rig drive better than the early 90's! The new seat covering, tach, and conversion to variable wipers has all made our 720 base model a winner!

Inspiring from beginning to now! Great incorporation of body lines and wheel works. Bravo Datto.

Silky- I liked listening your new Weber 38 38 set-up a week ago. The engine response is very sharp and quick. The complete re-install of engine and transmission is like cool music... I hope to get up your way again for the ride in the "new" Goon. You said something about some necessary reworking of the exhaust system: Your pictures have been a good thing; maybe a short video to hear your Goon won't fit with in your study load at L & C, even so, good Job man!

Silky_ Are you bringing the goon to supper tomorrow? See you then.

Hey son, Looking good! I'm smiling. :thumbup: Watching your goon-build come together intrigues me for its mechanical 'artiness,' its attraction, and the enjoyment of seeing decades old Japanese engineering all fitting together as one machine. Your fuse box and relays turned out neat inside passenger compartment. It is all beginning to look more simple. Yesterday was a mighty warm 90- degree day for dropping in an engine. It sounds as though the engine may have went back in, solo, easier this time. I finished cleaning and reorganizing my garage/shop/bench yesterday--all ready for the next 720 time. musicman

Great progress; you've got a lot on your To-Do list. Your wiring is looking cleaner. I'm pretty impressed with your process! Thanks for the oiks, The dad.

Here's cheap way to visualize 2 inch lower in front... The 720 smile.

What's the latest on reassembly?

My 720 has had slight tendency to get over-warm after about 4 minutes of run time (depending on speed and traffic). After a few minutes the temp returns to normal. I cannot remember when the thermostat was changed between four drivers: me and my three sons (It didn't get written down or receipt get saved)... Out goes the t-stat to be replaced with correct Nissan OEM stat. This wasn't as much fun as coolant work on my 1939 Ford one-tonner "express" pickup truck. The 720 deflector pan had to come off and the drain screw dribbled coolant all along the bottom of the radiator housing and frame member: slimy, messy... Notice that the bleeder wiggle valve was not installed in up position; it is facing toward the rear of engine (9:00). Maybe this was a tiny reason why cooling system pushed toward warm in the first few moments before settling down to mid range. The wiggle valve goes upward (12:00) There is just a bit of brown-ish sediment on the thermostat--it wipes off easily. I haven't flushed a cooling system in about 30 years. This 'Newbie' needs best & simple effective way to flush out the system. If looks matter, the Nissan t-stat looks 'cooler.' I have a 1985 factory service manual coming to me in a few days. Haynes says get rid of the wire connectors when changing the hoses, and go with band type connectors. I noticed that the wires really dug into the hose to the extent I don't want to use the same hose, even though the hose seems otherwise fresh. Is Haynes advice ok? Bottom radiator hose feels fresh... heater hoses seem happy--they all have the Nissan wire connectors. To leave then alone or change them all, that is the question. Haynes also says to use silicon sealant on both sides gasket for assembly. Sounds like that is correct to me. Is this surface cleaned up enough? not scratched nor gouged! I'll pick up a new upper hose and clamps tomorrow and go with a 50/50 mix for coolant. The family truck has always been a Plain-Jane. The radio delete panel came out more than 25 years ago when Silky_Johnson's grandfather installed a Bi-mart Sparko-matic radio. The music is long gone, so I purchased this radio delete box from DREWSDIME to complete the no-nonsense look. This was a fun buy. Hmm, my dash is cracked--that's extra patina for me. The floor is original and worth leaving alone... except for a worn through place under foot pedals. I believe the vinyl has done more to keep rust away from the floor pan than would've been the case with carpet. Does anyone know where to purchase tan vinyl floor for 720 Nissan base model pickup? I have not found OEM factory product anywhere. I found a listing in Australia that looks somewhat close to the original. It is somewhat fair priced, but the shipping is nearly as much as the vinyl floor. Tomorrow, the 720 is back on the road again.

I'm impressed how fast you got back into the clutch. I want to follow your work and see lots of oics of your build progress; you're doing well man. I am looking forward to the next ride with you on 99 and beyond. I sense your wave of renewed enthusiasm!

A nearly unbelievable buy; I cannot figure how this was let go for $500. What is the condition of the interior? stock? Let's see the engine! Congratulations.

Silky- are you any closer to solution? Would pulling engine &trans be time to replace 4 with a 5 speed? Clutch anomaly sounds like it has nothing to do with gear-box though. Is it time yet for another set of Ratsun eyes? I'm betting you're going to find a precise fix as you've eliminated many variables. But then again I'm just a musicman guy.

Hey Sticker, I have been interested, and followed your link on cardomain and here at Ratsun... so this is your 720?! http://www.cardomain.com/ride/3298132 I am a fan of the short cabs, and I am impressed with your set-up. I like oiks of your 720 running through the pylons. Silky_Johnson, my son, says I should consider dropping 3" up front on my 720. I am curious about the ride-- I nearly jumped to buy an ST steering wheel for my pickup; I think if I wait long enough, skinny stock steering wheels will be get cool again, as will steel stock wheels. Even so, I've always liked the 60's look of chrome wheels and baby moons. Nice straight lines on your rig!

It rained on and off today, and I am so glad I now have variable speed wipers. A very good upgrade. Thanks again Draker.

Here's where I began my 720 variable wiper system upgrade last night. My wife let me park the 'new' components on her lace table cloth. Draker sold me the signal amplifier on the left, with the 3-plug mini snake connector. The combination switch housing unit was out of a ST tilt steering wheel unit (I did not know this at the time, but was cautioned by Abe Foreman). Note the pinkish plastic around the wiper control. I ended up not using any the harness plugs or wires at bottom of this picture. The green wire multi plug coming out of the housing is for light control. Evidently I left a penny on the table so you can know the scale-- not. So here is the attempt to first remove the base switch side of the combo unit. It is sitting by the larger housing that already has the variable controls removed. There was a point of no return that felt like moments before a calamity happens... my base switch pieces flew all over the table, and I had a quick lessen to put everything back to where it belonged. No panic yet... Below you can see my original small diameter housing with new variable wiper in place. I do not recommend anyone to make the switch. You need quiet, small hands, delicate treatment of copper triangle contacts, toothpicks to insert 6 small springs, as well as loading spring and small roller bearing on the other other side of this white unit. The pinkish sacrificial housing is headed to the scrap box-- So, I 'think' this will work; maybe. Both light and wiper arms test and operate ok. It is ready to mount on column and plug in the four connectors I quit at about 11 PM with this picture of near calamity in my mind. I know where all these pieces go, but I'm not going to bore you unless you really need to know--or you want the leftovers. Another look at the back side of combo switch before going to the truck. This doesn't show much, except that I need better light at 11. The hanging plugs all plugged into the combo base housing and were obvious connections. This portion of the harness all fits inside the steering clam-shell. First disconnected battery so all relay systems and components are safe! I made an attempt to use some white-out to line up the steering wheel for reassembly. You can see the flats that are notched around the end of the black steering column for the steering lock. The large ST tilt combo unit would never work here. Steering column top and bottom covers needs to come off--but you could almost make all connections with the bottom half still in place. The round black grommet around the ignition switch slides out easy for removing the lower half of cover. One more shot of the bone pile before tomorrow install of the good stuff. Rectangular shaped white plastic covers a long spring and the larger of the two ball roller bearings on the signal indicator switch. Don't mess with removing screw on back side or you will be in need of small hands to put it back together. Here is the finished inside install of variable wiper works. The non-intermittent gear does not have the black line to the two spade plug which I believe connects to the amplifier rheostat. Here is the work on next morning (today). I could not take an oik of lots of study of wiring diagrams, plugs, lots of semi-stress wondering where things connect. I have heard that the amplifier is hard to find. I looked long and hard... I found the right plug for the amplifier that was included in my purchase from Draker. The plug was hanging by a wire and was connected to nothing. I'm glad they left that for me when the truck was manufactured! The majority of wires below plug into 6-plug amp system connection, and the lone red with blue stripe wire on right plugs in to small rheostat plug. They all have a place that fits and makes sense. No that is not orange blood on the amplifier plug. I overcame my neatness urge and left some good quality dirt where it had been 20+ years. signal amplifier for the variable end-of-the-switch adjuster of intermittent wiper Draker and others have shown where they had to either splice the green wires from light control side of of combo unit, or open up the brass connectors to join the new system to the old. All the right colored wires looked good to me, so with much thought, I simply plugged my lights connectors back together--you can see them hanging below the combo unit. I did not add wires, cut wires, combine wires. Is this too easy? Here is another oik showing the green light connectors just below the white housing--they looked ok to me. I hooked up the battery, started the truck and everything worked. Wow! Happy Day. This is why I went to all the trouble... variable intermittent wiper upgrade in my base model 720. Looks good, "but would it work?" I kept thinking about all the little piece of springs, bearings, sliding plates of plastic and metal.. I had to remove a bit of the steering column housing so that the new variable wiper arm could fully come up to off position. I'll clean that up later. I ran the truck before I put the dash cluster back in. I had immediate victory (and relief)! All functions of wipers work great and all functions of lights and signals work like they are supposed to. The delay of wipers is really cool and sophisticated for this little 720--quiet and smooth. In another situation, I'd recommend that you find variable wiper system in a smaller steering column diameter (white plastic) , not the larger tilt wheel, ST housing with the wrong over-sized pink plastic. I disconnected battery again and put all the pieces back together. I put the steering wheel back on the column and the horn worked fine. I drove back to Draker in JC to return his wheel puller. What a fun drive. Oregon has crazy sporadic rain, I'm looking forward to using the cool variable wiper system. I'm glad I did this, but I would not recommend that anyone try switching parts around inside the combination switches for lights and wipers. After the project, I kind of wonder if, or when, pieces of any of this will start coming apart and flying off the truck--I think it will be fine. Draker was a big help and an encouragement in this upgrade. He looked under the dash and could only find the amplifier that I installed. I probably would not have done this build without a "go-for-it" from Silky_Johnson. The $60 price was right and fair, I could not have afforded the labor :) Thanks guys. Stay "tuned" for next project. musicman