dibo

It does indeed... thanks! And I don't know where my brain's been... I completely forgot about that site, but I just ordered one. Now I can actually think about degreasing that nasty mess ;-)

So as I was approaching a stop light the other day, I heard a clunk, followed by a prolonged rolling sound that drew my attention to the gutter caddy-corner from where I came to a stop. I looked around trying to figure out what it was, but it stumped me for the time being... Lucky for me, I was on my way to get oil for an oil change and noticed that the sound I heard was the oil cap before driving around like that for too long. Needless to say, my engine bay is more of a mess now than it already was and I'm finding that J13 oil caps are pretty hard to come by. So... Does anyone have a extra J13 oil cap? Alternatively, is there another make/model/engine cap I should be looking for? I've tried a few old BMW caps (I actually have one out of an e36 in there now, but it fits like shit and leaks all over the place) and some old VW caps, none of which have worked. Any help would be greatly appreciated!! Oh, and for the record, no sign of that little bastard in the gutter... I didn't want to stick my arm too far down there for fear of rats or TMNT ;-)

I'd like that rare locking fuel door if I had the even rarer matching key... ha! And I'm happy to see some fellow 02'ers in here :-) I know they're in direct competition with the dime (which I like too... I'd love to get a goon), but whatever... they're awesome little cars! And the funny thing is that I actually have an extra M10 sitting around and am tempted to drop it into my 520... I'm pretty sure that J13 will run forever, but I don't think I want it to. Anyway, just for fun, here's a few pics of my other projects. Sorry everything's so huge, but Photoshop's not playing nice with me right now. And suffice to say, I'll have my hands full for awhile... "take advantage of the economic downturn", I told myself... *69 Roadster - currently has a Buick V6, which has to go (really bad swap). Going to be replaced with either a Chevy 4.3l V6, a Honda f20/22c, an SR20 or... something else entirely... maybe even a U20 so I can race it. By the way, that's not me in the car (a buddy of mine), but I love the pic... it's almost as if the doors burst off when he got in the car. *71 BMW 2002 - Fully stripped, fully caged (rear towers to front frame rail/radiator support) and ready to build to VARA spec's. *75 BMW 2002 - My semi-daily driver (the VW takes most of the abuse), but with a blown head gasket. The green car in the background of the 520 pics is actually the donor for this car - really nice engine, 5 speed swap and some other bits and pieces for way less than an engine rebuild... should be back on the road in a month or two :-) *78 BMW 320i with an M50 from a 92 525i, E36 M3 trans, gc coilovers, big disc upgrade... all kinds of fun, but currently experiencing electrical difficulties and put to the side while I work on other projects... the 520 and black 02 specifically :-)

So I've had my 520 for a little over a year now and have left it relatively unmodified and therefore have avoided starting a build thread. That said, enough has happened over the past few weeks I thought it was time... I got a Datsun for a number of reasons, not the least of which is the look. Well... with a diving board rear bumper and lumber rack, some of those aesthetics have been lost I'm afraid, but in the name of utility, I left them. The lumber rack may linger (I'll probably replace with a custom box/bar combo so I can still set long pieces of lumber and such in without resting them on the roof), but the diving board is gone and will soon be replaced with some bumperettes... looking forward to that! Some of you have given me hand with the drop process in the past week or so (thank you!)... I added 3" blocks over the weekend, but haven't gotten around to the front yet, so I'm kinda sporting the desert truck look until I grind one of the bump-stops off (40 year old nuts/bolts... dammit!), which means removing the shock, which means buying new ones, which means getting those sweet Monroe Max-Air's for the back... and so on. Anyway, I think the front was slightly lower before, so the discrepancy isn't that drastic and/or ridiculous looking. Inside, I removed the stock bench, welded in some new seat mounts and added some '86 300zx seats I pulled from Ecology awhile back... I also made some black vinyl door cards to match and am planning on pulling a Neon center console and finishing with some dynamat and carpet. Oh, and one of those cool old-looking, but modern sounding stereo's mounted in the stock location with an iPod hookup somewhere discrete and a modest audio system (some 5.25 components and maybe an 8" sub behind the passenger seat). Outside, I'm going to take my time and fix as much of the rust and as many of the dings (particularly in the bed... single walled...) as possible and coat with one of the flat UV resistant black finishes (there's a ppg one, a por15 one... tractor paint... I'll figure it out when I get there). Inside and the engine bay will either get gloss silver or gloss black, depending on what seems right when I get there. Oh, and I picked up some sweet 16's off craigslist last week... I think they're GM wheels. They're ghetto painted black, but I'll get 'em powdercoated when I get new tires, along with the custom center-caps I'm going to make (I have a buddy with a plasma CAD machine... I already have some awesome ideas!!), so they'll be really nice eventually. Anyway, here's a few before and after pics. I'll add more when I get the front dropped and the interior a bit further along.

So I'm trying to get some Monroe Max-Air's or Sens-a-Trac's (just dropped 3" and want to maintain some hauling ability), but I notice that nobody (including Monroe) lists them for 1967 520's, however both the Monroe site and Rockauto have them for the '68 520. Is there a difference between the years, or am I good to get the shocks for the 68 and stick them on my 67. Logically, I can't see that there would be any difference and everything should be interchangeable, but then again I'm not as knowledgeable as some on this board and figured I'd ask before sending in an order. Thanks!

Is that a single Weber 40?

By the way, I'm about to order blocks from Jegs, but I noticed that the 3" tapered BellTech blocks are for 2.5"-3" leafs and my 520's are about 2 3/8". Will these work or do I need a narrower kit? Here's the link... about 1/4 way down: http://www.jegs.com/p/Bell-Tech/Belltech-Suspension-Lowering-Components-Trucks/745930/10002/-1

It does indeed... thanks! And I actually have a 520, but based on a visual inspection I would believe it if you told me these were the shortest shocks available... they're tiny. And since I'm guessing I'm still running a stock driveshaft (EVERYTHING on this truck is original... I have receipts to prove it ;-), I'd rather not take the chance of blowing out the U-Joints with the added stress, even if there's no vibration. The plain and simple physics of it tell me that a 1.5" carrier spacer is the way to go since it splits the difference between the old and new rear-end location. Oh, and if the 79 springs are a waste of time, then screw it - I'm happy to escape with the minimal amount of work required to do the block drop. And if I can just relocate the existing bump-stops... well... sign me up ;-) A little welding never hurt anyone, right? Just an excuse to drink beer if you ask me.

Thanks for all the input guys! I'm thinking about going with 3" blocks, progressive bump-stops, air shocks, a carrier spacer and torsion drop up front for now. That said, I have a few additional questions (and forgive me if these have been beat to death in other threads...). 1) If a 3" drop is getting close to blowing the front shocks, what size shock would be better? I'm in need of new shocks anyway, so rather than get the same size (if bottoming/blow outs are possible), I'd prefer to go slightly smaller if it keeps the shocks from bottoming out. 2) If I end up going with a block-drop (which I probably will for now... I'm going to have to scour the yards for the 79 kc leafs, which could take awhile...), will I still be using the stock-size rear shocks? Like I said, even if the stocker's are ok, I really need new shocks and will probably replace them incident to this project anyway, so I'd like to make sure I'm getting the right size. Oh, and my wallet likes like the idea of a simple schrader valve-type setup, although I wouldn't mind taking the onboard compressor-approach down the road. 3) Is there a good place to get progressive bump stops for these trucks? I did a quick Google shopping search and found this: http://www.google.com/products?q=progressive%20bump%20stops%20truck&oe=utf-8&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a&um=1&ie=UTF-8&sa=N&hl=en&tab=wf Definitely not Datsun-specific, although I'm not too concerned about that as long as I can get something to fit. Anyway, thanks again for the help!

If I may expand on Mike's point a bit, there are no (or very few) direct bolt-ins for the J-13 with the exception (possibly) of some MGB b-type engines (on which the J is based on) and the larger J16/18 engines, which are very rare and hard to find and I'm sure either options would require some custom fabrication, one way or another. That said, if you're looking to hop up performance a bit (this will only help marginally), you could source an MGB side draft manifold, a single 40mm DCOE setup and possibly some MGB headers (I'm not 100% sure about this one...), but I'm guessing you'd be looking at 75-80 hp tops (up from 67 stock) and you'll probably be in for at least $500 on that one. You could also rebuild your head (probably better to do the bottom end at the same time, but that's my $.02) with a reground cam I would think, though I've not heard much about it. If you want to go a step further, I believe you can actually fit an entire MGB-b head onto the J block (some have even fitted BMW DOHC motorcycle heads to the MGB-b block, so I'm sure the J is possible?), but you're probably looking at more money, time and effort than you'd want for that route. And again, I'd expect you'd be looking at a max of 100hp or so (which for a 1.3L is actually really good). Another option is to get some custom engine/trans mounts made and drop an L series Datsun motor in. You can find them pretty cheap and they're relatively solid. Beyond that... get creative. Guys have swapped small block Chevy's, SR20DET's, KA24's... Hell, I have an extra BMW M10 longblock with trans from a 2002 sitting around that may very well find its way into my 520 (I have other 2002's and I'm attracted to the idea of only having to deal with the intricacies of 1 engine... and those things are bulletproof). Anyway, I'd inclined to agree with Mike for now though... enjoy your truck, keep it on the road and when you're absolutely ready for a swap, do it. The advice I was given when I bought my truck still holds true: Many good vehicles have been taken off the road for a swap and subsequently abandoned and sold because the owner got frustrated and didn't want to deal with it anymore. It's generally better to be on the receiving end of those transactions, as selling half-finished projects always come with a financial loss. That's my $.02. Whatever you decide, enjoy your truck!

Plain and simple. Big points for discussion are handling and payload, although feel free to share anything else that seems relevant. Also, I realize tapered blocks and a support spacer is the "best-cheap" way to go and will likely be my choice in the short-term, but I also realize this may not be the "best-best" way to approach things and am wondering how to tackle this while maintaining a stock'ish diff and leaf rear setup (ie: I'm not looking to do a completely custom IRS or something... too many other projects for now ;-). I should point out that I've read (briefly) of the 79 KC leaf swap as being effective as a means of dropping, but what does it do to payload and handling? Oh, and I should also point out that my goal is not to build a low-rider, but a practical vehicle that handles well and is otherwise fun to drive. For now, this is my only truck and I still need it for parts, bikes, dogs, the hardware store, dump runs and other things one might do with a truck. Stuff like this. Well... maybe not anymore. I can accept that after the drop, the days of 1 ton hauls are probably over. Oh well. It was fun. Anyway, thanks in advance for the help!

Looks to me like a stock J13, but I could certainly be wrong.

Hi. I'm looking for a set of Bumperettes (join the club, right?) and am perfectly ok with poor condition... actually, I almost prefer it as long as the price reflects it ;-) Anyone have a rough set they'd be willing to part with? I live in San Diego, but will be driving to the Bay Area for the weekend after the 4th and would be happy to meet anywhere along the way (5 or 101). I'll be keeping my eyes peeled otherwise, but I figured I'd take a chance someone might have a crappy set sitting around gathering dust somewhere. Thanks!

Still for sale... feel free to make me an offer. Worst case I say no ;-)

I'm selling a truck in SoCal (that's admittedly not quite as nice as this one and $100 more.. obo ;-), so this post really isn't to my benefit, but this truck is such a good deal I'd probably drive up there if I were one of the interested parties... bring a mechanically inclined buddy and have them follow you back. If you change all of the fluids (minus coolant if it looks ok), bring an arsenal of tools and a bunch of spare parts like accessible gaskets (with some type of sealant), fuel stuff (pump, filter, line, carb kit, etc), ignition stuff (plugs, cap/rotor, etc), lots of duct tape (HA!) and your thinking cap, you'd be pretty well equipped to handle everything but a major catastrophe. I'm sure others can chime in on parts you'd want in an L16 survival kit, but you get the idea. A top notch auto plan probably wouldn't be a bad call either... just keep your fingers crossed that if it breaks down it's within 100 miles of your house ;-) And just think - if you get stuck in traffic, there's no shifting. Sweet. Anyway, that's my $.02... I'm not exactly risk averse (usually everything works out...), so take it for what it's worth. Good luck with the sale and to the new owner!