Jump to content

Desert720

New Members
  • Posts

    17
  • Joined

  • Last visited

Profile Information

  • Location
    Hilo Hawaii
  • Cars
    1985 Nissan 720 4x4 5speed

Desert720's Achievements

Newbie

Newbie (1/14)

  • First Post Rare
  • Collaborator Rare
  • Conversation Starter Rare
  • Week One Done
  • One Month Later Rare

Recent Badges

10

Reputation

  1. good call bottomwatcher I went through all the body to engine grounds and cleaned them up and their contracting surfaces seems to have done the trick gauges are accurate and stable only testing was running in the driveway after cleaning but feeling good about it. thanks again for everyones input
  2. Ah i see. When running i get a constant 13.82 13.73 with running lights on is that a little weak? The alternator is very old oem might be original
  3. I thoroughly contact cleaned the instrument cluster connections and contacts on the back. Took apart the fuel and temp gauges and im not sure but the regulator looks a but fried to me. What do you guys think?
  4. Thank you guys for the input. Checked through the rad closely and its in great shape its about 3 years old and not a cheap platic tank one but copper and brass fan clutch feels good too rad has shroud and i can feel plenty of flow at idle thermostats opening as it should. Now the gas gauge is going to past full and im getting intermittent issues with the turn signal indicators also the voltmeter needle bounces just slightly even with engine off. Is there a chassis ground inside the cab anywhere? Ive been getting water leaks through the seam in the cowl into the drivers footwell worried i have a bad ground somewhere causing electrical gremlins
  5. what would I do without ratsun? my 1985 720 DX 4x4 5 speed and I have been in Hawaii now approaching one year and surprise now that my old once beat to shit desert truck has seen more rain in a year than in two decades before it has developed an electric issue. I watch my gauges well and noticed the temp gauge creeping higher than its normal under half way mark then settle down lower at red lights then later back on the road get to high for comfort not trusting the gauge but not trusting myself either so pull over let it cool go straight home as it does similar rising falling then rising further freaking me out. once there I saw no signs of over heating coolant level, overflow reservoir, oil all seemed and smelled normal so I went to testing the sender in the intake and it reads with the ohm meter when I tested the temp sender wire for voltage I got random levels flashing on the meter from under 1 volt to 9-10 volts but never steady. shortly after the fuel gauge just shot to past full and stayed when the engine was running or with it off and key turned over. I did start the engine with jumpers ran to the intake and temp sender itself wire unplugged and read the resistance as the engine got to temp it fell linearly and leveled off slightly higher as the thermostat opened. I read some posts about the regulator behind the fuel gauge that regulates the water temp gauge as well and got to them cleaning the entire cluster assembly along the way and I found continuity between all the wires in and out of the regulator and gauges though it does look a little cooked at some of the solder points and a few cracks in a component I'm unfamiliar with. I am not all that competent when it comes to wiring so I may be missing something obvious. but once I had it reassembled there was no improvement with the temp sender wire still sending erratic voltages with high spikes the fuel gauge seemed to work but the volt meter bounces just slightly as well and the turn signal indicators in the cluster don't illuminate or cut in and out. the alternator puts out 13.9v battery sits at 12v engine off it is believed to be original but the gauge behavior exists even with the engine off so wouldn't that rule out the alternator? I have photos of the Water temp and Fuel gauge regulator. they are on Flickr I will have to add them another way
  6. Ok great so if I understand correctly I should be able to judge if I have made the adjustment to the drive spindle correctly as I seat the oil pump( with properly aligned punch mark) into place against the front cover as the spindle and worm gear will mesh into their respective positions as soon as the pump is bolted in place and won’t require any revolutions of the crank in order to accurately check the drive spindle’s position and should stay more or less where they are after oil pump is torqued to spec and I put the rest back together to run engine and re-check timing with light?
  7. Great insight here mike thank you. So as I withdraw the oil pump and it’s spindle which direction would I rotate it to attempt to get that one tooth in the right direction? Will the pump need to be fully bolted in and then the engine rotated around twice back to tdc C in order to accurately assess if I indeed clocked the drive spindle successfully into the correct position or would I be able to know that immoderately after reinserting and bolting up the oil pump and drive spindle ?
  8. Great call on raising the front end. Yes, I learned on my last remanufactured engine that suffered a very premature death to now rely only on myself and my own mistakes. I paid a good friend and full time Ford dealer technician to swap over my accessories and install a crate motor thinking I was doing right by my truck in the long term by having him “do it right” the first time but after installing it basically slapped together it never ran correctly partly due to a then badly set up Weber which he did not touch nor did he bother to set the timing initially for me. Nail in the coffin was the engine getting hot at around 5k miles after I literally begged to pay him his hourly rate to loosen and re-torque the head bolts as per this forum at 500 miles. By that point he was well beyond done with me questioning his professional knowledge as he had never heard of an engine needing a retorque so soon and was not enjoying working nights and weekends to get it done. Ultimately by the time I had a sufficient level of concern with head gasket failure to overcome my timid-ness of doing it myself and going and buying my own torque wrench it was much too late 10k miles later I had major compression loss between cylinders. So long story short I now own the necessary tools for diagnostic/assembly, an FSM and the experience to know that the only person likely to care enough to do right by this truck is and always was me and me alone! That said I couldn’t put a price on the wealth of knowledge and records of others mistakes to learn from and avoid that have been indispensable in this journey. Thank you again and the whole ratsun community
  9. Hello fellow ratsun enthusiasts. I have had an eventful time rebuilding my z24, assembling it myself from a rebuilt short block and rebuilt head. All has gone fairly well and now after installing the engine and warming up for initial valve adjustment (hot) and checking timing I have found that my timing at idle is at 10 degrees minimum and unable to be twisted further as the adjustment slot on the distributor pedestal is contacting the distributor mount bolts. After reading and re-reading closely the similar posts in which datsunmike has offered his help and posted the image of the distributor drive spindle in its correct “11:25” position when viewed with the distributor removed and engine set at TDC #1 Compression Stroke I have my doubts of whether or not my drive spindle is in fact at this same “11:25” position. I very well may need to remove the oil pump, align punch marks and reinstall in order to better match correct spindle position. Perhaps I am a tooth off on the pump/dizzy drive worm gear as it rides on the crank? Thoughts please. Not quite time for the initial oil change but I will drain if necessary. Worried too much advance may be harming this fresh engine. Thank you all! datsunmike’s correct drive spindle position: My engine’s current drive spindle position:
  10. Transferring the NISSAN logo to the Reading tailgate
  11. Message sent. Thank you for fixing my images in the post! Il get it figured out eventually :)
  12. Thank you for the Imgur suggestion, works the way a modern image site should! Here is the old gal when we first met https://i.imgur.com/lBEXqeD.jpg Then the transformation began slowly, https://i.imgur.com/7IGC48Y.jpg I scoured Craigslist for a hard to find small cab over camper what a great set up it was! https://i.imgur.com/tFxNUIN.jpg https://i.imgur.com/wiM400Y.jpg I made another all day Craigslist trip to Arizona for this snugtop original shell or topper and scored it with a killer upholstered and padded interior! Much easier and lighter than the pop top https://i.imgur.com/0fCRTO8.jpg https://i.imgur.com/CmS1kCy.jpg https://i.imgur.com/a8u2uFb.jpg The shell will soon be back on Craigslist unfortunately as my latest obsession is converting to the utility bed! Sorry for the tangent just wanted to give some background. Here it is as I found it in the junkyard after pulling it off a Early 80's Toyota. At 7 feet long it wasn't looking like an easy swap. I asked my veteran hot rod builder Grandpa what our options where and it was either stretch the frame or shorten the bed and we went for the later as one of the best qualities of the standard cab 720 is its short wheelbase. https://i.imgur.com/vnd25LK.jpg Then the fun fabrication began! https://i.imgur.com/eh2tzWh.jpg https://i.imgur.com/LXU2iFn.jpg https://i.imgur.com/2BHX5ab.jpg https://i.imgur.com/mAUKINy.jpg https://i.imgur.com/8TCLJz5.jpg https://i.imgur.com/gKKFYLR.jpg https://i.imgur.com/db5SkZx.jpg Couldn't help but ask for a little body work help from the master :) https://i.imgur.com/H5RegCg.jpg
  13. Photobucket won't allow me to register keeps error if and I've tried it many times. Il try again later. For those of you who have Instagram you can follow the build there along with other desert related stuff https://www.instagram.com/mojavemade/
  14. Ok so I had difficulty finding my post to add photos to it because I know it's not a good thread with out pictures! Here it goes
×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

By using this site, you agree to our Terms of Use.