Rob73

Yeah good to see so many people of varying experience, makes me all the more excited. I hope your project goes well! Per compression test engines doing well on mine; 175 on one and the rest upper 160s. Has a minor oil leak. Gonna run through the thing top to bottom asap. Thanks for all the replies thus far!

What's caused this most particularly for you? Adding discs have anything to do with that?

Yeah I checked out the cab mounts upon first inspection before buying it, all good there, thanks! I also already jumped right on scheduling an allignment and brake job first thing yesterday morning. Will definitely get your other suggestions worked in there. Thanks Mike! Can't wait to start gettin to work on the fun stuff down the road.

Hello all! Just bought my first datsun, been wanting one for years, stoked to finally have one! It's a '73 620 with very little rust and I'm looking to put about $500-$1,000 into it right off the bat. I'm intending to run a compression test and all that other fun stuff to figure out the health of the engine as soon as I have time. I'm not concerned with the power of the engine at all for now, just safety, reliability and handling. I'm seeking some wisdom and insight based on the trucks current condition and the potentially best way to spend my money from there. Bullets below! 1) It's got an L20b in it with a weber carb and was converted to a 5spd, but it's looking like the rear end wasn't done along with it. The 1st, 2nd and 3rd gears are all nice and smooth, but the 4th gear slot feels deep (but still an easy shift) and 5th is way over there and a little awkward to get into. I got it cruisin' up to 65mph at about 3500rpm bringing it home on the highway. I'm sure it could go faster but I didn't want to push it. 2) There's an exhaust leak located underneath at about the driver seat area. While I don't mind just getting it repaired for now, I'm thinking of just replacing it entirely as its pretty rough looking overall. 3) Still all drums and I'd like to get disc brakes on it at some point, but when I do it depends on the reliability of these old style drums and the advice I receive. This truck is for the most part going to be a weekend town rig with the occassional jump from Washington to Oregon (once a month tops). I've already found some of the disc brake conversion threads on here that talk about the kits and what type of parts I may need to find on top of that. 4) It handles fine as long as the roads I'm on are in fair condition even when going at highway speeds, but if I'm doing 50-60+ and roll into major bumps/tracked out lanes on the highway the thing can get pretty squirrely (two hands definitely required!). I know there are all sorts of potential factors; tire size/condition, allignment, nature of an older rig, etc. I'd like to get this thing as stable as possible as my wife will end up driving it, albeit rarely, but she scares/panics easily. If I don't get this bullet sorted out, I'll at best be in big trouble for having bought this truck and at worst she'll be dead. Looking for good suggestions! I've been doing a ton of research since well before I bought this truck and there are a lot of things I have a good idea on how to potentially move forward. I know there are threads on my thoughts listed above, but I'd like to get some direct input to ensure I'm making sound decisions. Any other suggestions on spending my $500-$1,000 to get my priorities for this truck lined up are appreciated! If I've got extra room to do some other useful things after all that while still remaining within the limits of my initial budget, please do share! Thanks in advance for any wisdom thrown my way!