My 1969 Datsun 521 kingcab diesel

[wayno]

I basically drove this to Renton WA and back today, I went to the DROPS(Datsun Roadsters Of Puget Sound) meeting today, I was the only truck this time, I went to pick up a part I bought almost a year ago and that gave me a reason to go to the meeting.













I got 28.5mpg going 75mph to 80mph, sometimes less, a lot of times faster, I started getting a squeak and thought I was losing a U-joint, but after 40 miles I figured out it was my passenger seat squeaking, still either my driveline is out of balance or my tires need to be balanced, I will likely spin balance the tires tomorrow, it helps when I have one, if they are good I will likely put another rear driveline together, the whole truck was shaking sometimes at certain speeds.

[wayno]

I checked the wheels today, the very first one I checked was the left front, it was way out of balance, the fact is it was not even round like the tire was not on the rim right, there is a rather large flat spot is maybe a better way to describe it, I put 4.75 worth of weights on it, before putting it back on the truck I checked the air pressure, it might have had 20lbs in it, I put it on the rear, I put the rear on the front, one of the rears was almost flat, it might have had 10lbs in it, I did the same thing on the other side, next time I will check the air pressure in the tires before taking a trip, I likely will get better fuel mileage.
I was not feeling good about that tire on the rear so I took it for a test drive, it was smooth, and the steering did not pull anymore to the left, it slightly pulled to the left on that 330 mile trip, but not enough to be annoying, I could not feel that flat spot either.
So the tires are good again, no shaking at any speed, I do not take long trips much anymore, so mental note to myself, check tire pressure and oil before taking trip.

[wayno]

I have a question about HP(horse power), my LZ23 engines have more than my L20b engines, the manual I have(chiltons) says the L20b has 98hp@4000rpms, the Z22 has 110hp@4000rpms, and the Z24 has 114hp@3800rpms, I do not know what my LZ23 is rated at, my SD25 is rated at 68hp@4000rpms, well on the freeway this turbocharged SD25 diesel will walk away from everything I own, and I am talking about HP not torque, so if I were to compare the LZ22 block with Z24 pistons with an L head on it to my SD25 turbocharged engine then would I be able to say it had more HP than that engine(110hp), since it will walk away from a Z24(114hp) on the freeway can I say it has more than 114hp?

I had this truck going faster than I have ever had it going today, at 3800rpms I was showing 100mph at a glance and it was still pulling hard and it happened very fast, I backed off because 4000rpms is redline for this engine, I wish Nissan made 3.0 gears for the H190 as I believe this engine will turn them, I have 3.3 gears in it now, maybe I should be looking into other makes for a 6 lug rear axle with better gearing, I could use almost another 4" wider axle with the tires on the truck now which are P205s, it also has that step side box on it which the fenders stick out farther than the cab.

I suppose I could buy larger tires, but the ones on it look right, but after one looks at it for years one can lose their perspective on what looks right, they do not look small, but they do not look big either, if I could get my RPMs down at least 500 to a 1000rpms I would get better mileage than I do now, if you have not noticed diesel is more expensive than anything right now, seems weird to me as diesel is a byproduct of making gas.

[DRIVEN]

Only way to know for sure is to strap it to a dyno and do a couple pulls. You could get a close estimate by running some 1/4 mile passes and put it in a horsepower calculator.
https://dragtimes.com/horsepower-et-tra ... ulator.php
http://wallaceracing.com/hpcalculatorquarter.php

[wayno]

A month or two back I removed the starter in this truck because it would not start at all with the key, I had put a relay in it straight from the battery with a cable going from the relay to the motor post of the solenoid, this would turn over the engine half the time, the other half it would spin up without engaging the flywheel, so I put a new rebuilt starter in the truck, it worked great at first but now it will click or do nothing at all a lot of the time, so I installed that relay harness again because I get tired of continually turning the key sometimes 20 times before anything happens, now if I turn the key to the start position it takes sometimes 3 times to start the engine if I am not in a hurry, if I am in a hurry I just turn the key if nothing happens I push the button and it starts holding the key in the start position.

Sometimes it gets into a weird mode, I turn the key and it engages the flywheel, the engine turns slightly and then the starter freewheels/spins freely, once in this mode the starter will not turn the engine long enough to start it, I found I had to use a trigger connected right at the starter exciter post to get it to start, it is like there is not enough power, well it is difficult to get my arm down there without getting it greasy, well on a whim I put it in reverse and tried the key and it started the truck in gear, so now when it gets into that mode I put it in gear and just touch the starter, the whole truck jumps, I talk it out of gear, hit the starter again and it roars to life, I have decided that the solenoids they put on rebuilds are crap, I expect they come from China but I have a work around, since putting that relay back in and learning how to get it out of that weird mode I have not ever had to get out nof the cab since to get it started.

[Taterhead]

Yeah, I have no clue what would be causing that. I know it bugs me to no end when some little thing starts doing something weird and I can’t figure out what it is.

[wayno]

Yeah, I have no clue what would be causing that. I know it bugs me to no end when some little thing starts doing something weird and I can’t figure out what it is.

I believe the solenoids are Chinese crap, the old starter did the same thing at first, the piston in the solenoid will not either make contact to supply power to the starter motor(move far enough) as it jammed and it would not even click anymore, or the contacts are fried as it would not turn the starter motor at all, this rebuilt starter worked great for a few days and then started to act up, again it is the contacts, but it normally now either starts the engine or it starts it the second or third try, I got tired of that so I put the relay back in and if it does not turn over the first try I keep the key in the start position and just hit the button and it starts, that weird mode is something different.

I believe the first starter had another issue, the heat from the head pipe/exhaust pipe being too close to the starter/solenoid is right there and when driving up hill for extended periods of time like when I go to that dark site with my telescope the EGT gauge is near 1400 degrees for a while sometimes, this temp is at the exhaust manifold itself where the exhaust enters the turbocharger, the temp likely drops some by the time is gets near the starter, now it has a heat shield in that area(since I put the rebuilt starter in), I am positive that the shield helps, but the starter is tucked in there so tight that it is still going to get plenty warm, I cannot even get a photo of it installed unless I remove parts(alternator/intake/exhaust, I can touch the starter if it has cooled if I jamb my arm down past the head pipe/intake/booster/stock exhaust manifold, and steering column as I could/can get to the exciter wire to use the remote trigger when I was doing that while looking down a narrow hole near the throttle body, but once started I had to get it disconnected and the exciter wire back on before it got too hot to put my arm down there while it is running, this is why it has a relay now that supplies power directly to the starter motor using a completely different stand-alone harness.

[wayno]

The alternator has quit working again on this truck, it has a vacuum pump on the back of it so it is a major hassle to change it out with the turbocharger and power front disc brakes, this is the 3rd or 4th time in the last couple years that this has happened, this is the truck I want to drive but I am getting sick of changing out starters and alternators, I have a couple more used ones I think, but the 520 drives so nice right now I would rather drive it than fix this one.

[wayno]

It has another alternator in it now, it was from a 1985/86 diesel, it has 3 prongs instead of 2, but my plastic connector is made for 3 prongs but only has 2 wires so it works, it is charging fine again.

I have never had the issue I have on the alternator belt in any other vehicle I have ever owned, a new belt for this application has less than a inch left before one runs out of adjustment on the adjustment arm, this is an issue for everyone, as I have seen more than one of these trucks where someone made the adjustment arm longer than stock, one had the extra piece added on by overlapping and they just welded on the top and bottom, another person took two arms and cut it in such a way that when welded together it had another inch of adjustment, it would be easy enough for me to do that except the bolt holding the arm on is so long that it hits the water pump pulley and I cannot get it out without removing the pulley which requires removal of the radiator, fan and pulley, I got it to the point it is not squealing anymore, but it is not tight by any stretch of the imagination, I guess it was a good thing it was squealing so bad as I would not have known I had forgot to tighten the alternator mount bolts on the bottom, it was not getting ready to fall off as I had only loosened them a 1/4 turn to tighten the belt but I forgot to re-tighten them afterwards, this is an issue from the factory as one cannot move the alternator closer to the block to get a shorter belt on it even though one has 3+ inches to use, the alternator hits other things, new belts take this into account.

This engine was never meant to be in this truck, it is not anyone's fault but my own, but I get visions I have to follow, nowhere in these visions do I see the drawbacks.

[wayno]

I had something shift or maybe the exhaust hit too many times, but the cab sounded like a drum, I thought it was the exhaust hitting the frame or box, but I lifted it up today and the exhaust was not hitting/touching anything, so I looked around, the extra cross member I made that holds the box on the frame looked really close to the tank, so I put an extra rubber pad between the cross member and box, I have at least an 1/8' clearance now, the box clears everything on all 4 corners now, next I looked at the cab, the gas/brake lines appeared to be touching the cab, at least the rubber piece holding these lines was, so I stuck a pry bar between it and the cab and pried the extra cab part of the floor up away from what it was resting on, I then noticed that one of the rubber isolators on the exhaust was loose allowing the exhaust to move around in a critical area, I tightened that up, while it was in the air the wheels were hanging down and I noticed the steering gear appeared to be touching the inner fender, I moved everything in back of it out of the way(e-brake cable I think) and I cut another 1/8" off the inner fender to clear the steering gear, I could not find anything else touching, so I took a shower and drove it to the library, it appears to be better, I will know after a little more time.

I would rather drive this truck than anything else.

[wayno]

So I have been driven crazy lately, I looked at a lot of stuff without lifting the truck to try and find what was making the cab very noisy sometimes, I trimmed the inner fender sheet metal away from the steering gear, but that was not it, I checked a lot of things, a while back the tail pipe had broken loose from its rear hanger, it made a hole in the pipe where it came loose, I welded it back together, I thought that was it and fixed it, that was not it, today I lifted the truck up 4 feet so I could get under it while sitting on my ass, I disconnected the tail pipe mount(behind the axle), I took the next connection loose in front of the axle and the bracket fell on the ground when I got the nut off, so when the rear mount had failed so had the next mount forward, I did not notice this before, I looked at the next mount forward and it was fine but right there above it the exhaust pipe appeared to be touching the frame, not hard enough to really shine up the metal, but enough to create harmonics if that is the right word, it was loud at around 60mph.

So, I made another mount bracket I welded onto the cross member holding the box on the frame because I could not weld the original bracket back together, I saved this strange exhaust clamp with a tang with rubber isolators, I connected the strange exhaust clamp with the rubber isolators to the bracket I welded on which pulled up the whole exhaust which gave me more than an eighth inch clearance, then I tightened all the other mounts and took it for a drive, it appears to be a lot better right now.

Now I get to try and free up the e-brake cables on the work truck tomorrow, they are seized, I pull as hard as I can and it will barely hold the truck in place, the inner springs are not working, the cable does not let the brake shoe loosen anymore.

[wayno]

I think I fixed the noise, it sounds normal again, I drove it up to a dark site without issues last week and it seemed fine, I also got good mileage as I did not go over 70mph, I kept it below 2500rpms, it does a lot better below that, I think 2300rpms would even be better but that is 65mph and that is just too slow for me.

I need to put another axle under this truck, the best gearing I can get for the H190 is 3.3 gears, that came in the mileage option 720, I need something around 3.0, anyone have any suggestions, the 1986 720 axle is not quite wide enough to reach the stepside fender well opening(it is in a ways), I will have to measure it and post the width I need, but I need better gearing and I do not think 2.73 gears will work.

[wayno]

It has been a while since I posted to this thread, I drove around this morning and ran it out of diesel(insert pace palm here), I do not recall even looking at the gauge today, I do recall it was getting near time to fill it up, but this is after the fact.

I had to walk home which is not my first choice as I am not a vendor anymore at the "Portland Swap Meet" anymore because I cannot walk around without being in pain and that is mostly why I became a vendor, this mile walk I finally learned why it hurt to walk(other than being bone on bone in 3 joints), I walk like I am up on a tile roof(flat footed), I learned a long time ago to put my foot down on the tiles flat footed, meaning I do not put my weight down on my heal or lift onto my toes when walking as this breaks tiles, I did it so many years that I walk around like that when on the ground also, it felt strange to walk on the side of my right foot, but it helped and then I smoothed out my left leg, I was able to walk much faster, but I suspect to learn to walk properly likely is not going to happen because of pain.

After getting it started which actually was pretty easy considering I ran a diesel engine out of fuel, after it ran smooth for a few minutes I shut it down, I drove the 520 ute back home, put air in my bike tires(they take 60lbs to 80lbs which seems high to me) and rode back to the library where it ran out of fuel, threw the bike in the back of the truck and decided to park closer to the library so I could keep my eyes on the bike while I use the library WIFI, it was harder starting that time, but I found a spot close to the entrance which is where I sit when using the WIFI, I have been doing it this way since mid-January 2023, after I started it to move it closer it ran smoothly, I must have still had some air in the injection lines, it might take a longer drive to get all the air out, I think it started so easy because I pumped the primer for a while after it started resisting, then I opened the return banjo fitting on the fuel filter and kept pumping it till fuel came out the top of the filter, this got the air out of all the lines except the line leading to the injection pump itself, and that one is hard to get to because of the power steering pump, I will know in a while if it is going to run right when I drive home, but the bike is in the back right now, no more walking.

I did hit the exhaust pipe going over a speed bump a few weeks ago, the inside of the cab is very noisy right now, I think the exhaust is hitting the frame now, but it has been too wet around here to crawl under the truck, it is supposed to be nice Friday thru Monday.

I hope all that read this are well.

[wayno]

All appears to be good with the truck after running it out of fuel, I think the last time I did that I was driving back from Johnson Ridge(Mt St. Helens) after observing that night, it was 3am or later and I was trying to make it home, I made it within a mile, I had a full 5 gallon fuel can and had it going in less than 5 minutes.

I need to crawl under it and see what is causing all the interior noise.

[wayno]

I crawled under the truck today, it was a good thing I did.

The exhaust pipe was jammed against the frame/transmission cross member, it must have hit harder than I thought, to fix this I removed the nut on the cross member that has is the mount point and pried the exhaust down maybe a half inch, I removed the transmission cross member and ground a significant amount of metal off it centered on the spot where the exhaust pipe was rubbing on it, I likely ground off close to a half inch centered on the rub marks, I tapered out from there, I do not think I ground off enough to compromise the cross member, then I tightened up the mount and then removed the pry bar that was holding it away from the frame, it only returned maybe an eighth inch, the pipe is over a 1/4" below the frame now and the transmission cross member has more clearance, I took photos and then forgot to download them onto the computer, I will try to post them tomorrow.

Like I said it was a good thing I crawled under the truck, lately the starter has been making a lot of noise but it worked fine, I pushed up on the front of it and it moved a lot, the lower bolt was really loose, fact is it moved so much I was thinking the upper bolt was also loose, well the upper bolt was broken, I stripped the threads out of the transmission a long time ago on this transmission, so what I did was drill the threads out and then I would put a bolt all the way thru from the back and put a nut on it at the starter, well the nut and end of the bolt had broke off, keep in mind that it was really tight as I did not want it getting loose, I do not know when it broke, I suspect the lower bolt loosened more and more as time went by, this thing got me thinking on how it could have actually worked, my theory is the end of the starter was pointed up a little, I suspect when I hit the starter the teeth hit the flywheel, lifted into position and it somehow engaged teeth enough to turn it over, keep in mind that this diesel engine starts quickly all the time except when I started it after running it out of fuel, it made a lot of noise starting it that time, that(the noise) likely was caused by the exhaust pinned against the frame/crossmember, it sounded much better after I put another bolt in the top and I tightened the bottom, unfortunately I could not get the proper size bolt in that hole and I put the one I used thru from the front, I put some foam to hold it in and then by a total miracle I got the nut started on that bolt the first try, it was a miracle because I could not see the bolt end, and I could barely get my fingers up there to start the nut in the first place, really, it was a miracle, I think I need to make a hole below the clutch pedal to access this nut over the next couple weeks as I do not think I got that nut very tight at all, I think the lower bolt is holding that starter up there for the most part.

Today was not as frustrating as I thought it would be after finding out how loose the starter was, this engine in the 521 is very tight everywhere, and the exhaust pipe fills the hole between the torsion bar and the transmission(the only access hole there is), it was a miracle I got that nut started at all, it was so tight I did not even try to get a washer on the bolt before the nut, I need to cut an access hole large enough to put my hand thru and make a cover, maybe tomorrow.

[wayno]

OK, so here are the photos of the exhaust issue I had.

The first three are before photos, you can see the mount in the first photo, that mount holds it close as i do not have that much ground clearance with a large exhaust pipe like this one has.







You can see there is improvement and how much I ground off the transmission cross member, it is a lot quieter now.







This morning I raised it in the front, I figured out that the top starter mount bolt is under the fuel pedal, there really is not a simple way to cut a section out in that area, fact is some of the tunnel would need to be cut away, much too big of a pain to cut out an access hole and make a cover, I will think about it some more, it starts just fine right now, nothing is loose at this time.

[wayno]

Please try Google before asking about New Product Guide f08ab2a

Hello FrankJScott, would you please go somewhere else where you can talk about whatever it is you are talking about with others that want to talk about whatever it is you want to talk about, I have no interest, this forum is a forum dedicated to Datsun/Nissan automobiles for the most part, it is not a site where anyone on here will click on any of your links, you are wasting your time as we will not even read what you have to say let alone click on your links.

[DRIVEN]

FrankJScott is a bot account created by HRH.

[wayno]

FrankJScott is a bot account created by HRH.

I was wondering about that, I thought about it and looked at when the account was created, that account happened after that thread was started, do you really think he would do that?

[DRIVEN]

No. Just giving him a hard time.

Basically any new account within the last 3 years is a bot. Their only purpose is to spam everything in hopes that someone clicks a link.