In the shuffling madness...

[seapotato]

If you're wondering about the thread title, the song came on while driving the truck home last night....made me laugh. Seemed appropriate.



It's not a cruiser, but, it's kinda fun so far. Someone will undoubtedly say, " Not a cruiser?? Datsunacceptable." Yes yes, bravo.

The Mutts like the back seat. I've wanted a pickup for a while, but with dogs, it had to have decent back seat room. (I don't carry dogs in the beds of pickups. Should be illegal.) And I wasn't about to spend 10k on a 15 year old toyota tacoma.


So here it is. Just doing some poking around today and cleaning up a smidge. Has power windows and door locks which I'll have to mess with. Rear passenger window is wired backwards..(yeah, that's not annoying at all) and the passenger outside lock isn't connected. Nothing major, plastic clips etc.



Here's the mighty sewing machine. I have a powerful urge to throw that s***ty little airbox as far into the bushes as I can. Friend of mine has a Donaldson I may have to see about getting that from him. I don't like the cone filters, but it would certainly be less restrictive than that piece of crap that's in there now.
Lots of room for a turbo...


At least the butt ugly scoop puts a little more air into the engine bay. You should see the stock air snorkel that goes out to behind a headlight. You could maybe get 3 fingers inside. Dumb.


All this crap seems to work. Maybe a good spot to put the pyro. The roll and pitch gauges work, but who really cares??


Wtf. It beeps when you push some of the buttons.


Lucy in the sky with diamonds.




So far so good. It could use some taller tires to bring the highway revs down a bit , but it needs a turbo and some gauges before I get into that.

I'm going to swipe the Isspro from my dad's ford. We don't use it to tow boats over mountains anymore so it's not really necessary in that behemoth now. I'm interested to see what kindof egt's this thing puts out. Frightening no doubt, although when you drive it normally it doesn't black smoke. Only when you stomp on it ( or you're on a test drive and intentionally driving like an asshat.)

Nice thing is, a LHD conversion kit for this truck should be practically free. (always cheap nissan hardbodies around)
We'll see how I feel about that after driving for a bit.

 

[cruiserpilot]

I like it, we had a Nissan for 12 yrs, the rust gods took it from us, but best truck I've ever owned. you get a little import size camper and your are set.

 

[GTSSportCoupe]

Nice little truck Ryan. Engine bay cleaned up real nice. LSD is a bonus. Hope it serves you well, and looking forward to seeing what you do with it. Still can't believe how cheap that thing was.

LHD conversion would be pretty cool, but probably a fair bit of work. Engine has a mechanical injection system? or electronic? Is the engine timing geared? chain? belt? Thermostat location reminds me of a B series engine.

I'm almost jealous...

 

[seapotato]

Engine has a mechanical injection system? or electronic? Is the engine timing geared? chain? belt?

Them's a lotta questions...

 

[bikersmurf]

Looks good, even though it isn't a Cruiser... I don't think I'd fit in it being 6'4"...

I'd sure be wanting to conver to LHD... Even though i'm very comfortable jumping from LHD to RHD.

 

[seapotato]

It's actually not bad for room. Biggest annoyance is the "tilt" steering column that goes either all the way down till it practically touches the seat, or up barely high enough to get your legs under. If it went up another inch or two it'd be nice.


we'll see about the conversion. Maybe when the weather improves.. (which would be any other weekend than this past one. Jeebus.)

I'll probably pick up a parts truck at some point, there's running driving ones for sale for 500 so someone should pay me to take their rusted s*** pile right?

I wonder if two or three guys with a nearly unlimited supply of beer and a parts truck could do a lhd conversion in a weekend...



For now tho, I'm just addressing little s***. Like getting the defrost to work...censor:cable controls...and little clips that ping off into the dash and disappear as if they never existed.)

After that, I'm going to put in a manual switch for the glow plugs.

They come on with the key, but turn off pretty quickly it seems to me, and then there's no provision for after glow. I'd prefer to have control over all that myself.

Was too hideous over the weekend to do much to it, as my shop was occupied by a rather large saw so I could finally get the mouldings done in the house after 9 years.


And as I took the wife for a drive to the pub in it on the weekend, she asked "why the shuffling madness?" , so I stomped on the go pedal, and demonstrated the locomotive breath to the delight of the car behind me. To which she said, " so, does that mean it's name is Jethro?" Yeah, I guess so.

 

[GTSSportCoupe]

Jethro Tull

Sounds like the tilt is designed for a Japanese person.

With the LHD conversion, can you use your existing RHD firewall? Will the steering column and master cylinders swap over? If not, can the firewall be separated from the rest of the cab when swapping it out? Being the engine (I think) is mechanical injection, at least you would not have to deal much with moving electronics.

Looks like that thing has A/C. Does it work? I bet it robs some precious hp.

My LJ78 has the same issue with the glows. I don't know if it's designed for a warmer climate, or what. In winter I have to glow it a couple times by turning the key waiting for the relay to click back open, and then repeating. If below freezing three times. Been meaning to add a manual delay to mine too, to save the poor relay and the hassle.

'Locomotive breath' Haha! That's hilarious, I'll have to remember that. Had someone tailing me much to close this morning on the way to work. I have a potentiometer I added in my LJ78 that adjusts the fuel electronically. I cranked the fuel and floored it from a stop sign with the person behind me. After a big cloud of black goodness, I was no longer being tailgated. Even with the fuel all the way up, I can only make black smoke off boost though, so can't do this as much as I want sometimes.

 

[Rigpig]

Good find! Lots of hardbody's around for swaps. Those pathfinders share a lot of the same parts as well.

 

[seapotato]

Sounds like the tilt is designed for a Japanese person.

With the LHD conversion, can you use your existing RHD firewall? Will the steering column and master cylinders swap over? If not, can the firewall be separated from the rest of the cab when swapping it out? Being the engine (I think) is mechanical injection, at least you would not have to deal much with moving electronics.



Looks like that thing has A/C. Does it work? I bet it robs some precious hp.

My LJ78 has the same issue with the glows. I don't know if it's designed for a warmer climate, or what. In winter I have to glow it a couple times by turning the key waiting for the relay to click back open, and then repeating. If below freezing three times. Been meaning to add a manual delay to mine too, to save the poor relay and the hassle.

'Locomotive breath' Haha! That's hilarious, I'll have to remember that. Had someone tailing me much to close this morning on the way to work. I have a potentiometer I added in my LJ78 that adjusts the fuel electronically. I cranked the fuel and floored it from a stop sign with the person behind me. After a big cloud of black goodness, I was no longer being tailgated. Even with the fuel all the way up, I can only make black smoke off boost though, so can't do this as much as I want sometimes.

I'd probably use existing firewall and just zap on pieces from the donor as required. Unless it was easier to swap it over as a unit. Haven't really looked too hard at that.
Has ac, not sure if it works or not. Haven't really tried it, but yeah. Think this thing only started off at 70Hp, I don't have many to waste on fripperies.
I need to find a body/chassis manual for the truck, I have a pretty good engine manual, but of course there's nothing in there about a glow system.

As well as the glows there's a large probe in the intake ( that's what she said ) not sure if it's a heater or what. I'll have to do some searching.

Seems the IP has some sort of altitude compensator with vacuum lines on it, which regulates fuel to be returned...PO added an electric lift pump inline from the tank on a mechanics rec...seems to me one thing may be fighting the other, but again, need to read up a bit more.

Personally I want to rip out all that timer bs and go with a manual switch, but I'd like to find some wiring diagrams first.

Good find! Lots of hardbody's around for swaps. Those pathfinders share a lot of the same parts as well.

Yeah, I've seen a few running driving 500 buckers around. If I get a parts truck I'll aim for one with the 4cyl, I've read they have the same tranny. May as well have a spare.

Don't really want to ad another p.o.s. to the herd at the moment tho...Mel's already giving me the stinkeye with 3 vehicles in the driveway.

 

[lineman_fj40]

What engine is it? I have some Nissan manuals

 

[Toshi38]

Yeah, I've seen a few running driving 500 buckers around. If I get a parts truck I'll aim for one with the 4cyl, I've read they have the same tranny. May as well have a spare.

If a pathfinder works let me know if you buy one... my buddy might be interested in splitting some parts with you and even perhaps hosting the spare ... they sure have enough room.

I think you used to work with his brother or something I remember you saying.

 

[seapotato]

What engine is it? I have some Nissan manuals

TD27 which despite that name is not a td.

Truck is an 89. I found a few pages of the manual posted online, and they just happen to be the pages related to the glow system. Which actually DOES do afterglow, and the probe in the intake is not a heater, but a resistor, (cooled by intake air...which, by definition actually does makes it a heater...) so the glows see 1/2 voltage for a period of time after startup.

I'll wheel it into the shop and poke around again this morning , now that I know what I'm looking for a little.

If a pathfinder works let me know if you buy one... my buddy might be interested in splitting some parts with you and even perhaps hosting the spare ... they sure have enough room.

I think you used to work with his brother or something I remember you saying.

Twig? Sutfin?


for now I'm just going to get some small parts. I have a feeling that if I were to do a LHD swap, it would snow ball into sas, with cruiser axles and bj60 power steering..and then I'd probably be thinking about shoehorning a 3b in there and christ knows what else.

So best I stick to buying a couple plastic clips for now.

 

[GTSSportCoupe]

Truck is an 89. I found a few pages of the manual posted online, and they just happen to be the pages related to the glow system. Which actually DOES do afterglow, and the probe in the intake is not a heater, but a resistor, (cooled by intake air...which, by definition actually does makes it a heater...) so the glows see 1/2 voltage for a period of time after startup.

Sounds very much the same as my Prado. Mine has the resistor with 1/2 voltage after glow as well. It's the initial full glow that needs to be longer. Mine only goes for about 5-7sec which is fine for summer. Needs closer to 15sec-20sec in our 'winter' weather though. ECU is supposed to adjust this time based on engine temp...fail.

 

[seapotato]

Sounds very much the same as my Prado. Mine has the resistor with 1/2 voltage after glow as well. It's the initial full glow that needs to be longer. Mine only goes for about 5-7sec which is fine for summer. Needs closer to 15sec-20sec in our 'winter' weather though. ECU is supposed to adjust this time based on engine temp...fail.

Yeah, it's a pretty short initial glow alright. And I haven't yet varified if the afterglow works at all. .

Even if the system was working perfectly ( and I don't think it is) I think it'd be barely adequate.

Waiting for the coffee to take hold before I go poke around. it's gross out there.

 

[seapotato]

So, on the subject of glow plugs and timers, I've got it all wired up to a push button ( actually a bj42 "glow" rocker switch) so it's much better now than it was, but it would be nice to set up a timer for that 1/2 voltage afterglow.

Apparently once it's running the after glow is supposed to stay on for up to 10 minutes in the factory config....Seems like a long time, but a couple minutes would be nice.


I was thinking a little timer switch of some sort, that I could set up so they came on when I hit the button, and then not have to remember to turn them off. (cuz you know it would get forgotten)

I've seen a few things online that would probably work, but most are more complex than I'd think this situation warrants. (and, therefor, $$$).

Hell an egg timer would damn near do it.

On another note, truck now has a functioning thermostat, so I have heat.
Once I hit the wrecker and get a control cable I may even get to direct that heat where I want without having to grab the end of a wire with needle nose pliers and yank.

And yes, I've come very close to just hooking up the 40 series control cable I have...

Why auto parts companies insist on using different part numbers in different regions is beyond me. A helpful aussie gave me a Stant part number for a thermostat. Didn't work here. It did however, allow the parts guy to google said thermostat, find one for sale on an ebay auction and look at the vehicles it claimed to fit.

One of which, was a rotory engine RX7.

So in two weeks of me owning it, the datsun now has cruiser parts and mazda parts in it.

 

[AJAEbj42]

enjoying this, your frustration and disdain is almost subtle, almost, keep the updates coming.

 

[seapotato]

enjoying this, your frustration and disdain is almost subtle, almost, keep the updates coming.

there really isn't that much frustration.

If you wanted to witness frustration and disdain, watching me change the air filter on my vw would have been quite edifying.

This thing, despite it's glaring handicaps, is fun for the most part.;p

 

[Toshi38]

http://www.ebay.com/bhp/programmable-relay-timer something like this? Note they are low power and would need to be used to turn on/off your relay ect

 

[seapotato]

http://www.ebay.com/bhp/programmable-relay-timer something like this? Note they are low power and would need to be used to turn on/off your relay ect

Yeah, it'd be an easy hookup. There's one relay for the full glow, one for the 1/2 power afterglow.

That one looks more like something you'd program to turn things on and off at certain times...

I was thinking more like http://www.amazon.com/12VDC-Multi-function-Relay-Timer-80mins/dp/B0098GS036/?tag=ihco-20

However it's early, and I may be misreading the fineprinted geekness

 

[GTSSportCoupe]

I was thinking more like http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B0098Gs036?tag=ihco-20

That looks like a decent little unit for the price. You'd probably have to use it to power a larger relay (the factory relay?). I wouldn't think that timer can handle the full current.

So on another topic, how is the fuel economy looking with that thing? Have you had to fill up yet?