hey new blood here and my 720 I just picked up

[synack7350]

Hi new to the forum, have read all the posts lots of good stuff here.

This is my new to me truck, really like the old 4 bangers, they last forever.

Truck 1983
Nissan / Datsun king cab (kn720)
engine 2.4L Z24
2wd / auto
Purchased for $1650 5 Jan 2010
speedo broken at 150,000

Initial Condition

Body
pretty clean for the age some spot rust (Love southern cars!), bed all scratched up, tailgate still works (handle intact) doors open and close fine, same with the hood, lights and wipers all functional. Horn doesn't work (possible relay, fuse, button, or wiring)

Interior
is pretty beat up, but still decent for its age, seats are thrashed, wiring is pretty hacked up, aftermarket oil pressure reads great oil pressure, bat and alternator reading perfect (independently confirmed with multimeter), all gauges function except speedo, no radio the prior install was obviously a DIY job (wires shoved into fuse block, hacksaw looking din cut job etc...), carpet stained, dash severly cracked, existing speakers looks factory and rotted, windshield wiper metal bar toggle missing, peice of plastic shoved in its place. back jump seats missing.

Engine
looks like the carb was replaced at some point (missing stock air assy) and Vac line delete, runs decent could use a tune up, hesitates under load, skips a little (under load). oil pan leak minor, little smoke when first started, doesn't like to start in the cold, still engine looks pretty clean for the age

Exhaust
is pretty thrashed (more DIY rigging),

Suspension
seems stiff, alot of crud on ball joints (can't tell their condition), pulls to the right (if ball joints are good just an alignment would do the trick), sway bar bushings and other rubber suspension components show minor dry rot,

Brakes
good slight squeak in reverse prolly be needing new pads soon, otherwise no anomolies in braking (pulsing, sinking etc...)

Tranny
seems solid, shifts well, all gears. Rear diff nothing out of the ordinary there.

Tires
dry rotted, nice chrome wheels.

All in all a good project truck lots to do.




Its a daily driver, so time to prioritize. (obtain, and maintain clean running, good fuel efficiency, economical repairs/ improvements)


hook up basic stereo (got to have tunes man) (done jvc deck kd-s37 ($120) 2 x 5 1/2 pioneer 3 way speakers ($37 a pair), fit near leg forward of door (factory holes) Made stand offs to add depth using template and some styrofoam poster board worked like a champ, had to drill new mounting screw holes of couse.

replace tires (done douglas walmart cheapo's $67 a piece w/ service and warrantee)



TODO (plan of attack)

replace fluids & filters, replace vacuum lines, ignition componants if necessary(wires, plugs, rotor, points,) tune the thing up basically, check timing, choke, and carb idle, pcv, check fuel presure, check cylinder pressure (condition of head gasket specially between 2 and 3)
if carb is foobar replace with fuel efficient model otherwise drive it till it breaks, at some point replace Mech fan with electric and wire for temp operation (will improve efficiency)

Alignment / suspension (replace ball joints it necessary) If I have to get into that I'll prolly replace all the bushings while I'm down there, and oil pan gasket while I have it all tore up.

electrical (get a couple cheap fuse blocks, and a long terminal strip) label everything a provide for future electrical requirements (blank terminals pre-sourced for lights, etc... seperated by type (constant, ignition, lights, etc....) led fuses for quick trouble shooting) New mains wires (ground and positive) run future (stereo)amp mains.

Get Exhaust repaired

!!!figure out what I'm going to do about dash and custom console!!!
Interior strip, run wiring for rear speakers, and amp, install custom interior lights ?bed light, and 3rd brake light?, investigate power locks feasibility, install other misc electrical (12rec)

install carpeting, paint non-cloth interior pieces, reassy.

Install Sub box, amp, etc...

take a break

exterior body work / paint


I'm an electrician (5 years industrial electrician) with minor mech / fab skills. Good at troubleshooting, replacement, basic maint stuff, but I'm kinda lost with other adjusts (timing, carb tuning, measuring pressures of various systems, I'll be learning as I go). Looking forward to helping where I can with electrical specific questions, but will probably be leaning on the forum for mech advice.

Currently a full time student (physics major) / disabled vet (Army Infantry 2 combat tours 5yrs) I have alot of time to play

Just moved to the area (Boaz, Al) there seems to be alot of shade tree mechs, but I'm looking for a good machine shop, and a decent reliable (trustworthy) mechanic (shop). To handle the stuff that I just don't feel comfortable getting into. Also going to start looking for area junkyards for future source of parts in the event I need anything.

Its good to be a part of this forum and look forward to interacting with yall

Pictures to follow as soon as the snow melts

[fastboatman29212]

Welcome! Sounds like you have a decent start with a truck that has some life left in it! The ball joints are not that hard to do. Before I did mine, I didn't even know what a ball joint was! LOL Check out my thread on how to replace ball joints.

720-ball-joint-replacment-thread-t506321.html

I am using my truck to learn the basics of automechanics. That means that I might learn by making mistakes but at least its not a tragedy. Turns out I love my little truck a lot. Fun to drive and good on gas.

Like you, I gotta get a stereo.

There are only a few of us who are regular, so be patient for the answers to roll in if you post a problem or question.

Throw up some pix so we can see what you got!

[PEZi]

welcome!

[eellie]

welcome!

[synack7350]

thanks for the warm welcome, that ball thread is awesome boatman, wish all the manuals were set up that way. I could prolly rebuild an engine, or tranny with howto's that in depth and easy to follow. Hey Pezi like what you did to your truck. I actually saved a picture of your engine and labeled it "what a z24 should look like" Hopefully I can get mine that clean. I like your dash too, I'm still debating on what to do with my dash, it's thrashed. I really like aluminum diamond plate, but I'm still looking at it, think the diamond plate might be too bling lol. If I had any experience with fiberglass I'd prolly go that way. Prolly just fill the cracks and holes with somethin and glue new vinyl over the whole thing. Sounds like the cheapest and easiest way to go.

[flinterman2000]

Welcome. I plan to install a complete dash from a B12 sentra. Slight adjustments to make but it works.

[synack7350]

awesome take lots of pictures

[86 720]

Welcome! Post some pics up!

Here is my build thread with a few things you can do. I completely overhauled the cooling system on my truck and have not had the temp go past mid point. Mostly in the bottom quarter now. There is no need to get a mech fan for additional cooling, just for a few HPs.

post5592666.html#p5592666

[synack7350]

As promised some pictures of my truck


See the gross air filter ( already replaced ) see the carb springs now who would have thought to rig a carb with door springs?
gotta give the previous owner props for being creative

Pretty messy in there

interior isn't that bad for its age. Dash is about the most major thing that needs help

body is really clean just some spot rust. see al the snow? I moved to the south to get away from the white stuff





clear coat is peeling on the hood

[synack7350]

Replaced plugs and pcv valve, doesn't skip under heavy load anymore, still going to replace the wires. Pretty sure the reason for it starting so hard on cold days is the missing warm air intake and a problem with the auto choke. Tried to get a new relay for the choke today to see if that did it but they didn't have any of the style at advanced. May look around online or just change the relay sockets when i redo the fuse blocks and add a terminal strip. Debating on a new carb and electronic ignition. I still don't fee comfortable with the whole point rotor distributor thing.

[synack7350]

oh yeah new exhaust today woot!

[synack7350]

With the exhaust done, the truck running smooth, and running out of play funds for the month. I decided to start on the wiring, started by wiring up a custom 12 pin harness for the radio and 4 cab speakers. Going to add a couple amps and a sub box in the future but they will be wired independent. Wired up a couple of new fuse blocks and terminal strips, it'll make custom lighting and any other interfacing in the future much easier. New shifter, and some nice pedals just for looks. Exposed the steering column, pulled out all of the previous owners wiring (it was pretty bad). cut off all the black tape. Removed the console so I could work on the shifter, and think about switch placement, and carpet install. replaced battery terminals with quick release type, and added a battery holder. that was all I had light for (working in my apt. parking lot). tomorrow I'll install all the wire fab stuff and start polishing the interior. Here's some pics of my custom wiring (unfortunately I only have 2 wire colors would have preferred different colors for easier wire Ident, but I gotta work inside the box.

laying out what I'd need for today


crimping the pins (a good pair of diagonal cutters, and wire pliers)


one side done


label, label, label!!!


I can't stress enough how important it is to label.


the Harness is complete


My custom fuse block, terminal interface fab.

[PEZi]

i almost find it hilarious that this is what you're doing right now.... my truck is getting rewired this winter too... full harness being redone

[synack7350]

its a really good time sink and cheap. took me 1.5 hours just on the harness. gotta be patient with those delicate pins and sockets. Gotta bide my time till next month when I'll have more fun money, Gonna get a new carb to replace that hack job (its going to be so nice to have choke on cold days) and look a little harder at the suspension (ball joints, alignment, bushings) then of course the infamous leaking oil pan gasket replace. I think everyone here has had to replace that D***ed gasket.

[breadbox]

Have you taken a grease gun to the suspension?

[synack7350]

nah not yet its not squeaking or anything and all the rubber under there looks dry rotted I'll get to it when I start under there. Hey pez do you know anything about putting disc breaks on the rear ? converting from drums. If I found another 720 could I use the disc setup from the front end? Prolly need a bias regulator?

[MetalFab]

Mmm rear discs, now that would be a fun project! Are there any 6 lug vehicles out there with working rear disc e-brakes? That would be important up here in the hills as I use the piss out of my e-brake. Although a hydro lock would work even better--just not DOT approved. Is there a difference between 2wd and 4wd rotors? It's been months since I've pulled apart my rotors yet I don't recall anything that looked like it might need to be machined (rotors are bolted to the hubs, not 1 piece like many other vehicles) And could be held on by the wheel like many Volkswagen setups I've seen, then make and weld a caliper bracket. Of course it all sounds easy in theory. Question is once you knock out the studs on the rotors, will they slip on snug enough to the rear axles once you've removed the drum assy.

[Nissan_Boy85]

720 Rear Disc Brake Conversion....http://community.ratsun.net/topic/25152 ... ntry360215

Works for 520, 521, 620 and it should work for 720. Pezi, might wanna check that out to decrease that stopping distance

[synack7350]

that's awesome so any of the rear brakes from the models listed at the beginning of that post will work with the bracket I take it? doesn't look like a very difficult bracket to fab.

Finished my wiring pictures as soon as the weather clears up again. I really need a freakin garage

[MetalFab]

Nice! Someone did the homework already xD Shouldn't be hard to cut a few of those up on the plasma cutter at school. Working E-brake as well, thats awesome. Thanks!

[synack7350]

man I wanna go out and work on the beast but its freakin cold

[synack7350]

Well got my interior lighting just about finished. Still need to wire through the door switches (have it running on just a switch in the cab right now) and clean it all up back there permanent like (Need to buy some surface mounts to complete the clean up) also going to try and find some half square style tiny conduit to run in the console area (it'll make future pulls easier). started working on the interior a little while I had that back piece removed I went ahead and carpeted it. Funds are completely depleted for projects till the 1st of next month

Besides the door switches wiring wise, I'm going to wire the exterior lights and head lights through the ignition circuit (probably via time delay relay, so as not to increase starting amps). That way I'll have daytime running lights and I wont have to worry about leaving my lights on (I have piss poor short term memory compliments of terrorists and their road side bombs). When I have the doors apart I'm going to look at the feasibility of installing solenoids for auto door locks. I'll let yall know when I get to that. Besides that not much, I'm looking for a nice 3rd break light / bed light combination assembly, might rape it off another truck somewhere but i'm not really pressed to find it right now (got enough to do). prolly next year I'll bag the suspension so that'll be some more wiring.

I figure over a weekend next month I'll strip the interior and re do it all. Normally I like to work in fits and spurts but I figure it'll be best just to do the whole interior all at once so I don't have to keep tearing it apart and putting it back together. I've decided on black and charcoal gray. The adhesive I'm using is 3m super 77 multipurpose spray on adhesive. The stuff is super duper sticky its easiest to spray on a section at a time wait about 2 minutes for it to get really tacky then apply the carpet / vinyl to the surface. I'm using cheap cargo liner carpet for the interior panels, gonna get some vinyl to do the head liner and various other pieces, of course paint it all while I have it stripped (a nice can job). I've got some really cool ideas for a custom console and leveling the back (so I can hide my amp too. You'll just have to see it when I'm done. Going to hit the carpet store for the floor carpeting.

well enough rambling Heres some pictures.

first off this is where I mounted my custom interface, its hidden by the stock console, you can see my new shifter and pedals too, aren't they purty. (81-85 models) I grabbed the battery from the white wire behind the stock fuse block. There are two feeders (white wires) on 2 jumped circuits on the stock fuse block, one feeds the horn, hazard and lamps. The other heater / ac blower and clock (i don't have a clock). I grabbed the blower feeder and moved the blower over to my new fuse block. (just some new wire and splicing, too easy). For the ignition I used the accesory feeder (the only difference is key position, ignition works without the engine running its just the next click before the starter position). the accessory wire is white with red stripe, ran that to my new fuse block then moved over the wipers and cigg lighter. radio doesn't matter I made a custom harness and ran the wires from the interface for that. I tell you there was a s*** ton of black tape down there, I replaced it with the split style plastic wire channels. You can see a length of it there in the floor.


now the lights (neons from walmart 10 bucks a pop and they look pretty) be careful when wiring the white striped led which is usually ground is positive on these lights (china is awesome!).




I love using terminal strips it makes future wiring really easy (say when I'm installing the third brake / bed lights) Radio shack has a couple different styles, or if you have an industrial electric supply they'll have even more. I stay away from these european ones, they are bigger, crappier screws, but for some jobs they work good (like this one).



this is just a picture of the work space back there man it's cramped my 200 lbs can barely even get back there.


I also installed lights in the door sill / jam area you know if you open the door look down it says nissan on that guard thing. I cut out the nissan and installed them there. I wanted to take picture cuz they look hella awesome but the batt died in my camera and my GF lost the charger. I'm going to fab some new of those guard things (does anyone know what they are called) I'll make them out of aluminum (thick stuff) mill some groves ( I want the ridges kind of wide) and incorporate the lights into the design. it'll look dope.

finally the lights are just to get the holes right for mounting it all has to come back down when I spray the interior

[MetalFab]

Nice pedals and shifter! Must be great to have all that extra room in the xcab to run lights and speakers. I've been wanting to play with lighting for a while, ordered some 5050 LED strips on ebay and they never sent em lol. I've been wanting to look around locally to see if I can find them because they look like a ton of fun. The fact that they're low profile and flexible in some applications makes the possible mounting locations endless, a favorite being on the latching side of a door, tied into the door switch to flood the area when you're loading groceries (maybe not applicable on all our 720's lol) something you can't do with neon tubes. Can't wait to see the new carpeting, although it looks clean enough as is (in the back anyway) =)

[PEZi]

720 Rear Disc Brake Conversion....http://community.ratsun.net/topic/25152 ... ntry360215

Works for 520, 521, 620 and it should work for 720. Pezi, might wanna check that out to decrease that stopping distance

nah... lol

as of right now the only way to do that would be to add downforce or weight in the rear considering the rears lock up before the front.... it will happen in the future though

[synack7350]

Yeah Metalfab I love the xcab, that and living in alabama (no emissions, no inspections). Makes everything a ton easier. I already spec'd the rockford fosgate setup I'm going to throw in the back, it's um big lol, I figure I won't have to worry much about road noise once I get em installed. I definitely wouldn't stick a person on one of those jump seats though. I don't even know how they were supposed to get back there lol. I guess really small and agile would be the key. Maybe if I really didn't like the person. ehh I ripped out the jump seats anyway. Its just a two seater now.

I really like the leds too, I might add a few here and there if I find some that I really like. its why I go through the effort of using terminal strips in my wiring, it makes future wiring a snap, I use the 30 over rule in everything I wire, plan for 30% increase in load, and additions. As long as you stick to this rule you'll love yourself later.

The pedals and shifter I got from walmart (my number one source for cheap chinese goods). I guess I really love the chinese and their economy. I do most of my shopping at walmart. The kit was like 20 bucks and came with some tire valve covers. I modded the lock popper upper thingies on the door and glued them on. I setup my drill in a vice chucked the plastic piece in the drill, taped down the trigger and use my sharpened Kbar (combat knife) as the lathe blade. after I got the diameter about right, i started with coarse (220) paper in the same setup and then move down to like an 800 grit. you know for that nice polished look. then glued the valve caps on. It was a pain but now it matches and what else is there to do on a cold, rainy night?

the carpeting is pretty clean, I really don't like the color though, I'm moving to the old cliche' "murder black" as pezi calls it. that and chrome (i really really like chrome). with gray. My girlfriend is somewhat of an artist so I'll have her do some custom pin stripping for detail.

I'm pretty psyched to get the interior done, that and to get a weber 32/36 installed, the carb I have now is a rigged up not even sure what it is deal, It could be oem for all I know. that previous owner cut out the electric choke (I have no idea why) so now it runs like crap till it warms up. runs like a beast once its going though. I want to get some electronic ignition for it as well (get rid of the high maintenance finicky distributor / rotor assy.) wish I was over there by you metalfab you seem to have the set up for working on these rigs. Me I have to contend with the elements, daylight hours, and neighbors. I do all of my work in the parking lot of my apartment complex

[synack7350]

720 Rear Disc Brake Conversion....http://community.ratsun.net/topic/25152 ... ntry360215

Works for 520, 521, 620 and it should work for 720. Pezi, might wanna check that out to decrease that stopping distance

nah... lol

as of right now the only way to do that would be to add downforce or weight in the rear considering the rears lock up before the front.... it will happen in the future though

thats what I was asking about the bias regulator, after the conversion wouldn't it be easy enough to install a needle valve or some such to control front to rear brake bias, that way you could dial in the rear. and for you drift monsters out there you could forgo the ebrake and just set the a** to drag.

[PEZi]

^ yeah... i will do this eventually... but it will be after i do the suspension build and such

the truck has MANY things that are in the future... this just isn't at the top of the list given the current power output and brake feel

[synack7350]

man I couldn't hold back I picked up some black vinyl yesterday and some charcoal gray vinyl paint I just had to see what it'd look like on the door panels. So despite the cold, I took the drivers side apart and went to work it was friggin worth it man that door looks awesome. Gonna do the other side tomorrow and take some gay cell phone pictures since my girlfriend can't find the charger to the digi cam. Been carpet shopping, man the prices on carpet are crazy high everywhere so I'm going to hack up some walmart area rugs, they have my color and 5' x 7' is only 20 bucks. I figure I can get it done with 2 of em. can't wait to go seat shopping (junk yard), some new seats will sure by nice.

[synack7350]

As promised some pics of my new doors.


first what it used to look like.


now what it looks like






this is that running board light I installed back when I did the lights. the running boards are going to be aluminum eventually with the lights cleanly incorporated.

[synack7350]

just redid my headliner with charcoal gray vinyl paint, thanks pezi for mentioning the stuff in one of your posts, Vinyl paint is the tits, so easy to work with and dries hella fast. I hate paint but I dig this stuff.