Hi!

Yesterday I bought a 65 320 and have some questions on it. By the way, I got her home and later last night she would not start... eeek...

Let me start with some back ground. I bought sunny on Ebay.... http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayI ... 53180&rd=1

It is an absolutely gorgeous truck but has had some modifications. To start with it has an L20 or L18 in it. Driving it home I noticed that when doing 70 on the freeway the engine screemed like it was reving at 8000 RPM. I also have a 73 with an L20 that does not rev that high when doing 70. Do you think that there could be an issue with the transmission or the rear axel not being of the correct gear ratios?

Second issue. The clutch is extremely hard to depress. If I were to drive this truck on a regular basis, I would start to look like I had popeye's left leg and Pee Wee Hermans right. Was this a normal characteristic of these trucks.

All of the brakes seem to work, though not at the same time. This can be disconcerting when the truck lurches to the left beacuse the left front wheel grabbed first. Can I adjust this myself (I have moderate mechanical skills) or should I take it in?

I thank you in advance for any comments or advice that you might give!!!

Glad you got her, they had it listed wrong and I found it 3 hours before auction end so most of us probably weren't aware of it. "Engine screaming and brakes..... The original 320 rear axle is probably still intact that's why she's screaming at 70, If you go to the manual link we have at the 620 site and download it I think it will tell you the original 320 axles don't like 70mph! Brakes are a common issue  for the 320. If you're lucky they just need a good bleeding, pull your hubs and check the wheel cylinders,  brake shoe, check the hubs for wear, check for leaks, rebuild/replace if necessary. Check your Master cyl for leaks too, then bleed starting at rear passenger side, drivers side rear, passenger front, then drivers front last. I think Mike has a thread on doing this. Clutch, check for leaks also if they've changed the engine they may have changed the tranny. Best thing to do is to take pictures of the parts so that  Mike and Stephen can get a look at them. They're pretty good at identifying what's there and what you need to look for.  Ken

That sure is a sweet rig!!  I'm anxious to see pics of the motor mounting!!


Yep...sounds like the stock rear end is in there.  Start looking for a wagon or roadster diff....spider gears get swapped and you end up with 3.89 instead of 4.88.

I'm guessing they put the roadster clutch behind the L20b.  The "tell" is that it has 3 rivets at the outside spring mounts....but you'd have to have the engine out to see them.  Maybe the guy has some build photos....or remembers which clutch was used.

As for brakes....there's a couple of options. .....first one being to download the factory manual like Ken said and try to get the stockers working for now. 

Congrats on the purchase!

Did you figure out the no start issue?  Did it crank? ...or did you get nothing??

I'd say the 'engine screaming' is most likely because whoever did the engine swap left the stock 320 4.88 differential in it.  I went to a 3.889 diff from a 1600 roadster in mine along with a 200SX/Late 510 'dogleg' 5 speed so mine will run easily at freeway speeds.  320 axles can handle 70 mph but the stock gear ratio makes it kind of tough on the engine to run at those speeds.  As far as the brakes, tighten up the adjustment of the left front so that it's as close to the right front's adjustment as possible.  While you're at it make sure that the rears and as close to that same adjustment as you can get them.  The more even the adjustment, the smoother they will be.  Make sure that the brake adjusters are able to slide back and forth freely in the backing plates if not, that will also make them grab.  I wouln't say the the brakes are an 'issue' any more on a 320 then they are on a 520, 521, or 620 with drums front and rear.  They just need to be adjusted properly and have good hardware.  As far as the clutch I can't be of much help there if you're running the stock clutch because I abandoned the stock clutch long ago and I'm using a 280Z, disc, plate, and t.o. bearing, and slave cyl.   I've been running that combination for so long that I don't remember much about the stock 320 clutch or how to troubleshoot it.

According to the eBay ad, the engine is an L16 but he make no mention of what trans or clutch is in it.  Maybe you contact him a get that info because it would really come in handy when you have to work on it.  It's a very nice looking truck but it's a shame that somewhere along the line somebody put a sunroof in it.  The ad says:

"[font=Arial]We have never seen one so clean." [/font]

[font=Arial] I have.[/font]

It's a L16, but he sells cars that have been donated to charities... He really didn't know what happened to the car more than 2 weeks ago.

I have a 73 with a L16... Would you guys recommend me taking the axel off of it and switching it out? ( The rest of the truck is pretty banged up and not worth much )

If anyone wants pictures of the engine mounts, please let me know. Also, I would be happy to share any other detailed pics that you need if you are trying to fit an L16 into a 320. Aside from the engine mounts, It appears they did some banging on the fire wall to make the L16 fit.

Thanks for your responses.

You wouldn't gain much from using the 620 rear axle.  It's a 4.375.   As far as switching out the entire rear end from the 620 to the 320, there are some problems you'd run into.  The 320 has SAE studs vs. the 620s metric, and I do believe that the drum to drum distance is wider on the 620.  Your best bet is to find an SAE differential from a 1600 roadster (3.889) or 2000 roadster or 510 station wagon (3.70), change out the side gears and put it in your 320 housing.

Just to give you guys a heads up...

The brakes had many issues... The rear brakes were disconnected. The front needed new hoses... I went ahead and did the brake conversion including the new wheels as the old ones no longer fit... My truck now can stop on a dime... Well it could if I had enough room so I could step on the brake without my knee hitting the steering wheel. Ahh well...

Instead of worrying about the differential, I bought a tach and just gave myself a limit of 4000 rpm. That allows me to travel at 60 on the freeway. This just means that people have to slow down in order to stare at my truck. I may switch out the gears in the future as I am sure it would help the fuel efficiency... I just am not ambitious enough to tackle that as of yet.

Thanks for all of your advice...

Hey man seems like you know quite abit about these trucks...I bought a 64' nl320 and nedd to get the brake adjusters...where can i get them?