Recently, Last night, puchased my 64 L320 pick-up all in all in pretty good shape...Downside, I'm strapped for cash (four Daughters) and am definitely not a mechanic...lol. I first purchased my first car when i was 16, a 72 Datsun 510, which I ran for years until the engine blew and was convinced to just let it go by Father...wish I never did. 21 years later I upgraded to this beauty. Now without going to Moyer and paying $450-600 to refurbish my gas tank (can hear rust in it) are the diy kits a good compromise or should I just pick up more overtime...

Ron

Congrats Ron!

In my personal opinion I would probably see if there's any leaks in the tank first. Try doing a rough clean-up of the rust inside by putting some nuts and bolts in there and giving it a good long shake around to knock whatever loose stuff might be in there. Flush it out and repeat if you feel that it's necessary. Then you could fill it up with water and check it out for leaks?

You COULD try Evaporust as well, I think it's about $20-25 per gallon. OR electrolysis.

Once all the rust is gone and it's all cleaned up and rinsed out, I'd probably seal it right away with something like POR15.

My tank needs some cleaning up as well, and being the curious person I am, I might give electrolysis a try.

Welcome aboard Ron!

Check and see if there's a local radiator shop - sometimes, they'll do a tank for cheap just to have the work.

Then, you can coat it with the Eastwood kit and be good to go.

Where are you located? Any pics of the new gal?

Bshot13,

Welcome to NiCo and the eclectic 320 Forum. We are a pretty knowledgeable group of enthusiast with a diverse range of experience and know how to keep our 320 maintenance and restoration within one's budget constraints and mechanical abilities - (hint, hint) you're in good hands here .

Some pretty good starting advise for your gas tank. I had one tanked/boiled and sealed up with "red stuff" for $175 ($50 to tank and $125 to coat) locally here in KS - so a starting price to consider when looking for a professional job.

Post some pics when you have the time and don't hesitate to ask any questions.
Again Welcome Aboard

Li'l Truckie

Aright so I started with the evaporust product and had it sit for a day rotating every hour to a new position, dumped out and did once more. Once I saw the amount of rust in this I decided to go to the radiator shop. I was able to find 2 pin holes myself and dercided to let them boil it and pressure test/weld the tank for $200, they said they would coat it for a total of $350. Moyer quoted me $450-550 depending on how bad this tank was. A place in Los Angeles said $400. I was able to smooth talk the radiator place down for a grand total of $250 to de-rust, pressure test, weld, and coat. Thanks for all the advise! I was able to salvage the gas float sender. It was vapor/rust locked, surprising the coil in shape. Should have taken before picture but I will follow up with pictures of my gal and of progress starting tomorrow. plan on pulling engine out on saturday and start the transformation to get her back on the road safely. Opinions of refurbishing the carb myself with no mechanic training (just you tube lol) or taking it in to get professionally done?

Ron

Gasket kits/rebuild kits for the stock carbs are hard to come by, maybe Deerio has a source, I know that when I sent out my carbs to be professionally rebuilt, they could not find a gasket kits for them, I had to supply the kits(I had 2 rebuilt), I bought the last kits MLP had in Austrailia, I was hoping that they would make more if I bought all they had, but I have not seen them on ebayAU since.
The reason I brought this up is that you should not tear your carb apart till you find a kit, don't let anyone else tear it apart either until they are sure they have the correct kit, the place I sent mine too had 4 different kits shipped in, none of them were correct, as I said, I had to send them the kits I had bought.

Chicago Carburetor rebuilt my Nikki for around $200 plus shipping. Check with them first, but I didn't have to supply a kit or any parts. They were able to source some of the gaskets and made the others from scratch using the carb body as a template. It looks like new although I haven't re-installed it yet so I can't warrant how well it runs rebuilt.

Wayne's right, I do have some extra gaskets for the 320 NIKKI carb that I had laser cut from a set I bought from him. It's out of FelPro rubber fiber material. I sent Andy a set but I don't think he's had a chance to try it out yet. Let me know if you're interested Ron.

Deerio,
Very interested in getting a set from you if you do not mind...Let me know cost and address to send payment to you.

Hey Ron, I sent you a PM. Im not certain if you can reply to it yet or even view it for that matter since you have a low post count. If you're not able to then just shoot me an email at [email protected]

Chicago Carburetor rebuilt my Nikki for around $200 plus shipping

This is a pretty reasonable price if you consider the cost per hour charge and any parts. So say 2 x hours at $85 + a few gaskets, pins and clips, not to mention the pics Conner posted of his refurbed carb were very impressive and I do not think the average person could get one that new looking.

If you chose to DIY, it's pretty simple. Deerio's laser cut gaskets are spot on accurate and sure beats tracing and cutting your own. For the clips and pins your local hardware store has most if not all of them in the yellow plastic Servalit boxes in or next to the nut and bolt section. If you don't find the exact clip or pin do not forget to check the plumbing and lamp section for additional yellow Servalit containers. That big round rubber float bowl ring is up in the plumbing section - just do not forget to take your carb with you to get the correct fitment and size. I want to say 3 1/8. I have one on my DD '65 and its still doing great after 15 months.

For disassembly I recommend separating the three main sections, removing the jets and emulsion tubes and what ever else you are comfortable with. I DO NOT recommend touching the springs or the butterflies (and a good reason to send off to Chicago Carb if work is needed here). From here is just a matter of boiling things for a time and cleaning up those calcium looking deposits. More than likely your float bowl section is all discombobulated from wrenching down those glass retainer screws. I tightened up a crescent wrench and bent those screw tabs back into place - ever so slowly and carefully. Used a straight edge to check the clearance and called it good. The carb is made of pot metal/white metal and near impossible to repair so go easy and evenly from each of the 4 screw tabs.

Don't forget to take plenty of pics of the before and disassembly process to aid in reassembly. There is not much to adjust on the Nikki carb except the mixture and idle screw. So pretty simple to get running again at almost any setting and then just fine tune from here once back on the manifold.

cheers
Andy