'Mighty Mouse' 320 Pickup Gets a New Motor & Upgrades

1962-1965 Datsun L320 and NL320 forums - The truck that started it all in the US. All 320-specific topics and discussion can be found here.
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AZhitman
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Posts: 71061
Joined: Mon Apr 29, 2002 2:04 am
Car: 58 L210, 63 Bluebird RHD, 64 NL320, 65 SPL310, 66 411 RHD, 67 WRL411, 68 510 SR20, 75 280Z RB25, 77 620 SR20, 79 B310, 90 S13, 92 SE-R, 92 Silvia Qs, 98 S14.
Location: Surprise, Arizona
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Makes sense - Carry on, brother!


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difrangia
Posts: 158
Joined: Fri Aug 30, 2013 10:01 am
Car: 1978 Datsun 620 'Longbed', 1964 NL320, 1961 FIAT 500D, 1964 Type 113 Beetle, 79 Ford Festiva
Location: Oklahoma

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Been getting some solid time to concentrate on the Mouse lately. Yard, pool, and garden projects are around the corner and need to get as much accomplished as I can. I got the turn signal switch assembled and back on with the column with the restored bell below the switch. Got the steering wheel out and first thing that jumped out at me was the wear on the ring that had even worn through the brass contact ring for about a 1/2" area where the steering wheel is straight ahead.

Wow! What to do about this?? Since the mid 70’s I’ve owned oddball stuff for which no parts and in some instance no references were available. It’s kinda become a way of life to work around adversities. I studied this for a bit and finally decided to put a new face on the contact ring. Here is a photo of the old ring with the wear shown and the place where it was worn completely through. Also the .020 (.5mm) disc that I made to attach to the original ring:

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Here are the old ring and newly fabricated brass face ring assembled with four 3/32" rivets. Had to turn the rivet heads down .040 to insure clearance with the contact ring pickup plunger.

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Here's the whole mess assembled back into the steering wheel ready to go back on:

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After the Mouse is running and driving again I'll decide what to do with the wheel that is cracked up from half a century of time.

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AZhitman
Administrator
Posts: 71061
Joined: Mon Apr 29, 2002 2:04 am
Car: 58 L210, 63 Bluebird RHD, 64 NL320, 65 SPL310, 66 411 RHD, 67 WRL411, 68 510 SR20, 75 280Z RB25, 77 620 SR20, 79 B310, 90 S13, 92 SE-R, 92 Silvia Qs, 98 S14.
Location: Surprise, Arizona
Contact:

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Spectacular.

The wheel restoration will be fun - I've seen them done with epoxy filler, and they turn out great.

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waynosworld
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Joined: Mon Aug 24, 2015 11:10 pm

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My wheels even look worse, the material is curving away from the hub and sticking out.
My 1964 NL320 has an aftermarket wheel that Mike Klotz put on it, it's not a stock car though, but it mostly looks stock from the outside.

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difrangia
Posts: 158
Joined: Fri Aug 30, 2013 10:01 am
Car: 1978 Datsun 620 'Longbed', 1964 NL320, 1961 FIAT 500D, 1964 Type 113 Beetle, 79 Ford Festiva
Location: Oklahoma

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Next step in the project is to get all the electrical gadgets and hotostats mounted in order to update the wiring loom for the changes that I've made to the power unit. Had a couple of hours free this morning and knocked out a .090 thick aluminum plate to secure under the coil bracket and to mount the little junction box for the electronic distributor on. Developed a cardboard patternand transferred to the aluminum, cut it out & drilled holes, sanded and polished and got this:

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Dug through the hardware stashes and came up with some 10-32 UNF 'Penn Nuts' for mounting the junction box. These pilot into the 1/4" diameter drilled hole and crimp their self in when pressed with a vise or arbor press. These are left over from old electronic chassis/cabinet days back in the 70's. There's half a dozen or so in the first photo. Here's the plate rough mounted:

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difrangia
Posts: 158
Joined: Fri Aug 30, 2013 10:01 am
Car: 1978 Datsun 620 'Longbed', 1964 NL320, 1961 FIAT 500D, 1964 Type 113 Beetle, 79 Ford Festiva
Location: Oklahoma

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While I was chopping up aluminum, I decided to go ahead and knock out the base for the electronic control module (ECM). As I’ve said before, I’m mounting it on the passenger kickpanel like the 620 is done from the factory. I suppose this isolates the module from the heat and vibration of the engineroom. I’m using the GM module from 86 Camaro like I have on the 620. Here’s the mount hacked out of ¼” thick aluminum plate:

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And mounted under the bottom dash mount bolt. The wiring loom enters the cab within inches of the ECM making wiring it in a snap. The five wires needed to connect the ECM will pass out the main loom grommet and tape into the existing loom. Look like it was born there. The ECM and mount loose installed:

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waynosworld
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Joined: Mon Aug 24, 2015 11:10 pm

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Have you seen the 320 windshield on ebay?
http://www.ebay.com/itm/1962-1963-1964- ... QZ&vxp=mtr

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difrangia
Posts: 158
Joined: Fri Aug 30, 2013 10:01 am
Car: 1978 Datsun 620 'Longbed', 1964 NL320, 1961 FIAT 500D, 1964 Type 113 Beetle, 79 Ford Festiva
Location: Oklahoma

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Yeah, wayne, I did see some discussion on this a couple weeks back. Looks like maybe the 'last one' auction closed with no bids. I'd need to actually see it to assess the delamination issue the listing poster describes. Mine's in pretty good shape, but the windshield is an item that one would be wise to have a backup on hand.
Steve

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difrangia
Posts: 158
Joined: Fri Aug 30, 2013 10:01 am
Car: 1978 Datsun 620 'Longbed', 1964 NL320, 1961 FIAT 500D, 1964 Type 113 Beetle, 79 Ford Festiva
Location: Oklahoma

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I’ve been able to get some good time in on ‘Mighty Mouse’ over the past couple of weeks. Trying to get the little critter drivable as a couple other projects will be starting up soon (fence building, start-up of a small greenhouse, poolhouse projects, and more). I got the wiring loom just loose stuck back in along the right front fenderwell so I could start incorporating the changes that will be needed to wire in the electronic distributor, alternator, starter mounted solenoid, and other stuff. I will be adding a new wrap with gray electrical tape in the engineroom. I want to have the engine functional in the truck and all systems working properly before the wrap and reinstallation.

I jacked the back end up and ran a new wire to the brake lights. A previous owner had just strung a wire loosely back from the hydraulic brake-light switch and that just won’t get it. Also as I previously posted, I’m working in a mechanical brake light switch on the brake pedal. I’ll add in a pigtail at the switch so I can later add a third brake light if I decide to. Something that I’ve been kicking around since the start of the project. Got the driveshaft cleaned up and put a light coat of black on it and put it back in. Installed the new NOS Tokico 2004 shocks that I snagged a year and a half ago in Ft. Worth Texas.

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Here's the 1 ¼” X 3 ¼” LED brake light temporarily stuck on with double-back tape, both outside & above the back window and at the top of the window inside the cab.

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I’ve had other Datsun folks advise that they don’t like the idea of the third brake light as it just doesn’t fit in with the aura of the vintage pickup. Give me some feedback on what you might think. For the most part I drive quite small cars and I’ve been run over several times by modern behemoths. All the newer pickups scare the Hell out of me. I have a plastic right foot, at least half dozen broken ribs, broken collar bone, crushed and cracked vertebre, been scalped on the right front, and several other injuries from being targeted by bigger cars. At any rate the third light is still up in the air and if I do end up adding it, it will be worked in to look like it was born on the Mouse.

Back in the engineroom I mounted the later fuel filter at the original bracket on the left front fender. I took a filter bracket like the one on our 620 and flattened out the mounting arm and reshaped it to fit the 320 fender bracket. Here’s a pic of the reshaped bracket next to the bracket in the 620.

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And mounted in the 320.

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Polished a foot or so of stainless ¼” tubing and bent up this loop and plumbed the fuel through the fuel pump and up to the Weber carb. A really simple, clean, and easy to maintain setup.

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Started up the E1 for the first time since reinstalling in the Mouse. Sounds so good. Could only let it run for half a minute or so since the radiator was not back in yet. I now have the radiator and drain c*** cleaned up and a light coat of black on the radiator and put it back in the engineroom. I’ll get coolant in next week and then it’s on to finishing the wiring loom and working up a throttle cable. I’ll have then reached a major goal in the project. I’ll have a first drive to check out all the efforts that have been incorporated into this thread to date. A report will be coming soon. I’m ready for some Spring cruising.
Steve

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difrangia
Posts: 158
Joined: Fri Aug 30, 2013 10:01 am
Car: 1978 Datsun 620 'Longbed', 1964 NL320, 1961 FIAT 500D, 1964 Type 113 Beetle, 79 Ford Festiva
Location: Oklahoma

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Coolanted the little E1 up today and busted her off for the first longer run in the pickup. Sounds a lot better when you're actually standing beside it. Will sound even better with the air filter back on. As you can see in the video, the wiring is just temporarily patched in so I can insure that everything is hooked up and updated properly. All I like is wiring in the alternator and coming up with a throttle cable and it's ' Round the Block' for a few loops to check out all the drivetrain/clutch/brakes rebuilds and updates. So close, I can taste it.
Steve

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VpuZwZx1v3U


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