1962 Datsun U320

[wayno]

So I just finished undercoating the bottom of the cab front to back except the rear fender wells, I am painting the front fender wells/inner fenders so I am thinking I should paint the rear fender wells, at least the part that can be seen.
The thing is that the front inner fenders had stock color paint from the factory on them, but the rear inner fenders do not have paint and do not appear to have had any paint at all on them, they appeared to have under coat on them just like the bottom of the cab.



It appears like I might need to touch up a few thin spots on the bottom of the cab looking at this photo above.

I also took out the rear side windows as I was getting over spray on them, the right side every bolt was broke off and it was held in with 2 sheet metal screws going thru the sheet metal in its own hole, the left side none were broken off but it was missing one screw.







I removed all the wiring from the cab and frame today, should have done that before, oh well, it is now time to do the frame and paint the engine compartment so I can put the cab back on the frame.

[wayno]

Well I saved all the captured nuts holding the rear side windows in, none of them fell apart when I drilled them out and cleaned the threads out.







It started snowing today so I did other telescope stuff, I did buy some etching primer for the frame, kinda spendy stuff.

[wayno]

[DRIVEN]

Looks really good from here. Nice work.

[wayno]

Well thanks but it is not perfect, I likely will redo a couple places, but I needed to make some progress on the engine compartment, inner fenders, and around the windshield.

Next is the frame, I have the self etching primer for it, once I get that done and paint it I will need to put it back on the frame, once on the frame I need to get the steering column grommet in position and the steering column assembly back in the truck, then fix the rear seal leak in the engine, so I can put that back in the truck, then I get to start on the interior paint, the last thing to be done is the outside of the truck, I have a ways to go yet.

[HRH]

That looks better than my not perfect!

[wayno]

Well I read about the self etching primer I bought and it is not what I thought it was, so I sprayed it with a galvanizing product, I hit absolutely everything on that frame, there are a lot of little places for dirt to get trapped, good thing I did a really good job pressure washing it.





I will decide what to put over that product after this stuff cures.

I did do some clean up and sanding on the interior also, but before I can spray anything I need to cover what I have painted, but that is not going to happen until that paint cures also, I do not want to put tape on that paint and have it come off with the tape, I already have to touch up the rocker edge from the hose dragging on it when I was blowing out the interior after doing some sanding in there.

[wayno]

I primed the interior a couple days ago.











Then I painted it today after a bunch of sanding, it took a lot of paint.







I thought about this and I have only just started.

[HRH]

Good job Wayno! I fixed my door lock that wouldn't open with the key on the hardbody, lol. That's what I did today. Started yesterday. Hit the lock mechanism and actuator with lithium grease. Much easier than painting.

[wayno]

Well I think I figured out why the front timing gear cover crank shaft hole was leaking, it appears someone in the past tried prying off the pulley and bent the shit out of the cover and the section that held the felt seal separated from the cover itself.





I hunted around for another cover and I was lucky and found a good one in my 320 stash, so I made a gasket for it as I didn't have one in the kit I bought from someone in the past, but the kit had the water pump gasket and the felt seal for the crank shaft, so I am good there.

Here is the gasket I made on the good cover.



Here is the front of the engine(upside down) as I removed the oil pan to try and figure out why the rear seal was leaking, well it doesn't have a rear seal, what it has is a hole behind the bearing area and a cavity all the way around the crank that has a drain hole in the bottom leading to the oil pan via a metal tube, when I removed the oil pan I noticed a bunch of sludge in the bottom, my guess is that the end of the drain tube was in the sludge and it could not drain so the oil puked out the back, this is just a guess.



I ordered an oil pan gasket on ebay as no one locally could figure out what I wanted even with the felpro gasket number I gave them, and when they tried looking up a 1967 Datsun 520 with a J13 they told me nothing could be found for that engine either, so it's likely going to be at least a week before that gasket arrives, I guess I will likely drop the body back onto the frame, I kinda wanted to install the engine/transmission before dropping the body on, I will think about it, I need to clean up the engine and paint it also, that puke blue is awful, but it appears the stock color is a slightly darker blue, I am waiting for a reply from a guy that has restored his 320, I think the block is the same color as the air filter housing.

[wayno]

I am planning on pressure washing the engine tomorrow, I put covers over except the exhaust pointed down, I will figure out how to protect the distributor tomorrow.

I have the paint for the block(deep tartan blue), intake exhaust manifolds(silver), I think the oil pan is going to be black like it appears it originally was, don't know what I am going to do with the starter and alternator yet.

[wayno]

Well I painted it today, I might have goofed and painted the fan blades when they should be white, I am waiting for a couple gaskets so the paint is really going to be dry before I get around to putting it back together.

I taped off the intake/exhaust surfaces, I filled the holes with newspaper and then scratched my head, why did I fill the intake/exhaust ports with paper, I filled all the holes with newspaper, I removed the water pump and made a cover out of a cereal box, I also painted the oil pan this color but I might paint it black as I think that is what color it originally was, I also painted the air filter housing this block color, I might paint it a lighter color also but that will be easy to do, by the way them are old spark plugs I used to fill the holes, there is likely 3 coats of paint on this engine.







I am planning on moving the frame forward installing the engine/transmission, then getting everything sorted out before rolling the frame back under the body so I can raise the frame into position and mount the body on the frame, then I can lower everything onto the ground, it will be nice to move it outside so I can sand the rest of the truck where all the dust will blow away instead of settling on everything in the garage, it is a disaster in the garage, my tools are even covered because I forgot to close the tool drawer, I covered the U320 with a tarp before I painted this engine block as I used high temp paint and put it on with my paint gun as they did not have this color in a rattle can, I also decided to not have them make me anymore rattle can paint, it is just too thin and runs easy even though it went on nice on my Mini, but I was only doing a small portion on the Mini(the rockers).

[DRIVEN]

I'm glad this Ute landed where it did. You're doing it proud.

[wayno]

It's not that nice, I will need to redo the right side rocker, I replaced the felt around the front pulley, what a pain, I had to force it in the channel, it looked way too big to fit in there, but I got it in and I got the front pulley in, it was tight, maybe I was supposed to soak that felt material, I might have to remove the pulley and put oil on it.







I am going to have to remove this soft plug and replace it with something that fits.



Here are some earlier photos, first is of the washer for the front pulley, what a joke.





Here is the dirty fuel pump with the primer ring on it, last time I used it it worked.



And here are some engine photos before the air filter assembly was installed.





I bought an oil pan gasket on ebay in an unopened box and it has shrunk at least a half inch all the way around, it is not usable and it don't stretch either, I am going to look into an MGB oil pan gasket tomorrow.

[wayno]

So this is what that soft plug looked like before.



And this is what it looks like now.



I put the engine into the frame, I should have installed the starter first, now I am going to have to remove the oil canister or the distributor, canister is likely easier.







I still need to put the nuts and bolts that hold the front engine mount brackets to the frame.





I want to clean up the drive line before I install it, I cannot roll the frame outside anymore as the engine will not clear the beams holding the cab in the air, I will need to raise the frame up to the cab and bolt them together soon, maybe tomorrow.

[wayno]

This truck is fighting me all the way on going back together, like the starter bolts, the easy top bolt would only go in part way and seize up, I finally figured out a way to connect a square end on a tap to a small impact so I could chase the threads as there is no room to work in there and the body was not even on the frame yet.

I got it all together and put the body on the frame, today was an adventure, I put 6 hours into it today and it is on the ground.





The steering column is next, I have a boot for it but it will require taking the column half apart to install the column thru the grommet, I will look at that tomorrow, I have heard of a few that were not able to get the column apart when they tried, and they mentioned using heat.

[wayno]

Well I cleaned up the column/shift linkage so i could see how to pull it apart to install the firewall boot, well it is impossible for me to install it without cutting it, I would have thought to get it over the shift linkage rod I would pull it apart, but the top is not removable where the shift lever arm is located, the rod has a neutral gate lever that is also welded on, where the boot fits is in between to parts that are not removable and both ends have something to large to put the boot over them, so I made a cut on the bottom of the boot to get it over the rod and I slid it over the column and put it back together, one is not going to be able to see the cut unless one knows where to look, I will put some silicone on the inside once the column is installed.

This is the top where the shift lever is inside the cab.



Them 2 parts are threaded together.



Here it is with the boot on it.



Another angle



If this was not welded on I could have removed all the hardware below it and then slid the boot on the rod from the bottom and from the top on the column, but it is welded.



Here is where the shift lever connects, nothing here is removable.



I thought about cutting the rod and putting a collar over it and welding it back together after the boot was installed, but that was too much work and the possibility that I could weld it together slightly wrong, I was not going to take the chance, by the way left hand drive shift columns are different, they might come apart completely to install the boot.

I am a little worried about getting the column installed with the engine in there, I can remove the alternator and distributor no problem, but if that don't work then the engine would need removed.

[wayno]

I finally got the column and shift linkage installed with the firewall boot, it took me 2 tries but I did it.








I tried to install the early heater box assembly but the holes in the firewall for the heater core don't match, then I tried installing the late heater box assembly and the holes don't match on that either, this is very confusing as they are the only heater boxes I know of for the 320, it appears since the clutch arm hits the early heater box defroster outlet I will have to use the late heater box assembly and I will drill the 2 holes needed for the heater core outlets as that is the only assembly that the boot fits and it has no other issues.

[wayno]

I put all the brake lines in after installing the brake master and then clutch master and line, the reservoirs are dirty, I expect before I put fluid in them I will remove them and clean them up.

I also connected the exhaust head pipe after painting it with silver high heat paint like I used on the exhaust manifold.

I put the drive line in, everything seems to be a fight, I do it and then have to remove it and do it again.

I have not drilled any holes in the firewall yet for the heater core outlets, I am kinda waiting for feedback/responses on what I have figured out so far, just in case I have missed something obvious, I cannot un-drill that big of a hole, the guy that sold me the early heater box belongs to the DOPES group that I belong to and he doesn't understand why it will not work and suggested that it being RHD might be the issue.







I am not sure what I want to do next, if I put the wiring harness back in it I can likely get it running so I can pull it in and out of the garage, sanding and painting outside will keep the garage much cleaner, and it is easier to pull it in the garage instead of pushing it in the garage, but the garage is already a disaster, the Mini is completely covered by stuff to keep over spray off of it.

[Taterhead]

Looking good Wayno. It’s coming right along.