1962 Datsun U320

[wayno]

It amazes me sometimes what ends up in wrecking yards, a 50 year old vehicle that looks like that does not belong there.

[HRH]

Yeah probably an estate sale or something. They wanted 2500 for it, which isn't bad considering it didn't seem to have much rust. At least nothing visible.

[wayno]

I put the rest of the interior in it today, I put the passenger door seal in, I got the screws for the front turn signal lenses and installed them, I did not buy amber bulbs for the front signals.









I forgot about connecting the e-brake lever, I need to do that this week sometime, I need to put insurance on it and cancel the Mini insurance(I forgot), I need to drive this around for a week or so, I need to believe it will make it to the Brooks Powerland Datsun meet in 2 weeks, I wish the paint looked better, but I am not going to be able to do anything about that before Powerland.

[DRIVEN]

[Taterhead]

Looks good Wayno.

[wayno]

I drove it up and down my short dead end road, it feels weird with no rear shocks, I kept hitting the brakes and it stops fine but something is wrong, the truck does not pull but the right front disc brake does not work, I opened the right rear bleeder with a small hose going into a cup and opened the right front with a line in a cup and pumped very hard, nothing came out, so I suspect the hard line is plugged, I will find out tomorrow.

But I did park it out in front of the neighbors house and took a bunch of photos with 620 hubcaps, I have 320 hubcaps for it but will not drive with them on it.

[DRIVEN]

It looks reallllly good. Sort out the hydraulic issue and you're golden.

[wayno]

It looks reallllly good. Sort out the hydraulic issue and you're golden.

Thankyou, I wish the paint was better, it really depends on how it drives around town if I can get Hagerty on the phone, I spent 20/30 minutes listening to music I think before I hung up, I don't think they were open, they should say what hours they except calls.

[HRH]

Looks nice. Not nit picking and maybe youve covered it already but the front bumper looks like it sticks out further on the driver's side?

[wayno]

Looks nice. Not nit picking and maybe youve covered it already but the front bumper looks like it sticks out further on the driver's side?

It does not look like it was made for the truck at all in my opinion, the driver side is slightly lower, I have not dealt with that yet.

This is what I mean.



I do not remember where this front bumper came from, but it is the only one I have unless I switch out the 320 kingcab bumper for this one, I just looked at it and the corner I looked at looks good, I will look at the whole bumper tomorrow when it is light outside, I suspect this bumper was the last one I had chrome plated by that place in Oregon City that screwed up my back bumper, it appears that they might have screwed up this one also.

[wayno]

I ordered rear shocks today, they are stud/stud, they are supposed to be here tomorrow.

I also changed out the gear oil in the rear axle, there was nothing on the magnet, but it was not clear either, it was a yellow/orange color that I could not see thru, it looked better coming out than it did in the catch can.

I fixed the brake issue, it turned out to be the rubber line, it was plugged at both ends, what is weird is I had a brand new extra in the parts room, I cannot figure out how I ended up with an extra line that had SAE threads at the hardline connection and a 1985 720 connection end on the other end that connects to the 1985 calipers, totally weird.

Thinking about it let me say that the hardline fitting was 7/16", the 10mm wrench would not fit, but I made that line when I changed over to a dual circuit master brake assembly, that was years ago, I do not remember what I did back then anymore, I had to put the connection to the caliper on the new line, so maybe that end was from something else that fit the 720 calipers, it might have been a stock Datsun part that the metric bolt fit thru just fine, Datsun made a lot of interchangeable stuff over the years.

[wayno]

This truck does not like the freeway at all, it vibrates something awful, good thing it was rush hour, it started at around 35mph and just got worse with speed, so i put a 2 degree wedge in it and took it for another drive, at about 35mph it started again but the alternator light came on so I lifted the hood and bolts had come loose, I limped home, fixed the alt issue and put a 4 degree wedge in and took it on the freeway, it was not better, maybe I went too far and should have drove it on the freeway before moving on to the 4 degree wedges, I will work on it more tomorrow as I cannot drive it this way.

I have 3" blocks in it, when I went out band measured them, I came to the conclusion I put the wedges in wrong, I will have to start over again tomorrow.

I put new rear shocks in it today, that appears to have been done right.

[DRIVEN]

Do you have one of these?

[wayno]

Do you have one of these?

No I do not have that, I added to my previous post, I put the wedges in wrong.

[DRIVEN]

Ahhh. That might be the problem.

[wayno]

I do not know what I was thinking when I put the wedges in, what I did would change nothing, I re-did it this evening and used the 2 degrees wedges, I will try it out tomorrow.

I do not really understand how that gauge would work when one cannot really get a good edge on the pinion flange or yoke, I have this tool that measures angles that I use to check angles on my telescopes so I know what angle to drill in a block of wood, but it is easy to check an angle when one has a flat surface, there is no flat surface on a pinion flange unless the driveline is removed, then you are using how level/unlevel something is, not the degree difference as I cannot measure the angle of the driveline if it is not connected, I cannot even get to the transmission yoke and the driveline near it to measure that angle, I cannot even get in a position to eye the angle and use my gauge/tool for angles, so right now I am guessing.

I lowered the rear with 3" blocks that have no degree angle in them, the front was lowered about the same amount between the drop arms and torsion bar adjustment, I put the thick end of the wedge towards the back to lower the pinion flange in the front as it was slightly pointed up, I will see if it gets worse or better.

[DRIVEN]

The angle finder is obviously really easy to check the driveline. You don't need to use the transmission yoke. The oil pan rail or even the valve cover will be on the same plane. For the rearend, you can either drop the driveline and check the face of the yoke, or even back where the 3rd member mates to the housing. Whatever works. They say the ideal target is between .5 and 3 degrees. Less will wear out Ujoints faster because the needles don't rotate. More puts additional stress on everything. I wouldn't stress being inside that window too much on a car like yours, it's much more important that the angles are the same front and back.

[HRH]

Yep, I had to do this for the wagon rear axle when I installed the 8.8. Of course I still have vibration but that's related to the upper links I still need to redo and the solid mount for the tranny. That will likely be getting changed. Think mine is at 2 degrees.

[wayno]

Well I cannot drive it the way it is, at first I thought the engine was going to blow up, the noise/vibration was overwhelming, but when I pushed in the clutch and the engine idled down it was still just as bad, fact is I could not tell if the engine had idled down from the noise/vibration of the body of the vehicle was making, it was sensory overload.

Since I lowered this truck I thought about it and just assumed the driveline angle was the issue as it only got worse with speed, out of balance/out of round tires act differently, frontend alignment issues have never done anything close to this, so this is how I came to the conclusion that the driveline angles are the issue.

I do have one spot where the exhaust pipe is touching the frame, but in my opinion that would not cause the vibration in the cab, but maybe I have more than one issue.

[wayno]

I worked on this most the day, it was frustrating, over the last few days I have lifted up the back of this truck and changed the wedge combo likely 15 times, today I even tried the fat end of the 2 degree wedge on the front side, I went back to the original first time I tried, 2 degree with the fat end towards the back, it was best this way but still unacceptable, there is no way I could drive it this way, so I lifted the whole truck up again(front and back), I repositioned the exhaust, it is not hitting the frame anymore, I looked at the driveline, I greased the U-joints yesterday, I spun the driveline and it felt good, but one never knows about a U-joint until it is not connected to the rearend, so I disconnected it, the joints seemed fine to me, but I noticed something, all the drivelines I have ever seen have a balancing weight on them, this one had none.

So I went to the shed and looked at what I had, only a 320 floor shift version which has a different tooth count yoke, I went back in the garage and decided I had to find out if the driveline was bad, so I lifted the 320 kingcab and removed its driveline, installed it in the U320 and took it for a drive, I could tell it was different before I got past my next door neighbor's house(100'), I took it on the freeway and revved it out, I can easily start in 2nd gear, I am wondering if it has the early 5.13 gears in it, the driveline was the issue, why does everything have to be a fight.

Stuff to do list, the temp gauge works when I remove the wire from the sender, it goes straight to "H", but it will not work connected or grounded, weird setup, no speedo cable yet, need to put a switch in for the heater fan, need to get a remote switch holder as this truck never had a heater and the hole for it has the original plug that I will not remove, I need to decide if I am going to buy 5 tires to fit on the original 320 rims, right now it has 620 disc brake rims, more involved with front disc brakes, and I need to install the spare tire carrier, that is the list right now.