New World Datsuns...

I have a new exhaust system in this truck now, I believe that the noise is still there but it is not as loud now.
Just before I drove it into the muffler shop door I noticed the throttle cable was rubbing on my air filter housing and I pushed on it a little, maybe that is the issue.
I still have a sticky gas pedal, it's kinda getting on my nerves, I spent a lot of time trying to fix the issue and it is still there, the only things I can think of to do now is remove the wheel activated type lever and put a longer straight arm on it, and if that doesn't fix it then it is likely one or both of the SU carbs that is the issue.

Well the noise was still there and I finally figured out what it was, it was RPM related, in gear sitting still when I revved it the noise was still there.
Now obviously I do not hear so good, with the engine running I cannot hear anything other than engine noise, so while it was idling I started looking at things again, I removed the power steering reservoir cap and the fluid seemed fine, it was not moving around like white water rapids, but for some reason I pulled out the screen anyway to look closer, there was very little fluid in there, it was sucking air(the noise I was hearing), for some reason the screen holds fluid and makes it look like it is close to full, the power steering never failed so I had not a clue, I filled it up but only drove it a block, but I suspect it is fine.
A couple weeks ago I had to use the truck for something without the trailer, as I was turning the crank to lift the trailer off the tow ball I noticed the ball looked kinda low, I bent over and looked at the tow package, it was near falling off, my main weld had broken, I welded it back together that afternoon and added another 2 welds to save it if the main weld ever broke again, the main weld is a 1 inch weld on two ends of a 1 inch bar, this is there to keep a lot of the weight off the frame ends.

Hope that's the end of it.

When I pulled the screen out I could hear where the noise was coming from, but I could not hear it with the screen in place.
If the noise comes back or is still there you will likely know it in Idaho when I sigh.

My driver side door handle just broke, and the passenger side lock is not the same as the driver side and I have no key for it anyway.
It is cold outside and the wing window rubber is rock hard, this would not be an issue in the summer.

Well I got it open and apart and it was not broken, I do not know why it would not open, maybe it was frozen shut(door gasket) and when I pulled on it it didn't release, but when I pushed on it from the inside it did release, I am always careful about pulling too hard on the door handle as I have broke it in the past doing that.
I squirted a bunch of oil on the door jamb assembly inside and out and put it back together, all is good.

I still have the same damned noise, it's not the transmission, and appears not to be the power steering either, I noticed my choke cables were rubbing on the hood so I used a zip tie to hold them down close to the dual SU fuel feed line going to the rear SU, hoods can make noise but I don't think that was the issue.
The drivers door seems hard to open now, I am hoping it is because it is cold outside.
The pedal is still sticky, but if I pull the choke out a little bit it the sticky seems to go away, I expect it is one of the carbs that is the issue, I should have my old carbs rebuilt.

So the new exhaust has been getting noisier and noisier as time has went by, I changed out the head pipe gasket a couple days ago and used "ultra copper" high temp sealer and it didn't really improve that much, but it smelt weird the first couple drives, well today I drove to a job and it was noisy as usual, I finished the job and started it up and something let loose and it was loud, I quick popped the hood and looked inside and seen the reason right away, one of the plugs I used to delete the smog injection pipes had popped out of its hole, I shut it down and got it back in there, went to the next job and then got home and it was almost out again, so I screwed it back in as far as I could(allen wrench), and then I put another plug in the hole till it bottomed out on the plug in the hole, I checked the other 3 and had to put another plug in another one as it was also loose.
The one behind the intake manifold that is hard to get too is the one that popped out.







It sounds better now but I have not drove it yet, what it sounds like while driving it is what counts.

Well now I can hear it knocking again, I guess I am going to have to modify the distributor as it is set at 0 degrees BTDC, it's also running hot and it's only 68 degrees outside, needs bigger radiator, I have one of them aluminum 3 core ones I got from quick510 on Ratsun several years ago, he said it didn't leak, but I doubt that one will work with the fan cowl, but I need it to run cooler, every year that has went by it has ran warmer and warmer on the freeway.
The power steering pump is still as loud as ever also, one of these days it is going to start puking.

I had the weirdest thing happen today, I pulled my matchbox off the LZ20 and pulled it apart to re-curve it, I welded up the end of the short slot just short of an eighth inch and then filed away at it till I had a 1/16th inch to go till it was stock again, I got this measurement/info from the distributor guy on Ratsun that does this sort of thing on the side for extra money(???), anyway I put it back together and then pulled the distributor out of the work truck and put this modified one in it, I connected everything and hit the starter and it would not start, so I got it to TDC and the rotor was correct, I took the oil filler cap off and looked at the cam and it was 180 degrees out, now I used the dist cap that was there, I only changed the distributor, how could it be 180 degrees out, aren't all matchbox distributors made the same?
I changed the distributor wires 180 degrees and got it started, it idles pretty good/smooth, I set the timing at 10 degrees BTDC(it was set at 0 degrees BTDC with the stock distributor I removed and it was still barely knocking/pinging set that way), I am likely not going to get on the freeway till next Monday so I will not know how well it worked till then, all I know is I was tired of hearing it knock/ping since no exhaust leaks now.
I am used to the #1 plug wire being at 4pm, now it is at 10am, weird.

So the theory is to give it more initial timing and limit the advance?

Yes, I had it set at zero degrees and I could still hear it barely knocking on the freeway, I was going to have to start going the other way and have it set 2 degrees after TDC or more, but I had a conversation with the distributor guy a while back and finally did what I should have done back then.

Should have snappier throttle response if nothing else.

I am hauling a trailer most the time, there is nothing snappy about the truck while it is back there.
It does feel a little different though, time will tell if it is better.

So the truck got hot again on the freeway, when it gets hot it knocks/pings, so I put the Champion radiator in it, I also pulled the thermostat and took a look at it, I think it is broken as it's cold and it still has not closed, I don't think it opens either, it's just stuck a little ways open so I replaced it also.
I also re-timed it at 5 degrees BTDC for now.

Ive always tested thermostat before putting into service. Heat up water on the stove and drop it in, should open right away. And opposite when you remove it. Should be pretty fast to react.

I put that thermostat on the stove and boiled it, it opened just fine but doesn't close all the way, it's been in there around 8 years.
But it basically has almost over heated(maybe overheated???) twice now and when it does it and it blows a lot of the coolant out all over the engine on the passenger side where the coolant reservoir is, it actually blew the lid off that container, every time I check the coolant level after one of these events the coolant level is below the fins in the radiator, so it looks empty, but the engine is not puking coolant when I get home and the gauge is only slightly warmer than normal, it's on the freeway when it does this.
This is why I put the 3 core aluminum radiator in it, all the rest of the ones I have are 2 core, I decided to see if it will fix the issue, and since this issue doesn't happen all the time, that is why I removed the thermostat to check it.
I hope this is the end of this issue.

I drove it today, it warmed up to normal running temp really fast, I expect that is because the thermostat actually closes all the way, I kept smelling coolant but found no leaks, it may have been left over from when I removed the cap yesterday and had coolant fly everywhere, since then I put a radiator cap on that the pressure seal was removed so all the expanding coolant goes into the coolant reservoir and it does not build up pressure in the block.
I didn't drive it on the freeway, so I have no idea if it is knocking/pinging and it was not really hot like it was yesterday.

I drove it on the freeway today, didn't hear any knocking, but seen smoke vapor coming out from under the hood after exiting and being stopped at a light, and the coolant level is down, I believe that the short "S" shaped hose going from the heater core to the back of the head was the issue, it appeared to be leaking at the head fitting, I hope it is fixed now.
No knocking/pinging is good, unfortunately something inside the cab makes a knocking/pinging sound that sounds exactly like knocking/pinging, but it does it on deceleration also so it is not what it sounds like, I need more anti-freeze now.
It sure is nice not having an exhaust leak now, but the sound coming out of the tail pipe isn't nice to listen to when driving next to a wall/building, it sounds like the exhaust leak except I cannot hear it when the window is up, my exhaust exits straight to the side in back of the rear tires on the drivers side, it was kinda an expensive muffler.

Well the leak is not fixed and/or I have more than one leak, it appears to be leaking under the intake on the driver side, so that means new intake/exhaust gasket, in the past I have had a bad habit of reusing old intake/exhaust gaskets, so far it has worked out, but I never have a pressure cap on my radiators, well when I put that new radiator in I used the pressure cap right at first till it puked all over the place when I tried to remove it, and now it appears I sprung a leak when the pressure built up in the block.