New World Datsuns...

This forum is for Datsuns?

Because we needed another project around here...

Insert Face Palm Here

Meh, it won't be so bad. My dad has been looking for beater to keep around for a while. It's his baby but I'll be doing most of the work so I can use it when I need it. Needs transmission work but I drove it home for $650. All the power options work and the AC blows cold. 4wd seems to work okay and it drove fine. It's no creampuff but should do what we're looking for.

Many moons ago , an old employer had a similar-ish one. Loved it

OBDR Route 5 ride report.

Started in New Pine Creek, California on Friday night and rode about 15 miles to a camp spot.




Rode over to Paisley for fuel, water and a burger. Then up to 7200 feet overlooking Summer Lake.



From there we side tracked from the official route over to Thompson Reservoir and found a camp spot next to the water.





Started the next morning off with a flat on the KLR. We'd be needing the practice later.


Trail day 2 took us through Christmas Valley. Marc had a crash followed by a mild heat stroke. Jerod snagged his foot on a huge rock. My brother got a flat on the front of his KLX. But after all that was behind us, we eventually made it over to Riley for fuel and water. Then back to the trailhead.

As we charged north, Jerod had a saddlebag failure while going through an exceptionally rocky stretch. A few miles later, the KLX experienced another front flat. And here's where things got complicated. I had packed a little Slime electric pump but no one else brought anything. We also had spare tubes for the TWs and the KLX. Unfortunately, the pump only had 2 performances before it failed to build more than 1-2 psi. My brother rode the KLX about 8 miles on a flat front until we were out of light and set up camp.

Jerod had been hobbling after kicking the rock but didn't pull his boot until camp was set up. The front of his steel toed boot was dented and the leather was torn back.




It was medicinal and he earned it.

After a decent night's sleep we regrouped. Jerod had an inspired vision and the Jerod Loop was born.


Meanwhile, my brother pulled his front wheel again and I disassembled the the pump hoping I could add oil and generate more pressure. No such luck.



Jerod had the idea to pull a sparkplug and use a section of fuel hose to inflate the tube. Unfortunately, without a check valve it was no better than the damaged pump. We decided to push forward. He ended up riding almost 30 more miles on an almost completely flat front tire. We sidestepped to a small lake hoping to find a fisherman with a pump but it was completely deserted. We eventually crossed paths with some USFS workers that were able to air us up but, no big surprise, after 40 trail miles the tube wouldn't hold air. One more repair...


We hit the trail hard and rode to a couple fire lookouts.





It wasn't too far down the trail that my brother picked up a foot spear. Luckily just a flesh wound.


Things were going pretty smooth until Jerod got a flat.


What followed next was kind of a haze of failed repairs coupled with a couple trips by my brother and Marc into Seneca (40+ mile round trips) to try to get aired up. We got a couple more miles further down the trail and got another flat. Both tubes were destroyed but we had a borrowed bicycle pump. It was looking like the trip might be over and then I recalled hearing about guys using a larger front tube as a hail Mary. We installed a skinny 18" tube in the fat 14" rear tire using dish soap to lube the bead and started pumping. Amazingly, it worked.
By this time Seneca was long closed so we rode 25 miles up 395 to John Day to regroup.

After a group meeting we decided to soldier on if at all possible. The next morning Jerod and I hit the Napa store and bought 2 more pumps, just in case. I tried Les Schwab to see if they had any tube that might come close to carry as a spare. The TW200 has a very unique rear tire and by a stroke of incredible fortune, he found a dusty box on a back shelf containing the exact tube I needed, HD no less. Hats off to John Day Les Schwab.

We rode back down to Seneca to reconnect with the trailhead. Trails were kind all the way to the Malheur River crossings. My ignition got flooded out midway through the first one but otherwise we all plowed through.


There were a couple points where the route was either impossible to follow or washed out so there were a couple reroutes. I was using OnX Offroad and can't imagine making the trip without it.



We ran some awesome single track on our way to Phillips Lake. We were still a little behind schedule from tire drama, but catching up.







About an hour of trail in the morning got us to Sumpter for water, gas, and breakfast snacks. We headed to Olive Lake where we had planned to camp. It was beautiful but state workers were installing a gate. We presume it was at the direction of Oregon's turbo-Karen governor.


We sidestepped to Ukiah for fuel and food. The guy that runs the gas station there has a reputation for being...eccentric. It's well earned. We ate at The Thicket and it was well above expectations. Hammer down to Indian Lake.






We were relatively certain we could finish the next day...so we did. Hard riding to cross 84, then over to Elgin for more fuel.



The flowers at high elevation were pretty spectacular.



The route technically ends just short of the Washington border but we rode to the airport to call it even.





It was about 40 highway miles to Jerod's house in Pendleton where we trailered up and went our separate ways. 1142 miles in 6 days. Still not dead yet.

The mistress wanted new jewelry. The heatshield has always been missing and I've never been able to locate the correct one so I found a longer one and cut it down.







I've been looking for a seat rail for a long time too but just hit dead-ends. I found a deal on a Harley FLSTS rail and made it fit. I'm happy with how it looks but don't really like how it's mounted. I may redo it.

Looks like a fun trip sans all the mishaps. Flats are one thing but damn that foot shit.

Jerod is probably the toughest guy I know. He never complained about it but it must hurt like crazy. That happened on day 2 and he just kept riding. He crashed the last morning too and beat up his left leg.

Got the bikes all pressure washed and serviced. Oil changed, air filters cleaned, chains oiled, and rack welded.




Now they're both ready for the next ride.


This morning I went over to start in on the GMC. While I was gone my dad cleaned out the interior and repaired some little odds and ends. Looks like the battery isn't going to bounce back. I also found the both front brakes dragging. There's a bunch of little things to do.

I drove it about 6 miles while watching the scanner and paying close attention to what I feel and hear. The PCM seems to think everything is fine. I can see the PID for present gear shift 1-2-3-4 and back down as I stop. I can also see the TCC duty cycle change. I feel a positive 1--2 shift and as I run up to about 40 and maintain speed with light load, I think I can feel it going into lockup and the RPMs drop a couple hundred.

So I racked it and dropped the pan to see what was inside. The fluid was predictably dark but there was no shrapnel or piles of clutch material.





I was looking for a tag and noticed this on the driver's side rear corner.





Booger welded case makes this a much less desirable candidate for rebuild or repair. I'm in research mode for now.

That looks like an amazing trip. I honestly don’t know if I’d continue the journey like he did injured quite like that (I consider myself a *tuff guy* in some regards , and a giant pussy in others lol...)

I’ve only seen two aluminum trans cases welded kinda like that. One was a ford C6 mounting ear that got welded back on.

Waitin on donor trans rebuild pics

Gimme a week on that.

The close ratio Powerglide is out.

Rear master cylinder rebuild and transmission service on the Chief today.




There's still some shinys in the oil but it doesn't make any odd noises or have any shifting problems. Maybe I should look into a 6-speed.
My fork seals came in yesterday but I haven't picked up any fork oil yet. I'd like to get that done before a ride I was invited to do next week.

BLUE wrote: ↑Thu Jul 23, 2020 6:45 pm Waitin on donor trans rebuild pics

DRIVEN wrote: ↑Thu Jul 23, 2020 6:52 pm Gimme a week on that.

Fork seals.






Once I had that back together I did some GMC prep work. Replaced the transfer case front seal, flushed the cooler lines, installed all the brackets etc on the transmission, layed all the hardware out, and put some ATF in the torque converter. I need to make a wrecking yard run first thing in the morning, then it's time to stab it in there.

I hate doing fork seals.

On a TW it's a 45 minute job. This pig took me over 3 hours. Not really very complicated and no special tools required, there's just a bunch of overlapping parts on the frontend of it.