Al Savage's 1982 Maxima Wagon

[asavage]

(I have no pics of my wagon right now, but I'll take some someday)

VIN = JN1SU05S4CX005840

I'm both the 2nd & 4th owner of my '82 wagon. Bought it in 1996 from the original owner with 86k miles on it, has 154k miles now. AT (L3N71B). Maroon or Burgundy, but no woodgrain. No roofrack. Light Grey interiour (blue and brown were the other popular choices). It lived most of its life in Pennsylvania, so it's rusty by PNW standards, but not so much as to prevent it being driven.

I bought a carpet kit for it, but never got around to yanking the seats and installing it while I owned it. I gave the kit to the co-worker, it got put in a basement, got wet, and moldy, and thrown out. Sigh.

I loved it the way it ran, but on long trips the seats and seating position made my back hurt. The seat is low, and the accel pedal too far to the left, making my right leg bend oddly. I took to bracing my leg against the shifter via a rolled-up bath towel, but it was just a band-aid.

I owned it for three years, then sold it to a co-worker in 1999 (with about 110k miles) with the stipulation that when he tired of it, I had first dibs on buying it back. I sold it because the seating position hurts my back: poor thigh support, and the accel pedal is too far to the left, so my leg bends uncomfortably. I took to rolling up a bath towel and propping my right knee against the shift lever on long trips to help. Eventually, I bought a '75 W115 MB 300D to replace the Maxima, but after a few months decided I didn't much like it either, and sold that one too.

In 2004, my co-worker agreed to sell the wagon back to me (154k miles), so I re-acquired it and did some basic maintenance. I haven't driven it 2k miles since, but I keep it licensed and I drive it about once a month or so. The paint is poor and peeling off the rockers, there are some dime-n-quarter sized holes in the rockers, and the interiour is getting ratty. The radio died and I had to replace the A/C's expansion valve, so the radio got left out and the glovebox hasn't been reinstalled (but the A/C works great!). It's beginning to be a car that holds stuff in storage, things just get put in the back of it and never leave.

Wagons (AFAIK) never came with the factory alloy wheels,but I bought a set from an '83 gasser in a junkyard that had recent new tires. Got them for $100 with all the lugs/washers/center caps. Had them rebalanced, and they drive very nicely.

I picked up an '83 engine Apr-2005 from Tigard, Ore., that was from a 5-spd sedan, which is now in storage.

(No, I borrowed the trailer, it's not mine!)

Plans are to repower some old wagon from the 60's in the future, possibly a Ford Falcon or Dodge Dart or similar.

I bought a gasser '83 AT (L4N71B) to have an OD trans for that project, but I'd really like one from a diesel, because some of the iinternals are different part numbers, according to the parts catalog. But in a pinch, the gasser one should work.

[glenlloyd]

You sure that trailer isn't yours?

[danridley]

Sorry about the carpet kit.

[asavage]

You sure that trailer isn't yours?

I'd like to have one! I towed it 600 miles (round trip) to pick up that engine -- I was down that way for a long weekend anyway -- and it tows extremely well. The one thing it doesn't do is back up well; the tongue is way too short. However, we have to ride a lot of ferries here in the Puget Sound area, and they nick you very badly for trailers, and shorter is definitely better in that regard.

Just try to find a non-rusty Dodge Rampage to cut up like that! They're rare these days, I've looked. The owner is planning on putting a generator on the tongue/seat area. The OEM fuel tank is still underneath. All lights (except reverse) work. Tailgate works. It's a nice setup, and unlike conventional converted pickup trailers, the bed is low and the weight is reasonable.

Dan: don't sweat the carpet kit. I never got around to installing it, after two years. Who knows if I ever would have. You just took the decision away from me

[asavage]

I went in my '82 today to check something, and when I lifted the rear seatbacks, three mice scampered out! Cute little buggers. They didn't leave the car, just ran under the front seats or something. The old wagon really stinks, too. Mouse urine. Yech.

Bought some sticky things that are supposed to trap mice like flypaper I guess. I'll put them on the floor tomorrow.

This is at least the third mouse infestation this wagon has had over years, with all the owners. I wonder how they get in, as this thing is closed up tight.

[glenlloyd]

I went in my '82 today to check something, and when I lifted the rear seatbacks, three mice scampered out! Cute little buggers. They didn't leave the car, just ran under the front seats or something. The old wagon really stinks, too. Mouse urine. Yech.

Bought some sticky things that are supposed to trap mice like flypaper I guess. I'll put them on the floor tomorrow.

This is at least the third mouse infestation this wagon has had over years, with all the owners. I wonder how they get in, as this thing is closed up tight.

Yours isn't the only one, I found a nest under the back seat when I was cleaning mine out.

Someone who posed a question about a Maxi for sale on Ebay asked if the headliner was dark, because they said it was typical for cars with bad exhausts, and you know my exhaust was very bad until recently, and my headliner is dark. I don't believe these bodies are as tight as we would like to think. I've been underneath and I see a lot of cavaties that I don't know where they go...but obviously the mice do!

steve A

[Carimbo]

Dirty headliner-- yes that description fits my car @ 215,000 miles. Well there is surprisingly not much separating the trunk from the cabin so if any exhaust was entering the trunk it would find its way into the cabin easily. I have rarely smelled exhaust inside the cabin except sometimes on startup when the door or window is open and the wind is blowing right. Maybe there was a period in its life when the exhaust system was leaking.

Always run with the vent control on Fresh to slightly pressurize the cabin, even with the fan off.

I did add a slight downward-opening chrome baloney tip extension to the tailpipe in an effort to keep the rearend corner cleaner, which may help direct the exhaust further away from the car. That has only been for the last 5,000 miles so figure there's 24 years of soot buildup on that headliner.

Tried using a friend's portable steamer to clean it-- absolutely no improvement. The steamer worked much better on the carpet and door vinyls, however.

[asavage]

Well, I haven't gotten around to takin' pics of the old '82, so I'm doing the next-best thing: here's a pic that someone else took of our grouping of Datsuns, three weeks ago at a Datsun meet @ Golden Gardens park in north Seattle.


(photo credit: Bleach)

I decided the night before that I'd attend. I'd stolen the battery from it to put in the '83 Wagon, so I stole the battery out of the Aerostar at 5am. Ice on the windscreen. Then I realized the tabs were expired, but I'd bought new ones a while back . . . now, where did I put them. Oh, yeah: on the new plates the State required me to buy! So I had to replace the license plate at 5:30am. It fired right up, so I drove it to the biodiesel trailer at 6am and filled it, then drove it 120 miles to the meet at 10am . . . longer drive that the miles imply.

That's why all the green stuff and moss on the hood and such. It was filthy from sitting in the shade all winter.

It was the only Gen1 Maxima there, and the only diesel as well. I opened the hood for the curious. Here's a pic at the pre-meet at Southcenter Mall, where a bunch of us gathered to caravan north to the real meet.


The younger folks hadn't seen a Nissan diesel until then, and I got some (very) mild interest. The engine bay is kind of corroded.

Sunday, I spent two hours washing it, and did some light vacuuming too; it looks less green now, but the paint'll never come back, it's been bad ever since I bought it.

[glenlloyd]

Al
That's a very pretty color, and not one that's seen very often. In fact I don't recall ever seeing a gen 1 in that color before.

steve a

[asavage]

It's the same color as yours and Carimbo's! That pic has it more red than it is (it's not my pic, and I think Bleach sometimes adjusts the color balance). It's a cross between dark burgundy and brown.

[glenlloyd]

It's the same color as yours and Carimbo's! That pic has it more red than it is (it's not my pic, and I think Bleach sometimes adjusts the color balance). It's a cross between dark burgundy and brown.

Uh....are you sure? I can't believe that it's the same color as my car. What's the paint code? Besides, you have a grey interior too.

steve a

[asavage]

I'll get the paint code tonight. It'll be fun!

[asavage]

The aluminum firewall plate says, "011 K" for "Trim/color combination" or words to that effect.

Where is the paint code sticker? I know I've seen one somewhere, but maybe I'm thinking of another car? Didn't see it on the radiator support where I thought I'd seen it.

[kassim503]

i think its on that firewall plate, i remember seeing something about that on there.

[glenlloyd]

The aluminum firewall plate says, "011 K" for "Trim/color combination" or words to that effect.

Where is the paint code sticker? I know I've seen one somewhere, but maybe I'm thinking of another car? Didn't see it on the radiator support where I thought I'd seen it.

I'm not sure where it's located on the Maxima, but I'll check mine tomorrow to see what it says about trim/color combination. The FSM "might" say something but I doubt it.

steve a