1985 720KC SD25 4x4

[Knugcab]

Time for an introduction, I guess.
My name is Mattias Johansson, 30 years old, from northern Sweden, and I bought my first Datsun/Nissan some weeks ago, a 1985 720 King Cab, SD25, 5 speed manual, 4wd.


When I bought it....

The stock exhaust was leaking so i re-routed it as a sidepipe instead...

Swapped the tyres for some Cooper Discoverer STTs, 31", climbing like a mountain goat now...

Previous owner didn't understand the electrics.... ...the high beams was not working despite all this wiring.

The solution? Connecting it to the stock harness again. Voila!

Waiting for my hub to arrive so I can swap the steering wheel for this old Superior 500....

The slowest vehicle I've ever owned I guess, but I don't care, it makes me smile every time I drive it and it is quite capable off road for what it is.

[plenzen]

Welcome to the forum.

That is some "creative" wiring for sure off that battery. YIKES ! ! !

As for slow..............................yes..............yes they are.
Swapping out the speedometer for a calendar is quite acceptable for these little trucks I think.

There are/were a number of guys on here that would have loved to have a look at that 4X4 oil pan as Nissan/Datsun made it.
I recall a couple of "projects" in years gone past where people were making their own pans and struggling with leaky welds etc.
The 4X4 diesel option for these vehicles was not available on this side of the ocean, either in the USA or here in Canada. There were a few members on here that had good 4X4 gas models that were trying to transplant an SD series into them and the oil pan was one of the more contentious issues to be dealt with.

I see from your steering wheel photo it appears to have had some creative wiring done inside the cab as well.

[Knugcab]

It took some work to get the new steering wheel to work with the horn etc., but now it is in place, and so much better in all kind of ways!



Got a good deal on these Hella 3003 HID lamps.... I like to see where I am going and the woods are dark...

[Nissan_Ranger]

[quote="plenzen"]
'...The 4X4 diesel option for these vehicles was not available on this side of the ocean, either in the USA or here in Canada...'

Some years ago I had a chance to acquire a Datsun diesel 4X4 that was owned by a fellow in my unit here in Ontario. I passed on it because I just wasn't interested in the 4X4. Should'a nada done dat...

N_R

[Knugcab]

Boy, what a friday it was....

Or rather, everything started last thursday. Had to tow it home from work, didn't start, and finally the starter gave up too.

Tried pumping the hand primer, it was stuck, appears like the fuel filter was clogged so I ordered a new one.

A friend working at the local junkyard told me they had a 720 diesel starter in stock, so I got that one, left work early a beautiful friday afternoon and tried to swap the starter. Well, a 30 year old Hitachi unit is a bit bigger and heavier than new chinese crap, so it took a while to install it.

Then I swapped the fuel filter, tried to pump the hand primer but there was no fuel coming. Seems lik there was a hole for some kind of plug in the bottom of the new filter. There was none in the old filter, neither in the box... So I had to look for a bolt to fit in the hole and try to seal it...

I pumped, fuel came, I bled the system and it worked, so when I was trying to start the engine, the battery was dead.

Got in my W123 to try to jump start the 720, but forgot that I had a pile of gravel in my driveway and managed to get stuck on that one.

Removed the battery from the Benz to install it in the 720 instead, then the bolt for the battery bracket snapped.

When I finally installed the Benz battery in the 720, the starter only cranked for a while but started to slip so I guess that the starting gear on the flywheel is bad.

Went away to get my father to pull the Benz from the gravel, so we tried to tow the 720 to see if it should start, yup, no problems!

Drove it some kilometers, lifted the bonnet to see if there was any diesel leaks, nope, it wasn't....there was just a lot of coolant everywhere, and a big hole in the radiator!

I couldn't even get angry anymore by then....


So, time for some wrenching


Out with the engine....


Guess I can clean up here now too...


Nice pressure plate, huh?


Ugly flywheel thanks to a slipping clutch....probably time to change the whole flywheel if I can find one...


The leaking radiator, probably possible to solder this.


Wrapped the superior wheel in hockey tape for better grip some weeks ago btw...

[Knugcab]

I tried to polish the paintwork but something went wrong, did I have the wrong pad or do japanese cars have bad quality paint?

[plenzen]

Sounds like you had a bit of an "adventure" on the Friday you mention. All of the emotions get into play on those days. Anger/rage sadness and then just laugh and say " Is that the best you have ? come on, Bring it on ! ".

Might have chose to use a bit of a finer compound for that polishing job, but, pretty sure a couple coats of good quality wax and that hood and cowel will come back up again to showroom shape.

Just looking at the picture of your engine bay with the motor out and that is some rats nest of wiring you have there. YIKES !


The starter "starting to slip" as you say, is probably the sprag clutch inside it. The reduction type starters are kind of notorious for that. Somewhere on here I believe there is a procedure for rebuilding those.
I took mine to a starter re builder to have it done some years ago and I think it's getting close of a return trip to there.

How deep into the engine are you planning on going ?

Keep us posted as to your progress and thanks for the pictures.

Good luck

Paul

EDIT:
Forgot to ask. Was the broken pressure plate finger still in the bell housing or any sign of it ?

[Knugcab]

Started on a color change while waiting for the parts to arrive....
Surplus Swedish army paint, the only right way to do it!

[Knugcab]

A little sneak-peek of how the new paint will turn out.

Debadged the grille and removed the chrome trim, and I'm not sure actually....
It looks a bit toothless now, however, shiny chrome doesn't work well with paint like this.
One thing is for sure anyway, the ugly red stripe that matches nothing at all will have to go. I wonder how someone could think it was a good idea to put that one there?

[Knugcab]

New fender flares......think they actually are for Chevy S10 but they are very close, so a bit of fiddling and they should be there.

More room for the 31s now......

[Nissan_Ranger]

Very nice work!

[Knugcab]

It's alive!

[plenzen]

Nice !

How is the cold starting

[Knugcab]

Nearly impossible....
Troubleshooting continues....

[plenzen]

Have a read through here from post 7 on. It will explain what I did to assist with cold starting. Pretty sure you could find a Yanmar dealer where you are. I think there is a part number listed for it there someplace. I have a couple spares here and can dig one out if you like.

http://nissandiesel.dyndns.org/viewtopi ... 476#p10476