In reply to JoeyM :
Do you have a set of brake line flare wrenches? Those will definitely help - one on each of the nuts & leverage them against each other. Also, absolutely saturate them with Freeze Off or your penetrating elixir of choice before you go to work.
Pete Gossett (Forum Supporter) said:In reply to JoeyM :
Do you have a set of brake line flare wrenches? Those will definitely help - one on each of the nuts & leverage them against each other. Also, absolutely saturate them with Freeze Off or your penetrating elixir of choice before you go to work.
This! Get the two wrenches clocked on the nuts so you can squeeze the two wrenches together with your hands as you grip them. Basically you’re pulling the loosening wrench into the back up wrench with both of your hands.
The penetrating oil isn't here yet, so tomorrow I will try to determine keep
why the parking brake mechanism is not working. The rear wheels turn, so it's not the drums being rusted. I disconnected one end of the cable and that didn't free it up, so I'm expecting the problem is in the mechanism for the assembly
There's a few cables and brackets. Something might be rusty.
This is the rear end from my Datsun, the hand brake pivot is just visiable in the pre cleaning shot.
It is much eraser to spot once the housing was was cleaned.
The pivot could be your issue. Or it could be the the rear wheel cylinders. This housing was removed without disturbing the rear leaf springs. I went into this phase knowing what I was going to replace so once I had removed everything, including the pumpkin, it made it easy to unbolt the housing. This thing was weeping gear oil from every seam, nothing fought being dissembled as a result. I was very lucky.
Note the zerk fitting on the hand brake pivot. I found a number of these grease fitting had frozen and were not allowing any fresh lube to be pumped in. Someone has suggested the application of some heat to melt out the old material. I have not done it yet, so far.
The handbrake is out. I crawled under the car to unhook the cable, and Fairlady70 removed the hand brake. Here is her obligatory "I just got grease under my fingernails" photo. (Allow me to swoon for a moment: as a kid, she was told that she was not mechanically inclined. Flash Forward to now; she welded together the license plate bracket on the 1932 Datsun, riveted the skin onto the transmission tunnel on that car, and painted almost all of it. Now she's pulling parts on her own Datsun)
The problem with this parking brake assembly is that the button is sticking in the depressed position. I saw a post on a Corvette forum about that happening to their parking brakes, and in one case it was solved by thwacking the button repeatedly with a rubber mallet. It may be time to break out the wooden mallets that I made for bending sheet metal
The mechanism inside the parking brake lever is now working.... Both the button and the ratcheting mechanism.
I still need to find rubber fittings to remount it, and then check all the other cables and components to see if they are working.
JoeyM said:I still need to find rubber fittings to remount it
this is what I meant....this large rubber ring was on the shaft of the parking brake that spans the transmission tunnel. Does anybody know where I can find a replacement part?
Okay, the reassembled parking brake clearly worked, but it was more of a proof of concept than something that could be safely put back into the car; I had mangled the horseshoe retainer clip that holds a pin in to place. Not just any pin, either... The PIN that serves as the pivot point for the prawl which engages the gear. I didn't want the whole assembly to come apart again, since it was a pain in the butt to get back together, so I wrapped some welding wire around the groove in the PIN as a temporary retainer.
It now has a proper retainer clip instead of my kludge. This is a c-shaped clip instead of a horseshoe, but that's a heck of a lot better than a bit of twisted wire.
Well, I still don't have the tank out, but I know what to do when it has been dropped. Since it is GRM-approved, we will probably be trying the Auto Fuel Tank Sealer Kit from KBS Coatings.
On 12/14 I said
JoeyM said:The mechanism inside the parking brake lever is now working....I still need to find rubber fittings to remount it
Sydney Carr - one of the kind folks on this Facebook group for 311 roadsters - provided the proper part number (36463-10400) for the mystery rubber seal, and the part number (54539-04200) for a *LOWER* suspension bushing that would be easier to find and also fit snugly on the shaft.
Finally have the chance to work on Eliza. Still need to buy the rubber parts to put the e-brake back together but I de-rusted it with some sanding.
Today we're working on trying to turn the engine by hand. So far I took the fan off to get to the crank shaft. I told @JoeyM that if he kept fueling me with diet soda, I'd keep taking parts off the engine until we could get it turned.
Okay, this is another one of those moments where I admit that I have 0% of the skills that real car guys have. I've never turned over an engine by hand, and I am literally asking, "Hey, did we do the thing? Did we turn over the engine?"
The Mrs pulled the fan off so we could reach the bolt in the middle of the crank pulley, and we went to O'Reilly to get a 28 mm socket to turn it. We got it to move a bit, but doing so was *really* difficult. (I was afraid of shearing the bolt.) What is the next step? What should we be doing to get it to turn over properly?
"I" would remove the spark plugs and spray/poor a large quantity of your choice of WD-40, Marvels Mistery oil or ? to free up that motor. After letting it sit over night, do not put the plugs back in the motor, then try to turn it over.
Yes the oil in the cylinders will come out the plug hole. If nothing comes out, see below.
If you drain the material that might pass for oil from the motor and it has water or a blend of oil and water, plan "B" might be on the horizon.
I only say what has happened to me, more than once.
jr02518 said:"I" would remove the spark plugs and spray/poor a large quantity of your choice of WD-40, Marvels Mistery oil or ? to free up that motor. After letting it sit over night, do not put the plugs back in the motor, then try to turn it over.
Ok, we may be on the right track, then. We added Marvel Mystery Oil a few days ago. Before trying to turn it by hand. Perhaps we will try it again tomorrow.
Yes the oil in the cylinders will come out the plug hole. If nothing comes out, see below.
I'm expect we will need to be able to turn it through complete rotations before oil will come out.
If you drain the material that might pass for oil from the motor and it has water or a blend of oil and water, plan "B" might be on the horizon.
Ok, so would it be safe to say, then, that we should get it turning over freely by hand, then drain the oil out and see if it contains other fluids?
That car is SWEET!!! :0)
Yes, I hope it turns over freely. I was very lucky with my Datsun. It had been stored inside, in a low humidly environment.
The gas in my car did not smell to old, but was drained and replaced. The oil in the car was old and smelled of gas, not a great sign. Turns out the distributor was never going to allow my car to run at better than a very rough idle. One of its last drives had been a very short distance and the car was parked. The vacuum advance was frozen, a known fault with these units.
I would spend the time to allow a few treatments of oil down the cylinders, turning it over by hand. Using WD-40 will thin the oil in the bores and help work the rings. I committed to trying to at least start my car so I spun on a fresh oil filter and new oil, after l had gone trough the oil bath of the motor. I connected a fresh batter in the car and again with out the plugs installed, turned the key and promptly made a mess from the oil, exiting the head.
Ignition system back in place, getting the car to run was next. Again, we got mine to run, sort of, but it did come back to life.
The journey of getting my car up and running is on the forum, I might be a little obsessed with getting my car refreshed. I also have a very understanding spouse.
David
jr02518 said:The journey of getting my car up and running is on the forum, I might be a little obsessed with getting my car refreshed.
David
Yes, we have a link to it on the first page of this thread as one of the resources that I should be using. I will spend some time reading through that carefully to see what guidance it gives us. Thank you for your advice here, it is very needed.
JoeyM said:On 12/14 I said
Sydney Carr - one of the kind folks on this Facebook group for 311 roadsters - provided the proper part number (36463-10400) for the mystery rubber seal, and the part number (54539-04200) for a *LOWER* suspension bushing that would be easier to find and also fit snugly on the shaft.
Well, I finally got around to buying some suspension bushings. Let's see how well they work to put the emergency brake back together
Update!! Life got super busy with work, but we finally had some time and decent weather to work on Eliza. Still have to reassemble the e-brake, BUT we got the engine unseized!! Took the spark plugs out and then cranked it and it started to loosen up right away. Then replaced the spark plugs and it was still cranking. Replaced the fan for now just to have parts in place so as not to lose anything. Next steps are to get a new fan belt, fluids to flush all the lines, get the e-brake in place, new spark plugs, and new battery. Once the e-brake is in place, we can then try to get everything running well enough to test the engine with the key. Then, we'll figure out the fuel pump. If we can at least get her drivable, we can get her to our mechanic to get a proper tune up. So excited to get the engine free at least.
Datsun310Guy said:So what is the ultimate Datsun Roadster? You will sink your savings trying to restore one of these.
I was warned, and probably should have listened. Four years on, and she still isn't running. I had her towed to my mechanic recently since I obviously am lacking the time or aptitude to fix it myself.
Just the brakes are scaring me. Mechanic says I will need:
Rear Brake drums
Rear brake wheel cylinders
Rear brake hoses/lines
Rear breaks shoe spring kit
Rear brake shoes
Front brake calipers
Front brake pads
Front brake hoses/lines
Front wheel bearings, and races and seals
Brake Master cylinder
Brake lines all look rusty
It’s probably going to need a clutch master cylinder and slave and the cylinder hose
jr02518 said:These cars offer many "rabbit" holes that will absorb lots of time, effort and copious amounts of money. I will address the "money" part first. If you can live with the car not stock you can save on things like rear wheel cylinders rear brake shoes and rear drums. Then parts like rear brake hard lines can be other than stock. It starts to add up from there, but I know my limits and a I would rather "buy" than fabricate.
We can absolutely go with "not stock," and would certainly prefer that to "copious amounts of money."
I need to dig through your thread
jr02518 said:Given your stated goal of building a driver, work on the back end first. It teaches you what you are in for as you move to the front end. Picking a parts source is also part of the decision tree you will work through.
Is there a specific make/model of donor you would recommend pulling parts from?
Hey, nice to see another datsun project rolling around. I'll try and address a few things on your list.
There is a huge cross reference somewhere on 311s, in the wiki I think of brake parts.
https://www.311s.org/pmwiki-311/pmwiki.php?n=TechSection.Brakes
The soft lines are remove and replace. Simple to do, but take your time to preserve the hard lines.
Get a can of kroil or some other penetrating oil and use liberally.
I'd suggest seeing if the car runs next. You can always block the wheels, but odds are if it's in neutral, it's not going anywhere. Put a little MMO in the cylinders, and make sure it rotates freely by hand. Check the oil, and run the engine from a fuel can for testing purposes. You'll need to run a feed hose to the back side of the fuel pump, and make sure the return line from the carbs goes back into the can. You may need to apply suction to the return hose to draw fuel past the pump.
If the pump won't push fuel, it's an easy rebuild. Nissan still stocks parts for the diaphragm mechanical fuel pumps. It takes very little time to rebuild it and reinstall. Your carbs may also be gummed up. There are vendors that can rebuild them and it's a good idea. Remove the black knurled cap at the top and add some oil (google dashpot oil SU carb) and follow that to make sure they're not dry.
If you have spark, fuel, and air it should at least sputter and try to start. Having it run, even in this state, will make the rest of the jobs feel much closer to driving.
In reply to throttlegrotto :
I've had a bunch of these, years ago. Lotsa good memories for the most part.
Spin the engine without sparkplugs to get the fuel pump primed. Check the spark then too. If no spark, make sure the points are opening and closing. The rub block used to break off and then no spark. I usually give a short blast of starting spray (ether) for the first test to rule out the first three, compression, spark and timing. If it hasn't run in a while, the carbs are going to need work. That's the one thing on these that doesn't like sitting around.
When you get to the brakes, if you're using the original Dunlop two piston calipers, make sure the crossover line is dressed close to the rotor and doesn't rub on the inside of the wheel. DAMHIK...
Good luck.
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