81 Datsun Diesel pickup
 

Found it local, alot easier and cheaper to get to than the VW in Washington. It's got 270k on it, but it seems to run decent.

Claimed mpg is 35! :thumbup: :thumbup:

Will be taking it home friday... wish me luck!

More info...

2.2L NA diesel, apparently made by Chrysler... It's built like an industrial engine, even came in a marine version. It's a king cab longbed, rated to carry 1000lbs (?!?!?!)

It makes a little tiny bit of white smoke when warming up at idle, and always makes black smoke at heavy throttles... injector pump seems to be tuned rich, but of course that's where it makes the best power, for it's puny 60hp rating anyways. I saw on a forum somewhere "The 2.2L nissan diesel sounds, shakes, and smokes like a freight train", which seems accurate...

Proposed mods:

) EGT to monitor exhaust temps, to preserve the engines and to load the engine near it's ideal point. I hear that's 700F...

) Tach, for obvious reasons. :)

) Veg Oil two tank conversion. I have a source :D

) Bigger intake piping. It looks anemic, poor thing. More air = leaner AFR at a given power level... May help keep it at 700F

) Aero?

Most of those old diesels had mechanical injectors. I would test the break off pressure of the injectors.

In the old Mercedes that was 1800 PSI. Typically the heavy smokers were breaking about 1500 PSI.

Replace the springs in the injectors and the pressure would come up to new specs.

I would not mess with the pump until I knew the injector break pressure was in specs. If you lean out the pump it will not work properly, because the higher injector break pressure gives you better atomization as well as leaning out the mixture.

If you can't get new springs, it may be possible to shim the old springs to get the pressure up.

Every time I see an old diesel smoking heavily, it reminds me of this simple fix, and you are actually fixing the real problem.

Nissan made Sentra's than had a diesel, as well as supplied diesels for International Harvester Scout's back then.

There was also a Lincoln Continental Mark 7 with a BMW diesel in the same time frame.

regards
gary

1000 pounds sounds right. It was probably a little more than average back then, and it's a little lame compared to modern compact pickups. Any lighter and it gets pointless having a bed, by the time you have two fat guys in the cab.

I'd love to hear about the veggie conversion. :)

Got it home, it CAN actually hit 80mph on flat ground, but it takes awhile, and it's on the verge of smoking just maintaining that speed... prolly not good for it. Not to mention it's revving WAY to fast at that speed, it seems happiest at (guess) 55-60mph.

This thing has a throttle. For real. It seems to automatically throttle the air at under ~15-20% 'go pedal'. Efficiency reasons I assume... gotta keep the AFR within a certain range for good economy, too lean isnt much better than too rich...

I was always under the impression that diesel speed is controlled by the amount of fuel input- so they naturally run lean.

The only exception being in the even that the injection pump is putting in more fuel than they can burn, in which case they blow the black smoke (heavy acceleration or pump flow turned up too high for that rpm).

I have also read that since they are constantly gulping the max amount of air possible, the air filter will clog more quickly than a similar gasoline vehicle.

Yes, I am VERY aware of how a diesel functions normally. That's why I note this one is odd in that it has a throttle on it. I'm sure it controls power by metering the fuel, but at light loads it also throttles the air.


I'm considering using this truck to go get the 79' VW diesel dasher I mention in my other thread in this forum... but this is a 2000lb truck, and that's a 2500lb car, and it's a 2000 mile trip. I thought about using a dolly, but even then it's prolly too heavy for this lil truck... any opinions from a Datsun truck owner on towing a huge load across a mountain range? :(

Maybe I should just go get the drivetrain from the dasher and drop it in a cheap old VW Golf shell when I can afford it... 1000+lbs lighter than the dasher anyways...

Well, I can't comment on going to go get the Dasher...but I've been looking at cash cars lately, and the older NA diesels have been getting my attention, the Nissan P/U, the VW's, the Sentra Diesel, etc. It'd make my Harley moot though :(

I say, good buy. For folks as patient as hypermilers have to be, I think what you got is pretty darn good!

Although I wouldn't recommend it for others I personally would probably take the chance dragging the heavy car home with a dolly or four-down, as long as the dolly has good brakes or I have a brake actuator in the car (if four-down).

I'm having difficulty locating a dolly other than uHaul... according to Uhaul's website, they wont agree to letting me put a dolly on my little truck, it's not rated near large enough by them. I doubt theirs have brakes either =\

So, I think I'm down to two options...

1) Drive up there with a friend (in my then veg oil powered truck), and attempt to drive both vehicles back

2) Drive up there and remove the drivetrain & anything that looks useful, chunk it in the back, and drive home.

Either way, I now have a list of crap to fix on the truck before I drive it that far...

1) driveshaft support bearing is GONE. To be precise, the 2" of rubber surrounding it is gone. $80

2) One of the front suspension arms is missing a bolt and about to break the other. $5-8? Other side already had them replaced with new bolts.

2) Smokes! Governer Vacuum Diaphram is likely cracked, leaking, and causing massive overfueling. Can't locate a supplier, still looking. Having a nissan stock part # could allow finding it via nismo.com...

3) If #2 doesn't stop smoking, rebuild injectors, $25 each * 4

4) Needs all new brake pads. $50?

5) Steering rack. Not power steering, but the manual rack has some slack in it. Tie rods etc look good, the slack is in the box. It can wait a bit though...

Other than that, it could use a Tachometer and a EGT fitted for engine monitoring purposes. A fuel flow gauge would be handy...

You could buy a tow bar and install it on the VW. It probably wouldn't be hard to remove the front bumper to mount a universal tow bar.

Is the VW a standard transmission? Its not a good idea to tow an auto tranny in neutral while the engine isn't running.

You could drive both cars, and the tow bar could be plan B.

Mark the flanges on the propshaft before you remove any bolts, or you will have a nightmare trying to get it rebalanced.

My old shop has the Factory microfilm for some of those old parts. I will see if I can look up the part number for you. Get back later today.

You can adjust the freeplay in the steering box. Its not a rack. I think its a worm and sector. There is a small threaded shaft coming out of the top (angled towards the front. The shaft has a lock nut at the bottom. Loosen the locknut and screw the threaded shaft in some, anc check the freeplay.

Warning!!!!!!!!!!

This adjustment has to be done VERY CAREFULLY. Turn the threaded shaft in until you feel significant resistance. That is probably too tight. Then back it off about 25%. Tighten the lock nut holding the shaft in that position.

The worm and sector gears probably have some wear in the middle but very little at the ends. Any adjustment is a compromise, but I have found that you can make a huge difference. Test the steering lock to lock (wheels off the ground) for any binding of any kind after the adjustment.

I can not overemphasize the danger of not following these directions to the letter. You could loose the steering if you do not. I found this out by doing it on a 59 Vette and ended driving it to work with it only turning left. Had to drive through the intersection and back up to make a right turn.

regards
gary

Noted, thanks for the advice so far. That part # would indeed be very useful. That failing, I guess I should call a nissan dealer? "Got a leather diaphram for a 81 datsun diesel...."

>.<

DalezOr, Sorry I did not get the number yeaterday. I have a dentist appointment this morning at 9 AM (eastern) Bunch of doctor stuff this week (nothing serious).
I will also check to see if its still available through Nissan.
Should have the info in about 6.5 hours.

regards
gary

Ouch! Take your time! It'll still be broken tomorrow! :P :)

Not good news on replacement parts. Long since not offered any individual parts outside of complete replacement fuel injection pump. Not even sure that is still availabe from Nissan, but it would probably be less expensive from outside their dealer network.

You need to get ID tag info off the pump itself, if you want to see if independents could get you any parts.

Best bet is a reliable rebuilder, one who does all kinds of diesel FI work, either marine or trucks, etc.

Sorry it could not be better news. Nissan microfilm only shows complete pump assembly. They apparently do not consdier individuals qualified to accomplish repairs.

regards
gary

155020-7920

There's the Zexel part number... still can't find it >.<

Going to have to start emailing suppliers...

That failing... rip out the diaphram and stick a servo on it? pseudo-electronic injection, w00h00! :P

My VW diesel is gone... can't blame the guy for selling it though, under the circumstances.

I'll find a path to a diesel car... in the meantime, I got this truck...

First tank posted, all in town hard stop and go pizza delivery... :)

Wow- that's some great mpg for an older truck!

That is in nice looking shape for an 81. Are those hood vents functional or just show?

I think it needs pizza pans.:p

On many Datsun models the vents are for show, but these do have a ~1.5" opening to under the hood. *shrugs*

Its not in near as nice of shape as it looks... paint colors suggest a front end collision at some point, seems repaired though... Laundry list of things to fix...

I think the drag of the wheels is the least of my concerns so far... :)

The smokescrew works better when it's not loose flopping around in there...

What's a smokescrew?

The injector pump has a 'smoke setscrew' which determines the maximum amount of fuel injected... Mine was basically nonexistent, so the engine was seeing as much fuel as the pump could supply under heavy loads!