New Zealand Datsun Club

So I took the left hand side steering apart:




I couldn't feel any play in the idler arm bushes but I don't really know what I'm feeling for, they look possibly original and new Nolathane ones are cheap.

The bottom ball joint feels okay to me, I'll get the guys at HBI to feel it up and give me their opinion, the boot is split.

The outer tie rod end boot is split and it's full of dirt but it didn't fail on this, the boot on the inner tie rod is also split. There is some play in the drag link joint that connects to the idler arm if you grab the idler arm and lift it up and down but I don't know if it's supposed to be like that?

Sway bar bushes are also rooted.

So I got these:



New idler bushes and new sway bar link bushes.

The bottom ball joint felt okay but had up and down play apparently so it's getting rebuilt. I've ordered some outer tie rod ends - they are on clearance for $6/piece apparently! The inner tie rod end is getting a new boot fitted. Also ordered some of the fanciest bulbs that Repco had, 60/55 but +120% hah, we'll see what they are like.

Fitted the new idler bushes and mucked around with the brakes, managed to get the master cylinder off but I had to disconnect the pipes from the proportioning valve as I couldn't get the nuts into the master cylinder loose, will have a look at them later once I figure out what do to with it. Looks like the DRs have 1" bore masters which aren't very common in the old stuff, I can "upgrade" to a later S15/Z32 1" master but that means doing the same thing I did on the Z with removing the external proportioning valve and joining the brake lines up above the booster which might not be a bad thing as the valve on top of the booster is pretty ugly.

I've decided the original vacuum piping for the brake booster is really ugly and unnecessarily long so I'm going to make something a bit shorter and neater.

And it looks like it's almost impossible to get the brake booster out of a DR without removing the inlet manifold or possibly the steering box.

Really keen to hear your opinions on the bulbs.
Ive used the blue power plus 90 before and i liked those.
I need to get two sets for my 140J very soon.

I've been thinking and I'm just going to get the original master cylinder rebuilt, it seems like the best option at the moment.

Had a bit of a play with the bulbs as well, I think it's something dicky in the headlight switch that's causing the problem, when I was playing with it before if I turned the lights on the LH light was dim but when I pushed the indicator down by mistake the light came right, but when I tried it again later it wouldn't.

The new bulbs seem about the same on low beam as the +50s in the Z but brighter on high beam that the Z bulbs and the original Skyline bulbs, the original Skyline bulbs seem brighter on low beam than both the others. So what I've done is put the new bulbs in the Skyline and I've put the old blueish bulbs from the DR into the Z. Will drive around for a while and see what I think, might end up swapping between the cars.

Sweet i see,
Are the bulbs getting full voltage? Are the DRs wired like the old datsuns with the load going through the switch. I reckon a couple relays and run them direct off the battery would be one of the best lighting up grades you could do for an old car.

In these Era Nissan the headlight stalk switches full load of the headlights and subsequently the little finger that get pushed down on by the stalk get burnt out or bent or munted and such I had exactly the issues you describe, one side worked and one side didn't.

In the headlight stalk there will be contacts for LH full , & LH Normal then RH full and RH normal

I took my good side, used it to trigger a relay ( no load on the remaining good side ) then did some wiring direct from the battery using large cross section amplifier cable and fuse blocks. This is how i achieved a near 0 volt drop and massive brightness on low wattage bulbs.



Hope that helps , the standard 60w sort of bulbs in my Z are as bright as the 120W uprated ones in my Surf

Yea thats what i ment.
Pics speak a thousand words

The older datsuns are even worse for voltage drop in the headlight circuit.

Sweet guys, thanks for that - the lights are actually pretty good in the DR, not so good in the Z so I might look at doing a relay upgrade in that.

Remember when I said looks like it's almost impossible to get the brake booster out of a DR without removing the inlet manifold or possibly the steering box?

Pow - almost impossible but not quite. Can you tell the master cylinder has been leaking?




Took the rocker cover off to get it stripped and painted, haven't decided on a colour yet but it'll either be wrinkle coat black or red, I'm leaning towards black. Not a lot in there once you get the rocker cover off!



Also it looks like the car has a full Motec Systems exhaust. I mean HKS. Note: for competition purposes only!