My island '74 710

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hang_510
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Re: My island '74 710

Post by hang_510 »

datzenmike wrote:Hokey but worked.

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fine canadian enginnering there, eh mike??? :lol:

i went and bought some needle nose vice grips last time i droppepd the spindle. :twisted:



in all those thermostat housing, have you come across any that are a couple mm larger?

putting mine together and the thermostat floats in side the lip(used the best piece i had :evil: ), but is snug in the others.
byron wrote:I'd be all over that like a fat kid on a smartie.
okayfine wrote:Sense doesn't always have everything to do with it, and I speak from experience.
datzenmike
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Re: My island '74 710

Post by datzenmike »

Byron, Hainz, that was my fall back position but was hoping to not have to do this. This morning it started like a very hot 350 Chev. Timing is a bit advanced but ran perfectly. Even spun the tires. (wet pavement) Before coming home I retarded it and it fired up just like before.

Brian the first time I got a Hi Vol pump I couldn't wait to get home and swap it so I did it in the wrecking yard parking lot... and the friggin' spindle fell out. Motor wasn't timed or anything. I was freaking, but then realized the 'I can do this' and I did but getting the damn thing in is always a bitch as it turns as it goes in so you have to lead it a bit, which is opposite what you want when under neath looking up. So all in all I don't want to drop and move it but I will If I have to. Brian I'll look at any thermostat housings I have.
"Nissan 'shit the bed' when they made these, plain and simple." McShagger510 on flattop SUs
datzenmike
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Re: My island '74 710

Post by datzenmike »

Well long story short my wife began driving the '74 as I like to bike to work and now won't give it back. Only fair that I get another. See My Island 710 Goon project. Last fall early winter it went into a friends shop to beautify the body and paint.

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To this...

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Paint color got mixed up so Mrs. d didn't like it and she-who-must-be-obeyed will have it repainted darker.
"Nissan 'shit the bed' when they made these, plain and simple." McShagger510 on flattop SUs
datzenmike
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Re: My island '74 710

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The '74 auto is repainted and 'She-who-must-be-obeyed' is happy at last. It's so close to the original, it's scary. Matches the color of the inner door sill but has a pearl shine.

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Here it is with my 5speed yesterday when we drove it home. In the shade it's almost black.

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First thing was to replace a leaky wheel cylinder.
"Nissan 'shit the bed' when they made these, plain and simple." McShagger510 on flattop SUs
datzenmike
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Re: My island '74 710

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The day I drove it home from Duncan before X-mas '09. No front brakes and water sloshing around the pass side foot well. Trunk lock had been punched. Driver's side was 'scratched'.

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Spring '10 and master replaced, brakes bled, EI dizzy, hi vol oil pump and 90 amp KA alt swap just in time for Canby.

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October '10 into the body shop for make over.

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Last night

Wheel cylinder replaced and bled, threw on some steelies and covers and it's driveable until I can get some rubber for the slots.

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She-who-must-be-obeyed, is happy.

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"Nissan 'shit the bed' when they made these, plain and simple." McShagger510 on flattop SUs
muck
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Re: My island '74 710

Post by muck »

Wow Mike... she looks fantastic now. :shock:
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'68 4-door 510
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proflex
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Re: My island '74 710

Post by proflex »

I like the color of the paint in the bright sunlight. 8) Looks good.

Chad
In just two days from now, tomorrow will be yesterday.
datzenmike
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Re: My island '74 710

Post by datzenmike »

Thanks. Needs to be lowwwwer. The back has probably sagged and it makes the front look higher. I have a set of 710 struts on my parts goon. Maybe cut a coil and refill with 20W fork oil. This is pretty much what I did on my goon but I used Maxima struts for the brake upgrade. If I have the struts ready, I could slip them in in a morning so that there is very little down time for Mrs. d. The park bench bumpers will likely have to go back on, but there's a fellow in the states that shortened the mounts to move the bumper in closer to the body. They look half as hideous. :lol: Maybe paint them black?

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"Nissan 'shit the bed' when they made these, plain and simple." McShagger510 on flattop SUs
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jason
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Re: My island '74 710

Post by jason »

She looks good Mike! Mrs Datzen too ;-)!
Jason
datzenmike
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Re: My island '74 710

Post by datzenmike »

I agree. :lol:
"Nissan 'shit the bed' when they made these, plain and simple." McShagger510 on flattop SUs
datzenmike
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Re: My island '74 710

Post by datzenmike »

Well time to spend some time on my '74. The front end looks like the motor has been removed and I can place my fist upright on the tire and the fender clears it. Both sides have noticeable positive camber and I've heard tell that they are very difficult to align. Likely this means that the camber was the problem. Back in the day the cure was Moog camber plates and it's no surprise my goon came with them.

I had such good results lowering the goon that I'm going to do something similar with the sedan. I won't be replacing the struts with Maxima ones just modifying the stock ones. Thanks to Jason I have a spare set from a '77 goon and will get them ready and I can just swap them in quickly one weekend. The '77s have slightly different calipers and pads than what's on the '74. The '74 has the wedge shaped pads. The goal is to lower the sedan 2-3 inches and have adjustable ride height, increase the spring rate, firm up the strut dampening and do this for $30 or less.



My contraption for compressing the spring... Somewhat easier (lighter to handle) if you remove the caliper.
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Pail of dirt and water for counter weight... Now it can be compressed with one arm while loosening the nut holding the top hat on.

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Loosen and remove the gland nut..

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Slide the gland nut up and off. Be sure the strut is clean and free of burrs as there is a seal on the underside.

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The insides will not come out easily unless you remove the O ring just below the threads inside the tube. I use a dental pick for this. Go easy on it and you can re-use it.

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Gland nut underside seal and O ring.

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Have a container handy to catch any oil. Only this much came out of two struts. I used about 2/3 liter to refill the Maxima struts. The FSM suggests about 325cc to fill one, so this seemed like quite a bit less to me. One of the struts could easily be compressed with light pressure before I took it apart. Very soft.... maybe it was low.

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Lift the strut damper assy up and out. It looks like this..

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Insides pulled out. Store all internal parts carefully in a clean place.

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Trim around the TOP of the weld holding the lower spring perch. I used a 6" angle grinder and a metal cutting wheel. The metal is only a mm or so thick and three light passes cut through it.

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Hammer loose and slip off the end of the strut.

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I used the angle grinder again to remove the weld. Once smoothed down the lower spring perch can slide up and down the strut freely.

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When smoothed down it should look like this...

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As noted, the calipers should be removed first to make handling easier. I removed them last and polished the rotors, they are in good shape but the pads are really well worn and need replacing.

Here are the 710 struts as far as I went yesterday, needing only new oil. Instead of $17 Bellray fork oil I'm going with cheaper ATF to try it. ATF is also full of anti foam and rust inhibitors and somewhere between 15 and 20 weight I think. The last item are a set of $20 split collars to make these struts fully height adjustable.

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I picked up some ATF today... $8 so far. Have to order the split collars from Fastenal. I think they were about $10 each or so. I won't include the disc pads as I could have just used the '74 struts.

Still have to trim the stock springs. On my goon I calculated the spring rate at about 104 pounds per inch. Removing one coil increased the rate by 50%. This reduces suspension travel, (a good thing on a lowered car) and the thicker ATF will dampen more. My goon had Maxima struts that were about an inch and a half shorter plus lowered a couple of inches. The 710 struts will be stock length so lowering will be minimal, just to get it level (actually probably where it should be)... not slammed. Now I will be able to compare ATF to 20W fork oil.
"Nissan 'shit the bed' when they made these, plain and simple." McShagger510 on flattop SUs
datzenmike
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Re: My island '74 710

Post by datzenmike »

OK, update for today. Assembled the modified struts with ATF and bled them. First few tries didn't work so well. It was stiff to extend yet easy to collapse the strut. Gave up on it and swapped in the strut contents from my old goon struts. Worked first try. The second one wouldn't work right as well, so I swapped the other stock goon guts in and eventually got it firm in both directions. The rotors are in great shape on these modified struts but the pads are the thickness of a dime. I'm swapping my old stock goon calipers and pads on. The '74 has the beveled (wedge) shaped pads like the 510??? The later '76s are more like the 620 for looks. My wife won't be driving that fast so all I want is a couple of inches lower and a firmer strut.

Springs. Well I looked at the old pieces I cut from my goon springs and looks like I may have cut more like 1 1/2 coils instead of 1 coil. I don't want the sedan to be as firm/stiff as the goon so ONE coil only cut off. Waiting for the split collars to come in and will try to do the swap this holiday weekend. I suspect that the front will be firmer more stable when done and the back springs too soft for them. Like the goon, I will modify and add an extra leaf.

The piece of spring on the left is how much I cut from my goon springs. The two on the right is what I now believe to be one coil.

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This is the 710 top hat (upside down) with bottom finger pointing to where I should have used as the place where the spring begins to touch the top hat. One coil would be directly above this point where top finger is pointing. As you can see I cut the goon spring about 1/2 coil further around.

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Using a spring rate formula I work out the stock spring to be 104 lbs / inch. My shortened goon springs are 135 lbs. / inch and my wife's sedan will be 123 lbs. / inch.
"Nissan 'shit the bed' when they made these, plain and simple." McShagger510 on flattop SUs
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