Mary-Ann, stock one-owner 1972 Wagon

[goichi1]

Well, I haven't had much time to get out there on the old tannenbrown lately, I have been a little busy around the house and getting the newest addition to the family, Miss Mary Ann....I got her from california, she was a one owner, clean, good running car, really about as stock as you can get, not low mileage but in really good shape, with most maintenance records and paper work, I even have the original Datsun warrantee card and California Pink slip!! I registered it today and will use this as my daily while I finish Tannenbrown....then who's knows what will happen!!

So far, I have polished it up, that's about it, I have a list of small things to take care of in the next few days....
1. brakes, need to work on making them better.
2. all rubber hoses, I already changed the thermostat and upper hose, but will need to change the rest.
3. transmission hyd lines need to be changed, there are a few leaks, very small, but they are there and I will fix them.
4. rebuild the carb, it stumbles a little when you shift to drive and give it gas...
5. I ran some seafoam through the thing, it didn't do much that I can notice....
6. DRIVE IT!!! and enjoy the classic feeling this car gives when driving it around, the Original owner drove this car for 39 years, so that alone makes it special.....I am happy to have it.

[goichi1]

There is really no cool story behind finding this one, one of my friends called me one day and asked if I would help him sell a wagon that he had just bought. He had found it a few weeks before calling me, he didn't register it and it sat those few weeks in storage, after talking about it and learning the details of the original owner I just had to have it, so we worked out a deal and I ended up having it shipped up to me here in Washington. Named it Mary-Ann after the lady that drove it for so long!! I just can't believe the dedication in driving the same car that long, just think every time you drive and see all the new cars and trucks going by, or driving by the dealership with all the new modern cars and she chose to get in this little jewel of an automobile and drive it for over 170,000 miles in 39 years!!! I'm sure as years went by it was driven less and less as the motor was rebuilt in 1996 at 144,000 miles on the clock. I only hope I can care for it for half as long as that family did.

I'm definitely happy to have it and drive it!!

[goichi1]

Worked on Mary-Ann today, got the new rotors and wheel bearings on there, man she stops nice now, I will look at the rear brakes a little later, I just need to get it reliable so I can get back on Tannenbrown. I also bought a carb overhaul kit, but it's the wrong one, Mary-Ann has a DCH-340 on her, not sure if this is stock or not, or maybe it was changed with the motor....I thought these came on the L20's, but not sure. Anyway, I'll try to get the right kit for this one and start that soon.. Here are a few pics from today.

I changed the race and bearing on both sides, they looked a little worn in the race, so I knocked them out and got new ones....wasn't that hard as I have changed these before on the coupe....cleaned everything up and regreased all the rest.

[goichi1]

I took the carb all apart, man, there are a lot of parts in there....not sure I will be able to get it back together right or not....got most of the parts cleaned up and blown out and opened my new rebuild kit to find that it's not the right one for this carb, it's for a 328, mine is a 340, so back to the parts store again. they told me that it will work for all this family of carbs, but the gaskets are wrong...check out this mess!!

[goichi1]

Ok, got it back together, there was a little guess work as the instructions don't really help you much. I have both the chiltons and the Nissan factory manual and they don't help a whole lot either. There were a lot of discrepancies between what different jets are supposed to be in the carb and what's actually in there....I never knew there were so many different ones in one carb. I wonder if this could be a part of the problem....

It's installed and it runs, I need a little tuning, I will work on that tomorrow. I think I recall this carb in one of the back issues of DQ, so I will attempt to look back and see if I can find something. It idles really nice, still stumbles a little, but once it was warmed up it seemed ok, I will look into it more tomorrow, it's too late now, I just came if from the garage a few minutes ago....

last pic is the right kit for the DCH340-60B, I got two different ones before, after the second one from the part store was wrong, they refunded me both but the right one was almost the price of the first two combined.....

[goichi1]

Ok, so I got the carb back together and on, it still has the hesitation, I don't know why, It's not doing it sitting still in park, just when I drive it, so maybe it's not the carb??? anyway I guess I will just deal with it.

I pulled the stock steering wheel and took the turn signal switch out, cleaned it and lubed it up, it's working great now. I had a nice new nardi wheel I was planning to put in the coupe, but will use it in Mary-Ann for now. I also tightened up the steering box, it's way better now!!

I spent most of the day cleaning her up, replaced the torn up seat covers with some cheap ones from the parts store....I mean cheap, I pulled the tie straps right out of them while I was trying to get them nice and tight on the seats.....

About all that's left is to replace the hyd lines going to and from the transmission, they are leaking a little in my driveway....I hate that. not sure if I can get replacements so I might have to get creative.

Here's how she sits after a little more tinkering...

[goichi1]

Man!! thanks for all the info! I didn't have time to play with it much today but I did just advance the timing a little, it's much better, hardly no hesitation so I need to properly set the timing for sure. I will look at the other things mentioned too in a few days as tomorrow will be booked with little Emma attacking the Christmas tree!! Thanks again for all the help and a very Merry Christmas to all!!

[goichi1]

Check this out, how many years do you think are still on the original plate?? I can't count them!! But it's cool nonetheless...

[TipTricky]

That pretty cool i have a 68 510 2 dr and i wish now it was completly stock when i bought it but it was already stripped but oh well its going to be a fun little toy when i get the motor and transmission in her.

[goichi1]

Today TJ came up from Tacoma and we decided to knock out the driver door hinge repair on Ms. Mary-Ann today, it was really easy, here are a few pics of the process....I know this is nothing new, While Jeff was over here for Christmas he told me about the guy on Ratsun that did his, so we found the thread and got the info....really good stuff.

[goichi1]

somehow I got these posts backwards....oh well.....

[goichi1]

So, as you can see in the pics, you need NAPA Part # 675-5157 $13.00, it comes with the two bushings and pin with a E-clip, but I didn't need the pin as mine were fine, just the stock plastic bushings were worn in mine, but you can use that pin, it's too long but you can trim it off and still use it if you pins are too worn. You will need two kits to do one door. so it cost me $24.87 with a military discount. Check out Ratsun for the "how-to".

[q-tip]

next time i come up i need to bring those struts. now i have to do my doors after helping you with yours

[proflex]

Rich I’m looking at your close up pic of the new bushing and it looks like it is an oil-lite bushing? If it is I have a tip for anyone doing this repair =
Take the new bushing and with one finger cover the bottom hole – fill it to the top with motor oil - then using your thumb cover the top hole and compress the oil until you see it come out the sides of the bushing. Your bushing will now be guaranteed to be fully lubricated and will last a little longer.

I have my hinges off the car and have found a little play, but not much, in one top hinge. I’m considering doing it after reading your post. How tight is the door hinge now after installing this kit? Does it still have a little play or ..... ?

Chad

[ace028]

Have you seen the kit on ebay? It is just the brass bushings. I was thinking of picking it up do re do my hinges once I get back from this deployment. I'm jelous that your havin all this fun working on your 510's lol.