This is the story of Buzz the Datsun 1978 620 King Cab Pickup Truck.
Buzz came to our family one day
in April 2002 just 2 days before heading to a pick-n-pull to be pillaged. He was
free to the hauler and I being a tightwad could not pass up the deal. Now Buzz
had some problems! Namely no 3 or 4 gears. So First I had to get a
trany from another poor soul at Pick-n-Pull, get him
running then smoged. Well he passed with flying colors then it was time to get
new brakes all around which included, new rotors, rebuild calipers and rear
cylinders, rubber lines, pads and shoes. This is when I discovered that he had a
1979 rear axle. I felt bad for the folks a Kragen Auto Supply who took grief from
me because they kept getting the wrong cylinder kits, but they prevailed and
figured out that it was a 79 rear axle.
Buzz has some new company! A 71
240Z that goes by the name of
Zena
January 2003 update on Buzz
Photos
Well Buzz has been busy going to
Wrecking Yards looking for parts for Zena but ended up finding some parts for
himself! The 2 new photos below show Buzz sporting a contractor's rack that was
major score and a "push" bar on his front.
The photos also show him carrying 1 of 6 loads of firewood he gathered with me
so we could thumb our noses at the power company.
Beside these photos he has been
on a grand adventure to Bishop California to install a wall furnace for my
sister before winter came. For those who are not familiar with California. To
get to Bishop from where Buzz lives is over 7 passes ranging from ~7,000 to
8,100 feet and he did great! The only excitement was at the start of the trip
back when the oil pressure sending unit started hemorrhaging oil, fortunately it
was discovered before we left Bishop and the local Napa auto parts actually had
one in stock! So 5 min later we were on our way.
March 2003 update on Buzz
Photos
Well Buzz has been sick during
the month February. It started as a leaky radiator and quick progressed to a
blown head gasket. The repair was done in the driveway and it turned out that
the gasket was heavily corroded around the forward water channel and it had been
effecting the metal ring in the gasket around the #1 cylinder. So it was just a
matter of time before this was going to happen. Everything went back together
without a problem and he fired on the 5th crank but it turned out that there is
a low speed miss in #1 and sometimes #2. Sometime in the next 30 days I will do
a compression check and if things look good I will start replacing ignition
parts to see if I can fix the problems. Below are photos of gasket replacement.
August 2003 update
It turned out that Buzz's engine
was very sick that it would show every so often buy sucking radiator fluid into
the #1 and 2 cylinders. So I figured that the head must be cracked or warped. I
found a replacement engine in Canada that had only 45,000 miles. Had it shipped
down to Sacramento where I picked it up a the freight yard. I got a lesson on
how customs works and it was a real pain in the butt. I thought all this NAFTA
stuff was going to stop custom tariffs between Canada, US, and Mexico but I had
to pay some fees. Anyway the engine went in with no problems and fired
right up. But I found out that I still had a low speed miss in 1 & 2 after
messing around with it while I discovered that diaphragm on the vacuum control
switch for the air pump was leaking. I went to Pick-n-pull and found one a B210
that still held a vacuum. I then went and had a smog check done found out that
the EGR valve was not opening at speed due to a leaking vacuum delay switch.
This resulted in a failed NOx emissions. So back to Pick-n-pull and found a
replacement, went back for a retest and passed.
July 2004
Update
Buzz has been working hard on
the garage / family room addition
by hauling lumber, cement and other supplies. Running great not using oil he may
even get a paint job after the addition is done.