Alaskan Roadster

[87KamikaZ]

Hi all. I live in Anchorage, Alaska and recently purchased a '68 1600 from Fairbanks, Alaska which is about 360 miles away. I drove it back home with the drivers windshield wiper being hit by a bird and falling off being my only issue until reaching Anchorage. I started having issues with detonation so I stopped by my Datsun Guru's house for some adjusting. He adjusted the points, verified the dwell, and also retarded the timing a bit. On the way home from his house I started having stumbling issues and once home it did not want to shutdown normally. The motor chugged until it shutdown. A day later I drove it to another Datsun lover's house to show off my new ride. On the way home I started having issues with the clutch not disengaging completely thus having to power shift the rest of the way home. I know I should have had it towed but I was close to home. That is where I am at now. I am ordering a new clutch kit and clutch hydraulic kit due to a leaky master cylinder. The previous owner had the car for 10 or so years and put about 8K miles on it. He purchased it from a man in British Columbia who had had somewhat of a restoration done to it. The interior is clean but missing a few parts like seat belts and under dash panels. It currently has self retraction Honda lap belts installed but they are going bye-bye soon. Along with the car I got a spare transmission that had been "refreshed", a set of factory wheels and hub caps, the factory spare and a new spare, and a huge bin of OEM parts. I still need to get all of the maintenance records and restoration picture book from the PO. Anyway, here are a few pics.

[S Allen]

Welcome and congratulations on your new roadster. The car looks good and personally I like the yellow. I am sure you will get everything sorted and end up with a reliable car. Enjoy the ride.

Steve

[mraitch]

Sounds like typically small stuff - get it sorted and drive the hell out of it until winter sets in.
Welcome to our group - lot's of info here.
And nice yellow too.

[Gregs672000]

Detonation (if that is what it was) is not good. However, there is a BIG difference between detonation and ping. Detonation occurs when there is no spark event and the fuel lights off by itself, where as ping occurs when the spark event is too far advanced. Detonation causes the engine to fight itself, increases temperatures radically, and can put a hole in a piston. More likely it was ping. Be sure to check timing again, as a '68 (assuming it was not modified) uses a timing of 0 and all advance is in the distributor. If the engine has been properly "desmogged" with a recurved or earlier distributor, then timing would be set at 17 as I recall, with total around 34-36. Run-on, which you described, is caused by too lean an air/fuel mixture and will require richening the carbs after timing is confirmed, valves adjusted, etc. A high idle speed will also cause run-on sometimes. You may have some fuel issues, which could be bad gas, low octane in the gas (unknown engine so we don't know its compression ratio), fuel delivery issues (junk in the tank, filters, pump, SU carb screens, etc). Your stumbling, run-on and ping are probably related, most likely an air/fuel ratio issue (too lean). We can get it sorted but want the basic tune-up stuff to be confirmed first.
There are a number of things we need to go through in a step by step, systematic manner to get this sorted out. What is your level of mechanical knowledge? These cars are fairly simple but that does not mean they won't drive you nuts sometimes! Finding someone in AK who knows these cars would be unlikely (although it looks like you have one?), so my first suggestion is to get a good manual, review the tech wiki on this site, and ask a bunch of questions! We can help you get it sorted out even if you are a novice, but reading a manual and understanding how things work will make it a whole lot easier, and understanding your level of knowledge/experience will help us tailor our responses and assistance to you better... but be assured, there are NO STUPID QUESTIONS here, only ones that go unasked!
Welcome to the family!

[Akpilot]

87kamikaz

Welcome, looks like I know of three roadsters in anchorage and possibly a fourth one. Been told by multiple people there is a red one in South Anchorage but I have not seen it I'm skeptical about he red one as I saw a nice Alpine Sunbeam running around and think that might be the car others have seen. About 2 weeks ago I saw three Austin Healey's headed north on New Seward highway - man just don't see one around here much less three.
I think I remember seeing your car on craigslist, looked real nice, too bad it was so far away or I would have gone over to see it in person and talk cars with the seller.
We'll have to get the cars together for a run if I can ever get my on the road. Zogster is the other Alaskan owner that I know about, and the one I got my car from. Looking forward to meeting you and your car.

Ak

[spl310]

There used to be a red low windshield car in North Pole. It had a carb fire. Then there was a brown high windshield car in Fairbanks. Alas, that was all years ago...

[notoptoy]

Alaska is exploding with owners! Great to see, will look forward to your updates.

[87KamikaZ]

Gregs672000, The motor is the R16 unmolested. The PO had it at a shop prior to me buying it. I was told that the valves were adjusted and that the timing was also advanced due to a "stumbling" issue. The PO also told me that when he went to key off that it wouldn't shut down right away but rather stumble slowly down the R's until it shut off. I've got a guy here that is pretty good with tuning these old cars and has most of the tools needed except for carb balancing tools. I'll have to take it in for that. I am very mechanically inclined but my knowledge on carburetor motors is limited. I'm a jet mechanic by trade but that does me no good as far as this car goes. I have my trusty manual out and will be going through it until my clutch hydraulics kit gets here. I will ask questions when I run into snags and appreciate your openness to helping a new 311 owner!

Detonation (if that is what it was) is not good. However, there is a BIG difference between detonation and ping. Detonation occurs when there is no spark event and the fuel lights off by itself, where as ping occurs when the spark event is too far advanced. Detonation causes the engine to fight itself, increases temperatures radically, and can put a hole in a piston. More likely it was ping. Be sure to check timing again, as a '68 (assuming it was not modified) uses a timing of 0 and all advance is in the distributor. If the engine has been properly "desmogged" with a recurved or earlier distributor, then timing would be set at 17 as I recall, with total around 34-36. Run-on, which you described, is caused by too lean an air/fuel mixture and will require richening the carbs after timing is confirmed, valves adjusted, etc. A high idle speed will also cause run-on sometimes. You may have some fuel issues, which could be bad gas, low octane in the gas (unknown engine so we don't know its compression ratio), fuel delivery issues (junk in the tank, filters, pump, SU carb screens, etc). Your stumbling, run-on and ping are probably related, most likely an air/fuel ratio issue (too lean). We can get it sorted but want the basic tune-up stuff to be confirmed first.
There are a number of things we need to go through in a step by step, systematic manner to get this sorted out. What is your level of mechanical knowledge? These cars are fairly simple but that does not mean they won't drive you nuts sometimes! Finding someone in AK who knows these cars would be unlikely (although it looks like you have one?), so my first suggestion is to get a good manual, review the tech wiki on this site, and ask a bunch of questions! We can help you get it sorted out even if you are a novice, but reading a manual and understanding how things work will make it a whole lot easier, and understanding your level of knowledge/experience will help us tailor our responses and assistance to you better... but be assured, there are NO STUPID QUESTIONS here, only ones that go unasked!
Welcome to the family!

[87KamikaZ]

87kamikaz

Welcome, looks like I know of three roadsters in anchorage and possibly a fourth one. Been told by multiple people there is a red one in South Anchorage but I have not seen it I'm skeptical about he red one as I saw a nice Alpine Sunbeam running around and think that might be the car others have seen. About 2 weeks ago I saw three Austin Healey's headed north on New Seward highway - man just don't see one around here much less three.
I think I remember seeing your car on craigslist, looked real nice, too bad it was so far away or I would have gone over to see it in person and talk cars with the seller.
We'll have to get the cars together for a run if I can ever get my on the road. Zogster is the other Alaskan owner that I know about, and the one I got my car from. Looking forward to meeting you and your car.

Ak

Thanks Akpilot. I think my buddy Ryan Echols told me about you. Do you have a decent sized car collection? Myself and 2 others run the Datsun / Nissan Enthusiasts of Alaska page on Facebook. If you are on Facebook look us up! I have photographic evidence of the red one.









Is this the one you've seen? The guy I bought the yellow one from has an Austin Healey as well but I doubt he brings it down to Anchorage. If you'd like pm me your phone number or a way to contact you and I'll let you know when the Datsun guys are gearing up for a run.

[spl310]

That's a 65 1500. The one that I saw in North Pole was a 1600

[87KamikaZ]

That's a 65 1500. The one that I saw in North Pole was a 1600

This might be the one Akpilot heard about in Anchorage.

[87KamikaZ]

One other metionable issue I have is that I believe my speedo is about 10-15 mph off. The factory tire size I believe is supposed to be 175/65r14. It currently has 195/60r14s installed which are only .9% larger in diameter which leads me to believe that it does not have the correct gear in the tranny. I'll do some searching to see which I should have installed.

[Datsun.David]

Talk to notoptoy about an Electronic Ignition distributor for your car... It will be the best investment you can make on the reliability front. He is "East Coast Roadsters" if you look up his site. She looks like a nice little car!

dw

[87KamikaZ]

Talk to notoptoy about an Electronic Ignition distributor for your car... It will be the best investment you can make on the reliability front. He is "East Coast Roadsters" if you look up his site. She looks like a nice little car!

dw

Thanks! I shot him a pm. I've been told the EI conversion is the way to go.

[Invader]

That's a nice looking car
Hope you sort all these issues out so you just enjoy driving it
PS. What wheels are they