Hi,

I found a 79 GX Stanza in a farm shed the other day, some $ and a short tow later it was sitting on my driveway in all it's rusty glory. (I will attatch pics as soon as I figure out how to do so). Up untill now I have been driving my AE92 corrola that I bought when I was 17, now I'm 21 and its time for a change. The Stanza has pretty much been sitting in a shed for the last 10 years or so but around 3 years ago it was fixed up to roadworthy condition but didn't end up getting registered or driven. It has one previous owner who was a datsun machanic and I have been informed that it was running well when it last went into the shed 3 or so years ago.

pics at http://s1062.photobucket.com/albums/t49 ... ylover431/

So here's the thing, we can't get it to start. It turns over no worries and seems to be getting pleanty of fuel but there is no spark. I'm confidant that we will sort this out without too much drama so that the body/paintwork can get some attention.

The car has had a re-spray in the original metalic blue, it is in fairly ok condition appart from the roof which has totally flaked off. I don't really have the facilities or the willpower for a full respray at the moment so I am planning on restoring what I've got.

On the whole it is an awesome little car and I am extremely happy with it, just can't wait to get it on the road.

cheers

hey mate have you replaced the plugs and leads? checked the timing? checked/replaced the coil?
good to see another stanza on here!

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1979 Datsun Stanza Coupe
1979 Datsun Stanza Coupe Project
1979 Datsun Stanza GX
1982 Datsun Stanza GX
1966 Nissan Cedric Custom Six
1972 Volkswagen Beetle
1974 Toyota Landcruiser Stallion (SWB)
EziAutoParts

Take care of those round headlights Nice to see another Stanza getting the love they deserve. Might sound obvious but did you put fresh fuel in it?

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Previous Stanza 80 model: L20B balenced for 9500rpm, big cam, twin 45's 100kW ATW.
Current Stanza 79 model: 1 owner spec http://ozdat.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=62&t=23236
In progress 82 model: track car rebuild with above motor http://ozdat.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f= ... 40&start=0

We tried a spare coil which didn't help, the leads and plugs seem fine, dizzy cap and points are new but still no spark. Dad found a loose wire in the dizzy, it is an uninsulated copper wire so we are soldering that back on to where we think it should go. I'll go take a few more photo's for you guys.

We topped the fuel up but it hasn't even coughed with aerostart sprayed down the carby so it doesn't seem to be an issue at the moment.

Yeah the round lights look awesome, hopefully they won't attract too many roos.

cheers

A couple more pics here http://s1062.photobucket.com/albums/t49 ... ylover431/

Thanks for the help.

OK progress has been made, a loose wire in the dizzy was soldered back in and now she is running.

The clutch fluid in the master cylinder resevoir was turned to snot so that got sucked out and the we blead the clutch untill the fresh fluid came through (the old stuff was black). The clutch feels quite good now but there is like 30-40mm or free play so that needs to be adjusted.

We took it for a test drive and everything is in some form of working order which is good. The brakes are a bit unentheusiastic but they will get some attention soon.

So now the main problem is a fairly nasty engine clatter that I hope is the timing chain. It is an intermittent noise, when you first start it up and it is idling nice and low there is no clatter but as soon as you give it a rev and let it return to idle a high pitched clatter starts up. It then goes away as you bring the revs up. It definately seems to be coming from inside the engine.

Cheers

Hmm I haven't posted in a little while so I better fix that.

I took the rocker cover off and sure enough the timing chain is loose as buggery. The timing chain, tensioner and guides will be renewed as soon as I can find the time.

I will be sanding back the roof this weekend and hopefully the weather will hold out so that we can paint it next weekend. We are going to use 2pac paint.

The guy I bought it off found a carby in his shed that was intended for the car at some point. So I scored that, it appears to be a weber with its own manifold ready to go. I am planning on taking it to a carby place to have it looked at. I'll hopefully end up having it rebuilt, tuned and installed after the roadworthy is done with.

Assuming I get the weber squirting more fuel and air in I will probably take it to an exhaust place and see what they can do about a full exhaust system.

Righto

So we got the timing chain done over the weekend, it sounds great much better now but I can't drive it because the front brakes are stuck on.

Also the roof has been stripped and primed, next will be a guide coat and another load of bog. We ended up sandblasting the roof because every kind of grinding pad I tried would just glaze in about 30 seconds. Sandblasting is the way to go.

I added a few more photo's to my photobucket account. Still haven't figured out how to put them in my posts though.

http://s1062.photobucket.com/albums/t49 ... ylover431/

Next up is overhauling the master cylinder to try and fix the brakes (we already rebuilt the callipers).

cheers

aha success! This is our hillbilly style setup. Taking the sump out was very uncomfortable.

We took the master cylinder apart and cleaned it all out, one of the pin-sized holes was blocked which was probably the problem. Now it is working fine and the brakes are not sticking.

The problem now is that we are getting oil coming out of the crankcase ventilation pipe (I have a separate thread for this in the engine section).

I have not posted in a while which is largely due to the slow progress. The stanza is basically in full working condition and will be ready for a roadworthy after couple of final issues are resolved.

1. Replace the broken driver-side front combination lamp lense.
2. Fix the dead fuel and temp gauge.

I understand that the problem with the gauges is most likely to do with a voltage regulator which makes up part of the instrument cluster. When I get a chance I will be removing the cluster and taking it somewhere to have the instrument repaired.

I will add more photo's soon.

Cheers

Good to hear the progress Mr Chunky, i've got the same problem with a couple of my gauges in my SSS only intermittently, pain in the arse, i'll have to fix it one day . Can't wait to see the pics when she's on the road.

Gerg

I pulled the guage cluster out and took it to a instrument repair guy so I should be getting that by the weekend. I didn't even break anything in the dash like I normally would. And I just ordered a new old combination lense from About Time Spares so it won't be long till she's roadworthy.

So the roof recieved a fresh coat of paint a little while back and this how it turned out. I'm quite happy with it but the only problem is that it makes the rest of the paint job look crappy.







At leat she's all the same colour.

Once the car is on the road (hopefully in a couple weeks time) the plan is as follows:

1. Actually drive it.
2. Maddat front swaybar.
3. Exhaust from stock manifold back.
4. 32/36 weber on adaptor plate.
5. Stereo.
6. Drive it some more.

Bearing in mind that I've never owned a rear wheel drive car before so I'll probably put it backwards into a tree at some point in the first week.