venom42

I actually replaced all of the hoses, except the braided one that is only like 5 or 6 inches long. The metal pipes all looked OK, unless I missed something on the bottom side. The weird thing is that I can drive it, check it while still hot, and the whole area feels dry. Then I look later, and there is a puddle on the bracket! Grrrrr. Thanks for the luck, seems that I need it. Hopefully I will have a job this week. I have 3 final interviews set up (one earlier today, one tomorrow, and one Wed.). Luck to you as well. Things always work out one way or another.

It took care of the leak from the radiator itself. The current leak is from somewhere in the area where the lower hose and heater hoses (I know I said upper hose earlier) connects to the engine. He made that recommendation based on the fact that I cannot afford to take it anywhere to have work done right now (2 mos. looking for a job, after being screwed by my partner trying to start my own business).

I installed a factory overflow tank a couple months ago (thanks to sblake01!). However, it does not get used (i.e. the fluid never flows into it). Ever since I flushed the radiator, I have had coolant leaks. It started with the radiator (leaking around the top), but that was taken care of with some "Bar's Leaks" as per my friend's suggestion (he is a Nissan Master tech). However, I still have coolant that accumulates on the bracket (holds the front susp. in place) just below where the upper rad. hose connects to the engine. None of the hoses *SEEM* to be leaking (I replaced them all but the braided one). I have no clue where this coolant is coming from. I put in a 160 degree thermostat, as it seems to slow the coolant use. Anyone common leaks in that area? I can try and take a pic if it would help (rain has prevented any outdoor activity lately).

Did they use the BG intake cleaner system? I had that done professionally on my first DSM, with excellent results. I am a big believer in the BG product line. Their "44k" is the best fuel system cleaner out there in my opinion. To be honest, if I had the money right now, I would just pay someone to do alot of the work I am currently planning on both the 280 and the Talon. However, seeing as how I have been hunting for a job for the last couple months, I will be getting dirty quite a bit in the near future. :stupid:

How did you go about it? Here is a link from the DSM VFAQ site (http://www.vfaq.com/index-main.html) of one method: http://www.vfaq.com/mods/MCCC.html . Although primarily for DSM cars, there is a great deal of excellent info that is applicable to all cars at that main VFAQ site.

anyone know if the gap is supposed to be different for '75-'76 cars than from '77-'78?

You can get electric fans off eBay for about the cost of a new fan clutch if I remember correctly. I have a spare set of fans off my parts car for the Talon, wonder if one of them would fit? Would you wire them directly to the battery (they have a thermostat on them)? I just do not know if I want to go that route though. I wanted to try and keep her pretty close to orginal.

I have some "tinker time" tomorrow, so checking the thermotime switch is one of the things on my list.

The link provided says to use "50mL of 3000Cst. silicone fluid " to refill the clutch. Do they sell this stuff at autozone?

Is the thermotime switch something that commonly fails? What temp does it stop telling the cold start injector to open at?

I have a '75, and some similar questions to yours. I am thinking that the "cold start" injector may be the culprit in my case. I am not sure though. Anyone know if it will cause any problems if I disconnect the cold start injector (leave it in place, but remove its electrical connection)?

I have both, Haynes and Chiltons, service manuals. Both list gap for '70-'76 as .030-.035 and '77-'83 as .039-.043. Is this correct? How is it that the FI engines from the '75-'76 would want the same gap as with carbs? I have a '75. When I checked the plugs, they are all gapped at .041-.042. The car seems to run fine (even on regular 87 octane). I tried gapping them at .035 for a few days and it seemed a bit down on power, and my fuel mileage dropped 4-6 mpg, so I put them back. Should I change back to a lower gap?

Hmm. Duly noted. I have used these o-rings for various things on the Talon, but now that I think about it none of them are really in contact with oil (tb shaft seals, etc). Well damn. Guess I will have to see if Autozone has one or something. So much for that tidbit.

I do not know that it had ever been done before. The car has 92k on it, and the oil was pretty dark.

You would be surprised what you can find at hardware stores. Of course if you were to ask for it by what you know it as they would just look at you with a blank stare (trust me). Lowes has all of the interior body clips and fasteners, along with alot of other autmotive type fasteners and whatnot (even copper crush-washers!)in their hardware section. They are CRAZY cheaper than at the parts store too. You just have to look through the droors because they are not called what you (I) would think they are from seeing them at the parts place.

I was planning to replace the speedo gear o-ring and change the oil in my transmission at the same time. The dilemma was that I did not know what size the o-ring was, and once I was to that point in the job, I would not be able to drive the car anywhere to get a new one. On a friend's advice (he is a Nissan Tech) I purchased one of those "o-ring assortment" packs at Autozone, and was going to use the largest one in the pack. As it turns out, the largest o-ring in the assortment pack is quite a bit smaller than the actual one that goes on the speedo gear assy. Nevertheless, it did fit in place without breaking or anything. However, due to the fact that it is stretched much thinner than it should be it does not seal the assembly properly. With my fresh gear oil and new (still leaking) speedometer cable seal, I headed to Home Depot with the old o-ring in hand. Now that you have suffered through this boringly long post (I just had to tell my sob story to someone ), here is the useful bit of info: In the faucet section at Home Depot (or Lowes or wherever similar) there is a fantastic little selection of all sizes and shapes of o-rings. The one that matches the speedo assy. seal is a #17 o-ring, and it costs less than a quarter. Anyhow, I hope someone will find this useful in the future. May it spare you my aggrivation.:stupid:

I will be doing the diff as well in the next few days. Should I expect a similar situation with the fill plug on the diff?

There were 2 connectors (one for each wire) about 4 inches or so upline from the switch. I unplugged it from there before removing it. When I was screwing it back in, the wires pulled loose from the terminals on the actual switch itself. Like I said, I just used spade connectors to connect them back onto the terminals, and then connected the wires back up like they were. I will go back and solder them later (or just get a new switch), I was just in a hurry.

The reverse switch worked well. However, the wires pulled off the switch when I Was putting it back in (before I even tried reconnecting it). I put them back on with some spade connectors for now, until I can get a new switch. Thanks for the help guys!

Yah... I am wondering if maybe they did not put the right oil in or something when it was done. Maybe that is what is killing it?

A large part of my problem is that it rounded the bottom edge of the plug the first attempt I made at it. Now I am having trouble getting anything to grip it. My fiancee is out of town right now (with her car), so I have no way to get around until I resolve this problem. I put an old tag on the Talon and drove it to the store last night (less than a mile down the road), but I would not want to chance being pulled over going any farther than that. Will I be able to get the tranny full from the back-up light switch? Otherwise, I was thinking of pulling the speedo cable again and filling it from there with the back end jacked way up to get it high enough to get it full.

I drained the tranny. Replaced the speedo gear o-ring. Now the damn fill plug will NOT come loose. Hit it with PB blaster and everything. Tried Vice Grips - no luck. Any advice? How can I get it loose? As a last resort, could I drive it about 1 mile with no damage? There is a shop just up the road, and I was thinking of just taking it there and getting them to do it, so if anything breaks they gotta fix it. I was so pissed earlier I could not see straight.

Ok... I am heading outside to replace the o-ring and change the tranny and diff fluids out. Anyone have a diagram of how the o-ring goes in (in case the old one is completely deteriorated)? Anything I need to look out for?

Guess I will have to buy a 1/2" rachet. I am afraid to screw with the speedo cable though. How much do dealerships usually charge to replace the gear?

I noticed that I have a leak at the point where the speedo cable attaches to the tranny. There are never any drips or anything, just always wet around that area. I noticed my gearshift lever gets got while I am driving. Could it be that low on oil? Is it ok to use an impact wrench to get the drain plug loose (only 1/2" drives I have are my air tools)?