Rehab of Patrol L60-2-00655

[r1lark]

Paul, congratulations on the work done. Beautiful pictures with all the details and what you're doing at every step.

I was concerned yesterday with the crack in the manifold, but after reading your explanation I'm sure you'll be right.

Hope you'll find a replacement for the bimetallic thermostatic spring. When mine broke, everything had so much wear that I decided to cancel the mechanism, and welded the axle in the open position, or should I say in the warm engine operating position. In cold weather the carb struggles a bit until warm.

Thank you for the kind words Estevban!

River sent me a link to a NOS spring on eBay Australia, but the price is quite high. Since mine seems like it should have more tension, but it is still working, I'll stay with it.

I'll be going to my Mom's tomorrow, and will use the homemade tool to pull the heater connection/valve off, and try to get the broken exhaust manifold stud out without breaking it again. Plan is to heat the stud up repeated times with a MAPP gas torch, then try the stud puller. I'll also work on the cooling system hoses and then post pics and part numbers of the hoses used.

I've been looking online at GPS speedometers/odometers and fuel/temp/amps/oil pressure clusters to use in place of the stock speedo and gauge clusters. The only thing about them is that they require 12 volts negative ground; this shouldn't impact anything except maybe the voltage regulator. Not sure if a mechanical voltage regulator is polarity sensitive or not.

Do you happen to know what year the Patrol went from positive ground to negative ground? And, what year the Patrol went from a generator to an alternator?

[Esteban]

Paul,

The alternator came on late 1970 models and on.

Regarding the positive ground, you should change it to negative ground easily and without altering any part. I did that on mine decades ago, after burning a radio I was installing, since it was very difficult to isolate the chassis. At that time you could get a positive ground radio, and I installed one afterwards. But it was always something, so I decided to change for good. Had to rely on information given by an auto mechanic electrician, that reluctantly gave the process. Extremely simple.

I saved the following instructions from a website since this question keeps coming once in a while. Posted this in 2014 on another thread. Time flies. There are many other guides out there.

Convert positive (+) ground to negitive (-) ground

https://morgan-spares.com/technical-help/

•Disconnect battery
•Switch wires on Amp Gauge (this is so the needle moves in the correct direction. No damage will occur if you don't change this)
•Switch cables on battery so that the negative terminal is now to ground
•Switch wires on coil so that the negative terminal goes to the distributor
•Re-polarize generator field: take wire from live (positive) source and touch it to field terminal 3 times. Should see small spark. Reconnect generator field wire (once you polarize a generator, a remnant magnetism remains in the rotor. If it's not polarized, it will not charge)

Please note that the starter motor will keep working as usual. It will not turn in reverse.

If you're planning on alternate gauges, might as well switch to an alternator once and for all

Good luck with the removal of the broken exhaust manifold stud. I'm sure it will come out easily with the steps you're planning.

[RiverPatrol]

Great info Esteban, as usual.

The US Patrols switched from a generator to an externally regulated alternator in late '67.

[r1lark]

Semi-good news. I got the heater connection/valve out of the rear of the head. But, not with my custom tool . That fitting was really in there tight, and the 1-1/8" socket that had the section cut out of it would expand slightly and skip when I really pulled hard on the breaker bar. If I had used a six point socket, it may not have had this problem. Noticed when I was heating the hex portion, it looked like there was a little solder leaking out where the smaller body of the valve was inserted into the hex section. So, I bit the bullet and heated the hex up enough to get the solder molten and removed the valve body out of the hex. Then was able to use a full 1-1/8" socket to remove the hex:

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This is what the thread side of the hex looks like; there is a gasket that seals between the lifting hook and the block, and another that seals between the hex and the lifting hook:

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As I expected, the hex is straight threaded versus NPT. Not sure what I'll do when I put it back together, if a 1/2" copper tube fits snuggly into the hex I'll solder a short length of tubing with a cap. Or maybe solder the connection/valve portion back into the hex piece and go back to the stock configuration. Another option is to just use a short bolt. Since the heater never put out a whole lot of heat anyway, not having the heater connection is not a big deal. Whichever way, I'll seal it with a copper/graphite crush washer between the head of the bolt and the lifting hook, and another between the lifting hook and the head; looks like Nissan used an asbestos rope type seal.

As far as the broken stud, I heated it up with the MAPP gas torch as much as I could, and then let it cool. Did this three times, then said a prayer and used the stud remover to pull the remainder of the stud out. Came out ok, but the threads on both the stud and inside the head don't look too good:

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I'll try running a bottoming tap thru the hole to see if the threads clean up, but most likely will heli-coil this hole for peace of mind.

Got two of the three radiator hoses cut and fitted, will have to do the third on next time. Will post info on the hoses next update.

[Esteban]

Congratulations on the work done. We really appreciate the effort and write up. Awesome pictures.

The threads don’t look that bad. I think you’ll be more than good.

Regarding the valve for the heater, I’ll snap a picture of what I did on mine tomorrow. I don’t have a valve since mine didn’t come with the heater. I adapted one. It is just a straight connection that I purchased at a parts store. I didn’t install the lift hook. I saved the threaded plug. Will try to find that as well.

So in my case, water flows to the heater all the time. You probably can install another valve type in the hose.

[r1lark]

Thank you Esteban.

The picture makes the threaded hole look much better than it does in person. I took about 10 pics with and without flash to try to get a really good picture, but failed at that. As mentioned, I'll run a tap thru it and see how they look, and see how a new stud fits in the threads, then decide the course forward.

Looking forward to what your solution was for the heater valve.

[RiverPatrol]

I might have a heater hose valve.

[Esteban]

Paul, I took some pictures and also found one when I did the install. Luckily I have noted there the size.

This first picture shows the attachment that's made of a 1/2" to 3/8" NPT reducer, and a 1/2"hose to 3/8" NPT fitting. The insert picture is from 2004!! I didn't even notice that the thread was straight and not slightly tapered. Ignorance is bliss.

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A close-up from the fittings (covered in oil from a gasket leak above )

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And finally, the heater valve inside the cabin that also controls the heat amount (I seldom close this one). The heater came from a small, very small Datsun 1200 pickup truck, not sold in the USA. The hoses are connected to this valve.

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You can find some aftermarket valves made for this purpose. Like this one at Amazon:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CP78XT94/?th=1

[r1lark]

Thanks Esteban, nice modification! For now I'll just use a bolt in the hole, but will save the hex and heater valve parts for the future. This has a factory heater in it, but it's pitifully inadequate:

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[r1lark]

Got the mandrel bends for making up the exhaust system; a 70 degree and two 90 degree bends:

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