I hope your'e right... It looked to me like the grease turn quite liquid?!?! I took two pics... one of my RHS wheel & the other of my LHS wheel...

You still think I shouldnt worry about it?

http://datsun1200.com/modules/myalbum/photo.php?lid=18133&full=1

http://datsun1200.com/modules/myalbum/photo.php?lid=18132&full=1

Well, datnovice, you came to a very bias site to ask if the datsun is a good choice as a first car!!!

I drove a 1964 mini-cooper as my first car. It was a love-hate relationship. I still have it-parked at home. It gave me tooo many beans to carry on driving it, but I love it too much to sell it.

All old cars will give you problems! The number of problems it gives you depends on the condition it's in. I live in Zimbabwe & new parts are difficult or expensive to come by. In Aussie though, I dont think you'll have that problem.

Good thing about an old car though...if it does give you problems, it's simple enough to fix. When I started driving my mini, I knew NOTHING about mechanics (I'm an IT consultant). But when I watched a mechanic working on my mini, I thought to myself - all I need is a manual & I can do all of this myself!

Now I own a Datsun 1200 (from about six months ago) & when I got it, it was barely running... but its my daily driver and needs alota work, but I know that I can do it my self at the end of the day.

The Datsun will most probably get you hooked on mechanics, upgrading, modifying and pimping your ride... It's the best place to start, and too difficult either! If you buy a more modern car, there's more that can go wrong with it...

A Datsun is simple, reliable and most of all, FUN!

I was parked in town the other day - in the sun... when I got home I noticed the LHS (passenger side) wheel had grease splattered on it. On closer inspection, I noticed it was coming out of the dust cover over the wheel bearing! It worried me, but I jacked up the car and spun the wheel (I didnt have many tools on me & not much time so I didnt loosen anything) & all I heard was the disk pads on the disk... checked for shaking - there was none.

I spoke to an uncle who has worked on all his own cars and he said it sounds like the grease was old. I should clean it out, check for signs of bearing failure and replace with new bearing grease.
Thing is, I replaced both wheel bearings less than six months ago-although it was only the outer bearings. I also put the best quality bearings I could find - some german make. So I doubt the bearings could be worn by now?

Whoa! Thanks for that explanation Dodgeman! I think it deserves to go into the wiki!

I read that you hear an engine ping when trying to set the timming... What is known as a ping?

I found a page with a good dicussion on home made LED tail lights and visibility...

http://www.instructables.com/id/SYZK1FLF3KLNVE5/

Its actually a very good site for how-to's on many different things!!!

Oh boy... looks like I have quite a bit of faulting to do. Thing is there's no way of telling if iv solved the problem if i just tighten up wires and make sure the earth's are good...

Otherwise I can jump staright to opening up the alternator to check the brushes.

You know, I wish it was as cheap as US$5. here, but Zimbabwe is the only country that inflates the US$!!!

Thanks for your help guys...

It's starting to worry me now because I think its affecting my battery...

After i drive over a bump, my charge light comes on - sometimes for a long time (I forget to check if it's gone off & when I look again its off) & sometimes it goes off within a few seconds.

I did notice that when I'm using my headlights it stays on longer than when I dont have em on. If I switch my headlights off then on the charge light usually goes off.

I tried tightening the fan belt, but it hasnt helped. funny thing that that this usually only happens when I go over a bump in the road!

Hi Guys,

I'm looking to make LED tail lights for my 1200 deluxe to fit in the original lenses.

I'm a little worried about visibility - I dont know which LED's to use and how many. I can get 10mm, 8mm, 5mm & 3mm Super bright red LED's then the normal bright LED's in the same sizes but more colors (for reverse and indicator lights)

Has anyone done a simillar conversion or have any ideas on visibilty of the different types of LED's, ideas on reflectors (neccesary or not), layouts?

Thanks

I met a guy yesterday that said he would be able to change my existing distributor from using points to an electronic one in about 30mins using what he called a pick-up sensor and ignitor which are placed in the distributor.

Has anyone heard of this? (I've only read about the pertronix conversion kits and changing the entire distro to one that uses a box to control ignition.)
How much would a conversion like this cost?
Is it reliable/effective?
Could I do it myself? (the guy wanted to charge me US$100 for the conversion but I know he's ripping it!!!)