airedout

My boy jameys d-50

I got a j13 you can buy if you want. Complete and runs great :D

Yes its a body drop, and yes the cab floor is not raised any higher than stock. 99% of people that you see doing this are hacks, its as simple as dropping the motor mounts, and sometimes reworking the oil pan. When setting up an adjustable suspension (air or hydro) you build it not only to be low, but to have the correct suspension geometery at ride height. Camber, toe, and caster should be taken into consideration. That truck is on a full frame, with a toyota clip. There is nothing stock about it anymore. Its got a full sheet metal floor (maybe 1 inch higher that stock). 521's need 3 inches of body drop to get the rockers on the ground, you can get 2 inches out a shorter frame rail, and lowering the body mounts. After that you need to raise the floor just a touch (with a 3 inch frame rail, any thinner is not safe).

You should have seen it in person, very nice. The builder wasnt sure what the owner had planned for the motor, it will more that likely be swaped out eventually

What makes you think its not functional???? You can easily get 13 inches of lift out of a toyota clip with stock arms. Hes running tubular arms, with s10 balljoints so if hes not getting 15 inches of lift he did something wrong. It could very easily be daily driven. Maybe you speaking on something you just dont understand???

Saw this 521 at blooddrag this weekend, time to start over on mine. Should have body dropped it the 1st time around:

Just checking to see who was actually reading this thread. :D

I spit on it and called it a slut...........

Ah fuck it, mini truckers suck anyways................:eek:

A few updated pics:

If a 320 only takes 1 1/2 inches to get the rockers on the ground you could probably get away with around 8 inches of lift. Might bit just a little bit concerned with the tire trying to hit the fender on harder turns. Im basing this on the 521 which needs 3 inches of body drop to put the rockers on the gound (not the pinch weld). I know the 521 and 320 frames are very very similar if not identical, but am unsure about the body demensions: Full Lift (cannot be driven at any kind of speed this high, its sitting on the up stops): When driving, the truck needs to be at least 1 1/2 to 2 inches lower. Then take away another 3 inches to account for the body drop, it would never be able to be driven that low. I see a lot of people on here and other sites trying to either bag or body drop these old datsun trucks on stock, or semi stock suspensions. To me, the front suspension is the a very poor design, especially for bagged trucks. They can be made functional, but you have to live with the consequences of your decision. Stock suspension with the short control arms will give you a shit load of camber quickly(once moved from your aligned ride height), a large amount of suspension geometry change quickly(once moved from your aligned ride height), and the inability to get a good ammount of lift. Adding balljoints to a poor design, doesnt make it better, its still a poor design but with ball koints instead. You could greatly inmprove the stock design by narrowing the frame section, and making your conrtol arms longer. If i were going to goto all that trouble, i would just stick a clip in it with nearly stock toyota arms. It just seems easier to me this way. Anyway, just putting in my 2 pennies. Ill let you weigh your choice and come up with something. Either way, good luck. Ill be watching for more progress!!!

I aired up the pile and puched it outside today so i could play some ping pong, may work on it some tomarrow, may not. Kinda hard to get motivated in this crappy economy :mad:

Yes the toyo clip will have to be narrowed a bit. Seth (twistedminis) built this 521 with a toyo clip with a stock motor: http://forum.ratsun.net/showthread.php?t=4202&highlight=twistedminis Heres seths with yoto stuff, look at all the space: Heres mine, no space: I really wish i would have clipped mine, but oh well, i got 3 521's so maybe the next one!!!

Body drop for sure. But i would be looking into something other than a 720 front suspension pieces. The datto suspension can only gets much lift, and if you plan on running big wheels (or even a stock size wheel and tire combo), chances are you will not get enough lift to drive the thing. The control arms are just too narrow. From all the diff pics ive seen, the swap to a 720 spindle and suspension pieces only makes this worse. I would highly suggest going with a toyo clip. With my setup on my 521 now, i only get just about 8 inches of lift, and thats with kingpings which have no ball joint binding issue ever. Any more lift and the upper control arm starts hitting the upper bag mount, and the bag wants to touch the kingpin. If it were body dropped, i wouldnt be able to clear my 18's with a rubberband (215/35/18). With the toyos ive done in the past, ive been able to get as much as 15 inches of lift with custom built control arms, and 13 with modified stocks. Cool project, good luck with the build!!!!

The only thing i dislike about the supra rear in minitrucks is the width. Narrowing them is a pain too, you cantnarrow cast control arms. So you would have to make some and get the axles narrowed. Love the truck man!!! Looks like it will be real fun to drive!!!

Sound like you deff did a nice job. I dont know how i missed the pics of you doing this, must have just been stoned........... :blink: Things are starting to come together man. Keep up the good work!!!!

Running 2x3 sideways is the same as running 2x2. You lose the vertical strength of that extra inch because it is placed on the 2 inch vertical. I wouldnt recommend running 2x2 or 2x3 sideways. 1/4 inch is overkill on such a light truck, 3/16 is even over kill. You would just be adding extra un-needed weight to anh already underpowered truck. 1/8 tubing would almost be enough, but without the factory engineered bends and shaped to keep it strong, your better off building it a l;ittle heavier.

Looks like you still have a little room to go still, te tires arent touching the hood yet are they> That is the biggest reason i didnt body drop mine, laying rocker i couldnt even fit a 15, especially with a stick suspeneion. Looks like your getting there!!! An like the others said, please dont extended the rockers, the BD is much cooler. You can gain just s little bit of drop by replacing the factory rails with some 2x3, but its still not enough to get it on the rockers wihitout a small bs or channel.

I would suggest leaving the u-bolts even though it is welded. With the suspension having absolutely no side to side flex, your weakest point will be at the mounts for the links, and the link to the axle. Over time even the best welds in the world will break. The u bolts are just an extra safety precaution.

Nice, everything looks good man!!!!!

Your lower should be parallel to the ground at ride height, and the front of your upper should be slightly pointed towards the ground. Your getting the idea with this pic. Now you just need to imagine the instant center point (the point where the 2 lines meet) around the front of the truck (front bumper).

The way your 4 link is setup right now you have no instant center, which will cause adverse handling affects. Think of instant center as an imaginary line coming off your link bars. In a properly setup 4 link, the imaginary line will meet close to your front bumper at ride height (when you lower link is parallel to the ground). It looks something like this: From the looks of your link setup, it looks like the upper links are angled upwards, away from the lower link. You have plenty of room in your hoop, before you get too much further, i would deff be looking into lowering it a little bit. Just trying to save you some headache.

Cool, its always good to see another bagged datsun. You may want to look into lowering your drive shaft hoop with the upper links mounted on it. Your geometry would be much more correct a good bit lower, right now it looks like you have no instant center at all. Just my 2 pennies. coming along nicely, keep up the good work!!!

Ah, I see, i missed the part about z-ing the frame. Work looks good so far. What made you go with a 2 link over a 4 link???

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