pope_face

Alright, I know there's a brake section, and I know this topic has been covered before, but I'm just trying to get a feel for how well this would work before I look for a writeup, and this is more truck related than a general brake question... so, what I want to know is: Can disk brakes on a pickup potentially be a bad choice over drum brakes? I know that disk brakes offer more stopping power, but I'm curious as to the wheels locking up... I think I've read on here that that's one of the reasons disk brakes weren't used on the early Datsun trucks, because of the difficulty in proportioning the front/rear bias on an unladen vs fully loaded bed... I'd like to get disks, but if it's a choice between losing rear wheel traction when I'm just cruising or not being able to stop when I'm hauling something, then I'd rather keep my drum brakes...

Wow... that looks pretty good. I actually like the door art... I'd love to make my truck into a rat, but we'll see how that goes. The wheels look pretty good in that colour... I wouldn't have expected it, but it works somehow. The rear wheels are a bit too tall though, but that's just my opinion. The Oil Drop cartoon is pretty neat too... all you've gotta do now is just fade out the Ratsun Garage a bit to make it look weathered and you'll be set... BTW, got a larger size? I think it's time to change my desktop... :D

There we go, so actual information for ya... :D I never knew the tokico blues were that cheap... then again I never really tried pricing them out. Good to know.

Thanks Dat620... looks like I'll be trying to track down one of those sunroofs...

Wow... that was awesome... :D That would be a lot of fun to do... alas, with the roads as busy as they are and with the number of cops in the area, it's not something you could really do unless you went in the middle of the night and really knew which roads to take... However, what we do have is the Sea To Sky highway... it's got the reputation of being the most deadly stretch of highway in the province. They're expanding it to two lanes each way, and right now they've got a big chunk done, but it's still single lane each direction for kilometers on end, and pretty narrow too. It's built into the side of a mountain, so it's a sheer drop on one side and a ditch and rock face on the other... I think the drop off is still only protected by a guardrail in most places, and nothing in others. The whole thing is just a series of sharp turns and blind corners... Throw in potholes, wet roads, and potential rockfalls, and you've got driving experiance. The views, however, are incredibly stunning... I've got pictures on my cellphone that I took when I went out to Lillooet the other week (about 250 km away)... I'll post them up if anyone's interested...

Not sure about suppliers or anything of that sort, but I've heard good things about Tokico shocks... I think the blue series is the most popular, but I honestly couldn't tell ya. They seem to be pretty common as far as imports go. HTH...

Very nice... They are sexy wheels, but I prefer a little more lip on mine... But, good to know 18x8's will fit!

Do you think it'd be similar for a 521? 18x8? I'm not planning on anything that big... I think I'll likely stick with 16's, maybe 17's at the most... although it would be nice to have an 8" wide wheel... do you have any idea what backspacing you're using?

Damn... I guess he really liked the ride... :D And those are sexy wheels... they're for the 620, right? Or are they going on someone elses car?

Thanks Ray... I'll see about the offset. I'm not sure what the stock backspacing is, but I'll try to sort that out and make sure I keep it when looking for new wheels... I don't want to rub on the fender, but I suppose the frame is a little harder to deal with, so I'll just try to find a tire/wheel combo that'll fit if I lower the truck slightly. As for those wheels you were waiting for, they're nice. What are they? :D That sucks with the white car... but, I suppose it comes down to driving style...

I'm assuming there's some sort of progression between the tallest and the widest tires you can get... like, the taller they are, the narrower they have to be, correct? Although there has to be some limit... Assuming you go with a tire diameter close to stock (195/75R14?), does anyone know what the widest tire/rim combo would be? Seems like 18x7" is roughly about the tallest... could you do 16x8 or 17x9, or would that be too wide?

Ray: Thanks for the suggestion... from your experiance, a 16x8" rim will fit on a 521? Or are the 620 and 521 two completely different setups? I checked the online tire calculator... assuming the stock tire is a 195/75R14, the replacement would have to be about 205/60R16 in order to be about the same size... it would be just 4 mm taller. I might be able to get away with a 55, but then it'd be about... a centimeter shorter than stock? I do a lot of highway driving, so I don't know how much that would affect the speed... An 8" rim would only be about 210 mm wide, including the lip... if I went with the 205's there really wouldn't be much of a difference... the 195's would be more noticable, but not by much. Would a 9" rim with 195's fit, or would it rub on either the inner or outer fender at full lock? BTW, sucks about that curbing... I'm super picky about my cars... I don't let anyone drive them unless I have to leave town for an extended period... last time I did that my friend ran my Explorer on nearly flat tires and with almost no power steering fluid... I think the oil was low too.

Wasn't it $200 earlier? And yeah, probably best to just take what you need off of it and leave the rest... it might seem like a good deal, but you don't want to be left holding the ball if the vin swapping turns out to be something else...

Looks pretty good... Are you shaving the door handles and all as well, or are you leaving those? I think it looks super clean with the shaved gutters, but getting rid of the door handles might be pretty good... As for the shaved gutters, I like the look, but I wouldn't do it myself... I tend to drive with the windows open all the time, unless it's raining super hard... The Explorer just has recessed strips molded into the roof but no actual gutters, so after a hard rain I have to do a couple hard stops before I open my window, else all the water rolls down the strips, over the curve of the windshield, and pours in through the window... it tends to hit the door panel on the inside and spatter everywhere...

Alright, I did a search for Dunlops in a 205/50R16... The SP Sport 5000 and the Direzza DZ101 seemed like the best choices... apparently both have about an 8/10 rating for wet and dry traction... MSRP is $115 for the latter, $135 for the former... about $600 in savings over the tires I was looking at before... Thanks for the suggestion Freak... I may actually go through with it after all...

tnip: I was looking at small sidewalls... I guess I could go with a larger profile... That Dat does look pretty good with the larger sidewalls, although I'm not much for the tires... I like the white lettering on some setups, but I think it kinda throws off the stretch... As for the lowering, I know I can lower it pretty easily, but as far as I can tell the stock suspension wasn't designed for handling... that's why I mentioned coilovers or airbags. If I'm going to drop a couple grand on a set of tires and rims, the least I could do is put in a decent suspension setup to go with it... otherwise I may as well get a Honda and call it a day. :rolleyes: Ray: I was hoping to keep roughly the stock diameter... 195/75R14, correct? I'd prefer not to go any larger than 16's, but I could probably get them in either a 8" or a 10" wide rim... I'd likely go with an 8" just because I don't know if a 10" will fit front and back... I like the look of wider rear wheels, but right now it's not worth it. As far as tires go... Would you recommend I get a high-performance tire, or would a regular all-season work? I need something that's good on both wet and dry roads... I'll have another set of rims for snow, so that shouldn't be an issue. Any suggestions? Bluemeanie: I know what you mean... everybody has their preferances. Personally I don't like spinners, but some people do. Guess it's just personal preferance.

As far as I know, it would matter. As far as I know, if you put together a truck from scrap parts it would be considered a "salvage" and would have a title to match... as far as the actual vins go, IIRC someone mentioned that some states will give you a title based on the newest permenant VIN... so if you're running a '74 620 on a '78 frame, the title will say '78. I think that's the way it goes... I suppose the only time it would really matter is if any of the VINs came up stolen... If you had multiple vins they might just go with the one on the frame, but if that one comes up stolen you'll likely get your truck taken away... if you're lucky. If not... well, maybe you'll make new friends with a large man called Bubba.

Wow, thanks for the posts... I didn't realize this many people actually had an interest in this look... I keep going back and forth between doing it and not... The wheels are cheap, but the tires I was looking at were in the range of about $250 each... I'll need 5 of them (because having a 14x6 steelie as a spare is not how I want to roll), so if I price out tires and wheels it's about $2000... Doable, but not that cheap... Besides, what good are nice wheels and tires if I don't drop the truck? So either coilovers or airbags... and then the brakes need to be changed, but the steering components are 37 years old, so it'd be nice to swap the whole front end out... You see where this is going? Maybe one day, but for now I'll focus on the more necessary bits... Actually, that reminds me... there's probably a whole writeup somewhere around here, but would it be possible to swap in all the suspension/steering components from a later model Datsun w/ disk brakes onto a 521, or would it be possible to swap in the 620 setup and just do the disk brake swap? I mean, I know anything's possible with enough money, but would this be a relatively straight-forward swap, or would it require a lot of fabrication?

Well, legally, I don't even think you could buy the truck... Otherwise, I guess it really only depends on what you're leaving on the truck. If it's just the cab and frame then take them to a scrap metal place. You might have to separate the two and take the frame to one place and the cab to another, just to prevent them from making a hassle about no vin. I don't really think there's much you could legally do with this truck... Not sure what the requirements are for you. You could be sneaky and call up a wreckers and feign interest in buying a whole vehicle... Ask them if they'd give you the registration papers with it or if you'd have to just get a new set from the State. If they offer you the papers, then it's likely they take them for all cars, so move on to the next wreckers and ask them. If they suggest you get it from the state, then chances are they don't need a title to scrap it, so they might not check for the vin on this truck. Just a thought...

Wow... that's a high revving engine... love to have on in the Datsun... :D IIRC, Ford made a prototype in the 50's or 60's that had a jet engine or something in it... I think it spun a driveshaft through a turbine or something... A few of them were apparently given to families to check the possibility of making it a daily driver... apparently people were scared off by the 15,000+ rpms the engine was pulling... Then again, I could be full of crap, and it never really happened... sounds like something they'd try in the 60's though...

I've wanted to ride for a long time... I've got my moto-learner's, but until I get an automatic bike I can't get my full license... So right now the hunt is on for an old late 70's CB400/450/650A... Seems they're a bit hard to find though... My friend has a late 60's Triumph in pieces in her garage. It's a T150R, or something like that... I can never remember the model number... it's one of the old style Bonnevilles... I'd love to get it from her and put it together, but that doesn't seem like it'll be happening anytime soon. Besides, if I got a normal motorbike I'd need an airshift kit and whatnot... apparently they're about $1000 or so...

Mmm, gorgey... And I think this site is having some negative impacts on me... I mean, I love my 521, and I'm positive it'll look good once I'm done, but the 620's just have such nice lines... The more I see of them the more I consider getting one...

From what I've gleaned, they're off a Chevy... possibly an Avalance or small pickup, maybe the Colorado or whatever it's called? I'm not sure, after seeing the the wheels and finding out they're from a Chevy that seems like the best fit... They're the alloys... And I'm guessing it's just the wheels... IIRC there were no tires in the pics... as he said above, no center caps either.

Yeah that usually ends up being a bit of an issue, doesn't it? =P Oh well, I may have a couple leads on an engine anyways, so hopefully something will pan out...

Kiznook: Thanks for the link... Bleach: I emailed the guy to find out which engine he has in it... I'll let you know what he says. If this pans out, would you be willing to pick up the truck on your own, and then have me come down and pull the engine once you get it back?