Lucas

I haven't been able to look under the car yet, so I can't answer if the crossmember is actually there. I assume the bottom of the engine block might be in the way, but I'll have to check. Thanks for the links. To be completely honest, I don't have the funds to do everything at once, so this will be a 'step by step' project. Compared to the other things on the to-do list in my original post, this will have a lower priority for now. I really appreciated the time you took to show me those items, as I really know what I'm looking for now. Thanks!

That's very interesting. I assume it's difficult to get the standard front suspension to adapt to the greater weight of the engine. If I use QA1 coilovers in the back, I might as well do the front at the same time. I guess it's time to weigh the the car and weigh the front and rear separately to be able to calculate the right spring rates. I guess it's better to do it right the first time. Especially if I do the front first to determine the location of the bracket for the rear.

I forgot to say that the springs were there purely in the starting phase of the built. There are airbags mounted there now and it's safely mounted top and bottom. Most of the sketchy stuff was dealt with at a later stage. Biggest problem with the rear suspension is that it feels 'a little vague' while driving. But I agree that safety comes first. That's why I only drove it home after I purchased it to get a feel for it and it's in storage until I can get a qualified mechanic to go over the entire car. The engine is mounted to the frame left and right and the transmission in the rear. It seemed impossible to use the front subframe from the z31 in the frame, do you have a picture of the crossmember that should be there? Is it original to the 521? Regarding the suspension: I understand the stock suspension works relatively well when it's maintained well. So I was thinking of putting heavy duty shocks in the front and adjusting the stock suspension accordingly. Do you know of any write up about converting the front suspension to coilovers? It probably isn't as simple as taking the shocks out and, removing the stock torsion bars (is that what it's called in english? I'm really struggling with translating the technical terms.), and fitting the coilovers in the same spot as where the original stocks were, right? Any info or link to information is greatly appreciated. I'm from the northern part (Friesland). I really love the grill in your car. I might try to use an original grill and surrounds in the future, or at least try to make them fit. Or I might try to fabricate something myself. I agree on the unfinished look. A full bumper might do a lot too. The original mounting points aren't there anymore, so in the end it might not make a lot of difference when fabricating. Are there any obvious things to do to improve the VG30E or automatic gearbox? Every thread I read just gets a 'put in a turbo motor' reaction. My engine is completely rebuild so I'm definitely not swapping it out again. I'm thinking a 1.5 way LSD might improve the ride, but only after upgrading the suspension.

So, as I promised I uploaded a couple of pictures to show the extent of fabrication that went into the truck. Some things might look a little sketchy, but bear with me. These picturen were given to me by the previous owner. In this picture you can see how the z31 rear subframe is mounted to the truck frame. In the next you can see how the engine is mounted to the frame Here you can see the tunnel necessary for the transmission Here you can see that the entire floor is missing because of rust (taken out entirely). And here it is completely redone So he basically built a new car. Considering how much really is original, I think he might be proud of his work. This is the reason why I assume a standard grille won't fit. But might try it anyway if I can find one for a decent price. Here you can see how much fender space is given up to fit the brake booster Here you can see the engine in the engine compartment Engine bay picture The log-type custom manifold The wiring I have almost 300 pictures of this build. If you guys have any questions or things you want to see, let me know. In the first picture you can see how the suspension is mounted. I think it will be fairly easy to put coilovers in. I just need to do some calculations and fabricate brackets on the frame rails.

Thank you very much. I'll post pictures when I've fitted them. The truck is in storage at the moment. I will probably post under hood pictures at the end of the month. The bumperettes are kind of a love/hate thing for most people who give their feedback. They were purely used because the front bumper didn't come with the truck (damaged) and getting a replacement is expensive because shipping overseas is difficult with weirdly shaped boxes over a standard size. Thanks! I hope to get an original bumper in the future though. I am glad this car is from pre 1978 and can use the blue license plate. The normal yellow ones in the Netherland can really screw up the look of a car in my opinion. I'm looking forward to that. Let me know once you know more 🙂 I think you might be right. Especially because I don't know if a standard bed will look strange and shipping + purchase is expensive from here. Additional problems might arise as I don't yet know if the previous owner changed mounting points on the frame. If I can customise an original bed it might be an easier starting point as the rounded sides wil match the overall cab shape (besides the rockers). Again you might be right. A lot of fabrication has gone into this truck. The entire bottom of the cab is new, the transmission tunnel, the inner fender (to allow the brake booster to be fitted) and there is a lot of new sheet metal in the front as wel. I would really like to use the original trim pieces for the front because that really makes the look of the car in my opninion. Problem is that the headlight surrounds consists of new sheet metal as wel, so I don't know if it'll fit. It might be an expensive experiment. You're totally right. If you look at it from a purists standpoint this truck is weird and probably not done wel. Personally I like the quirkyness of it, but there is a lot of room for improvement. Especially in the looks department. The previous owner took a lot of picturen in the process of building this truck. He gave them to me on a usb drive. If you guys are interested I can select a few good ones to post in this thread. A VG conversion isn't done often in a 521 so it might be fun. Let me know.

My seats were delivered yesterday. I hope these will look nice in the 521. I don't really like the autostyle brand, but they were an ideal combination of size, looks and affordability.

Thanks! I ordered two new seats for the car and a steering wheel + hub (used) to make it a little more comfortable. The couple of hours it took to drive home after buying it was enough to make my back hurt for a week so this was the number one priority. I'm 6'5", so the choice in seats is quite limited if I still want to be able to drive it. I will install them the 28th of this month so I'll post pictures when done. The only reason I can drive it is because it's an automatic and I don't need to shift. It would have been impossible.

Hi, I'm new to the forum. Short introduction: Lucas, 31, Dutch. I am no native english speaker, so please bear with me, I'll try my best. I recently bought a Datsun 1300 from april 1970 with a nice story. These trucks were never available for purchase in the Netherlands. At the time there were 4 Datsun dealers in the entire country and in 1970 each one of them got a Datsun 1300 as a present to use as a service vehicle for the dealership. Only four Datsun 1300 pickups were ever registered here, and this is supposedly the only one still on the road. So it's the only remaining Datsun 521 that was originally delivered in the country. Possible the only one here at all. The climate for a classic car here is terrible, so the whole thing was completely rusted through with a blown engine and there was little left of the bed. The original owner took ik apart to rebuild the thing but never got to it. The owner before took the entie puzzle en started it as his own project. He put a VG30E in the car from a z31 non turbo with the z31 gearbox. He fabricated mounts to connect the Z31 rear subframe tot the car. So the 521 has independent rear suspension now. The brake booster from the Z31 was used and I have Z31 disc brakes (5 lug as european cars had 5 lug on non turbo cars as well) on all 4 corners. The Z31 steering column is used with a S130 power steering unit (which needs rebuilding). So in short: 3.0 V6, power steering, power brakes, disc brakes. Here are some pics: The entire floor of the cabin is new, most of the front is a placeholder plate because the grill wasn't there anymore. A lot of the bodywork is new steel. It's not perfect, but a good enough base to start from. The rear suspension is complete shit. The previous owner had and enormously heavy wooden bed on it which necessitated heavy duty air suspension. But it doens't do the car any justice. Because the subframe of the z31 was used it looks like it can be converted to coilovers quite easily, so that's the road I'm going to take. I really hate the look of the custom bed, because the proportions are way off. If I lower the rear to make the car level, the rear wheels will probably not fit in the fenders anyway. Because the cars were never sold here, it's impossible to find replacement parts nearby. So everything has to be imported. I don't think buying a pickup bed overseas is possible, so I'll probably have to custom fabricate something myself. In my opinion this will never be a collector truck and it was too far gone to keep it original. It's gonna be my third project for this year. Plans: 1) fix the steering play and power steering issues 2) Put in soms seats that don't wreck my back in 20 mins 3) Put in a different steering wheels (material is disintegrating) 4) Put different wheels and tires on 5) Take bed off and put in coilovers 6) Customize bed to fit new wheel position 7) Paint it (thinking about two tone red/cremewhite) 8 Make entire dashboard using ETB gauges 9) Drive Ideas, tips and comments are greatly appreciated. I know this isn't everyone's cup of tea, but I hope to get some positive connections going on this forum. Have a great day!

Hello Guys, I'm new to the forum and will make a build thread in the coming weeks. I've recently purchased the only still driving 521 in the Netherlands and plan on slowly upgrading it to my liking. There wasn't much original to the truck when I bought it, so I'm not too worried about the purity so to speak. The truck has an VG30E engine from a 300zx non-turbo, so the weight in the front is far larger than normal (was a 1300). The rear subframe from the donor car is mated to the frame and will be converted to coilovers this spring. For the front I would like to get some good shocks and would like your opinions. I'm thinking about one of the following: - Gabriel 77902 Max control - KYB KG4605A Gas-A-Just - KYB 565029 MonoMax The car is purely used for street touring. Can someone help me choose?