521 Dropsun Posted May 11, 2009 Report Share Posted May 11, 2009 Howdy yall. My name is Jerome and I hail from northern California. I am the proud owner of a 71 datsun 521. I bought it from police impound for 1200 dollars. Had no idea about mini trucks. Never really paid attention. I just saw this little pickup that looked old and pretty cool with it's dual headlights and thought it would be a great commuter. The sticker on the windshield said it had a five speed and ran great. I have a big 72 chevy K20 that is very nice and I was worried about scratching it and banging it up. I worked out in the boonies building fences at the time. Also got about 8 miles to the gallon so the datsun looked very appealing. Test drove it in their little impound lot. Took forever to get it to start and run. I found out a month later that it had a manual choke. felt like an idiot. Anyway.. there were these big speed bumps see... and well.. i decided not to slow down for them... hit the first one at like 40... launched the little datsun a good foot in the air and came crashing down just in time to hit the second speed bump. Well I came skidding into the gravel parking lot and here come the cops. Running. I jump out and yell "I'll take it!" Pissed off faces intantly turned into forced smiles. Paid cash and got the hell out of there. Hit up the freeway and go to shift to fifth....nothing. F ing cops got the last laugh. Not to mention it blew a head gasket a month later for no reason at all. All the tires wern't ballanced, front end was splayed out like a fat chick taking a dump and it didn't have window rollers. I put my seatbelt on the first time and it wouldn't unlatch. I had to cut myself out using a wire stripper. Eventualy gave up on her and parked her in the back barn and forgot about her. Then I met Seth Boman in a machine tooling class. Got to talking and he told me about his toyota he built from the ground up. Struck up a deal and the rest is history. Since that time Ive put over 17,000 dolars into her. Worth every penny. Well her she is just as I got her. This is actually a photo of her being dropped of at Seth's house. No pics before that. Shortened toyota axle Link cross member Battery tray Hand made tig welded link bars Bag cups mounted Shock mounts Back ready for paint Almost put together Brake line Back done Front lower tubular arms Front cut off Quote Link to comment
521 Dropsun Posted May 11, 2009 Author Report Share Posted May 11, 2009 Z Toyota frame graft Bag mount and lower arm with toyota spindel Uppers (from scratch) On the truck Smoothed Body Drop Low profile turbo muffler. (from scratch) Tubbed firewall Mock up Engine mounts Set on the ground Me standing next to it Painted the wheels Front cross member Front sheet metal on Front shock mount Quote Link to comment
LAYEDOUTB2K Posted May 11, 2009 Report Share Posted May 11, 2009 thats sweet you found your way over here. i love the truck and have followed seths build up on here since the beginning. Quote Link to comment
521 Dropsun Posted May 11, 2009 Author Report Share Posted May 11, 2009 Continued Put together and painted Hood Scratch made low profile intake to clear the hood Bed in place With trunk My computer is screwing with me. More to come soon. Quote Link to comment
djlotus Posted May 11, 2009 Report Share Posted May 11, 2009 With trunk Freakin love it. Quote Link to comment
comply Posted May 11, 2009 Report Share Posted May 11, 2009 I want to put in a request for one(1) incredibly sexy low profile intake. Holy hell. I wish mine was that good looking. Quote Link to comment
oldsklminitrk Posted May 11, 2009 Report Share Posted May 11, 2009 Hell yeah your in good hands with Seth I know him from Yotascene.....Thats a sweet lookin truck Im on the hunt for one of them now....my next project. :) Quote Link to comment
RB_Shaggs Posted May 12, 2009 Report Share Posted May 12, 2009 here is seth's whole build thread 71 521 love the truck man. Quote Link to comment
521 Dropsun Posted May 12, 2009 Author Report Share Posted May 12, 2009 Thanks for the support guys. Heres the rest of the pictures I couldn't post. Outside of the shop. At the gas station Walk around New bigger tires Notice inner white wall Stripe being applied Stripe done Then about a month later the hood came unlatched on the freeway and slammed into the windsheild showering me in glass. Not fun! Had to go get another 521 just to get the windsheild out of it! I'll post some pictures of that basketcase up soon. Soo anyway everything worked out and I got actually a cleaner window than I had before. This one was brand new and had never even seen a road. The truck was involved in a head on and so the dude replaced the window and then lost interest. Hence, New window! Quote Link to comment
bonvo Posted May 12, 2009 Report Share Posted May 12, 2009 glad to see the owner has made it to ratsun shame about the windsheild though Quote Link to comment
nick_m Posted May 12, 2009 Report Share Posted May 12, 2009 I LOVE this ute. It is the coolest little mini truck I have ever seen. period. Quote Link to comment
airedout Posted May 13, 2009 Report Share Posted May 13, 2009 Do you remember how much body drop it took to get the rockers on the ground??? Quote Link to comment
fisch Posted May 14, 2009 Report Share Posted May 14, 2009 So glad to see this truck again! I've missed it! Sorry about the hood and winshield! I am a fan of that hood too, is it badly damaged by the flyup? You really own one of THE most badass Datsuns I've ever seen. I mean that! Quote Link to comment
airedout Posted May 14, 2009 Report Share Posted May 14, 2009 Nevermind i already talked to seth earlier. Quote Link to comment
Bob3 Posted May 14, 2009 Report Share Posted May 14, 2009 Dude - that is amazing! :eek: You inspire my to get off my ass and go out to the shop and get some work done! WOW ! ! ! Quote Link to comment
521 Dropsun Posted May 15, 2009 Author Report Share Posted May 15, 2009 Well thanks for the imput guys. I just picked up a set of new tail lights for 150 and they are CHERRY! So I thought Id show you guys what Im thinking of doing. I have some original stub bumpers that Im thinking of putting on. Id need some low profile lights if I did it though because the bed has been dropped about 2 1/2 inches. Tell me if I should go through with it cause I like the look. Quote Link to comment
fisch Posted May 15, 2009 Report Share Posted May 15, 2009 Dude badass, you gotta do it!!!! Quote Link to comment
Track Junky Posted May 15, 2009 Report Share Posted May 15, 2009 Heck Yeah! Right ON!!! By far my favorite Mini truck. Scott. Quote Link to comment
521 Dropsun Posted May 15, 2009 Author Report Share Posted May 15, 2009 (edited) I thought Ive seen some small tail lights for these trucks. My mind might be playing tricks on me though because Im kinda hazy about the details. Did they make some small tail lights for these trucks that I could possibly stuff into the small gap between the gate and the stubs? Oh and here are some picks of Gertrude. Ethel's older, ugly sister. And boy does she have a rack on her! And her ghetto 80s fender flares. They bent the sheetmetal out! Thank god I have a spare bed! And a original weber with the redline intake. Edited May 15, 2009 by 521 Dropsun Quote Link to comment
datzenmike Posted May 15, 2009 Report Share Posted May 15, 2009 What rear end is that? Thought it was from a D-21 Hardbody. Quote Link to comment
521 Dropsun Posted May 17, 2009 Author Report Share Posted May 17, 2009 No idea what it is. Pretty sure it's stock but I could be wrong. The guy I got it from drove the transport trucks for datsun in the 70s and 80s delivering new vehicals to the dealerships. So its anyone's guess what has been done to this truck. I got soooooo many parts from this guy. He lost his house and he had a four car garage in the basement full of datsun parts. For a hundered dollars everything was mine!:D Quote Link to comment
datzenmike Posted May 18, 2009 Report Share Posted May 18, 2009 None of the trucks were 5 stud but this looks very similar to the D-21 and WD-21 rear. It's big. Quote Link to comment
pl521sss Posted May 18, 2009 Report Share Posted May 18, 2009 I thought Ive seen some small tail lights for these trucks. My mind might be playing tricks on me though because Im kinda hazy about the details. Did they make some small tail lights for these trucks that I could possibly stuff into the small gap between the gate and the stubs? Yes They did came with the smaller style tail lights from 68-69 models Sent you a PM if your interested Quote Link to comment
impala_631 Posted May 18, 2009 Report Share Posted May 18, 2009 lookin great!!i love the truck for shure..i watched the twistedminis topic from start to finish,seemed like a quick build for the amount of work,anyways great looking truck!!:) Quote Link to comment
521 Dropsun Posted May 20, 2009 Author Report Share Posted May 20, 2009 Thanks man! So we are going with the stub bumper idea to see how that works out. Going to put thoes tail lights a little behind the bumper but at least the bulb will be visable, unlike if I moved the big ones I have now back behind the stub. Quote Link to comment
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