johny5 Posted December 9, 2009 Report Share Posted December 9, 2009 OK this might drag on for a bit, but here's what I have going on. Originally bought the brown 71 and was determined to be too rusty .So I set out to purchase another ratsun members project, I drove down to Oregon and picked up the black truck , Had it home 24 hours and started the dismantle. My plans are to strip the truck down sand blast the frame and most of the body. The current paint is very poor but so far I haven't found any rust.:D what a pain in the ass the steering column was.I didnt want to wreck the box. here's the first brown truck it will be handy for parts and to see how things go together Quote Link to comment
nukeday Posted December 9, 2009 Report Share Posted December 9, 2009 Awesome, glad you struck a deal on this. Looks like you're getting busy, are you planning just a straight restoration? Keep the pics coming :) Quote Link to comment
johny5 Posted December 9, 2009 Author Report Share Posted December 9, 2009 yeah thanks for the lead, my plans are to put a ka24de in hopefully and disk brakes. Im undecided on the color still , with the gray black seats , kinda thinking charcoal gray Quote Link to comment
AZ_L320 Posted December 10, 2009 Report Share Posted December 10, 2009 nice project! Say, not to hi-jack your thread... But, I like the size of your trailer. Can you by chance tell me what size it is? I'm kind of looking for a small car hauler. Do you find it to small? Thanks Az - L320 Quote Link to comment
patd Posted December 10, 2009 Report Share Posted December 10, 2009 Make sure you keep us posted with pictures, I am going to do my trucks frame and your picture:)s will come in handy Quote Link to comment
johny5 Posted December 10, 2009 Author Report Share Posted December 10, 2009 (edited) nice project! Say, not to hi-jack your thread... But, I like the size of your trailer. Can you by chance tell me what size it is? I'm kind of looking for a small car hauler. Do you find it to small? Thanks Az - L320 The trailer is 6 feet by 13 feet , its a bit small for a fill size truck but I have towed a few full size trucks and many full size cars on it . It tows fine but a longer trailer would tow better I borrowed a 20 footer and it was less bouncy and tracked better. It could be a bit wider , I actually had to get wider axles for it after I finished building it because it was too narrow between the fenders. I built the trailer 15 years ago , its on its 4th set of fenders and I dont lend it out anymore because I never wrecked any of the fenders :mad: I'll have lots of pics as things develop Edited December 10, 2009 by johny5 Quote Link to comment
AZ_L320 Posted December 10, 2009 Report Share Posted December 10, 2009 Thanks for the info! Nice trailer and truck. Az_L320 Quote Link to comment
johny5 Posted December 10, 2009 Author Report Share Posted December 10, 2009 Not too much exciting stuff , pulled the cab tonight Looks like the front end needs rebuilding not sure what rough to go with the front end , I would like ball joints and disk brakes Quote Link to comment
shancerlelby Posted December 10, 2009 Report Share Posted December 10, 2009 looks pretty clean, nice score! love your shop too by the way. what kinda drive train in your crawler? Quote Link to comment
nukeday Posted December 10, 2009 Report Share Posted December 10, 2009 The upper A arm bushings are still available from nissan.cc (54519-08700). Since you are planning for more power, the upgrade makes sense. Beebani has upper control arms and disc brake brackets, nice stuff. If you decide the kingpins are serviceable, Beebani's disc upgrade can still be used if you don't want to replace the upper and lower control arms. Here are Beebani's threads on the parts: upper control arms v2 front/rear disc brake brackets V.3 Don't mean to spoon feed you, but if I had the coin and a truck worth the effort, I'd be all over this upgrade. :) Quote Link to comment
johny5 Posted December 10, 2009 Author Report Share Posted December 10, 2009 looks pretty clean, nice score! love your shop too by the way. what kinda drive train in your crawler? thanks I love my shop too the crawler has a chev 4.3 v6 and th 350 and 5.44:1 stak tcase and dana 60s Quote Link to comment
johny5 Posted December 10, 2009 Author Report Share Posted December 10, 2009 (edited) The upper A arm bushings are still available from nissan.cc (54519-08700). Since you are planning for more power, the upgrade makes sense. Beebani has upper control arms and disc brake brackets, nice stuff. If you decide the kingpins are serviceable, Beebani's disc upgrade can still be used if you don't want to replace the upper and lower control arms. Here are Beebani's threads on the parts: upper control arms v2 front/rear disc brake brackets V.3 Don't mean to spoon feed you, but if I had the coin and a truck worth the effort, I'd be all over this upgrade. :) Thanks for those links I just read them and need to make decisions. I might have a ka24de soon for mock up , that will help with the steering and suspension plans. Im very grateful for any advice along the way too. Edited December 10, 2009 by johny5 Quote Link to comment
dat521gatherer Posted December 11, 2009 Report Share Posted December 11, 2009 521's ARE THE SHIT AS FAR AS MINI TRUCKS GO. Quote Link to comment
johny5 Posted December 11, 2009 Author Report Share Posted December 11, 2009 yes they are! I found this at a used car parts place I think it was the only datsun -import part in the place. anyone know what car its from? oh and half a toyota grill too Quote Link to comment
sdsurf Posted December 11, 2009 Report Share Posted December 11, 2009 I think it is off a 1200 Quote Link to comment
Gensaiken Posted December 13, 2009 Report Share Posted December 13, 2009 (edited) man, really tearing in to the thing. Told you it was pretty clean! :D Glad it is getting the restoration it deserves. Wish I could have got it together but didn't have nearly the wicked shop you got going on. Would have been done in a weekend! This truck is going to be a monster. :eek: Edited December 13, 2009 by Gensaiken Quote Link to comment
TrevDaddy Posted December 14, 2009 Report Share Posted December 14, 2009 Don't get me wrong, I LOVE my 620, but the more and more I see projects like this, my lust for a 521 grows stronger. They look so cool, like a 510 with a bed! I would definitely go with nuke's suggestion, badass upgrade if you are going into this so deeply. I know when I have the space down the road, I'll be all over it. Quote Link to comment
johny5 Posted December 29, 2009 Author Report Share Posted December 29, 2009 Ok I have been working on the truck a bit over Xmas , Have the frame completely striped and ready for sand blasting. Spent all day yesterday building a trailer hitch for my work van so i could use my trailer(the Insurance ran out on my dodge and i dont want to drive it in the winter) So today I loaded the frame up to take for sand blasting and the place was closed:blink: and its supposed to rain the rest of the week so that might delay me a little bit. I wont have to much time to work on it before February after this week so hopefully the place opens this week and I can get a break in the weather. I did move the parts truck out of the back room of the shop into the front garage to get more room in the shop too. Quote Link to comment
tangent Posted December 30, 2009 Report Share Posted December 30, 2009 I have a set of the elusive 32KB02 bearings for the 520's / 521's, if you are going to use the original spindles, and your bearings are shot, drop me a line. Quote Link to comment
johny5 Posted December 30, 2009 Author Report Share Posted December 30, 2009 Im really hoping to convert to ball joints and discs from a 78 truck , every thing steering related on that truck is worn out Quote Link to comment
johny5 Posted December 30, 2009 Author Report Share Posted December 30, 2009 Oh i need to preview my post before posting because the edit post no worky. Anyway I got lucky and the whether was good yesterday. so I went sand blasting . There's an interesting story about the chain hoist. about 15 years ago I bought a honda civic from a guy that lived in a rental house on the property where this auto restoration is (they rent out the sandblaster by the hour). I had the car for a few months before i tried to register it , when i tried the registration was no good. So I called the sand blasting /restoration place looking for the guys number and was told the guy died. About a year later I was back at the place doing another truck frame. I was settling up and told them i that bought the honda off the guy in the rental house, He then tells me he came out to the shop one morning and found the guy hanging from the chain hoist. Kinda erry :mellow: Quote Link to comment
Charlie69 Posted December 30, 2009 Report Share Posted December 30, 2009 Man now that is a Ratsun Rotissorie! I love it. Quote Link to comment
Nas Posted December 31, 2009 Report Share Posted December 31, 2009 He then tells me he came out to the shop one morning and found the guy hanging from the chain hoist. Kinda erry :mellow: Woa...creepy. I wonder why he hung himself... I wonder if someone else hung him? Quote Link to comment
johny5 Posted December 31, 2009 Author Report Share Posted December 31, 2009 OK so I scored a KA24DE with everything for $350 :D Quote Link to comment
shancerlelby Posted January 1, 2010 Report Share Posted January 1, 2010 niiiiice score! looks clean even!! Quote Link to comment
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