Pope Face's 1970 L521 Build

[pope_face]

Alright, I've only been on here a few days, but I've gleaned just about enough information to somewhat figure out what my plans are with this truck, although at the moment everything is still debatable and I'm always open to new ideas...

 

But, there's no point in me asking for suggestions if you don't know my abilities, so I ought to go through that first... this is the first "official" rebuild I'm undertaking... I've owned a couple cars so far, but by no means am I an expert. I've never undertaken an engine rebuild, I've never done bodywork, I've never done welding, and I have limited formal knowledge of the technical details of most vehicles... I do, however, have the inclination (and I hope aptitude) to learn more about cars and get things done right the first time... Also, I tend to ask a lot of questions and ramble on incessantly (as you've all likely been been subjected to already), but hopefully you'll get used to it... :rolleyes:

 

Those of you in the truck forum have likely already been introduced to Madeline... A 1970 L521, currently with a J13 and a four speed. I got her about two months ago, almost to the day, but so far there hasn't been any actual work happening, save for research and brainstorming. I don't actually get my garage space for another month either, but I've got plenty of time to do the build, and it'll give me some more time to think about where I'm going with this first before I get knee-deep in it. However, there are some basic principles I'll do my best to stick to:

 

 

1) Cost.

 

You all know what this means, at least in relation to Datsuns. I think the forum name pretty much sums it up. This is going to be a low-budget build. Not the "duct-tape and bailing wire" kind of low budget, but the "making smart decisions" type of low budget... I hope. I plan on doing most of the work myself, with the exception of the things I absolutely cannot do, and I'll try to get someone else to do those for cheap. Hopefully, that won't be much. The majority of parts will be used, although I'll do my best to get them in the best condition possible, or at least in a condition that I can fix myself. If there's no way to get a used part in a condition I can fix myself, then it's either get it fixed by someone who knows how to, or just get a new replacement part, depending on the rarity. All this brings me to my next point...

 

 

2) Function

 

There's no point in me putting time and money into rebuilding something if I'm not going to do it well, so I'm going to do the best I can. I know it won't compare in certain areas to a lot of your cars, and I'm not planning on making it fancier than most of today's car, but it'll do what I need it to do. Exactly what that comes down to, I don't know, but what I do know is that I want an "SUV" of sorts... sport utility vehicle. I can barely afford to register and insure one vehicle on "normal" (day-to-day driving) plates, let alone two, so this has to be a daily driver. I'm also big on utility and adaptability, so I need something I can take to work or school in the morning, dinner dates in the evening, the beach on weekends, and parties at midnight. Then again, beach cruises and dates aren't as much fun if I can't show off with a bit of speed, and what's the point of having a pickup that can't haul anything? Having said that, it has to be sporty and fun to drive... it doesn't have to be stupidly fast (it's already terrifying going down a straight freeway at 160 km/h in a 4,300+ lb steel rocket of a 17 year old Explorer, let alone trying to do that in a 37 year old Datsun) but it has to be able to keep up with (and pass) highway traffic, have enough pep for some fun city driving, and handle well enough to ride the Sea-To-Sky at posted speeds with room to spare. Finally, I tend to beat on my cars a lot, so it has to be able to handle any abuse I can throw at it, but that goes back to doing the work right in the first place...

 

 

3) Form

 

Just because it's functional, doesn't mean it can't be stylish. Sure, anyone can have the same build requirements as me, but what ultimately makes Madeline mine is the execution... I've got vague ideas about how I want everything to look, but the basic concept is this: Simplicity. I've always liked clean lines and accents to gaudy colours and bling... However, that doesn't mean I'm going to make it 'plain'. It'll express a view that I believe in, and that's the key.

 

 

It is, however, getting late, and I've already gone on for far too long... Hopefully I won't kill your interest with too much typing. I'll post what I know about the current status of the truck, as well as some potential plans, next time I'm around.

[pope_face]

Alright, a project thread is useless without pics, and I may as well do my best to keep all the info in here, rather than all over the place, so here they are:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

So far it could use a fair bit of work... The entire truck has been painted recently enough to cover rust spots, including the frame, so it'll all get stripped off so I can see what I'm really working with. The frame needs a bit of welding in a couple spots where it's becoming more of a C-frame than boxed... The driver's side fender is rusted right over the headlight, and it appears to have been pached with fiberglass and then repainted, but until I get the fender off I won't really know for sure if I can repair it myself, or if I need to replace the fender. The triangular hood support isn't attached to the hood skin, so it's fairly flexible and that might be what's causing the gap you can see on the passenger's side in the last pic. Apparently at some point the previous, previous owner was going down the highway and the hood latch wasn't closed properly, and it just shot up... not sure if it bent or not, but the mounting point on the hood for the driver's side hinge is shot... It's almost rusted out completely, so when the hood's up it moves a lot more than it should. As for the cab itself, it appears to be in reasonably good condition, although I was told there was a small hole in the floor that was patched up with fiberglass... again, I won't be able to tell what's going on with it until I strip everything out, but I'm not planning on replacing the cab, so it'll have to get welded up.

 

Other than that, the alternator isn't charging and the carb needs a rebuild, but I'm planning an engine swap anyways so those don't really make much difference. The stock turn signal stalk doesn't work, so the orange box on the steering column has taken over that job until I get it fixed. The water temp gauge doesn't work, so it's been replaced with an aftermarket one, bolted to the dash below the gas gauge... which, coincidentally, also doesn't work... it shows half a tank when it's full. Probably just a bad connection to the sender unit.

 

Else, the bench seat is bad enough to see the springs in a couple spots, so it'll have to be recovered at some point. The dash and some of the plastic bits are cracked or missing bits. The steering wheel either needs to be replaced or see some major therapy, although it's usable, and the rearview mirror is so old and dry it turns to powder when I touch it. There's no rear bumper, and the tail-lights certainly aren't stock, but that's not really much of a problem for me.

 

Most of these are pretty small points, but they add up... Even so, it shouldn't be too difficult to get things sorted out so they look/work reasonably well. I'm not looking for a show truck, but at least a good daily driver.

[pope_face]

Alright, perhaps I can spark a bit more interest in this by actually posting what I want to do, so here goes:

 

 

Mechanical: The truck came stock with a J13 and a four speed standard. I'd rebuild it, but I need an automatic transmission, so I'll likely pick up an L-Series and go from there. I'm not too keen on electronics and computer components in my engines, so I want a carbed engine, as well as one that won't have too much emissions equipment. Because of this, I was going to get an L16, but I'm leaning more towards getting an L20B now and spec'ing it to the early model 620's... hopefully that'll get rid of any emissions equipment on it. I've never done an engine build before, so I need to keep it pretty simple... strip and clean the block, replace the alternator (probably with a Saturn alt), and get new gaskets/seals/rubber all around, and likely switch the old fuel lines while I'm at it. Until I learn more about engines, I'll keep this one N/A, so I might try to bump up compression a little bit, either by replacing the head or the pistons... I'd like to run regular gas though, rather than premium, so this may or may not happen. I might swap the cam and valve assemblies, but I haven't decided on that yet. Same thing with the carbs... I'd like to run dual carbs, just for the sake of running dual carbs, but I haven't decided on whether or not I'll do that, or the actual carb I'll be using. Same thing with side-draft vs down-draft.

 

Exhaust will use a stock manifold, depending on the best one I can find, and I'm hoping to run 2-2.5" piping all the way back through a Magnaflow and dump it just in front of the driver's side rear tire. I'll have to find out how legal that is, but I've always liked the look of that, so I'll see what I can do. As far as the differential goes, it has 4.88 gears at the moment... depending on whether I find a 3 or a 4 speed auto and the powerband on the engine I may swap out the gears. I mostly drive in the city, but I get on the highway enough to make sure I've got proper gears. So far, if I want to keep the stock tire size, it looks like I'll have to drop the ratio.

 

I haven't decided on suspension or brakes yet either. I might keep both stock until I get the truck finished, replacing only the worn components. The only other thing is the wiring harness... I'm not sure of it's current condition, so I'll either see if I can pick up a new replacement somewhere, or get another old harness and rewire it myself.

 

 

Interior: I'll probably keep this pretty basic... Recover and reinstall the original bench seat, recover the dash, replace a few of the trim pieces. I might try to fix up the stock steering wheel a bit, but I might just get a 620 or one of the Z car (280? Can't remember the model) aftermarket adaptors and throw a Grant or something on... The rearview mirror needs to be changed, maybe I'll get a chrome one from some old American muscle. Other than that it'll be mostly cleaning up the look of the interior, getting all the gauges working properly, and maybe putting in a tach and a metric speedo, as well as a voltmeter and maybe oil pressure gauge. There's no stereo right now either, so a headunit, a couple speakers, and an amp might be a good idea.

 

 

Body: Everything's getting stripped off and the body will be sandblasted, welded (where needed) and repainted. I'll probably do the paint myself, although I haven't exactly decided on the paint scheme or anything yet. Likely some sort of cream or a light greenish/grey and maybe a simplified version of the current paintjob, probably in different colours. That's really one of the last things I'm worrying about right now. Other than that, I might put in a sunroof or a pop-out rear window... I like the split sunroofs on some of the 620's, so maybe I'll pick one of those up. Most of the body will be left stock... I might shave the front and side marker/turn lights and hide them somewhere, but I haven't decided where yet. There might also be LED's all around, if I can get my ass around to wiring them all up.

 

I love the setup Hainz has with the clear outer lights and the yellow inners, as well as the driving lamps on the bumper, so I'm going to try to do something similar. I like larger outside lamps on a four-light system, so I might get a pair of 7" lights and see if I can get them to fit by hacking into the core support and using a pair of 7" headlight buckets off a Jag or Benz... if it works I'll just make a custom grille and headlight surrounds, likely out of the same plastic honeycomb material they use on new GMC's or Fords, or out of some aluminum and thin mesh. But, regardless of whether or not the 7" lights work, I'm planning to use a round lens out of a two lamp system to get high/low beams in the stock low beam lights, and replacing the stock highbeams lamps with 5.75 yellow fogs... I'll run the high/low beam lamps to the stock switch (maybe wire it to have low beams on even when high beams are on), and then run the fogs to a separate switch. Bumper mounted driving lamps will also get a separate switch.

 

As for the taillights, I'm planning on using three round lamps on either side: the two exterior ones for dual filament bulbs (or equivilant LED setup) for tail and brake/turn lights, with the brake and turn lights sharing the same circuit... same thing as my Explorer. The innermost lights will be a rear red fog lamp on one side, clear reverse lamp on the other. I'll make a roll pan so I can mount the lights flush with the back. I haven't decided on bumpers yet, but I want to be able to have the tailgate come down all the way, so I'll either run without a rear bumper or set it up so it can be moved a bit so it offers protection but can clear the tailgate when it's down.

 

I'll need to put a couple lockboxes in the bed to store all the tools and crap I tend to carry in my cars, and I might make up a tonneau cover to keep everything pretty dry. I would like to be able to have a comfortable enough setup in the bed so that I can sit there if I go to the beach or sleep in it if I go camping or get stuck somewhere out on the road. Some sort of roll-up carpet and padding would probably take care of that, that way if I need to haul something messy around I don't get everything too dirty and I don't have to waste too much time taking the carpet out and putting it back in. I might make an army-style canopy as well, something out of boat canvas with pvc windows or something to keep the rain out... The whole frame would have to be collapsable though, so I could store it and the canopy in the bed when I'm driving around the city.

 

I'm not sure how much of this will work out, but little of it actually requires any major work... most of it's details that require a bit of actual physical work. Then again, plans have a tendancy to change, so if someone comes along with a better idea I might try that. We'll see once I start.