garryk6 Posted January 24, 2010 Report Share Posted January 24, 2010 I havn't been able to work on this project since moving to Alaska, as it is still in storage in WA. But since the NWDE thread is gone, and I recently found a few of my pics, I thought that I would put them up, and see if anyone else has had such a weird and crazy idea... What got me thinking about making a monster datsun was two differant things. THe first was a pic of a 4x4 320 I found many years ago, and then even before that I had e-mail with a guy in Pennsylvania that had taken a 1967 520 and mounted the body on a 1965 International Scout chassis with a Buick v-6 power. I ended up with a parts L320 and some more parts from another L320, and at first I thought I might use them on my restoration project for the NL32o, but then I ran accross a FREE 1964 International Scout with a 250ci Chevy I-6 granny 4spd and Rockwell transfer case out of a late 60's Chevy 4x4. It had sat for a long time, but with a bit of coaxing it ran enought to drive around the farm. Now with the L320 and what my kids were already terming the "Monster Scout" as it sat on 35x12.50x15 tires, a plan started to unfold in my head... Old Datsun 4x4 pic Monster Scout pic L320 pic Chevy I-6 4spd and rockwell So with that all in mind I decided to try to build a Datsun 4x4 on as low of a budget as possible, since I have 4 kids, wife and motherinlaw all living with us. So I will slowly post what I did over about a year and a half inbetween kids, famil and the US Navy taking me out to sea on Deployments to where it is now awaiting my coming to get it and get going on it again. Garry in Alaska Quote Link to comment
mklotz70 Posted January 24, 2010 Report Share Posted January 24, 2010 It will be great to see this resurrected! :) You might check with datsunaholic to see if there's any chance of an NWDE archive being available. Quote Link to comment
datzenmike Posted January 24, 2010 Report Share Posted January 24, 2010 I love tall trucks. Quote Link to comment
ggzilla Posted January 24, 2010 Report Share Posted January 24, 2010 The NWDE forum and photo archive is here: http://ddgonzal.members.winisp.net/nwde Quote Link to comment
AtomChurch Posted January 24, 2010 Report Share Posted January 24, 2010 More inspiration! Quote Link to comment
garryk6 Posted January 25, 2010 Author Report Share Posted January 25, 2010 Thanks Guys!!! Atomchurch- what do you have under that 521?? Well as I was gathering all the pieces parts up, and trying to do it for as cheaply as possible, I started by tearing apart the Scout to see if I could get anything for the Scout Parts. It came with the full top and a half-cab, but the body needed lots of work... So the Scout lost it's body, and I got $300 for all the body stuff, and I rolled the chassis into the garage... This is after I stripped and painted the frame, and cleaned up the Chevy Engine, trans and Transfer case. So as I was working on this, I get a call from my brother in Kodiak Alaska that our dads boat engine had fried, and that the engine was not worth rebuilding, and that they were looking for a Chevy 250 I-6.... So out came the I-6 and it got cleaned up and crated up to be shipped to ALaska.. So now I have a chassis without a body or an Engine, and as I inspect the axles, I run across a guy that has a set of axles out from under a Datsun 620 4x4... I go to Seattle and pick them up, and get them home, and the rear under the chassis, and when I try to put the front under, I find that the frame and springs are too wide for the steering to work correctly, and I had alread sold the axles from the scout, so now the progress is really going backwards. More Later... Garry in Alaska Quote Link to comment
garryk6 Posted January 25, 2010 Author Report Share Posted January 25, 2010 So now I am looking for an engine and axles, when I run across a 1977 Chevy PU in the Olympia, WA area on e-bay for $167.00. I bd on it and win... Drive to Olympia, and start winching it onto my trailer, and snapp the cable on my come-along... So I end up blocking the rear tires, and pushing the trailer under the truck to get it home. Got it to my dads farm (while he was in Arizona) so had to get it stripped, sold off and gone before he and my mom got home :unsure: ;) SO started tearing it apart to see waht I could use, and the axles were Dana 44 Front and Chevy 12bolt rear, so THose immediately got pulled, and I posted all the parts for the truck on line. Sold the T350 and transfercase for $150, sold the rear driveline for $50, sold the doors for $35 apiece, the seat and dash for $20, the bumpers for $15, and I traded the front springs and some other misc parts for a portable 2000# winch!! And finally sold the front-clip for $200. Cut up the bed and frame and used the winch to drag it all up on the trailer to be taken to the scrap metal dealer. The 350ci engine had a rod dropped out the bottom of the pan, so I just unbolted a few parts for trading stock, and scrapped the rest. Oh and the Tires were brand new 235-75-15 wildcat AT tires that ended up on my dads Cherokee, and I put his old tires on the the old rims for "rollers" for the axles. SO then the Chevy Axles went under the chassis, with the rollers, and then the Dana 30 620 axle went to a Jeep guy for his jeepster. THis is the chassis with the rollers and Chevy axles under the springs (SPOA) and the bad 350 that I am stripping for good parts. All for this post, Garry in Alaska Quote Link to comment
garryk6 Posted January 25, 2010 Author Report Share Posted January 25, 2010 Well, I am still in need of a engine at this time, and along comes a guy at work who hears I am a wrench turner and do a little body and paint work on the side, so He tells me of his 1972 Chevy Nove that he just scored from a "little old lady" in Manchester, WA, and wants me to remove the 307 Chevy and T-350 trans, and strip and prep the engine bay and paint it Black, since he had already ordered a full roller 383 SBC for the Nova. In exchange I could have the entire 307 Aircleaner to oil pan with manifolds exhaust and everything, and he even had a NOS oil pan and misc engine sheetmetal for the 307. So after a weeks and one weekend the nova was back to him minus a heart, and I had a 307 on the engine stand to prep for the Monster Datsun. So then I pulled off every thing and resealed the 307, since I had driven the Nova onto my car trailer, and then off at my house I know I had a driver of a motor. Then I really cleaned it well, and even ground and sanded a few spots, and primed it with DP-40 primer sealer, and then painted it with Acrylic Urethane Metalic Blue that I had left over from another project. And this is some of the things I intend on doing to "camoflage" the engine as a "datsun" engine... Here is a mock-up for the "DATSUN 1200 V-8" But now I also have the 35" tires that were on the scout rims, and only the rollers for the Chevy Axles, so again on Craigs List, I find a guy in Seattle that has a set of Chevy Ralleys with worn 31's for $65, so a ferry trip later I have the ralleys for the 35's So with the 35's and the Chevy Axles, here is the chassis minus the engine and body with a bunch of #$% on the back... See how it looks next to my old K2500 Suburban... Well have to sign off for now, since I have to run off to church, I'll try to post more later! Garry in Alaska Quote Link to comment
garryk6 Posted January 25, 2010 Author Report Share Posted January 25, 2010 Well as I was gathering all these parts, I ran into another Datsun nut like myself, only a few miles away that had 5 320's and a bunch of parts. So I went over to his place, and he came to see the project, and I mentioned that with me being 6'4", I wish that I could find an NL 320 body to use instead of the L. A few days later I got a call, and he said that he decided that he wasn't going to mess with his old non-running NL, and though it was a little beat up, if He could keep the chassis for his L320 projects, then I could have the Body. Plus I had a few other L320 parts that would help him out, and I did some welding on the body of his running NL320 so that he could get it ready to sell, so Now I had to get the NL body off the NL chassis... For those who followed my resto-NL on NWDE or Classic Datsun Pickups at yahoo, then this is old hat. I hope to soon put up those pics and that story... So here are the pics the day I rolled the NL320 into the garage to pull the body off the chassis. Front Engine bay Drivers front quarter http://i33.photobucket.com/albums/d92/garryk6/Bodydonor13.jpg Drivers Rear Quarter munched and rusted Hammered and rusted BEAT bed Original Paint for the most part, what was left of it... Rear Quarter View Tailgate and missing bumper, and beat lights... Rusted floorboards and toasted interior Very Rough, yet very original interior Passenger side better, but not completely straight Rest of Passengers side Hope these tickle your creative side like they did mine, and since the NL was so rough I didn't feel so bad "hacking" it up to make the Monster Datsun... Garry in Alaska Quote Link to comment
72240z Posted January 25, 2010 Report Share Posted January 25, 2010 Damn, looking good. I'll be watching this thread very closely ;) Quote Link to comment
garryk6 Posted January 25, 2010 Author Report Share Posted January 25, 2010 So now it was time to lift off the body. I usually do this on an NL, by jacking up the body off the frame in the back and then rigging a suport under the very rear most part of the body, below the tailgate, but a bit forward. This time I used a couple small drums and a 4x6. You can see the holding bolt for the spare tire carrier hanging from the bottom of the bed. Then I use a cherry picker to lift at the center of the front of the truck body, and i usually put some wood bracing to the radiator support under the hood plate and inner fender panels, then use a strap to the cherry picker, then run a long steel brace across, under the cab area and support it on either side. And here is the NL flying high without a chassis... As you can see I have some rust in the cab to attend to as well as other places... And here is a shot of the NL airborne and the 307 painted up and wanting to be in there... Next thing I did was some minor surgery, by unbolting the fenders, and then cutting the inner fender panels mid way back, since I will heve to extend the nose approximately 6-8 inches, but I have 2 hoods, and 4 fenders to do the extensions and my attempt will be to make it look like Datsun had made it factory.... We'll see when I get to work on it again... And here is the 307 between the fender panels on the engine stand... And here is where it basically is at now... Body literally sitting on the frame, and awaiting proper mounting, if I can ever get it to where I am to start working on it again... Note the 4x6 that the body is sitting on where the scout frame makes the large dip. The rear of the body in the bed area sits flush on the flat parts of the rear frame. Sitting on 35's with the SPOA, it will still roll through a standard height garage door, though with the 35's vice the rollers, it makes it very wide, and takes up alot more room. Soo how it sits in comparison to a Honda Minivan :D Unfortunately to keep the body low, and to fit the shifters in the cab, and to keep the stretching of the nose to a minimum I had to remove a fair bit of the firewall, and will ahve to work some sheet metal magic to get it all back to a point where it is good! The other parts that I have scrounged up include a F250 Power steering box to work a crossover steering set-up, vice the funky chevy steering set-up. A Ford Ranger Tilt steering column with short shaft and rag/u-joints. I bought a full set of seats out of a 2005 Ford Mustang Convertable that were Charcoal Black leather for $50 at a garage sale in perfect shape!!! Then at work one of the guys had a 1999 Mustang Convertable that had tan leather interior and he desparately wanted the Charcoal Black, so I told him that I would sell him the Black set for $225, and he would have to give me his old seats, so he showed up the very next day, and we swaped out his 6-way power leather seats for my power leather seats, and now I have the tan seats to go in the Monster Datsun!!! As I mentioned on the NWDE posting , my hope and intention will to be able to one day roll into a car show with the Monster Datsun NL320 pulling a car trailer with my restored NL320 sitting on it. The only thing that I may not keep original on the Restored NL is I really like the look of the Chevy Rally wheels on a NL320, and I now have ralleys on both the monster and the resto NL. Resto-NL loaded up to leave San Diego for WA State... Garry in Alaska 1 Quote Link to comment
]2eDeYe Posted January 25, 2010 Report Share Posted January 25, 2010 Love this build, can't wait to see you get your hands back on it. :D Quote Link to comment
denveratsun Posted January 25, 2010 Report Share Posted January 25, 2010 Yeah! Thats so sweet! Keep it up man! Great job finding deals all over the place and makin it all come together! Quote Link to comment
sick620 Posted January 25, 2010 Report Share Posted January 25, 2010 I really like this thread:) Quote Link to comment
garryk6 Posted October 21, 2013 Author Report Share Posted October 21, 2013 Well for those who have been here a long time, know I moved to Alaska in 2007. About 3 years ago, my folks drove the AL-CAN and brought up my old 66 520. My now 17 YO, learned to drive stick, and to drive on ice in the 520. It needs a new clutch and a heater core to be back on the road. We actually may be returning to WA in the future. We just bought a piece of dirt over in Prosser WA (between Yakima and Tri-cities). So will have to build a house and garage, but it will at least be dry there... My wife and I are tired of the cold and wet, although we have enjoyed Alaska, and it has been a great place to raise our kids. Steroid asked about my swap I did in 2002-2003 taking my 1963 NL body and placing it on an original unmolested 1963 L chassis. As the NL's chassis had been hacked up with 1960's toyota corona running gear... So I'll try to post up some pics soon... have to upload them to photobucket first. Till then here are a few non-datsun pics of what I've been doing for the past few years. My 2000 Ford Excursion and a Whipple under the hood on a 6.8L V-10 My Excursion and my fishing Boat And the family Camper with ATV's in tow. 2002 F350 CCSB 5.4 V-8 6-spd man 4x4 and 1966 Avion Truck Camper And a teaser... My 1966 520 in 2003 and the 1963 NL320 just after I set it down on the L chassis in San Diego, CA Me and my son fishing around Kodiak, AK After a successful day of fishing!! And finally my brother with the Big One that did not get away! 6 ft 4 inches long and about 225 lbs of Halibut!!! Enjoy! Garry in Kodiak, AK 1 Quote Link to comment
bananahamuck Posted October 22, 2013 Report Share Posted October 22, 2013 Welcome back, the track width on the first NL ( very first post) isn't as wide as i would have thought it would be.. Do you still own the tan one?Oh it will be dry alright,, :D ,, I don't think i could ever live in the Prosser/ tri cities area but, someday there should be an overnight meet/bbq in the tri-cities it is central to alot of members. Quote Link to comment
garryk6 Posted October 22, 2013 Author Report Share Posted October 22, 2013 Welcome back, the track width on the first NL ( very first post) isn't as wide as i would have thought it would be.. Do you still own the tan one? Oh it will be dry alright,, :D ,, I don't think i could ever live in the Prosser/ tri cities area but, someday there should be an overnight meet/bbq in the tri-cities it is central to alot of members. I still own both the 1963 tan NL and the 1964 red NL. The very first NL is a pic I found online. I believe it was on a jeep running gear, but I don't know much about it. My tan one runs and drives but needs brake plumbing finished up, and wiring finished up to be able to be a driver. The monster is along ways from driving....Garry 1 Quote Link to comment
mklotz70 Posted October 22, 2013 Report Share Posted October 22, 2013 Welcome back Garry!! Did you ever get the disc stuff installed? Quote Link to comment
]2eDeYe Posted October 22, 2013 Report Share Posted October 22, 2013 Hiya Garry, welcome back :) Quote Link to comment
garryk6 Posted October 22, 2013 Author Report Share Posted October 22, 2013 Welcome back Garry!! Did you ever get the disc stuff installed? Hiya Garry, welcome back :) Thanks Guys!!! No, joy on the brakes, since the garage has been full of other stuff... My son is taking the 520 to the Auto shop to do the clutch and pull the heater core to see if we can fix it to get heat back. Maybe after that we will tackle the brakes. We'll see... Had our firts hard frost today with black ice everywwhere, so soo driving a 2wd pu may be out when the snow flies... How have you guys been? Garry Quote Link to comment
'70dime Posted October 24, 2013 Report Share Posted October 24, 2013 I want your dads Toyota panel van. Also, very nice projects and can't wait to see the monster rollin. Quote Link to comment
garryk6 Posted October 29, 2013 Author Report Share Posted October 29, 2013 I want your dads Toyota panel van. Also, very nice projects and can't wait to see the monster rollin. Thanks! The van is unfortunately gone now. I remember seeing many of those vans in Japan in the 80's, and 90's that were factory 4x4. I have only seen a few in the states. But always thought it would be cool to do that one up in 4x4 style! Garry Quote Link to comment
Eagle_Adam Posted October 29, 2013 Report Share Posted October 29, 2013 awesome build! Quote Link to comment
garryk6 Posted May 21, 2020 Author Report Share Posted May 21, 2020 Good Evening Datsun Fans!! After many years of living the dream in Alaska, we have returned to Washington State. Now getting settled in a new place. As soon as this governor unlocks the state I plan to start moving my trucks from my dads farm over to the dry side of the state. Then I hope to get a few trucks going again. The projects I need to move are: 1932 Ford model B Pickup restoration project 1948 Chevrolet 5-window Pickup old restoration 1963 Datsun NL320 stock restoration project 1964 Datsun NL320 Project “Monster Datsun” Garry 1 Quote Link to comment
garryk6 Posted May 21, 2020 Author Report Share Posted May 21, 2020 Oh, and the 520 stayed in Alaska but the disc brake parts came with Us to go on the Stock NL 320. 1 Quote Link to comment
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