The Story of my NL320

[garryk6]

Well this is the story of my NL320. In 1999 I was moving back to San Diego, and at the time gas prices had jumped all the way up to $1.77 per gallon. :( (If we only new what it was going to get to...) So I needed to sell my Chevy Z-71 so I could get something that got better mileage. I ended up buying my 66 L520 and I was hooked on the little trucks. I researched and looked for any information that I could get my hands on. I saw a posting in late 1999 from a guy in the Grapevine area of CA that had a 1967 520 and a 1963 NL320 that neither was running, and I corresponded with him via e-mail for awhile, and found out that we were both Submariners. He had only done a few years and in the late 60's and I had been in over 15 years by then. At the tiem he was wanting $800 for the pair. These were the only three pics that I had seen of them.

I had no idea what a NL320 was, but I sure thought that it looked really cute. But at that time I had no way of buying them, and no where to put them.

In 2001 I got an e-mail from the owner, and he asked me if I was still interested. I said that I was, but I still didn't have the money, though I had just bought a house, so I had a little bit of room. And an NL is reletively small. He e-mailed back that If I really wanted them then I could have them, and that I jsut had to come up and get them. Since they were 3+ hours north of San Diego, I asked if he could provide some measurements, since I would be coming up with my 16 foot car trailer, amd would be trying to fit both trucks onto the trailer at one time. He took all the measurements, and I talked a buddy of mine that was interested in the 520 to come along and help load them up and split the gas money to get them, and he could have the 520 and I would keep the 320. Well some of you are thinking that it is impossible to get two Datsun trucks on a 16 foot car trailer, but here is the pics that the impossible was made possible...

First we loaded up the 520 with a come-along and then unbolted the bed, lifted it off, and removed the rear tires, and set the 520 down on the brake drums and rear bumper. Then we pulled the NL320 up on top of the 520 till the bumper was against the back of the cab. Then we strapped everything down, and then put the wheels and tires in the bed of the NL and then put the 520 bed on top of the NL bed with the help of a pair of 2x4s. We then strapped that down some more. We used every strap, comealong, chainfall, rope and bungee that I had in the truck, and then started down the Grapevine and straight though LA on the I-5. All the way to San Diego. Boy did we get some strange looks, but everything rode just fine, and we made it back to San Diego be 2 in the afternoon.

That is the start of this 1963 NL320's restoration...

More to follow...

Garry in Alaska

Edited January 26, 2010 by garryk6

[moparvwfreak]

cool story! and a great Ratsun price too!!! pics are kinda small though. got any bigger pics???

[420n620]

can you resize your pic's, can't see them when there that small

thank you :hmm:

[garryk6]

can you resize your pic's, can't see them when there that small

thank you :hmm:

Well I really wish that I could give larger pics to see, as you should have seen the faces of people as we went through downtown LA on I-5... Priceless...

But I didn't have a digital back then, and the guy who gave them to us, took the pics and e-mailed them to me at my Yahoo adress. They were bigger then, but when Yahoo pics went away, all I could find were the really small thumbnails, so I saved those to my hard drive, just so I wouldn't loose those too...

But here is another teaser, it is what the NL looked like after getting it home, cleaning it up, and after I found and throuhg on a cheap set of slots and worn tires I got for really cheap at a San Diego Pick-your Part...

Enjoy,

Garry in Alaska

Edited January 26, 2010 by garryk6

[AZ_L320]

Ha...ha... :lol:

 

Garry, I remember when you got those trucks!! Way cool

 

Dale - AZ_L320

[garryk6]

Thanks Dale!

I remember when I got it and between your manx/datsun site and classicdatsunpickups and the really old datsun message board, that was all that was available back then.

Datsun-mania has made it to the internet, and it sure has been a great improvement!!!

I just went through and fixed all the pics as best as I could.

For those wondering why this NL only has 4 lugs, somewhere in the 60's to 70's it had been "hotrodded" by replacing the front torsion bars suspension with Toyota Corona front suspension, and rear axle on the NL leaf-springs. The previous owner said it had been his neighbors and had been his pride and joy till he blew up the toyota engine. It then sat in his neighbors yard for years till he and his neighbor came to an agreement and it was to be a father and son project. So they pulled the Corona engine and trans, and picked up a Corolla 2TC with auto trans. Unfortunately he got it all sitting in there and and the valve cover was against the firewall and the fan was in the core support. The trans was supported with a piece of yellow rope and the engine was blocked up with a few 4x4's.

Here is the engine in the engine bay.

Here is the dissaster of the firewall and a toyota Master Cylinder and funky brakets to make it all work. (E-brake was all that worked when I got it...

Here is my poor beat-up VIN plate...

Incidentally the VIN on my "Project Monster Datsun" is identical except that it is a "4" instead of a "3" and there is no "C" at the end. What are the chances of that happening!!!!!Well I'll post more later if I get a chance (gotta get kids in bed...)

Garry in Alaska

[garryk6]

Here is the Toyota Suspension attached to the NL frame...

Here you can see that the Battery tray has been removed and that some other parts of the inner fender panels and firewall have been modified.

This is the 2TC with the fan in the core support and sitting on the frame crossmember (no motor mounts)

And this is the front side of that Toyota Corona suspension

This is an interesting shot, because when we got the truck, there was no steering wheel, so we used vice grips to load up the truck. I found a 240Z wheel and a 520 horn button and they fit... Note that the column is more like a school bus than a datsun, because the column had been cut and angled down to a new hole in the floor to get to the Toyota Steering box that was behind the front axles vice in front like most Datsuns.

Next I hope to get to showing the engine bay and truck after the 2TC and auto was pulled.

While I was looking for what to do with the truck I scored a 1985 Ford Ranger V-6 5 speed with a burnt clutch and a smoking 2.8 V-6 Carb that I got for $50 and stripped it down, sold off the body parts, made a utility trailer from the rear frame and axle and I was heading down the process of going V-6 and 5 speed. I used many of those Ranger parts on both the NL and the L520.

 

Garry in Alaska

[garryk6]

So I got the Ranger and started rebuilding the 2.8 V-6 and gather parts for the transplant. I also started to look for suspension parts to fix the Corona Suspension. Well the V-6 stuff was alot wasier than the suspension parts, but I pulled the 2TC and the Auto and took a look at what I had for an engine bay...

And the core support had seen better days, but wasn't beyond repair.

Without the weight of the engine, I had a "gasser look" going on...

All the door rubber in the cab was shot, and I had the Ranger stuff, so I decided to give it a try...

Guess what!! It worked very nicely, and had a bit left over.

The rear top of the door requires triming the rubber so it bends correctly, and I don't have a pic of that, but it really tightens up those rattley doors, and for me was free, but for those with a "pick-your-part" it should be really cheap, and if you have a L or a 520/521 it should still work for you too.

Garry in Alaska

[420n620]

I tried to resize your pic's but they turned out real grainy, had to get out the magnifiy glass. :rofl: alot worst then the ones you reposted.

you got a cool looking NL, like the Z steering wheel and the slots, goes good with it. Do you know if the clock and radio are stock for the NL ? also where you at in Alaska.

[garryk6]

you got a cool looking NL, like the Z steering wheel and the slots, goes good with it. Do you know if the clock and radio are stock for the NL ? also where you at in Alaska.

Well the NL looks alot different now, as I have done alot to it. I decided to post how

it got to where it is now for all the other guys tolearn from the mistakes that I made...

When I was working on my truck I don't believe that ratsun existed, just the yahoo

group classicdatsunpickups so just had to work by trial error and word of mouth via Classic

Datsun Pickups. They were alot of help and still have quite afew messages, but not as many

now that Ratsun enjoys!!

I still have the Z wheel, though I have a rough 320 wheel I may restore later on down the road...

To my knowledge the clock is factory, but the radio is questionable...

I am in Kodiak, Alaska so transport to the island is expensive to say the least. Plus Ionly have a onecar garage right now, so I have been looking for another house to buy with a shop or bigger garage, but for now I have to be content with what I have. Little lots suck, as there is no room to add-on.... <_<

Thanks for the input!

Garry in Alaska

[garryk6]

Well as I was saying, I had the 2.8 just about fully rebuilt, heads and valve covers, timingcover etc was all back on, basically down to intake and supporting parts and brackets when I saw an listing one e-bay for a 1964 Datsun Pickup at the Motor Transport Museum in Campo California. I lived in South Bay area of San Diego at the time, so I called, and struck a deal for $500 for the little Datsun. They had used it as a "Yard truck" for years, and they had recently had a newer truck donated that actually had a roof and doors....

THe story goes that one of the members at the Museum that lived in Campo had bought the little truck from the original owner and the restored it to the tan exterior and the brown interior when they had a terrible rain and windstorm and a tree blew over ontop of the truck crushing the cab and the front fender.

It was amazing how limited the damage was that the truck still ran and drove like a champ. It shifted through all the gears, and I drove it around the yard before I handed over the money for the title, and drove it onto my car trailer.

BTW that is not me in thepics...

THe bed was surprisingly straight, and a friend of mine there in Chula Vista/Imperial Beach area who daily drove a L320 with a J-1500 bought the bed, had it professionally sand blasted and epoxy primed to replace his rusted bed. It was a creampuff of a L320 bed

THe passengers side was really nice too if the door frame had not been hacksawed off...

I ended up selling off all the good body parts that I could. Here it is still on my trailer, and I had to put a cover over it so the neighbors wouldn't complain since I had 7 vehicles and 3 trailers all in my city lot...

So I needed to deal with it in a hurry, so I had my little boys 7 and 5 at the time come out and help dad start taking everything apart, and storing the good parts out of site in the shed or in the back and side yard till it looked something like....

With a cutting torch and a 7 year old on the garden hose to put out the burning stuff, we peeled the body from the frame to leave a complete rolling L320 chassis

 

 

 

I also saved all the firewall and floorboard pieces and engine bay pieces that I needed to restore the NL enginebay back to original.

So I loaded up the chassis back on the trailer and took it out to the Navy Base to pressure wash the years of stuff from everything.

 

 

 

 

So now I started trying to figure out what the differences were between the NL and the L frames so I could take the two trucks and make them one stock NL again...

More to come, Please let me know what you think...

Garry in Alaska

[]2eDeYe]

Bravo! More please :D

[garryk6]

As I was peeling apart the L320, I did discover an interesting find...

A very NOS or close to NOS spare!!! I think it still has the 1963 Air in it!!! :P

The old body mounts were pretty bad on the L so I figured the ones on the NL were about the same so I started looing for some, and a fellow Datsun Nut in Canada came through for me, and sent me some he made from an old conveyer belt and a tool that he had access to at his work...

OLD

NEW

So after cleaning and preping the L Chassis, I got some DP-80 epoxy primer (PPG) and coated the entire frame and chassis. I regret not doing anything but cleaning the J1300, but I was looking at possible transfer orders within a few months, and needed to get the L and the NL married, and lighten the load I might be moving....

So here is 3 shots of the L chassis all ready and waiting the NL body, note the NL in the garage being prepped for body-frame divorce....

 

 

 

 

Gotta take a break and get kids in bed, hope to post a bit more tonight...

Garry in Alaska

[garryk6]

So I have the chassis ready, and now I need to get the body off the chopped-up chassis.

Fortunately with the engine and trans gone, this step is a little easier...

Before Chassis swap

 

SO with the limited items that I had avaialable, I used a floor jack and some blocking to raise the rear of the body high enough to set the back on an old wrought-iron set of window bars that i made into an "A" frame.

Then I used my $50 cherrypicker to lift the front of the body up so I could block up the rest and roll the frame out.

Body hanging above 320/toyota hybrid chassis.

SO after setting the body down on some steel and blocking, it was time to work the chassis out from under the NL body.

Making sure everything is clear!!

Slooowly moving it out from under the body...

Slow and easy at this stage of the game.... Just me and my 7yo son working together, he would pull the block and reset the block for the tire...

Had to take off the rear slots and put air in the bald skinnies to clear the body and not have to go to high...

And the DAT-TOY mess is GONE!!! Yay!!! :D

Anyone ever seen a Flying NL?? Or a NL Hovercraft... :P

I know it doesn;t look too stable, but it really was, and I kept all the kids and family out of the garage until I had the body back on a frame...

And here are some better shots of the mods done to put the Toyota suspension under the NL...

 

 

It only sat here for a day with a tarp over it, and I had the few pieces off I wanted, including the piece of frame with the VIN, just incase anyone ever asked... Then the rest went to the scrap metal dumpster at work except for the Axle I got $10 for at my yard sale and the slots I traded to another San Diego datsun guy for some other parts I was needing. He wanted the slots for his roadster.

And here is the empty cab. I decided while I had all that room in the engine bay and the firewall to take are of all the hacking that had been done by the guy who put all the toy stuff in. All I had was the Oxy/Acetylene, but my dad had taught me body work in High School the old fashion way, including welding, brazing a little bit of lead work an lots of heat shrinking and absolutely as minimal filler as possible, so I started working the firewall and engine bay.

I'll start those pics tomorrow, time for bed...

Garry in Alaska

[Jester]

Your going to leave us hanging right there!?!?!?!?!

 

Great project. Look forward to updates as they happen.

[]2eDeYe]

Great project. Look forward to updates as they happen.

 

 

Haha, I think this one has been finished for a while :D