Aaron Posted February 4, 2011 Report Share Posted February 4, 2011 Ok so I have been meaning to put this together for a while now, I waiting for parts so here we go. My name is Aaron and I'm new to Datsun's. About a year ago I picked up a '71 521. Stopping for a pit stop on the way home. So I knew it have a few problems brakes where pretty much shot and the engine was in rough shape, and the damn thing had straight pipes which are F'ing loud. Video walk around. I had already put on a new weber 32/36 here. So I started digging in to see what problems I had and found the wiring was just crap. Lights dimmed when you touched the radio. Radio turned off when you hit the lights. No gauge lights period. Some weird generic fuse blocks, and most where just by passed. wire got so hot they just melted. So I yanked it all out and started from scratch. Most of the wiring diagrams out on the net are crap so I put together my own color-coded one and for some reason the alternator is wire wrong in the ones i found. (If someone else needs this I still have it in a editable photoshop file) Laid out on the living room floor to make work easier. New wiring going in. While working on the wiring decided to clean up the head light buckets too since they where out. So I got the wiring all in and working. Next up was the engine and brakes. Engine coming out. Shes out. Time to start the tear down. Quote Link to comment
Aaron Posted February 4, 2011 Author Report Share Posted February 4, 2011 Cleaned up the valve cover. Baking parts in the oven to cure paint. (It's good to be single with working on cars) Parts cleaned up ready to back on. Block cleaned up and painted. Ready to go to the machine shop. Next up was the transmission. God it was dirty. Couple of hours worth of cleaning with little wire brushes. Back from the shop with new syncros and seals. OK got my master cylinder in the mail this week, and worked with getting it in place. Got a master cylinder off of the '78-'79 620. Opened the hole in the firewall about 1/4" in diameter and I had to oval the mounting holes in the cylinder its self to get it to sit flush on the firewall. First problem was the return for the fuel tank breather is angled just under where the new brake lines will be. So I just bent it slightly to run parallel to the brake master and will loop the soft line in front of the new master cylinder. Second problem. The bleeder screws exit towards the drivers side. When both the brake master and the clutch master are in place the bleed screw won't let the clutch master to sit flush on the firewall. I solved this by grinding the bleeder screw down a little Just to show how tight things are. Fitted with ground bleed screw. Got the new hard lines bent and in here. So the old lines for the rear drums are alright so I'll just bend it to work with the new lines. Mounted the new rear proportioning valve to the firewall. All hard lines in. Quote Link to comment
Zeusimo Posted February 4, 2011 Report Share Posted February 4, 2011 How Much Did The Truck Cost You?? :huh: Quote Link to comment
Aaron Posted February 4, 2011 Author Report Share Posted February 4, 2011 Pile of new parts still to go on. Old read shock and their new replacements. New rear shocks installed. Found some used hubs from a 620 for Mikes disk brake setup. One cleaned up, one as i got them. Hubs one cleaned up, masked off and one painted. Hub all painted up. Good as new. New disks installed on hubs. Next, time to get rid of the nasty old drum brakes. New front shocks installed. Have to cut off one of the tabs on the spindle for MIke's disk brackets to clear New bearing spacer from Mike's kit installed. Outer bearing spacer. Mike's bracket Installed. And the hubs and brakes are on. Fitting the brake caliper. Quote Link to comment
Aaron Posted February 4, 2011 Author Report Share Posted February 4, 2011 How Much Did The Truck Cost You?? :huh: Under 2k I think. Bought it last year worked on it a little an just came back to it after Thanksgiving. I probably payed to much for it in hind site, but live and learn. Quote Link to comment
DanielC Posted February 4, 2011 Report Share Posted February 4, 2011 Nice work! Quote Link to comment
Aaron Posted February 4, 2011 Author Report Share Posted February 4, 2011 Since I was fitting the disk behind stock steel rims, I had to do a little grinding to the calipers. Gave me about a 1/4" of clearance behind the rim. Brakes where messy work. So that's where I am today waiting for the head and block to come back from the machine shop. The engine will get put back together and be dropped in hopefully next weekend. And just for shits and giggles. A photo of my currant daily driver. It will be getting tore down next. Quote Link to comment
Aaron Posted February 4, 2011 Author Report Share Posted February 4, 2011 Nice work! Thanks, It's been a lot of hard work and learning along the way. Quote Link to comment
izzo Posted February 4, 2011 Report Share Posted February 4, 2011 Sending a PM, id like that photoshop file of the wiring Quote Link to comment
Wide14u Posted February 4, 2011 Report Share Posted February 4, 2011 your doing a good job keep it up Quote Link to comment
wayno Posted February 4, 2011 Report Share Posted February 4, 2011 :thumbup: Keep it up, when you get going, you really GO.:lol: Quote Link to comment
521 Johnny Posted February 4, 2011 Report Share Posted February 4, 2011 like this clean work! im also interested in the wiring diagram, and what did the whole front brake conversion set you back? Quote Link to comment
Aaron Posted February 4, 2011 Author Report Share Posted February 4, 2011 like this clean work! im also interested in the wiring diagram, and what did the whole front brake conversion set you back? The brakes Mikes kit: $275 Rotors new: $40 Calipers new: $90 620 hubs used: $50 New master cylinder: $65 Proportioning valve: $60 And I had new hard lines and braided steel soft lines made up: $170 Total $725 And that's on the high end I could got done for less with rebuilt calipers and going with cheeper options on the brake lines. Aaron Quote Link to comment
fivetenguy Posted February 4, 2011 Report Share Posted February 4, 2011 Love the 521 and 2002. Great work! Quote Link to comment
DanielC Posted February 4, 2011 Report Share Posted February 4, 2011 Again, really good job on the 521. I also like how you are making everything pretty concise. I can look at the first page of your post, and have a pretty good idea about disk brakes on the front of a 521, but it seems on some of the other posts about this subject you have to wade through 34 pages, with a snippet of something useful every 3 or 4 pages. Quote Link to comment
Aaron Posted February 4, 2011 Author Report Share Posted February 4, 2011 Again, really good job on the 521. I also like how you are making everything pretty concise. I can look at the first page of your post, and have a pretty good idea about disk brakes on the front of a 521, but it seems on some of the other posts about this subject you have to wade through 34 pages, with a snippet of something useful every 3 or 4 pages. Thanks, I know what you mean about the disk brakes took me a while to figure everything out. But after doing it I can say mike has put together a really nice kit and it's really straight foreword once you get all the peices together. The main parts you'll need to source are the rotors & calipers off of a '84 720. Hubs off a 620 for stock rims or if your running bigger rims you can use the 720 hubs. I used a master cylinder off of a '79 620 but others will work just make sure it's a cylinder set up for disk drums if your using the stock rear brakes. The threads on the calipers are different and use banjo bolts so new soft lines are you best bet. A hydraulic shop would be able to make some up for you. The bracket mounts on with three bolts, caliper mounts to bracket with two bolts and the spacers go on with a little heat and slide on. Install your new hubs and your ready to go. Quote Link to comment
Aaron Posted February 4, 2011 Author Report Share Posted February 4, 2011 Also for all that wanted the wiring diagram, I had to redo it. I lost my final copy of it somewhere, but I'll have it done tonight. Will just post a link to download it here instead of emailing it individually. Thanks Aaron Quote Link to comment
Wide14u Posted February 4, 2011 Report Share Posted February 4, 2011 Under 2k I think. Bought it last year worked on it a little an just came back to it after Thanksgiving. I probably payed to much for it in hind site, but live and learn. if your having fun with it you didn't pay too much that's how i feel on it and your doing a kick ass job on it Quote Link to comment
banzai510(hainz) Posted February 4, 2011 Report Share Posted February 4, 2011 if the 521 has no rust $2k is fine and well worth it on the LONG RUN. My 521 is starting to rust from inside out in the doors. that 2002 is bad ass why tear it down look good on photo(they always do) how much for the clutch kit? it say Sachs ,Sach is a german comp but wonder if its just reman jap parts. if rebuil the motor make sure to get the jap made timming set! Quote Link to comment
Aaron Posted February 5, 2011 Author Report Share Posted February 5, 2011 if the 521 has no rust $2k is fine and well worth it on the LONG RUN. My 521 is starting to rust from inside out in the doors. that 2002 is bad ass why tear it down look good on photo(they always do) how much for the clutch kit? it say Sachs ,Sach is a german comp but wonder if its just reman jap parts. if rebuil the motor make sure to get the jap made timming set! The clutch was $95 from rockauto and yeah I think your right that it's just a rebranded japanese clutch. Oh it's got rust and quite a bit of it. The passenger floor is rotting through and the driver side is not far behind. Doors have rust bubbles in the corners and the paint is so thick its starting to crack. The 2002 on the other hand is just wearing out. Engines about had it. It's a survivor and need some attention before it starts going south. It's next in line and will be getting a new under coat, full paint job, suspension upgrade, stage 2 motor with duel sidedrafts, 5 speed and all new or rechromed parts. Quote Link to comment
Jayden71 Posted February 5, 2011 Report Share Posted February 5, 2011 Me Likes!! :cool: Love seein a 521 gettin all the love. :thumbup: Quote Link to comment
Aaron Posted February 5, 2011 Author Report Share Posted February 5, 2011 Ok the wiring pdfs for the 521 color coded. Links below: Lower res file for those with slower Internet (13mb) https://files.me.com...ydesign1/tb5wr4 Hi res file for blowing up to poster size while working in the garage (34mb) https://files.me.com...ydesign1/375f0f Have fun Aaron 1 Quote Link to comment
izzo Posted February 5, 2011 Report Share Posted February 5, 2011 Saved em both, thank you! I already have a TON of pdfs of wiring diagrams up to 80ish, just not in color like this, so much easier to follow like this Quote Link to comment
DanielC Posted February 5, 2011 Report Share Posted February 5, 2011 Thank You!!!!! That was the best 40 seconds I spent downloading something. Quote Link to comment
WAGON JON Posted February 6, 2011 Report Share Posted February 6, 2011 Wow! Nice work! Quote Link to comment
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