My Ratsun Datsun 521, now with L-20-B and a five speed

[DanielC]

I have been working on the rusted out floor of Ratsun, and I started a new thread just on what I am doing to replace the floor.

That thread is here.

http://community.ratsun.net/topic/51593-floor-repair/?p=845730

[DanielC]

A few weeks ago, I took the rusty cowl grill from Ratsun, and Dragon, and used electrolysis to remove the rust from them.  On Tuesday Feb 12, 2013 I sandblasted the cowl frames, and then sprayed a wash primer on them.  Today, while spraying DPLF epoxy primer on the new floor pan for Ratsun, I also sprayed DPLF on the cowl grills.

[Juniper11]

Wow if there's anything I learned from cars it's patience. DanielC you are my sensei. 

[DanielC]

"Wow if there's anything I learned from cars it's patience. DanielC you are my sensei. "

 

And I thought I was just spending way too much time getting it done.   Right now, I am spending a lot of time on this.

http://community.ratsun.net/topic/52124-my-dragon-2-datsun-521/

 

And there is this one too.

http://community.ratsun.net/topic/49698-my-dragon-datsun-521/

 

 

[K_trip]

- removed -

[DanielC]

I did more work on Ratsun yesterday.  I got primer and paint on the right inner fender.

 

And I put primer on the bed top on the right side.

[DanielC]

Did more work on Ratsun in the last few days.  On April 1, because the studded snow tire season is over in Oregon, I put these wheels and tires, from Dragon Two on Ratsun, and the studded tires and wheels on Dragon Two.

 

I also took the right fender from dragon two and fitted it on Ratsun.

This is a very nice fender.  It had this rust spot, cleaned off, now,

An antenna hole, I am not sure if I want to put the radio antenna on this side of the truck, or on the drivers side.

It had this dent, just below the "1" in "1600",

and these dents in the front lower corner.

If you look back to the fender test fitted on the truck, you will notice most of the front lower corner dents are already mostly worked out.

 

 

 

[DanielC]

Finally got a chance to work on the fenders I am going to put on Ratsun today.   I stripped the paint off the fenders I chose to put on the truck, down to bare metal, and they got primed with wash rust preventive primer, then epoxy primer, and finally primer-surfacer.  I spent some time sanding the primer-surfacer down today.

Left side.

 

Right side.  I need to sand this side some more.

 

The cab you see the fender mounted on is a spare cab I have.  it needed a little pull to get the right fender to fit.

This is a pull did.

This is how I held the cab

 

And this is how I attached the come-along to the headlight bucket.

These plates go inside the headlight bucket,

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Like this.

 

 

This plate is then bolted to the outside of the bucket

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With this hardware,

 

and pulled like this.

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[DanielC]

After more sanding, and procrastinating, last evening, I did this.

 

And this.

 

[uberkevin]

Dude that looks great!! Wish I had skills like you.

[DanielC]

The angle of the picture may have been used to enhance the good areas, and hide the bad areas.

But thanks!

 

It was 60 degrees last evening, when I was cleaning the spray gun.  the predicted high temp today is about 54 degrees, and 48 degrees on Wednesday.  I am anxious to get these fenders bolted on Ratsun, and then headlights, marker lights, and other front end stuff.

[DanielC]

After waiting a few days, I took the fenders off the cab, and hung them on Ratsun. 

 

I also decided to rearrange two of my other Datsun 521 trucks in the garage.  Although I can fit two 521's in the garage, it is a tight fit, and because a motor home is parked in front of one garage door, I can only open one garage door.  If I back a 521 into the garage, I can get it to the north side of the garage, by turning the truck, and working it back and forth.  If I drive in forward, I have to jack up the rear of the truck, with a floor jack, and just push the rear of the truck in front of the non opening door.

 

The two trucks in the garage were Dragon, and Dragon Two.  Dragon runs, Dragon Two has no engine in it, currently.  I had Dragon Two parked in the open door side of the garage.  If I wanted to work in the garage, I usually backed Dragon Two up a little, to give me room on a work bench.  Or I would push it completely out of the garage.  It also had one tire with an air leak, so before I could move it I had to air up the tire.  One more little problem.  My air compressor quit starting easily, I hope it is just a bad starting capacitor, on the air compressor motor.

 

So I shoved Dragon Two outside to the end of the driveway.  And then I moved a bunch of stuff, that had gathered around, and under Dragon, started it, and drove it out of the garage.  I also moved Ratsun close to the other two, and took some pictures.  Dragon Two is in the background, Dragon is close. 

Ratsun is close in this picture.

This is the rear of all three trucks.

 

I also have this 1969 L-16 521 in a carport, along with yet another 521 frame and bed, shoehorned into a carport.

And finally, this is the cab for the frame and bed in the carport.  The cab sitting on Ratsun is an extra cab.

 

That was Saturday, two day ago that I moved the trucks around. 

 

The good thing about working on a pick up is you have lost of room in the bed to store stuff, as you work on them.  That is also the bad thing about pick ups.  After moving the trucks around, I started to sort stuff, and re organize the whole mess.

[DanielC]

After moving Datsuns around, today, I actually got some useful work done.  I have been straightening an apron, the lower piece that bolts on the core support and the front of the fenders.  I first put a pair of fenders on Dragon Two, in the garage.  The garage is dry, and its roof does not have any leaks, and it rained a lot today.  Then I fitted the apron I was working on Dragon Two.  The contours of the apron did not quite match the bottom of the fenders.  I then test fitted the apron on Ratsun, in a brief period of time between rain showers.

 

The left side.

 

The view from the front.

 

I have two other aprons, that fit better, but need more work to be ready to paint.

 

Some of the bottom bolts on the rear lower corner of the fenders were not starting to thread in.  Because Ratsun is in the carport, with a dirt floor, with today's rain running across it, I did not crawl under Ratsun to get the last few bolts in place.  With the spare cab, sitting on the bed, it also will not fit into the garage.

 

Finally, tonight, I picked through the headlights bucket assemblies I have to get a good pair for Ratsun.  Tomorrow, more looking for the front side marker lights, or putting together a set. and hopefully, parts ordered for the air compressor show up.

 

 

 

[DanielC]

More work on Ratsun.

I tested the headlights, and put them on the truck.  I used Stainless steel screws.  Hopefully, If I want to remove them, they will not rust in place.

I also found some front side marker lights, and put them on the truck, and I cleaned up a stainless steel trim piece that goes below the grill.

High beam lights

[DanielC]

Blue Lake?

 

OK, it has been a while since I posted anything about Ratsun.  I have been doing little pieces of some work on it, ans time allows.  Summers are my busy time.   I have mentioned it before, but I am on a waterski show team, and we has a series of shows in July. and then most recently, I had to do some repairs on fences.  I board other peoples horses, and sometimes fences get knocked down.

 

Ratsun is being driven around my property, mainly being used as a way to carry all the tools I need to work on fences.

This is what was in the truck, tonight before I unloaded some of it.

 

I also made a new negative battery cable for the truck.

 

I have driven Ratsun about 6 miles, just on my property, mostly in first gear.  Some of the work I have been doing is getting a front apron mounted and fitted on the truck.  I also did some work on the two main bumper brackets, and fitting the front bumper.

This is the middle of the front bumper.

 

This is the right of the front bumper.

 

 

And this is the problem, the bumper fit on the left side.

[mrbigtanker]

Your brackets might just need to be persuaded if you know what i mean.Also keep in mind that when you put the side mounts on"correctly" that might be what you need to shift the bumper over.

[mklotz70]

Looks like there's a ding in the last pic. For a ding that deep and hard on a compound curve like that, it had to have been significant.  I'll bet just that side of the bumper is bent.  Everything else looks to fit nicely.

 

Look for a "bow" in the bumper at the curve under the blinker.  If you measure the gap on the backside between the to edge of the bumper and the bottom on both sides and compare, I would expect that the driver's side is spread further apart.  If it is, maybe it can get squeezed back down while the end is pulled out.

[DanielC]

on this page:

Front bumper fitting.
Painted front apron.
Found broken timing chain guide in engine
Made battery hold down “J” bolts
Added Ratsun to my insurance, got it registered with the state
Test drive down the road, and back. All four gears.
Steering wheel small part problems
More short trips. Temp gauge issue, brakes adjusted. Aklignment adjusted at Gladstone Nissan, extra keys made.
Checked speedometer with GPS, it is reading too fast. Checked fluids
Flushed and filled cooling system, put new tires and wheels on front.
Went to Datsun meet at Blue Lake
Jump starting batteries on big diesel Ford pickup.

 

Thanks for the advise on the bumper, Mike, and Big.

 

I will check the bumper width, and see what I find.  Even if it matches the right side, squeezing it a little closer should force the left tip of the bumper out.   I could also gain something by tweaking the main bumper brackets.

I have two sets of the side bumper brackets.  Both sets are bend, and i only have the rubber bumpers for one set, that I have found.  more sets may be around here, somewhere.  I am not real excited about using the side bumper brackets to force the bumper in to the right position to equalize the gaps, because the end result my be the bumper pushing in the thin sheet metal of the apron.

 

I have not ruled out the possibility that the cab is not on the frame centered, to possibly the frame is bent slightly.

[DanielC]

On Monday, Aug 4, I painted the apron that I am going to use on Ratsun.

 

Ratsun had a unknown rattle, coming from the front of the engine for a while.  It would go away at higher revs, but it still was causing some concern.  Yesterday, Tuesday, I took the timing chain cover off the engine, after removing the radiator, and other stuff in the way, and found part of the straight timing chain guide broken off.

 

And also on Tuesday, I made some bolts to hold the battery hold down on the battery.  I took some 3/8 round steel, and old spike, actually, bent a hook in it, and welded it to a piece of 5/16 all thread.  I did that three times, one of the hold down bolts I cut off too short, and had to redo it.

 

Today, I got off the phone with my insurance agent, and I am in the process of waiting for an insurance cars to be E-mailed to me. so I can get Ratsun registered, and can legally drive it.

 

Went to LO DMV, Ratsun is registered.

[Dime Dave]

 

Ratsun had a unknown rattle, coming from the front of the engine for a while.  It would go away at higher revs, but it still was causing some concern.  Yesterday, Tuesday, I took the timing chain cover off the engine, after removing the radiator, and other stuff in the way, and found part of the straight timing chain guide broken off.

 

 

 

Check that the T-stat housing bolt that goes into the head behind the guide is not too long. If the bolt too long it will contact the guide and actually force it out of position and hard against the chain and gear. This could be part of your problem with the guide breaking. Also check the chain for excess wear, another potential cause for the damage.

[DanielC]

Dave,

  Thank you!

[Phixius]

had that problem on a friends 620...

 

 

[DanielC]

12:40 PM, first drive down the road and back, and all four gears.  WOO HOO!

[wayno]

It's always great when you can drive them legally, but don't get carried away, 4th gear on the first run, well I don't know, you sure it is safe?  :lol:  :lol:  :lol:  :lol:

[DanielC]

"you sure it is safe?  :lol:  :lol:  :lol:  :lol:"

 

No, I am not.   But Ratsun has been used on my ranch to haul wood, hold fence repair tools, tow boats and other things around my property, at least since August 2012.   The first test was just down the road about 7 tenths of a mile total.  There is a big dip in the road, just south of my house, and it is easy to get into fourth, while only going 35 or 40 MPH.

 

Last year, I got a new steering wheel for Ratsun.  I need some parts for it, because it is a different parts holding the horn bar on the wheel.

This is a picture of the new wheel.

These are the parts I have, and I am missing some.

This is the new style horn bar.

 

And for reference, here is a picture of the old style wheel.

 

Tonight I took as five mile run to a local grocery store.  The temperature gauge was a little erratic, but the fuel gauge stayed steady.  When I got home, I took the wire off the temp sender, and used some pliers to squeeze the connector slightly, to make better contact.

 

The steering is a little sensitive, or twitchy.  I need to take the truck somewhere, and get the front end alignment checked.  

 

I need to learn how to drive a manual transmission again. 

 

Last thing I did tonight was drain the oil out of the engine.   Just trying to clean out the engine.  I need to drain the transmission, and rear axle soon, and put new oil in both.