Kyle's 521 build

[thisismatt]

this is the other problem ive been having with the rear brakes, the adjuster is blocked by some suspension bits as the leaf springs are below the axle. I cant get a good angle with the screw driver to turn the wheel. so I may end up having to remove the springs, unless someone knows a trick?

Use a right-angle attachment, use a screwdriver bit in a 1/4" socket (or one of a million gearwrench sets that has the little ratchet with screwdriver bits), use an offset screwdriver (http://www.sears.com/shc/s/p_10153_12605_00941315000P?prdNo=1&blockNo=1&blockType=G1)

[Norman521]

Use a right-angle attachment, use a screwdriver bit in a 1/4" socket (or one of a million gearwrench sets that has the little ratchet with screwdriver bits), use an offset screwdriver (http://www.sears.com...1&blockType=G1)

 

I feel like I have one somewhere, but i cant find it, some people were telling me to just bend up a cheapie flathead. sounds like the way to go.

[Norman521]

UPDATE;

 

so, we finally got around to lowering the front a bit. Before this truck i had never herd of torsion bars, so that was interesting. Sure made it easy tho! all you have to do is re-index the bar and Bam! Now the back looks too high lol. ill probably get some blocks in the neer future.

 

 

also did some painting. I removed a few rust spots on the front and did a little bondo work. Tried to straighten out some of the chrome trim on the front. and painted the letters on the tailgate.

 

 

 

I also ordered a 4" peep mirror that should be showing up any day now, i figure theres no sense in drilling holes in my door if i can avoid it.

[Laecaon]

Had some fun over the week...

 

Here is the old L16 coming out:

 

Paint!

 

Motor mostly assembled going in, or so we thought...

And then we dropped the camera to actually get it in.

 

Then one of the Headbolts wouldnt torque down:

 

Then we tapped the hole for a Heli-Coil:

 

Then the head went on and we did some other things like solder the radiator. His truck never had a thermostat in it... That was fixed.

 

We also painted the hood:

 

Engine bay pic when its not so cold, and maybe during the day or something. The truck is going to come back soon for a valve adjust and to double check the torque on the headbolts since there is a very minor leak out of the headgasket.

 

Well this was a frustrating install. But the new motor runs alot smoother. And seems alot more consistent through the RPM range.

[mklotz70]

Awesome touch putting it under the hood! Very sweet :)

[Laecaon]

I put the oil pump drive in a tooth retarded. Did that on accident cuz I thought it was at tdc but was off 5 degrees. So instead of dropping it I modifies the dizzy plate for alot more advance. With the 8mm upside down fully advance now the main adjuster is at mid. So I was happy. Should have taken a picture... Already had to modify it before as the matchbox was missing its pedastal. So we modified the plate to fit the L16 pedastal. Go dremel!

[Laecaon]

The PO had installed an aftermarket water temp guage that never worked. The original temp sender wire was hidden, found it and put a new connecter on it. Surprise surprise the stock guage works just fine. With the thermostat in the guage reads just above midway. Yay.

[Norman521]

Update: Exhaust manifold gasket leaked because of a sheered manifold bolt. overheated on the freeway and blew a head-gasket YAY! we couldn't get the stud out, just ended up sheering it flush with the head, so we just rebuilt the original head. Got that all done stripped another head bolt, Heli-coiled it, put everything back together. Now the battery is dead / not charging. New battery and voltage regulator, fixed all the coolant leaks. Now it works just great! PHEW!!

 

its been a seriously un-fun couple of weekends...

 

the good news? its that much closer to Canby ready!!

[Laecaon]

You should post a picture of your engine bay; I think I said I would, but you own the truck :lol:

 

 

Our next project on the truck should be the rear brakes.

-PO cut the parking brake cable that ran between the brakes,

-Cant figure out how to get the drums off on the rear (no bolt holes on drum surface, needs PB blaster and BFH)

-Probably just need to fix the adjusters (already broke a screwdriver trying to spin the adjuster...) but wont know until the drums are off

[bananahamuck]

I pretty sure you can still buy the adjusters from rock auto . Cheap

[Norman521]

Got some Chevy rally wheels on craigslist. they were advertised for $30 Laecaon and I went to get them and it turned out the guy used to own a 521 and a 510! so he gave us a deal $20 for the set of 5 and 4 beauty rings!

[Norman521]

also he threw in a clutch alignment tool =)

[Farmer Joe]

i look forward to the rallys on this..

 

are you going to alter the ride height? i didnt read all the thread so im unsure..

[Norman521]

I have lowered it a bit, but I may take it back up. Ideally Ill lower it at some point but that would probably involve stretching the tires and buying some blocks, and im too poor right now to mess with that.

[xxmass]

need to see pics of them rims mounted with specs of your suspension height and your choice of tire size.

 

[Laecaon]

Still no tires for the rims. Truck is his daily. Had to get a new radiator, old one cracked from over heating a few times. One day he will get tires, but not the highest priority.

[Laecaon]

So we were at the JY and found some seats in a 620 standard cab, figured if they fit in there they will fit in the 521. It also happened to be 20% of seats...

 

Ok so these are not the best looking seats, but compared to the bench he had, these dont dig into your back, you dont bounce up and down, and now there is more room in the cab.

 

 

No idea what these seats are out of, no headrest. Obviously a 2dr as the passenger seat has a lever for people in the back to recline the seat.

[Norman521]

more oics

 

 

I also picked up a new steering wheel at the junk yard.

 

 

and i realized i dont have many pics of the motor, so here it is.

 

 

[Norman521]

Rebuilt the carb today because I was getting 16 MPG. and found a Cheerios box gasket, another hand made gasket (made of real gasket paper, tho not very well) Missing washers on the power valve and float assembly, float level set wrong, primary and secondary air jets were on the wrong sides, and a little rust in the float bowl.

 

Needless to say it runs better now, starts withought choke or pumping the gas, runs smoother, idles lower, doesnt diesel as much, and less hessitation.

 

I also filled the tank and took a pic of the odometer, so soon enough ill know if I fixed the economy aswell.

 

Next on the list is finish getting those Chevy ralleys de-rusted and painted. and do a bit of dash work.

 

Im also thinking paint schemes, any ideas? maybe two tone blue and white with gold wheels? that would match the engine bay anyway.

[Norman521]

the cheerios gasket ... looks like it got pretty hot

 

 

This is what I was thinking in terms of paint, or maybe metallic dark green?

 

I meant to make it a bit darker, but im not very good at Photoshop lol

[Norman521]

also, If your doing a Weber 32/36 rebuild, I found this 4 video series on youtube that was super helpful. Looks like it was made by a Datsun guy too!

 

[Laecaon]

Yea, that is a klotz video. He lives in Gresham.

[mklotz70]

Thanks :)

 

One of these days, when I get another weber and another kit, I'll see about redoing the vid with an "over the bench" camera angle. I did that carb several years ago.

 

I think the links pop up in the siggy. I just put up about 20 vids on rebuilding the kingpins and will be adding more in the next week if that's something else you need to do to your rig.

 

 

[Norman521]

here's ma wheels =)

 

[mrbigtanker]

Wow good looking truck keep up the good work.Whats the size of those wheels they look like 8",i could be wrong from this angle.