521 Owners, lend me your dash pictures!!

[Gensaiken]

So, I'm still learning when it comes to 521's.

 

My truck seems to be missing a button or two and I can't find where the light switch is. Plus I have no idea what the missing buttons control...

 

 

SO, I need some clear shots of the dash and surrounding buttons. Did they change the location of the buttons over the years?

 

I found this picture, is this the common factory layout of the buttons??

 

 

 

 

PS: where is the location of the stock speaker(s) in a 521?

 

Thanks :D

[datsunfish]

Looks right to me.Thats where all of mine are.I use a 520 dash but its all the same except my light switch is red.

Looks pretty clean there too btw.

[Gensaiken]

Looks right to me.Thats where all of mine are.I use a 520 dash but its all the same except my light switch is red.

Looks pretty clean there too btw.

 

Yeah, I only hope my truck looks that clean when it is done.

[fisch]

Everything looks groovy to me too! Here is my 71.

 

[/img]

[datsunaholic]

Actually the headlight switch is supposed to be black in the 520. The red knob is for the hazards.

 

The stock speaker location was mounted to the firewall to the right of the heater, behind the package tray for the most part. It was contained in a plastic box enclosure.

[shane_lxi]

^ lol. I have one in my parts truck, I dont think I am going to use it, but I am going to atleast bolt it into the stock location for nostalgia, haha. The whole sound system for the truck is 1 tiny speaker, lol.

[Pacific coast Datsun]

My 71 dash.....

knobs are upper left going clockwise...........

wipers , heater , hazzard , lights.

mine also has the cig. lighter under dash, below the light switch.

[Gensaiken]

Well heres how my buttons go.

 

Clockwise I have: wipers, Fast moving fan, missing button, and pinwheel looking thing

 

 

So did some one just throw on extra random buttons? I have never seen that fast moving fan button on any other 521..

 

 

[Pacific coast Datsun]

Looks like you may be missing the light switch. I have seen 521's with the buttons in different locations before. Ill get a good pic of mine today & post it. Ido have a 67 520 dash & the buttons are in different spots as well...

 

[Gensaiken]

hmm, On a side note what was the glove box made out of on the 520 and 521? Mine seems to be missing... I don't know how it could be missing unless they made it out of that chip board but I figure by 1971 they'd be using plastic or metal?

[datsunaholic]

The glove box was basically a paper-like fiber, though the construction method changed from a molded design early on to a flat, stapled design later. Both rotted out once the windshield started leaking. 520/521s never had plastic or metal gloveboxes. Even the 620 had a fiber (stapled) one through 1979. The 720 was the first truck with a plastic glove box (because it was integral to the passenger-side dash facia, whereas the 620 and 521 still used a metal-framed, padded vinyl dash). Feel fortunate- at least the 520/521 had real hinges on the door. The 620 and later were just a plastic seam that eventually cracks and the door falls off.

 

My '68 520 has the knobs in the normal order, left top is wipers, left bottom is lights, right top is fan, right bottom is choke. I've seen them in different order but that was always because someone put them back in a different way. The graphics on the knobs varies a little over the years, but not much. Some 1972 521s didn't have a choke knob when the electric choke became available (electric chokes were required for emissions compliance, at least in Cali). The Hazard switch was located on a bracket under the dash, along with the cig lighter on a second bracket. On all 520s and MAYBE early 521s the knob for the hazard was red, but by 1970 it was black.

[Gensaiken]

The glove box was basically a paper-like fiber, though the construction method changed from a molded design early on to a flat, stapled design later. Both rotted out once the windshield started leaking. 520/521s never had plastic or metal gloveboxes. Even the 620 had a fiber (stapled) one through 1979. The 720 was the first truck with a plastic glove box (because it was integral to the passenger-side dash facia, whereas the 620 and 521 still used a metal-framed, padded vinyl dash). Feel fortunate- at least the 520/521 had real hinges on the door. The 620 and later were just a plastic seam that eventually cracks and the door falls off.

 

My '68 520 has the knobs in the normal order, left top is wipers, left bottom is lights, right top is fan, right bottom is choke. I've seen them in different order but that was always because someone put them back in a different way. The graphics on the knobs varies a little over the years, but not much. Some 1972 521s didn't have a choke knob when the electric choke became available (electric chokes were required for emissions compliance, at least in Cali). The Hazard switch was located on a bracket under the dash, along with the cig lighter on a second bracket. On all 520s and MAYBE early 521s the knob for the hazard was red, but by 1970 it was black.

 

Well that would explain why I have no glove box.

 

It might be possible that some one put a diffrent button over my light switch..

 

I guess I'll find out when I get all the electricals hooked up.

[Pacific coast Datsun]

Ok heres a better shot of my knobs. I also have a lever that i slide back & forth that controls the hot & cold air coming through the vent. Im guessing it's factory but ive seen many 521's w/ out this lever. Holic...is it factory? ...

[datsunaholic]

I don't think that lever is factory, all the 521s I've seen just had a knob on the heater face that did the same. Looks like something someone constructed so they didn't have to reach under the dash. Plus that's the first time I've ever seen a hazard switch up in the dash (where the choke pull usually sits), even my '72 has it down under the dash. But yours is California...

[dat521gatherer]

as far as the red light switch knob goes they are all with the headlight symbol. many people have/had them on the hazard switch but i've never seen a hazard symbol that was red, they are all light symbols.

 

if you have a red hazard symbol post a pic cause i would love to be proven wrong. i would like for them to exist but they dont.

[dat521gatherer]

this is where the speaker goes.

[dat521gatherer]

dholic or anyone else that know's this, when did the inside of the knobs have the metal liners? early 521 or 520's? and was the symbol"s style changed between the 520 and 521 or did the change's occur during the 521?

[dat521gatherer]

dholic or anyone else that knows this, when did the inside of the knobs have the metal liners? early 521 or 520's? and was the symbols style changed between the 520 and 521 or did the changes occur during the 521? not trying to thread jack you gen just trying to get the facts for us.:)

[Pacific coast Datsun]

I don't think that lever is factory, all the 521s I've seen just had a knob on the heater face that did the same. Looks like something someone constructed so they didn't have to reach under the dash. Plus that's the first time I've ever seen a hazard switch up in the dash (where the choke pull usually sits), even my '72 has it down under the dash. But yours is California...

Ok good to know. Im glad i dont have to bend under the dash :D No choke cable for me,it's electric.

[machowgn]

Hello,

 

this dash looks correct, it's missing the cigarette lighter, and has a manual choke lever. the light switch is located under the wiper switch. I have several of these trucks, as well as a few 620"s, Machowgn.

[datsunaholic]

dholic or anyone else that knows this, when did the inside of the knobs have the metal liners? early 521 or 520's? and was the symbols style changed between the 520 and 521 or did the changes occur during the 521? not trying to thread jack you gen just trying to get the facts for us.:)

 

 

I can't say one way or the other- I know my 1970 521 had the "new" symbols, and my '68 520 has the "old" symbols. Can't say what a '68-69 521 would have had. I've seen them but didn't take note.

 

The red knob always had just a light symbol, but it was the hazard. When the symbols changed the knob got it's own graphic and was molded in black like all the rest, probably in '69 but definitely by 1970. The hazard was pretty much an afterthought on the 520/521 as it was not required equipment except in North America originally.