New to Datsuns

[Lowandslow]

Whoa, a dually?! Never seen one of these!! My next plans on the exterior of the truck is removing the fender antenna, changing the mirrors, replacing the busted taillight and lowering it.

[wayno]

Whoa, a dually?! Never seen one of these!! My next plans on the exterior of the truck is removing the fender antenna, changing the mirrors, replacing the busted taillight and lowering it.

 

It's not a stock dually, I made this truck out of several trucks, the dually fenders are aftermarket toyota fenders, the kingcab cab is a 1980, the front half of the frame is a 1982 720 diesel frame, the back half is the 1980 frame, the long box was a 1981, and it was real ugly, but when I welded the frames together, i measured the early long box and went from there, big mistake, I should have used a later long box, they are a few inches shorter, but way easier to find in good shape.

So that photo is of my, "1980 datsun kingcab/longbox dually diesel"  :lol:.

Let me know if you have trouble finding the taillight lense, they are not that hard to find around here

The mirrors I have came on my 1980 720, but your mirrors are what almost all the early trucks I see have.

You can find cheap replacement mirrors on ebay, there was only one chrome set on there now, from Mexico.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/DATSUN-Pick-Up-Truck-720-1979-1986-Door-Mirror-RH-LH-Pair-/221177184897?pt=Vintage_Car_Truck_Parts_Accessories&fits=Model%3A720&hash=item337f300281&vxp=mtr

I do have extra driverside chrome mirrors, but have no passenger side mirrors.

How low you looking to go?

[DeviousPsycho620]

Will taillights from a 76 620 fit yours? I happen to have a set i just took off today. Still in pretty good shape.I

[Lowandslow]

That sounds like a lot of work, but it came out really nice. I can't even tell there's 3 different trucks in that one truck!! I have not been able to find any tail lights around my area. They are all the newer style 720. That's the exact style of mirrors I'm looking for!! Thanks!! I'm going to try and find some black ones tho. I'm looking to lower it around 3 inches or so. I'm eventually going to get different rims as well, these rims are too skinny for the rain.

I'm not sure if 620 tail lights will work, I will have to look it up and find out.

[wayno]

620 taillight lenses will not work on a 720, and you need the early style 720 taillight type under the tailgate.

You may not know this, but the 720 came out with two different sized mirrors like mine, my mirrors are the smaller version, not sure about the specific years it came on, but the later versions were noticeably  bigger when side by side.

There is more than 3 trucks there, but there are also a few custom parts, the frame was lengthened 16 inches to allow the kingcab and longbox to be together on the same frame, it also looks better without the canopy, to bad I have no photos of it without the canopy.

[Lowandslow]

I just bought some tail lights on Ebay today so should get them soon!!

That truck just looks all around great tho!! It's cool how they all just fit together.

I have a question about wiring a tach. I have looked at the write ups but I can not find where to hook up the green wire to on the ignition coil. Does anyone have any pictures of the coil with the rpm wire, in my case green, hooked up to the coil?

[ColtonMelson]

You should have a hot wire, ground wire, and the 3rd needs to be on the negative side of the coil. Im not sure of the colors but thats how all my tachs have been hooked up. I would hook it to the negative side of the coil that runs the INTAKE  side. I really want to buy a gauge cluster for my 83 with a tach built in!  It would be a clean stock look and should plug right in to the wire harness.  (any one have a gauge cluster with a tach that would fit an 83'  2 wheeldrive nap z24)       

[ColtonMelson]

620 taillight lenses will not work on a 720, and you need the early style 720 taillight type under the tailgate.

You may not know this, but the 720 came out with two different sized mirrors like mine, my mirrors are the smaller version, not sure about the specific years it came on, but the later versions were noticeably  bigger when side by side.

There is more than 3 trucks there, but there are also a few custom parts, the frame was lengthened 16 inches to allow the kingcab and longbox to be together on the same frame, it also looks better without the canopy, to bad I have no photos of it without the canopy.

I really love this picture!!! This right here, is why people have custom toys!!!

[wayno]

You hook the tach wire to the negative side of the coil as mentioned above, as you only have one coil, there is no confusion.

[Lowandslow]

Okay so I just hooked up the tach and it appears that I was shifting at 3000 RPM's before haha I am now shifting at 5000 and my 0-60 went from 20 seconds to 13 seconds!!

[wayno]

Okay so I just hooked up the tach and it appears that I was shifting at 3000 RPM's before haha I am now shifting at 5000 and my 0-60 went from 20 seconds to 13 seconds!!

 

Now your Low and medium, your going to have to change your user name.  :lol:  :lol:  :lol:

You were shifting like I shift my diesels, now I won't be able to keep up. 

[Lowandslow]

Low and medium?! :rofl: Haha

I feel a lot better about getting on the freeway now, and I'm at 3000 rpm's at 65 mph when I thought the engine was gonna blow at 65 before I had the tach.

It's crazy how "blind" I was to the engine and how high I could actually rev it, thanks a lot for all the help! I'm going to end up keeping this truck now instead of selling it like I was before.

[wayno]

Low and medium?! :rofl: Haha

 

I feel a lot better about getting on the freeway now, and I'm at 3000 rpm's at 65 mph when I thought the engine was gonna blow at 65 before I had the tach.

 

It's crazy how "blind" I was to the engine and how high I could actually rev it, thanks a lot for all the help! I'm going to end up keeping this truck now instead of selling it like I was before.

 

So you used to drive it like a grandpa.  :lol:

These engines last longer if you totally warm them up before driving, and if you daily drive them like grandpa, oh and keep oil and antifreeze in them.

I normally shift at about 4500rpms when I am pushing hard, that last 500rpms isn't worth it, I have more acceleration at 3000 to 4000rpms than I have above 4500rpms in my L20b/LZ23.

[Lowandslow]

Yeah I was driving like a major grandpa :yawn:

I definitely warm up my truck every time I drive it, specially since its pretty cold in the mornings. I'm surprised this engine keeps all of the oil and antifreeze. I changed the oil 2 weeks ago and 4.5 quarts came out.

Now that I got the engine running like I want I am now going to get on the appearance of this truck.
I'm now looking for a front valence and some new rims. :thumbup: :w00t:

[wayno]

Has the valance been cut or damaged because of the tow setup?

You will need to get an early valance, as the later ones are differant, the holes are in differant places depending on type of bumper and grill.

If I were you, I would check the wrecking yards in your area for new 720s in the yards and check for the thinner(2 1/2") front bumpers, I think they look a lot better than the 4 inch thick bumpers, they are kinda rare, but they are around.

I to this day wish I had closed the hood all the way in these photos.

 

You need to find some wheels that accent the truck, but maybe your heading the dark look direction.

[Lowandslow]

I'm not sure if the front valence was cut or not since the tow bar was put there by the PO and is attached to the frame :blush: I have not seen the 2" bumpers but will definitely take a look tomorrow after I sell a camper shell and have the extra money for the truck. As for the rims, I am looking for some deeper older style type rim. My friend had a 620 with what he said were original stock rims and I really liked them.

They were exactly like these!! Kinda deep and 6 lug of course

[Lowandslow]

New question, are all bumpers of any year 720 the compatible with other 720's?

[Alec 720]

New question, are all bumpers of any year 720 the compatible with other 720's?

 

I believe so... but I haven't tested it myself. 

[wayno]

Basically they are, but each type of bumper has it's own mount brackets, so if you buy one, get everything all the way to the frame.

There are different qualities of bumpers also, take your time picking one out.

I look for solid rectangular ones with a hitch hole in the middle, here is mine, it is very heavy.

 

 

 

 

[Lowandslow]

I'm sorry I meant to put in front bumper. I have a back bumper right now. It's the chrome diamond plate design one with a hitch in the middle

[wayno]

Front 720 bumpers are specific to the sheet metal, you can mix and match some of them, but I believe the 1980 is slightly different, something about the mount brackets/sheet metal as I recall, but I could be wrong on this, it's been so long since I messed with 720s as a 720, usually I put a 521 cab on a 720 chassis these days.

[Lowandslow]

I will have to take mine off and see what the difference is then, thanks for the info!! I went in to look at brake pads for the front today and O'reilly's had 2 different designs. 1st design and 2nd design. They ended up ordering both of them for me, but do you guys know what the difference in designs is? Or what it means?

[wayno]

I will have to take mine off and see what the difference is then, thanks for the info!! I went in to look at brake pads for the front today and O'reilly's had 2 different designs. 1st design and 2nd design. They ended up ordering both of them for me, but do you guys know what the difference in designs is? Or what it means?

 

You should be able remove the brake pads without removing the calipers themselves, this is the 620 non vented rotor design, and was used till the vented rotors were implemented in 84ish on the 720s, if you have something different, then it has likely been upgraded.

[Lowandslow]

Alright I will keep that in mind. I just washed my truck so I will have to wait til the driveway dries up. I'm going to do the brakes and the ball joints on the passenger side at the same time. Might as well knock out 2 things at once.

[Lowandslow]

So Oreiley's finally got the brake hardware kit today and got the front brakes done!! It was a lot easier to do than I had imagined. The only thing that went wrong was the old cotter pin broke inside of the pin that holds the pads on. Got it out and all put together! Now on to lowering it and gaining some more knowledge on go-fast parts!