69' 521 Taillights

[brettbyrd]

Bought a 69 521 a few days ago and im doing some quick repairs to get it street legal and ready to drive from Portland, OR to Sacramento, CA on the 3rd of June. I went to take my taillights apart tonight to clean them because they looked like they haven't been touched in decades and came to the realization that I only have brake and turning signal lights and no reverse light. I also came to discover that 3 out of the 4 bulb holders I have are rusted and corroding. Also, my blinkers don't work. Please keep in mind that this is my first "project" truck, I'm not too mechanically savvy outside of oil changes (don't hate, I wasn't taught much of this stuff but I'm REALLY wanting to learn!) My question is this:

 

1. Are these bulb holder clusters (see photo) something that are hard to find or can you pick them up at an auto parts store? If not can anyone tell me (in the most dumbed down version possible please) how to wire new brake/backup/blinker lights and what EXACTLY ill need to do so?

 

PHOTO 1:

 

Thank you for your patience and I apologize for what may seem like a dumb question.

[laotsu]

is the other tail light  still connected? If so you can use that to give you an idear of how to reattach what you have. Vinegar is a great cheap cleaner for electrical stuff get a little bottle of it and a toothbrush and see if you can't scrub some of the corrosion off'n the connections. 521 parts are becoming scarcer and scarcer. you could try to find some bulb holders that fit your tail light pods an rewire those but that is a shot in the dark.

[brettbyrd]

I'd love to hold onto these ones as they fit my truck light lenses but unfortunately with the exception of literally only ONE of them, they ALL look like this and only one works:

 

[wayno]

Baxters and the like sell these bulb holders that will work in a pinch, they are made to go in several different sized holes as they have these spring loaded arms that expand to hold the bulb holder in the hole.

These bulb holders are cheap, that's why I say they will work in a pinch, you will need some wire connectors and crimpers.

The 521 taillight wiring harness is hard to find in good condition when there are 521s in the wrecking yards, when they are not in the wrecking yards, they are impossible to find in any condition.

Unless someone is parting a 521 out, you are going to have to find something temporary like the holders above.

I do have one harness, but it is almost as ugly as yours is.

[brettbyrd]

Thanks @Wayno I'll have to check at Baxters tomorrow for those. Anyway you could walk me through the process of hooking them up once I purchase them?

[wayno]

You will need to take your bulb holders to the parts store and see if you can find something equivalent/same or better, but some new bulbs and wire them properly, meaning brake and turn signals use the bright circuit/filament, while the park lights use the dim circuit/filament.

It's not that hard to do, but I have most the stuff, but it all depends on if you are setting it up temporarily, or just going to use it till it dies, then deal with it again.

I suppose the easiest way is to cut the existing taillight harness and wire it to work, and then use it till you find another 521 taillight harness in good shape.

I can see one issue, these temp bulb holders are not set up with a ground wire, so each bulb holder that you replace will have to have a ground wire added to it, kinda a pain unless done ahead of time, maybe they have ones with a ground wire also.

When are you leaving for CA?

[laotsu]

Horry sheet are you in ruck Chawey! there just happens to be a complete 521 harness for sale. 

http://community.ratsun.net/classifieds/item/277-1970-521-engine-harness-interior-harness-and-rear-harness/

[brettbyrd]

I'm leaving for CA on June 3rd. Looking for something that will last long enough until I can find/afford a proper replacement, I'd just like to make it to California without getting stopped for not having proper lights. I might purchase those bulb holders or something similar and try to splice them to the existing stock harness cause they already have the ground wire attached, I just have to see if the stock one even works.

[brettbyrd]

Well, they all seem to work fine except I have no turn signals. Tested the holders and bulbs and everything works they just don't work when hooked up to the truck.

[brettbyrd]

Fuses are fine.

[laotsu]

break in the harness somewhere between the fusebox and the lamp

[mrbigtanker]

Dude just silicone them in,it will work trust me i know.Put all good bulbs and silicone the housing's and put them with silcone all around,it will last longer then your bulbs.

[brettbyrd]

Have a couple of questions. I was overlooking under the hood today and found a few questionable wires just hanging out by themselves with nowhere to call a home. The guy who owned this truck before me was a bit....off. Can you guys help?

 

First one is hooked up to the alternator, seems to have been cut at some point:

 

Second one was found underneath the previous one which leads me to believe that they need to be connected but I wanted to make sure that was right before I went off and started connecting things I don't know anything about:

 

If they are supposed to be connected, what exactly is there purpose?

[brettbyrd]

Wires are both yellow w/white stripe.

[MikeRL411]

Well, they all seem to work fine except I have no turn signals. Tested the holders and bulbs and everything works they just don't work when hooked up to the truck.

 

 

Temporary but legal.  Roll down the window and use hand signals.  Most stat vehicle codes still require hand signals wit installed electrical signals as an acceptable substitute, that's why you have to demonstrate hand signals as part of the driving test.

[oldskoolvws]

You may wanna consider this as an assembly or just for parts.

 

http://www.ebay.com/itm/DATSUN-521-TAIL-LIGHTS-LAMPS-L-R-/330726757247?pt=Vintage_Car_Truck_Parts_Accessories&hash=item4d00d9d37f&vxp=mtr

[brettbyrd]

Someone had suggested that maybe my flasher or fuses were bad, so I went and bought all new replacements for both and installed them. Once installed, my blinkers worked just fine for literally all of about 5 min or less and then died on me again. No clue what im doing wrong or how to go about fixing them. It's becoming a pain in the butt and a major headache trying to get these things to work. Especially considering I have no idea what I'm doing haha.

[brettbyrd]

Found a couple other things today that worried me. There seems to be two wires missing from behind my cluster in the dash. I don't know what they do or where I'd hook up new wires to so hopefully somebody knows what's missing in these two empty slots:

 

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[brettbyrd]

 

Black wire with the yellow top is missing its home as well.

[mrbigtanker]

Did he after market gauges in the truck

Was there a alarm

Was there a C B in the truck

Was he young did he have wires for a amp or sound system.

 

 

Look around the truck for extra holes under the dash or around that would send some clues as to what was in the truck before.

[Tristin]

This whole thread sounds like you need a Chiltons or similar manual. Flipping through the pages will give you plenty of wiring diagrams to follow and see whats up with your shit. You should be able to pick one up for like $20-$25. 

[DanielC]

Here is a 521 wiring diagram.

 

On a 521 the combo instrument (gauge cluster) uses a ten pin connector, with the pins located in twelve positions, with two missing.  This is normal.

This is what the pins hook up to.

[wayno]

This is starting to sound like a fuse block issue, try doing this, start the truck with the hood up, turn on the turn signal that you seen working before, now get out and go to the fuse block and wiggle each fuse, everytime you wiggle one, check to see if the signal is working, if all the fuses did not get a result, then wiggle all the wires connected to the fuse block starting with the wires closest to the wiper motor.

The reason I say this is because you had turn signals briefly after changing the fuses, and when you changed the fuses, you likely moved something that made them work, well move them around again till they work.

The 521 fuse block is famous for this kind of shit, it drives me crazy, it used to lose the headlight connection everytime I used my brights, so I would have to stop and wiggle the wires till my lights came back on, but half the time my running lights(park lights) would go out while I was trying to get the headlights to work.