jayochoa Posted October 19, 2013 Report Share Posted October 19, 2013 Hey guys, My name is Jay and I recently purchased a J15 4 speed '69 521 from Radim. It has been sitting since '86 but started up really nice after he tuned it up. This is not only my first project, but it is also my first car. Anything I do to her will be completely new to me, so I have JiggaBro, Radim, ruckycharms, and decoy12 helping me out with specs and how-to's. These guys are the best friends I could ever ask for and they opened up my eyes to a whole different world. So I have them to thank for the commencement of my first project. This is my truck. My to-do list so far: - Clean gas tank - New gas lines - Make battery holder - New front glass - Door locks - 3in blocks - New shocks all around - New rear brakes - Disk brakes - New master cylinder for disks - Find wheels/tires - See how bad water leaks - Fix floors and possibly roof - Trade 15x12 wheels - Oil change - Coolant - Fix shifter slop as much as possible - Front torsion bars - New end-links - New tie-rod ends - New center link - New pedal rubbers - Polish metals - Do something with rear bumper - Install Home Depot air vent - Install chrome tailgate handles - Door panels - Headliner - Upgrade headlights - Cap off side markers - Install rear view and side mirrors - New exhaust - Undercoating - Sound deadening - Restore bench seat - New seat belts - Install triple gauge - New carpeting - Fix diff. leak - New wiring harness - Paint - Steering wheel ... - Learn to drive manual <_< Any advice/criticism is welcome and greatly appreciated. I'm learning something new every minute of the day and I love it! I'm a girl who loves to take pictures of everything so I promise there will be plenty of updates with pictures :) [We miss you Dawa!] 3 Quote Link to comment
Dattokai Posted October 19, 2013 Report Share Posted October 19, 2013 It almost looks better than mine. 1 Quote Link to comment
dr.feltersnatch Posted October 19, 2013 Report Share Posted October 19, 2013 Welcome to ratsun! Best advice I can give is read everything you can and ask as many questions as you need until you feel comfortable to do it. And try to do at least 1 thing a day no matter how small. If you do that next thing you know you have a lot done. Quote Link to comment
mrbigtanker Posted October 19, 2013 Report Share Posted October 19, 2013 welcome aboard and another 521 saved,good looking out. 1 Quote Link to comment
DanielC Posted October 19, 2013 Report Share Posted October 19, 2013 My advise, go here, http://www.davidcmurphy.com/olddat/620tech.htm Scroll down to "factory service manuals", and down load them. Best done on a computer, not your phone. Yer you sure it is a J-15 engine? these trucks came into the States with a J-13, or the L-16, but it is not impossible somebody did put a J-15 engine in the truck. get is running stock. Get stock brakes working. Adjusted,, and bled properly, drum brakes work. You are still driving a truck, that unloaded, is really light in the rear ens, and you need to give yourself time to stop. Do not be tailgating people. by the way, you have the very coveted red hazard flasher knob! Wayno, on this forum has new windshield gaskets/ or rubber. He has a few left. Looks like a good start on a nice truck! Quote Link to comment
jayochoa Posted October 19, 2013 Author Report Share Posted October 19, 2013 Welcome to ratsun! Best advice I can give is read everything you can and ask as many questions as you need until you feel comfortable to do it. And try to do at least 1 thing a day no matter how small. If you do that next thing you know you have a lot done. Thank you! :) Today I can hopefully finish cleaning the gas tank and put it back on. Quote Link to comment
jayochoa Posted October 19, 2013 Author Report Share Posted October 19, 2013 My advise, go here, http://www.davidcmurphy.com/olddat/620tech.htm Scroll down to "factory service manuals", and down load them. Best done on a computer, not your phone. Yer you sure it is a J-15 engine? these trucks came into the States with a J-13, or the L-16, but it is not impossible somebody did put a J-15 engine in the truck. get is running stock. Get stock brakes working. Adjusted,, and bled properly, drum brakes work. You are still driving a truck, that unloaded, is really light in the rear ens, and you need to give yourself time to stop. Do not be tailgating people. by the way, you have the very coveted red hazard flasher knob! Wayno, on this forum has new windshield gaskets/ or rubber. He has a few left. Looks like a good start on a nice truck! Hi and thank you! It is a J15 but I'm thinking of doing a swap to an L-series motor. I won't tailgate people, that's dangerous! Haha Quote Link to comment
jayochoa Posted October 19, 2013 Author Report Share Posted October 19, 2013 welcome aboard and another 521 saved,good looking out. Thank you :) 1 Quote Link to comment
DanielC Posted October 19, 2013 Report Share Posted October 19, 2013 This is one of my project threads, It started at a 521 I bough for parts, in April of 2011. After doing some evaluation of the engine, it turned out that it became a runner. http://community.ratsun.net/topic/30606-my-ratsun-datsun-521/ It has become my daily driver, I have put 1115 miles on it since August 8, 2013. There is 16 pages of thread, but I cover a lot of the items you are asking about, in your to do list. I am not saying my way is the way to do something, but you cam get many ideas from the thread, Quote Link to comment
datzenmike Posted October 19, 2013 Report Share Posted October 19, 2013 An L521 only made one year... Welcome. That a 510 center grill??? 1 Quote Link to comment
TheRedWrench Posted October 19, 2013 Report Share Posted October 19, 2013 An L521 only made one year... Welcome. That a 510 center grill??? It's actually a one year only grill. There's a couple of one year only parts on her truck. Quote Link to comment
jayochoa Posted October 19, 2013 Author Report Share Posted October 19, 2013 This is one of my project threads, It started at a 521 I bough for parts, in April of 2011. After doing some evaluation of the engine, it turned out that it became a runner. http://community.ratsun.net/topic/30606-my-ratsun-datsun-521/ It has become my daily driver, I have put 1115 miles on it since August 8, 2013. There is 16 pages of thread, but I cover a lot of the items you are asking about, in your to do list. I am not saying my way is the way to do something, but you cam get many ideas from the thread, Wow, thanks!! :) I'll look through that and if I have any questions I'll be sure to ask you Quote Link to comment
Radim Posted October 20, 2013 Report Share Posted October 20, 2013 Need moar low, moar oil cooler, and moar moar. 1 Quote Link to comment
jayochoa Posted October 20, 2013 Author Report Share Posted October 20, 2013 Alright well today I added more things to the "to-do" list. Today consisted of cleaning the gas tanks and replacing fuel neck hose, breather hose, and feed hose. Turns out I need to pull out the sender and clean off all the gunk. Also, I need a new starter. BUT..she turned on and the sound was beautiful!! Fuel neck hose: Put in battery after putting on gas tank: The view from under my 521: Building this toolbox took the most time out of my day -_- Does anyone know where I can get a starter? I can't seem to find one anywhere. :( Quote Link to comment
DanielC Posted October 20, 2013 Report Share Posted October 20, 2013 This forum is a good place to possibly get a starter. You need to find a good auto parts store. I can tell you one in Oregon City, Oregon, but that is a little far from Santa Ana CA. Start with your friendly neighborhood Nissan dealer. Find a shop that rebuilds starters. If no luck, maybe you need to swap in an L-16, 18, 20B engine. you will need to fabricate front engine mounts, and possibly a rear engine/transmission mount. On Ratsun, the rubber fuel filler hose was bad. I was able to find a rubber hose, correct diameter and the previously mentioned good auto parts store. Here is a hint on a good auto parts store. It probably is not a national chain, and if you see lots of spoilers, and fart cannon muffler tips, it already has two strikes against it, but ask anyway. I mounted tha gas tank under the bed of Ratsun, and put the filler neck in too. Then I took a piece of oxy-acetylene welding rod, and made two bends in it so it would go through the center of the filler neck, and the center of the pipe on the gas tank. I then took that wire to a muffler shop, and had then make a piece of steel pipe to match the bends in the wire. when I got this piece of pipe, i just cut it to the proper length, and used two short piece of the rubber hose to join the new pipe to the filler neck, and the gas tank. I think there are more details in my Ratsun thread, closer to the beginning, Quote Link to comment
datzenmike Posted October 20, 2013 Report Share Posted October 20, 2013 This is nice.... Quote Link to comment
TheRedWrench Posted October 20, 2013 Report Share Posted October 20, 2013 No starter? Sounds like its time for a KA swap! Quote Link to comment
jayochoa Posted October 20, 2013 Author Report Share Posted October 20, 2013 This is nice.... That it is :) No starter? Sounds like its time for a KA swap! Mayybbeee... I think I'm leaning more towards L-series though. This forum is a good place to possibly get a starter. You need to find a good auto parts store. I can tell you one in Oregon City, Oregon, but that is a little far from Santa Ana CA. Start with your friendly neighborhood Nissan dealer. Find a shop that rebuilds starters. If no luck, maybe you need to swap in an L-16, 18, 20B engine. you will need to fabricate front engine mounts, and possibly a rear engine/transmission mount. On Ratsun, the rubber fuel filler hose was bad. I was able to find a rubber hose, correct diameter and the previously mentioned good auto parts store. Here is a hint on a good auto parts store. It probably is not a national chain, and if you see lots of spoilers, and fart cannon muffler tips, it already has two strikes against it, but ask anyway. I mounted tha gas tank under the bed of Ratsun, and put the filler neck in too. Then I took a piece of oxy-acetylene welding rod, and made two bends in it so it would go through the center of the filler neck, and the center of the pipe on the gas tank. I then took that wire to a muffler shop, and had then make a piece of steel pipe to match the bends in the wire. when I got this piece of pipe, i just cut it to the proper length, and used two short piece of the rubber hose to join the new pipe to the filler neck, and the gas tank. I think there are more details in my Ratsun thread, closer to the beginning, Hey man thank you. I'll look into to it and I'll update when I have a chance ! 1 Quote Link to comment
TheRedWrench Posted October 20, 2013 Report Share Posted October 20, 2013 Where's the video?!?!?! Quote Link to comment
jayochoa Posted October 20, 2013 Author Report Share Posted October 20, 2013 Where's the video?!?!?! Haha I haven't uploaded it yet. Quote Link to comment
decoy12 Posted October 20, 2013 Report Share Posted October 20, 2013 Aww you guys started without me, but good to see some progress! :) Quote Link to comment
schicksal Posted October 20, 2013 Report Share Posted October 20, 2013 Hey Michael at least you got mentioned in the first post. LOL. Hey guys there is a place on Harbor before you get to Westminster if you are going from my house its called Auto Electric Rebuilders. It's in beetween that shady car dealer and shady motel they do pretty good work and not to expensive. 1 Quote Link to comment
jayochoa Posted October 21, 2013 Author Report Share Posted October 21, 2013 Aww you guys started without me, but good to see some progress! :)Come over when we work on it! Hey Michael at least you got mentioned in the first post. LOL. Hey guys there is a place on Harbor before you get to Westminster if you are going from my house its called Auto Electric Rebuilders. It's in beetween that shady car dealer and shady motel they do pretty good work and not to expensive. Hey I didn't know this was you! Haha THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR ALL THE HELP SO FAR! I really appreciate it :) Quote Link to comment
Radim Posted October 21, 2013 Report Share Posted October 21, 2013 This is nice.... EWW EWW EWW Quote Link to comment
Bentaxlebob Posted October 23, 2013 Report Share Posted October 23, 2013 Nice truck. It is nice to see a "J" series engine. I'd leave it "J" as it is. There are even "A" series ( B210s & 1200s) around, but very seldom if any you see a nice J series motor. 1 Quote Link to comment
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