FNG from WV - popping my Datsun cherry

[BlueDat]

well kids looks like I am going to be the proud owner of a 69 521. been doing auto restos for a while now, from freshening up to full bore frame off's. horsetrade stuff around here and there, work on it, trade it off, etc. etc. hell, maybe even DRIVE one!! 

 

trading off a clean C10 drag prepped rolling shell for this patina'd beauty this weekend. plans are to clean and detail, freshen it up, roadworthy resto,drop and drive. 

[MicroMachinery]

Nice! Welcome to the forum  :)

[Eagle_Adam]

pics and plans in the first post!!!!! 

 

 

 

 

welcome to ratsun 

[mrbigtanker]

I wish i could pop your cherry,oh sorry gay tendences running wild,back to the truck welcome aboard it looks to be a very very nice truck for the fixing.Let us know if you need help i will google it for you[JROCK] or if you need anything.Dont go in my thread we call each other names and shit and i get nothing done.Just kidding bro.

 

 

WELCOME TO THE 521 FAMILY THE BEST LOOKING TRUCK ON EARTH.

[mrbigtanker]

By the way dont talk to the 620 guys.hahaha :w00t:

[Eagle_Adam]

By the way dont talk to the 620 guys.hahaha :w00t:

why not?

 

 

 

you talk to me.....  :crying:

[skyblue]

Wow love it! Welcome. And we love pics more than progress. Haha. But seriously looking forward to see what you do with it with your skills.

[BlueDat]

600 mile round trip 16 hours long and she is home. runs, drives, needs brake line or connection fixed but its making noise by itself. original down to the factory bridgestone (made in japan) spare tire! 

 

new windshield, solid floors, only rust hole is at the bottom of the left side tailgate brace. gonna use some metal prep rust remover that leaves a grey galvanic coating and buff the paint out and see what we get. will hammer and dolly the dents out and leave the finish as it sits. pics to come. 

[Eagle_Adam]

nice!!!

 

 

more pics!!

[BlueDat]

more pics will come today. I did some cleaning of the interior and floor, its very solid! the firewall pad looks new. all the glass is perfect, seals are new minus the vent windows but they are only showing age at the bottom where the window glides upon it. doors shut like new, hinge bushings are perfect. it runs but I think there is a serious miss - this old points setup must GO! one way or another. 

 

got all 5 steelies but no center caps. spare tire is original. going to change a valve stem in hopes the tire can be saved, as it fills up but the stem airs out  when the tire is driven over the same spot on the rim. just an aggravation at this point. 

 

PO didnt have keys, so I have to source some locks for the doors or get it keyed by a pro. same goes with the ignition cylinder, its gutted and not on the vehicle, just rigged to plug in and twist with a screwdriver to start it up. unplug to kill. I think there is an issue within that, as it does not "take" but it cranks up and does not notify me that I need to take the key from the "start" position ; I just turn it back to ON ( position the key sits while you are driving) so IGN 2 I would say , and I hear it running. it doesnt "get out of it's own way" when starting. 

 

I do have a Delco 10si alternator with internal regulator providing the charging duties. proof of rewiring jobs are all over the place however it looks like someone knew half way what the hell they were doing at the time. 

 

brakes were "freshened up" supposedly, however the MC might be out of fluid or have a leak somewhere. clutch is fine, gears are OK. hell of a good start for my first datsun! tried buffing some paint out to remove oxidation and its looking decent but reveals more flaws in the paint itself. who knows what happened its its lifetime.

[datzenmike]

Passenger door lock cylinders usually have a number stamped on them. This number can be used to get a key cut. (won't be cheap)

[BlueDat]

Made a dry erase marker compatible wiring schematic for the truck. Now I can make notes as to circuit issues or modified wiring and keep track of what is fixed or bad

[BlueDat]

Is it possible to snap pics direct from iPhone to forum? Would be totally tits!

[hang_510]

 Would be totally tits!

tits?!? :w00t:

 

sweet pick up

[glorydime]

Nice truck!!

[BlueDat]

pic dump! get your towels ready. giving the engine bay some much needed deep cleaning. paint is in great shape! going to do electrical run through this evening. maybe. project ADHD is kicking in full bore!!

 

left side cleaned, right side untouched

 

right side of hood not touched, left, one cleaning session

 

my wiring "note board" feel free to copy all to hell and hang in the garage for reference ( make your own, mine is mine!)

[mrbigtanker]

keep up the good work.

[BlueDat]

looks like I am going to be redoing spade terminal ends, scuffing terminal ends, and finally break out my stash of glass fuses... somewhere... 

[BlueDat]

got it all wired up correct, now it fires up instantly, sound better as well. also got the headlights working, low and high beams, the blower motor runs, wiper motor is DOA but there was a spare thrown in. going to wire the back lights with new trailer style ones that fit the bumper made for the truck, pop some new 1157s up front and see if the parking lights work. going to strip the dash pad today as well, either go sheet metal or cover with something else.  might get to the door panels and re-glue the original material back, if it's not brittle. some heat gun action might be in order. floor is clean and dry now, might mask it off and shoot some heavy duty undercoating on the pans where the paint stops at the floorboards. plan to carpet it later on. just wanting to get this thing running and driving before making upgrayedds. 

[wayno]

got it all wired up correct, now it fires up instantly, sound better as well. also got the headlights working, low and high beams, the blower motor runs, wiper motor is DOA but there was a spare thrown in. going to wire the back lights with new trailer style ones that fit the bumper made for the truck, pop some new 1157s up front and see if the parking lights work. going to strip the dash pad today as well, either go sheet metal or cover with something else.  might get to the door panels and re-glue the original material back, if it's not brittle. some heat gun action might be in order. floor is clean and dry now, might mask it off and shoot some heavy duty undercoating on the pans where the paint stops at the floorboards. plan to carpet it later on. just wanting to get this thing running and driving before making upgrayedds. 

 

You should look at the bottom of the dash top, if it has big triangular holes, then I would not strip it, just smooth it out, and then cover it myself.

There is a guy on here in the 720 section I believe that has modified and then restored his dash using bondo or fiberglass I believe, but I cannot find it, might not be in the 720 section though, I cannot remember where it is.

 

I found it, here is a link.

https://www.google.com/url?q=http://community.ratsun.net/topic/56087-custom-720-dash/&sa=U&ei=uf2IUruDGoWtigK9loCoBw&ved=0CAcQFjAA&client=internal-uds-cse&usg=AFQjCNG0TkieSxnLP_0pDsfZVpq43Tbs_A

[mrbigtanker]

That would be Moises or nis720. You got to smooth out the lifts you might say from it cracking up words and then bond in all the cracks,also you can find the 520 dash pad all the kids are using it's metal top and they paint,me I like the dash pad better,and get some leather and wrap that bad boy.

[wayno]

Here is what the former owner of my 521 work truck did to my dash.

This dash top doesn't have the triangular holes I mentioned.

 

I actually have a 520 dash top now, the one that mrbigtanker mentioned in his post above.

[BlueDat]

I'm going to remove it shortly, hope it doesn't have the holes. if so, might just weld them up, pull some glaze across the top and paint it. if not, I have some 1/8" thick closed cell landau top foam to make a padded dash and matching door panels. thinking maybe doing tweed interior or just a newer vinyl. debating on fixing a bad tire valve stem or putting a tube in since the tire is old but has no road wear, just yard wear from being in grass. treads are perfect. sidewall is splitting from going flat when pressure is applied where the stem is closest to the road. 

[BlueDat]

drilled a bunch of screws out of the front end from being rusted up, mainly the stainless moulding screws and some from the headlight bucket /trim ring mounts, thinking about going composite with BMW's or other quality assemblies; have a few H1 HID kits to use up on it as well. going to wire the tail lights up this evening but plan to do a roll pan or get some new original style rear tails from thailand via ebay or scrounge up some here stateside. pondering my wheel and tire choices depending on theme of the truck. taking care of the rest of the electrical this weekend, hope to get the turns working up front (ground loss from corrosion of metal on body to housing mounts) and figure out if the red plastic pull switch on the dash is for 4 ways or for fog lights ( harness is still taped up at the front end with OG tape from factory and the bullet connectors are there for fogs) and hopefully get it all wired and working. then going after the dome light circuit and changing all the dash lamps to LED. 

 

still have to remove fenders and knock some serious dents out with minimal paint disturbance, and chase a leaky brake line or hose down and just replace it all. drums will be OK for now. 

[DanielC]

The red knob, very desirable is for the four-way flashers.  The turn signal electricity passes through the four way switch, when  the four-ways are off.

There was a factory option fog light on the 521.  The light switch had a twist option, that did not spring back similar to the wiper switch, that turned on the factory fog lights.

The dome light wire should be hot all the time, and the dome light switch grounds the lamp, and it comes on.  The dome light wire goes up inside the windshield pillar, on the drivers side.  There is a connector in the left upper door hinge well, on the cab.

 

I have not heard good things about the quality of the Thailand rear lights.  A common problem with old 521 trucks it the taillight wiring harness grounds to the taillight frame, and the taillight frame grounds to the bed, the bed should ground to the truck frame, and the Frame should ground to the engine.  I have had good luck grounding the taillight frame directly to the trucks frame, and using an extra wire to jump across of the rubber engine mounts.

 

Make sure the cab has a good ground to the engine.  If it does not, cab mounted electrical things will try to ground through the throttle cable, and it will get hot, and melt the outer plastic casing of the throttle cable. this destroys the throttle cable, and locks the throttle in whatever position it was in, when the cable got hot.

 

The original headlight relay is mounted  on the inner fender, by the battery.  It gets headlight power, from the light switch on a red with yellow stripe wire.  This is after the after the headlight power goes through the original fuse box, into the cab, and back out.  An option i did on one of my 521 trucks is to just add one extra relay, triggered by the red with yellow wire, and get headlight power directly from the battery, or starter lug.  more details here, post 33 of this page.

http://community.ratsun.net/topic/30606-my-ratsun-datsun-521/page-2

 

Colored 521 wiring diagram.  A little easier to follow.

 

521 light only wiring diagram, from factory service manual

 

Halfway down this page, you can download the 521 Factory Body and Chassis service manual.

http://www.davidcmurphy.com/olddat/620tech.htm