Bfloyd Posted January 4, 2015 Report Share Posted January 4, 2015 Hey guys, my name is Ben. I've been into the offroad scene for about 16 years. I've owned Jeeps, Suzukis and for the last several years I've been a diehard toyota mini truck owner. I love offroading but getting a little burnt out on it honestly. I'm selling my built mini truck and have a 521 lined up to buy once it's sold. I've been lurking on this site for a little while, looking at build etc. I was hoping to get some advice on buying my first Datsun...what to look out for, common issues and what not. Any info would be greatly appreciated. I'm looking forward to a new project! 2 Quote Link to comment
datzenmike Posted January 4, 2015 Report Share Posted January 4, 2015 Hi Ben and welcome to Ratsun. Have a look through many of our members build threads in the Projects and the 521 forums. Some questions you may have are easily found by typing in a query into the Search engine top right of every page. Be sure to post some pictures when you get her and start a project thread of your own. I find they are self energizing and more work in done when you post about it. 2 Quote Link to comment
Charlie69 Posted January 5, 2015 Report Share Posted January 5, 2015 Welcome. Street use, daily driver? 1970 and up 521 have the l16 in them. Earlier have the J13. I believe 1972 had 3 point seat belts (shoulder strap). look for rust and check the frame for rust. a member in the Eastern US just replaced the back section of his frame. I believe Wayno helped him out with the replacement frame section. Quote Link to comment
Bfloyd Posted January 5, 2015 Author Report Share Posted January 5, 2015 The one I'm looking at is a '72. It's got an L20b in it. It will never be a show truck. I like the old, tattered, well worn look. It will be driven quite a bit. 3 Quote Link to comment
mrbigtanker Posted January 5, 2015 Report Share Posted January 5, 2015 Ben hello and welcome aboard. First off you will own the finest mini truck on the planet, second as for what to look for, you seem like a gear head so the obvious first off. For me the trucks are simple but that one you talk about has a L20 so its been swapped in there as they come with a l16 motor. The things i would look at first is how complete is it and what kind of shape other then body. Glass is getting a little harder to find and grill and the taillights if thats important to you and its not all wired up like shit. Do you have pictures of said truck also what are they asking for it. Hope some of this helps. 1 Quote Link to comment
Bfloyd Posted January 5, 2015 Author Report Share Posted January 5, 2015 The body is a little rough but not bad. Frame seems to be good. Glass is good. Grill is good. Interior is decent. Not sure about the taillights.... I have a few pics of the truck, not sure how to post them on here yet. I'll have to figure that out. 2 Quote Link to comment
wayno Posted January 5, 2015 Report Share Posted January 5, 2015 Open a photo hosting account like Picasa, Picasa works good on Ratsun with my desk top using windows 8. You could also open a Photobucket account, but it is harder for me to explain how to post a photo from that site. once you open an account, you need to post the IMG code in the field of your reply. The body is a little rough but not bad. Frame seems to be good. Glass is good. Grill is good. Interior is decent. Not sure about the taillights.... I have a few pics of the truck, not sure how to post them on here yet. I'll have to figure that out. 2 Quote Link to comment
Bfloyd Posted January 5, 2015 Author Report Share Posted January 5, 2015 And I'm looking to do something like this... 4 Quote Link to comment
wayno Posted January 5, 2015 Report Share Posted January 5, 2015 Success, good job, you got it the first time. :thumbup: It looks like it has a few small rust issues, but nothing that cannot be fixed. 2 Quote Link to comment
DanielC Posted January 5, 2015 Report Share Posted January 5, 2015 Congratulations on the 521 purchase. I hate to say it, but I am glad they do not salt the roads here in Oregon, yet. Front fenders can be replaced, although it is much easier to find 521 parts on the West Coast. How is the floor in your truck? It is common for 521 trucks to have issues with the cab floor, ahead of the shelf the seat is bolted to. 521 trucks originally came with a vinyl floor mat, that water and dirt would get under. The dirt would grind the paint off the floor sheet metal, and the vinyl would prevent the water from ever evaporating, so it floor would constantly rust away. All the body bolts on a 521 are SAE. In case you do not know what that means, the bolts are measured in inches, and have fine threads. all the brake lines are 3/16, with 3/8-24 flare nuts. The fenders are held on with 1/4-28 bolts. Headlight buckets are #10-32, the front bumper brackets are held to the frame with 5/16-24 bolts, the lug nuts are 7/16-20. You get the idea. If you are unbolting things, penetrating oil, and patience is your friend. Even if it takes you 10 minutes to remove one bolt, that is still less time and frustration of drilling out and retapping a broken bolt. Engine and transmission fasteners are metric. The oil pressure sender, and other tapped holes in the engine, use a British pipe standard, and it is different than American pipe thread sizes. If you are not used to driving a 521, on the freeway, it will seem the engine is running way too high of an RPM. It is not. The yellow zone on a L-16 engine is 6,500, red line 7,000. The peak torque on a L-16 is about 3,600 RPM, and that puts it at about 55 MPH, in fourth gear. When 521 trucks were brought into the USA, the freeway speed limit was 55 MPH. In short, this engine is not your granddads Oldsmobile engine. It really does not like running below 2,000 with any kind of a load on the engine. 2 Quote Link to comment
mrbigtanker Posted January 5, 2015 Report Share Posted January 5, 2015 Is that a slider rear glass or window some guys would kill to have one.. That truck is a awesome start. There is way worse that has come back from the dead and beyone.. 2 Quote Link to comment
mrbigtanker Posted January 5, 2015 Report Share Posted January 5, 2015 And that other truck is for sale for I think he wants 5000.00. Good luck 1 Quote Link to comment
Bfloyd Posted January 5, 2015 Author Report Share Posted January 5, 2015 I haven't bought the truck yet, but will very soon. It looks to be a slider window. It does have some rust in the floor boards. I'm not scared to cut metal out and use a welder. That's all too common in the 4wd world! As soon as my truck sells I'll be making the trip to get her. The tan truck was just bought by a guy in California. I talked to him about it on Facebook. I really like the look of it... 1 Quote Link to comment
Bfloyd Posted January 5, 2015 Author Report Share Posted January 5, 2015 Are there "Datsun 2000" badges for the fenders....I'd like to reflect the engine size, but it's not the end of the world if they don't exist. 1 Quote Link to comment
wayno Posted January 5, 2015 Report Share Posted January 5, 2015 Only the roadsters that I know of, but there might be others that I don't know about. Are there "Datsun 2000" badges for the fenders....I'd like to reflect the engine size, but it's not the end of the world if they don't exist. 1 Quote Link to comment
Bfloyd Posted January 5, 2015 Author Report Share Posted January 5, 2015 Oh well, no worries 1 Quote Link to comment
Bfloyd Posted January 5, 2015 Author Report Share Posted January 5, 2015 Are there any 521 owners in the RDU area? I'd like to check out your truck if so! 1 Quote Link to comment
Charlie69 Posted January 6, 2015 Report Share Posted January 6, 2015 Good luck on the purchase I hope all goes well. You can have emblems made to say any thing you want. These are custom emblems I had made for my 520. They are plastic. 1 Quote Link to comment
Bfloyd Posted January 6, 2015 Author Report Share Posted January 6, 2015 Very cool. Where did you get them? Quote Link to comment
Charlie69 Posted January 6, 2015 Report Share Posted January 6, 2015 Shaggy at Acrylic Conceptions made them for me. http://www.acrylicconceptions.com/home.html http://community.ratsun.net/topic/42471-datsunratsun-fender-emblems/ http://community.ratsun.net/topic/42678-acrylic-conceptions/ Quote Link to comment
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