(Unofficial) Project MX720 Build Thread

[Eagle_Adam]

Watching

[petercscherer]

Good news! I have carpet! I decided I was sick and tired of the exposed greasy&grimy floorpans, and chose to install carpet now that all the major fabrication work is complete. I used the front half of the kit from Automotive Custom Carpets (ACC), and after 3 hours of gluing and pressing, it turned out alright. I had to make a lot of "relief" cuts to get things to fit flush, and the floor has those "ribs" that show through the carpet, but I'll be getting some floormats to hide those imperfections. 

 

Rather than try and wrangle the entire section in as one piece, I realized that since I'm using a console, I can just cut it in half and hide the seam with the center console I robbed off a 1983 King-Cab. Here's the first part, Driver's Side. Started gluing in the center, and worked my way out. This was about 45mins per side.

 

Passenger side went in the same way. I also installed Black plastic kick panels I purchased from a fellow named Julian in CA. Found him through the Datsun-720 FB page! 

 

With the center console installed just to test-fit:

 

That's a result I can live with!

 

This will really provide a nice and clean environment to do the wiring in. It also means that when people stop by the shop, they're looking at a cleaner-looking truck. 

 

Thanks all for the encouragement everyone, I'm really enjoying the build-process again and being able to share it with you all makes it even more fun!

~Peter

[Jester]

Looks great. Too bad they weren't tan. 

[Rhino13]

This thing is looking great! Nice work on everything you've done! Just curious, why didn't you put any sound deadener or some type of mat under the carpet?

[petercscherer]

There's a sound deadening/insulation material adhered to the backside of the carpet when it arrived. Really just wanted it to fit flush and tightly.

~Peter

[petercscherer]

Due to other projects taking priority, this one just got put on the back-burner. It simply has been eating too much of my budget and time, so I need to set it aside and focus on some paying projects. Don't assume that this project won't get finished, it just won't be done as soon as I thought.

 

~Peter

[petercscherer]

This project is on the list to be revitalized this year. I need to wrap up my Honda Rebel Chopper, and then this truck is getting back into the shop. However, the build plan has changed.

 

A lot. 

 

I'll leave you with that teaser for now. ?

 

-Peter

[petercscherer]

Okay, so I know it's been like 4 1/2 years since I started this, and other projects have come and go. But through it all this truck has been sitting in the corner giving me the stink-eye. I really feel bad that I let it sit this long and I have finally come to a solution to finish it. I've done some brainstorming with some fellow enthusiasts and here's the plan. Since my white 1995 Nissan D21 is getting turned into a complete race-truck with an engine swap in it's future, I'll be robbing the engine/trans, the wiring harness, gauges, plumbing etc... and swapping them into this 720. This way I get a freshly rebuilt KA24E that I know will run and drive flawlessly, I get a complete turnkey harness with factory ECU, and I get all the fuel system, the radiator, everything out of the white truck which will no longer need it. 

The Miata engine is gonna be saved for my dad's 1990 MX-5 with the infamous Short Nose Crank that will one day fail. So he'll re-imburse me for my rebuild expenses. I'll probably end up creating a new thread and I'll get pics off my old hard-drive of before the Miata swap and post them in that thread. I'm looking forward to having this truck back on the road with EFI and a little boost in performance from the KA with the 5-speed. 

 

 I'll probably have to modify the dash for the D21 gauges, but the rest will pretty much stay as is. 



~Peter

Edited February 7, 2021 by petercscherer