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'72 521 L20B Swap Denver


biggaryT78

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this is me!!!!!!!!!!you really need a tach? I have 3 cammed datsun and never had one. All you do is start looking at it instead of the road.

 

Volt meter yes. Get the cvig lighter one I told you about they work great. LEDs are idoat proff See the wrong color you notice it more.

 

L20s longer stroke but low gear ratio makes a torqy 521. If you can do a strong 65 call it good. Ive done 85 EZ

 

 

Get a quiet muffler.

Once I got a quiet muffler I always caught my girlfriend with soembody else at my own house

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BAHAHAHAHA!!!   Banzai you make me laugh man and you have a point.  Tach? I can hear it dammit! why do I need a tach? So true.     I was going to get a nice quiet muffler for sure, I want this thing to be invisible but I never thought of catching my girlfriend... I really hope that doesn't happen I love her! 

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I was looking that up and it seems like i still have to get emissions once and then I am exempt for 5 years.

 

But just checked and you are right. 

 

Exemptions http://www.aircarecolorado.com/index.php/about-the-test/1981-and-older/

A few vehicles are exempt from emissions testing, and a small group of 1982-and-newer passenger vehicles is tested with the two-speed idle test instead of with the I/M 240 test.

  • Newly-manufactured vehicles, for the first seven (7) model years, or until a change of
    ownership
  • Pre -1975 collector-plated vehicles
  • Pre-1942 horseless carriage-plated vehicles
  • Vehicles with a two-stroke engine manufactured prior to 1980
  • Motorcycles
  • Farm-plated vehicles
  • Electric powered vehicles
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Sorry for not posting pictures, but this truck is running pretty dang great right now so I had  to post an emotional update on this project.  I have been having a blast driving it back and forth to work.  Lots of people have stopped me and wanted to talk about the truck and they have stories about their Dads and Grandfathers having a 521 or lost their virginity in one, although not sure how. 

 

I can see why these cars and trucks built such a great community, they give back more than you put into it every damn time.  The engine sound and feel of the steering wheel pushing back against your hands is like a direct connection to the road. Lots of people might never experience this.

 

UP NEXT:

 1. Slightly hard time idling on cold start, the high Idle doesn't want to stay on.

 

 2. Loose everything, the truck rattles around a lot.  I keep finding vibrating things and taking note where they come from to fix.

 

 3.Temporary exhaust works great, HAHA it is kind of funny how a total hack job can be really elegant in function.

 

 4. Blinkers do not work, I had the steering wheel off, might be my issue but the switch for brights works so investigating this weekend. 

 

 5. Shocks are old and warn all the way around.

 

 6. Brakes seem to work a lot better after a quick bleed, and I had one emergency braking situation already and it stopped fine, but I would love them to feel firmer and stop more evenly when medium pressure is applied. I will look at adjustments  this weekend when I paint the rim. 

 

 7. Music solution. 

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Turn signals.

First, check if the four way flashers work.   If they do, go on to this next step.

Power for the turn signals comes from the ignition switched side of the fuse box.  Key must be on for turn signals to work.  The power for the turn signals then goes to the four way, or emergency flasher switch, the four way switch must be off for turn signal power to get through.

See the lower diagram.  With the key on, check for power on one wire of the turn signal flasher.

LightWires.jpg

If you have power on one side of the turn signal flasher, power should be getting to the turn signal switch, and then the turn signal switch should switch the right and left turn signals.

 

Brakes.

There is only one port on the wheel cylinders for fluid to go into, and come out of.  If you bleed the brakes with any kind of pressure bleeder, any air in the wheel cylinder will not back out of the wheel cylinder when you bleed the brakes.  You must use the two person method of bleeding the brakes.  One person pumps up the brakes, and holds pressure on the pedal.  You then loosen the bleeder, and you have to wait for the pressure to completely bleed off, so the brake shoe springs can collapse the brake shoes, and push any air in the wheel cylinder back out the bleeder valve.  After the fluid flow stops, the person pumping the brakes can then let the pedal up, and put pressure in the brakes again.

 

Radio.

There are four wires under the ashtray, for accessory hook up.  A ground, an ignition hot, an accessory hot, and an always hot.   

The wiring on a 521 is adequate for a stock truck.  It will handle a stock low wattage AM/FM radio.  If you do anything else, needing higher watts, for the sound system, you need to add a dedicated power wire back to the battery.

 

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Adjust the shoes out on the drums. Just so there is slight dragging when turning by hand. If the shoes have to move a long way before gripping the drum it will add lots of pedal travel and feel mushy. BTW BEEBANI on, here sells front disc brake adapter kits for 521. You supply the calipers/rotors from a Hardbody or something. They won't stop much better than a well set up 521 drum but you never have to adjust them and easy to change the pads. Set and forget.

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The flashers work both inside the cab and outside markers.

 

I will follow through the info above and let you all know what I find on these blinkers.  It isn't even strange that they worked... and now they aren't, because that seems to be what happens to this truck. 

 

Taking my DSLR camera with me to the end of the season Datsun and Old Jap Steel meetup in Denver today.  Should have some cool photos to post of that later. 

 

the truck rattles around a lot.?????????

 

better sell it now then.

 

 

Think Daniel got you covered on the rest

 

Just an observation and No Way! I will not be selling this truck anytime soon, just making note of the vibrations and attempting to fix the major ones first.

 

Need tires. ASAP.  The snow is coming.

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That Local Denver Datsun/JapSteel meetup is actually THIS weekend.

 

Sonic  at 9:00am SUNDAY NOv 15th

2611 S Broadway, Denver, Colorado 80210 

 

So I took some pictures while I was out and about instead. 

 

12208272_10208186317954787_8270703789971

 

Its a little truck with a big personality. 

 

 

12193681_10208186318114791_4075267891419

 

HAVE TO LOWER THE BACK> look at that tail wag.

 

 

12189551_10208186318314796_6081475831256

 

Someone hit something sometime. 

Looks like a frown face. 

 

12036540_10208186318074790_1003016922481

 

this Grant was on the truck when I got it but had no grip. This was my solution for now.  Actually it is VERY nice to use. I knotted two para cords together on both sides of the wheel so what you see here is about 2 hours of work and reminds me of the handle of a Katana.  So that works. 

 

10534719_10208186318154792_7581814643509

 

IF anyone can tell me what these seats are out of I would love to know. 

 

 

11254130_10208186318034789_3364006917481

 

Heater gets hot. Fan is not turning on however it still defrosts pretty well. 

 

 

12208737_10208186318234794_7990184812083

 

Fuel rail removed now. The engine bay is getting cleaner every-time I get in there. 

 

 

12191508_10208186319594828_6718575615560

 

Weber is now working great! Little adjustment on the Choke cable made high idle work perfectly.  Went out and started it this morning in 32degree weather and it fired right up, and was derivable right away to take kiddo to school. 

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  • 2 months later...

Quick update on this truck. 

 

Been driving this thing pretty much everyday since I got the Weber.  Which has amounted in about 1750 miles and one oil change. 

 

I soaked and cleaned the fuse box and replaced the Alternator with an Internally Regulated one and jumped the proper connections.  I have still been getting some intermittent charging issues, Mostly when it is cold out, so must be a loose connection or the temporary type ground wire or a battery. 

NEW Problem:

Last night I was moving the truck in my driveway and when I cranked on the steering wheel I heard a loud POP and now my stearing is very loose! I am afraid I broke one of the gears inside there, I left the truck where I had test drove it, and am having  a guy come look into it before i get it back to my house.  Looks like I will be under the front end for a while still before I get to the many other issues with this little truck.  

On a great note, I got new tires for it, and have saved up some money for a custom exhaust that will go on after I can drive it again. 

The L20B has been Fantastic! It pulls strong with that 4 speed and keeps me from getting tickets by not having that 5th speed. It is fun and spirtited driving and people really cannot get enough of the truck. 

 

I have a bed mounted Cherry picker I will be mounting in the back right of the Bed for moving engines around town and holding up an umbrella at the race track. Also it just looks awesome with a cherry picker in there and I have never seen many that have it, I happen to have this nice picker, so the Datsun is going to be getting it permanently and I will carry the Parts Truck look all the way now. 

 

Pictures to come. 

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  • 2 weeks later...

Hey thank you everyone!

 

It was the Two bolts that held in the gear assembly (not sure what its called actually) One had sheared off, I had to weld a piece to it and then remove what was left. Then I simply replaced the other one (both with tempered bolts) and boom! steering is back and tighter than ever. I think it needs an alignment too but I think it did before and will very soon as I got new tires. 

 

I seem to have a small brake fluid leak, I lose fluid over a couple months of driving it drains the res. Will be locating that as soon as the snow melts a bit. 

The new tires really help this thing drive in all conditions. I still wont drive it in the snow it's just not safe, so I did have to use uber to get around for a few days the last month of cold and snow. 

 

Needs new battery cables I think, (clamp type temp ones on it now) when the temp is cold, it really does not love turning the engine over. But when it turns it starts right up, same with if i push start it. EMERGENCY ONLY.

 

Yes agreed on a V8 being too heavy! I wont be lifting anything big, I mostly work on Subaru and motorcycle engines. And of course this datsun. But I think it will look cool with that little picker in the back and pretty useful with how things have been going for me and engines lately. haha. :(

Have decided to do some minor body work, this thing needs a little bit more TLC. Then plan to give it a 3 tone paint job with origional stripe locations kind of Chip Foose style White/Red/black with Black stripes and Datsun logo.  Once I took off the rattle can paint (oven cleaner trick) from the entire truck, the bed had almost none of the original paint left on there and was showing mostly the gray primer.  It has such a straight body already, I feel its minimal effort to get it ready to paint so why not, and will probably blend in better around town and at the minimoto race track. 

 

Exhaust - I agree Banzai,  I am going with a full 1.75 exhaust, and as quiet as possible. I don't need extra sound, the weber sounds fantastic sucking air in, and runs wonderfully. This engine is strong and really kicks a lot of butt out there on the Denver streets. I love driving this truck.

 

Rear of the truck needs lowered about 2" I like the front indexing as it is now, just want it to match, I do not love the raked look.

 

What else for odds and ends????

  Heater fan not working. 

 

  Wipers are slow, I want a new motor or at very least take linkage apart and grease and tighten it all up with some new bushings or something. 

 

  New shocks would be nice, but the ones on there now actually do a pretty good job. 

 

  I need to shorten the gear shift AND OR tighten the linkages it is very loose and since I am 6'6" my leg is in the way of second gear I have to move it.

 

  The blinker/Brights switch is in my way, I need to move it or at very least shorten it. Unsure of what to do here, I will search on the forum for an elegant solution.  my knee needs that space. 

 

  The key does not work in the glove box or the doors, this is annoying. Must re-key or get one made for those. 

 

That's about it for now! 

 

Thanks to everyone on this forum. Giant help and inspiration for me to see such passion about these cars and trucks. 

Gary

 

www.garytussey.com

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  • 6 years later...

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