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New 320 owner, 62?


320 Newb

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Stoff those look great! Love that stance.

 

I know folks on here like whitewalls but I'm gonna go black. I went with the factory grey green color because it has an industrial look and when I think early 60s I think industrial. Especially since it's not an N model and has the box of a bed. I've come to love the details and I feel like a tall, narrow, bias ply light truck tire is in the spirit of the truck. I'm gonna with these:

 

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Did another steering column test fit and this one is staying put. I cut a slit in the but as marked below, pushed it through from the cab side, then worked it into place. I was getting a little squeaking from rubbing on the shift rod so I fingered in a little grease. I'll dress up the steering column hole and slits with a little black RTV. I'm super happy with how it turned out. When I decided to pull my cab and bed off this piece of rubber and the wing window gaskets weren't available. I'm beyond thrilled to see these two parts come into existence. Huge thanks to Jake and Conner for helping make these happen.

 

Jake on here will start selling these puppies soon so keep your eyes out. 

 

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2 hours ago, 320 Newb said:

Got my visors in. Were there any type of clips that went next to the rearview mirror? I've got a couple holes where they would go in theory. 

 

 

Working from memory, MT, I'm thinking that your pickup is a 62 ?? There are members with more exposure over the years than me on these early trucks, but there are two more holes over close to the corners of the windshield. I'm thinking that there were early simpler visors that mounted on each end and did not swivel to shade the side windows. I'm thinking that those holes are evidence that your pickup had the early visors at one time. I have the visors that you have (originals that I added) and also the two extra holes per side that you have. Our 320 is a 1963 build characteristics/64 cowl tagged pickup. I don't believe that there was any center support on these visors.

 

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Edited by difrangia
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23 minutes ago, 320 Newb said:

Yep mine is an early build 62. I picked up the visors along the way.

 

When I did paint body I didn't have visors so I left the holes. Looks like I'll just plug the holes with chrome screws. 

 

Yup, one of those 'If I'd a known ahead of time things'. It's all good !! 

 

Still driving one of the classiest little trux of all times !!

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I have a 1963 Datsun 320 that had a 1962 grill on it when I bought it, it has the late 1962 heater core, it was sold in 1963 so it is titled as a 1963, it only has the two holes for an early visor, it does not have the holes for a traditional visor.

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My 1962 Datsun U320 is an early vehicle, it also only has the two holes for the early visor and a few more holes for something else, it has no holes on the passenger side for a visor, it also doesn't have the holes for a traditional visor, this 1962 has the early heater core holes where the core outlets in the firewall are diagonal from each other, this truck did not have a heater box when it was made/delivered to an Australian dealer, the hole for the heater switch has a plastic plug in it.

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The passenger side without visor holes.

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The plug for the heater switch.

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And the heater core someone installed into the air box assembly and the diagonal holes in the firewall.

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Yup, Wayno. I reckon the climate is such in Australia, that they didn't import many, if any, with heaters. Ted just put together a heater unit  for a chap 'down under' that's upgrading his pickup. Seems that I may have an image of an early interior in a shop, owner, or parts manual that shows the early visor. Might take a look and see what I can find.

 

In the 50's & early 60's when the Germans and Japanese, in rebuilding their economies, were in the midst of breaking into the world market just a decade or so after their cultures/economies was still devastated from WWII,  It's intriguing to look at that period in history and ponder some of the discussions that must have taken place in conference rooms on mapping marketing strategies for them to get a foothold in world markets. I think of this at times and consider the special models, like the roadsters, N-Series 320 pickups, and Fairlady models that were probably meant to be 'Eye-Candy' to attract customers to the brand.

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I bought everything I need to put a stock heater in this U320 truck from an early 1962 truck, but right now I am just starting to finally work on the U320, it was hit in the drivers door at some point and it bent the pillar in around a half inch or more at the upper door hinge point, I removed everything(door/fender/windshield/dash) to fix that pillar.

 

They didn't import trucks with boxes either in Australia, most had flatbeds, early boxes are rare over there.

 

My garage is a mess right now but I am making progress.

 

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I don't know of any but I have heard of dealers with stashes of old Datsun trucks which I heard included the NL320, who knows, they might have a pristine U320 also, I heard this from a news reporter when I drove my NL320 to down town Vancouver to the "cruz the gut" celebration and they stopped me to take photos.

 

I thought it was sort of a joke myself, I used to "cruz the gut" when I was a kid, that was nothing like when I was a kid.

 

17 minutes ago, 320 Newb said:

Such a cool truck. Do you know of any other U320s stateside? 

 

I was going to fix the bent pillar issue but the more I pulled this thing apart the more issues I have found, I do plan to remove the engine as the rear seal and front seal leak now, when the engine is out I plan to paint the engine compartment body color, everything is going to be body color except the frame, at the moment I do not plan on taking the body off the frame, but who knows what is going to happen.

Originally my plan was to straighten the pillar, put it back together and maybe sell it, but now I have bought enough supplies to start painting it, so that will be my winter project, it is going to be Ivory White like it was when it was built.

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16 hours ago, difrangia said:

Disc brakes conversion.

 

Yes, it also has Mikes drop arms, but I kept everything needed to put the stock front end suspension/brakes back on it, I have kept everything, lower and upper control arms and everything in between, I myself think they look better 2 to 3 inches lower, and I like front disc brakes a lot.

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8 hours ago, wayno said:

 

Yes, it also has Mikes drop arms, but I kept everything needed to put the stock front end suspension/brakes back on it, I have kept everything, lower and upper control arms and everything in between, I myself think they look better 2 to 3 inches lower, and I like front disc brakes a lot.

 

Yup, Wayno, The disc brakes are a must. I tend to be ultra-attentive when diving around modern vehicles. I'm always on the defense even in light traffic and I live in a little podunk town in Oklahoma (about 6K population). I can imagine the fun time it would be trying to fix a bender to any of the N-Series specific items. The U320 is one of the most alluring vehicles in the under $20K price level to me. It's one of the five top 'wants' on my list at present.

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