new member, first post.

[sondat]

Hello Ratsun members.

 

I want to start by saying thank you to all that have shared so much valuable info. My son and I started a frame off restoration on a 71

521 this past May.

 

 

 

 

 

 

I had 2, 521's when I was young and managed to find this red racer last spring, nice dog house hey. :thumbup:

Will post this as a test then send more pics soon to show where we are at.

[HOGIE]

Welcome sondat.

 

What's the plan for your truck?

[Draker]

Welcome. Update your profile so people know where you are from.. or what region.

[sondat]

The truck will be mostly stock, my son would like to see it lowered with some new paint and modern rims. We've been doing our research on ratsun and will probably do a disc break upgrade. We have a short time line of a year from now till he's driving to get the truck done. So with that we will re build the 1600 for now and possibly a Ka and 5 speed swap after its on the road. The original bench seat was re foamed and upholstered along with the door panels,  sun visors and dash pad.

 

 

[sondat]

Here are some pic's of where we are at.

 

 

The original 521 on the left and a parts truck we trailered from 5 hours away. We ended up getting a usable windshield, box and tailgate, rear bumperettes, bench seat etc.

 

        

 

 

 

The cab and box was soda blasted and epoxy primered. now comes the rust repair.

 

       

[sondat]

                                               

 

                                               

 

                                               

 

                                               

 

                                               

 

                                               

 

So the passenger side is almost complete for metal repairs, now on to the drivers side. Also had the frame sand blasted and epoxy coated in a satin black.

 

                                               

[wayno]

Good work!!!  :thumbup:

[sondat]

Thanks wayno.

 

It's nice to have finally joined the forum.

[wayno]

You would not even have to fix them rear corners if you made a kingcab out of it, you have another cab there. :lol:

You could just make the stock box shorter.

[mikec4193]

Hi Sondat

 

Love your trucks...

 

Where did you get the rockers panels from??? They look great from here....

 

Looks like you have gotten a great start on it already.

 

MikeC

[Stoffregen Motorsports]

Nice job.

 

When I have bodies blasted I leave them in raw steel to do the repairs. I know the metal flashes and rust forms, but working around the primer is a pain.

[thisismatt]

Nice work!

[sondat]

Unfortunately the parts truck is gone for the king cab option but we can see a light at the end of the tunnel for our rust repair. I see a chevy 3100 in your garage Wayno, thats what i restored for my first vehicle, very nice. The rockers we had bent up from some 18gauge at our local fab shop, gave them the old rocker for a template. The primer hasn't been to much of a hassle, just figured it would be nice to protect the raw steel.

[wayno]

It was actually a commercial 1 ton longbed as it had the suspension that the big trucks have, it was a pain to find suspension parts for until I went to a commercial spring place, that is when I found out that they used that type of suspension into the late 70s, but the classic truck places didn't have/carry them parts, and were not forthcoming on where to get them either except for Dans Classics in Portland OR, he told me where to go when the other places played dumb.

That truck is in England now.

[sondat]

More and more metal work. Almost completed cab, finishing off drivers side floor pan, new rocker inner and outer, cab mounts and corners. My son is getting to be pretty good with the mig.

 

                                               

 

 

 

                                               

 

Had to cut drain hole from old rocker and add to new one.

 

                                               

 

                                               

 

We had to make new cab mounts and floor supports, (pieces under floor with gusset sides).

 

                                                        

 

Also had to fill drilled holes in roof from previous dome lights. Used nails to weld in place then grind off spike of nail.

 

                                                        

                                                        

 

                                                       

 

Looking forward to switching it up, were thinking engine rebuild will break up the monotony.

[greenthumb]

nice work there! I don't know if you've already addressed your disc brake plan, but I have a complete front and rear disc brake setup available. In BC to boot! Went a different direction on my build. PM me if interested. Where in this big province are you?

[sondat]

We did get a front disc kit from Mike Koltz and found the early 80's hubs. Would like to do the rear disks but due to time line and money will hold off for now. Thanks though Greenthumb. We are in Vernon.

[greenthumb]

Vernon eh? One of my favorite places in the Okanagan. That and the Shuswap

[Stoffregen Motorsports]

Looking good!

[sondat]

Going to look at a L20b this weekend, it is all apart and machining done. Would like to go prepared with specs on bore size and crank journal dimensions to make sure all is good. Have searched ratsun via google with no luck. Can anyone help with the specs I should be checking? Thanks

[sondat]

We purchased the L20B, had the block bored 20 over, decked and crank turned 10 under. The head which was previously re built was checked over and given the thumbs up.

 

 

 

We plastigauged the main and rod journals as well as checked gaps on the new rings. They could have been an issue, had to file gap to spec.

 

                            

 

 

As for the truck body my son and I completed the metal work (still have to do the box}. Hired an expert to do the final body work which keeps the sanding mess out of our garage.

 

         

 

 

As for the chassis, the differential is in with lowering blocks. Assembled the rear brakes and pressed in the new LCA inner bushings.

 

 

    

 

 

As for the rear breaks can anyone comment on the placement of the bottom smallest spring holding tension on the shoes? Not sure if it's hooked in the right spot. the reference material we have doesn't show it clearly.

 

 

 

 

 

[rinigado]

As for the rear breaks can anyone comment on the placement of the bottom smallest spring holding tension on the shoes? Not sure if it's hooked in the right spot. the reference material we have doesn't show it clearly.

 

 

I want to say there's a hole on the rear plate of the brake where the short end of that little return spring (one end of the spring has a hook that's longer, one end is shorter). I didn't stretch that spring between holes on the 2 shoes. I'll see if I have a picture.

[mrbigtanker]

It looks to be correct.

[DanielC]

The small black spring hooks to the backing plate, and one shoe.

[mklotz70]

Daniel just beat me to it.

These are the fronts, but the spring should mount the same on the rears.

 

http://community.ratsun.net/topic/43442-521-drum-brakes/?do=findComment&comment=686298

 

Hopefully, you can view photobucket pics on ratsun.