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Need 320 Help Please.


Trish_72

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A few years ago I fell in love with an unloved neglected dual cab ute sitting in a horse paddock. I'd never seen anything like it but knew I wanted it. About a year ago I finally got and now that the husbands build  is almost complete I got my girl home.

So far all I know is she is a 1963 U320 

Engine number E1-224082 ( yet to be confirmed)

Car Number 320-3-62195

She has 80467 miles on the clock 

and is in need of few a parts and a tonne of TLC.

If anyone is able to give me some idea on what I have and where I can source part ( preferably genuine as I want to keep her as original as possible) it would be most appreciated.

Cheers!

PS Will upload pics shortly

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Welcome to a very small club, as far as I know less than 20 of these trucks exist anymore, only know of one LHD one to exist in Costa Rica, two Australian ones exported to Belgium, one to the United States, and the rest are in Australia as far as we know of which only a couple are road worthy.

Over a thousand were made, but 980 something of them went to Asia to never be heard from again.

 

This one is mine here in the United States, have not gotten any farther than this with it, to many projects.

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Parts are hard to find for these little trucks, do not throw away anything as you will likely have to fix it or make it from scratch, the rear side trim is U320 specific, no other 320 has that length of trim that I know of.

I hope what you have is all there, what are you missing?

I don't know everything about these little trucks, but I know quite a bit from working on mine.

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Thanks for the replies guy's. So far I need two tail lights with surrounds front indicator lenses right side chrome strips back bumper interior left indicator light and a steering wheel. Once I evict the hornets and spiders from the engine I will have more of an idea what I will need there but I was told the car was driven and parked up in the paddock it turns freely with the crank handle so fingers crossed. Once I get back to the laptop I will add some photos. She's not so pretty at the moment but mostly rust free and I have a clear picture in my mind of what she can be.

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Hi Trish.

 

These are about as rare down here as rocking horse poo, virgins in a whorehouse, honest politicians and hens teeth.

 

In the first instance, try contacting Baz (Barry) at Datsport (located in South Australia).

 

www.datsport.com

 

(08) 8186 2100

 

You could also try a post on:

 

www.datsunminitruckin.com

 

Another website devoted to Datsun 1200's:

 

www.Datsun1200.com

 

Failing that, you could also post a WTB add on:

 

www.gumtree.com.au

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So maybe a year ago now there was a U320 for sale near Ipswich, in Queensland, Australia on Gumtree, if it ever comes up again it might be a good source for parts.

Good news is that taillight assemblies can be had from NL320, V320(a wagon type(bluebird)), but not all wagon types have these type taillights, I believe the rear bumper is also the same, fact is most the exterior parts can be had from one of them other vehicles, the rear side trim though has to come from a U320, the rest of the trim(door/front fender) are also the same as the other vehicles I mentioned.

I just searched Gumtree and found nothing, but keep looking there as sometimes taillight assemblies show up there.

I myself have been searching for a rear bumper for years with no luck so far.

Be very careful with the rear window/windshield, don't know if that can be replaced except from another U320, as Ratwagon mentioned these are very rare trucks, if it was a Chevy it would be worth a large fortune, but it is a Datsun with no aftermarket support, but some MG engine stuff is compatible like the distributor.

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It appears to be a 1963 Datsun U320, and both rear side trim pieces are there, even though the passenger side piece is mangled, your going to have to fix that piece unless you know how to make a new piece of trim to replace it, or if you can find another U320 over there for sale that has it and the other pieces you need, we don't have that option as we did not get the U320 over here, the door and front fender trim pieces and the rear bumper can be found on a NL320 or V320, the L320(flatbed type ute) has different type/style trim that is taller and the doors are shorter front to back, so the trim on one of them is not going to work on your little truck

I found out that the U320 is around 6 inches longer from the back of the rear fender well to the back bottom rear corner, and the rear bumper brackets are also 6 inches longer as the frame/chassis is the same for all models, I found all this out the hard way by buying V320 side trim in Australia and having it shipped here just to find out it would not work on my U320, I spent $700.00 having my trim repaired the best they could repair it, it's not perfect, but it's good enough.

The taillight bezels/surrounds(chrome pieces) can also be had from the NL320/V320, but you in Australia received 2 different styles, you have the style without a chrome divider between the red and amber taillight lenses, so if you find any taillight/surrounds/bezels of either type you likely need to get a set, the type with the divider has ribs below the lens, and yours which looks damaged in the photo doesn't.

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You can also use a tailgate from an NL320, not sure about the V320 but it looks the same to me if it is the correct model wagon, wagons came in two different styles with two totally different types of taillights, the V320 which you had over there, and the Datsun 312 wagon which looks very similar from the front but I doubt they share many parts, I don't know what countries received them.

1962_Datsun_312_Bluebird_1200_Station_Wa

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I have one of each of the taillights. both in need of repair 

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Will keep looking for a set as well as look at getting some made. 

Today's plan is to start the job of evicting spiders and the like which will hopefully shed some light on the engine. Have had discussions with a mate who seems to think it is an A type  engine but personally I believe it be an E1 Will go in search of an engine number. 

Anyone know if the truck had the front visor or is it something added as well as a roof rack? 

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I believe the visor was an ad on, seems to be a popular thing to do over there in Australia.

I also believe that all the covers for the box/tray, whatever you call it over there were aftermarket.

Here is one of Severyn's U320s over in Belgium with a cover.

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Here is his other U320.

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This is the cover that arrived with my U320, I was not impressed with it.

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It looks like you need to find a set of taillight bezels/surrounds, you need to check Gumtree and the like over there often, they do not come along very often, Zeke has a few sets but he has not been on here in a long time(Sept 2013), last I heard from him he was a chef in England.

These guys make new aftermarket NL320 taillight lenses in the link below, but he only makes them in DOT red or clear, he does not make dual color(red/amber) lenses anymore, you have to call or email Greg Clauss to have them made.

https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=1&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0ahUKEwjwi5aAq-HSAhUB0WMKHaogBzcQFggcMAA&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.claussstudios.com%2F&usg=AFQjCNEI8GprReGSmqQx6MyaTh4kQq4MOA&sig2=MtKOoTGSohZD4tW5iK0L9w

Zeke was also going to have someone make them, but it never happened.

I don't believe that Zeke ever had a photo of your truck, yours I believe would be number 15 or 16, I believe mine was the Green one in his thread before it was imported to the US but I could be wrong, here is a link to his thread.  http://community.ratsun.net/topic/25702-shanks-pony-u320-addiction/

He also didn't know about the LHD U320 in Costa Rica.

This is the only clear photo I have of mine before I owned it.

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Thanks for that Wayno. Not sure I want to keep the visor, not interested in adding the tray cover, and still undecided on the luggage rack (roof rack). Of the two tail lights I have I think I can save one with some minor work 

[/url]">http://IMGP2029_zpspxfcrwty.jpg

[/url]">http://http://s1320.photobucket.com/user/Datto63/media/IMGP2030_zpscmsd7owt.jpg.html'>IMGP2030_zpscmsd7owt.jpg

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You can likely make the divider and have it chrome plated, as for the bezel/surround pick your chrome plating business well, I have had nothing but issues with them.

The thing is that you have to find another one, they are very hard to find, but I don't expect your going to get this project done for a while so you have some time.

As I said before, you likely should be looking for another U320 or an NL320/V320 for parts like a better tailgate, rear bumper, taillight bezels/surrounds, there are a lot of U320 projects over there, but they all want a fortune for them, act as if your never going to find another tailgate and save that one, my tailgate was rusted real bad on the bottom where the hinges are, it was also bent badly, but I saved it, it is in this thread link below on page 2.

http://www.nwdatsuns.com/viewtopic.php?f=24&t=827

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I used a piece of angle iron to straighten it.

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Then I made a piece of metal to put it position over what was there.

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I cleaned it up and then tack/spot welded it into postion.

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It is now straight and fits the truck fine without any issues.

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I still have to tear everything apart on this truck again and start treating everything with POR15 inside and out.

Your going to have to save everything you can.

Also read this thread I wrote about upgrading the 320 distributors.

http://community.ratsun.net/topic/71387-electronic-ignition-upgrade-for-your-datsun-320-truck/

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Yeah I got lucky the husband is a whizz when it comes to body/ panel and paint and mechanical stuff. He's just about finished his HQ 1 tonner drag car (can see his work here) http://s1320.photobucket.com/user/Datto63/library/Cha-Ching so now we can get a start on my little beast. 

Been looking for a parts car only ones I can find so far are all ad's from a few years ago but will continue to attend swap meets and farm sales and have alerts set up on ebay. So for now will just get started on the body/engine work and see where it takes us. 

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Not to sure whats there still have to go back out and pick it all up. 

The tray was pretty full (of junk) Some moron has used it as a shooting rig in the past so it had a cage bolted onto the tray which is now gone. a lighter socket mounted into the roof behind the back seat & the tailgate is getting banged up by the tow bar so that will go ASAP.

Did do a little bit of a clean up yesterday with more pics taken. 

Will start a project thread shortly with before and after pics as I go.

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Boy Trish you and your husband like some rare cars.. nice score for you good luck with the project.... and to your husband he has one sweet project.... had to look it up to see what it was... never even heard of one....

You so need to tell him you want that motor in the datsun, get a tape measure out and start measuring his motor and when asks what's up tell that it should fit.. which I doubt it will but you can mess with him a bit...

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Boy Trish you and your husband like some rare cars.. nice score for you good luck with the project.... and to your husband he has one sweet project.... had to look it up to see what it was... never even heard of one....

You so need to tell him you want that motor in the datsun, get a tape measure out and start measuring his motor and when asks what's up tell that it should fit.. which I doubt it will but you can mess with him a bit...

The funny thing with that is if he had his way he would drop his enginge right in and jump it down to make fit if he could, when I first said I was going to buy this his first reaction was it would probably look cool with a blower hanging out the bonnet, he would supercharge grandma's wheelchair if he thought he would get away with it. (total rev head is my husband) Where I like the classic original look so its just a good thing he hated my little girl (although she is starting to grow on him)  & I adore her. 

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Trish,

  Give it a lot of thought. They're only original once. Something that can't go back original on such a rare machine might need to be given serious consideration. Just my humble opinion. I realize that some would disagree.

 

Steve

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