BrothersGarage - 1971 521

[BrothersGarage]

Whelp, only broke all the studs but 2 - even broke both screw heads on the middle brace by the backup light, but as rusted though as it was I am not suprised.



After a bit of clean up - you can see how good the bucket is

 

here is a close up of the crack in the lens 



Got her glued up and braced



but I started running out of light, so I busted out the girlfriends hair dryer and sped up the process , then ran over the face of the lens with some 220 grit wet sand paper to finish it off



And into the parts bin the lens and housing go. 

 

 

[DanielC]

I got a lovely pair of 521 straight tail light frames, painted with PPG DPLF epoxy primer, and then gloss black Dupont Centari.

 

[BrothersGarage]

2 hours ago, DanielC said:

I got a lovely pair of 521 straight tail light frames, painted with PPG DPLF epoxy primer, and then gloss black Dupont Centari.

 

[DanielC]

lets see...

 

[BrothersGarage]

You weren't kidding Dan, these things are fantastic! Thank you!

[mrbigtanker]

Do you need taillights ? I have good lens and backings with 1 powder coated frame. Let me know. 

[BrothersGarage]

On 5/12/2020 at 7:37 PM, mrbigtanker said:

Do you need taillights ? I have good lens and backings with 1 powder coated frame. Let me know. 

Thanks bud, I may hit you up but for now I am all set thanks to Dan. I now have a mint set that will go on this green truck, and the set that is currently on it will go one ole Blue when he's up and running.  

That leaves me with 2 extra back housings, 1 extra 'repaired' lens like above, 1 lens missing a reflector, 3 good reverse light lens. (and the 2 roached tail light frames) 

[gene knight]

On 5/12/2020 at 7:37 PM, mrbigtanker said:

Do you need taillights ? I have good lens and backings with 1 powder coated frame. Let me know. 

mrbigtanker:  i need tail lights please. just let me get the 1's off your 521...lol

Edited June 12, 2020 by gene knight

[d.p]

Jakesmakes on Facebook making repop tail lights and housings.  Look him up...good shit. 

[BrothersGarage]

On 6/12/2020 at 8:26 AM, d.p said:

Jakesmakes on Facebook making repop tail lights and housings.  Look him up...good shit. 

He really does. I sent him my heater knob and vents to scan and he sent me a couple knobs back and they came out friggin awesome. At some point, I'm going to snag a set of the clear tails just to have. 

Weather is finally starting to not be shit so I'm tinkering on the green truck, and at some point I am going to tackle this nightmare



So I snagged a new baot/hotrod fusebox to tinker with and upgrade away from these old timey fuses. Gettin tired of having to go pop the hood, rotate the fuse in the dark and rain to get a headlight back or some wipers.



Unboxed and went though it, and followed the info from this thread for the standard fuse rating 
 

10 - 15 - 10 - 15 - 15 - 15 

Should be what we're lookin for



But before I go chopping away on this truck I'm going to borrow Bros volt meter to double check since this has been all hacked up and came with an engine swap anywho.
 

Edited July 12, 2020 by BrothersGarage

[gene knight]

i bought a set of 521 lights from jake but i am looking forward to seeing the clear lenses for tail lights

[Stoffregen Motorsports]

16 hours ago, BrothersGarage said:

He really does. I sent him my heater knob and vents to scan and he sent me a couple knobs back and they came out friggin awesome. At some point, I'm going to snag a set of the clear tails just to have. 

Weather is finally starting to not be shit so I'm tinkering on the green truck, and at some point I am going to tackle this nightmare



So I snagged a new baot/hotrod fusebox to tinker with and upgrade away from these old timey fuses. Gettin tired of having to go pop the hood, rotate the fuse in the dark and rain to get a headlight back or some wipers.



Unboxed and went though it, and followed the info from this thread for the standard fuse rating 
 

10 - 15 - 10 - 15 - 15 - 15 

Should be what we're lookin for



But before I go chopping away on this truck I'm going to borrow Bros volt meter to double check since this has been all hacked up and came with an engine swap anywho.
 

That new fuse box is fully bussed. Make sure the OEM one is the same. I don't think it is.

[BrothersGarage]

14 minutes ago, Stoffregen Motorsports said:

That new fuse box is fully bussed. Make sure the OEM one is the same. I don't think it is.

Thanks, I will be sure to double check!

[BrothersGarage]

Post showed up for a 520 + parts for $300, so I did a thing.



After a 2.5 hour drive, we showed up and snagged the truck and boxes of parts. I'll take the front and rear glass, and the plan is to plasma out the floors to replace the ones in the green 521. The main reason for snagging it though was for the metal dash cap.



Dash itself is in great shape. Parcel tray is solid, so is the glovebox cardboard. Lots of extra knobs, and the heater is fantastic. The boot appears intact and it's still 'rubbery'. For some reason they just cut the wires to remove the cluster though... Steering wheel is also really nice (though not shown). 



Engine bay is intact with the factory battery tray. Fusebox is also there and in good shape. In the boxes I got a 320 horn for some reason lol, but there's a shit ton of blinkers / lenses in these boxes. Got the center caps for the rear rims as well.



Grille, more blinker lenses, mounts, drive shaft, and glovebox contents.



Factory hubcaps should clean up pretty well, intact instrument bezel, extra rear-view mirror, dome light, bunch of exterior door handles, and interior metal door pulls in here with the tail light lenses, headlight rings, and one of the headlight bezels. 



2 radiators, extra cluster, another heater, the other headlight bezel, some heater vents, battery tie down, windshield wipers assemblies, and an old Datsun shift knob



There's another tote that came with it and I haven't gone fully though everything yet, but that's at a glance. And now the yard is starting to look typical of a Datsun owner:

[thisismatt]

That was a great deal.  Early 520 had that style steering wheel/horn button.

[Crashtd420]

Ya that was definitely a great deal....

Brothers I'm sending you a PM about the exterior door handles.... i could use a driver's side if your selling the spares.....

[Charlie69]

Nice score.  Sweet dash, if the windshield is good then you have definitely gotten your moneys worth!

[BrothersGarage]

16 hours ago, thisismatt said:

That was a great deal.  Early 520 had that style steering wheel/horn button.

Thanks for the heads up. I've only seen them used in the 320 style and this guy came with the same style as the other 2 with the long 'boomerang' style horn. 
 

9 hours ago, Crashtd420 said:

Ya that was definitely a great deal....

Brothers I'm sending you a PM about the exterior door handles.... i could use a driver's side if your selling the spares.....

Gotcha covered, lemme check the boxes. 
 

6 hours ago, Charlie69 said:

Nice score.  Sweet dash, if the windshield is good then you have definitely gotten your moneys worth!

Appreciate it! Both front and rear glass are perfect, no chips, no scratches. 

[d.p]

Could be delaminated though and this junk.  Specifically the front as I have never heard or seen an issue with the rear glass. 

[thisismatt]

16 minutes ago, d.p said:

Could be delaminated though and this junk.  Specifically the front as I have never heard or seen an issue with the rear glass. 

 

Rear isn't laminated. 

[Charlie69]

That would explain it not un-laminating!  LOL

Edited April 25, 2021 by Charlie69

[BrothersGarage]

the sun came out today so I was able to dig though the boxes and find all the goodies that came with the cab.



This looks to be the main haul:

1 set of 520 tail light lenses

3 2 sets of wipers

1 interior light

3 window felt strips (only one looks to be not fucked)

1 520 horn button

2 mag rim center caps (for the rims on the rear of the truck)
720 lights / dash lights / wiper washer switches
1 520 ignition + key
2 sets of 520 front blinker chrome strips

3 sets of front blinkers lenses - 1 nos /  1 set is trashed but can be glued back together

1 choke knob

1 old leather OEM 'Datsun' shift knob
1 old 'personal' 'Datsun' knob

1 4 speed shift knob

1 set of  blinker housings

1 520/521 cluster with all rear pins intact, so likely will be functional

1 gage bezel

3 interior door handles

3 1 window handles + knobs
2 sets of 520 metal interior handles

2 nos boxes of misc parts
1 exterior door handle

2 1 rearview mirror
1 drivers side window visor (there's a drivers and passenger already in the truck)
1 set headlight bezels shown earlier boxes (have grille but a little crusty also above)
1 extra heater (fronts rusty, but interior's good and plastic fan is good)
3 dash heater vents (1 nos plastic)

1 battery tie down
1 set of factory hubcaps

Bunch more parts left on the cab, but the remaining boxes have a shitload of hoses / random mounts / headlight bulbs / nuts and bolts - so I'll keep the nuts and bolts and send the rest of to the scrap yard with what's going to be left of the 520 frame & cab. 

Think I'll hold on to the shift knobs, cluster & bezel, and metal interior door handles, and 520 horn button. If anyone is interested in the other parts shoot me a pm. 

 

Edit - Bonus list of parts:
620 rear end

520 rear end

520/521 pre-cut drives floor

520/521 pre-cut passenger floor

 

Edited August 16, 2022 by BrothersGarage

[zed1]

PM sent.

[BrothersGarage]

Got some fuckin work done today. Bro and I pulled the glass (front and back are perfect, no delaminating) and then chopped the 520s floor out.



and gave her a chop down the middle.



Going to toss them on a palette this week and send them off to Gerson from kfvintagejdm.com to kick off getting floors re-popped for these little trucks. Then he'll shoot them back. 

Then I got to work stripping more and pulled the dash, and other parts.



Everything but the steering wheel and heater unit is left on the truck, and then it's time to kick the red one over to the recyclers.

[Stoffregen Motorsports]

My stomach just did a backflip. Are you planning on re-installing floors in that cab? Where are the temporary welded in struts to keep the cab square and the door openeings even? Kinda too late now, but I hope you at least took some good measurements before you cut.