Front Valances

[zachreini]

What's up everyone. I haven't posted an update on my truck in a while, but I've taken out the engine to rebuild and have been cleaning off the engine bay, suspension components, and some of the body and I've been uncovering some shotty history about my truck.

 

It seems that the truck at some point was in a pretty bad front end accident. The bar behind the bumper and valance (between the frame rails) h7as a pretty significant dent in it. The passenger bumper bracket is welded where the bolts go (albeit crooked) and the lower part of the valance is welded and bondoed to the upper portion that connects to the inner fender wells and headlight mounts.

 

Long story short, anyone have any after market fiberglass or steel options to replace the valance on my truck? It's a '66 520 for reference. Was curious if you could get something made for a 510 or another pick up to work with some modification.

 

Attached is a pic of what I'm dealing with.

Thanks for any and all input

 

 

[gene knight]

wow that is some damage

[DanielC]

I doubt if there is any aftermarket options for your truck. 

On a 521, the radiator core support is basically a flat surface, and the lower grill rail is spot welded on to the core support.   It is very hard to get a dolly behind the lower grill rail, or to get access to the core support to straighten the panels.

Earlier 520 trucks were more rounded on the top of the front edge of the hood, than later 520 trucks, and if I remember correctly, the later 520 trucks got two headlights on each side, before the truck became a 521.

This page shows me doing some on the core support on one of my 521 trucks.

https://ratsun.net/topic/49698-my-dragon-datsun-521/page/9/