You're my boy, Blue '71 521 - KSwap

[BrothersGarage]

On 8/24/2020 at 1:23 PM, thisismatt said:

+$800 in electricity 😁

You're probably right lol

Finished up the top and sides tonight. Jacked it up and put it on the blocks I stole from my brother and I will get probably an hour in more on the frame tonight.

[mrbigtanker]

looking good.

[BrothersGarage]

More grinding & sandblasting done, but it's not shit that's going to make sense if I try to take pictures so whatever lol I will just post and update when it's done-done. It's probably going to take a bit longer since sandblasting the bottom of the frame up ito the air is a dumbass idea so it will be mostly just grinding on it from underneath. 

Ignition arrived today. This will replace the factory ignition on the dash, and be curved to fit of the shape of the dash. 



Also going to get it refinished to be closer to the factory color, something like this:



The switches will also be wired into factory clips and be part of the new harness being made. 

[4perrev]

Are you doing the Honda with the BMW transmission?  Saw that online and it was a nice setup!

[BrothersGarage]

1 hour ago, 4perrev said:

Are you doing the Honda with the BMW transmission?  Saw that online and it was a nice setup!

Same idea, just in this case I am using a Miata transmission - currently 5 speed  I have 2 just in case I grenade one), but I am on the look out for a 6 speed. Main reason I went Miata is they are all over the place here for parts and cheap, so I figured I will gobble a couple up. 


Going to call the back half of the frame "good" for now. It's about 95% with some places that I need to go back and sandblast to get in the tiny corners. That will be easier after Bro stops by and we chop out the bars for the spare tire and grind off the excess. Then I will go back in and give it a final final cleanup and primer. 



Going to wait on some parts to come in and for the custom harness to get test fitted and then I will pull the cab and get to work on the front frame. Went and bothered the brothers zerospiritr32 / redline280z to see if they would lend a hand lifting the cab up with my bro and they said no prob so that should make it super easy especially with the fenders / hood / doors off of it and the interior stripped. 

[4perrev]

Nice.  The BMW Getrag out of the E46 (2001-2006) are very good xmissions, and not too bad in price, if you wanted to go that way.  Just FYI.  Sweet work you're doing there!!

[BrothersGarage]

On 8/31/2020 at 2:27 PM, 4perrev said:

Nice.  The BMW Getrag out of the E46 (2001-2006) are very good xmissions, and not too bad in price, if you wanted to go that way.  Just FYI.  Sweet work you're doing there!!

Yeah, I think they are pretty solid - but I got a good deal on the KMiata adapter plate and Miatas are more prevalent for spare parts if I really dick something up 😄

Mail call today. JakeMakes did some clear front blinkers and I picked up a set of those to go with the clear front  marker lights I had arrived on Monday



Think I am going to go with the factory rear end for now and if it doesn't hold up then I will look at replacing / upgrading it - otherwise it will get redone @ the same time the turbo goes on and save some cash for the brakes (likely silverminemotors upgrades) that this will need. That means it's more grinding and cleaning to be done on the rear. I may just paint that instead of weld-through prime it. 

[BrothersGarage]

Something for the daily, something for both trucks. 



360mm Nardi ND Classic Wood wheel. Wanted one of these for a while and i saw it on a labor day sale so talked myself into it 🤷



Eyeballing the 'race' style NRG hub that is a super tiny spline hub that should take up far less room than the usual boss style hubs and likely a slim quick disconnect for this guy. 

[d.p]

Nice man, want one of those as well.  Where and how much??

[BrothersGarage]

4 hours ago, d.p said:

Nice man, want one of those as well.  Where and how much??

I got mine from jhpusa.com - over laborday I got it for just under $320 shipped. Just saw it as I was looking for a battery and thin mount. 

edit: Bro was down the street workin on one of the side projects for the datsun brothers and I caught him and asked him to help lift the cab off. Got some extra help and made it super easy.



Spent some time bullshitting and a bit deeper look at the frame. 



Much of the lines on this were just cut prior so most will have to be replaced anywho. 



Left the rear brake line for now and the ebrake cable but everything else got removed / disconnected. This should make it easier to do the final fab on the trans mount and where the exhaust comes out. Also started working down the drivers side of the frame

Edited September 14, 2020 by BrothersGarage

[BrothersGarage]

Battery and the tiny JHPUSA Battery mount arrived today

[BrothersGarage]

Friday I taped off the ebrake cable and rear brakelines and did a bit more frame work



Then my bro came over today and he chopped off the spare tire hanger with the portaban, and lopped off a bunch of other random parts on the frame as well.

 

Then a few more hours grinding and blasting and painting got me to the trans and cab mounts.



I will work on the cross mounts tomorrow and bro is going to come over and finish off the mount for the trans. Then the plan is to remove to the engine so I can finish cleaning the frame up, and he can measure and re-do the front cab mounts, and then we will likely chop up the front bed mounts to make the 521 bed sit correctly.

Also after a bit of help from @mayhemandmechanics I ordered the digital gauge cluster today. Should be here in a few weeks. Really excited about some of the stuff and I can't wait to see this thing start to come together.

Edit: got the bottoms of the rails done all the way up to the rear trans support, and the cross bar done today. Gotta wait on my bro to do the trans mount.

Edited September 21, 2020 by BrothersGarage

[BrothersGarage]

Bro made it over early today and banged out the trans mount and rear cross member



After after a bit of running back and forth to grab stuff from his place like his cherry picker and a bit of his muscle has me left with this to keep working on:



I will keep working up the frame until he has some free time from work and then we will chip off the tow bars from the front of the frame, and move the front cab mounts forward about half an inch. 

[mrbigtanker]

I have the same mount but in red on my truck for the transmission as well.

[]2eDeYe]

Keep up the good work, gonna be a bitchin truck when you are all done. 

[BrothersGarage]

On 9/27/2020 at 5:40 PM, mrbigtanker said:

I have the same mount but in red on my truck for the transmission as well.

That's probably going the only thing lol Your build is on such another level that it's going to take time for this little truck to get there. 😄

 

On 9/29/2020 at 7:49 AM, ]2eDeYe said:

Keep up the good work, gonna be a bitchin truck when you are all done. 

As much as everyone raves about them on youtube, I've yet to ride in a RWD Kswap, so I'm pretty hopeful that she will scoot down the road. 

Driver side tire off right now Just gotta wrap up the front of the frame and work my way around the the passenger side and then do the under side of the cab area and she's done. I would estimate at this point another 3 or so hours. I probably have 30 or so hours into it at this point though.Next time I am just paying one of those portable sandblasters to come out and bust this out in like 2 hours. Awesome learning process though.



Waiting on the digital gauges to ship still, but from what I've seen on Insta - others are having trouble being on back order too. No big hurry anyway, plenty of more grinding and sandblasting to go back in and cleanup with. 

[BrothersGarage]

And she's 99% now. Good enough to call 'done' for when we dig further into the car and swap to new parts. 



Still some thing to take care of though. Gotta grind down the remaining pieces of the spare tire brace on the back of the frame here and here:



Then on the back side of the frame I gotta get in here with the sand blaster and spray it up:



And pretty much what's left on the front end - top of the shock towers and in the corner where they mount to the frame - under the engine mounts - & other rando bits



I will unbolt what I can and finalize cleanup but you guys won't care about that.

Update on the digital gauges as I got a confirmation email today saying that it should be here on Monday. 



Edit: Went back out before the sun went down and got all the the bullshit grinded off thought the frame like this in the back - then hit it with some paint



So now we gotta fix the front cab mounts / look for fuel cells 

Edited November 13, 2020 by BrothersGarage

[BrothersGarage]

Aim MXP Strada 6" digital gauges came in today. This unit comes with GPS and Data logging and has a ton of additional things you can add to it, but this should pair well with the Hondata KPro v4 in terms of seeing what's going on. 



Measurements were pretty spot on for as far as the stock cluster area placement and this guy being able to fit in that area. A custom gauge cluster bezel will be needed but that's the least of the worries at this point.

[thisismatt]

Put it in your press and it should flatten/widen to just the right size 😅

[BrothersGarage]

2 hours ago, thisismatt said:

Put it in your press and it should flatten/widen to just the right size 😅

I'll just press it into place next to my turbo

[BrothersGarage]

Decided to go Beebani's full coil-over kit with tri-link as far as suspension goes. Order has already been placed so it's time to round up the other components. Should save time on trying to figure out the proper geometry. 

Custom engine harness is coming along too, here's a sneak peek:

[mrbigtanker]

24 minutes ago, BrothersGarage said:

Decided to go Beebani's full coil-over kit with tri-link as far as suspension goes. Order has already been placed so it's time to round up the other components. Should save time on trying to figure out the proper geometry. 

Custom engine harness is coming along too, here's a sneak peek:

Nice stuff, I don't even think I'm going that hi tech. Love it.

[Duncan]

On 8/21/2020 at 8:55 AM, Lockleaf said:

I would look at using a different product than POR 15 since you are removing all the rust.  POR chemically bonds with iron oxide which is where you get the superior bonding strength.  If you remove the rust from the equation, other chassis coatings are better suited.

 

I completely agree.  I completely stripped the undercoat off my wagon and used a Benjamin Moore Direct to metal paint James recommended.  It adheres great and is easily touched up.  There are other things like chassis saver and other products made specifically for doing chassis. POR15 is nasty to work with and (to me) it doesn't look good on a chassis at all.  (Again, my opinion)

 

Satin black acrylic enamel works well too.  Depends on the climate and how you use the vehicle..

 

 

[BrothersGarage]

29 minutes ago, Duncan said:

 

I completely agree.  I completely stripped the undercoat off my wagon and used a Benjamin Moore Direct to metal paint James recommended.  It adheres great and is easily touched up.  There are other things like chassis saver and other products made specifically for doing chassis. POR15 is nasty to work with and (to me) it doesn't look good on a chassis at all.  (Again, my opinion)

 

Satin black acrylic enamel works well too.  Depends on the climate and how you use the vehicle..

Open to any suggestions from anyone with experience with any products. I want something where it doesn't need to be direct to metal or a ton of prepping (since I already have this fucker cleaned and primed) and will still up to the damp weather of the PNW (but not driven in the winter) and will put up with a ton of rubber and rocks thrown at it as I intend to beat the shit out of this truck once it's done. 

I've heard good things about "Rust Bullet' and was thinking about going that way instead of the hassle that is POR15 - ( https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0002P3UXW/?tag=dw4efil-20&tag=dw4efil-20 ) but  thanks for the suggestion on the Benjamin Moore, I will have to take a look at that.

 

7 hours ago, mrbigtanker said:

Nice stuff, I don't even think I'm going that hi tech. Love it.

.
Thank you sir. I'm super excited to see how this comes out. 

[jagman]

I have had good results from "Zero Rust". They recommend that you remove loose scale with a wire brush before applying the paint either with a spray outfit or a brush.  I normally use a brush unless I can't reach in  like in the enclosed frame rails.  I let it sit for 4 or 5 days before I color coat.  It is a primer and you do need to cover coat it either with their cover coat (clear satin or gloss) or a color coat.  Comes in black or grey. It doesn't seem to crack with flex like the POR15 does. And I have found that when I color coat over the POR15 it cracks and peels off after a short time.