Pnwdatsun Posted April 19, 2020 Report Share Posted April 19, 2020 I just purchased my first 521, I couldn’t be more excited. I just got off work early and happened to hop on Facebook before driving home and spotted this ratty truck, with a great ad and knew I had to look at it. Only 10 mins north on my way home I met with a super nice datsun guy. 2 trips and some cash later I had it delivered to the house. Now that I have it here i have decided I would like to keep the moss and years of dirt on the outside and make it as original mechanically. Does anyone know if these truck had any rare factory options? I would really like the cool factor to hit home on this one 4 Quote Link to comment
datzenmike Posted April 19, 2020 Report Share Posted April 19, 2020 Fog lights, red??? pull choke knob, bumper over riders on front, engine room lamp, under dash clock, radio, 3 Quote Link to comment
banzai510(hainz) Posted April 19, 2020 Report Share Posted April 19, 2020 Does it run? 2 Quote Link to comment
Pnwdatsun Posted April 19, 2020 Author Report Share Posted April 19, 2020 Yep! She runs like a champ. The guy I bought it off of had replaced quite a bit of parts. Took it for a rip around the neighborhood before purchasing. 4 Quote Link to comment
thisismatt Posted April 19, 2020 Report Share Posted April 19, 2020 Rarest part is maybe the under dash mounted clock. Glove box and fuel door locks are desirable and can still be found on eBay if you want to spend $130 or so, each. Then there are a lot of parts that were better quality or more desirable style on the 520, such as all metal dash & ashtray, metal rimmed parcel tray, metal door pulls. Early models had a red hazard flasher knob some people desire, but chances are a used one is going to be cracked anyways. Dealer installed radio or radio delete plate, uncracked dash and steering wheel, etc etc 2 Quote Link to comment
banzai510(hainz) Posted April 19, 2020 Report Share Posted April 19, 2020 How much you pay? 1 Quote Link to comment
mklotz70 Posted April 19, 2020 Report Share Posted April 19, 2020 Just a note on the locking fuel door......replacing that will alter your patina on the outside.....and there's no finger pull bump on the factory ones. A lot of people have punched a hole in a non-locking door to get the security. Congrats on the score. 1 Quote Link to comment
Pnwdatsun Posted April 19, 2020 Author Report Share Posted April 19, 2020 So i initially thought this would be a major project truck in need of a lot of work to get running, to my surprise it fired right up and he explaint all of the work he did. Ripped around the block and paid $1250 towed to my house. As for the rare parts it seems the only interest would be the under dash mounted clock. I will probably try and source out a few period correct parts such as wheels, shift knob and maybe some 520 parts. The goal is "Survivor" with oem functions still in working order. My daughter is absolutely infatuated with the truck and dragged me down stairs at 7am so we could work on it. Just that bond with her will be well worth the $1200 invested 4 Quote Link to comment
Pnwdatsun Posted April 19, 2020 Author Report Share Posted April 19, 2020 15 hours ago, datzenmike said: Fog lights, red??? pull choke knob, bumper over riders on front, engine room lamp, under dash clock, radio, Im curious to see those options. i believe mine has the engine room lamp already, dealer added heat box as well. A/c may come later down the road 1 Quote Link to comment
mainer311 Posted April 19, 2020 Report Share Posted April 19, 2020 If it were mine, I would at least wash as much of that crap off as possible. The moss is going to hold water and it’s going to rot beyond whatever already has. 2 Quote Link to comment
banzai510(hainz) Posted April 19, 2020 Report Share Posted April 19, 2020 (edited) This one is hard to say for me part of me is wash it an let the patina show other part is keep it as is.just clean the engine bay up yes Moss will hold the water and rot man it still has the original carb on there key is lube the kingpins in front Better clean them out anyways. check the trans oil level. ps most electrical problems on a 521 is the fuse box.corrossion of fuses or broke fuses but at the ends inside you can’t see.best to get new ones i don’t GET wanting lots of options on a cheap Datsun truck especially a 521.Datsun wasn’t know for options Maybe by 1979 they moved up the food chain. Edited April 19, 2020 by banzai510(hainz) 1 Quote Link to comment
Pnwdatsun Posted April 19, 2020 Author Report Share Posted April 19, 2020 11 minutes ago, banzai510(hainz) said: This one is hard to say for me part of me is wash it an let the patina show other part is keep it as is.just clean the engine bay up yes Moss will hold the water and rot man it still has the original carb on there key is lube the kingpins in front Better clean them out anyways. check the trans oil level. ps most electrical problems on a 521 is the fuse box.corrossion of fuses or broke fuses but at the ends inside you can’t see.best to get new ones i don’t GET wanting lots of options on a cheap Datsun truck especially a 521.Datsun wasn’t know for options Maybe by 1979 they moved up the food chain. post my foto I will never "restore" this truck so the rot isnt a bother for me, its possible ill come across a better roller and swap parts over and leave this for yard art. I'll be cleaning the engine bay up as much as possible. The Fuse box has already been an issue and i have sourced a good oem replacement. As far as the options it just becomes preference, I had a one owner 240sx with factory heads up display along with a rare OEM factory cup holder and a few misc dealer tools ( jack, nissan spark tester, tool kit). 1 Quote Link to comment
mainer311 Posted April 19, 2020 Report Share Posted April 19, 2020 I’d be damned if you could still find a 240 that wasn’t molested by some teenager. Quote Link to comment
bilzbobaggins Posted April 19, 2020 Report Share Posted April 19, 2020 (edited) 7 minutes ago, Pnwdatsun said: post my foto I will never "restore" this truck so the rot isnt a bother for me, its possible ill come across a better roller and swap parts over and leave this for yard art. I'll be cleaning the engine bay up as much as possible. The Fuse box has already been an issue and i have sourced a good oem replacement. As far as the options it just becomes preference, I had a one owner 240sx with factory heads up display along with a rare OEM factory cup holder and a few misc dealer tools ( jack, nissan spark tester, tool kit). Where did you get your fuse box? The ones on ebay from thailand are a 3 hot/3 swtiched fuse box. Your truck should (almost certain) be a 4 hot/2 switched truck. You can make the other work by changing the bus bars on the bottom. And dig the truck. Make it your own and enjoy it. Edited April 19, 2020 by bilzbobaggins bfc 2 Quote Link to comment
Pnwdatsun Posted April 19, 2020 Author Report Share Posted April 19, 2020 I found a guy with 2 spares on the Datsun FB group. 1 Quote Link to comment
banzai510(hainz) Posted April 19, 2020 Report Share Posted April 19, 2020 (edited) Most Datsuns have Teenager options from the last 40 years Added already best upgrade once they wear out is a electronic ignition and a Weber carb good radiator upper and lower radiator hose as they still avail and cheap Edited April 19, 2020 by banzai510(hainz) 1 Quote Link to comment
wayno Posted April 19, 2020 Report Share Posted April 19, 2020 I also would say remove the moss, it's going to dry out and fall off eventually anyway unless you leave it where it was to start with, moss needs to be damp all the time to survive, it also will rot the metal if it has not already. 1 Quote Link to comment
thisismatt Posted April 19, 2020 Report Share Posted April 19, 2020 2 hours ago, wayno said: I also would say remove the moss, it's going to dry out and fall off eventually anyway unless you leave it where it was to start with, moss needs to be damp all the time to survive, it also will rot the metal if it has not already. You can tell the bed is already toast along the bedlines Quote Link to comment
banzai510(hainz) Posted April 19, 2020 Report Share Posted April 19, 2020 Bedlines? Rust adds character don’t even bother fixing that Quote Link to comment
wayno Posted April 19, 2020 Report Share Posted April 19, 2020 3 hours ago, thisismatt said: You can tell the bed is already toast along the bedlines The bed on my 521 work truck was worse, the metal sides were falling off the bed, the only thing holding one side on were a couple spot welds around the fender well and the front upright, one day I decided to make my work truck bed into a box and I was almost able to rip one side off with just my hands. This is what the work truck looked like for a year or two. 3 Quote Link to comment
Pnwdatsun Posted April 21, 2020 Author Report Share Posted April 21, 2020 Had they day off due to the slowdown from COVID-19 so i decided to do some tinkering on the truck. I got a new fuse block and choke cable coming in the mail , I removed and washed the Saddle blanket seat covers that more then likely had been on since the early 2000's. I ran up to Ace and grabbed some paint to fix the god awful wheel color, I think the gold and Black look good on the truck for now 4 Quote Link to comment
banzai510(hainz) Posted April 21, 2020 Report Share Posted April 21, 2020 Dig it !!!!!! 2 Quote Link to comment
gene knight Posted April 21, 2020 Report Share Posted April 21, 2020 like the wheels now 1 Quote Link to comment
mainer311 Posted April 21, 2020 Report Share Posted April 21, 2020 Love the sticker in the back window. Wheels look good. 2 Quote Link to comment
mrbigtanker Posted April 21, 2020 Report Share Posted April 21, 2020 Love it man, are you going to Bring the back down a little more. But digging the direction you went. Quote Link to comment
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