Helen's Ratz nest round 2

[Goldfish101]

I took a little break from ratsun/datsun's and regrettably deleted my old thread so here is round 2.  I did thankfully still have most of my pictures from when i first got the truck all the way up to when i sold it.  Well last sunday while laying in bed i got a message from the guy who i sold it to because they didnt get to drive it enough and knew that when i sold it i told him if he ever sold it i wanted first dibs, i picked it up 3 days later!!  

 

Im gonna try and quickly recap what it was like when i first got it and all the things ive done up to its current point.

 

here's what it looked like when i first brought it home. 

 

I bought it in St Helens, Oregon and there was a literal rats nest and the wiring was another so it became Helens Ratz nest

 

 

Im gonna try and seperate posts into order/groups of progress made

Edited December 15, 2020 by Goldfish101
figuring out pics

[Goldfish101]

I started by just cleaning everything up, new fenders, converted the front brakes to disk,  first round of lower, powder coated valve cover and titans, and removed as much as i could of all the layers of spraypaint

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Goldfish101]

I then got some better doors, and while driving the fuel tank literally fell out and could of been really bad had the lady not stopped us and said " there is sparks coming from underneath your truck"

 

 

my old co workers 510

 

The fuel tank dragging

 

 

 

unfortunately the tank dropping and dragging like that stirred up the many years of rust lining the tank and clogged up i think at least 5 fuel pumps and the lines and left me stranded several times before i replaced and cleaned the fuel system  

[Goldfish101]

I cant remember if she came with an l16 or already had an l20 but either way it was pretty worn out and only had a 5 speed also so that was up next.  I dont have many pics of that but lets be honest, if you have a datsun you know what a L series looks like.  It also got an aluminum radiator and electric fans

 

 

 

Next up I Por15'd the cab floors.  The truck came from cali so there is very minimal rust but i wanted to keep it that way.  I then added sounded deadener, pad and carpet

 

before

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Goldfish101]

my brother is an auto body painter and so he took the truck for a weekend and did a little work on it for me

 

 

 

 

 

Unfortunately it hasnt been back to him since but will eventually get finished

 

I then wanted more lows so i pulled the bed, moved the shock mount back and small c notched the frame, added air shocks and cleaned everything up

 

 

 

Upfront i replaced or rebuilt alot of the steering/sway components, and cut out all the droop and bump stop stuff and extended the shock mounts 2" to run xterra shocks and added more low

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Goldfish101]

Somewhere in the midst of working on the truck i had aquired a red top sr motor in hopes of rebuilding and collecting everything else i would need to swap it in the truck.  I ended up coming across a good ka instead and traded the sr for it so that started the next motor swap.  I also swapped a hardbody 5 speed in at the same time

 

 

 

lots of wiring

 

Got it all in and it runs!  I also put a odysee pc680 battery under the bed since there wasnt any room for one under the hood anymore

 

 

[Goldfish101]

Next up was heading to canby 2017!

 

On our way to Canby!

 

Had an absolute blast down there but unfortunately about an hour away from home i lost the front output shaft seal and had to take a tow the rest of the way:/

 

Because i had to pull the motor to work on the trans i freshened the motor up and cleaned everything else up too

 

While it was down i took the time to add some much needed rear disk brakes to help with the added power from the ka

 

I also located a much better grill, added new headlight/high beams and eyebrows, fender mirrors, and had the heater box and trans tunnel cover powder coated to match the black wrinkle of the dash

 

 

 

 

 

[Goldfish101]

Its far from where i want it to be but i could finally hop in it and just drive it when i wanted so thats what i did, right up until i had some stuff come up and decided to sell it

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Goldfish101]

I ended up selling it on October 7th, 2018,  I brought her back home December 9th, 2020 and couldnt be happier!  The guy i sold it to took very good care of it and it pretty much the same as it was when he bought it, the only negative thing (to me) he did was raising it an inch, he only did that because of his driveway which i understand but it looks so much better lower to me.  I will admit tho that even tho i did all that work to make it ride nice and low that it does ride really good that little bit higher.  All that means is airbags are now moved way up on the list of things to do next.

 

the drive home

 

back in her home

 

Came with an awesome license plate frame too!

 

Drove her to work today

 

 

So far ive ordered a new steering column boot, heater boot and wiper grommet as ive always needed those and was stoked when i found out theyre being remade!

Ive already started my list of things i wanna do next, having the seat and door cards done and air bags are on the top of the list but we'll see how it goes.  Im happy to have her back and cant wait to enjoy her more

[pidge]

Cool looking truck man. I dig the height. Congrats on getting it back. 
-Pidge

[mikec4193]

Love the finish on your Hot Rod....

 

Looks awesome from here....thanks for sharing...

 

MikeC

[TrevDaddy]

Love the patina and KA swap! Thanks for sharing the build, glad you got the truck back.

[Goldfish101]

8 hours ago, pidge said:

Cool looking truck man. I dig the height. Congrats on getting it back. 
-Pidge

Thank you!  It was a nice surprise getting it back!

[Goldfish101]

5 hours ago, mikec4193 said:

Love the finish on your Hot Rod....

 

Looks awesome from here....thanks for sharing...

 

MikeC

Thank you!  If the whole truck was that way I would keep it like that but it’s gonna be painted eventually 

[Goldfish101]

5 hours ago, TrevDaddy said:

Love the patina and KA swap! Thanks for sharing the build, glad you got the truck back.

Thank you! I’m super happy with the swap and if the whole truck had that patina it would stay that way but eventually it will be painted 

[BrothersGarage]

Welcome back! Nice lookin truck.

[Goldfish101]

On 12/15/2020 at 9:10 PM, BrothersGarage said:

Welcome back! Nice lookin truck.

Thank you, glad to be back!

[Goldfish101]

My new parts came in and i couldnt be happier, everything looks great, great price and super fast shipping.  I highly recommend Jake Anderson of Jake Makes!

 

 

Unfortunately with christmas right around the corner and several house projects being time sensative before the next one it will be a bit before i can start installing anything.  

[Goldfish101]

Last friday night a few buddies were having a bonfire and wanted to see the truck so i kindly obliged.  One thing I dont think i mentioned above was that when after i first did the ka swap i found the rear end gears and open diff needed upgraded so i swapped in 3.73 gears and had the bitch welded up.  fast forward to last friday night and after a bit i was convinced to do some burn outs when i left.  It was fun and my buddies enjoyed the show.  Later when i backed into my garage and parked i noticed i had a little toe in from both tires which i hadnt notced before.  I quickly jacked up the front and noticed some play up/down on the wheels which in any other vehicle i would chalk up to wheel bearings but im leaning towards the dreaded kingpin....  If thats the case airbags are up next but will realistically take a considerable amount of time so she will be down for awhile.  In all my research so far im planning on doing a ball joint swap which will also aid in bags up front.  

 

My question is ive read some contradicting info about track width.  My understanding is it will ad i think an inch or so track width which would mean i cant run titans.  Down the road i would love to get new/different wheels but for now i really like them and want to keep em.  

 

My second question is most things ive read refer to using Beebani's uppercontrol arms which ive heard bad things about.  Any pro's/cons or other recomendations to look at?

 

My third question is in my research actually found a kit that Beebani sells on ebay for coil/airbags front/rear on a 521 and am wondering if that may be my best bet?  The front upper control arms on that kit look nothing like the ones mentioned in just a ball joint swap so maybe issues have been addressed?  any help is greatly appreciated

[]2eDeYe]

So many familiar rides and people in the pic backgrounds. 

Glad to see you got this back and you back on the forums 🙂

 

 

Not sure on any of the ball joint stuff. Sorry. 

[MikeRL411]

16 hours ago, Goldfish101 said:

My new parts came in and i couldnt be happier, everything looks great, great price and super fast shipping.  I highly recommend Jake Anderson of Jake Makes!

 

 

Unfortunately with christmas right around the corner and several house projects being time sensative before the next one it will be a bit before i can start installing anything.  

 

Carbon fiber Jock strap ?