New Truck - '71 521

[wayno]

On 3/10/2026 at 10:35 AM, andyZ00m said:

Did some diging and my steering is totally fine. Not gunna fix it if it aint broke. 

 

One thing I cant find... this fricken glove box knob. Anyone got one of these? 

 

 

 

I have a few of these, but they are used, PM me.

[dat521gatherer]

Hey Andy, threads to my 3 521's are at the bottom of this reply. Nice truck!!

Edited March 22 by dat521gatherer

[andyZ00m]

On 3/22/2026 at 4:49 PM, dat521gatherer said:

Hey Andy, threads to my 3 521's are at the bottom of this reply. Nice truck!!

 

Awesome!! Just went through all of those and tons of awesome stuff dude!! Also thanks for the chat. 

[andyZ00m]

Got new three point belts in and ready for the new seat upholstery which I go pickup tomorrow. 

 

Got new wheels and tires as I didnt like the bigger/wider 16" wheels. Went with 15x5 boyd steelies and Michelin 165R-15 XZX (spendy but really fricken nice). Those go on tomorrow as well once I can take them to the tire shop. 

 

The Boyd Coddington 15" fit over the large 13" discs in front without rubbing the calipers and bring the profile and overall diameter back to stock. Should look awesome. 

 

Also, thanks to Wayno, I got the glove box knob back in action. Appreciate it man!!

 

Had to cut down the seatbelt brackets a bit to fit in the flat spot of the b pillar. Used the two holes to align with the string and then hot glued the inside of the bracket and pulled it into the pressure fit hole I drilled in the B pil;lar with an allen key to keep it in place enough to get the bolt in. Then used a second smaller hole with a screw driver jammer in there to keep the plate from spinning while I tightened the bolt. Worked well and didnt need to weld or rivet! 

 

 

[andyZ00m]

 

Finished job! Now I can take the kids in the truck!

[Slow Loris]

5 hours ago, andyZ00m said:

Now I can take the kids in the truck

 You and your spouse securely belted in the cab, kids in the bed where they belong.

[andyZ00m]

33 minutes ago, Slow Loris said:

 You and your spouse securely belted in the cab, kids in the bed where they belong.

 

Exactly. Actually its wife and kids in the bed and now I can properly secure the beer cooler in the front... 🙂

[andyZ00m]

Got the new seat in. Material turned out to be a but lighter than I wanted but its all good. 

 

[andyZ00m]

[andyZ00m]

Belt fits me perfectly and is super comfy in the seat. Super happy with the result! 

 

 

Edited March 31 by andyZ00m

[pidge]

Belts came out great man. Seat looks good as well. Nice job. 
-Pidge

[andyZ00m]

New shoes! This looks much better to me! 

 

[Slow Loris]

Super nice seat! How do you like the bench seat? I think you mentioned you are a giant, feel like you fit, kinda sorta? Thinking of going that route in my 521 but also need the leg room and lower seating position of the bucket. I understand the bench has you up kinda higher.

[datzenmike]

Put Datsun bucket seats in my '71. Couldn't push them back enough to be comfortable and I'm only 5/10. If buckets.... get thin backed ones.

[Slow Loris]

Yeah I like my buckets for comfort but love the look of the bench. My seats are from a newer Volvo s40 so they are pretty swanky but also just look like plain black leather seats. Not too anachronistic. 
 

But the bench has that bench seat gravitas mmhmm. Especially a nice one like @andyZ00m here. Hard to find!

[andyZ00m]

22 minutes ago, Slow Loris said:

Yeah I like my buckets for comfort but love the look of the bench. My seats are from a newer Volvo s40 so they are pretty swanky but also just look like plain black leather seats. Not too anachronistic. 
 

But the bench has that bench seat gravitas mmhmm. Especially a nice one like @andyZ00m here. Hard to find!

 

Yeah Im kindof a purist with the bench for a truck. plus gotta git the dog and a kiddo in this tiny little tuna can of a cab. Im 6'3" and fit just fine on the bench. I made sure to ask the upholstery dude to replace the foam and not just add another layer like they normally do to avoid the 1" lift on the old butt cheeks.

 

[Slow Loris]

9 hours ago, andyZ00m said:

the 1" lift on the old butt cheeks.

I believe in the business we call that the Jennifer Lopez.

 

 

9 hours ago, andyZ00m said:

and fit just fine

Oh nice. Glad to hear it. One day the bench seat gods will shine on my 500 mile marketplace search results.

[andyZ00m]

Soo.... truck stopped running last night. On a date nigth with the wife (this seems to be a trend... this truck is jealous) and just stopped running. Got fuel (can hear it squirting), starter is turning the engine over, but no joy. I thought it was fuel, but doesnt seem to be.

 

Having it towed home this morning (again died about 5 blocks from home) and going to troubleshoot the electrical system. It has a 78 matchbox HEI and everything about the ignition system is new (plugs, wires, coil, rotor, cap, wiring, etc). 

 

Any other ideas of what to look for? 

[bilzbobaggins]

1 hour ago, andyZ00m said:

Soo.... truck stopped running last night. On a date nigth with the wife (this seems to be a trend... this truck is jealous) and just stopped running. Got fuel (can hear it squirting), starter is turning the engine over, but no joy. I thought it was fuel, but doesnt seem to be.

 

Having it towed home this morning (again died about 5 blocks from home) and going to troubleshoot the electrical system. It has a 78 matchbox HEI and everything about the ignition system is new (plugs, wires, coil, rotor, cap, wiring, etc). 

 

Any other ideas of what to look for? 

 

Shot in the dark but I had the wiring go bad between the distributor and the coil once.  They were the factory wires so when that happened they were 40ish years old.

[andyZ00m]

1 minute ago, bilzbobaggins said:

 

Shot in the dark but I had the wiring go bad between the distributor and the coil once.  They were the factory wires so when that happened they were 40ish years old.

yeah everything there is new and I did some jiggling of the wires but I’m having it towed to the house so I can properly troubleshoot. 

[wayno]

I had my 1971 Datsun 521 work truck die while I was driving it, the police showed up and were going to call a wrecker/tow truck, I told him I would have it running soon but that was not going to work for him as it was in the road, so I said I will get it out of the road, I got in it, waited for traffic and used the starter to get it out of the road, it likely weighed close to over 6000lbs with all that wet moss in the flatbed, lucky I still had battery left to start it, it turned out to be that "T" plug on the matchbox distributor, it was shorting out, I put some paper or something like that to keep the wires apart and it started right up, as I got the truck/trailer off the road the police officer was shaking his head, he could not believe I just did that, but it was out of the road, not his problem anymore.

[datzenmike]

wayno I also had a '71 and the flywheel bolts all sheared off while driving. The engine ran but once shut off that was that. The starter would still engage the flywheel so I put in gear and used the starter to move it several blocks to a residential area for the night. 

 

The L20B had sat out all winter and the threads were rusty. When torquing the flywheel bolts they tightened before they were actually firmly against the flywheel. I may not have been the first electric powered 521. 

[banzai510(hainz)]

cheack power to the black white wire to the coil. with key on. if this is good then wire on truck is most liKley fine.

 

you get spark out of center coil wire to ground trying to start?

 

this is a simple fix.

 

I always look a the fuses in case one is a idiot. My fuse box is exposed as I lost the cover and have to clean and check sometimes.

 

got gas carb?

get spark?power to + side coil.

then check  compression means ck the valve lash

 

for you ck the matchbox.

 

you still running point coil(bad means you still need ballast resistor) or a newer low ohm coil????????

Edited Sunday at 06:44 PM by banzai510(hainz)

[andyZ00m]

4 hours ago, banzai510(hainz) said:

cheack power to the black white wire to the coil. with key on. if this is good then wire on truck is most liKley fine.

 

you get spark out of center coil wire to ground trying to start?

 

this is a simple fix.

 

I always look a the fuses in case one is a idiot. My fuse box is exposed as I lost the cover and have to clean and check sometimes.

 

got gas carb?

get spark?power to + side coil.

then check  compression means ck the valve lash

 

for you ck the matchbox.

 

you still running point coil(bad means you still need ballast resistor) or a newer low ohm coil????????

 

Checked spark and it was good. (coil making arcs to ground and plug tester showing lights)

 

Thought I had fuel but turned out no fuel was getting to carb. Changed out filter and took out fuel pump, but it was good. 

 

Still not quite sure what it was but I have a feeling it was the hard line between the fuel pump and the carb. I think I need to replace that thing. Compressed air was going through it but at lower pressure than I was expecting. 

 

I swapped out the filter for a new WIX, and bypassed the hardline with a direct soft line from fuel pump to carb for now. WIll need to replace the hardline. 

[wayno]

When you used compressed air in the line did you hear the fuel bubbling in the tank, all of a sudden my engine started but it did not last long after blowing air thru the line to the tank, rust flakes in the tank plugged up the pickup tube in the tank right away again, we hit it harder with the air and I somehow made it home, the tank was full of rust flakes, this was my 1965 Datsun 320 right after I thought I got it dependable, I have heard this truck is still alive in the sea/tac area.