Help
Well I thought it was about time a started a project thread. A lot of this info y'all have heard, but I thought I'd organize it in one project thread.
I came to my 521 oildrop by looking for a 320. So I searched for 320's but in New England, you can forget it! Then I saw an ad for a 521 in NH. Came to Ratsun to do some research on 521's. Fell in love. So i made the call. The truck had not run in 10 years but was garaged its whole life and a texas truck most of that. And it was a 1971. the year my wife and I were born. It was a sign. The price was $500.
Went to see it. Really solid truck, but had no battery, and the brakes and clutch weren't working. So i couldn't hear it run, but he claimed it ran but needed some carb work when he put it up. He thought it would only be put up for a month, not 10 years.
The bad thing about NEw England is that a Datto is HARD as hell to find. The good news is that when they do show there isn't a huge market, so you can get some deals. We talked and he agreed to sell it to me for $225.
The most fun part was loading it on the trailer. Zero brakes, but the emergency brake worked. So we put my wife in there, and me and the PO used small tree trunks the lever it at the bumper 1 inch at a time while my wife pulled the e brake to hold it so we could reposition the levers again. Who know such a little truck would weigh so much!
He had a little tear in his eye when we drove off. Called the truck bubba. But he was retiring down to FLA and trying to sell his house and move on.
I send him an e-mail once in a while when I make some progress.
Here are the photos of its first day.
I did not have a truck that could tow, and uhaul only had a massive truck! So I had an empty truck hauling this 521 down the road!
This is how we moved it around!
I call it Oil Drop because it was owned by a mobile oil change company once and they painted this cool mascot on the side. I can only hope they changed the oil a lot too!
And here are some more pics.
Got that cap off! Beautiful bed under there.
Nice interior, even the dealer installed AC. Original radio and SPEAKER BOX. I have a red 520 metal dash to put in place of the massively cracked vinyl one.
Big ass AC compressor. I've put in a new fuelpump.
And I have a webber on an Offey mani to put on it when I get around to it. The Offey was a freebee w/the webber.
Have a EI dist that I customized, just gotta get the proper coil!
Jack and tool bag.
Tailgate had the worst rust. Totally rotted along the bottom. But I have a new gate to put on it. It is white so it will add to the ratsuness. The rest of the truck is pretty rust free for new england!
I bought these 17" 1935 Chevy artillery wheels and though they bolt on fine, they are pretty thin and I can only find super tall whitewall tires for them so I don't know if I will keep them, but for $60 (when I've seen them sell for $200-$400) I thought it was worth the risk! I've found reproductions out there in a 15" so that is an option down the road.
Sat way too high and only had 3/16 of clearance on the rear of the well. (I photoshopped the whitewalls and sun design on the wheels.)
Finally, with a little help from Photoshop, this is what I'd like to end up with. (Though these are 15" chevy smoothies. But I have a set od stock 14" w/ caps. Now, just gotta clean and paint the wheels.)
I managed to get the brakes working and the clutch. She started right up and I drove her around the yard. Felt GREAT! Then the snow hit and progress SLOWED! But spring is coming! I've run into a little Thermostat Housing issue that my Ratsun Brothers are helping me out with. I can't wait to take it to the local cruise night! These new englanders will be like, "Uhhhh Datsun made trucks?"
And thanks for putting up with a lot of repeat images and talk here guys! We've had quite a few new members since I joined, so hopefully this is new for some of y'all!
This post has been edited by fisch: 24 December 2009 - 06:45 AM
