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Has anyone converted a 521 from LH to RH drive?


Willdatsun

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Has anyone converted a 521 from LH to RH drive?

620/720 look tricky due to the dash and firewall but 521 looks like the speedo and glove compartment interchange and the firewall looks like it is pressed for the column, and master cylinders, so hopefully drilling holes, fitting some captive nuts etc and it will work? Are there mounts for the upper column braket/pedal box on the passenger side of a 521?

 

I'm thinking the idler arm will work on the other side of the frame (extra holes) but the steering box will not. I considered a 720 LH drive box, swapped to the 620 LHD passenger side so it sits inboard of the frame rail. Would that work do you think? Will the centre trackrod work the other way round?

 

Parking brake, does that look easy to move over? Wiring, brake pipes, speedometer cable, and it should be done what do you think?

 

Will

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There's a lot to think about, you are correct about the idler arm being interchangeable, it will mount on either side as I have done this to fabricate a power steering setup on my 521.

See how the center link is in position with 2 idler arms, and the separate steering arm shaft is connected like a 4X4 setup to a custom center link with a tierod connection.

100_0154.jpg

I mounted the 720 PS gear/box on the outside of the frame and used the stock center link to make the connection.

100_0155.jpg

here is the idler arm on the driverside.

DSCN0628.jpg

And the passinger side connection to the custom center link.

DSCN0629.jpg

You could basicly do the same thing, but you would need to figure out how to mount the steering box on the passinger side to make the connection.

Another avenue to consider is that the early 620 steering boxes might be similar to the 521, and you might be able to find a 620 in australia or the UK with what you need for all the steering components.

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According to the factory service manual, Nissan made RHD 521 trucks in several different variations. There is a long bed truck, a double cab pickup, and even a van. It looks like all the RHD drive trucks had the J-13 or the J-15 engine.

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Yes I know they were sold in Australia for example. There are unfortunatley no 620s let alone 521s in the UK for spares hence i'm bringing some old trucks in. I've bought a 520 in Idaho which i will get picked up in about a week hopefully. If I can RH drive convert a 520 or 521 without harming the truck and cutting it about its certainly something I want to try.

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  • 2 years later...

The truck...

521ca1.jpg

 

521-003.jpg

 

Stripped out.. 521pedalsremoved.jpg

 

Dash looks symmetrical but.. it isn't quite. There are tabs etc on the passenger side to do the glovebox latch and the cluster doesn't quite fit in it .. so we carefully sliced up the dash into 5 pieces .

 

521rhdconv18.jpg

 

And carefully welded it back together.

521rhdconv18.jpg

 

and carefully welded it back together. 521rhdconv31.jpg

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Once smoothed down, you can't see the joins when the glovebox and cluster are back in.

521rhddash.jpg

 

We used a steering box from a RHD 620 (620s are so rare in England, I actually had to get this from Australia!)

521rhdconv49.jpg

 

The box bolts right up (the 2 chassis bolts) and a bracket was made to stabilise the 3rd bolt (copied design from other side). The 521 steering joint tapers fit perfectly in the 620 droparm. The 521 Idler arm bolts right up to where the LHD steering box was. The 620 column is slightly shorter than the 521 one, this is no bad thing.  The alternator was in the way so that's getting moved to the other side.

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Would you (or anyone) happen to know if this RHD conversion would have any fitment issues with an SR20DET Swap? I know that there are some fitment issues with the turbo setup and steering column (I believe, based off the thread I read) on a stock LHD 521. That being said, Im thinking that by converting to RHD, I can avoid that issue; however, I'm not sure if the manifold will allow clearance.

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