wayno Posted September 2, 2016 Report Share Posted September 2, 2016 It's easy to talk about it, it's very hard to do it. I was hoping crew521 was going to do a 3/4 door like he suggested at the start, but he didn't, he went with a very long cab that don't look stock. With enough time and fabrication you will get there, but it is going to take time doing it the hard way/from scratch, take your time and figure out the best way to accomplish what you want, the only thing I would suggest is to clean the metal before you put it in position, painted dirty metal doesn't weld worth a shit, and it takes time to fix the results. 2 Quote Link to comment
hobospyder Posted January 12, 2017 Report Share Posted January 12, 2017 is this thing still a thing? 1 Quote Link to comment
Lockleaf Posted January 13, 2017 Author Report Share Posted January 13, 2017 Very much a thing. I've been hunting for a 3rd cab because I discovered I very much lack the skills to fabricate half a door frame :). But just last week, this happened. I think I broke my truck today. One of my rods sounds like it wishes it were free of it's iron cage. So now I have a decision to make. 1. I have a spare z24 with a blown head gasket. I could staple that back together and run that. 2. I could dig up a junkyard ka and swap that in. 3. I could abandon getting it running again, and cut my cab apart and use that for the parts I need to finish my quad cab build. I have no idea what I'm going to do. Defining NEED is a large part of my inner turmoil. I've owned crappie cars for so long, I always have a spare just in case. But my R50 pathfinder is totally reliable and so is my wife's car. I just don't like being without my security blanket. I was driving the truck to work just for fun, cuz I love it, when it died. And I often loan out my spare vehicle when family has car trouble, so I kind of dislike being able to help them. But damn me if I don't want to cut her up and go for broke on that quad cab! Oh, and it's pretty much already decided. I'm thinking quad cab wins. If I need an extra vehicle, i better just get my 510 running :). Right now I'm taking it easy on my projects because I'm taking the Utah BAR exam in February, so study takes priority. Once that's done, it will be on. I'm super excited to get back to work on this beast. 3 Quote Link to comment
hobospyder Posted January 13, 2017 Report Share Posted January 13, 2017 good luck on the bar dude. was looking for this thread because i know someone who knows where a true one is just sitting and waiting with no title. and after finding it today i realized why i couldn't find it 1 Quote Link to comment
]2eDeYe Posted January 13, 2017 Report Share Posted January 13, 2017 Good luck :D 2 Quote Link to comment
Lockleaf Posted January 13, 2017 Author Report Share Posted January 13, 2017 good luck on the bar dude. was looking for this thread because i know someone who knows where a true one is just sitting and waiting with no title. and after finding it today i realized why i couldn't find it Thanks. And go steal that truck. :) 1 Quote Link to comment
hobospyder Posted January 13, 2017 Report Share Posted January 13, 2017 Thanks. And go steal that truck. :) trying to get the guy that knows where it is to pick it up but he wants to grab a bagged 620 from a buddy first since that might disappear on him. the 720 has been sitting in a wrecking yard for 15-20 years i think he said. not titled which is why it went into the yard, imported too early we think 1 Quote Link to comment
wayno Posted January 13, 2017 Report Share Posted January 13, 2017 There was one up in a wrecking yard up in the Seattle/Tacoma area without a title, I believe it showed up at the Blue Lake 2016 meet/show as legal titled vehicle, I searched but could not find a photo of it. As I recall the guy put the 720 dual/crew cab on a kingcab frame he had a title for, switched the dashes and everything was technically legal as they didn't distinguish between cab design on the title. 1 Quote Link to comment
Charlie69 Posted January 13, 2017 Report Share Posted January 13, 2017 Lockleaf when you pass the bar and get a real good paying job are you still going to play with Datsun's or are you going to play with higher priced toys? LOL Good Luck!!!! Quote Link to comment
Lockleaf Posted January 13, 2017 Author Report Share Posted January 13, 2017 Lockleaf when you pass the bar and get a real good paying job are you still going to play with Datsun's or are you going to play with higher priced toys? LOL Good Luck!!!! No and yes! When I'm rich I'll restore a roadster! That should be fairly painful on my pocketbook :). The realities are that 1) I expect it will be a few years at least before I'm in a "good paying" job, 2) I have a nearly mortgage size amount of school debt and 3) I own my top 3 desirable cars already. I own an s13 hatchback, my 510 wagon, and of course, I'm building this truck. If I start making good money, the quality of my builds will go up is all. Stainless exhaust, fully machined and rebuilt engines, cool jdm rims, high quality tires, maybe a buffalo leather interior or a turbo build, etc. Not big tanker level, but better. Frankly I would rather purchase another acre or 5 of land on which to build my dream home than drive an expensive car. 6 Quote Link to comment
Lockleaf Posted January 13, 2017 Author Report Share Posted January 13, 2017 I love the build. Owning a sweet car when it's done is just the gravy. The build is why I do this stuff. I do plan to spend money on stuff to improve my build ability. Tig welder, mill, lathe, brake lathe (modified to just be a versatile open end lathe), 2 post lift, etc. Quote Link to comment
Nissan_Boy85 Posted January 14, 2017 Report Share Posted January 14, 2017 There was one up in a wrecking yard up in the Seattle/Tacoma area without a title, I believe it showed up at the Blue Lake 2016 meet/show as legal titled vehicle, I searched but could not find a photo of it. As I recall the guy put the 720 dual/crew cab on a kingcab frame he had a title for, switched the dashes and everything was technically legal as they didn't distinguish between cab design on the title. The VIN was at Canby as it's King Cab self. The dual cab setup was at Blue Lake. This is how it appeared at Blue Lake. Rumor has it that it will make it to Canby this year... 4 Quote Link to comment
Fast720 Posted January 18, 2017 Report Share Posted January 18, 2017 Hey Lockleaf How is the more door coming along ? any more progress ? Quote Link to comment
Lockleaf Posted January 18, 2017 Author Report Share Posted January 18, 2017 The last couple posts on the previous page pretty much cover it. Holding pattern until the end of February because I'm taking my BAR exam then. But I now have a third truck to cut apart for the last of my needed parts. Quote Link to comment
Lockleaf Posted March 1, 2017 Author Report Share Posted March 1, 2017 Hey look! A thing happened! I went to the Junkyard. Pic is when things were about to get real. Generator and sawzall wheeled out into the yard. Cut myself some body panels. But when i got up front, the bastards charged me the exact same amount as if i had bought the entire cab, i decided they could go to Hell and i would not be giving them even more of my money. So i bailed on the other stuff i was considering, which included a radio, some gauges, a couple of superchargers, and possibly some seats and headlights. They would have made a ton more money off me if They hadn't ripped me off. (in case anyone is struggling, those are 720 door frames. They are upside down.) 2 Quote Link to comment
wayno Posted March 2, 2017 Report Share Posted March 2, 2017 That is why I always ask how much for something out the door before I make the effort, I used to ask how much for a 521 cab top, I don't even think about it anymore, they want too much for something they will get less than $20.00 for in metal weight and they will never sell a cab. They wanted $190.00 for a 5 speed out the door last week, I walked out without anything. 2 Quote Link to comment
Lockleaf Posted March 7, 2017 Author Report Share Posted March 7, 2017 (edited) Well hot damn! It fits! Edited February 14, 2020 by Lockleaf 4 Quote Link to comment
Lockleaf Posted March 7, 2017 Author Report Share Posted March 7, 2017 (edited) And now for detail ad naseum. Getting the new door frame to fit started off with more of the usual standing and v staring. I still couldn't wrap my brain around interlocking all the pieces. I concluded that i was still trying to mess with too many layers, so more disassembly was necessary. Both on the door frame and the cab. I removed the upper half of the inner skin of the B pillar. Lots of spot weld cutting, since i don't know what I will want to reuse. I also cut most the b pillar inner skin off the new door frame piece. Which left me here. I'm going to end up removing the inner skin from the blue upper "frame" too. Bought a magnetic angle finder recently, knowing i was going to be lowering my 510 wagon soonish. Turns out the angle finder is the tool I've been missing. It helped make setting this door frame up go fantastically. This is the initial jamming in the door frame. I cut way too much off the bottom. Oops. You can see how poorly the window frame lined up. I anticipated making 2 cuts to reshape the frame how i needed it, but first i needed to get the lower section of frame properly placed. Edited February 14, 2020 by Lockleaf 1 Quote Link to comment
Lockleaf Posted March 7, 2017 Author Report Share Posted March 7, 2017 (edited) Here's where the angle finder became awesome. No portion of this door frame is actually vertical, regardless of appearance. i wanted the lower frames to be mirror images but since nothing is square, i had no way to use a measuring tape to mirror them. I measured the angle of the door sill. It was 1 degree tilted to the front. Then i measured the blue door frame angle. That's what i needed to match. I got 81 degrees. If the truck were perfectly level, that would be 80 degrees. Accounting for the 1 degree angle, i set the new door frame to 79 degrees. I set the door frame in as wide as I felt was possible, but there wasn't really any "science" to it. At this point, the vertical upper half of my new door frame (which is the window portion of the frame) was leaning the wrong way. It was tilted toward the front of the truck, which would require a trapezoidal window that couldn't be rolled down... Back to the angle finder! Only now i wanted them to match, not be mirrored. I got 93 degrees. But to match that, i needed to make a cut so i could bend the frame to its new angle. Then got the angle lined up and clamped the upper frame in place. And once i was comfortable with the fit, I put in a few tacks to hold it together. On to the last piece! I cut the corner so I could pull the frame up to line it up. It was misaligned by over an inch. I also needed to trim it back to proper length to fit. Though potentially unnecessary, i used the angle finder to check my work and align the upper frames properly. Then i tacked that corner back together. The frames now lined up along the X and Y axis, but I couldn't get the frame to come out of the truck enough to line up with the body along the Z axis. Edited February 14, 2020 by Lockleaf 3 Quote Link to comment
Lockleaf Posted March 7, 2017 Author Report Share Posted March 7, 2017 (edited) Back inside to see how to resolve the Z axis issue. There are two identical panels here. One is on the truck, the other is on the new door frame. I have to remove one of them to make this work. So i cut that section out of the body. Worked great. Now i had full alignment. Crap pics but the black and orange are flush now. I need to make some fiddly cuts to fine tune a couple things, but that's pretty well fitted. As a bonus, the upper seatbelt mount is perfectly positioned to be welded properly back in and be safely useable. And the pic from last night. Finished. With one small but important step. Edited February 14, 2020 by Lockleaf 5 Quote Link to comment
Lockleaf Posted March 7, 2017 Author Report Share Posted March 7, 2017 Yesterday was just an all around good day. I got my flat trailer out of my junkyard...i mean backyard, loaded it with tons of crap that has been in my way for a year, then reorganized and prioritized my projects. I even built a tow bar adapter for my 240 which will be getting some cheap lovin soon. 4 Quote Link to comment
LTJ Posted March 8, 2017 Report Share Posted March 8, 2017 Good work on that door frame! 1 Quote Link to comment
Lockleaf Posted March 8, 2017 Author Report Share Posted March 8, 2017 (edited) Not sure I've mentioned this yet, but from where i am it's the same amount of effort to build this totally normal or to build it super awesome. My rear door frame is built out of two back halves. I have no hinges anywhere. So I'm going suicide. Aftermarket suicide hinges are stupid expensive. I can't and won't spend what they ask. So I've found a right proper solution. Nissan titan king cab. Two stage opening. Stage 1 about 100 degrees open. Stage 2 open is 170ish degrees. And an additional feature i like, the top and bottom hinges are welded together, which will prevent me from misaligning the hinges. I'm pretty sure I'm extremely good at not lining hinges up properly. Final bonus? These are pretty damn cheap at junkyards. Edited February 14, 2020 by Lockleaf 2 Quote Link to comment
Rhino13 Posted March 9, 2017 Report Share Posted March 9, 2017 Is it going to have a pillar or be open like that? Making some good progress! I'm stoked to see where this thing ends up going, obviously there's a lot of variables that can change! Quote Link to comment
Lockleaf Posted March 9, 2017 Author Report Share Posted March 9, 2017 I plan to close every opening in that B pillar. When i was attempting to hand fab this frame, i cut away far too much of the trucks existing b pillar. I will patch all of that. When i do the other side, i hope to just be able to splice the door frame in to the B pillar without the need for filler panels. It will not be open like the Titan. I'm not smart enough to build that. That piece of door frame isn't welded in yet. Just fitted. I plan to reconstruct everything basically how the it was from the factory. If there were 3 layers in the upper door frame and i removed 2, i will weld the 3rd layer, then reinstall the 2nd layer and weld/reinforce/fishplate that, then do it again for the 1st layer. I'm fully deconstructing most of where I'm working with plans to fully reconstruct it. And thanks! 1 Quote Link to comment
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