521 on d21 frame

[Charlie69]

I just finished putting a 1980 Datsun 720 wiring harness in my 521 work truck and I figured out how to have the dash lights adjustable.

Have you got all your electrical components working?

Please share what you did to get the dash lights adjustable.

[wayno]

Hey Charlie, what I did  was take the stock bulb holders and rip out the positive metal piece in them that supplies the power to the end of the bulb from the circuit board, then I drilled a small hole in the bottom of the holder, then I found 2 clicker pens with springs in them and cut the spring in half, I then removed the wires out of an aftermarket bulb holder and a couple 720 front turn signal housings for the flat ends on them, I put the half spring on the wire and then put the wire into the holes I drilled, I put the bulb in the holder and then tested them and they worked great.

Next I put the bulb holders in the instrument cluster making sure the negative side metal piece left in the bulb holder was on the power side if the circuit in the circuit board on all 4 bulbs, and the wires coming out of the holders were all put together into one wire, I took the 2 wires for the dash lights coming out of the 720 wiring loom and connected one to the plug going into the back of the instrument cluster for the dash lights, the other I connected to the wires coming out of the bulb holders, I used a 4 wire plug for the instrument lights(2 wires) and brights indicator light(2 wires), so now I have the 2 plugs and the speedo cable to disconnect to remove the instrument cluster.

I mounted the 720 dash light adjustment switch in the headlight switch hole in the dash as I am using the 720 combination switch assembly for the lights, wipers, turn signals, and 4 ways, there are 4 holes in the dash, I am using the choke and heater switch holes, the dash light adjustment switch is used for the 3rd hole, and the 4th hole is empty at the moment, I was thinking about using that hole for an e-brake light.

 

 

None of the bulb holders uses the negative side of the circuit in the board as that messes up the 720 circuit, I cannot delete that negative circuit in the 521 instrument cluster board because other things like the charge, oil, and turn signals use that circuit also, I could not find any bulb holders that fit into the holes of the instrument cluster as Radio Shack is no more, so this is what I came up with.

[Charlie69]

Nice work Wayno, I love the simplicity of your wiring mods!

 

I will have to check my 520 circuit board I modded a while back.  I do not remember if I addressed the adjustable brightness of the Dash lights when I did the mod for the bright indicator light.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited July 14, 2018 by Charlie69

[wayno]

This instrument cluster of mine already had a 2 wire little LED light with a blue lens and a long tube, the person that had this instrument cluster before me welded the 2 wires to the copper tangs inside the bulb holder for the bright indicator light, I just cut the wires off the bulb holder and wired them to that 4 prong plug I used for the dash lights and I shoved the LED light into the long tube with some electrical tape wrapped around it and the wires to make it stay in the tube, I took the photos before wiring the brights indicator light.

 

dat nasty is using an aftermarket dash/instrument cluster, he also is using a D21 harness I believe, that is why I explained how I did everything, to try to help him understand how his wiring harness likely works, at least the light circuits, dash lights are 2 wire, one wire going in and one wire going out without any grounds, my dash light dimmer works properly this way, it is hard to say how his works, it may only need one power wire and it may already have its own way of dimming the lights.

[dat nasty]

Someday I'll take the time and do up the original cluster. This is all good information to have for then

[dat nasty]

[dat nasty]

One man's hot water discharge is another man's cold air intake. Full emissions delete. The only vacuum line I left is 2 inches for the fuel prv. Even deleted fast idle control valve which I will be adding back in, just got a new one. She rips.

 

[dat nasty]

$20 made me holla

 

[dat nasty]

Had to put a new tranny in, wasn't that bad got it for a hundred bucks, fronted to me even, had to lift the passenger side of the cab about 9-inch to do it but it was about 9 hours of Labor, could probably cut about an hour or two off the learning curve of the process LOL. Still Loving it, been torn apart for a couple weeks while I bag my front. Mocked everything up with the suspension it full drop, ended up cutting everything out to clearance and lay the frame with a little bag to spare. I've come to the conclusion if you're just going to coil it or do it 4 by 4 the D21 frame is great. If you're going to bag it or do anything crazy just build a tube frame. I've cut so much of this Frame out. still flipping love driving it, the attention it gets is unreal

Edited July 12, 2018 by dat nasty

[Charlie69]

I just fixed my picture links above and had to use th "Direct Link" second from the top for Post Image.

[Stoffregen Motorsports]

On 7/12/2018 at 12:05 PM, dat nasty said:

Had to put a new tranny in, wasn't that bad got it for a hundred bucks, fronted to me even, had to lift the passenger side of the cab about 9-inch to do it but it was about 9 hours of Labor, could probably cut about an hour or two off the learning curve of the process LOL. Still Loving it, been torn apart for a couple weeks while I bag my front. Mocked everything up with the suspension it full drop, ended up cutting everything out to clearance and lay the frame with a little bag to spare. I've come to the conclusion if you're just going to coil it or do it 4 by 4 the D21 frame is great. If you're going to bag it or do anything crazy just build a tube frame. I've cut so much of this Frame out. still flipping love driving it, the attention it gets is unreal

Or... if you're going to do all that custom work, why not just use the original frame.

 

Custom tube frames are not that easy to build. If you care about measurements, you will need a frame table, or at least be competent in welding and knowing how heat will change the finished product. I could totally see a custom frame being out by as much as 1/2" after welding, if the person did not know what they were doing.

 

When building a custom drag racing rail chassis, there are two welders, one on each side, welding at the same pace and in the same (opposite) spots, to make sure heat warpage is the same on each side.

 

Fire truck ladders are pre-bent with 3" of bend in them so that after final welding, they are straight.

 

Glad to hear this project is still going strong. This is one of my favorites here on Ratsun. I wonder what's going on with that bagged 521 crew cab with the V8? That's another one I like to watch.

 

[dat nasty]

 my friend sent me pictures of the crew cab, I love it, mixed feelings about it though. I almost feel like at that point it should have six doors LOL.

 finished bagging the front, well you never really do finish, 2600 bags all round. Recessed into the frame up front. it is amazing. Both performance and fun. Redid a little wiring and put a bigger intake on, finally seeing the potential of everything, totally worth it. Next step is going to be triangulating my lower control arms to finish laying it out. I can set the front down as long as the back has the slightest bit have air in it. But completely laid out front is still 3/4" off ground due to steering binding on radius arms. Can't turn right without lifting to clear the idler arm. I could do drop spindles and be done but my clearance between wheel and Fender is less than credit card when it motions so I don't want to mess with any of that geometry

[dat nasty]

Also put back the fast idle control and auxiliary air control valve's, my alternator seems to be much happier about it and that's really the only reason I did it

[Charlie69]

Pictures please.

[dat nasty]

[dat nasty]

 

[dat nasty]

[dat nasty]

[dat nasty]

[dat nasty]

[dat nasty]

[dat nasty]

900# scrap. Like it wasn't even there

[wayno]

It's nice to see it is still a truck, and a 521 with way more power than it had.

[mikec4193]

6 hours ago, dat nasty said:

900# scrap. Like it wasn't even there

Love this picture.....thanks for posting...

 

MikeC

[dat nasty]

Well I just looked at a 72 and I'm going to pick it up. It's probably nicer than my blue one. Pretty sure I'm going to put it on my 90 4x4 d21. Seeing how the other cab set on before I cut it up I think it is going to get big quick

Edited May 16, 2019 by dat nasty
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