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A 521 in Massachusetts


Crashtd420

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All those stickers; you must be sponsored.

I was working in a motorcycle junkyard back in Cali when I first got my datsun. The owner also bought new parts for customers.. so There were a bunch of stickers leftover....

I kept them on because I always felt they fit the vibe of the truck plus it ties it back to the cali days....

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Got some wiring done this weekend and today....

I now have a working horn which never worked before....

I also pulled the wires to go to the headlights and turn signals, still some work left there but all the connections are made behind the dash also I finally added grommets to the firewall with my wires coming through.....

 

Got the back wired and working.....

 

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Parking and reverse....

 

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Brakes....

 

I'm using the outer bulb as turn signals... that was a little hard to get a pic, so I don't have one... I haven't done the corner markers yet.. I am painting the trim rings, but I have the wires ready to go....

Another surprise was my directional and hazard actually flashed...

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Well it's a good thing I got that wiring done.... did this at work on friday....

 

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Luckily just fractured the tip parralel to the finger. Was not a full break and the fracture didnt reach the joint...

 

With that said I still have a deadline I want to meet...

My hopes are the weather will be in range to paint come april....

 

I'll be looking to start hanging the doors and fenders this week and check the gaps. And basically make sure anything that need to be painted is ready to go....

 

I also have seatbelts on the way...

Besides bolting them in when they arrive I only have a few small things left to do before I need the painted parts to move on...

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Well with 9 fingers and a jack I got the doors hung .... still need to adjust some.. driver door is a little unhappy, passenger seems real close.

I still need to drive the pins completely in on the hinges I thought I could bolt the two halves on and just have to drop the pin in to get the doors on but that's not gonna work....

 

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I was gonna bolt the half of the door latch that mounts those to the cab.. realized the silver shims where way to visible.... a little black rustoleum took care of that...

 

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I'll be getting the fenders lined up this week.... I think the driveside should line up good but I know the passenger side is gonna need some work....

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Had a small moment in the garage....

Those little shims came out good... matches the rest of the semigloss parts i have done with the por15 top coat so i decided to see how well the rustoleum will hold up on some of my accent pieces...

I was able to clean them with a small hand sandblaster. Couple light coats on the back... I'll flip over tomorrow and finish..

 

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Trim rings for the turn signals and marker lights....

 

In between waiting for paint to dry I took a look at the drivers door... no matter what I did to adjust the hinges I couldn't get the door to close all the way...

It was impossible to take pictures of what the problem was, but I figured it out....

 

What I was able to do is remove the door and with a flat hammer i flatten the metal where the top hinge bolted. Basically where the top hinge bolts to door was bowed out from the door being forced open past where it should over the years..

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So does anyone know where the front turn signal and parking light wiring should be ran?

For some reason I thought they went into the head light bucket, then out to the other lights, but I don't see how...

 

There is also a grommet on the inner fender well just before the headlights I thought about using but I don't see any where to secure the wires....

 

Also I pulled all my lighting wires into the cab so both headlight/turn/park come down both inner fender wells, they do not cross at the radiator. So I'm aware I may need to get creative...

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The front park and turn lights wires on a 521 have are wrapped up with the headlight wires, enter the headlight buckets from the top, and then go down to the back side of the park and turn lights.  There is a cover, on the inside of the fender, that protects the wires and light from debris thrown off the front tire.  The park and turn lights are grounded by their mounting bolts.

 

The grommet on the inner fender, just aft of the headlight buckets is for the side marker light wires.  These lights need a power, and a ground wire.

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Got the driver fender on....

Gap to hood was real good....

Need to move the door around some too but all in all not to bad....

Yes there are still dents and waves and no I don't care I'm painting them like you see it.... they actually were worse before...

 

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Passenger side not so good.... ran out of time and forgot pics because it wasn't right yet....

I need to get a closer look behind the fender... the gap starts off decent at the front but gets wider along the hood cap near the windshield... has to be catching or hitting something....

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Also got a coat of semi gloss on a few other parts.....

 

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Steering column cover, which I f@#%ing dropped as I was getting set up...

One of the screw mounts broke, actually looks like it was fixed once already... easy fix....

 

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Mirrors....

 

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Fresh air vent...

 

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Speedometer cover/ trim thing .. I actually don't know what it's really called...

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The park/turn lights should be OK to not have a separate ground.  All the sheet metal between them and the ground wire at the voltage regulator screw is welded.

If you are running an IR alternator, you still need the ground wire attached to the inner fender where the voltage regulator was.

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Looking good. I just dealt with all that wiring crap when I redid the headlight harness. It was real fun.

Thanks....

I made it even more interesting by pulling everything into the cab..... atleast it's all still working.....

I eventually wanna redo alot of the connectors, and shorten some wiring, not to mention add some sort of split loom.. trying not to half ass it, but in some places I am for now... mostly in the interior. I took my time and used heat shrink tubes on the rear harness...

I will probably next winter pull the front harness and finish it properly once I know where all my wires are going.....

 

 

And here's a pic of the gap on the passenger side.....

 

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Hopefully I can get that figured out today or this weekend....

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Not able to work in the garage but I was able to bring the fresh air box inside and seal it up...

 

Used this stuff I had ....

 

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I put a small square so the trap door wouldn't hit metal every time it was opened.... also had to bend where the spring attached. When I tried to close it the door would hit it and not close completely....

 

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My mission is not to freeze my ass off when I'm driving, some mornings can be cold... Last time around I had duct tape over the opening at the hood so much air was coming in...

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My new seat belts showed up....

Got a set of 3 point retractables from seatbeltsplus.com

 

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Quality seems real good....

 

Also been working on the passenger fender... getting a little better...

I moved the hood around some too....

And am thinking I might widen the driveside gap to match the passenger...

Hoping to have that finished by this Sunday one way or another...

 

How wide should the gap be at the cowling and along the fenders and hood?

 

If anyone has a pic or gap measurement they would like to share please do.... I'm mostly interested in the end of the fender near the window and cowling...

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Most of mine have a 3/16ths or less gap between the hood and the cowl and a 1/4 inch gap between the hood and the fenders.

You must keep in mind that stuff like that is not on my top ten list, I just try make sure that when I open/close stuff it don't hit anything and chip paint.

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The hood gap by the cowl is regulated by the front of the hood aligning with the front of the fenders, the fenders are regulated by the gap between the fender and door, the door gap starts at the rear door gap, so one starts at the door and works their way forward.

Like I said, I don't pay a lot of attention to that stuff, as long as it functions properly, doesn't chip paint, and as long as it is not so far out it looks stupid, I really don't care myself, to get all the gaps even and the same is better than they came from the factory, the ball bearing thing didn't happen yet when these were built, at least I believe it happened later.

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You access the bolts to mount the door hinges to the pillar on the inside of the cab behind the kick panel.

I think he's talking about the fender bolts inside the fender, that bolt to the same pillar as the door... i have never looked at how to access to them.....

 

Greenthumb, This is probably what you want to use... rivet nut tool.....

Drill hole, install insert.. nice threaded hole ...

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The hood gap by the cowl is regulated by the front of the hood aligning with the front of the fenders, the fenders are regulated by the gap between the fender and door, the door gap starts at the rear door gap, so one starts at the door and works their way forward.

 

I don't think I was approaching it with that thought process in mind....

I did notice that one hole to mount the fender closest to the windshield was in fact a solid thread hole, not just a captured nut underneither... so that makes a little more sense....

Gonna try it like that and see where I end up.... as long as I can get it to look somewhat symmetrical I'll be satisfied....

Thanks wayno....

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