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Charlie69's 66 520 Build


Charlie69

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Gene stripped and primed my dash face & top today and picked up 2 bolts and 3 nuts for the cab mounts.

 

We worked on the truck tonight, but came to the conclusion I have a bad torsion bar on the left (drivers) side.

 

Did not get much done.

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Here is a Picture Gene took and emailed to me of Mark and my brother working on my 520.

 

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Well it was a Thursday evening 520 gang bang.  Gene and my brother came over and first we worked on Stretching the column.  and then gene and I worked on aligning the cab and bed and bolting down for the trip to Cal this Saturday.

 

My Brother Garret and I.

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It's Pizza Boy!!!  LOL

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SWDP Barbecue was great.  Big thank you to Gene, Mark, and my brother for all the work and materials they supplied to get it to the point I could take it to the barbecue.

 

Loaded and ready to go to Cal.

 

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At the Wig Wam in Fontana CA.

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  • 3 weeks later...

Went to a wrecking yard today that has an 83 720 king cab 2wd.  I got the ST square gauges for resale if they are good and the torsion bars for my 520.  The 80 720 chassis I put under my 520 had a week right torsion bar and the left torsion bar was jammed in the adjuster.

 

I am working on getting the Belltech spindles ordered and after I get the front suspension done I will work on the rear springs.

 

My sinuses started bleeding today at the wrecking yard so I had to slow down.  Not healed completely yet so I will just take a little easier.  I think what caused it was crawling in and out from under the truck pulling the torsion bars. 

 

It is funny I did this today by myself and it was faster and easier than when Gene helped me re-index my 520 torsion bars before the SWDP Barbecue.  All I did was pull them I did no reinstall them.  I will install them when I install the Belltech lowering spindles.

 

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  • 2 weeks later...
  • 5 weeks later...

I have not made time to work on the 520, but I have a small update.  I scored a 1965/1966 Datsun Pickup Owners Manual Model 520 Series from my SWDP brother Mark, better known as Pacific Coast Datsun (PCD). 

 

Gene Tom and I rolled up to Bullhead City when we went to Kingman to pickup the 1985 720 ST truck.  And while in Bullhead we visited Mark and then all of us went to Steroids Barn  While at Marks he gave me back a pair of tires I loaned him and presented this Owners manual to me.  I am so excited.

 

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There are 35 pages and 5 fold out pages including an early 520 wiring diagram for right hand drive.

 

Mark also on an earlier trip gave me the early 520 Factory Service Manual.  It is a great addition to my late 520 Service Manual that I already have.

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  • 2 months later...

Went to Ecology on Monday with Gene and found a 1985 720 standard cab Z24 auto regular cab truck.  Someone had taken the upper ball joints & calipers on both sides. I noticed that everything was really clean on the control arms and the spindles did not look stock.  There was spacers on the non factory caliper bracket bolts.  So today after my Dr appointment  I went back and took a picture of the Belltech lowering spindles with and found they were Belltech part # 2005,  So for $80 for the spindles and $24 for the caliper brackets I now own Belltech lowering spindles.

 

Now I have to clean and paint them and get them installed with the new to me torsion bars and new shocks.

 

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Good score on the Bell tech's. There may be an issue of rubbing on the inside lip of the rim if you run 14 inch rims on a full U turn if i remember right. Nontheless the drop spindles will make it easier to allign the front tires & be a bit lower at the same time.

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Hey Charlie, I would not waste the time on the calipers that were on it, just buy late 1986 720/early hardbody calipers and rotors and use early 720 hubs, then you will not need the spacers.

I would have grabbed the tierods also if they were good, they were likely already trimmed and you would not have to trim yours

You will not likely be able to use stock 14 inch rims with drop spindles, I believe the tie rod end hits the rim, that is why I made drop arms, I can then use my stock 521 14 inch rims if I choose to, but I normally use late 620 disc brake rims, that way I don't have to hit the inside of the 521 rim with a hammer to clear the calipers.

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