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Project DIY: 1971 Datsun 521


Madness

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:lol: PORT-A-WALLS!

 

the 210 casting is on the spark plug side of the head. I'm not really looking to build a crazy horsepower motor or anything, just enough to keep the truck moving.

 

The floor will be seam sealed, painted, covered with sound deadening and the bottom side will get chassis saver with VW factory undercoating.

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Updates!

 

First thing was to convert my gauge cluster to all LED lighting.

I bought 3 types of LED's through superbrightleds.com

4 Blue wide agle (360* vewing) for the instrument lighting. 3 Red narrow angle (90* vewing) for warning lights. And 2 Green narrow angle for turn signal indicators.

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I pulled the gauge cluster apart... again.

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I have to remove these old boring green filters out so I can change the color of the cluster lighting.

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To do that you have to carve away at the two melted stems, that you can see on the backside of the cluster, that hold the filters in.

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Removed

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Then all I had to do was pop in the new LED's. The connections do have a positive and negative that are not marked so when I test the cluster I may have to flip a few of them to light them up.

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Out with the old.

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While I was at it I wanted to see if I would be able to fix the original dash knobs that I had instead of trying to find new ones in better condition.

This headlight knob had a lot missing out of it but the JB Stick (a JB Weld clay), a few different grits of sand paper, and a quick shot of paint fixed it right up.

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Finally I got to the dash pad. A couple of seams on the corners but I don't think it came out to bad. I'm hoping that it will be a little more smooth as time goes on and the vinyl shrinks.

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And a little teaser pic.

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-Bart

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The connections do have a positive and negative that are not marked so when I test the cluster I may have to flip a few of them to light them up.

 

Hey if you look inside the LED at the contacts you can tell. The bigger one (usually) with a bowl shape at the top is the neg and the smaller longer one (usually) with a tiny wire going into the bowl is the pos.

 

My friend saves LEDs destined for the garbage at his job and that's how he does it, always works.

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UPDATE!

 

I tested the gauge cluster last night. I think it came out really well, the pictures make it look brighter than it really is though.

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Then my girlfriend went picture happy. She wanted to take some pictures of me.

Pulled the heater assembly. It was full of leaves and crud but came out pretty clean.

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Me shortly after shattering my perfect windshield moving it to a "safe spot". :thumbdown:

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Me under the truck... I think unbolting the trans.

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One last pic of her. Her first time using air tools.

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bart

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man those panels are sweet, makes me think in a different direction for what i am about to start. i will have to lok at this a little harder just so i can understand it better. what i had built now looks to plain for my ride,,,LOL. anyway you keep up the great work, it is turning out awesome, any one will be jealous about the work you are doing on your truck. keep up with the pics, it makes everybody proud to see you fixing up your sweet 521.

 

TERRY

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ROCKSTAR, IT FUELS ME:

Another long night at the shop last night. Most of what was done was small detail stuff that turned out to be very time consuming.

 

Valve cover pre sanding of JB Weld in low spots.

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After sanding

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Convinced my buddy to make is shiny... He was already working on a set of OZ lips, I just threw mine in :D

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While he was doing that, I set about cleaning up the front suspension.

Pulled down the decorative, bent to hell, HRE for the picture.

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With my wheels and tires.

They will actually sit about 1 inch higher after cutting up the sheet metal and ill be running a smaller tire up front.

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Valve cover after polishing.

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OK the plan is, paint over it and remove the paint over the polish.

Primer

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After color, shooting on the clear.

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Cleared a couple of other pieces while we were at it.

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I got curious as to what the valve cover would look like.

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We then went to town on a set of windshield wipers i found in my grandmas garage.

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Wiper complete.

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-Bart

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An art producer friend of mine has this as her e-mail signature. I think it fits here!

 

"The details are not the details. They make the design.

-Eames"

 

You're rockin madness!

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Borat, My buddy got that wheel for free when he re finished a customers wheels. The owner originally had 5 (spare) but the 5th was canabalized to make a decent complete set, that one is made up of all the bad parts, bent barrel, curbed lip, and corroded mating surface.

 

Thank you fisch and redeye. Seeing parts of the truck come together gets me excited to get the whole picture together.

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Here's a few other pictures of his polishing.

How the HRE's turned out. The owner had the centers powder coated "silver but they came out primer gray, still looked great.

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For the 4x4 guys. Dont think his axle is going to leak.

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Im not sure what the OZ's are. Im pretty sure they are a tight mesh and they are pretty old. The corrosion on the lips was horrible.

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