Dis n Dat

Finished up the lumber racks: Still waiting for the door rubber the get in, but other than that I'm pretty happy with the progress on the truck. I think I'm more or less finished with little upgrades for now, time for this little work truck to get busy actually working. Sometime in the distant future I imagine a motor swap will be happening, but with everything working so well now I'm not in a huge rush.

Been staying busy with the carpet and panels and such. I have a handful of pictures for show-and-tell: Carpet in. It doesn't cover completely (it was for a different truck), but close enough. Some old floor mats cut to fit cover the rest. Panels all finished and insulated to keep from vibrating against the metal. Need a few more pins. I was planning on keeping the radio that was in already (not stock, but a classic look still), but the tuner didn't work and cassette player was pretty spotty as well. Took it apart and decided that it was beyond my abilities to fix. Installed a Sony multimedia player (no CD player, keeps the unit much shallower). Without a CD player, this is shallow enough to fit without hitting the heater behind. Had to cut the dash a bit. Installed. I put a little bead of sealant around the face (not pictured) to keep it looking clean, and prevent any little movements. All back together and cleaned. Old floor-mats hide the most of the areas not covered by carpet. Started some lumber racks as well.

Started working on the floor. The vinyl covering was cracked and broken, but luckily the floor didn't have any serious rust. Only a little bit of rust behind the pedals, and a quick sand took it all off. For sound proofing, I used Frost King duct insulation. There is a lot of info about using it as a vibration dampener on other forums, with a lot of mixed reviews. Some folks say it works nearly as well as DynaMat, or similar products. I personally don't believe that, but I do believe that it will help a little bit, and the price was right. I was able to cover the floor and door panels for under $40 (2 rolls @ ~$19 each), with a little left over for doubling up in certain areas. I'm going to be putting carpet over it anyways, and that should help a bit too. Floor all sanded and cleaned, ready for insulation Duct insulation installed Also made some speaker boxes for under the seats, as I wanted to keep the door panels looking clean. Carpet is going in today (hopefully), will have some pictures soon.

Sorry about that, here's a couple more. Had a hard time squeezing the camera in there, but hopefully this gives a better idea. Looking up from the gas pedal Pulling cable with gas pedal slightly depressed

-thisismatt -Sorry for the late response. I appreciate the offer, but I'm pretty well stocked on parts at the moment. Think I'm going to try and sort through all of mine and sell a few as well. -FunkyFresh520 -That sounds rad. I'll not sure what I'll be swapping with yet, but either way, it's going to be a while. I posted a couple pics of the gas pedal below, let me know if you need a different angle.

-FunkyFresh520 Yeah I had been looking for a while for a little pickup and was pumped when this popped up on Craigslist. It does have a J13 in it, I anticipate some type of engine swap in the future, but definitely not anytime soon. A couple pictures of the lacing for the seat cover: Seat back, before I laced the sides together Seat bottom. It looks like a big ole' mess, but keeps everything nice and tight. Back in the truck, with slits cut for the seatbelts Also painted the mirrors. There was surface rust all over, and until I get a set of original mirrors these will be staying. Mixed feelings about the red clamps, came out looking like some Disney truck, but still better than before, and I'm not about to redo it.

Worked a bit on a seat cover today. The seat's in pretty decent shape, with only a few small tears. Looking to keep it that way for now, but haven't been able to find many bench seat covers that are small enough. Also, in other vehicles I've never been able to get the cover as tight as I'd like. Eventually I'll be looking to reupholster, but with budget concerns I'll be keeping it cheap for now. Picked up a thick blanket/rug from a shop in town, pretty beefy and should keep the seat from getting much worse. I had a lot of grommets left over from a previous project, so I added a bunch to the edges and to the middle. Probably was a bit excessive, but I don't want the cover shifting at all. All laced up. I'm pretty happy with how it turned out. Was trying to figure out a way to cleanly wrap the blanket underneath the hinges, but it ended up not looking great. Eventually just decided to wrap around them entirely, it looks nicer and the seat still folds down. Not perfect, but much tighter and heavier duty than a universal cover for around the same price (~$30 for the blanket and paracord for lacing). I'll take some pictures once it's reinstalled and the new wood panels are all in.

-Charlie69, thanks for the advice! I put a couple of coats on the back of the panels today, will get a few more on tomorrow. I'll definitely have to use the sanding sealer for the door panels, it took about 5 coats to get a smooth looking finish without it. -FunkyFresh520 thanks! I'm real excited about it. I paid $2500, which included an extra motor, transmission, and a whole heap of extra parts. I think I might try and sell some of them to re-coup some costs. The seals are from Thailand, I'm guessing they'll take about 3 weeks or so. I took the truck to a local auto glass shop and the guy helped seal up the corners and lay an extra bead around the inside (used DOW U-428). Hoping this will fix it for now, and I can hold on to the moldings for a later date.

Rainy day today, and discovered that the windshield has a pretty good leak. Not too surprised, the rubber is pretty old and cracked. Ordered some new seals for the doors and window, but they'll take a while to get here. Until the weather clears the tarp will stay on. For the rainy day I'll be working on the door and floor panels. The floor panels were pretty beat, and I have some sheets of marine grade Mahogany plywood laying around. Seemed like a good rainy day project. New panels with a couple coats of stain. Pretty happy with them. Going to wait a couple days to dry and start applying clear-coat. Going to add a lot of coats since they'll be taking a lot of abuse from feet and such. Door panels soon to come.

Thanks everyone for the kind words! thisismatt, I'm out a little ways towards Lopez, not quite technically Huasna but pretty close.

Happy new year everyone! Picked up my first Datsun (1967 520) recently, and figured I'd start a thread for my slow (but hopefully steady) build process. Couldn't be happier with the truck, the majority of it appears to be stock, and is in really clean condition. Motor was rebuilt recently, and an extra motor and transmission were included in the sale. It drives great, hardly any serious issues that need addressing. I'll be posting more detailed pictures as I start tinkering, but in the meantime here are a few shots: Keeping the fan for now, it actually works really well :) I'm excited to get working on it, and getting input from everyone here. The previous owner was very clear that this is the place to go for any info I could possibly need.