the red knight

Well as long as the mounting brackets are all the same, the latch still works and the bevels look ok, I don't mind if it's a bit off. I'm not sure who got in the accident with the truck I had, but having to undo all their dents and electrical rigging, I just want the thing to look like a normal vehicle again and not a demolition derby truck.

Awesome, then I'll go for it. I'll definitely let you all know that they do indeed swap. Just need to wait for my paycheck to come in though first. Also, I'm going to attempt to plug some holes in the floor with metal from the old hood. Anyone have any experience with this sort of thing?

I'm having the same problem with my truck, and have been doing research on it. One forum online said a good source for replacement steel is to get an old beat up truck hood. Since I have to replace my old hood anyways due to dents in it, I'm just going to recycle that one and rivet/weld it in. If you want to keep going with the floor pans on the 720, the part number is 74312-01W00 in case you need it. You're talking $550+ at nissanpartsdeal.com and $720+ at jp-carparts.com because the parts are discontinued. I don't even know how much shipping would be for that. You're probably better off going with getting some sheet metal (I've also read that industrial metal shelving is good for floorpans) and thinking of it as an opportunity to pick up welding as a new skill if you don't know how already. Hope that helps and let me know what progress you make. I'll be doing the same job pretty soon unless it gets cold quick this fall. ~TRK

Hi, I'm looking to replace my hood but am thinking of trying the '83 hood (NI1230149) on my '81 720 Diesel King Cab rather than swap in a new '81 hood (NI1230103). Two reasons are: I am finding an '83 hood for a reasonable price: carparts.com I personally don't like the hood vents and am missing one of them anyways, which seems tricky to replace on top of it all. So my question is are these interchangeable? nissanpartsdeal.com seems to think they are (they're using part # F5100-01W01), but does anyone have actual experience with this? Second, are the hood vents on the '81 important? Were there any major differences which might cause problems if I don't have them? I have the SD-22 engine by the way. Thanks much ~TRK

Well, the guy who offered me welding lessons rebuilds old VW buses. He took a look at it and said that my floor is rotted enough away that there's not really anything stable to weld onto. Course I drove the damned thing across the country with holes in the floor so I figure anything more is better and he might be a little picky if he's doing restoration. I'm happy to give a go with learning welding on her, and shape the sheet metal in. She's a sweet truck indeed and I'd love to have her patched up, never was much of a beauty but I can do it. Thanks for the paint a house metaphor, that gives me a good idea here. Anyways, I guess these floor pans are pretty hard to come by then? Any recommendations on yards that might have it or is my guess as good as any? I guess someone would have to find ones that are cherry AND someone willing to cut them out and at this point, it might not be worth it. Thanks ~RK

Hi, I've got a Datsun 720 from 1981 which has enough rust in the floor to see the road pretty nicely. I've got a guy who said he'll give me some mig welding lessons and I'd love to learn. He said that I'll need to get some floor pans and I'm not sure where some good places to look are. Does anyone have any suggestions? I'm in New York if that helps zero in. Thanks! ~RK p.s. will post pics