jackeo21

truck will either be normal white or off white but my engine bay, wheel, and interior colour arrived today. so excited, that I'm upset I have nothing ready for painting. Cant wait to lay some of this on!

yes, I have bought myself a third truck this one has a special cool bit on the back I should hope to have it in my possession in the coming few weeks yay!

ditched normal standard good working carb for something a little more frisky couldn't stop myself from buying the B series MG inlet manifold online so now this happened and it looks much better + hopefully goes a bit harder next problem was that the original cast exhaust manifold didnt clear the inlet and had a large hole in the top of it so thats history talking nicely to a mate, I had a set of 10mm water jet cut exhaust manifold flanges no longer than a week later winning now I need to look at fabricating the tubing up and making those tricky 2 into one sections, and then combining all 3 pipes into one and finishing the rest of the exhaust when the motor goes in one day. panelwork is in full swing and I'm pushing through, but also going backwards. the more filler I dig out of places, the more horrible stories the truck has to tell. colour wise, I have decided to keep the truck white, and just throw in a wild accent colour for the wheels/engine bay/maybe roof.

Motorcycle works ltd. on Greenmount drive sorted me the tires and a new flasher unit at a really sharp price. Guy was super helpful and they have lots of cool bikes. Front tire is on, but I need to do the back. This thing runs so sweet, starts first kick no matter how long it sits. My brake lever also arrived, but it needed some modification as there was a big bit of strange casting on it that my bike didn't need. A little grinding and filing and it fits nicely. The front brakes now just need an adjust up. Next up is to sort the messed up wiring, and hopefully get a rego! However I have read that I need a front fender in order to be road legal? I installed my new leg shield, and installed the indicators, and plugged them in exactly how they should be. When the right indicator turns on at the rear, the front left goes. When the left rear turns on, nothing happens at the front. Weird. And the horn doesn't work, even after a switch clean. Battery straight to the horn has it nice and loud. I'm thinking there's a short somewhere in the loom. Headlight bulb hopefully on the way. Surprisingly difficult to find the right one. Also have a sheepskin car seat cover I'm tempted to completely destroy modify for the sake of reviving this lush moped seat. We shall see. So much better with this new leg shield. Weird how they advertise them brand new on trademe with so few of these in existence. As you can see, the indicators are somehow crossed over.

Botany is my local too. If you're close would be sweet if you wanted to come gander at it. Just bought that brake lever, but cheers for the offer. Since I've bought a NOS leg shield I may as well grab as many pretty new bits as I can. Next up on the list is fender mirrors. I'll try botany honda tomorrow and see what they can do. updates to come!

Cheers guys, really helpful stuff. Hopefully the registration process will go well (If I get there!) Took it for it's first drive since 1983 today. Managed to achieve 30 miles an hour, not a bad figure for such a bike. Speedo goes to 60mph, I would hate to imagine what that's like. 3 speed semi auto works a charm and even has that oldschool auto whine to it. Main concern is tyres now. They need replacing. And the rims are right on the edge of being too rusty. It's a tricky situation. Tyres are 2.75-17 if anyone has anything or knows where to look. After the tyres are replaced I'll attempt to clear the oil bottle line (just running 25:1 in the petrol tank, this bike is actually supposed to mix both automatically). Then it's a matter of sorting out the strange wiring, getting a front brake lever, and getting a rego. This is where the brake lever belongs. Looks as though I can bolt in a bicycle one, but not entirely sure yet.

Cheers mate, that's a big help. I've re-rego'd a car with that process, so I'm familiar with the process etc... Will send email ASAP to get the party started. Do they check the bike at all when registering at VTNZ? Parts are already proving to be quite hard to find, but I'm tracking down some mirrors for it at the moment. Only thing broken on the whole bike is the front brake handle (completely gone). Let the fun begin.

I bought this within 3 minutes of arriving at a swap meet over the weekend. In all of it's barn find glory I knew I needed to own it. A deal was done and I shoved it into the back of my mate's safari. God am I glad I left the laser at home. It's a 1970 Suzuki F50 Super Free. A very rare model to own nowadays, still with it's original black plate and battery. After much faffing around with the points I have managed to start the bike but it needs a carb clean which will be tomorrows job. Have just purchased a brand new 6V battery and a NOS leg shield so all thats needed is a wash, carb clean, need to sort out a little wiring and it'll be road legal. Does applying to use black plates for cars work the same with mopeds? Since its dereistered, or do I just fill in the MR2B form with the rego and renew it? Last rego in 83. Let me know what we think. It's not getting restored, has just the right amount of character as is. But the seat's a little tired. (It's a complete bike, was fixing the spark in the photos hence bits everywhere) cheers jack

Can anyone point me in the right direction to find those little window monsoon visors? I have tried to make them but nothing has come close to professionally made stainless steel ones. Is there an outfit that makes these things? Like the ones on the door of that 520 ^ As I mentioned in the build thread I may have sourced a wellside, but I won't elaborate for a bit in case it doesn't happen. I'm trying to score as many parts trucks as I can, as 80% of these things went to the us of a. And my god, parts are expensive! Bought new Taiwanese park lights though. Should do the trick nicely. The bodywork is coming along nicely too. Hopefully shes wearing some blue by November.

The engine runs! Had it fired up for a brief 30 seconds, but it ran and that's all I needed to finish off a long week. Ran rough, but I won't do any tuning until I have a proper cooling system sorted out. Just working through the panel-work on the truck. Seat is out, windscreens to come out next. Pulled the tired J13 and now I'm in the process of cleaning the engine bay up to make it all pretty. Then the J15 can go in, hopefully with no issues! As a bonus, the J13 has a new clutch, (I wondered why the clutch was extremely sensitive) so that's all good and well. Also cleaned up one of the headlight surrounds, and sandblasted/etched/painted both of the headlight buckets. May have found myself a wellside, but nothing is set in stone yet. Updates to come. Cheers folks.

Has been engine week this week. Almost there! Have swapped the 35A alternator for a 50A unit, to be on the safe side. Found a set of twin SU carbs too, so hopefully those will make an appearance in the future. Can't wait to give her a test run. Hopefully it goes well and makes it past the 10 second mark! Also, if anyone has a heater unit from a Mini I'd like to run one in the truck.

Twins Acquired. Searched trademe for weeks for an MG manifold with no luck. Turns out my scrappy had one with carbs for $5 +$10 HS6 carbys and some shiny filters = sweet looking J15 The manifold looks like a homemade jobby, but was even chrome plated, so must be pretty old. Seems to be well made. Came with a set of Jaguar 1.75" carbs which are pretty rough so will swap them for these other ones, probably mini.

Does anybody have any car-less day stickers, or old rego stickers? I know there was someone on here who made all of them up but he has long since been active on the forum. The truck has a very faded mark of a "sunday" sticker so would love to have one to replace it, and a rego sticker. Have tried making one myself in photoshop but it didn't look amazing. Plan for this week is to continue body work and get my engine together for a test run in coming weeks. Would really love to have this thing done by Christmas but it's turning into a major as the perfectionist in me can't stop pulling it apart to "do everything properly", which I suppose isn't a terrible thing. My main goal is to kill all rust, so that she lasts many more years to come. It's done pretty well thus far, at least for a 50 year old Japanese Pickup!

More panelwork and engine work as of recent! Have been having a fiddle around with my little gauges - decided to paint the chrome plate to make em pop a little. Also scored two mazda bose subwoofer things for under the seat. Tested one at a mates and it went hard so got another. Looking forward to making them work. The J15 is really coming together now. Threw the insides in (carefully), head on, and am now in the process of putting on all the fiddly little bits - hopefully a test start in around a months time, that's the end goal Have also been getting some panel done on the truck. Sanding up the doors, bonnet, and guards, as well as the cab. Engine bay has also been half stripped, and I'm getting ready to prep it for some paint. Pulled the seat today to find no nasty surprises, so we're looking good! Interior will get an etch prime - I don't know whether to go with a blacked out interior or blue on black.

Some progress on the J15.. She's getting there. Just realized I painted the head before installing new stem seals, rookie mistake, but shouldn't be much of a problem. Working on getting the crankshaft in, and then will work my way from there. The rear seal is a rope type, and I know these can be quite a trick to work with. It's taking shape though! Props to mr previous owner for purchasing a genuine Nissan gasket set, and all genuine filters alongside good quality parts. Should be a sweet unit when finished. Plan for the weekend is to keep ripping into the engine bay, and sand up the cab. Aiming to get my radiator mounted, and my wiring stripped back as I'm going to attempt to organise all of the wiring properly. Then I'll prep and prime the bay, ready for its top coat of... ...Toyota Light Blue Metallic 861 Goes against the grain to use a Toyota colour but I think it's a gorgeous color and is very similar to the blue that's already on the truck. Something a little different. Debating whether or not to paint the inside of the cab blue or keep and repaint the black. Leaning towards the black at the moment, I think it just makes it look a little cleaner. Dad gave me the thumbs up to use his little gauge cluster. It's got some sweet period Japanese SKC gauges in it. Plan is to paint the chrome black and leave the chrome edge around the outside so it blends with the dash better and doesn't "stick out". I need to find a small rev counter if anyone has something? even thought about attaching one to the column as I am missing column plastics. cheers Jack.

Kinda unrelated but I have a spare hatch here for sale, that I don't need as sold my mirage ages back.

If anyone has a head unit (semi-modern) with an AUX imput (or USB) would be sweet to hear from ya. Will pay if it's what I'm after. Otherwise i'd love an og Datsun dash radio but they're harder to find than the actual trucks haha. I have a few retro cassette players that would fit the dash but they don't suit the truck one bit. Unfortunately didn't get out to the truck today but need to put my engine together this week so that's happening. May have tracked down some sweet twin SU carbs for it too. Also on the topic of collecting bits, I'd like to run a metal fan from an MGB, should bolt up and blow lots of air through the massive rad.

Spent a bit of today sorting out an audio system for the truck. Currently consists of two bose outdoor speakers, an amp, and a panasonic head unit with no wiring. If anyone has a cheap head unit with an aux port or some wiring to suit the one I have would be much appreciated. My plan is to hide everything completely so none of it can be seen. Two speakers under the dash, head unit under the seat, and two speakers behind the seat should be adequate. Also did some work fitting up the doors and seeing how they fit. Previous doors were very badly aligned, to the point where they wouldn't even close. These blue doors are a much better fit, but I won't be able to gap everything until I have my guards bolted up. Sanding back the roof I found no nasty surprises which was nice. Tomorrow I might look at stripping the engine bay back, and maybe pulling the motor at some stage for engine bay paint, but I would be putting the 1500 in at that stage. Leaning more towards a blue now too...more specifically, Toyota Light Blue 861. Really similar to the colour the truck is now but a little brighter. Would also repaint all the silver with a sort of off white for that retro spec look. updates to come

They're about 10 inch wide, lip to lip. I haven't measured offset yet. Wondering what tires will fit! They don't have much poke which is nice. Personally a massive fan of em. They're 14's too.

Here's the J15. My plan is to give it a quick hone in prep for new standard rings, put it together and drop it in the truck. Ideally only running standard size stuff because prev. owner has already bought it all and I'd rather avoid spending it up on an old J engine, as an L series is the end goal (god knows when this will happen). Got stuck in painting bits up tonight. Just going for a standard look, however I may end up putting a weber 32/36 carb on it at some point as I have heard that this is the popular thing to do. But that original nikki glass window on the standard carb is super cool. We'll see how well it goes once its finished and in the truck. Also went out and we mocked up the exhaust. At the moment, she's got nothing, so we have to build the exhaust from scratch, using an exhaust from a laser I wrecked. Is there a min. requirement to how many mufflers a vehicle must be fitted with? At the moment it has two and it's still quite loud, not too loud but I wouldn't wanna drive it long distance. Bonnet and drivers door are now completely rust free and await panel & paint. We're currently bringing the front guards up to scratch, then it's a little work on the cab, then some paint. Depending on how I go I may have the J15 installed and running by the time the truck is ready for the road, or I may just run the J13 for the time being. No massive rush with this. Also have been planning out an audio system. I have two Bose outdoor speakers that I had hooked up in my garden shed, and they made things fall off the wall whilst providing great sound quality. I'm thinking these up under the dash, so they can't be seen, with a radio underneath the seat would be the way to go. The Wheels are almost 10 inches wide lip to lip. Haven't yet measured the offset, but they only just stick past the front guards. New rad obtained from Zebra. Out of some '96 Sentra, it fits much nicer than the previous alloy one. Just need to quickly whip up some mounts and we're away. The plan is to make a cover to hide the plastic tank double as a fan shroud. Carb Pre-Heating system works!

Not looking to spend that sort of coin at this stage, but maybe when the truck's on the road. Have seen some tridens on a 521 before and they look the business.

Yeah! Found out the real year of the truck. Thought it was strange to be reged as a '70, as that was the year that introduced the L16 engines, production of trucks with J motors only lasted 68-69. The seller gave me the original coil today, an HA12 Lucas. Since it's a Lucas, its dated. Dated 5 68, so that, and the low production number on the tag, tells me that shes a '68! Today I went and bought a J15 engine in almost exactly one million pieces. Goes against the bigger engine plan, but it has new rings and bearings etc... so will be much healthier than the little J13 in the truck. Came with a bunch of spares too, including a gearbox/clutch and some other goodies. Fizzing over my 10 horsepower gain too. At the moment, I need to find a better radiator. The one in it is just too small. So if anyone has a radiator around 500-550 wide and 440 long that would be great. Here are the original steel wheels widened out. Just a little too far, I'm betting that Mr. policeman and Mr. warrant are going to look straight past how sick they look and straight at how far they stick out past the guards. I'm yet to do a test fit though. And some inspiration. That's the colour I'm thinking of going with, as it's a rare colour for Datsuns and it's the original colour for my truck. That with a white roof would be mint I reckon.

Went out today and had a good look over the new truck since I hadn't had the chance last week. Everything is looking good where it matters. Few areas will be cleaned up and painted but other than that not a bad truck (no rough modifications etc). However the brush painted cab has gotta change. I was thinking of doing it the original pale yellow, with some wide black steelies. Add in a sun-visor (collected today :)) and a big f off aerial and a little low and we should be sitting about where I'd like the truck. However the blue and silver two tone on the other cab also looks pretty good imo. Fired up the J13 but didn't run it long as no exhaust + no alternator meant angry neighbors and no cooling. If anybody has an alternator to suit one of these engines I would love to hear from ya. Shes pretty tired but goes, should be good to get me around for some time. Sweet. Loving the gauges. They've got some real depth to them, the photo doesn't do it justice. Replacing the bulbs with LED bulbs to make things a little brighter.

I personally like to use a guy down in Tauranga, te puke I believe, search up classicminispares nz into google and you’ll come across it. Really well priced and great on shipping and if it’s not on the website he can have it in for you. I’ve got one of those taps somewhere, I’ll find it tomorrow. Just sold my mk4 full of parts but I may have a washer bottle! Will get back to ya.

Looks like an awesome project! I have a MK1 mini myself so will be glued to this project thread. If you need any bits let me know, I might have something in my hoard.