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J21's '70 Datsun 521 Pickup


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I got another one!

Couldn't resist such a perfect opportunity, one came up for parts locally, and there was no doubt that I needed to have it.

As it turns out the cab is better than the blue one, so with some parts mixing and matching I should have a truck requiring minimal work.

Has all the bits I need, including a mint and complete dash with rare radio blank plate, all the knobs n switches, og steering wheel, mint seat, and a host of other cool bits the blue truck's missing. It's running the original 1300 w/4speed column manual, however future plans include swapping this with the L20B from the other truck. Unfortunately this would result in a loss of the column shift goodness.

Both trucks are now half stripped down. Plan is to get the white truck road worthy and daily drive it for a while, until I find time and $ to do everything mint.

Cheers!

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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Carb Pre-Heating system works!

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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

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  • 2 weeks later...

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.

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  • 2 weeks later...

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.

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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.

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  • 1 month later...

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.

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  • 2 months later...

ditched normal standard good working carb for something a little more frisky

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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

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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.

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  • 1 month later...

the parts truck is here.

so is the american market wellside.

pumped that I actually found one! However, since it was in timaru I ended up paying an arm and a leg to get the thing up here.

it needs a lot of TLC to get her back into shape.

I'm going to import a tailgate from the US, as the one I have is basically past it.

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The truck itself is actually pretty reasonable, with less rust than any other I've bought. I've decided not to chop her up. What it really needs is a full nut and bolt resto, a full strip, blast, the works. There isn't much to these things and they're easy to work with. This truck will be for sale in the coming weeks, with a flat deck ;) runs and drives, these have the worlds shortest 1st gear, you may as well start in second and have a 3 speed manual.

Thankfully I now have some parts that I've been missing (steering col. plastic, rear vision mirror, little trim bits). 

I now have the only RHD 521 with a wellside in the country. There is a white LHD US import 521 here, I haven't seen it in the flesh but came across it on googs.

that's all for now

input is appreciated :))

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  • 2 years later...

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