Page 1 of 8
Under Construction \ 71 Datsun Rocker Layer named Ethel71 Datsun Rocker Layer named Ethel
views 10667
replies 70
following 46
Dropsun521
+1y
Howdy yall. My name is Jerome and I hail from northern California.I am the proud owner of a 71 datsun 521. I bought it from police impound for 1200 dollars. Had no idea about mini trucks. Never really paid attention. I just saw this little pickup that looked old and pretty cool with it's dual headlights and thought it would be a great commuter. The sticker on the windshield said it had a five speed and ran great. I have a big 72 chevy K20 that is very nice and I was worried about scratching it and banging it up. I worked out in the boonies building fences at the time. Also got about 8 miles to the gallon so the datsun looked very appealing. Test drove it in their little impound lot. Took forever to get it to start and run. I found out a month later that it had a manual choke. felt like an idiot. Anyway.. there were these big speed bumps see... and well.. i decided not to slow down for them... hit the first one at like 40... launched the little datsun a good foot in the air and came crashing down just in time to hit the second speed bump. Well I came skidding into the gravel parking lot and here come the cops. Running. I jump out and yell "I'll take it!" Pissed off faces intantly turned into forced smiles. Paid cash and got the hell out of there. Hit up the freeway and go to shift to fifth....nothing. F ing cops got the last laugh. Not to mention it blew a head gasket a month later for no reason at all. All the tires wern't ballanced, front end was splayed out like a fat chick taking a dump and it didn't have window rollers. I put my seatbelt on the first time and it wouldn't unlatch. I had to cut myself out using a wire stripper. Well her she is just as I got her. This is actually a photo of her being dropped of at Seth's house. No pics before that.
So eventually the datsun started to crap out on me. I was spending too much on what was supposed to be a simple commuter. Took it to get the front end fixed and they told me to sell it as soon as possible because they couldn't find parts and it wasn't worth fixing. Parked it for about 6 months. Was going to scrap it. Then I met Seth in a machine tooling class. He told me what he did for a livivng, and well that was that. There is a great project thread on twisted minis if you want to take a look. <!-- m -->http://www.twistedminis.com/SMF/index.php?topic=122.0<!-- m --> Heres a brief slide show of the build up.
Shortened toyota axle
Link cross member
Battery tray
Hand made tig welded link bars
Bag cups
mounted
Shock mounts
Custom Brake Line on Lower Link
Back ready for paint
Almost put together
Billy Steins, Brakes, and Battery Tray
So eventually the datsun started to crap out on me. I was spending too much on what was supposed to be a simple commuter. Took it to get the front end fixed and they told me to sell it as soon as possible because they couldn't find parts and it wasn't worth fixing. Parked it for about 6 months. Was going to scrap it. Then I met Seth in a machine tooling class. He told me what he did for a livivng, and well that was that. There is a great project thread on twisted minis if you want to take a look. <!-- m -->http://www.twistedminis.com/SMF/index.php?topic=122.0<!-- m --> Heres a brief slide show of the build up.
Shortened toyota axle
Link cross member
Battery tray
Hand made tig welded link bars
Bag cups
mounted
Shock mounts
Custom Brake Line on Lower Link
Back ready for paint
Almost put together
Billy Steins, Brakes, and Battery Tray
Dropsun521
+1y
Continued Back done Front lower tubular arms Front cut off (notice the truck is in his new shop) Z Toyota frame graft Bag mount and lower arm with toyota spindel Uppers (from scratch) On the truck Smoothed Body Drop
Continued Back done Front lower tubular arms Front cut off (notice the truck is in his new shop) Z Toyota frame graft Bag mount and lower arm with toyota spindel Uppers (from scratch) On the truck Smoothed Body Drop
Dropsun521
+1y
Low profile turbo muffler. (from scratch) Tubbed firewall Mock up Engine mounts Set on the ground Me standing next to it Painted the wheels Front cross member Front sheet metal on Front shock mount Put together and paintedhood
Low profile turbo muffler. (from scratch) Tubbed firewall Mock up Engine mounts Set on the ground Me standing next to it Painted the wheels Front cross member Front sheet metal on Front shock mount Put together and paintedhood
Dropsun521
+1y
Continued Scratch made low profile intake to clear the hood Bed in place With trunk In front of the shop At the gas station Walk around<!-- m -->http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y7XReA_rwqY<!-- m -->New bigger tires Notice inner white wall Stripe being applied Done as of March 2009 K thats how it looked for quite a while.
Continued Scratch made low profile intake to clear the hood Bed in place With trunk In front of the shop At the gas station Walk around<!-- m -->http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y7XReA_rwqY<!-- m -->New bigger tires Notice inner white wall Stripe being applied Done as of March 2009 K thats how it looked for quite a while.
Dropsun521
+1y
Edited: 10/19/2009 3:37:01 PM by Dropsun521
Edited: 10/19/2009 3:35:25 PM by Dropsun521First wreak. Week before Danger Zone 09. Worked my ass off to find another truck to get a windsheild and in the mean time seth fixed the hood useing a spare I had lying around. Made it to dangerzone as shown by minitruckin and Truckin. I think in street trucks too so I was definitly glad I made the 7 hour drive at 53 mph Truckin' Then went to Freakmont X A nissan/datsun tuner car show. I was the only truck. Got the front end fixed. Pulled the glass from the junk truck and put that in. Got seth to help me with the hood. So all that is done. Put in an electric fan so that helped alot with keeping her cool. Had no temp guage untill after I got the fan. So with the fan running she runs just under the ok mark. Can only imagine how hot she got before You can see the fan behind the grilleNext. Put a 5 speed in Ethel. Took forever! Seth explained it the best:"This truck came back in for a 5-speed swap. He bought a rebuilt short shaft 5-speed from a company that said it was a direct bolt in. So it went from an estimated 3-4 hour job, to about 35 hours. It was no where near bolt in. The bellhousing was too large to fit in the transmission tunnel, so it had to be cut out. I had to widen it about 2 inches at the bottom, and I had to raise it over 3 inches. The frame and the bellhousing had to be clearanced. The exhaust had to be rebuilt starting at the collector, because the stock exhaust did not clear the bell housing. The transmission mount was miles off, and the stock rubber pad would not even bolt to the transmission without modification, so a new one was made. And his stock drive line had a fixed 4-bolt flange, and the new one has a slip yoke, so it needed modifying as well. And I ended up having to make a new clutch push rod that was about an inch longer in order to engage the clutch."I was pissed off the whole time. I paid $1600 for the trans. And the only reason I paid that much was because the guy said it would bolt right in Im still pissed! If I ever meet him im going to tear his lungs out. Lying bastard. Oh well heres some pics of the whole disaster.Heres the tunnel and frame cut from the bottom, huge hole New transmission mount And heres the new transmission tunnel, still wet with seam sealer. What a mess. Well at least I can keep up with traffic. Thats a new feeling. Ive never left the slow lane on the freeway since I bought it two years ago so Im pretty happy about that. So my $3,500 5 speed swap is done. Oh shit didn't realize I could only do 5 posts a month. Fucking Bullshit. So Im going to make this one huge! So I got bored and decide to do something interesting with Ethel. I finally put a fuel filter on her. But not just any fuel filter. A glass bowl type! Super retro. The thing came off of an old Onan motor that was in my grandfather's cushman from the 50's. So a little family heritage thrown in too. And then the wreak! Coming back from summer maddness the break peadle went to the floor behind a semi. Dropped it on the ground and slid under the back of him. This was the end of the worst weekend of my life. Spent most of the time on the way down replacing the rear diff. Then found out the new 5 speed had burn itself up. Babied it to the car show and back till the big wreak. So started tearing the truck apart when I got it home. Fender gone Radiator making out with the motor Lipstick stains Front sheet metal gone Mock up of "new" fender Then after months of work and some serious help from the Characters and the homies at Ratsun.net heres where were at now Love to talk some more with you guys but I don't have a credit card so I guess I update you guys next month. Peace
Edited: 10/19/2009 3:35:25 PM by Dropsun521First wreak. Week before Danger Zone 09. Worked my ass off to find another truck to get a windsheild and in the mean time seth fixed the hood useing a spare I had lying around. Made it to dangerzone as shown by minitruckin and Truckin. I think in street trucks too so I was definitly glad I made the 7 hour drive at 53 mph Truckin' Then went to Freakmont X A nissan/datsun tuner car show. I was the only truck. Got the front end fixed. Pulled the glass from the junk truck and put that in. Got seth to help me with the hood. So all that is done. Put in an electric fan so that helped alot with keeping her cool. Had no temp guage untill after I got the fan. So with the fan running she runs just under the ok mark. Can only imagine how hot she got before You can see the fan behind the grilleNext. Put a 5 speed in Ethel. Took forever! Seth explained it the best:"This truck came back in for a 5-speed swap. He bought a rebuilt short shaft 5-speed from a company that said it was a direct bolt in. So it went from an estimated 3-4 hour job, to about 35 hours. It was no where near bolt in. The bellhousing was too large to fit in the transmission tunnel, so it had to be cut out. I had to widen it about 2 inches at the bottom, and I had to raise it over 3 inches. The frame and the bellhousing had to be clearanced. The exhaust had to be rebuilt starting at the collector, because the stock exhaust did not clear the bell housing. The transmission mount was miles off, and the stock rubber pad would not even bolt to the transmission without modification, so a new one was made. And his stock drive line had a fixed 4-bolt flange, and the new one has a slip yoke, so it needed modifying as well. And I ended up having to make a new clutch push rod that was about an inch longer in order to engage the clutch."I was pissed off the whole time. I paid $1600 for the trans. And the only reason I paid that much was because the guy said it would bolt right in Im still pissed! If I ever meet him im going to tear his lungs out. Lying bastard. Oh well heres some pics of the whole disaster.Heres the tunnel and frame cut from the bottom, huge hole New transmission mount And heres the new transmission tunnel, still wet with seam sealer. What a mess. Well at least I can keep up with traffic. Thats a new feeling. Ive never left the slow lane on the freeway since I bought it two years ago so Im pretty happy about that. So my $3,500 5 speed swap is done. Oh shit didn't realize I could only do 5 posts a month. Fucking Bullshit. So Im going to make this one huge! So I got bored and decide to do something interesting with Ethel. I finally put a fuel filter on her. But not just any fuel filter. A glass bowl type! Super retro. The thing came off of an old Onan motor that was in my grandfather's cushman from the 50's. So a little family heritage thrown in too. And then the wreak! Coming back from summer maddness the break peadle went to the floor behind a semi. Dropped it on the ground and slid under the back of him. This was the end of the worst weekend of my life. Spent most of the time on the way down replacing the rear diff. Then found out the new 5 speed had burn itself up. Babied it to the car show and back till the big wreak. So started tearing the truck apart when I got it home. Fender gone Radiator making out with the motor Lipstick stains Front sheet metal gone Mock up of "new" fender Then after months of work and some serious help from the Characters and the homies at Ratsun.net heres where were at now Love to talk some more with you guys but I don't have a credit card so I guess I update you guys next month. Peace
AON-JAMES
+1y
I remember the build thread on this truck, Seth did an amazing job on it. Sucks about the crash, looks like you took care of it. Seth, are you going to build him a new hood?
I remember the build thread on this truck, Seth did an amazing job on it. Sucks about the crash, looks like you took care of it. Seth, are you going to build him a new hood?