Waynos 1966 datsun 520 ute

[wayno]

No, I see no light yet, wait, I'm in a tunnel?

Tunnel with light at the end of it?

My tunnel must have 90 degree bends/turns in it.

[wayno]

So, a couple months ago you were talking paint. What's the plan for that?

Yea, we shouldn't fixate on stuff I say, I get a bit optimistic sometimes, I keep thinking of stuff I want to do/change/fix, I thought I had someone ready to do the rest of the bodywork, and then the paint, but last time I seen him he had an attitude, so I have given up on him for that type of work anymore, he is the one that did my 47 chevy truck(took a year), and he also did the NL320(took twice as long as it was supposed to), and where he does the work is what I would call sketchy now, you see the guy that lives on the land doesn't own the land, and he doesn't pay rent either, he used to own the land, but got in trouble with the IRS, he gave the land to his son before they took it away from him, well his son died, and now his daughter in law now owns the land, and she has been selling and closing businesses at a record rate lately, I expect the guy to get evicted eventually, and the daughter in law could just claim everything on that land as hers, my vehicle is not going to be there to be caught up in the drama that is inevitable.
I still am leaning towards that light yellow or an off white, or possibly a light blue, or maybe a two tone light blue and really light blue.
I do have another painter that has been recommended to me, but have not called him yet.

[DRIVEN]

Sounds messy. The painter situation -- not the color choices.

[wayno]

I converted over to L1/L1 shocks today, at least I did everything to convert over to them, shocks are supposed to be in tomorrow, L1 means it is held on by an eye type fitting, I am going to use an eye on both ends type so it will not drag on the ground if I get a flat.
Here is what I started with.



Here is what I am changing over to.

I actually tried to use this 3 inch drop block, but unless I changed over to 15 inch wheels from the 14 inch stockers I am running, everything would have dragged if I got a flat, so I had to take them back out and live with the 2 inch drop blocks.

[wayno]

The shocks are on.

Lots of room now between the ground and the shock bottom.

As you can see, if I were to get a flat, nothing will hit the ground.

[RedBanner]

Loks great wayno,
Im a big fan of adding an extra leaf flipped on top, it realy felt good on my b, and my 4door did graet too. Got about 3 inches and a stiffer ride one my 4 door, and it helped axle wrap.
But most of all, I could use less block and still get lower, giving me more clearence on the lower mount stuff.

[wayno]

It's almost flat now, I could get another inch lower doing that, or I could just throw a couple bags of sand back there and get the same result with a better ride.
I clamped the rear leafs to that over load to see what it would look like, it went down an inch, and the ride got way stiffer, forget that, I suppose if I want it lower, I will go buy some new flat leaf springs, but for now it is good enough.
I could get a couple inches lower in the back if I went to aftermarket wheels and really low profile tires, then I could put the 4 inch blocks back in, but I like the stock looking wheels.
Getting them different lower shock mounts on there really gave me some clearance back there, but I want to be able to put just the rims on it and set it on the ground and have nothing touch/drag on level ground, that way I can say nothing will hit the ground if I ever get stopped, and be able to back that statement up.

[Charlie69]

Wayno, What are the shock brackets off of?

[wayno]

Wayno, What are the shock brackets off of?

I wish I could remember Charlie, when I part vehicles out I keep everything that is different than what I already have, them made it into the suspension parts bucket, I only have the one set, if I ever find/see another set, I will tell you where they came from.
The rearend axle housing must be narrower, as I had to bend the ends of the "U" bolt in about a half inch to fit that bracket, that part did give me some clearance though.
I have been trying to remember what rearend I have only had one of, the only one I can think of is that dually rearend from a 620 motor home, but it is actually not a dually rearend, it was just a regular rearend with dually adapters, but maybe they made them different, it's the only one that I bought with the leaf springs still attached that I can recall.

[Charlie69]

Wayno, That shop of the back in primer is sweet! Need more recent pictures of the body progress.

[K_trip]

The shocks are on.
Lots of room now between the ground and the shock bottom.
As you can see, if I were to get a flat, nothing will hit the ground.

I sure like the way you do things - this finished off nicely!

[wayno]

Thankyou K_trip, it's a work in progress, but now I have another project coming, so I might put some sound deadening in the cab to try and quiet it down in there, and call it good for a while, as the one coming is more important.

[510freak]

New project WOOT!!!

[wayno]

This is what I did yesterday, lifted the truck for inspection.


So I have had a lot of cab vibration/noise since I started driving this project, it's been interesting since the day I started it.
Well yesterday I really started looking at the cab and frame, and I found two places that they were touching each other, the tunnel of the cab was resting on the transmission top in this area.


And the idler arm was hitting the inner fender sheet metal, you can see where it is bent up.

Well as you can see, nothing is touching anymore, it's like a different freaking truck, before it was like being in a drum that someone was pounding lightly on, now it is quiet, as a matter of fact, before I could not hear the tailgate chains hitting the side of the box, now they are the noisiest thing when I go around a turn, guess I need to fix that now.


Overall it was a good day, I went and bid a job and got it, came back home and raised the cab off the frame a half an inch in the front with great results, the only complaint was that it was cold and windy out there, it was 28 degrees when I started this afternoon, and it was 25 degrees when I finished. Brrrrrrrrrrrr

[DRIVEN]

I haven't seen a jack like that since high school. Nice!

[wayno]

I haven't seen a jack like that since high school. Nice!

I have 2 of them, and it took years to find them, this type are a thing of the past.
You can buy similar reconditioned ones for $500.00 in Wisconsin.

[RedBanner]

Maybe just sliding some shink tight over those chains would keep them in check?
Lookin good.
Ive never seen jacks like that that function.

[wayno]

I could actually put them under a car in the garage and lift it till it almost hits the ceiling, then store stuff underneath the car, hmmmmm, that might not be a bad idea.
I will put something on the chains now, as I didn't even know they made noise before, I didn't drive it much because it was so noisy, now it sounds like I believe it should, so maybe I will work on it a little more now.
Unfortunately I raised the body off the frame a half inch, pretty soon it's going to be so high, that I might as well make it a 4X4.

[wayno]

I used this truck to go get the new tires for the U320 today, I forgot what truck I was driving and hit the curb firmly, the lower core support somehow got bent back a half inch or so, and the plastic fan started hitting on the nipple sticking out on the lower radiator reservoir, and it tore up the tip of the fan a little, every time I hit the brakes it hit worse, so after I got home, I looked it over, then stuck a big pry bar on the front side of the frame, and I bent back the lower radiator core support to where it used to be, all is good again.
It did not bent the frame, it hit the TC rod front mount, I need to cut them off, but damage would have been worse it they had been cut off, I need to remember that this truck is low, and park accordingly.

[Laecaon]

You should park all cars the same way, as in never overhang the curb. Problem fixed, and pedestrians don't have to avoid the car.