New World Datsuns...

I liked checking it out at canby man....

It'll look good with the body work done... Shoot, you could corner the market on those up here. People would pay for them done up nicely

Thanks Tim
I will never do another UTE/NL520, it was way to much work, and then lowering it was way to much work also, at least lowering it and still having it be safe was to much work.
I am no good at bodywork, and the guys I had doing it were unreliable or I was worried that where the work was being done was not safe anymore(long story), so I have no one to do bodywork anymore.
That truck draws more attention in my driveway than any other vehicle I have, they don't even notice the red 521 kingcab right next to it, and that one is nice, the paint is still good, but they don't even see it.

izzo wrote:I liked checking it out at canby man....

It'll look good with the body work done... Shoot, you could corner the market on those up here. People would pay for them done up nicely

Body guys are unreliable. Not sure if the industry makes them that way or if the industry just attracts that type. All I know is that the stereotype of the flaky bodyman is true more often than not.

Wayne I know a guy 10 minutes from you that does great work if you need it, but he's expensive... Been doing it for like 50 years.

Justinberni wrote:Wayne I know a guy 10 minutes from you that does great work if you need it, but he's expensive... Been doing it for like 50 years.

There are a lot of expensive guys out there Justin, I cannot rate spending that kind of money on this vehicle.
I will try to work on it this summer again, I plan to paint it myself, I just need to get it semi smooth/straight so it don't look really bad when painted, I have a HVLP paint gun/system, but the truck needs to be a lot better than it is right now.
I thought about sending it to Macao, but they don't do very good body work, at least not for me they haven't, they missed a lot on the 720 when they painted it, they didn't even sand some places at all, they just painted it the way it was when I took it in to them, they were supposed to sand/prep the whole truck, that is what we agreed on and what I paid for.

Since it was nice out this afternoon I did some sanding/bondo work today on the right front fender around the fender well, top right outside box, and the rockers between the two wheels.
I also took care of the left front fender antenna hole that I filled in the past, and the holes in the driver side door from a mirror, I also took care of a few small dents on the front fenders.
It is better than it was, and I will keep trying to make it better so that I can paint it this summer.
I have not decided a color yet, but I want to paint it a color that the factory might have used that doesn't show imperfections too bad, like Tan, light yellow, or did Datsun have a gray or silver?

Silver isn't very forgiving. Bamboo tan would be a close second to white for hiding imperfections.

I am getting it ready for paint, I am not the best at this, but I am going to try.
I for the most part am using white paint to cover up bare metal as I don't want it to rust because of rain, morning dew, and such, I will be sanding if off later.

Looks pretty good from here.

DRIVEN wrote:Looks pretty good from here.

Yea, the farther you are away, the better it looks, and you are quite far away.
Right now I am just trying to get it close to semi straight, it has lots of dents that either I made or they were there before I bought it, when I rolled the fenders I caused damage also, the right side is close now, I am using 80 grit at this time with an orbital sander.
I have a lot of trouble getting the bondo on properly, I tend to sand it all off also so that I am back where I was before, there is more on the ground than the vehicle.

I can see a problem in the lower of the two body lines at the front of the bed. It looks like it dips just a hair. My guess is it is the weld seam.

80 on an orbital might be making more work than it's making progress. Those big flat surfaces need a long board in opposing diagonal directions. You'll probably be surprised how fast it smooths out. Bot nearly as easy as an orbital though.

Laecaon wrote:I can see a problem in the lower of the two body lines at the front of the bed. It looks like it dips just a hair. My guess is it is the weld seam.

I have not really worked in the cab/box transition area yet this time, I basically started around the front fender well, and then have been working on the curved part at the top of the box all the way to the front of the truck, then I kinda did the face of the rockers on the right side.
There are two places on that side that have a straight body line issue, both around the cab/box transition, they either raise or dip because of built up bondo/bondo hair, as I said, I am not very good at it, so I am trying to focus on small areas one at a time till I get it close.

DRIVEN wrote:80 on an orbital might be making more work than it's making progress. Those big flat surfaces need a long board in opposing diagonal directions. You'll probably be surprised how fast it smooths out. Bot nearly as easy as an orbital though.

I am using an orbital sander because I already got it as flat/level as I can with bondo hair and a couple different long boards, now I am using bondo and the orbital sander to fill in all the long scratches and make it as smooth as I can, once I get the whole truck done I will then use an air long board with 150 grit with different colored bondo, I am trying to not sand into the bondo hair I already have put down.
The top is going to be the biggest challenge, it is not smooth, it is lumpy, I can feel it is lumpy if I close my eyes and run my hand over it, it doesn't look that bad, but it is.

Gotcha. I misunderstood what you were trying to do.

I keep working away at it, I get bored really easy doing this type of work as I don't make headway very fast, just when I think I have a panel done I rattle can paint it to keep it from rusting and see I wasn't even close.
I did so much welding on this truck making it what it is, nothing is really all that straight, I miss the days I could just send it out and have someone else do it that I can afford.
I don't see the point in taking photos, as it still looks the same except for it being whatever rattle can paint color I have available in the 3 boxes I have, I am running out of regular type paint now, I guess I will need to go buy some soon, I will likely just buy primer though.

Keep chipping away and you'll eventually get there. I truly dislike doing bodywork -- I know how to do it, just really don't like doing it.

I read what you wrote. Still tho, don't do it like that lol. Listen to the first 10 minutes at least. He will explain why

I guess I am using the wrong bondo/body filler, as the stuff I am using starts to harden in less than 7 minutes after I start mixing it, quicker if I get to much hardener in it, so I have a few minutes mix time, and a few minutes to apply it, that is it, by the time I got that much filler mixed, it would be hardening before I had a chance to apply it.
The guy in the video has lots of time to apply it, so I think I will go find some slower type like he is using, but in the end I will never get this truck that straight.
I also need to find that primer he referred to that doesn't shrink, I am using the shrinking type right now and it is causing spider webs, but I planned on sanding it all off anyway, as I am going to use the type of primer that fills scratches like he also mentioned on the whole truck.

Sanding cars sucks. It took me forever with the 510. And when finally done, I didn't get it smooth enough. At least I have a much better idea how to do it now, and could probably do it in half the time.