1971 521 diesel 4x4 build

[olderthanme]

So I picked up this 1971 521 that had been used as a parts truck, but was still quite complete as most of the hard to find parts are still on it.


Missing/Needed:
Grill
Grill surround trim
interior rear view mirror


Extra parts:
extra set of wheels with no hub caps

OICS:
as it sat when I picked it up:


Slight damage to the Left front fender, but nothing too terrible or out of my ability to fix..



at the shop:


ZERO rust-through in the floors(but the left side body mounts are gone??)



Plan is to paint the body/cab a strong deep red (free urethane paint) while the frame gets painted in epoxy primer and black.





now there is a lot going on already for this truck....

81' 720 4x4 frame getting a Dana 44 up front and another full width axle(Ford 9" or another Dana 44 in the back). Currently in the middle of stripping the frame down to bare essentials before epoxy primer and mounting the new suspension.


before the 7(spread out) days worth of work it took to get to the above photo:

Floors were gone, damage on every fender from wreckless offroading by the previous owners, and 290,000 miles on the clock!

[olderthanme]

Finished cutting all the stuff off around the engine mounts/IFS area late last night...



This morning came in and finished up a couple little spots and started laying Epoxy primer.



Then I started laying color




I still have to do all the front suspension mounting, but the majority of the chassis is done and will just have to do touchup on the areas to be welded.

[rlaggren]

You got the floors figured out?

[olderthanme]

You got the floors figured out?

The floor mounting points are identical between 521/620/720 pickups

[olderthanme]

Mocking up the front 3 link setup on the Dana 44 axle.

[olderthanme]

New~ish clutch. it was run for about 250 miles and was on the Z24 that was previously in the 81 4x4 truck, pressure plate still has the machining marks in it, so it should be good to go. Had to bend a finger straight since the previous owner bent it trying to get the transmission in.



Painted the motor, then started bolting it all back together. (Oil pan will get painted silver when the engine doesn't have to sit on it any more)

[bogs777]

that was nice. hope i can have my engine painted that easy.

[olderthanme]

Made a little progress...
Got started on the panhard bar stuff, just waiting on the link tubing to come in.
Also positioned the engine so that I can build the engine mounts.

[olderthanme]

Here are some pics from today:

I cut up the 521 bed on the donor truck(all rusty on the bed bottom)


Mocking up the passenger side:


Driver's side:



Looks like I'm going to have to lengthen the stock wheel well openings... Still want to look somewhat original but I'm putting together a plan on how to go about opening them up and keep the look.

[scrapman1077]

Looking good ! Keep us posted.

[olderthanme]

Got some more work done today...

Worked on getting the right side mounted. The left side was removed(un-bolted from the locking hub) for reinforcement like what you see in these right side pics.

Nowherre near done yet but at least the bed side isn't going to collapse under its own weight.

[asavage]

I wonder whatever became of this project.

[waynosworld]

I wonder whatever became of this project.

As life happens, things change, this build also changed, here is a link to the build, the SD22 diesel engine is actually in a Datsun roadster now.
https://www.google.com/url?q=http://com ... OL4kzqqCwg
This is not my rig, but I recognized the build.