josh817 Posted June 21, 2011 Share Posted June 21, 2011 (edited) So as some of you know I bought a '71 521 truck from my dad. It was in rough shape and I have repaired all that I can. Rebuilt another motor, welded in new floors, made new door panels, etc. Since this is mostly Z oriented, I found another message board kindof sortah Datsun/Toyota oriented so that I could lurk and find out information. To my amazement, there is lots of contradicting information. It seems as if everything I read about tranny swaps (I beg your pardon?), distributors, intake manifolds, u-joints, etc. wasn't correct. I read one thing, go to do it, find out it's not how they stated it. I come back home and ohhhh so-and-so failed to mention you needed an adapter or whatever. Even worse, in some cases they were just flat out wrong. I'm sitting here thinking myself how in the world did I not have all these problems with my Z. There are plenty of things that need adapters and all that jive to work, however I can honestly say I NEVER got nasty surprises like this (other than finding out I had the wrong dizzy spindle ). I read as much as possible and informed myself. It clicks now, this place is setup in such a way to where it is easy to find information. Our boards are organized and rules are set in place to keep things on track. To add to this, a lot of our members are very detailed in their postings. No one happens to forget to mention that one year where a part wasn't the same, or needing an adapter to do something. It's all here. This truck is going to be the end of me. If I survive though, after I get my money back when I sell my Honda (because I dumped every dollar I have into this truck) I think I will donate, hopefully generously. I thought our board was one of many fan/info boards for different cars. Come to find out that although they look similar, ours is far better from what I have experienced. Thanks mods for all the hard work and thank you members for all the contributing. Keep up the hard work. I'll be back in action with the Z as soon as I get back on my feet here. PS: I started a thread in the parts wanted board for a 4 cylinder dizzy. Help wanted! Check it out please Edited June 21, 2011 by josh817 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Darrel Posted June 21, 2011 Share Posted June 21, 2011 ratsun.net? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
josh817 Posted June 21, 2011 Author Share Posted June 21, 2011 Nope, that's the place I'm using now. It's alright so far. I don't want to say any names as to not start a flame war. I just wanted to share my appreciation for this place. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
skib Posted June 21, 2011 Share Posted June 21, 2011 (edited) ratsun.net? While there are shenanigans and lulz a many..... our tech info is correct, and on the rare occasion it isn't it gets corrected. Just for the record I love HBZ too some crazy/amazing stuff gets made here Edited June 21, 2011 by skib Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tony D Posted June 22, 2011 Share Posted June 22, 2011 I can give you a site where you can go for Z-Car information like that... It's on the web, it's really easy to find. Just type what first comes into your head when you think of Z Car and a common internet website suffix... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
josh817 Posted June 23, 2011 Author Share Posted June 23, 2011 Sigh and so the saga continues... So far here is my list of grief: -5 speed doesn't fit, had to make a new tranny mount. -Drive shaft needs shortening, was told u-joints can't be replaced. That was wrong -weber carb needed an adapter -bought 4 wheel disc brake brackets, caliper rubs on hub scallops -bought proper 2002 Isuzu Rodeo rotors, ebay sent the rotors but they sure as hell aren't the bolt pattern of a Rodeo -bought Pertronix unit that doesn't fit the dizzy Everything except for ebay was a mistake due to "I forgot to mention the adapter" or "I was completely wrong". I wouldn't be so critical with these mistakes if I wasn't poor as a hobo. I blew my stack today when I found out my rotors didn't fit even though they were advertised as 2002 Isuzu Rodeo rotors... I'm getting tired of spending my money on **** that people say will work, come to find it doesn't. I'm happy when I can merely hobble it together and so far I've only been able to do that for 3 of the 5. I'm all out of money now so it looks like I will have to take a grinder to my new brake calipers and probably JB weld the magnetic sleeve onto the distributor that it presumably didn't fit. It looks like **** but I think it will work. The calipers don't need much grinding so that's not major. My only worry is JB welding the sleeve to the dizzy cam. I think it will hold up alright just to get me going though. I was also thinking instead of fixing it hard to the dizzy cam, maybe I can lube the cam/shaft (yowzah), put JB weld or whatever epoxy into the sleeve, slide it onto the cam. When it sets up, hopefully I made it fit and it can still slide off the shaft. I think I easily spent close to $300-$400 on stuff that I was told would work, without receiving further details or flat out wouldn't work. If I had known the "further" details I wouldn't have done it in the first place. With that said, HybridZ is easily worth that type of money if you don't get the grief of all this crap. Not saying I'm going to donate $300 though... I've got school to pay for in July, I can't give out that much! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BluDestiny Posted June 23, 2011 Share Posted June 23, 2011 lol at tony. Whatever could be the name of such a Z CAR site..... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tony D Posted June 23, 2011 Share Posted June 23, 2011 "I'm getting tired of spending my money on **** that people say will work, come to find it doesn't." Are you channelling JeffP right now? Jeff, is that you? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
josh817 Posted June 23, 2011 Author Share Posted June 23, 2011 Lol well Tony, another striking blow today. Again I get a "oh yah off course these brakes work on a 521" then receive a link to a thread which says yes they will fit, but you have to make new brake line lines since the 521 is SAE fittings... /facepalm Once again if I had known that I wouldn't have done it because I have absolutely no idea how to go about making lines. This wouldn't be so stressful for me if it wasn't going to be my daily driver... so far though my little Honda is looking to be great compared to this. I am seriously considering scrapping the project. I've got $2000 into it, I would love to get $2000 out of it and go on my way. Be thinking about it, whoever is reading. I don't know if I want to deal with this anymore. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JMortensen Posted June 23, 2011 Share Posted June 23, 2011 If you can't handle finding and installing a brake fitting adapter or cutting and flaring a brake line to put the right fitting on, you shouldn't be attempting to modify the brakes. Repair and modification are two different things. Someone here used to have the sig line "Everything takes longer than it does." That's true, and I would add "Most bolt-ons don't" or "Parts that fit may require fitting". Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NewZed Posted June 23, 2011 Share Posted June 23, 2011 I am seriously considering scrapping the project... I don't know if I want to deal with this anymore. http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=e2b_1308793004 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Darrel Posted June 23, 2011 Share Posted June 23, 2011 While there are shenanigans and lulz a many..... our tech info is correct, and on the rare occasion it isn't it gets corrected. Just for the record I love HBZ too some crazy/amazing stuff gets made here It was more of a question if it was ratsun rather than any kind of slight aimed toward them. I don't know too many web sites with datsun truck knowledge. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tony D Posted June 23, 2011 Share Posted June 23, 2011 Correction to Darrel's statement: It was more of a question if it was ratsun rather than any kind of slight aimed toward them. I don't know too many web sites with knowledge. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
josh817 Posted June 24, 2011 Author Share Posted June 24, 2011 (edited) You're right JMort. I'm just feeling the heat on my feet right now... I feel like I have a time limit because I'm starting school in July but even then I will have Fri-Sun off so I shouldn't freak out as much. The other reason for a rush is that I'm trying to get rid of my Honda before something major goes on it. No money, 2 down vehicles, not good. Right now I'm battling an Ebay parts supplier for giving me rotors that they say fit a 2002 Isuzu Rodeo, yet the backspacing is completely wrong and it has 4.25" bolt spacing... A Rodeo has 5.5" spacing... confirmed by my local auto stores and online resources... Anyway, onward I go! If I decide I want to bail on the truck I'm going to finish it first. I can't get half way, sell it, and be like "Yah I did that...", need some pride to it. Edited June 25, 2011 by josh817 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tony D Posted June 25, 2011 Share Posted June 25, 2011 Sometimes, appearing in person on someone's doorstep with a Louisville Slugger and asking for 'clarification' is gratifying... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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