1990 D21 crew cab (Read 686 times)

[Al Ramone]

sooo....

as my 720 kingcab is no nearer to getting on the road and i keep finding more and more issues with it, i decided to buy something already on the road.

D21's seam pretty common still and have a reputation as being pretty tough and when i saw this one for sale with it's early styling and retro graphics i had to buy it.
2.7 non turbo diesel, manual 5 speed. basic spec.

it's been in the same family all it's life, working on a livery and only clocked up 80K and has held up pretty well. no major dents, has had no welding and only bit's of rust on it are in the bed and no holes yet.

came with a massive bullbar, side steps and huge rear bumper with tow bar.



i've removed the bullbar and side steps along with the rear bumper/towbar but will be fitting a new towbar.

i've also changed over the wheels and tyres for some slightly bigger ones and cranked the front torsion bars up a little












currently going through it sorting out various issues and upgrading a few bits along the way.

[Ricky180B]

That looks very neat. Show some interior pcs specialy the dash cluster

[Ricky180B]

You gonna sell the sunny now

[datsfun]

That's ace! Loving the styling"..

[Al Ramone]

no pics of the interior yet. it's mostly in bits at the minute whilst i'm cleaning it out. it smells of damp dog and dead pheasants....

no the sunny's not going up for sale. i'd be pretty silly to sell it as it's perfect little runabout.


thanks for the positive comments

[gainsb1]

It looks like you'd be pretty safe in a head-on collision. You'd just crawl over the top and down the other side!

Leigh (Area rep)

[Al Ramone]

oh. sorry Leigh i should have mentioned you helped me pick it up.

THANKYOU!

[dato]

Lovin' this Al! Where do you keep the step ladder to get in?

[Al Ramone]

been slowly tidying this up and upgrading while i go.

the old seats and carpet have been binned. they were just grubby, smelly and not that comfy.

still need to sort out some carpet and will prob black the door cards and dash but i have got hold of some seats out of a Jaguar XJ40 cheap so i've stuck them in on the original Nissan runners.

also fitting aftermarket electric window kit, alarm, immobliser and central locking.

[Al Ramone]

ok. so it's not very exciting but it's what i've been working on.

so i've been going through this old crate, sorting out what works and what doesn't.

the tow bar and wiring. well the tow bar bracket, as well as being ugly... was home made and had broken and repaired at least once. also the tow wiring was pretty dodgey. some of it just didn't work and it also didn't have an indicator warning device fitted.

so i bought a complete new tow bracket for it. fitted it all in and rewired it and fitted the buzzer thingy for the indicators.

also i wired in rear fog lights and dash switch. it had had one but was pretty crappy. i fitted red LED bulbs into the reversing light lenses and wired in a spot light for the reversing light.

oh. and i bought new number plates and used the old rear one for the trailer board.

so anyway. that now looks like this.



wiring sorted i moved onto the brakes.

front discs looked rubbish so i ordered up new borg and beck discs and apex brake pads.

pulled the old brakes apart and found the calipers seized, the discs heavily scored and the pads looking in as bad a state.





pads. worn out one on the left was the inside pad and was the only one that was working due to the sliding pins being totally seized.







now we have working electrics, a towbar i can use and brakes so it'll stop as well. helpful.

[datman]

looks good, japanese import? Didnt sell crewcab ones here did they?

[Al Ramone]

Sept 4, 2013 22:38:37 GMT 1 datman said:

looks good, japanese import? Didnt sell crewcab ones here did they?

not sure. it's been over here a long while if it was. didn't have a proper fog light or switch so i'd guess that points to an import.

really would like a nice front bumper for this if you have any ideas?


more pics. as i forgot to add about the lecy window and central locking conversion.

i ran all the extra wiring through the original door/A post grommets so looks pretty stock. works too, which is a bonus

[Al Ramone]

been quite active fixing this old thing up over the last few weeks.

i've been under it a lot, cleaning off all the mud, wire brushing off any surface rust, treating it with Bilt Hamber's hydrate 80 www.bilthamber.com/corrosion-treatments/hydrate-80
then going over it with a black paint. starting to look ok under there and should last well now.

haven't taken any pictures of what i've done as it's pretty messy and not easy, or that interesting to take pics of....

i'm not finished underneath it and i'm also repairing the rear bed as well. i would replace it but i don't want to lose my cool graphics.


but in other news, i have smartened up the external appearance a little.

i haven't been able to find a replacement front bumper so i've tidied up what i have. a rub down with wire wool and treated the rusty bits. then put some aluminium tape over the holes along the bottom. crude, but made an improvement. i might try and re do it a little nicer if a better bumper doesn't turn up.

also i got hold of some chrome rimmed indicators and i've added some bling to the grill as well. i've blacked the main part of the grill and have used chrome tape along the top and bottom of it to match the indicators.

again, quite crude, but effective. being a pickup i can get away with it looking a little rough...

[gainsb1]

Looking good, Al. Where did you get the "Datsun" screen logo from?

Leigh (Area rep)

[Al Ramone]

thanks.

that sunstripe came from Will Datman. was very old so was a pain to get it to look ok. been folded up for a long time and it's backing sheet had started to deteriorate and stay stuck to the stripe.

still, looks good on the truck and suits it i think.