The dash looks amazing. I got lucky and have a Crack free dash but did need to see how to take it out so I didn't damage it and your video showed me how to. Thank you and great looking truck!!!
Come to think of it , I have not had a canker sore since I subscribed Brian! Thanks! I approve of your Bondo mixing apparatus! I also appreciate your talking out loud your thought process. Makes me think I could possibly do this one day too. Man the dash actually turned out pretty good for never doing it before! The truck is really coming along great!
That’s how you take the radio out. I cut mine out the front. That’s what I did when I was young & dumb. I never got any compliments on a shirt before until the Motorized Wheelbarrow & Dad has been getting them too. Look’n Good. Put some sort of bed cover on it to make it look streamlined & protect stuff in the back. You could put the words Motorized Wheelbarrow on top of the cover & add your UA-cam channel an that also to it.
Cool video. Way back when I was a young man 1990 ish I got my first car a 1973 Datsun 610 pickup that had been restored including something I've never seen before or again come to think about it but it was a dash cover not like the ones we see sold at the local Austin parts store this was an actual skin made from the same material of the original that covered the top part of the dash well more like about 50% of the dash it was a perfect mold and unless you looked super close you could not even see the cover was there and it looked OEM. The rest of the interior was very nice but not OEM anyway your project here although not the same but it did remind me of that dash and that truck I wish I still owned. Funny at the time I took it for granted because it was a bit older of a mini truck and I missed how cool it really was with hood scoop, visor, slammed on the ground, true spoke rims front chin air deflector, louvers punched in the skin of the body and a very cool paint job much much more but would take too long anyway this truck is making me feel nostalgic thanks for posting.
Good stuff - love the mini trucks. Those dash covers are still made for the later Datsuns I do believe. I also bought one for a 74 Charger a few years back from YearOne. Sure makes recovering the dash an easy job.
Really nice job. Getting a new transmission plugged into mine...your truck's near twin. Next are discs all the way around, and then we will tackle the interior. We will also need to restore the dash. I would be shocked if there were any 521's out there with an original, uncracked dash. Every one I've seen either looks like your before pic or some version of your after pic.
Another great video Bryan!!! The camera work and lighting while taking the dash out was inspiring. That level of detail is perfect for some of those tricky spots. When I recovered my wife's dash like this, I used expanding spray foam. The prep was about the same.....cutting, sanding brushing all the high spots and debris out of the way. The spray foam is super easy to cut and sand once it's expanded and dried. A long board for sanding....even if it's not a pneumatic one....helps flatten it out nicely. Those ends are a real pain. If you don't wrap the foam around it....just stop at the edge and then sand a little radius into it, it will help keep the dash narrower so it's easier to put in. Using pie cuts to remove some of the excess vinyl on the ends also helps. You can leave the strips long enough to wrap all the way under the metal by a couple of inches. With the glue under there too, you can pull the strips down and under and they'll stay pretty nicely. The very top out corner fold.....I had the same thing and couldn't seem to get rid of it. Maybe a lot of heat/steam would allow it to mold around it better, but I didn't have that option....still don't. lol You probably noticed....the studs on the far sides are actually part of the dash. They originally put the dash in as a complete unit so the firewall nuts and a couple on the side are pretty easy to get to and remove. It releases the entire dash. There's more wiring to deal with and the steering column, but it's an option. You can leave the radio and speedo in, but you have to also disconnect the cable controls for the heater vents. Anyway.....just throwing it in here as an option for others watching this. Honestly....if I had to do it again, I'd do it the same way you did. Again......great work!!!! ps.....haven't forgotten about the brakes.....things are just moving more slowly than I thought they would. :)
Thanks Mike!! I actually thought about using spray foam. Looking back, it would have been a much faster route, I believe. The biggest pain in all of the project was getting the vinyl to wrap around under the lip on the sides. It wanted to bunch up. Looking back, I should have just put a seam in it to relieve some of the excess material. Oh well, hindsight and all.
I just took mine entire interior apart. gonna fix the dash man i wish they sold those covers that you can just slide over the cracked dash. dash looks great. still holding up well?
@@ProjectTimeGarage Please DON'T lower this little girl. Then it will look all punched out. It looks BEAUTIFUL the way it is without that lowering it stuff.
Now I would of started with some spray foam in the large cracks first then applied a thin coat of the body filler but that's just me I mean whatever works for you.
Funny you mention that. I used the spray foam on a project about 5 years ago. The overall result was pretty good, but MAN was it a mess. I had a helluva time with it for whatever reason.
Great video! I just picked up a '77 Datsun 620 and it had a dash cover on it, hiding grand canyon-sized cracks 😞 - oh well, add it to the list!
The list seems to grow by the day doesn't it?
Amazing job!! My dash pad is in perfect condition but I need to have it wrapped to match my seats.. Now I have a step by step!! YOU ROCK!
It made a big difference in the truck.
The dash looks amazing. I got lucky and have a Crack free dash but did need to see how to take it out so I didn't damage it and your video showed me how to. Thank you and great looking truck!!!
Thanks, this all taught me that I have a LOT to learn about sewing.....
Enjoying your content! I’m in the same boat with my 521. Project build!
Thanks and good luck with your truck!!
Come to think of it , I have not had a canker sore since I subscribed Brian! Thanks! I approve of your Bondo mixing apparatus! I also appreciate your talking out loud your thought process. Makes me think I could possibly do this one day too. Man the dash actually turned out pretty good for never doing it before! The truck is really coming along great!
Awesome! Thank you!
That’s how you take the radio out. I cut mine out the front. That’s what I did when I was young & dumb.
I never got any compliments on a shirt before until the Motorized Wheelbarrow & Dad has been getting them too.
Look’n Good.
Put some sort of bed cover on it to make it look streamlined & protect stuff in the back. You could put the words Motorized Wheelbarrow on top of the cover & add your UA-cam channel an that also to it.
I've taken my share out that way for sure. A bed cover is an interesting idea.
Little rascal is coming along man!
Thanks Jim, it's getting cuter by the day.
Looks amazing you did a great job. Inspired me to try something similar with my 77 620
Thanks. Good luck with your project!
Good Job
Thanks!
Man that came out awesome!! That was quite the project. That kind of thing is my weakest automotive repair ability, so I’m envious. Looks great.
Thanks, it's a really weak point for me too. Sewing machines and all......
Cool video. Way back when I was a young man 1990 ish I got my first car a 1973 Datsun 610 pickup that had been restored including something I've never seen before or again come to think about it but it was a dash cover not like the ones we see sold at the local Austin parts store this was an actual skin made from the same material of the original that covered the top part of the dash well more like about 50% of the dash it was a perfect mold and unless you looked super close you could not even see the cover was there and it looked OEM. The rest of the interior was very nice but not OEM anyway your project here although not the same but it did remind me of that dash and that truck I wish I still owned. Funny at the time I took it for granted because it was a bit older of a mini truck and I missed how cool it really was with hood scoop, visor, slammed on the ground, true spoke rims front chin air deflector, louvers punched in the skin of the body and a very cool paint job much much more but would take too long anyway this truck is making me feel nostalgic thanks for posting.
Good stuff - love the mini trucks. Those dash covers are still made for the later Datsuns I do believe. I also bought one for a 74 Charger a few years back from YearOne. Sure makes recovering the dash an easy job.
Really nice job. Getting a new transmission plugged into mine...your truck's near twin. Next are discs all the way around, and then we will tackle the interior. We will also need to restore the dash. I would be shocked if there were any 521's out there with an original, uncracked dash. Every one I've seen either looks like your before pic or some version of your after pic.
I just bought another 521 and the dash is actually way worse than any I've seen.
nova said wheel well Good
LOL, she's a mess.
Another great video Bryan!!! The camera work and lighting while taking the dash out was inspiring. That level of detail is perfect for some of those tricky spots. When I recovered my wife's dash like this, I used expanding spray foam. The prep was about the same.....cutting, sanding brushing all the high spots and debris out of the way. The spray foam is super easy to cut and sand once it's expanded and dried. A long board for sanding....even if it's not a pneumatic one....helps flatten it out nicely. Those ends are a real pain. If you don't wrap the foam around it....just stop at the edge and then sand a little radius into it, it will help keep the dash narrower so it's easier to put in. Using pie cuts to remove some of the excess vinyl on the ends also helps. You can leave the strips long enough to wrap all the way under the metal by a couple of inches. With the glue under there too, you can pull the strips down and under and they'll stay pretty nicely. The very top out corner fold.....I had the same thing and couldn't seem to get rid of it. Maybe a lot of heat/steam would allow it to mold around it better, but I didn't have that option....still don't. lol
You probably noticed....the studs on the far sides are actually part of the dash. They originally put the dash in as a complete unit so the firewall nuts and a couple on the side are pretty easy to get to and remove. It releases the entire dash. There's more wiring to deal with and the steering column, but it's an option. You can leave the radio and speedo in, but you have to also disconnect the cable controls for the heater vents. Anyway.....just throwing it in here as an option for others watching this. Honestly....if I had to do it again, I'd do it the same way you did. Again......great work!!!!
ps.....haven't forgotten about the brakes.....things are just moving more slowly than I thought they would. :)
Thanks Mike!! I actually thought about using spray foam. Looking back, it would have been a much faster route, I believe. The biggest pain in all of the project was getting the vinyl to wrap around under the lip on the sides. It wanted to bunch up. Looking back, I should have just put a seam in it to relieve some of the excess material. Oh well, hindsight and all.
@@ProjectTimeGarage Yes, a seam on the ends would have solved all the issues. I've seen some redo's done that way. Like you said....hindsight. lol
Gained a sub I’m going to be using all your vids to work on my truck. I’m picking it up this weekend I’ll be reaching out if I get stuck on something.
Sweet! Shoot us some pics via e-mail!
I just took mine entire interior apart. gonna fix the dash
man i wish they sold those covers that you can just slide over the cracked dash.
dash looks great. still holding up well?
Yeah the dash is still doing well, but to be fair the truck sits in a garage almost all the time. I wish someone sold slip on seat covers for them.
I think it looks good. I really like your approach to these 521 projects. Good work man. Any plans to lower it a bit?
-Pidge
Yeah, I've been thinking about it.
@@ProjectTimeGarage Please DON'T lower this little girl. Then it will look all punched out. It looks BEAUTIFUL the way it is without that lowering it stuff.
We can drive it into the bed of my F250 for the next C&C and use it as a dinghy. 🤣
I think that needs to happen./
Now I would of started with some spray foam in the large cracks first then applied a thin coat of the body filler but that's just me I mean whatever works for you.
Funny you mention that. I used the spray foam on a project about 5 years ago. The overall result was pretty good, but MAN was it a mess. I had a helluva time with it for whatever reason.
👍
Thanks!