1989 Nissan King Cab D21 (Navara/Hardbody)

[Swedeski]

Hi guys,
been around for a short while at this forum and mostly been hanging out in the "Expedition Camper" section.
The reason why is my own camperbuild on a Chevy 1500 pickup.
http://www.expeditionportal.com/forum/threads/127580-Skiers-Lodge-Build-Thread

But last weekend I bought a really old Nissan pickup, so I guess I´m gonna pop in here once in a while.
Got it for just a couple of hundred bucks.
It´s a really beat up old truck that the PO used as a huntingrig. It has hade two moose on it´s truckbed in it´s life and numerous amouts of woodpiles. The body has some serious rustdamage but the frame has been welded up a couple of years ago.

Sorry about the supercrappy cellphone pics.

The day I got her, sitting on quite bald 31x10.5 R15 MS-tires.

I´m going to use it as a "offroad"-truck. Offroad driving is actually illegal here in Sweden but where I live I have an abundance of dirtroads/loggingroads/unplowed roads that will serve as "offroad". So actually very much on road, but on bad ones. I will use it to haul fishing stuff and equipment to.

Also we usually make a track on the lake where I live and "race" old beat up cars on the ice. So I guess I will get on the laketrack too.
So sorry, very little "Expedition" here.

Put some studded tires on right away and literally went for a spin.

This project will basically not se any cool mods, won´t get cash and time thrown at it or will not raise one single eyebrow. But it will make You guys feel great about Your cars/trucks.
So upcoming mods:
- clean it out
- drive it
- repair stuff

Now I wasn´t totally honest. I do have a LED lightbar laying around that I will mount on the roofrack. I will also pick up a shell for the bed from the PO when it has thawed out from underneath the snow in his yard.
And I guess it will get a rattlecan paintjob in the future.

So basically I´m just saying "Hi guys, look at my crappy truck".

 

[Swedeski]

Got it cleaned up a little bit this weekend. And fixed the 4 extra high beams in the front that wasn´t working. Changed 3 burned out buldbs and one relay.

Mounted the LED lightbar on a bracket and bolted it to the roofbar.

Putting out daylight at night. Basically the only thing great on the truck.:smiley_drive:

Took itt out for a spin in the snow on some mountainroads, and did some landwork.
She actually runs better then she looks. :truck:

 

[Swedeski]

Whatever reason that You have for having an "expedition vehicle" it's fun to putting them to use. Offroading, overlanding, glamping, camping or rockcrawling...mine has been hauling my backcountry skigear for some nightpatrol skitours.

Still plenty of snow in the mountains.

Just me and the moose making tracks in the snow.

The very exquisite truckbed storage. Will have to patch some holes and fix it up a little bit.

 

[Jamie_Tiernan]

Whoa! You actually got this beauty for just 'a couple of hundred bucks'? Awesome sauce! And the pics aren't crappy at all... How long do you think this thing can last, provided you try and maintain it at its best?

 

[Swedeski]

Whoa! You actually got this beauty for just 'a couple of hundred bucks'? Awesome sauce! And the pics aren't crappy at all... How long do you think this thing can last, provided you try and maintain it at its best?

Thanx!
Well as usually it's hard to tell the amout of rustdamage from pictures. She's not a looker I promise You that. I'll try to give it some love (regular maintenance) and hopefully the truck will run for a couple of years. It's really hard to tell but as it is of today it's running and shifting well. So I'm more inclined to believe that the frame, suspension, body, axels or something like that will give before the engine. These small asian trucks are really common here so You can find some really cheap ones. Contrary to fullsize pickups which are expensive and hard to find. But I really don't know, maybe I jinxed it now and will blow the engine next ride.

 

[Swedeski]

Just picked up the bedcap. Need to patch some holes if I don't want my gear in the back soaked with wet mud. Havn't been a problem when the snow has been dry. But now spring is coming along.

 

[Swedeski]

Did some "springcleaning" today.

Took the studded wintertires off and put the 31x10.5R15 (slightly taller) tires on.

Hooked up two new ledlights as reverselights.

Took the truck for a nightspin and almost hit a moose, a deer and a tree that had fallen over a small dirtroad. Eventfull night but the good thing about the truck is that you are never going that fast which gives you time to brake for "stuff".

The backuplights worked out great.

 

[tanglefoot]

Cool truck! It has a definite rally look to it. The dual-cab Hardbodies weren't available here, so we're already jealous.

I ran a set of early, used Kumho Powerguard MTs in the past. Noisy, but fun (I imagine the AT is quieter). I remember those raised, molded sidewall letters, just like the TSL Swampers.

I'm starting to see the need for all that light--the roads sound dangerous there!

 

[Swedeski]

Cool truck! It has a definite rally look to it. The dual-cab Hardbodies weren't available here, so we're already jealous.

I ran a set of early, used Kumho Powerguard MTs in the past. Noisy, but fun (I imagine the AT is quieter). I remember those raised, molded sidewall letters, just like the TSL Swampers.

I'm starting to see the need for all that light--the roads sound dangerous there!

Thanx!
I would absolutely like a pair of MT's but I will stick to my AT's for awhile. Not throwing big cash at the truck so I will run what I have.
The truck is quite noisy as it is already with at's that are not evenly worn down. And I'm not driving many miles on paved road either. If I run in to some cheap mt's I will give it a go!

Since I absolutely not would like to crash into something with this truck I've gone all in with the lights. I saw the moose in good time and I'm thankfull for that.

 

[Swedeski]

The 31's rubbed a little bit so I put the grinder to work.

When it looks like this You are not exactly worried.
Then put the truck to test. This time the dirtroads turned into smaller and smaller backroads and finally it just turned into sheer offroad.

My neighbours Subaru did really well despite the lower ground clearance.

Showing off the lights....again.
Also tried to change the fuelfilters but they where stuck HARD!

It has probably not been changed in a couple of decades. The filterwrench just deformed the filter and I didn't want to punch through a screwdriver to try and force it, since I was going for a drive.
Checked the oil and it was more like tar then oil, will have to change that.

 

[Arktikos]

Nice find. What engine does it have? I can relate to the advantage of having brighter back up lights, especially in the long, dark winters found in northern latitudes.

 

[Swedeski]

Nice find. What engine does it have? I can relate to the advantage of having brighter back up lights, especially in the long, dark winters found in northern latitudes.

Thanx.
It's a diesel TD27.

Took it for a run with some nice views tonight.

 

[Swedeski]

I'm starting to think that some MT's would be nice.

Not super impressed with the mud-shedding ability of my quite bald AT's.

Was supposed to go for a little AW-fishing trip last night with my wife.

This is what we aimed fore, s small lake in the mountains a 20 min drive from home.

Heading off we realized we needed to swing by the gas station. But the shortcut there turned out to be a long detour (timewise).

Not saying I would have made it with better tires. We where stuck hard.

The mud hole didn't have a solid bottom so not much traction there.
Of'course not a single one that I knew could pull us out answered their phones. On the plus side it was just a 15 min run back home to get my chevy. And the last advantage of the situation was that I could skip the "shortcut" and drive around from the other side of the mud hole.

Instead of a nice reflection of the sky in a mountain lake we got a nice Nissan reflection in muddy water! 😃

Problem solved! But it took some effort.

 

[Swedeski]

Got it cleaned off today. There was alot of mud stuck under the truck.

I've put in some sestcovers also earlier. Went for the cheapest stuff I could find but it made a big difference. The old covers were embedded with decades of dirt and doghair.

I've also made a jerrycan mount in the truckbed.

Found out on an earlier trip that the truckcap has a tendency to bounce off since the tiedown-points will come loose after awhile.

Fast and simple solution with a biner.
Most "mods" to this truck are pretty "redneck" and cheap but I'm not inclined to put much time and money in to it. So I'll just fix whatever problem I encounter with a simple solution.

 

[Swedeski]

Made a minor improvement today trying to "save" the really cracked up mess of a windshield.

Going down trails with alot of overhanging branches I've been wondering how long it will last.
So today I made some simple limb risers.

Hopefully it will protect the windshield and the roof led light bar a little bit.