I bought my first Datsun 720 (1981, Z22, 5-speed, King Cab) about 5 years ago from a lady who used it for a landscaping business....paint was faded pretty bad but minimal rust, so with a $40 sanding & paint job (the ol' backyard Tremclad / Rustoleum with a roller) it looked pretty decent. Replaced timing chain and ball joints. Eventually got some nice chrome rims on there - sorry no pics with the rims on - they're in the shed now until summer - and a seat upgrade from a 280ZX which bolted right in. The 1981 king cab is for sale now locally with 240,000 km on it, as I just replaced it with a 1982 single cab diesel flatdeck 720 with only 95,000km (60,000miles).
The single cab is a bit tight for me as I was used to that seat being able to go back another couple of inches, but the fuel efficiency is outstanding. I mean the gas Z22 gets great mileage, but I just got over 700km on one tank from the diesel SD22, and that was all short trips and around town driving...with some longer highway trips should easily be able to get 800-850 on a tank. Few minor quirks of course - the glow plug relay has been rigged up with a manual override switch and the radiator fan is missing. I'll have to see what happens for the truck in the heat of summer, but I've read about a few guys now who just merrily drive diesel 720s year round with no fan whatsoever, as the SD22 doesn't produce nearly as much waste heat as the gas engine.
The 82 diesel cab is in awesome shape, only a few little rust holes behind the driver's door. Body panels have a few bumps and dings but nothing too bad. I swapped the chrome bumper from my gas 720 since it was in much better condition. The frame has a couple of weak spots on the passenger side, but it looks sturdy enough for a couple of years maybe, and basically I bought this truck just as for the engine. I figure it will long outlast the rest of the truck.
Not really too many big plans for further modification, other than I'd like to redo the flat deck this summer. For some reason it's mounted quite high above the frame, so I might see if I can lower it a bit. For the time being to make use of the space I've put a wooden storage/toolbox underneath the deck. The wood decking could use replacing at some point, and I might look into some different tail /signal lights for the back - don't really like the look of the current ones.
I don't really care about restoring to mint condition, raising or lowering or having a kickin' sound system...just want a truck that can haul building materials & wet dogs, that's cheap on gas and fun to drive, has real bumpers, no computerized crap to flake out, and has got a bit of style - that's the 720.
Here's a few pics of the 81 - I'll try and take some pics to post later of the diesel 82.
Long-D
British Columbia Canada
