fivetenguy

After many years of prepping and putting it off, it's finally in. I'll probably start a write up on it soon. It's been a slow process.

The small end brackets had a lot of surface rust. I cleaned them as best as I could and then treated them with rust converter. Then rinsed, dried and sprayed them with rust converter and then painted them. I do not have pictures of the finished product. The bumper brackets only needed to be cleaned and resprayed. They did not have any rust. Also, no pics of the brackets, yet.

I got the rear springs back from the shop. I don't know what the heck I was thinking, but I asked him to de-arch them 1.5". I should have asked for at least 2" 😩. I'll post the gap between the tire and rear fender later. The rear end was leaking at the pinion seal and I did not know about it because the car sat for a couple of years. It made a mess, so I pulled the rear end out, cleaned and painted it. I also replaced the leaking seal. Installed the rear end and filled it with oil. It's been two weeks and no leaks, yet. The rear left brake cylinder was leaking so I installed a new one. Purged the brakes, too.

I purchased the the front spring bushings from Nolathane. I tried getting the rear spring and shackle bushings from Canada, with shipping, tariffs and other fees, the total came out to $80. The bushings alone were only $20. I looked around and found a site in Japan that deals with OEM parts. I purchased the bushings, numerous hoses, plugs and other rubber items for $130 shipped. All the parts are OEM, so I don't think it's too bad. I replaced the bushings on the springs only, not the bushings on the body since they were still soft, round and without cracks. No pics of the Nolathane bushings. Nissan part number for the rear bushings is 55047-H1000.

More bushing pics... I also sent the rear leaf springs out to get de-arced. I should get them back early next week.

A couple of weeks ago I started taking apart the rear suspension so I could clean and freshen things up. I ordered bushing for the leaf springs and still waiting for the rears. So my car shows 60k+ miles on the clock. After inspecting the current bushings, I'm starting to believe the clock has not gone over once or twice. What do you guys think?

I went to a paint shop and had them match the paint as well as they could and had them put it in a rattle can since I do not know how to paint the real way. The color match is ok. For the top coat, I used some 2K clear coat. It's not as good as the professional stuff, but better than the 1k stuff. Eventually I might have a local painter touch up and blend in the areas on the car where the paint has been worn down to the metal. I do not want to do a full respray since it's the original paint and I don't want to do a full restoration. That would involve a bunch of time and money. Overall, it turned out ok. Definitely cleaner and better than what it was before.

This car has been on the back burner for a while. Last summer I was bored with my other projects so I started back on this one. I was not happy with the front of the car as far as cosmetics. The paint was rough with some rock chips. I decided to just touch up the front a bit. There was some surface rust and pitting at some places. Cleaned those spots up and applied some rust converter.

I've bought from them many times in the past, but I totally missed the bushings for the shackles. I'll hit them up after the holidays.

Thanks for the video. I was not aware of that. I was already looking for rubber bushings for it. I found some on Amayama.com. They are out of Japan. Supposedly they have a good reputation on the web and are OEM. We'll see...

This site has most part numbers for the more popular Datsuns, including the 1200. https://www.carpartsmanual.com/

Thanks for the link! What is everyone using for the rears and front uppers? Taking measurements and getting the closest bushing from Energy Suspension? I'm getting ready to send my springs out to de-arc them and would like to start with new bushings

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I measured the thread last night after work with a caliper and it's an 1/4" npt.