Will

Will,

 

     Nice to see that you finally got around to playing with the front end after all you had to go throgh to get the fender's.

Yeah... I've been waiting until I could pay for a new coat of paint before I put those fenders on - I'm think I'll be going with this color, "Leaf Green" - it looks like it was used in 73&74, just not on the 710:

Maybe hair drier to soften the grill and push over into fender shape?

 

 

I might be able to tweak it a little with a heat gun - it is a bit dented on that edge already from an accident some time in the past 40 years. I already have a whole lot of small cracks to glue back together and little dings to work out of the headlight rings. 

I was actually thinking about using a heat gun to make the plastic splash guards in the fenders fit correctly.

Noice work.

 

2 questions.

 

1) You used to live in the east coast right ? You drove your 710 all the way east didn't you ?

2) The foreign valance is lower (closer to ground) than US version right ? Fuller look.

I bought the car in Sacramento, drove it back to New York, then two years later I moved to San Francisco and drove all the way back.

I think that the foreign valance isn't any lower - it's just that the bumper is a good 2 or 3 inches higher and the fenders are pointier, so it really changes the proportions of the front of the car.

Is the original vinyl underneath all of the psychedelic fabric?

It seems like quite a few 710 project threads have been started in the past few weeks - it's nice to see!

Is the gap between the fender and the door bigger at the top of the door, than at the bottom?

Yup - I think that it is because the shape gets more complicated near the top of the fender - it was probably too tough to match without Nissan's tooling.

...also, does anyone have friends down south that might be able to help with parts? They don't ship to the USA, but this part costs 13 dollars... I've seen hoods for sale too.

Finally got around to attaching the non-USA front fenders to my 710:

...I only broke one bolt in the process!

I managed to get everything attached, but the new sheetmetal is aftermarket stuff, so it will need a lot of finesse to get it ready for a new coat of paint.

This is the worst spot on the fenders - it will need to be worked quite a bit since the new panels aren't as curvy as the originals.

It'll need some work to make the grille opening match up to the grille too.

This shows how much higher the 160J fender openings are compared to the plastic made for the 710 fenders.

The panels all bolt up to existing holes in the 710 - I didn't need to use a drill (other than when I removed the one broken bolt.)

Here it is mocked up with the bumper - I'll need to make some brackets.

Holy crap Will, So you're the guy that ruined it for the rest of us.

Maybe it's different out here, does AAA have their own trucks or something?

In New York, AAA would call a towing company to go out and give me a tow - so the towing company got their money by giving me a tow - there really wasn't any incentive for the tow truck driver to turn me down - as long as my Datsun had wheels that could roll, it could be towed.

Yah jvb, I had the same great services with AAA. They told me that if it's "modified" they won't touch it. Funny thing is, if you hire the same toe service yourself they'll take you anywhere you want to go for $90 and a buck a mile. So why do I have AAA again?

That's too bad - I used to use AAA all the time when I was in a jam... Even one time when my Datsun 100A wagon was broken and I needed to move. I just crammed everything i owned into the Datsun and AAA towed it to my new apartment.

Haha, it got the wrong carb on it - a 1-bbl. Datsuns come from the factory with a 2-bbl carb. The Weberis the way to go.

yeah - that carb looked really unfamiliar!

Best wishes for a speedy recovery!

It doesn't look too bad - do you know why it was taken off the road in the first place?

I think I might have seen this one on http://www.gumtree.co.za/ a while back - it usually has a bunch of Datsuns that we didn't get in the USA for sale that would be cheap to purchase, but very difficult to transport!

Here's a few that are on the site now:

Catch a ride with someone. Chip in a tank of gas. You can sleep under my goon. (done that)

Didn't you end up lowering the goon? Are the hitchhikers going to need to bring their own jack stands?

It might be nice to go to Datsun meets on two consecutive weekends - though the timing might be too close for some.

 

• Bill & Bill's Body & Fender

  https://plus.google.com/103357554708325679451/about?gl=us&hl...‎

   

  1500 105th Ave, Oakland, CA 94603

  (510) 568-3783

The actual owner's name is Paul. He's a grumpy old fuck, but a cool guy. He let me do the body prep on my car in his shop so I could keep the expense down. He painted my 510 with a Emron two part single stage epoxy resin paint. It's normally used for industrial machines, and It's illegal in Cali, but Paul had the connects. The shit is bullet proof so it's hard as fuck to sand and polish. After a ton of finish work my car turn out great. 

 

The guy takes a bit of getting used to, but he's a fair guy with a good heart. If you call him say Ron with the school bus Yellow 510 says hi.

 

Thanks! This is exactly the kind of information I'm looking for.

I'm curious how they got the stock SSS air filter housing to fit without getting in the way of the brake booster / master cylinder. Looks like a great project in the works!

...now, the only way that gas will escape my tank is through the engine.

datsUn!

^^^^ FAIL

Dude, be nice - Figbuck has been waiting for that disc brake conversion for SEVEN YEARS. His drums are almost totally worn out.

I wouldn't mind getting the front fenders and valence

Okay - I'll let you know how the surgery goes next weekend!

I see artillery damage to the wheelwell and some traces of olive green paint on the floors - was this thing used in the military?

Ah, a coat of primer makes this panel look a little less gnarly...

Next weekend I'm going to try attaching the 160J front sheetmetal. ...maybe some other stuff too, if FedEx comes through with a delivery!

(Anyone out there need some decent 710 front fenders & a valence panel?)

The front. The rear seems pretty easy, but you said you used 280zx struts, and just a coil over sleeve?

Datzenmike figured out to do some adjustable struts with split collars to adjust the spring perch - I think that is what he means:

http://community.ratsun.net/topic/24412-my-76-710-goon/page-5

...it's probably a good idea to go through all 21 pages as a crash-course in things you should know about your new 710 - there's a LOT of useful info in there!

Have you had any problems with the driveshaft hitting the tunnel when you hit bumps?

The PO of my car reversed one of the leaves in the springs and it would hit when I was just going over minor bumps on the highway, so I switched the spring back to the stock arrangement. ...it probably didn't help that they cut the bump stops above the axle. I was thinking about trying some lowering blocks to lower the car a little, but not so much that I couldn't handle bumps. What size lowering blocks did you try?

Woah. Water-cooled coilover!

A lot of manuals are available online as .pdf files if you do a bit of searching - here is a .pdf Factory Service Manual for the L20B engine (from the 200sx manual)

http://cdn.preterhuman.net/texts/automotive/Nissan_Model_L20b_Engine.pdf