Will

One of the 280ZX master cylinder's reservoirs was too wide to fit in a 710, so I swapped it out for another small one from a 280ZX MC.

Hopefully it will fit now!

...finally got around to installing the repaired bumper - even though the people in this town gave me lots of compliments on the 4"x6" wooden version.

Keep up the good work!

To avoid two trips to the machine shop, I was thinking of using a cold chisel (and safety glasses) to crack the old bearing collar and bearing from the disc rear axles. I need to get them off so that I can do a more accurate job of re-drilling the backing plate and bracket.

...anyone have rear wheel bearing removal/replacement tips?

710 all had some degree of front camber issues. My '74 looked like the engine was removed when driving down the street. I think the ride height was designed wrong at the factory. Lowering it a couple of inches made it look better (much more level with the back) and the camber is almost gone. My 710 goon came with Moog camber plates on it. This is what shops did to 710s when they came in for an alignment.

Yup - I added some Moog camber plates when I swapped the front suspension to get the front wheels more perpendicular to the ground - the 710 has a raised ride height compared to a 160J/Violet, so maybe Datsun didn't change the strut location when they raised the car. Odd that they would miss that, because they bothered to make the front fender lips are lower on 710 fenders than on 160J fenders.

Okay, further updates... I went back this morning and tried rotating the bracket around to see if I could find a position that would work, and it looks like this one will do the trick:

It's pretty close to the bump stop, but I think it should be okay.

It looks like there will be clearance for the parking brake cable too.

Unfortunately, the holes don't line up for a simple bolt-on installation, so I'll need to re-drill the brackets and backing plates, but there is plenty of room on the current brackets for a new set of holes without making them weak.

...and my slide hammer is ugly, but functional!

Well, the good news is that my home-made slide hammer worked like a charm. (it was a bunch of bike tubing and random bits of scrap metal welded together, but it worked.)

...the bad news is that the weird 80-81 200SX rear calipers are a lot deeper than most calipers, and there are clearance issues between the leaf springs if they are rotated to the bottom and there are clearance issues between the calipers and the inner fender if they are rotated to the top.

Does anyone know of a different caliper that might be a good fit to the 200SX bracket? The mounting holes are 3.75" / 9.5cm apart.

I finally got around to starting the 200SX rear disc brake swap (I was waiting until I picked up a resident parking sticker, so I wouldn't have so far to walk when I need to pick up parts from home.) 

A rear wheel cylinder had been leaking for a while... it sure was a mess under the drum!

It was supported by a jack stand too - it just doesn't show in the photo!

Unlike the 200SX, the rear axle didn't just pull out nicely when the axle flange was unbolted, so it looks like I will need to go to the metal shop tomorrow morning to make a slide hammer that I can attach to the hub.

A nice candidate for a build. Straight panels make this a winner!

Yeah... it seems like a lot of the '73s wind up with really denty front ends after 40 years - I guess this one has been helped out by being kept out of circulation for 22 years. I'm curious to see what it will look like after the paint gets a bit of attention.

Best wishes for the rest of the cross-country trip!

If someone happens to be heading towards that San Bermardino yard and wants to earn some cash for wrenching a few parts off of that 710 and sending them up to San Francisco, let me know!

It comes pre-named: ALF

Oh wait - I just noticed that the new fellow with the white car a few posts back has two tachs... maybe he'd be interested in selling / trading after he swaps in the round SSS gauge cluster?

Want to get this just for the tach

Yeah... I figured that the price + shipping is about what someone would try to charge for just the tach stateside. I haven't seen a 610 tach for sale for AGES. Plus you could sell the other stuff to make up some of the cost. Too bad it isn't blue. I love those weird blue gauges.

Datsun 610 gauge cluster with tach in Australia, and the seller is willing to ship to the USA. ...the speedometer is even English-Standard.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Datsun-Nissan-180B-SSS-Dash-Instrument-Cluster-/261259627654

Okay, more midwest than East Coast. ...and not a Datsun, but I figured someone here would be interested anyway:

Toyota Crown Hardtop, $800

http://springfield.craigslist.org/cto/3968645555.html

I picked up some 200SX rear brakes from an '80 200SX with a H-165 rear axle at the junkyard - I'll post some more pictures when I do the install...

I stopped by Moss Landing P-N-P to grab the rear disc brakes off of a '80 200SX, and it seemed pretty much untouched...except now the rear axle is removed. It has an automatic transmission and a blue interior.  It was cheaper to remove the whole rear axle than to get charged for the brakes individually, but that seems like the only part that has been removed from the car.

There was also a green/green '78 510 hatchback. Automatic transmission, matching interior. Again.

If you're looking for green interior parts it might be a good source - it look like it has been disassembled quite a bit, but not much is actually gone - rear bumper, head, some trim is all that is really missing. I saw the grille and gauge cluster tossed a few cars away, so I put them back in the car - and the dizzy (electronic ignition with remote box) is under the car near the back.

Also there was this 521 that looks like it was a lot of fun back in the day:

I nabbed a cannon intake that made it seem like there was some stop-leak running through the system at some point (grey goop), but the engine looked quite clean in general. 

@Will,  Those at Oakland !! I'll check those ZX's out... cool !

 

 

A turbo with t-tops !!?!??!  I'm going to pull so much stuff.

It looked pretty complete - they put out a row as I was there yesterday around noon. I looked under the turbo's hood and there was so much stuff that I'm not used to seeing on my L20B. That turbo sure has lots of stuff.

Ker-blam!

It came with a spare bonnet and boot (trunk for you Americans who name car parts after elephants)

...or if you like to name car parts after girly hats and cowboy shoes...

Anyway, welcome to Ratsun - it looks like you have a great start to a project! I hope that your new gauge cluster is as easy to hook up as mine was.

Thanks for the update Will. If you or anyone here has plans of going back to the P-N-P in Oakland I would love to have that radio delete plate on the B210

...actually I did nab that right after I snapped the picture. Maybe we can trade if you have any 710 stuff laying around.

The bumper doesn't look too far gone - any competent bumper shop should be able to straighten it out. (heck, you might be able to pull it back into shape by hand - the metal isn't very thick.)

It actually looks like it is the same color as the car in the catalog pictures!

I just bought a 73 SSS and I've got a jdm round gauge dash for it, I've got a cut loom with it but I was just wondering is there any tips I need to know before I try to put it in? Also how do you go about getting the oil pressure gauge working? I haven't got and pictures yet because I'm at work.

I just put 160J sss gauges in my 710 - I added a new oil pressure sender (PS153 was the part number for ebay searches) and the gauge works fine, but I needed to disassemble the plug for the gauge cluster and rearrange the wires with lots of checking wiring diagrams - you might find my thread useful to get started.

http://community.ratsun.net/topic/34485-710-project-thread/page-8

I had someone push a meeting back by an hour as I was nearing Oakland - time enough for a quick run to the Oakland P-N-P!

There was a 77 or 78 B210

No engine or transmission (automatic) but the interior was pretty nice. It has the cool steering wheel.

Also, 2 ZXs. One automatic and the same colors as the old transformer, the other a turbo with T-tops. There was another 280ZX on the yard, but it had been there for a while.

There was a early 720 with an L20B and a 5-speed too.