Babalouie Posted August 29, 2009 Author Report Share Posted August 29, 2009 Anyway, today was a fun day :D A couple of the other Hako owners were heading down to Nathan's workshop out of town for some tuning and maintenance. So it seemed as good an opportunity as any to have an impromtu Hako Owners Meeting! There are 7 KGC10s in Australia and 5 are in my state. So getting 4 in one place was pretty cool, and I'm reasonably sure that this would be the biggest gathering of Hakosukas outside of Japan since..well, forever :) Al four cars gathered were silver GTR replicas. All had big-cube L-series with triple carbs :) Present were Project Hako, and you might recognise Jim and Greg's cars which have featured in the build thread in the past. Making an appearance for the first time is Nathan's own KGC10 (the one withthe Reverse Mesh wheels). We're all friends anyway, so it was a great day to get together and talk cars, and of course any such gathering would be incomplete without some JDM literature show 'n tell :) Part of the fun were swapping cars and it was a big surprise to learn that each car is very different. Nathan's is the trackday car of the group, it's the most powerful and grumpy. Greg's engine is a stroker with a mild cam and lots of torque. My car has more of a step in the powerband at 4500rpm as the big rally cam kicks in, and Jim's Kakimoto 3L is somewhere in the middle. And they all sound completely different, with way different induction and exhaust notes. Mine's got the smallest exhaust and is the quietest, with the other guys' cars all having much nicer and louder exhaust notes with a real nice ripping sound at the top end. We always knew that the small exhaust on Project Hako was holding back the power, but now that I know what it "could" sound like, installing a bigger custom system is very tempting :) Greg's car (on the Hayashis) was in for an oil leak repair and a general tuneup. And Jims (on the black Watanabes) was just in for a service. And at the end of the day, three of us headed back the same way so it was a pretty cool sight to see two other Hakos on the road with me (err..hope you don't mind Def Leppard). We have to do this more often, Australia is definitely the non-Japanese Hakosuka capital ofthe world :D Quote Link to comment
Babalouie Posted October 27, 2009 Author Report Share Posted October 27, 2009 Right...it's been a while since I did an update. Basically the new motor's got 5000kms on it now and everything's running great. Before we get on with the latest mechanical update, my old friend Justin at http://www.jdmstyletuning.com decided to feature the Hako as their latest "Members Ride". My buddy Kelvin Ng took some awesome shots of the car as you will see too. The whole article is at: http://forum.jdmstyletuning.com/showthread.php?t=19640 The shots look like the whole car park is dark, but in fact it's brightly lit. That dark effect is done with certain unusual camera settings and lots of flashes with those umbrella things. Love those pics. But the one thing I had to fix lately is a squeaking noise from the rear axles. It started to appear a few thousand kms after I'd renewed the rear bearings, and you can see where they fit in this pic, it's that black ring between the inner bearing and that big companion flange. Basically it's a lip seal that the inner stub of the companion flange rotates in: The noise was a squeak, squeak, squeak that was only at low speed and went away the faster you go. If you look at the pic above, you'll notice that you can see right thru to the balls in the old-style bearings. When you replace those, you partially fill the cavity where the bearings live with handfuls of grease. I figure this ensures that when the bearings get hot and the grease tries to run out, it's got nowhere to go. But modern cartridge bearings are sealed, and you don't need to add any grease when installing. So I installed them nice and clean...but I didn't realise that you still have to put a bit of grease on the lip seal to make them last. I guess at first it was okay, but over time the seal might have gotten burnt from all the friction and now you have this squeak. These are the old seals btw. So off comes the old lip seal, and since new ones are cheap, I figured I'd put in new lip seals and install them with an approriately overkill amount of grease. But first the companion flange has to come off, which you'll recall looks like this, with an indentation peened onto 2 sides of the axle nut, to ensure that it doesn't come loose. They're a bit of a bugger to get off since you have to undo the indentations and then deal with the fact that the nut is done up to 200ft pounds of torque (that's 200pounds of pressure on the end of a 1ft long spanner) I used a dremel with a cutting disc to thin and weaken the metal where the indentations are, and then slowly turn the nuts loose, and the indentations should just pop out as the nut backs out. You'll remember the first time I used a breaker bar to loosen the nut (which is very tight), this happened :lol: So this time I have a stronger breaker bar, which is just two 1m lengths of square section tube, one inside another. Then brace the hub with another long bit of square tube and the nut comes off quite easily with all that leverage. Then when I was reinstalling everything, I notice that one of the bolts that attach the driveshaft to the axle flange had a damaged thread. I tried to clean it up with a die, but that just scraped off too much material off the threads and thinned them. So when I tried to retighten, the bolt stripped. Luckily Nissan still had some (for the bargain price of $2.50ea) so I bought a whole new set of 8. Interestingly, the first half of the bolts don't have any thread, and they have a very snug fit into their holes in the driveshaft. So it isn't the bolt clamping tension that attaches the driveshaft to the axle, the nuts act like drive pegs, which sounds like a much stronger arrangement. The old bolts (probably from being taken out and put back a few times over the decades) weren't a tight fit in the driveshaft anymore, so replacing them was a good idea. As you can see the new ones are such a tight fit they don't fall out. Add some new spring washers and hi-tensile nuts and we're good to go. On the road, the squeaking has gone, hopefully for good! The next round of mods will revolve around some cheaply-priced brake discs I found on Ebay. They are DBA slotted and drilled discs for 240K/Kenmeri Skyline and I'll replace the front wheelbearings and get the brake calipers rebuilt at the same time. Quote Link to comment
Babalouie Posted October 28, 2009 Author Report Share Posted October 28, 2009 Also the other cool thing to happen recently was....remember those awesome Mark Pakula pictures in the tunnel: Well he's found the time to create wallpaper sized versions, you can find them at http://www.markpakula.com at http://www.markpakula.com/blog/?p=851 1 Quote Link to comment
datto510 Posted October 28, 2009 Report Share Posted October 28, 2009 I love it! Quote Link to comment
Babalouie Posted November 5, 2009 Author Report Share Posted November 5, 2009 You might recall that a couple of weeks ago I found a cheap pair of these on Ebay: slotted and crossdrilled discs for a 240K/Kenmeri Skyline. Since the hubs have to come off the car to replace the discs, I organised a set of new wheelbearings to replace while I'm at it. The first thing to do is to remove the caliper (since we'll be sliding the disc out) and hang it up with a bit of bent coathanger so that the brake hose doesn't stretch. Then prise off the dustcap on the hub. Which reveals the hub nut, split pin and star cover. Naturally you don't want the axle nut to be coming off, but unlike the rear axle nuts which are staked in place, the front nuts are prevented from loosening by that starcover, which is fixed to the axle by a split pin. This is important, because as you'll see later, this nut isn't done very tight. Unlike the rear axle nut, which is tightened to 200ft pounds, the front hub nut is not tight at all. After it's removed, the washer and outber bearing slides out quite easily. Pull off the disc, and the inner bearing and grease seal come off quite easily too. First, the bad news....it seems as if the kenmeri Skyline has slightly bigger discs than Hako Skyline..so they won't fit at all. In addition to being bigger in diameter, the bolt pattern (where it bolts to the inside of the hub) is a bit different too. Oh well, at least we can renew the bearings while it's all part, so all is not totally lost... Now unlike the rear bearings, the front bearings are tapered, and there is a male and female part that can come apart. We're jumping ahead a bit here, but the old bearings looked ok. Normally if it's really worn you can see the tracks worn into the outer race. But as you can see, it's not that different to the new one, although the black colour of the grease on the inner race suggests that the grease hasnt been renewed in a long while. The inner race (the bit with the rollers) just lifts out, but the outer race (that outer "band") is such a precise fit into the hub that it has to be tapped out with a drift from the inside. It's really tight, so it takes a few minutes of tapping to get it to come out. Unfortunately, it's hard to avoid nicking and burring the hub surface a little bit as you tap out the outer races. Since the races are such a tight fit, this could cause the new one to get stuck as you try to install it. The solution is just to smooth off the nicks with the sanding drum of a dremel. Polish the rest of the inner hub with a scotchbrite pad... ...and it's all nice and clean, ready for the new outer races to be pressed in. But actually, that's as far as I could go. The manual says at that point that you can use tubing of the exact diameter needed as a drift and tap the outer races into place. But it takes a fair bit of force with the hammer, and with the surface of the outer races needing to be undamaged and perfectly smooth, I took the hubs to my friend John Edwards workshop and he kindly used his press to safely push the outer races into place for me. Oh yes, each inner and outer race are matched sets, so don't mix them up :D Oh, while the drilled discs may not fit, we can still improve the brake cooling a little by removing the disc stonesheilds....which are screwed to the strut with phillips head screws. Unfortunately, 4 decades of corrosion meant that getting the screws off with a screwdriver was impossible without butchering the screwheads, so I used an impact driver. Basically it's this telescopic tool with a screwdriver bit at one end, and as you bash it with a hammer, it drives into the screw head and rotates it loose. Great gadget, it got all the screws off no problem. Quote Link to comment
Babalouie Posted November 5, 2009 Author Report Share Posted November 5, 2009 Oh yes, we cleaned the stub axle with scotchbrite too. Next step is to lube the new bearings. I'm going to use Royal Purple Ultra Performance Grease, which is a synthetic bearing grease that's claimed to lower friction, and make bearings run smoother, cooler and last longer. It has the same slippery Synerlec additive that goes into the Royal Purple engine oils too, and because it's synthetic, it can withstand heat better, which is all good. If you want to know more :) here's a fact sheet: http://www.royalpurple.com/prod-pdfs/ultra-grease-ps.pdf And there's also a cool story about how Ultra Performance Grease solves some problems on the China superfast train: http://www.royal-purple-industrial.com/machlub2/ml2p1.html Anyway :D the way to grease a wheelbearing is pretty simple...the idea is to get grease into the cavity inside the bearing, so that there are no dry spots on any of the rollers. So you start with a glob of grease, and see that gap at the back of the bearing? You just massage the grease into that gap, forcing it inside the bearing until the new grease starts to squeeze through to the outside, past the rollers. It's a bit messy, but when you're done it'll look like this. Put a smear of grease on the outer races too...and you'll also notice that that space in the middle of the hub's been partially filled with grease too....at this stage the temptation is to force wodges of grease in there, in the fear that not enough grease will kill the bearings, but the idea is not to make the inside of the hub a solid ball of grease. There's meant to be an air gap between the stub axle and the inside of the hub, otherwise the bearings will overheat, and grease will start to leak out everywhere. There's a step to the hub, which is for the inner grease seal, and you'll notice that I've been careful not to get any grease on that. Before installing the grease seal, I also wiped the hub with a bit of brakekleen on a rag. If there is grease there, the seal might find it too easy to pop out one day, and all sorts of crap will go into the bearings. Speaking of grease seals...I ordered bearings and seals for a Kenmeri Skyline, and while the bearings fitted just fine, the grease seals look a bit different. So I've recycled the old ones. Put a bit of grease on the stub axle, and slide on the disc. Pop in the outer bearing and washer, then tighten the nut by hand. At this point, rotate the disc by hand to spread the grease around and to help to seat the bearings. At this stage it'll spin really freely. Give it a good spin and it'll go for a few revolutions. Now, the next bit's quite cool....because the bearings are tapered, the tightness of the nut is super-critical. Too loose and the hub will have play, and too tight and the bearing rollers will be crushed and won't last very long. Talk to proper mechanics and many will talk about zen-like methods where they do it by hand and feel :) but the Haynes manual has a pretty foolproof method. Set your torque wrench to 22ft pounds, and tighten the nut to that. The you loosen the nut 60 degrees. Now at 22ft/lbs, the hub is noticeably tight to turn, but when you back it off that 60 degrees, it's free again, just like when the nut was only finger tight. So it's a pretty good method of getting the nut just tight, where another 60 degrees (barely more than an 1/8th of a turn) will start to bind the bearings. Any looser and the hub starts to show some play, so this is a good way to do it. Just to be sure, I did it a few times though. Tighten the Haynes way, then loosen 60 degrees, spin the disc both ways a few times, then loosen the nut and retighten the Haynes way again. Repeat 2 more times. This is to make sure that the bearings are seated as firmly as possible. Then put the starcover over the nut, and the splitpin locks everything in place. Partially fill the dustcap with new grease, pop it in, replace the caliper and we're all done! It worked out quite okay, the bearings are nice and quiet and there is no play. After a test drive, touch the hub and see if it's hot, but the Hako's were just slightly warm to the touch. If it's too hot to touch then the nut may have been too tight. Result! Compared to the rear wheel bearings, the fronts are definitely easier, if a bit more messy with all that grease (many thanks to Royal Purple Australia for providing the grease). One less set of components to worry about on the Hako :D Quote Link to comment
murderwagon Posted November 5, 2009 Report Share Posted November 5, 2009 i have heard about these l30s 3.0 inline did they come stock in something or are they a stroker built 2.8? Quote Link to comment
murderwagon Posted November 5, 2009 Report Share Posted November 5, 2009 that is my dream car and dont put a rb in that that car has to scream Quote Link to comment
bonvo Posted November 5, 2009 Report Share Posted November 5, 2009 there stroked l28s the l28 was th biggest one that nissan made Quote Link to comment
Babalouie Posted November 5, 2009 Author Report Share Posted November 5, 2009 i have heard about these l30s 3.0 inline did they come stock in something or are they a stroker built 2.8? there stroked l28s the l28 was th biggest one that nissan made The stock L28 has a 86mm bore for 2750cc, and a 3mm overbore takes that out to 2950cc. It can be taken out a little further with the LD/Diesel crank, which has a longer stroke for another 150cc. that is my dream car and dont put a rb in that that car has to scream Oh no, the plans for this car are to keep it all old school. A turbo engine really wouldn't suit the character of the car. Quote Link to comment
palauoriginal Posted November 6, 2009 Report Share Posted November 6, 2009 sweet car man! thnks for the pics of the rear wheel bearing change.. i have the courage to actually do this now :lol: Quote Link to comment
Babalouie Posted November 13, 2009 Author Report Share Posted November 13, 2009 Some goodies came today from Japan! New doorlock plungers (I think these might be repro rather than NOS) New gearlever tunnel gaiter.. ...to er...replace...um...this: Endless streetspec brake shoes Tail light gaskets...unusual design, really thick sculpted foam and headlamp retaining rings And a new fuel cap. Instead of a twist-lock fuel cap the Hako just has this plastic plunger! The first few times you try to remove it, you're convinced it'll break off at the stem but it never does. I've been meaning to get a spare but when these trick billet ones became available I had to have one. ...you'll have an appointment with the polishing machine, my little friend :) Repro radiator warning labels became available too. I removed the old one (which had been painted over a few times over the years anyway). Couple of the other Hako fellas wanted a few things too, late-model tunnel gaiters and window winders too. The balljoints have come back from rebuilding, so I should get my act together and install them over the weekend. Quote Link to comment
Babalouie Posted November 13, 2009 Author Report Share Posted November 13, 2009 Alrighty...the key take-away from the latest round of repairs is that I suck at balljoint separation :) You might recall that I was lent this huge set of balljoint separation tools. Virtually one of every shape possible, how could I possibly go wrong. Did I manage to figure out how to use them? Err...no :D First you expose the balljoint stud by unbolting the strut and swinging it aside (the camber tops help tremendously here). Remove the split pin and castellated nut and you're ready to separate balljoints! Er...umm...this doesn't seem right. And this fancy one doesn't fit! Anyway...eventually I worked out that to use the tool just above, I should have pushed down the greaseboot on the balljoint, which exposes the balljoint stud...then you push the prong of the tool just above into the gap and off you go... But by then what I had already done was use one of the separators on the steering rod end... ...and removed the balljoint with the steering arms attached :) I delivered the balljoints to Accurate Steering in Marrickville like this, but it wasn't a problem for Cas, who just popped them off on his press. And a day later they're ready! How it works is that inside the balljoint there's a....ball. It's held in place by an upper and a lower cup, which in the Hako's case is made of metal (in newer cars it's some sort of nylon). Over time the cups wear, and the resulting slop is taken up by a spring below the bottom cup, which pushes it up to take up the slack. But eventually the cups wear so much that the spring can't compensate and you get slop in the balljoint. What Cas did was take it all apart, and mill a new surface into the cups. Then he put it back together with a longer spring to restore the preload (so basically it's like new again). Apparently there's a few different ways to do it, including injecting a liquid nylon into the balljoint without taking it apart. Cas reckons this sometimes works but often doesn't if the ball itself is a bit pitted, so it'll wear into this plastic layer quite quickly. Actually Accurate Steering is a cool place, full of presses, lathes and mills which look at least 50yrs old! Great oldschool vibe, and Cas was more than happy to show me around ('didn't have to twist my arm to look at all the machines!) $80 per side, I thought it was pretty good value. Back home, we have the exposed lower control arm, with the strut swung to the side and caliper removed. The balljoint bolts to the lower arm at those 3 points. Bolt on the balljoint, and reinstall the castellated nuts and split pins. Bolt the strut and caliper back and we're done. Feels like it's done the trick...last week, when I wiggled the tyre with my hands at 12 and 6 o clock, there was a bit of vertical play, which was sorted when I put in new bearings. But there was a lot of horizontal play when I grabbed the tyre and wiggled with my hands at 3 and 9 o clock. This was due to the balljoint play. But now it's nice and solid all round. Result. Quote Link to comment
Babalouie Posted November 14, 2009 Author Report Share Posted November 14, 2009 Long time ago, I'd cleaned up and replated the headlight assemblies, which were corroded and ugly looking. But one thing I didn't do was change the headlight retaining rings. I think I didn't have a single good one in the whole lot, every one either had a missing tab or the weld had broken. So it's as good a time as any to put in the new rings that just arrived from Japan. Strangely enough, headlight rings from an HZ Kingswood almost fit, but are too deep. Looks better already... The new rings are pretty hidden behind the headlight trim panel but hey, we know they're there :) The parts situation for the Hako is a little funny. Some parts like the headlight rings have always been available, but some things like the gearlever gaiters were NLA for a long time, and then all of a sudden they're available again for a short time. I got the parts from http://www.rubber-soul.net who said that there are only a few of those left, and since I was buying so many of their remaining stock I had to pay a bit extra :) Quote Link to comment
Babalouie Posted November 15, 2009 Author Report Share Posted November 15, 2009 Ok, today I decided to have a go at fitting the new tail light gaskets. ...and upon removing the tail light lenses, the mystery of why water leaks into the boot when it rains has been solved :) The old gaskets were pretty rotted and had gone cracked and hard on the bottom edge, and pretty much just crumbled away when I tried to remove them. But while the tail lights were apart, it was a good opportunity to give the lenses a good polish. I've used this Meguiars plastic cleaner and polish for years, works great on removing the cloudiness from plastic rear windows of MX5s. But it works pretty good on tail lights and instrument covers too. I've done the one on the right, which looks nice and shiny compared to the one on the left, which is still a bit cloudy. While they're out, it's easier to give the tail light bezels (which are cast metal by the way, not plastic) a proper polish and restore the grotty plastic tail light housings back to a semblance of their original colour. Done! Quote Link to comment
bonvo Posted November 15, 2009 Report Share Posted November 15, 2009 bad ass man now bring her stateside so we can all drool over it in person :P and your tail surrounds are metal:eek: its weird how dasun did things the tail light surrounds on my 73 610 are plastic and 3 peices one for each side and the middle filler panel where the reverse light is on my 76 there only 2 parts one for each side the licence plate goes in the middle but the ones on the 76 are metal its a mistery :blink: Quote Link to comment
Babalouie Posted November 18, 2009 Author Report Share Posted November 18, 2009 I've been chasing a front end vibration which mysteriously appeared a couple of weeks ago when I changed front tyres to something more sporting. At the time I thought that maybe it was just the stiffer sidewalls playing havoc with the worn wheel bearings and balljoints, and those have since been replaced. But while it's better there's still a bit of a vibe. So I thought about those new tyres and set up a rig to measure roundness. At the high spot the arm is touching the surface of the tyre But rotate the wheel 180 degrees from that, and there's a 2mm gap. I'm now thinking this might have been the problem all along....is 2mm runout acceptable in a tyre? Quote Link to comment
stilltwisted Posted November 18, 2009 Report Share Posted November 18, 2009 in the U.S. there are some uper end tire shops that shave tires down ,,{like when you have a blow out on a all wheel drive car ,,and only get one tire ,they shave that tire to match the other three ,,so not to damage the center diff,,} you can check for a tire shop that does it around you that has that ability Quote Link to comment
Babalouie Posted November 21, 2009 Author Report Share Posted November 21, 2009 Ok, haven't done anything about the tyres yet :) Spent a little time fitting the new gearlever tunnel gaiter tonight, so the old one can finally take a well earned rest. You gotta admit, the old one certainly has "patina" :lol: But the new one will actually do things that such components are supposed to do, like keep out exhaust gasses and underbody heat from coming into the cabin. While the console's out, I thought I'd finally tidy up the stereo install a bit. It's always been crooked (it's not mounted to anything at the back) and there's a gaping big hole all around it. The car came with a really ugly looking facia plate around the deck that never fit properly and kept popping off... I rummaged around my big box of old stereo bits and magically found something that fits! Also found that the cradle the head unit sits in actually has threaded holes for mounting bolts on the side towards the back, and they lined up with existing holes in the console. I guess those holes might have drilled in Japan in the original installation, but somewhere along the line someone was lazy and didn't bolt it all back together properly. Hmm...I really should get my act together and make new kick panels for the footwell. Quote Link to comment
freaky510 Posted November 21, 2009 Report Share Posted November 21, 2009 :fu:and all you cool ass car driven Friends :(:(:( i would so love to see a skyline in person hell even put my ass in the seat of one:eek::lol::lol: awesome build keep up the work Quote Link to comment
Babalouie Posted December 7, 2009 Author Report Share Posted December 7, 2009 The latest project has been to make up a set of kickpanels for the front footwells, since the car didn't come with any. It is actually possible to get reproduction ones from Japan, but they're over $200 and are basically compressed carboard with a bit of textured vinyl on top. So I decided to make my own :) First step is to make a paper template. Transfer the shapes onto some fibreboard Then cut out the shapes with a jigsaw. To attach the panels to the car, I'll be using these christmas tree clips. You just drill a hole slightly smaller than the diameter of the prongs on the clips and they are a push fit. The good thing is that you can lever then back out again without damaging the panel, but they hold pretty solid. Cut the vinyl, leaving about 3cm extra material all round. Spray with some contact glue, wait a little while for it to get tacky and then press together. Smooth out the vinyl on the panel and to stop it from drying with wrinkles, put some magazines or something on top to make sure they dry flat. Turn then around when dry, spray the glue around the edges and wrap the vinyl around. Done! Now I haven't wrapped the front edge of the vinyl, for reasons which will be obvious soon. But before I attach the kickpanels, I'm going to spray the area behind it with this stuff. I bought 3 cans a long time ago and have been spraying it in various areas of the car where I've done some work. Since the kickpanels will be covering up that a-pillar area for some time, it's a good time to treat that spot. It comes with this great nozzle which sprays a wide area, so you can poke it right up into the a-pillar cavity and mist the whole inside with wax. The stuff is claimed to displace water, and seep into the nooks and folds, which it definitely does do. It's quite thin and after you spray an area you do see it seep out from body seams, etc which is great. But on any horizontal areas which might collect water I just go crazy and lay down a thick coating. So far I've used up one of the cans and we're halfway thru the second. Drill the holes in the metalwork for the christmas tree clips and then just push them into place. I've tucked the loose material at the front edge of the panel behind the pinchweld rubber strip, I figured that would be neater than wrapping it and then maybe seeing a bit of a gap where I didn't cut the panel exactly right (that's how the stock ones are anyway). ...driver's side has a bit more going on, with the fusebox and the bonnet release bracket needing to be mounted thru the panel but that wasn't a big drama. Quote Link to comment
fisch Posted December 7, 2009 Report Share Posted December 7, 2009 But before I attach the kickpanels, I'm going to spray the area behind it with this stuff. I bought 3 cans a long time ago and have been spraying it in various areas of the car where I've done some work. Since the kickpanels will be covering up that a-pillar area for some time, it's a good time to treat that spot. Dude, this sounds totally RAD!!! Freakin NE salt fest that I live in!! 1 Quote Link to comment
Babalouie Posted December 18, 2009 Author Report Share Posted December 18, 2009 Last weekend Project Hako was entered in the Early Classic category of the Skylines Australia Show 'n Shine :) And in the end we were awarded the prize for Best Early Classic.....an um....*cough*...achievement that was slightly assisted by the fact that Project Hako was the only vintage Skyline in the category :lol: But it's all good, lots of ppl seem to like the car and I spent quite a bit of time talking to guys about the car. I took a lot of pics at the show, and you can find my report of the event here: http://www.japanesenostalgiccar.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=7738 Something else that was an easy upgrade recently was to address the issue of the rather patinated GT badges on the front fenders, they were a little sorry looking, with most of the red inlay having fallen out. But luckily the fender badges are still available, so on go a new set and it does make a nice difference :) One thing that a few guys have asked me about, is that when I made up the kickpanels the other day, how come I didn't vinyl-over a funny looking hump in the sheetmetal. Well, one thing I wanted to add to the car for a long time is a flashlight. I think it's pretty essential for old cars that tend to break down in the middle of nowhere on a dark night :) But when I saw this picture of a real 2000GTR interior, it gave me an idea. Back in the day, the Hako would have come with a flashlight, with a red cover on it. Basically the precursor to the emergency flare that's commonly found on Japanese market cars, it's mounted to the passenger side kick panel. So that gave me an idea... I found this vintage-repro flashlight on eBay, basically the metal kind that Japan churned out zillions of in the late 60s and early 70s, and a pretty close match to the original Nissan item. Designed for mounting to the handlebars of vintage bicycles, it even comes with a handy little bracket. Drill a few holes in the bracket, and on it goes! At least now I don't need to use my phone as a source of light the next time I'm stuck by the side of the road! One last project for tonight was to spruce up the steering column surround, which showed a fair few scratches and scrapes and was dulled in places. I thought about painting the column with a black vinyl paint, but I've always found that the end result looks obviously like you painted over it, and tried to hide something. So, not for the first time in this build, we will be doing it the long and hard way :lol: First I start out with some 800 and 1200 grit wet n dry paper, and some water. Start off with some wet 800 grit, which is pretty fine and not rough at all. Straight away this brown gunk starts to come off the plastic. The 800 will get off the scratches and get the surface smooth, but it's left with lots of fine scratches. Hit it with some wet 1200grit, and the fine scratches are more or less gone, but the whole thing is dull. Next step is to work the plastic with some plastic polish. I really like this product, it's great for restoring the shine to dulled tail lights, and making things like instrument lenses and convertible plastic rear windows crystal clear again. The dullness is gone, and it's back to a nice shine. Done! Quote Link to comment
Babalouie Posted January 20, 2010 Author Report Share Posted January 20, 2010 Been taking it a bit easy lately, just tidying up a few little things. The back of the Hako is totally debadged, so does look a little bare. One of the things that was a pleasant discovery was this "5Speed" badge, which was unearthed by Bullitt on the JNC forums, in Malaysia. It's not actually a 2000GT-R badge, it's a badge for the 2000GT and GT-Xs with the 5 Speed option, from the last yr of production (Sept 71 onwards). So it's a rare badge from a rare option, and it's a proper GC10 badge. Not sure if it was available in any other Datsun (does anybody know?) These have been out of stock in Japan for a long time, so it's a cool find, and I think makes the tail look a little less plain. Other thing that's been bugging me for a while is the rusty sunvisor arms. The chrome has mostly flaked off and it's got some nasty surface rust. Wire brush the rust away... Give it a good sand with 400grit paper...and it's ready for paint. One coat of etch primer and a few coats of satin black later and it's looking much better. I'm not sure if I'm feelin the black though, and I might redo it again in the future in the proper chrome. The thing about chrome plating is that it only makes sense if you have a decent amount of stuff to be done. So I thought I'd try paint first, but maybe I'll do it properly one day. Another little thing to sort out, was the tired looking ashtray, which goes in the back of the centre console. It's actually made of metal, with a wrinkle black finish, which was a bit chipped and scratched. Now, I like messing around with wrinkle paint, so first I flatted off the old paint with some 400 grit paper and a sanding block. Then I hit it with some ecth primer, and the we start on the VHT wrinkle paint. The instructions say that you should lay down 3 heavy coats, but in my experience you don't need to get carried away because the nozzle (on this particular brand anyway) is quite big and so 2 passes over the ashtray are enough to lay down quite a lot of paint. 1st coat is left to right, second coat is up and down, and third coat is diagonal. Give 5mins drying time in between, and be careful to make sure that the paint is an even depth all over. Otherwise the parts which have thicker paint will have bigger wrinkles and it'll look funny. But after the 3rd coat it'll look like this: The 2hrs later it transforms to this... And 24hrs later it dries even more and becomes more matte. Then, while the console was off, I decided to look into the gearshift bushes, since the lever had quite a bit of play. Once you take up that initial slack, it's quite accurate but I figured the bushes were probably past their best. The gearlever is held in by a clevis pin, which is secured with a circlip. Pop off the circlip, and the whole thing just lifts out. There should be 3 bushes, the orange ones between the clevis pin and the lever, and the other is a nylon cup which pops over the ball at the bottom of the lever. And immediately the reason for the sloppy shift is quite clear...the nylon cup bush was missing! Five bucks later, we have a new one from Nissan. The clevis pin bushes were in good shape though, so I left those alone. Assemble it all back together and the shift is heaps better. No more slop! Quote Link to comment
fisch Posted January 20, 2010 Report Share Posted January 20, 2010 Thanks for keeping us updated on this, always a pleasure! Quote Link to comment
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