'72 510 Wagon - Project Spades

[The Dat-side]

Wow, I didn't realize it had been so long since this was updated. I noticed you're more active in posting, that's great.

 

I tried to stop by the shop but they were closed, just mike was there. Catch ya sometime.

[Yakuza]

nice.!!!

[Spades]

Ok, so it has been ages since I updated the post, for over a month now the wagon has been parked. This project has had some really bad luck, part of the problem was because of putting my trust in the wrong people. The short story is that the "Rebuilt Motor" from Bill's Datsun was actually not a rebuild, or even reconditioned. Turns out all he did was install a timing chain kit on the car and call it good...and the irony is that he didn't even do that right. I found out when I couldn't get the timing right on the engine...this is what I found after some investigation:

 

 

 

I then found out the cylinder walls were pitted...I threw a new timing chain kit and oil pump on the engine, hoping to drive it anyway, and after another 150 miles it started smoking badly from oil making its way past the piston rings and valve guide seals. The compression was very low, and I started leaving a smoke screen everywhere I went, so I decided to park it. I had been trying to figure out what to do next, if I should rebuild the engine or find something new.

 

Until now...I now have the solution...here is a little sneak peak of what is about to happen over the next couple of weeks...

 

 

 

How is that for a teaser pic? It is a fully rebuilt and bored over Naps Z24, and mildly hopped up(forged pistons, larger cam, ported and polish head,ect.)...and I now own it. Over the next couple of weeks I will finish assembling it and installing it in the wagon.

[Spades]

Now, with some explanation of on why the wagon has been parked, and what I plan to do about it, time to mention what I have done since the last update, and what will happen over this summer.

 

I did lower the front 2 inches, replaced all of the tie rods with Moog Suspension goodies, started fabbing the new sway bar, finished up on the wiring, installed a new alternator, ran entirely new charge wire and new grounds from battery to the chassis, engine block, fuse panel, ect. I also finished mapping out the stereo stuff, bought new goodies for it, ported out the intake manifold(I will swap it over to the new motor), made a custom true dual exhaust(the naps Z motor truck exhaust manifold has two cylinders per port, the stock downpipe normally joins the two together, I made my own downpipe, so I have a inline 4 cylinder with real dual exhaust). For those that haven't seen it yet, here are a few pics:

 

 

 

 

I have done a little more on the bodywork, undercoated and painted the underside of the car, pulled the fuel tank and completely went through it. I have a plan now for the back seat and center consul, and I will be making a new gas pedal and installing aluminum pedal covers from pilot for the gas, brake, and clutch pedals.

 

There are still many things left, but here is the short list of what I want to have done this summer:

 

Install the new engine

Fix my heater core and interior leaks so I can put carpet in

Finish the stereo and interior

Find more comfortable seats for the front

Buy a bench seat for the back(or fab a back seat)

Install an Add-A-Leaf and traction bars on the rear suspension

Finish the exhaust so it exits out the back,under the rear bumper(instead of dumping under the car)

Fix the voltage regulator so my gas gauge and temp gauge fully work

Finish the hood and bodywork, paint the sucker, and then finally install my side mirrors

 

 

Also, I have decided that rather than run the car in primer white, I will be sanding the outside down and repainting it back to red. I will most likely use acrylic farm and implement enamel in International Harvester Red(it is almost the same color as the stock red when it was new).

 

I will start updating the thread again as I work on it, and once again, it will be a grind to get the car drivable before the end of summer!

[The Dat-side]

Good for you. Hope this works out flawlessly. You deserve it. Is that mikes roadster in the background. Did he see someone is selling a CA?

[Spades]

Good for you. Hope this works out flawlessly. You deserve it. Is that mikes roadster in the background. Did he see someone is selling a CA?

 

yeah, that's his roadster in the background. He isn't in a hurry to get it on the road, he is more obsessed with his dirt bike addiction. It will probably be a year before he really starts having us work on it. There are a few japanese engine importers that we are looking at to supply a complete "front clip"...it will include almost everything needed for the swap, and that set up was what I was looking at originally, and at times wished I would have done.

 

Ah well, it is all water under the bridge. I figure once my wagon is close to finished, I will take it over to Bill's, and have the owner Jock look at how nicely it turned out, then hand him a folder of pictures of all the work I had to go through to fix what he sold me, and receipts of all the money spent on parts...then without saying a word, hop in my car and drive home. If he has any conscience left, I hope he will feel as bad as I have over this last hell of a year trying to keep my daily driver running.

[Spades]

Well, I have some updates! Finally...Sunday morning at 6am I started yanking the motor and prepping the new one. I had a few people helping me through the course of the day, and wrapped up and locked up the shop just after 9pm. I had everything swapped in by that time, but the coils weren't wired up, and I had not test fired the new motor.

 

So, here are a couple pics:

 

 

The motor was out by 9am, it was the swapping parts across and other hindrances that made the project take so long...nothing ever seems to go as planned. By early afternoon the new NAPS Z24 looked like this:

 

 

My boss allowed me to flake out on work and finish putting the ratsun together till mid afternoon. I was plagued with various issues, but finally, the motor is all installed and running! The camshaft is a bit more radical than I thought it would be...but the motor still seems very streetable.

 

I have only one hang up left, while I was installing the new motor, the slave cylinder pin fell out. I put the pin back in place, and everything looked fine, but now the slave will not allow the clutch to fully release. I hope it is as simple as getting a new slave cylinder...I didn't see any differences to the back of the Z24 motor versus the old Z20, so I am hoping it isn't something like the crank being spaced back a few more millimeters. I am hopeful that I will be able to spend $20 on a new slave cylinder and be driving the ratsun home tomorrow!

 

P.S. Tomorrow I will get some pic's of my new motor installed

[hang_510]

the slave cylinder pin fell out. I put the pin back in place, and everything looked fine, but now the slave will not allow the clutch to fully release.

is it an ajustable rod?

 

the cylinder may have popped out and didnt reseat properly???

 

is the return spring strong?

[Spades]

Ok, so today I put a new Nissan slave cylinder in (the one that was on there was a Sanyco)...I ended up taking the old rod to the grinder and wire wheel, cleaned it up, and shortened it about 1/4 of inch. The old slave cylinder had over extended it seemed and the clutch pedal felt terrible. After putting the new slave cylinder in, it felt better and was mostly engaging, but I still ended up making a custom length rod.

 

After 3 days, the car is drivable finally, and I drove it this afternoon running it through the RPM ranges to seat the piston rings. I am still working on the hood, so until I finish it, the car is staying locked up in the shop so no one walking by starts swiping stuff from the engine.

 

This is how it looks now:

 

[lilblackwagon]

Lookin' good mang! Congrats!

[Skib]

looks good man :lol:

[The Dat-side]

Congrats, I bet it was nice finally driving it. let's see some picks of the car, the white looks good.

[Spades]

I should have pic's of the hood tomorrow night or the next day, not sure how long it will take to do the paint...

 

The white is temporary...I decided I am going to repaint it red, so whatever paint I put on now will just be stripped off.

 

Since I am mostly a fab and mechanic guy and can only do rough bodywork, I will have to pay someone to get it perfect and fully paint the car, and I expect I have at least another year to finish the suspension, interior, and tune the engine...it will take me that long to come up with the $ to pay someone for final paint and body.

[The Dat-side]

I know some one who might be able to shoot it for cheap. He's a metal worker. Buy he has all the supplies to paint, he'll be doing my car.

[Spades]

ok, so after a few weeks, I have some updates. The motor is fully installed, after a bunch of headaches, the car is running good. I still need to get another speedo cable, build a instrument voltage regulator so I have a working temp and fuel gauge, buy new tires, and fix the leaking heater core. After all that is done I can go back to having it as a daily driver.

 

The hood is finished now, the scoop is on and molded, after it is on the car I will post a pic. The underside of the hood is also finished, as well as the paint on the underside of the hood. I am not Asian, so a rising sun just wouldn't be right, so I decided to do something a little different:

 

 

Yeah, before anyone bashes it, I know its not perfect since most of it was done free hand and I have never done any pin striping or really any artwork...so this was my first try. I used spray paint fogged into containers, and applied it with some cheap brushes so I could make sure the clearcoat I used afterward would stick to the base paint used for the designs. So, it didn't turn out half bad for spray paint applied with cheap-o brushes.

[hang_510]

after it is on the car I will post a pic.

 

I am not Asian, so a rising sun just wouldn't be right, so I decided to do something a little different:

 

Yeah, before anyone bashes it

:angry: after??? the fucks that about???

flip it over and take a oic!!! <_< before somebody comes by and bashes it!

 

asian-smasian, its ONLY japanese!!! so it OK on a japanese car ;) even though my step-grandfather was at pearl harbor. :salute:

 

 

 

looks spadetactular!

i thought i was the only weirdo using a brush w/rattle cans :rofl:

[INDY510]

i thought i was the only weirdo using a brush w/rattle cans :rofl:

X2

 

:lol:........... .. it dries kinda fast

[Spades]

I am working on building a hood prop right now, which is why it is still on its back. As soon as I get the hood prop set up, I will re-install the hood pins and get it set on the car and snap some pictures.

[Spades]

well, finally some updates. I broke in and tuned the new 2.5l naps motor I had put in, changed the oil in it again, and did a few other things to the car over the last few weeks. The transmission now has Redline synthetic GL4 yellow metal safe synthetic fluid. I cleaned and painted the grill from Datside, I bought new tires front and rear, fixed the broken speedometer(thanks 78kingcab!), fixed the leaking heater core, replaced all of the evap system lines and hoses, and tons of other nagging little problems.

 

I also finished the hood and installed it. It stayed nice for a month, and then apparently some fat ass in my apartment complex decided to lean on my car when I wasn't around. It put a small dimple on the drivers side, and cracked some of the fiberglass away on the passenger side. not really noticeable as you can see in this picture, but it would be if I painted the car this way :angry:

 

 

 

 

I have to modify the drivers side motor mount and after this weekend I will start repairing the damage someone did to my hood :(

[bonvo]

thats why you put a sign in the window saying

 

"touch this car and die a painful and bloody death"

 

or a ratsun security system sticker

[The Dat-side]

I saw this today and didn't realize it was a 510 at first. Just thought, hey cool old car, boxy, 4 lights, oh snap it's a goon. The hood threw me off. Looks tough as f***. That stance is mean!

[Spades]

I bought the metal I need to modify the drivers side motor mount, as well as the new bolts I will be putting in. I am going to try to get off work this afternoon so I can piece that together, and I will stay late Friday and early Saturday to get tunes in the wagon.

[jun]

I am not Asian, so a rising sun just wouldn't be right, so I decided to do something a little different:

 

Nice work so far!

 

I wonder about the "not Asian" part and the Japanese Imperial Flag (rising sun as most of us know it as)

 

Myself being Japanese, this is a touchy subject. From the graphical and fashion standpoint, I think the rising sun is great. It's a perfect fit on a Datsun in my opinion, but its historical implications affect me from sporting this symbol on my vehicle. In Japan it is commonly used by "uyoku" and bosozoku, both negatives in the minds of the general public. But you'll see it splattered on many shakotans over there. And we all love bosozoku cars :thumbup:

 

Anyway I don't mean to get into discussion and throw your thread off topic. I just thought it was interesting how you look at the subject. :)

[Spades]

Nice work so far!

 

I wonder about the "not Asian" part and the Japanese Imperial Flag (rising sun as most of us know it as)

 

Myself being Japanese, this is a touchy subject. From the graphical and fashion standpoint, I think the rising sun is great. It's a perfect fit on a Datsun in my opinion, but its historical implications affect me from sporting this symbol on my vehicle. In Japan it is commonly used by "uyoku" and bosozoku, both negatives in the minds of the general public. But you'll see it splattered on many shakotans over there. And we all love bosozoku cars :thumbup:

 

Anyway I don't mean to get into discussion and throw your thread off topic. I just thought it was interesting how you look at the subject. :)

 

 

It isn't de-railing the topic, and please don't misunderstand how I look at it. I am sure that sounds racial and perhaps even bigoted, but that's not how I mean it. I enjoy Japanese culture, music, and heritage. If I didn't, I wouldn't be driving a Japanese car! I would have the rising sun on or under the hood if I had some sort of Japanese ancestry or even if I grew up in or was a citizen of Japan(even if I had no genetic lineage).

 

I am not of Japanese heritage though, so for me, I don't see a reason to have a Japanese flag on my car. I know most people don't see it the way I do, and most people just think it looks cool and helps distinguish the Datsun from other cars. I see it a different way though. Even though Japanese culture intrigues me, I would never have a Japanese Kanji symbol tatoo...I am of Irish decent, so I would be more inclined to get my family's coat of arms...because that means more to me since it is part of my heritage. I suppose that for most people it makes sense to have Japanese symbols on a Japanese car, but to me, it just seems funny

to fly the Japanese maritime flag on my car(when I have no Japanese heritage at all).

 

My view might seem racist at a glance, but that is not how I view it, so please don't mis-understand. To me the flags and other symbols mean something different than than they do to most people.

 

 

I finished building the drivers side motor mount, so the car is once again drivable!

[jun]

Spades, absolutely no misunderstanding on my part! It's all good. I hope I didn't come across as someone trying to stir the pot or anything. I think it's cool that the flag is associated with Datsuns and old J-cars in the cultural aspect.

 

Anyhow back to your build! Having a car driveable again is the best part. You can only work on them for so long :lol: