The Roadsterstein Rust Rocket build thread!!!

[DatWifey]

Congrats on finally getting this back on the road! It's always a nice reward when you finally get to drive the baby after it's been sitting for so long. :thumbup:

[Tomakze]

The dealership the car show was at sent me the pictures! I figured I'd share them.

 

 

 

[Tomakze]

I swear I still exist! Sorry about the complete lack of updates recently... the car has been idle, but I have not. I've been busy with school, trying to get a promotion at work, got a new girlfriend (who helps with the car!!!) and I'm trying to replace my daily driver. Also, thinking of buying a house. See, my excuse is good! lol!

 

Anyhow, I've decided I'd like to find a nice AE86 Corolla to replace my Accord. Of course, they are stupid rare, and stupid expensive! I test drove one tonight, but it was way to rough to be a good DD. I know, tons of people are probably going to call me a traitor, but damn, what a great little car. Don't worry though, I'm a Datsun guy for life, I just want a fun reliable DD... something more interesting than a '92 Accord! I'll try to keep you all posted on any new news. 

 

I also scored a badass new toolbox, if that counts for anything! Now I might actually be able to find my tools, so something might get done, instead of searching for a wrench for hours! Check it out!!!

 

 

 

The black one on the left is my old one... The little blue one used to sit on the black one, and that was all I had. Hard to believe I tried to use that, considering the red box is mostly full at this point. I must have 30+ screwdrivers!!! 

[Tomakze]

Not really a proper update, but at least it gives you something to look at... Remember when I said I wanted a new daily driver? Well, why not recommission a car I already own, but don't use? A preview of what is to come:

 

 

And for those curious, Here is the new build thread:

 

http://z31performance.com/showthread.php?20995-Back-from-the-dead-85-Turbo-(re)build-thread!

 

Warning: It includes another long, but interesting story... 

[jcd0402]

SUCCESS!!! The alternator is mounted and charging, the fog lights are completely wired, and I have a cigarette lighter socket mounted and wired!!! Whoot! I will have a youtube video uploaded once I am less tired.

 

Only one thing I don't get... I seem to be talking to myself! I have plenty of oics, and even some videos... my car is sufficiently ratsun... and yet the last two replies have been about my dirt bike, and my *friend's* car... lol. What am I doing wrong? If I post pics of scantily clad women will I have more traffic?

 

The same has been going on with my roadster build.    

 

http://community.ratsun.net/topic/45232-the-father-and-son-roadster/

[Tomakze]

The same has been going on with my roadster build.    

 

http://community.ratsun.net/topic/45232-the-father-and-son-roadster/

 

 

Us Roadster owners have got to stick together! I have actually been silently watching your thread... I should post occasionally if I am going to bitch about my own! I love your build, and can't wait to see it progress. Mine is on pause, as I am saving to buy a house, and trying to make the 300zx reliable enough to drive daily. My accord is still happily driving me around, but I don't know how long that will last... I need transportation! Plus, I miss my Z... Boost is fun. My roadster will be on the road again, I promise. I'm not giving up on her, she just has to be patient, lol.

[jcd0402]

Well thats true we do need to stick together. Cause we all usually dont get answered back. lol Im also in the 311s blog, brings tons of help with the wiki tech.

[Tomakze]

Well thats true we do need to stick together. Cause we all usually dont get answered back. lol Im also in the 311s blog, brings tons of help with the wiki tech.

311s.org is great! I've contributed to the wiki tech section. If you stick with the R16, you can buy a reusable K&N style air filter for about $20, thanks to my find. I love that we can all add information to help each other out!

[Tomakze]

Figured I'd do a mini-update, although only mildly roadster related. 

Do you wanna know how to tell if you have the perfect girlfriend? When she happily joins you on a trip to the junk yard... during a cold, windy, snowy day... ON VALENTINES DAY. I think she's a keeper.

While in the junkyard, I spotted a trashed '65 1500 which made me very sad. My girlfriend laughed at how excited I was when I found it, lol. Unfortunately, there was nothing worth salvaging.

And for those curious, here is a quick video of the Z running with a "new" exhaust (salvaged from my old parts car... all I had to do was buy a gasket, lol!)

http://s53.beta.photobucket.com/user/300zxracer/media/video-2013-02-13-19-57-52_zps719c0ee4.mp4.html

 

Sexy, sexy sound. Sorry for the poor quality video, all I had was my cell phone that day.

[Kirden]

Love the car. The roadster is one of my main dream cars, but sadly I don't see me buying one for a while. It is surprising that you found one running under $3000, even though it doesn't sound like it should have ran :P

 

I look forward to seeing this build "complete" even though complete and Datsun never seem to go together.

[Tomakze]

Love the car. The roadster is one of my main dream cars, but sadly I don't see me buying one for a while. It is surprising that you found one running under $3000, even though it doesn't sound like it should have ran :P

 

I look forward to seeing this build "complete" even though complete and Datsun never seem to go together.

 

Thanks, man! Yeah, this car has been a MASSIVE headache, and more work than it is worth. Save your pennies and buy one in halfway decent condition. I thought  was buying a decent car to build into something cool, but instead all I got was a basket case. I spend most of my time just keeping it running. It has been fun though, and I don't intend to get rid of it, I just wish I could start over, lol! 

 

Here in Colorado there are roadsters in much better shape than mine on craigslist all the time that are under $3k and run well. Keep your eyes peeled and you may be surprised!

[Kirden]

Will do. I have a feeling that when I get enough money saved to be in the market for one I will start randomly searching CL cities and have one shipped. Most of the time the one that pop up in my area are shells for 1k or partials for 2-2.5k. Found a guy that was selling a shell and a partial for 2200 a few weeks ago, but from what I have been told I could buy a running roadster for that much in the mid west.

 

For now I will watch all the other roadster journeys. I have a 620 and will have a B210 next weekend, so starting a roadster project is too much to handle in the near future :P

[Tomakze]

Just did a quick search, there are several roadsters for sale in my area... A couple shells for around $1k, one partial for $2500, a running one in poor condition for $3500, and a nice one for $18k. WTF? Has the value of my car increased that much since I last checked??? If that is right, even my basket case should be worth around $5-6k! I guess I won't complain. 

 

I've been told the roadster's value is increasing rapidly, but didn't think it was that much. Maybe you should buy now before they get even more pricey! lol.

[Kirden]

Yea, that sounds exactly like my prices down here :(

 

I may pick up the next shell or partial I find. I don't really care if it ends up original, just having a nice looking roadster that is reliable would be awesome.

[jcd0402]

The roadster are really nice looking, and probably great handling cars. haha can't prove the last point i haven't driven mine. :( They are also increasing in value really fast like tomakze stated in his post. I ended up picking my roadster for $800, well i admit it's not running. But it's almost there. You can see my build and see the progress of my build. Good luck on your search for a roadster.

 

http://community.ratsun.net/topic/45232-the-father-and-son-roadster/    

[Tomakze]

I'm back! Did you think I abandoned my Fairlady? NEVER! LOL!

While I was away, the car sat, but I did not. I bought a house, got promoted... twice, then bought a brand new car (2014 Fiesta Ecoboost), and got engaged (to the girl who went to the junkyard with me a few posts up!)! I've been a busy bee!

Anyway, I'm ready to begin again. I'll be fixing the error I made on the 200sx brakes (They kiss the frame over big bumps!) and going through the carbs again (after the last car show I went to, I got great advise on my carbs. Explained the funny timing problem I had been dealing with, and everything. Now I can get it right!) and then... A WHOLE NEW BODY.

I've decided to use the '69 2000 body and frame to create the final car, pending the title coming back clear. I do need to apply for a title though, and make a new vin plate since mine is missing. Then, since I could care less about keeping it original, I will make a hybrid of the two cars. The 2000 will get the original paint/interior colors the 1600 had (white with a red interior) and I'm still going to use that KA motor. I've sort floated back to the idea of carbing it though. I think it is fun to keep the original feel, but this is still up in the air, and a project for later besides.

For now, I need to do a speedy restoration with the original 1600 engine, and have it done by June 27th 2015. That is the day I'm getting married, and both my fiance and I want the datto to be our getaway car! The resto will not be a perfect, car-show job to be sure. But as you guys know, that isn't my style anyway. (Not to mention the depths of my pocketbook are not up to the task!) It will be much better off than it is now, though. My skills have grown since I worked on it last.

[INDY510]

Welcome back!! ..... glad to see you haven't left the datto world

[Tomakze]

Welcome back!! ..... glad to see you haven't left the datto world

 

Never! I love this car, but life has to happen at the same time. Sometimes it gets in the way! (Not that this is a bad thing. Life has been pretty wonderful lately!)

 

So anyway, update time!

 

I dragged the car home from my parent's house where it was stored, to my house! I finally have a garage of my own to work in, so long term projects can finally be done. So excited about this. Before, I could only do projects that took a day, maybe two. It severely limited what I could get done.

 

On the trailer home:

 

 

As soon as I got it home, I started investigating what I could do to keep the brakes from hitting the frame rail. The passenger side was actually the least problematic, but here is where the caliper sits:

 

 

Not much room when the suspension is compressed. I think that is why I never noticed before. When I installed them, the suspension was hanging down. Made it look like I had much more clearance than I did.

 

 

Any pointers from others that have done this swap? I used the templates, and as far as I know, I followed the instructions. I'll have to go back and read them again. What did I do wrong?

 

Then I started looking into the seat belts. The cheapy ones I bought when I got the car both broke from people closing the door on the clip. No real loss, I never really liked or trusted them before anyway. Time to kick it up a notch! This is just a mock-up to see how I like them, but I bought a pair of expired SFI rated belts. They were never used, just older. I don't plan to professionally race the car, so who cares! Got them both for $70 shipped. Score!

 

 

The final configuration will have a harness bar, and double hoops behind the seats. Yes, I know it isn't as safe as a proper roll bar, but my roll bar won't let either of my tops to work, and I like the look of the double hoops anyway. Besides, anything is better than what I had before, and that was still probably safer than what the car had originally!

 

After that, I decided to strip the interior. Remember, I'm swapping everything into the other car, as long as the title clears. The old carpet was horrible, and filthy. Since I am buying a new carpet set, I just tossed what I had in the trash. Then I stripped the floor of all that insulation, just out of curiosity. I wanted to see what I had. HOLY. COW. I'm glad I decided to swap bodies! The Rust Rocket is aptly named!!!

 

 

Just a small sample of what I mean:

 

 

The worst of it is under the driver's pedals. Someone took heat resistant cloth and covered the muffler, and then sprayed expanding foam over that to fill a 6"x6" hole in the floor!!! So the muffler is supporting the floor... AND COVERED IT IN FREAKING FOAM!!!! Who was the genius that came up with that idea???

[Tomakze]

Well, I was wrong about the foam's location. There was heat insulation above the muffler, but that was unrelated to the foam. Once I dug it out, I discovered a 6x6" hole through the floorboard and the top of the frame. Yes, I had a 6x6" hole in my frame. *shivers* The muffler may have been better...

I know it has been a long time since I updated, so I imagine you guys think I've been slacking. Well... Not so much. Here is where I stand now:



The engine fell out...



I carefully removed the windshield, and managed to save it. Then I got a little paranoid and packaged it up so it will still be intact when I need to reinstall it!



Remember this thing? It's time has finally come.





And where we are now. Time for the REAL fun to begin!!!

I did notice a very poor repair job on the front of the frame. It is all before the suspension, so I'm hoping it will be okay. It looks like the car was in a front end collision, and they welded in a new piece of frame to repair it. It was done very poorly. The body has almost no rust at all, and is in fantastic shape, but it looks like someone did a hell of a job botching plenty of work. Is there a tutorial on how to measure a frame to see if it is bent?

[Tomakze]

So, I have pretty big news... I am not going to restore the '70 2000 I just brought home. It is a really nice body, and pretty much completely rust free, but despite that... I acquired something much MUCH better!!!

I will be starting a new build thread for my latest acquisition. The new car is SRL311-13257.

Here, I'll tease you guys with a photo:


It is a total diamond in the rough. Stay tuned, and you will see what I mean!!!

[Tomakze]

OH! Did I also mention this new car came with it's own parts car? Here is SRL311-05600:



The photo does this car too much justice. It is a total rust bucket. It makes my rust rocket look solid as hell. But it is full of amazing parts!

 

So, for those of you following, I have a new build thread, with lots of pics, and a hellova story!!!

[Tomakze]

Here is the new build thread: Enjoy!!!

http://community.ratsun.net/topic/64371-the-ultimate-score-the-500-srl311-pair/