Story time: My 1974 B210 4dr. It ain't easy being green.

[ggzilla]

The center caps are from Datsun B310

 

[Dguy210]

The center caps are from Datsun B310

 

 

 

Thanks, I couldn't remember where exactly they came from, I have a big box of random Datsun center caps from PNP that they came out of. I also ended up picking up 4 with a clear not black background off a 81 210 this weekend, although 2 were not so great. I'm running the best 2 of 4 on the other side. I should have a 4th black one this Friday that Ranman72 found for me.

[Dguy210]

Variations, to match the wheels. Don't know if I'm going to run these or not.

 

[ggzilla]

They look cool. Good job on the reproductions.

 

Too bad the 140Y badges are so ugly

[Dguy210]

Came in today, need some cleanup still....

 

[datsunfreak]

Is that a 310 valve cover?

 

[Dguy210]

Is that a 310 valve cover?

 

Yep. NOS $10 plus shipping from oemsurplus. They're not in perfect condition though, just very good. The warehouse they store in obviously has some humidity issues as there was some extremely minor surface rust, which came off with steelwool.

[Dguy210]

Warning!

Beware! Long-ass rambling ranting post ahead, on some thoughts for future upgrades and where I see this car going.

 

Power and drivetrain:

So I've been kinda bugged about something that happened on the way to Canby this year. Basically, when leaving for gas in Oregon, go to get on the on-ramp which is pretty steep, and I just get left in the dust by the other cars. Generally, I've been pretty happy with the power from the A14, it does freeway speed no problem, it accelerates decently, the mpg is pretty good and overall it drives pretty well. But boy does it suck at an extended hill climb, I just run out of horses too early.

 

So seeing Boaty's KA install, and the Prosperperformance KA into a B210 coupe has gotten me really wanting a KA. However, I have this big thing about 1) not taking the car down for maintenance too long, and 2) not having unfinished projects. The car runs pretty well and is damn reliable, actually so far it beats out all the other cars we have in the "not being a pain-in-the-ass" category. I get in and I drive. So I've been having a hard time justifying the upgrade. Especially, as I prefer reliability over all other metrics. IF the car doesn't run reliably I don't care how fast it is. So anyways on the B210 that means the rearend is the weakpoint, I already upgraded the '74s 145 to a h150 (in 2000), and with seeing that the 510 wagon rearend will bolt in, it is on like Donkey Kong. So I'm now on the lookout for a KA and 5 speed transmission, along with a 510 wagon rearend. Since I don't like taking the car down for maintenance, this means I need to acquire all of the parts before I start, and test that they will work together. I'm budgeting a year or so to get it to the point that I can do a weekend swap and bolt-in with minimal fuss (yeah right!). So I'm starting to look for a good KA and trans along with a rearend.

 

Comfort:

On the comfort side, it gets hot in Sacramento. Miserable hot. Actually that drive back from Canby through Redding is also pretty damn uncomfortable. So I've been gathering parts to put AC into the B (ABC??). Once again, when everything looks like it is mocked up correctly and the parts are accounted for it will go in. I'm still in the gathering parts and modifying them to go together stage for this.

 

Looks:

At some point I would like to get a decent paintjob. It will still be green, as I actually like the stock green (I believe, Sherwood Forest Metallic Green), but I have bodywork and paint stripping to get to that point, along with a bunch of sanding. Still not sure how much of this I'm going to do myself compared to farming it out. Given the value of the car even very fixed up, it just gets hard to justify spending big chunks of change on it.

 

Current:

Definitely still need to change to smaller tires for the swazi rims. Basically, I'm just being a cheapass at this point. I'm also on the lookout for a 720 diesel pickup, preferably in the Norcal area, but so far no luck there.

 

This long-ass post brought to you by the every so tasty New Amsterdam Gin and a metric crapton of work related stress. :thumbup:

[LeviGideon]

There's a yard up near where I'm at now that's got a 4 dr B210. Next time I'm up there I'll see if it has any A/C parts. What all do you need?

[Dguy210]

There's a yard up near where I'm at now that's got a 4 dr B210. Next time I'm up there I'll see if it has any A/C parts. What all do you need?

 

Thanks for the offer, but at this point I mostly need hoses some minor bits and pieces, and the stuff you can't get from a boneyard (e.g. drier). Most of the stuff I pretty much need to see in person, as I am still putting this together in my head. Currently I've got a B210 and 620 underdash units, B210 condenser and other misc. parts, 210 hoses, condenser, compressor and some misc. parts. I'm trying to gather more stuff than I need so I can piece this together. With the moving houses this has kinda been put on hold for right now. I figure by the time I actually get the AC working it will be too cold out to need it :rofl:

 

Right now the setup I'm looking to piece together is a 210 compressor (York 206), with synthetic oil, new barrier hoses for R134a, the 210 steel hoses where applicable, 210 condenser (I may still swap this out with a crossflow condenser to improve efficiency), new drier, probably 210, or something with similar fittings. The 210 drier is damn expensive and a more universal should work just as well if I can find the correct size for the fittings. B210 underdash plastic, control unit out of a 620, expansion valve and evaporator out of a 620 mated to the B210 underdash unit (bigger core and larger fan on the 620 unit). Obviously, if I had all original B210 parts this gets much easier, but I haven't seen a B210 with an intact A/C setup in a while. Between work, family visting and moving, lately my weekends are gone. I worked out that I should have a free weekend sometime in mid November.

[Nicholas7620]

Very interesting DGuy, have you considered doing your emblems with a series of sprays.

 

First you spray on a primer over entire emblem for good paint adherence.

 

Then you spray black over entire emblem. Then you spray chrome over letters and mask off black background.

 

Next mask off everything but B210 letter and numbers and spray red.

 

Then you would spray a sealer over entire emblem to protect paint and follow up with a clear plastic spray like polyurathane.

 

I'm not good at precision hand painting so the idea of spray is appealing. I've tried hand painting touch ups. They are OK at ten feet or farther.

 

Have fun with it, best. :thumbup:

[Dguy210]

Very interesting DGuy, have you considered doing your emblems with a series of sprays.

 

First you spray on a primer over entire emblem for good paint adherence.

 

Then you spray black over entire emblem. Then you spray chrome over letters and mask off black background.

 

Next mask off everything but B210 letter and numbers and spray red.

 

Then you would spray a sealer over entire emblem to protect paint and follow up with a clear plastic spray like polyurathane.

 

I'm not good at precision hand painting so the idea of spray is appealing. I've tried hand painting touch ups. They are OK at ten feet or farther.

 

Have fun with it, best. :thumbup:

 

Yeah, I've been thinking of something like that, using a series of stencils. I was originally trying to replicate the factory order which is chrome first, than black. I have not had any success clearcoating the chrome though, every clear I've tried reacts with the chrome paint unfortunately. The red works well with a paintpen actually, so I will probably keep using that. The other option is trying to dye the polyurethane resin black.

[Dguy210]

Picked up some new bits:

 

Spare crossmember to modify for the KA swap. I have some ideas on how to modify it so I don't need to swap sway bars, but i need to play around with it to see if that is feasable. A front sump clears the swaybar right, just not the crossmember? It seems you could trade some ground clearance for some extra metal to come down and reinforce the crossmember, without coming forward. I need to think on this.

 

Also picked up a big style B210 console and underdash tray, also a spare radio delete plate. Not sure if I'm going to install the underdash tray as I would just need to remove it for the A/C anyways. I still have to figure out if I can fit the console in without taking apart the parking brake lever or the heater.. hmmm.

[B210GX]

Dguy210.. yes you can put that console in with out removing E brake assembly. If you have stock seats of course..

 

 

Pull the brake handle all the way back, push the seat cushion down. It will go on.

 

 

 

 

Mike

 

 

EDIT whoops you dont have stock seats, my bad

[ggzilla]

Dguy210, can you post photos of the crossmember from various angles? I never looked closely before but it's so weird it's a 510 crossmember with A-series brackets. And to think Datsun already had a front sump crossmember for B210 which they used in every other country.

[king bee66]

i think by "spare," he means its another b210 crossmember.

 

also, the sway bar will not clear the front sump ka. i personally believe that an s10 swaybar will work for with the b210, due to the l20's front sump. but have yet to find one to measure.

[Dguy210]

Dguy210, can you post photos of the crossmember from various angles? I never looked closely before but it's so weird it's a 510 crossmember with A-series brackets. And to think Datsun already had a front sump crossmember for B210 which they used in every other country.

 

Pics below.

i think by "spare," he means its another b210 crossmember.

 

also, the sway bar will not clear the front sump ka. i personally believe that an s10 swaybar will work for with the b210, due to the l20's front sump. but have yet to find one to measure.

 

Ok I wondered about the front sump KA clearing. Hmmm I guess I need to think about which one I want.

 

Crossmember pics:

[datsunfreak]

i personally believe that an s10 swaybar will work for with the b210, due to the l20's front sump. but have yet to find one to measure.

 

S110 may as well. Gonna test fit one in the next two weeks to see.

[datsunfreak]

Picked up some new bits:

 

Spare crossmember to modify for the KA swap. I have some ideas on how to modify it so I don't need to swap sway bars, but i need to play around with it to see if that is feasable. A front sump clears the swaybar right, just not the crossmember? It seems you could trade some ground clearance for some extra metal to come down and reinforce the crossmember, without coming forward. I need to think on this.

 

 

FWIW, a 68-73 510 crossmember will bolt into the car and already has the proper standups for the KA. But if you aren't scared of welding, you could probably just as easily make some for the spare crossmember.

[Dguy210]

 

 

FWIW, a 68-73 510 crossmember will bolt into the car and already has the proper standups for the KA. But if you aren't scared of welding, you could probably just as easily make some for the spare crossmember.

 

So 510 crossmember and lca's with a custom oil pan seems like it would limit it to a single fabrication step for the oil pan, while retaining the stock swaybar.

[king bee66]

just curious, since im thinking about the same swap as you, are you planning for a sohc cam or dohc?

[datsunfreak]

So 510 crossmember and lca's with a custom oil pan seems like it would limit it to a single fabrication step for the oil pan, while retaining the stock swaybar.

 

Yup. And if I can confirm the S110 (80-83 200SX) sway bar fits, that's one less mod.

[Dguy210]

just curious, since im thinking about the same swap as you, are you planning for a sohc cam or dohc?

 

Haven't decided yet. I knew where there is one of each. The dohc would probably be cheaper since it had a transmission and other bits, but I feel like the sohc might be an easier swap.

[Dguy210]

So should be some new developments tomorrow :thumbup:

But for now I was cleaning some stuff up in the garage and found some old photos.

 

From around 1998 or mid 1999.  My old 1972 1200 sedan.  The car had ~700k miles in these pics, and had spent many years being used as a redneck tractor.

Top left, me standing by the car. Back when I had hair. Note the roof rack also.

 

Top right, early morning at school, the pusher bars are actually the center pieces of an I beam cut out with a torch and bolted to the frame rails. Nearly an inch thick and nigh indestructible.

 

Bottom left, after I totaled it in Oct 1999, the grill is pushed even with front of the tire, and tire is crammed back into the footwell. The pusher bars centered the accident quite nicely.  The center medallion was surprisingly undamaged. Walked away from that with just cuts and bruises, although I did break the windshield with my face.

 

Bottom right, previous fender bender. I pulled that dent out, got the metal worked back out and then bondoed it smooth. Ended up being the nicest area on the car when I was done :rofl:. You can also see the tow hitch.  Once again a total overkill design, you could pick the car up by the hitch.  Got used for towing a 16 foot utility trailer.

 

Damn I miss that car.  Some of the parts did get reused from it to on the B210, so I guess they are nearing about a million miles now.

 

Also found some pics of the B210 with original paint and bone stock. Pics are probably from around 2000 or 2001.

 

I forget if this is the A13 coming out for the first rebuild or after it dropped a valve and it is being replaced with the A14. Yes I know it has a Fram, I didn't know any better 12 years ago.

[Dguy210]

510keeper dropped off some goodies today.  Time to do some reading up on (short) transmission options, and I will still need to gather a bunch of other parts.

 

KA24E from a 240sx. Intake, distributor and other parts are in a box and not shown.

 

H190 rearend from a 510 wagon, and KA24E header.