1970 Nissan Laurel project

[skunk]

i love your car.... and kinda hate you.

 

not post some more pics :D

[rusty12ver]

Some real cool parts going in! How wide of a wheel/tire combo can fit under the rear?

[KC30]

i love your car.... and kinda hate you.

I get that a lot, and don't really blame people.

 

Today I got the rear coilovers in. Took a little to sort out fitment. I wanted a little more length to have decent travel due to the stock vs coilover length.

 

I don't have a pic, but I added three large washers (same size as the bushing) to the top to lengthen it. Added about 1/2 inch. Also, since these are for a 510 I wasn't certain on clearance which I was right to worry about a little. The bottom shock mount bracket has a lip that was in the way of the spring mount, took a little finessing to have the lip bent to clear it. Then the inside fender wall is extremely close, but just clears.

Here's a couple of pics of them in:

 

For right now I left the stock spring in the trailing arm, I know it's supposed to be coming out, but with the front being overly stiff right now it actually matches with it left in. That will be part two of the suspension when I get the front coilovers sorted/replaced.

 

 

 

[skunk]

:lol: :lol:

[datto510]

Uhhhhhh..... Is that upside down?

[Jester]

Yes, but, damn that looks good!

[620green]

Thanks for the interest everyone. I don't have much history of this car, and what I do have is kind of odd.

I bought the car after first seeing it in a local car ad in Okinawa like this: (Yes the front pic is reversed here)

 

I got it on 5 Jun 2010, bought from a tuning garage and as I found out it was the garage owner's car. He had bought it in mainland Japan after seeing it. He told me it was the only 2 door on Okinawa, which I would believe as I have only come across info of two others in Japan being sold in 2007 and 2009. But have yet to come across anyone who owns one. I have come across the owners of 2 european 4 doors, which were more common and produced longer ('68-72).

Less than 2 months after getting it, she was in a container on her way to it's new home. Which is good because even it's short 3 years on Okinawa, rust was getting hold and I don't think it would have survived another year there. Now it's in the desert, dried out and the rust has stopped, giving me some time to save up and have the body restored. Here it is in it's container:

 

Originally I was looking for an old car to do an engine swap with. After seeing this I wanted to keep the engine stock... until knowing it would need an engine rebuild and I started looking for parts. The G18 engine left me having trouble finding parts and was not running good at all. So I caved facing that in the US, I would be screwed trying to find parts as the G18 was never released here and I couldn't find any sources online. So with bittersweetness a friend helped me find a donor car:

 

Using info I gathered from one of the 4 door owners I meet online who was installing an SR20DE into his with the S13/14 front end suspension, I proceeded with mine. Here it is after having the S13/14 front suspension and the SR in (not running at this point):

 

 

 

That's the quick story of my short history with my Laurel. As for the odd part of its history, I came across that when researching the KC30 Laurel. The Laurel was first introduced in '68 as a 4 door (C30). In '70 the KC30 Laurel Hardtop (2 door) was introduced. It was Nissan's first Parade Hardtop (Pillerless Coupe)... just before the Skyline. One of the first things I'd learned was there were 3 model variants, the 1800, 2000, & 2000GX. The ad I found my car in listed it as a 2000GX, which it had the badges and steering wheel badge as a 2000GX. But I knew that wasn't right as the 2000 and 2000GX came with the G20 engine, and this Laurel has the G18, which is what the ID plate stated. Luckily I came across several Nissan promotional pictures which just really add to the mystery of my Laurel's past.

Here's my dash and fender badging/mirror to help show the mix-match of 1800/2000/2000GX designs:

 

 

Here are two pics of the 1800:

From those pics, my Laurel does not share the grill badge, front mirrors, fender badge, the entire dash, steering wheel nor steering column.

 

So on to pics of the 2000:

From those pics, again the grill badge, fender mirrors and steering wheel doesn't match mine. The fender badge of course is closer. But the steering column, dash and center console match mine.

 

So here's the pics of the 2000GX:

From those pics, The exterior badging, fender mirrors, steering wheel and column match mine. The dash is the same basically, but the gauge arrangement doesn't match (I have no tach). I do not have the 2000GX badge and clock on my center console. Of course I don't have the power windows, but I think it was an option, because I have a different pic of the GX that doesn't look like it's got power windows.

 

That's about all I have time to post right now. There's a LOT of info skipped over regarding the swap and other things I've done. I'll be able to post the jist of it later. In the meantime, here's where all the pics I have of her from when I first saw her to now are: 1970 Laurel 2000GX (KC30)

 

 

Nice ride.

 

 

[KC30]

Uhhhhhh..... Is that upside down?

Yep, the Ground Control 510 rear coilovers are made that way. Here's why they say: "The Koni shock is mounted inverted for less unsprung weight"

But I think it's mainly due to fitment

Ground Control PL510 rear coilovers

[bilzbobaggins]

Nice ass ride.

 

Why couldnt we got that motor with the cross flow head. Damn.

 

jef

[ptown green]

I want to put those tail lights in my 510!

[zerow]

I want to put those tail lights in my 510!

I want those tail lights for my 610!

[king bee66]

such a great car kc30

 

I want those tail lights for my 610!

 

 

you guys can have the taillights if i can have the car, deal?

[KC30]

Thanks again for all the comments. And if my taillights ever go missing at least I'll know where to look first, lol.

 

I started getting my fuel surge tank together. With it's size, I'll have to mount it where the current fuel pump is, then move it closer to the tank.

Here's the assembly going together. Pump installed on the outlet end plate:

 

Then the cylinder installed on the outlet plate with the fuel pump in:

 

And all together with the inlet end plate installed:

 

Here's pics of the end plates:

 

Now I ordered with the surge tank the banjo to nipple adaptors. The frustrating part is that I received 3, but there's nothing included for the actual pump outlet which is in the bottom right of this picture:

 

It needs a banjo fitting and some sort of capped nut. I've contacted the place I ordered the surge tank from, hopefully get it sorted out. I've found a source for the banjo to nipple adaptor, but still have to figure out where to get the capped nut.

 

Other then that, I took the Laurel out to a local car show today. It was a lot smaller than I had expected (maybe 25 cars) so not very exciting. Anyways, here's a pic of it there today, I'm very happy with the stance it's ending up having:

[gumbyz13]

Very nice man...I almost bought that car - you pick that up from Garage Lemans behind Futenma right? That is my buddies shop, he called me when it came in but I ended up passing on it looking for a c110 . Never did find one.

 

 

 

Looking good. Will have to shoot my buddy back in Oki some pics of your progress.

[KC30]

you pick that up from Garage Lemans

 

Yep, that's the place I picked it up from. It's a nice shop. And the day I picked it up someone had their Bluebird SSS (510) in for service... It was in gorgeous condition, deep blue, and the first 510 I'd seen on Okinawa. Or the first I'd noticed, my first time there I wasn't a huge old school fan... might be because I had my R32 that I miss so bad!

[gumbyz13]

That shop gets a pretty good cycle of cars, I was in there quite a bit and my buddy (he had the white 73 Z with the Akira Body Kit and Pantera hatch) he would always give me a call when they got something new in. Picked my Levin up form there.

 

The Laurel is looking awesome man...Damn I should have bought that thing...Ha

[Tomakze]

I have always loved the Laurel... Such a cool car! I am looking forward to reading more. :)

[Stoffregen Motorsports]

That is really a sexy car. I never understand why a foreign car company makes something really cool, and we can't have it. Nissan Skylines, Alfa Romeos, Fiats 500s, Minis...heck they're still making Jeep CJs in India.

[Burabuda]

gotta bring that to jccs. only a 13 hour banzai run!

[zerow]

gotta bring that to jccs. only a 13 hour banzai run!

+1...and batten down the taillights! :P

[KC30]

You HAD to bring up JCCS! I'm dying to go, but I'm not sure if I'll be able to make it out this year due to work. Plus I'd have to arrange towing it out, that drive would hurt my kidneys!

[KC30]

Well, I'm slowly getting everything I need to start sorting things out. Josh from 034 Motorsport really helped with the fuel surge tank I ordered. He contacted me and shipped the missing banjo fitting and fluid bolt. I also ordered a cap nut so that I can use the Bosch 044's check valve. I'm really looking forward to getting the surge tank installed!

 

Also, since the fuel system will be sorted out, the next main step is to sort out the radiator and intercooler. But I need to be able to monitor the AFR so I've started to get what I need for that. First an O2 sensor that my Apexi turbo timer can read (not compatible with the tiny titanium sensor my SR uses), so I picked one up for the 300zx TT.

There's also a new turbo outlet elbow and O2 sensor bung on the way.

[datsun510w]

Car has awesome body lines

great job on the car

keeps pictures coming

[Dirttrack510]

I just found this thread and I gotta say that is a sweeeet ass ride & welcome to Ratsun. I've never seen one of these before, but I'm lovin' it. :thumbup: I agree... You need to take that to the JCCS, it'll be a HUGE hit! Sounds like you better keep an eye on the tail lights though. :rofl:

[patra_is_here]

very cool