Redemption

[Shagy]

wow...glad you got it settled. Guy C sounds like a prick...shady MoFo.

 

Car looks real good.

 

I had something similar with the DMV....guy A sold it to guy B who sold it to guy C who sold it to me....NO ONE did a bill of sale or transfer, jsut kept handing off the Title. Title had something writen about giving the car as collateral to the LA Department or Corrections...which was 1/2 erased and crossed out. We wrote a letter of why it was like that and just signed his name. I hold the title now =)

[bananahamuck]

Reading your story it sounds like i am lucky to have not got ahold of the guy. But we were only interested in the Solex carbs ( that it didn`t have ) anyway. We figured we could pull whole motor than sell all the rest to ...............you.

[flatcat19]

Reading your story it sounds like i am lucky to have not got ahold of the guy. But we were only interested in the Solex carbs ( that it didn`t have ) anyway. We figured we could pull whole motor than sell all the rest to ...............you.

 

He woulda been better off.

[Burabuda]

man what a story!

 

so the control freak is just a lurker here, right?

 

post that bottom feeder's contact info

what a sick mutherf*cker :mad:

[MicroMachinery]

Alright, so I hope everyone had a happy and safe 4th! I've been very busy as of late, so I'm taking some time to bump this thread that I've irresponsibly let sink to the bottom. As I've taken you through the trial of fire, I will now welcome you to the promised land that is the Redemption.

 

As daunting of a task as it seemed to bring the wagon back to her former glory, it all came together one piece at a time. While in the thick of the quest for the title, I felt that I needed to be with and spend time with the wagon, or my motivation would shrivel up and turn to dust before I could lay a wrench on her. I would go and sit in the driver's seat, move to the passenger seat, then sit in the back. I needed to give myself a picture, and visualize myself in it. I had to bond with her somehow, even if driving wasn't an option yet. It seemed to work, as I started to go through my stockpiles and organize everything I would need. I had a while back bought a 73 gauge cluster from another member, and it had been collecting dust on my shelf. I blew off the dust, and slid it into the empty hole left by the locusts..

Fit like a glove.. perfect. I could now sit in the driver's seat and start to pretend that she was all in one piece. There were still alot of switches missing, and alot of unraveled wiring to trace and account for. As you can see in the pic, the steering column was missing, as well as all the switches to the left of it(wiper, lights, hazard, and rear defrost). I didn't have a clue where I was going to come up with these..

Fast forward a few weeks, and I was starting to get antsy and sitting in the front seat like a 14 year old, pretending to drive was getting old. I started looking for other things that I could do while I waited on the truant title transfer. I looked to the engine bay to see what could be done there.. compression test.. test the electrical systems.. yes. I hooked up a battery and went to crank the engine; it spun over and sounded strong. That's a good sign! Front to back, the readings were 180,180,178/180. Hot diggety! Now THAT'S what I'm talkin' about. As long as the oil pressure is ok, then we'll be in business.

I also noticed some crinkling of the front radiator core support, so I stood over and looked down from the top.. eeegh... it was definitely bent. I did have pictures to show just how bent, but they must have snuck off my phone before I could capture them with my photobucket account. I do have a picture from the front while I was doing some measuring.

I was made aware of a 73 610 wagon in a yard new Portland that had a straight core support, but by the time I figured out mine was bent, the car had gone to the crusher :( So.. I had to make due until a new one presented itself.

This way, I was able to get it straight enough. There are still creases in the sheet metal up front, but believe me, it's ALOT better than it was before. At this point, I also noticed that the front lower valance had taken alot of the brunt of the hit has well.

Here's a picture that "Guy C" sent to me before he harvested everything that he did.. *INCLUDING THE HEADLIGHTS!* Who takes used headlights, I mean c'mon! Seriously? How low can you get.. <_<

As you can see, the lower driver's side is pushed in and bent at an awkward angle. Since this was off, I figured I may as well try some hammer and dolly work. I did as much as I felt comfortable doing, then got ahold of my paint guy. He doesn't claim to be much of a body man, but he said he'd give it a crack and see what he could do for it. After a week, he brought it back to me and I was pleasantly surprised.

It was by no means perfect, but perfect isn't what I was going for at this point. I was shooting for better, and better it was.

[MicroMachinery]

man what a story!

 

so the control freak is just a lurker here, right?

 

post that bottom feeder's contact info

what a sick mutherf*cker :mad:

If you're interested in meeting him face to face, looks like he's selling his 610.. and probably all the parts that he pilfered from mine. <_<

http://seattle.craigslist.org/skc/cto/2474048660.html

[flatcat19]

If you're interested in meeting him face to face, looks like he's selling his 610.. and probably all the parts that he pilfered from mine. <_<

http://seattle.craig...2474048660.html

 

What a douche.

 

Well, I'm sure your goon is much happier now.

Keep up the build thread. Lovin it!!!

[]2eDeYe]

Dumbass can't even post a decent picture in his ad :rolleyes:

 

More build! :)

[ehime]

I just talked to him, he is a dickhead. Four grand huh??

says its a one owner and bleh...

[MicroMachinery]

I was able to tweak the lower valance a little more and try to match the passenger side. The metal was so thin that it was able to manipulate, but where it had been stretched, I wasn't able to shrink it back. Around that time I had also been blessed with a parts wagon, so I was able to get a grill and some other pieces. The grill, while still broken, was better than nothing. Here's a pic of the valance and grill.

Like I said, not perfect by any means, but definitely better.

It was also around this time that the I was closing in on the title. It was apparent that sheer laziness, rather than malice or foul play were working against me, so I felt a little more confidence in bolting on a few parts here and there. Since running the compression test, I had been chomping at the bit to fire the engine to hear it run and check the oil pressure. I had noticed that the engine, while being an L20b, was equipped with a standard L16 head(210 casting). While a little disappointing, I also had perceived that there had been some porting and opening of the intake passages.

I measured and it came out to 1.5". I wasn't all too surprised, as I was aware of the side draft hitachis that were previously employed therein. On my LZ22 engine, I had taken an L20b downdraft intake and hogged it out to 1.5" for break-in(then later switched to 38mm Side drafts), so that was a no-brainer to make the transition from intake manifold to head smooth.

Luckily for me, the PO wasn't educated enough to realize that there was an electronic distributor along with matching coil installed, so that was left behind. Win.

I also had a box of carburetors, which included a couple 32/36 Webers. I grabbed one of the Webers and sat it down on the bench; 6 screws later I was inside. To my delight, there was a little bit of dust from what was once fuel, but other than that, it was incredibly clean. I blew threw the jets with some carb cleaner, cleaned the needle and seat, along with the idle mixture screw. Back together with it and onto the manifold it went. I didn't wait until I had the cooling system hooked up, as I didn't plan on running it too long. I only wanted to make sure it was going to run, and what the oil pressure was. At this point, I had taken a couple videos on my phone: one of which was 1 second long, and the other which happened to be about 30 seconds.. guess which one made it to my photobucket account, and which one got erased.. :rolleyes:

http://s686.photobucket.com/albums/vv224/MicroMachinery/73%20610/?action=view&current=Video034.mp4

:lol: Ok, ok, I know. Really weak video all around, but you can hear the engine run, and that's all that counts. I wish I wouldn't have erased the other one. Oh well :) It fired right up and the oil pressure built immediately. I shut it back down and began assembling the cooling system.

[MicroMachinery]

I finished plumbing the cooling system that afternoon. Later on in the week, I came back and went to address the issue of no clutch or brake pedals. Wait, excuse me, no clutch or brake pedals AND no pedal mounting bracket that attaches to the firewall. The sticky-fingered PO also decided that rather than just yank the pedals, he would take the whole assembly. I had previously told him that this was an unnecessary procedure, and that the pedals in a manual would in a matter of minutes swap into the pedal box of an automatic, but he insisted that I and my sources were incorrect :rolleyes: . Swine.

Luckily, my parts wagon also happened to be a 4 speed manual, so I was able to rob the one from there.

What a nightmare. Cut up arms, bashed knuckles and a tapestry of obscenities later, it was out and heading to its final resting place. I took a long enough break to snap a pic and then I went right back at it. Anyone who has ever removed one of these from a 610(God knows WHY anyone would need to..) can testify that going in is twice the chore as coming out.

The PO had also taken the clutch master cylinder and the hard line to the slave cylinder, but along with the pedal box, i was able to carefully remove the hard line from the donor car. The master cylinder was hosed, however, but I had years prior come across an NOS one in a junk store. I wasn't sure what I'd ever use it for, but at $11, the price was right. It bolted right up and I now had a clutch pedal. The brake booster and master cylinder were left unmolested, so hooking up the pedal there wasn't an issue. I could almost drive it now.. the one detail that remained was the accelerator linkage, which was also harvested by the PO. Grr.. I didn't think it an issue until I realized that between the 73' year(mine), and the 74' year(donor), there were a number of small changes.. one of which was the accelerator linkage. As hard as these cars are to come by, miraculously it didn't take me long to track one of these pieces down. An hour or two? I now had all 3 pedals, and a running engine.

 

* * *

 

I had also obtained a hood back in April from the Portland Auto Swap meet. Funny how that worked out.. and it's worthwhile to tell, so I'll take you on a little tangent here.. I had arranged to meet the owner in St. Helens to purchase the hood. My plan was to stop on the way up to Seattle(on the day that I bought the wagon, back in March), and pick it up. The price was set at $60, which I thought was reasonable enough for a semi-straight hood. Well, as it turned out, the owner was unfortunately leaving for a trip to AZ and would be gone until the day after I had planned to get the wagon, so a 2-birds-with-one-stone trip wouldn't work. Well, as things went, if you read previously, I became very ill after the trip, so I wasn't able to follow up on the purchase. The Portland Auto swap meet comes around the first weekend every April, so just as I was getting better, the swap meet had arrived. I went for the purpose of seeing the sights, as Datsun parts are a rare commodity at such an event. If I were A GM guy, however, it would be in 7th heaven. Anyhow, as I browsed the vendors, I came upon a box that looked like L-series rockers.. and distributors.. and cams! Saaay.. looks like someone around here is speaking my language! A taller, mustached man stepped out of the trailer,

"You know what that stuff is for?"

"Looks like Datsun goodies"

"Yeah, you into Datsuns?"

"Yeah, I have a 510, some 610s.."

Before I could say anything else, he cut me off with, "I have some 610 stuff here, I'll make you a good deal"

"Whatcha got?"

"Well, I have this hood here.."

I have to admit, I lol'd. It was the same hood that I was supposed to pick up on that dreary day back in March. "How much for the hood?"

"Well, I had it for $15 yesterday, gimme $10 and take it away today."

"Sold."

I went through and found some other goodies, including a locking gas door and some other odds and ends.

 

* * *

 

Back to business. After removing the old crunched hood, and installing my Portland Swap Meet find from a month prior, I decided that since she was now fully empowered with clutch, brake, and accelerator pedals it was time to put her to the test and make her move under her own power. Having a shop next to a long private drive definitely has its advantages, one of which is being able to take cars on short little drives without fear of interference by Johnny Law. I hopped in and cranked the engine; she came right to life. Now was the moment of truth.. Test clutch.. she rolls; check. Test brakes.. she stops; check. Test accelerator.. she roars; check. Slowly I crept out of the driveway, not yet trusting the brake or new clutch master cylinders fully. A little faster, stop. A little further, stop. All was working as it should be, and soon the driveway was behind me and disappearing. She was driving! That grin that stretches from ear to ear is what I felt. It was happening; I was winning. The wagon was alive!

I stopped in order to take this picture. I was so absolutely jazzed at this point.. it didn't matter if she didn't have a face. It was a beautiful thing, and still is.

[izzo]

:thumbup:

 

Good job Raph!

[MicroMachinery]

Now that I knew she could drive, I had to see to it that she would drive in a straight line. I was told that there were some damaged suspension components in the front, but when i got under to check it out, I couldn't see any sign of bending or broken pieces, so I checked for excessive wear in the ball joints and tie rods; all tight. The next thing I did was break out the tape measure to check the toe-in. I do believe it came to something like 1 5/8" toe-in, which would explain why it would want to hit the ditch when you let go of the wheel. I loosened the locknuts on both tie rods and balanced the two sides(made them equal lengths). There was probably 3/4" of difference between the two, which was obviously not right. After bringing the two sides to equal lengths, I was able to bring it in slowly until I had 1/4" of toe-in. Took her for a spin and what a world of difference. She'd ride a straight line all the way down the block.

A few days went by and I was able to come back to give her some more attention. Since she still didn't have a face, I figured it was time to do something about that. I already had the valance and the grill, so I attached those. She was without eyes, so I went and grabbed a few spare headlights from the parts car, along with the retaining rings.

I also removed the front bumper from my 76 610, just for curiosity's sake..

She was really beginning to shine. I was seeing it coming together very quickly.. which was great, because at this point it was crunch time for Canby, and I wanted her to be there with me.

As the heart now had a beat, it was time to turn my attention to the less important, yet still essential aspects. Since the vultures had made off with everything inside but the seats, it was time to start figuring out what I had and what I needed, and more importantly, what went where? If I was going to be driving it at all, seat belts were a must.

As you can see, all that was left behind was the retaining bolt for the shoulder belt. Easy enough, my donor car happily gave up these and more for the cause.

The new lap belts were anchored in and that was that.

The various switches did present some difficulties, as the 74 610 was equipped with intermittent wipers, and the 73 was not. Temporary re-wiring of the circuit had to be done to prevent blowing of fuses, but as a future modification, I have plans to integrate the 74+ intermittent wiper technology into my 73. There were actually a number of things that switched from the 73-74 year, other than the most obvious front end revamping.

Little by little, the pieces fell into place, and soon the wagon was actually gaining my trust. It was around this time that I was able to round up the two bills of sale from "Guy B" and "Guy C". I made my trip to the DMV, but was stiff armed by out of state title protocol: The vehicle had to be present to verify the VIN.

"But, the vehicle isn't mine, and isn't registered, you want me to drive it here illegally? Can't I just take a picture or do a pencil-over onto a piece of paper?"

"The vehicle has to be checked out by one of us. Here."

I really don't get all the bureaucracy and hijinx, but I had jumped through every hoop thus far, I could play along for the last step. I went home, called my insurance agent to add the car, and checked the wagon over. I took her out for a spin on the private road, and she passed every quiz I gave her. Tomorrow she would make the drive out on the highway 30 minutes to the next town over to be checked out at the DMV. The following day I made the drive which was a nerve racking affair. Not only had I never taken the car out on public roads, I had never put her up to 60mph for that length of time. She did not disappoint me. I was relieved to not pass by one highway patrol the entire time, as the sign of an un-plated, un registered car is an open invite to pry.. and I was driving the bright yellow invitation. I pulled into the DMV and marched in, took my number, and we did business. The stack of paperwork was looked through, forms filled out, money changed hands, and the wagon was now mine. I was given a temporary permit while my plates came, and a wave of relief swept over me. It was done.

I filled the tank and headed home.

Upon reaching home, I smelled the strong odor of gasoline. Shit. The first thought that ran through my mind was that either the filler neck was cracked, or the seam around the gas tank was leaking.. both nightmare scenarios that I've witnessed first hand with Datsuns. I rounded the corner of the car and saw the puddle forming at the rear right corner.. not too surprising as that is where the gas tank is. I put a bucket down under the drop and looked up and saw nothing but clumpy dirt and a wet spot. After prodding and jabbing with my finger, and receiving half of the debris into my eyes, I felt the culprit. To my relief, it happened to be the evap tube leading up to the vapor expansion canister. It had become brittle and cracked. The full tank must have splashed up into it and that is where the leak had formed. I cut it back to the soft rubber and took a sample down to the parts store.

While they didn't have an exact duplicate of the tubing, they had a thicker, more sturdy substitute. I bought the hose along with clamps and a coupler and I was off.

These pieces did the trick, and I was now leak free.

Over the next couple weeks I drove the wagon around and shook out everything I could shake out. Little bits and pieces here and there were replaced compliments of my well worthwhile investment of a parts wagon. Everything from trim pieces,

to door latches,

to my driver's side window..

.. which didn't turn out to be correct. So another was found and tried..

... which also wasn't right. :lol:. Somehow, I ended up having a full set of glass from another parted 610 wagon that was harvested a while back.. in which that set contained the correct one.

It was very strange. The other glass pieces fit right, bolted to the window regulators, but they just didn't fit right.. they were either too far forward, too tall, wouldn't roll down all the way.. just barely wouldn't work. I am interested to know what these other pieces go to, though, as they ARE genuine Nissan factory glass.

Bingo.

[Lonestar]

This by far is one the most epic (by me anyways) build threads I have read here on forums. From what you have gone through to everything you have done to bring your Goon back to life, it's just inspiring, don't keep us waiting too long for the next update!

[MicroMachinery]

The weekend prior to Canby, I managed to corner my painter friend who had committed to helping me with the eyesore that was my hood. While the hood was a total blessing, and had fallen in my lap, its looks left alot to be desired. It had been used as a platform and painting table at one point, so dents and over spray were present.. not really the look I was going for on this one. Here we are in the shop, beginning the preparations for painting.

The original plan was to just sand the top layer down, then spray some primer over the top of the roughed up surface, but as I sanded more and more of the original paint down, more and more abrasions and rust lines made themselves known. I ended up having to sand it completely down to bare metal on the top, and didn't take the time to get pictures as I went along. We've all seen bare metal, so imagine ^^^ that hood down to bare metal. After that long process had taken place, the primer was applied.

Here we have it. I thought the primer he used was a pretty slick color, but there was more sanding to be done.

A light scuffing and cleaning with some wax and grease remover, and it was ready for paint.

This would prove to be a most challenging affair, as there was no real paint code to go by. The best that could be done is eyeballing the paint, spraying, and letting it cure on test paddles. For anyone familiar with the process of mixing paint, unless you've got a highly trained eye, it is a lengthy process. By the time we had mixed and tested a number of batches of paint, it was getting very late. We had timed everything very poorly. A final batch was made up, and while not perfect, it was the best so far, and would have to do. Like I've stated before, I wasn't so much concerned with perfection, as I was with "better".. and better it would be.

Whilst waiting as the paint was applied, I decided to take advantage of the surroundings and snap some pics inside the massive paint shop.

Had I had a decent camera, those shots may have actually come out pretty nice. Maybe someday, but not today :)

Ah yes, the clearcoat was now going on.. it wouldn't be long now..

The hood was left to bake and cure in the booth, and we passed the time over the last of our refreshments.

A half hour later, the bolts were threaded, the latches aligned, and the hood was laid down.

 

Even though it wasn't perfect, I couldn't have been happier. I still couldn't. My friend came through for me, and made my wagon glow like I'd never seen before.

(Before)

(After)

Thanks Kyle.

[flatcat19]

Cool story Bro.

 

Really!

[]2eDeYe]

Couldn't even tell the hood was different than stock when I saw the wagon at Canby. Nice work :cool:

[MicroMachinery]

Thanks for the comments, guys. :)

 

A few days before Canby, I decided to take the wagon out west to the coast for some Chowda. The entire way I was hearing what I thought to be the cheap tires in mismatched tread patterns, but the more and more I listened, the less it sounded like road noise. More of a growling.. great. I have a bad bearing out back somewhere. My hopes were for a bad wheel bearing. I got home, pulled into the driveway and ducked underneath the back and felt the outside of the axle tube near the driver's side rear wheel. Cold. Same for the passenger side. Still cold. I was pretty sure I'd narrowed it down. Feeling the differential removed all my doubts. It was hot to the touch.. damn. I immediately went and started pricing parts for pinion and carrier bearings.. it didn't look good at all.

I went and checked out the parts wagon that I had been using all along, but knowing that there were many differences from 73-74, it was a gamble. Since the 74' got upgraded from the L18 to the L20b, it was likely that the rearend was upgraded as well. I looked underneath, and lo and behold, it was different. They had bumped it up from the 73' version with the h165..

to the h190 in 74'.

After some measurements were taken, and some gurus consulted, I was fairly confident that the swap would be direct and painless. Soaking the U-bolt nuts in penetrating oil was the first step.

After letting them soak, the removal commenced. I got the driveline bolts removed and gave the pinion a spin. GROWL GROWL GROWL. Yeah.. definitely coming from the carrier.

Though it would have been a way easier process with a second set of hands to guide the large backing plates over the shackles...

I got both of them out fairly easily, and put them side by side for comparison.

As you can see, the h190(rear) is stouter than the h165. The 510 wagons got the h190, which makes me wonder why they downgraded the heavier, more powerful 73 610 to the h165.. who knows..

The installation was the opposite of removal. Very easy. Shocks, brake line, driveline, and U-bolts. Done.

Before I went anywhere, I topped it off with GL-5.

 

So far, it seems great. Now growling or problems of any sort. Nice.

[MicroMachinery]

While I had replaced the lap belts that had been pilfered,

I was still missing the shoulder belts.

I dove into the surplus of horded parts and found the correct shoulder belts. It pays to be a pack rat ;) .

 

New tires were a necessity, so I put them onto my set of SSR Colins. 195/65/14.. while I was happy about the tire, the chain that I got them through, is in need of a review and some SERIOUS quality control. I will never go back to America's Tire/Discount Tire. Terrible. :angry:

 

 

'Twas the night before Canby, and I was just putting the finishing touches on the wagon. The engine had been running great, the electrical system had a good looking over, the rear end had been swapped.. it was now time to look towards the smaller, less consequential touches. It was time to spruce up the front end and give her some make up. The front bumper I had installed had had the chrome removed before I got them. All I've been able to do is keep em clean, but they never quite looked "clean", if you know what I mean... they had a ground down look, that never went away.

I did my best to clean it up for what was in store for it next. I used soapy water and a scrub brush to remove all the tar and bug carcasses, along with the dirt and road grime.

I put it out to dry in the sun, then rode my bike down to the parts store for my supplies. I returned with the self etching primer and can of flat black. By then, the sun had done it's job and the bumper was dried and ready to go under the can.

In the garage, away from the elements, it began. A couple thin coats of the self etching primer with a few minutes in between coats, then it was time for the black.

Same thing with the black; a few light coats, with some time in between, then the medium coat to finish it up. Since it was still sunny out, I took advantage and brought it out to dry in the sun. While I was at it, I dropped in the front turn signals just for grins.

The finished product.

Couldn't wait to get it installed, and when I did, it completely changed the look of the front end of the car. Needless to say, I was satisfied with the results.

I was so happy with the turn out, that I decided to pull the rear off and give it a fresh coat :)

 

That same day, I went to the mailbox and behold! My plates had arrived.

 

I had also come into a rare Japanese 610, or "Bluebird-U" grill months before the actual purchase of the wagon. Since I had never planned to be lucky enough to stumble upon a 73', I just figured I'd hold onto it for a special occasion, when someone I knew needed it. I pulled it out, blew the dust off, and mocked it onto the wagon once I got it, seeing as how there was no grill that came with it.

The grill had gone back into storage, but I figured that for the Canby show, it should be worn.

 

As quickly as I could install the bumpers, plates, and grill, we were off to Canby!

[MicroMachinery]

After Canby, I was given a little more breathing room to take care of extra details that I wanted to. Lowering the wagon was one of the major ones. I'm not really keen on the factory ride heights that these old Datsuns were given, and I'm not sure how aesthetically they deemed it acceptable. But it was an easy enough task to deal with.

For anyone who has installed lowering blocks, you know how easy of a feat it is to accomplish. For those of you who don't, it's an easy feat to accomplish :P With a few common tools, you can do this yourself in a matter of a couple hours. Basically, the idea is to raise your axle housing, so as to cause everything else to sit lower. Kind of a no brainer, but for those of you who don't understand how lowering blocks work, that's the general idea.

I picked up this set of blocks at Canby for the price of $10, I believe it was. They were 1.5", which was exactly what I was looking for(I didn't want to slam the wagon, and render it useless off the pavement). They are obviously a home-brewed setup, but the welds are sufficient, and there was a hole and dowel provided to keep them from sliding around. The U-bolts were also included.

On a free afternoon, I decided to tackle the project. In a matter of about an hour, I had put the wagon on jack stands, placed the jack under the axle housing, removed the U-bolts, and raised the 3rd member up enough to stick the blocks in. The U-bolts were a little tricky, as 1 of them was mismatched and a little wider than the rest, so it had to be squeezed to get it through the holes in the locating plates. Other than that, the lowering blocks were a breeze. As you can see here, the two threaded ends want to be further away from each other. Eventually, it will be replaced with the appropriate sized U-bolt.

Here's another pic from the front of the blocks installed.

After installing the shocks back onto the springs, along with the nuts onto the U-bolts, I lowered the car back down to see where she would be sitting. I was pleased with the result.

Close-up:

Not wanting to leave the job half done, I went after the front. This part was also a simple operation. As I didn't have the coilovers handy as I did when lowering my 76', I opted to go down the thrifty road. I lifted the front of the car, removed the brake calipers, unbolted the struts, and caged the springs. After removing spring pressure from the top-hats, I removed the springs. I decided not to go down the reckless road of cutting off too much and regretting it later on, so I removed a single coil and re installed the springs. After putting everything back together, I lowered the front down. I rolled the car around and this is how it looked.

I drove the 610 around the back roads, over some train tracks, and on the highway to settle out the suspension as much as I could. And here's how she sat:

I had counted on having to take the front struts apart a couple times just to get it right, but after the first cut, I was happy. I may decide to remove a little more in the future, but for now, I see no need to.

[MicroMachinery]

After driving it around for a day, I noticed that it handled much more poorly than it did prior to the lowering; it felt like I was on a boat. It felt like it was coming from the back end, so that gave me a pretty good idea of what was causing it. On jackstands, I could clearly see the culprit; the bump stop for the 3rd member which sits directly above the differential snout. It was shaped like a wedge, and was just a shade too long, causing a high point in the middle of the car. Without hesitation, I removed it and took about an inch off of it.

 

Problem solved.

[MicroMachinery]

The SSR Colin wheels that I have on the wagon are a staggered set. 14x8.5 and 14x7. I believe the 8.5" has 0 offset, but the 7" I believe is about +15. Because of this, I was forced to run the 8.5's on the front, and the 7's on the rear, due to the tires rubbing on the front struts. I promptly went in search of appropriate wheel spacers to allow me to run the wheels as 7's up front and the 8.5's out the back. After searching the For Sale threads, putting up Wanted Ads, I couldn't find exactly what I wanted. What I wanted were 22mm spacers. I got some responses for 25mm, 30mm.. but those were more than I needed. I searched online, and few people carried 22mm spacers. The custom made ones that I found were a bit more than I wanted to spend.

It was then that I stumbled across a thread that mentioned our very own Datrod to be in the business of working with metals, building custom spacers and performing many other wonderful exploits with metals. I got in touch with him and we discussed what I needed. You see, a common spacer would bolt to the hub, having studs built into it, much like this:

These were what he was used to making and sending out, but I only needed spacers with holes. Prior to me getting the wagon, the front hubs were given abnormally long studs, and most likely were outfitted with spacers that have been since removed. The studs, from their shoulders, measure 2.5". Here is a pic of them compared to the studs placed into the hubs from the factory:

Since these were somewhat of a special order, he had to make a special set of them for me(different than what he was normally producing), so I did have to be patient while he found time to get them made. He was very accommodating and professional throughout the entire process, not to mention the price was extremely reasonable. Two thumbs up and five stars.

Before long, my little bundle of joy arrived, and I was tickled at what I found in the box.

While expected good product, these were superb. Excellent machining, and attention to detail. Solid, good construction, beveled edges, and precision milling. Great work, Jon!

I couldn't wait to get them onto the 610, so I went and got them onto the 610.

It's like they were MADE for my car; the fit was perfect enough to make Cinderella jealous. With the spacers on, the lugs fit very nicely now, without 7/8" of stud hanging out past the top of the lug. As safely as I could, I excitedly swapped the backs to the fronts and the fronts to the back. Moh-nay.

Before:

After:

 

Special thanks to Jon AKA Datrod on this update. I strongly recommend you check him out and his services. If I hear of anybody looking for spacers of any size, pattern, or offset, he's definitely got my recommendation and stamp of approval on the quality and value of his product. Thanks again, Jon.

[izzo]

Good job Raph, that thing looks killer!

[MicroMachinery]

Alright, so I haven't really had anything to post here for a while.. just been rockin' to wagon daily, with no issues; just regular maintenance.

 

Over the past month or so, I've noticed that I get a heavy odor of gasoline whenever I fill up, and for a few days afterwards. I went through and checked the vapor hoses that go up into the luggage compartment(located in the passenger side rear quarter panel), and found nothing amiss. Hoses all attached, tightened well, and not brittle. Figures that I couldn't be so lucky..

.. so last Saturday, I pulled my wagon into the shop and put her on the lift. Time to drop the tank.

I got the tank dropped down, and saw instantly what the issue was; the vapor hoses that connected to the tank were cracked and loose. I lowered the tank enough to get to the hose clamps, and removed it from the car. I siphoned out the gas and detached the hoses.

Here you can see the 2 vapor hoses, along with the fuel line that goes to from the tank to the metal fuel line on the chassis.

I walked across the street and got a section of fuel line, along with 2 lengths of vapor hose(also pictured above). As you can see, the new vapor hose is a bit more substantial than the old factory pieces. Along with that, the factory hoses are molded to change direction; another obstacle. The new hoses were about 1/4" thicker than the old ones, so they ended up being a press fit through the framework of the unibody.(If you look close enough, you can see that the hose is trolling. I wasn't laughing, however.)

The fit was incredibly tight, so I did as any man(or woman) would in my situation, and applied lube. Lots of lube.

After a good long struggle, I prevailed.

What should have been an hour long venture, turned into a couple hours of pushing and fighting. It was a struggle, but the mission was a success; no more heavy gas smell.

 

It is now safe; smoke if ya got 'em :cool:

[I'm BLUE]

Awwwwwwww this was a well worth ]while repair! Your datsun thanks you!

 

Nice going man !

 

Love the wagon ... hehe :cool: