710 project thread

[Will]

Ah, a coat of primer makes this panel look a little less gnarly...

 

 

Next weekend I'm going to try attaching the 160J front sheetmetal. ...maybe some other stuff too, if FedEx comes through with a delivery!

 

(Anyone out there need some decent 710 front fenders & a valence panel?)

[shakotan710]

I wouldn't mind getting the front fenders and valence

[Will]

I wouldn't mind getting the front fenders and valence

 

Okay - I'll let you know how the surgery goes next weekend!

[Will]

...now, the only way that gas will escape my tank is through the engine.

 

datsUn!

 

[Will]

Finally got around to attaching the non-USA front fenders to my 710:

 

 

...I only broke one bolt in the process!

 

 

 

I managed to get everything attached, but the new sheetmetal is aftermarket stuff, so it will need a lot of finesse to get it ready for a new coat of paint.

 

 

 

This is the worst spot on the fenders - it will need to be worked quite a bit since the new panels aren't as curvy as the originals.

 

 

It'll need some work to make the grille opening match up to the grille too.

 

 

 

This shows how much higher the 160J fender openings are compared to the plastic made for the 710 fenders.

 

 

 

The panels all bolt up to existing holes in the 710 - I didn't need to use a drill (other than when I removed the one broken bolt.)

 

 

 

Here it is mocked up with the bumper - I'll need to make some brackets.

 

[Will]

...also, does anyone have friends down south that might be able to help with parts? They don't ship to the USA, but this part costs 13 dollars... I've seen hoods for sale too.

 

[INDY510]

weird, my 160J fenders fit exactly like that too ... I heard someone say they always need alot of work to fit a 710 ... I wonder why?

 

Is the gap between the fender and the door bigger at the top of the door, than at the bottom?

[Will]

Is the gap between the fender and the door bigger at the top of the door, than at the bottom?

 

Yup - I think that it is because the shape gets more complicated near the top of the fender - it was probably too tough to match without Nissan's tooling.

[Bentaxlebob]

Noice work.

 

2 questions.

 

1) You used to live in the east coast right ? You drove your 710 all the way east didn't you ?

 

2) The foreign valance is lower (closer to ground) than US version right ? Fuller look.

[opalbeetle]

Wow! That is a great project to undertake! I can hardly wait to see how you "massage" the metal to get everything lined up the way you want. Looking awesome!

[Will]

Noice work.

 

2 questions.

 

1) You used to live in the east coast right ? You drove your 710 all the way east didn't you ?

2) The foreign valance is lower (closer to ground) than US version right ? Fuller look.

 

I bought the car in Sacramento, drove it back to New York, then two years later I moved to San Francisco and drove all the way back.

 

I think that the foreign valance isn't any lower - it's just that the bumper is a good 2 or 3 inches higher and the fenders are pointier, so it really changes the proportions of the front of the car.

[datzenmike]

Maybe hair drier to soften the grill and push over into fender shape?

 

[Will]

Maybe hair drier to soften the grill and push over into fender shape?

 

 

 

I might be able to tweak it a little with a heat gun - it is a bit dented on that edge already from an accident some time in the past 40 years. I already have a whole lot of small cracks to glue back together and little dings to work out of the headlight rings. 

 

I was actually thinking about using a heat gun to make the plastic splash guards in the fenders fit correctly.

[Abe Froman]

Will,

 

     Nice to see that you finally got around to playing with the front end after all you had to go throgh to get the fender's.

[Will]

Will,

 

     Nice to see that you finally got around to playing with the front end after all you had to go throgh to get the fender's.

 

Yeah... I've been waiting until I could pay for a new coat of paint before I put those fenders on - I'm think I'll be going with this color, "Leaf Green" - it looks like it was used in 73&74, just not on the 710:

 

 

 

[Bentaxlebob]

Hi.

 

About the valance, the US valance 's lower bolt (center) is the lowest point on that valance. There is no metal on the sides of the bolt, everything is located above bolt.( all lower edge of valance seats above center bolt.)

 

In the overseas valance, th bolt is level with bottom edge of valance.

 

Seems overseas fenders are lower than US fenders at lower frontal section.(where it meets and matches overseas valance) Would be interesting to see the overseas fenders and the US valance at same time, on car I believe overseas fenders would run lower than US valance. Opposite thing would also show US fenders and overseas valance would not match. US fenders would fall short at meeting points, that is my impression.

[heretic]

looking GOOD Will.!!

[Will]

Some small updates - a friendly vendor at the Datsloco show sold me a pair of 510 turn signals and a decent thermostat housing for 12 dollars, and I got them wired up to the 710 plugs and ground wire:

 

 

Working!

 

 

 

Also, I asked around and it seems that the 140J / 160J / Violet never got any splash shields for the front fenders, so I just removed them... it seemed like too easy a solution, but if rain ever becomes a regular thing out here, I guess I could get them to fit.

 

 

 

 

 

Everything went together pretty easy - suspiciously easy.

 

the only difficult thing was that I got trapped inside the garage when the door jammed - I needed to whale on the door's brackets with the top half of a jack stand to free myself!

[Will]

A big box arrived this week - I needed to wait until today to actually get to work:

 

 

They looked pretty nice out of the box, but unfortunately the threads at the bottom of the driver's side strut were messed up - I figured that it was just a bit of paint in the threads, but I wound up with a bolt with rounded threads. I guess they never ran a tap through the threads to clean these up.

 

.. anyone familiar with Techno Toy and exchanges/returns?

 

[mattyhacks71]

Did you screw up the thread in the strut? Can't you tap it yourself?

[Will]

Did you screw up the thread in the strut? Can't you tap it yourself?

 

The strut arrived with screwed-up threads. I don't know of a place nearby that is selling metric taps on Memorial Day weekend.

[Will]

An envelope arrived today from Techno Toy tuning with a tap and some new bolts - I was worried since their return policy on the website sounds so strict, but they seemed pretty reasonable when I was communicating with them, and offered to exchange the strut if the threads don't clean up - hopefully this will get the strut up and running!

[ggzilla]

Oreilly, NAPA, Autozone and sears all sell metric taps.

[Will]

Got some new bolts and a tap in the mail from Techno Toy - there was quite a bit of paint in the threads, but the struts seem to be ready to go!

[Will]

...my brother's getting married on Saturday, so I can't make it to Canby, and I still haven't had a chance to get the new struts bolted in... but at least I had a chance to attach the front bumper that came over from New Zealand.