My '68 Roadster project

[Emptytank]

Hi, since I have not posted in this particular forum, I'll start with a little history.

Last December I bought this 68 roadster, I wasn't ready to start work on it, but I have been wanting one of these for a while and snagged this one.

 

I drug it from one field ...just to put it back in another field :blink:

 

When you don't have a top for protection from the weather, I found that an old pickup bed liner does a good job of keeping the elements out

Now that I have finished my El Camino project, i'm ready to get busy on the Datsun

 

So now the Roadster occupies my empty space in the shop

 

I found these Ansen sprint wheels with the tires on Craigs list, good looking rollers

 

So now it's time to give it a good look over on the lift

 

 

Not too bad overall

 

Time to gut this thing and get down to the bare frame. I have been soaking every fastener with PB blaster preparing for the teardown

 

 

This needs to come out first

 

 

Next is the steering column, dashboard, exhaust system, and disconnect the body from the frame.

 

While I was at this point, I was talking to a guy from work who is kind of a motorhead, he asked me if I wanted a body dolly?

Hell Yea! I scored this for free! He just wanted it gone, it's almost like it was made for this car

 

So now i'm at the frame, a little surface rust, but very solid, no repairs needed......well i'll find out after the frame comes back from the blaster

 

 

So that is where i'm at right now...stay tuned for updates

 

I hope this thread satisfies the need for pics :rolleyes:

[Z chopper]

sweet, I'll be watching

[Jimmyray73]

Nice start! It'll be nice to see an old Roadster come back to life.

[dennis]

Cool project, nice score on the body dolly.

[Jester]

Looks like a good start. Keep it up. Plans for that wagon?

[Emptytank]

OK time for some updates. Been a while since I posted, been getting rid of grease.

I took the frame to the blaster, had it completly stripped, a minor repair done, and painted. This little car is so fun to work on! I was able to load and transport the frame by myself, and it fit in the bed of my El Camino.

 

Now it's really nice that all of that crap is somewhere else, and not floating around in my shop.

Here is the freshly painted frame, rear end back in so I can move it around.

Cleaning up the 'reusable' parts, new lower ball joints (Holy crap those were expensive!) Good thing the uppers were in good shape

Time to reassemble the front end

Much better now

These are kind of nasty, but still within spec.

Whoever had this car before me might of planned on it sitting for a while, the hubs were packed full of marine grease, hard to clean out, but the bearings and races were near perfect. A few grease seals, repack with the correct high temp wheel bearing grease, a quick cleanup on the lathe, replaced the studs and I ended up with these.

bad news is that the calipers were not as serviceable, pretty bad really

 

So after a little research on 311.org I decided to go with the Volvo calipers. The new (not rebuilt) calipers and ceramic pads cost less than having just one of the bores resleeved, and that would be X 4, and all the related hardware.

 

Well that's it for now, back to work, and more postings as I go.

 

Mick

[Z chopper]

that is looking good.

[FoxyRoadster]

I totally missed a roadster thread on ratsun, I need to get back on the ball.

 

 

Nice '68, personally its my favorite year since I own one as well.

[Emptytank]

Hi again.

 

In my last post I was looking into converting the front brakes to use the Volvo calipers, and after researching the cost of rebuilding the stock roadster brakes I went ahead and did the conversion.

It wasn't as hard as I thought it would be, just some details that had to be done prior to installing, I had a machine shop turn the rotors to reduce the diameter by1/4 ", Then I had to drill the caliper mounting holes out to 1/2" , and use various size washers to shim them into the correct position/ centered to the rotor.

Other that that it is a real nice conversion / upgrade.

So instead of using these.

 

I now have this.....

 

[I'm BLUE]

Very nice! Aptitude, resources, and dry storage. This is going to way cool.

 

Subscribed to the thread :cool:

 

Engine in camino?

[docbainey]

Not to be a dick...:huh: ...but your rear spring shackles are on wrong. Man, you've put alot of work in all that!!!

 

 

When you start working on the body, these cars tend to rot in the cowl area. Only way to see it is climb in head first in the foot well area and look up to where the air vents are.

 

Good luck!!!!

[Z chopper]

Not to be a dick...:huh: ...but your rear spring shackles are on wrong.

 

 

how are the supposed to go on???

[fairlady66]

Hey Emptytank at the rate you are going you should have it ready for the 25th Anniversary of the Solvang Roadster Classic the end of April. Hope to see it there

[Emptytank]

Not to be a dick...:huh: ...but your rear spring shackles are on wrong. Man, you've put alot of work in all that!!!

 

How are they supposed to go? I never took them off of the rear end housing, so they must have been wrong for a very long time.

 

Here it is before I took it apart

 

I'm all ears?????

[WAGON JON]

Looks like a great start. Keep up the progress!

[Emptytank]

Very nice! Aptitude, resources, and dry storage. This is going to way cool.

 

Subscribed to the thread :cool:

 

Engine in camino?

 

It's the original 283, I just rebuilt it .030 over bore, hardened exhaust seats, ect. nothing special except adding disc brakes, rebuilt the front end, and installed air conditioning.

 

 

 

I did freshen up the interior while I was at it, and added factory gauges in the dash.

And you can see by the fuel gauge, why I go by 'Emptytank'

[]2eDeYe]

Nice work, gonna be a nice roadster when your done. :cool:

[docbainey]

how are the supposed to go on???

 

The leaf spring eye goes above the 'S' bend part, not below it. I was trying to mark a pic up, but for some dumb reason I can't post it????:(

 

 

Here's a link to the original dealer parts catalog if you want your head to explode!:frantics:

 

http://webpages.csus...sandhoff/fiche/

[Z chopper]

doc do you mean the shackle is upside down?

[Emptytank]

The leaf spring eye goes above the 'S' bend part, not below it. I was trying to mark a pic up, but for some dumb reason I can't post it????:(

 

 

Here's a link to the original dealer parts catalog if you want your head to explode!:frantics:

 

http://webpages.csus...sandhoff/fiche/

 

 

I think I know what your talking about, I thought that looked weird.

That must be a cheap way to raise the rear when the leafs get a little flattened out, because I have seen other Roadsters with them set up like that.

 

PS. Please ,be a dick if you see anything else that is wrong, this is my first Datsun, and the reason I joined is for the experience and knowledge you guys have.

 

Until more progress :cool:

[docbainey]

doc do you mean the shackle is upside down?

 

I guess you could say that!

[Emptytank]

I guess you could say that!

 

I see now, this is the way these are supposed to go.

[docbainey]

I see now, this is the way these are supposed to go.

 

That's more like it!

[Z chopper]

like that it drops the rear end a bit compared to the other way

[Emptytank]

Time for an update.

 

Well since i was starting to get burned out with the frame and suspension, I decided to turn my attention to other things to break up the monotony, when you have something drug in from a field, almost every piece needs some sort of attention, so this week was the seats.

These were a little weathered but not ripped or seperated at the seams, but the foam was a little flat and the webbing was stretched beyond use.

 

A little tear down shows this

 

 

Cannot reuse these, so a $20.00 roll of generic seat belt webbing, an hour or so on my friends sewing machine and i have fresh webbing

 

 

Now that old flattened foam needs some attention, looking at it reminded me that when I redid my Corvette interior I saved the old seat foam from that, a trip up in the attic and drug these down.

 

 

Real close to the datsun, except for that flat, tired part, a little sculpting with a razor and ready to reassemble.

 

Now the vynal has some serious weathering, and is now actually grey instead of black

 

A little acetone made them a little better, but after that i just tried some Mguires polish and it made a night and day difference!

 

The seat bottom on the left is the finished product, frame cleaned and painted, new webbing, the old Corvette seat foam and the acetone/ polish finish

 

Now I have to reassemble the remaining parts and the seats are ready for when the rest of the car is